30 Days of No Gossip by Stephanie Faris

the only one who was confused? “Who?” I asked.
    Sydney and Jessica looked at me like I should know the answer to that one. “Miss Hunter,” they said in unison. Jessica spoke alone when she said, “We were talking about her outfit, remember?”
    “Oh, that.” I watched Vi head toward Miss Hunter, sketch pad in hand. I knew exactly why Vi was heading over there and it had nothing to do with clothing. “She wants Miss Hunter to look over her design ideas.”
    Sydney’s mouth formed into a pout. “I was helping her with that.”
    “She likes to get advice from different people,” I said.
    “I don’t think she likes us talking about people,” Sarah suggested. “She acted all weird when we were talking about Miss Hunter.”
    “Vi doesn’t believe in gossip,” I said.
    They were all looking at me now as if this were big news. It wasn’t. It was just that Sydney and Jessica had spent so many years hanging on my every word, they’d never noticed how quiet Vi was.
    “Let’s put it this way,” I said, knowing that if I didn’t say something quickly, they’d probably say something not so nice about Vi and I’d be forced to defend her, which would just make them talk about me when I got up and walked away. “Would you want people talking about you?”
    “I’m sure they do,” Sarah answered, sitting up straighter. “I’m sure we’ve all been talked about.”
    “Vi doesn’t want to add to the problem.” I shrugged. Then I sat back and finished my sandwich while they all stared at me.
    Finally, Jessica spoke. “So what about the Troy Tattler ?” she asked.
    That was the question I’d been dreading. “What about it?” I asked. It was a delaying tactic, but I knew I could put her off only so long.
    “Now that you’re acting like . . .” Jessica seemed to search her mind for the right word.
    “Vi,” Sydney supplied.
    “Vi,” Jessica said, nodding. “Now that you’re acting like Vi, you won’t be doing the Troy Tattler anymore?”
    I opened my mouth to answer, but my gaze was scanning the lawn around us, now scattered with kids running and hanging out and tossing paper sacks into garbage cans. I was looking for a distraction when I saw Vi waving toward me. She was calling me over.
    “Gotta go,” I said, hopping up, gathering my trash as I stood. “I’ll see you guys on the walking trail.”
    We were all going to spend the afternoon hiking to some lake, which would have been great if it hadn’t been so hot. But in the meantime, we were hanging out, waiting for Miss Hunter and the other chaperones to start yelling for us all to line up.
    As I plopped down next to Vi on Miss Hunter’s blanket, though, I couldn’t help looking back over my shoulder. They were looking over here. When they saw me watching, all three of them quickly turned back around again.
    They were gossiping about me, I just knew it. It felt weird. Sarah’s words stuck with me. I’m sure we’ve all been talked about. Believe it or not, as much as I’d talked about other people, I rarely stopped to think about other people talking about me. Now that I thought about it, though, it had to happen. Probably often.
    The thought bugged me for the rest of the trip.

Chapter Seven
What’s with Maddie Evans?
She used to be Troy Middle’s biggest gossip, but lately she’s been acting like she’s better than everyone else. She keeps walking off when we try to talk to her, and this morning she told Kathina Freeman she shouldn’t be talking about people. It wasn’t nice. Since when did the queen of gossip become the queen of high-and-mighty?
    “Maddie Evans.”
    I looked up from my cell phone, where I’d been madly typing away into an e-mail that I planned to send to myself. It was this week’s Troy Tattler , and it was all about me. Notthat I’d ever let anyone else see it. I was pretty sure gossiping about myself still counted as gossiping.
    Miss Einhorn was staring down her flawless button nose at me. She wasn’t