High School Dairies: Tales from a Freshman

Chapter 1: Gossip and Drama

The Breakup Gossip

I won't lie, gossip and drama are pretty common in high school—I've even been involved in some myself. I can remember it like it was yesterday. I was minding my own business in algebra class, just doodling on the desk, when this girl (who we'll call Bum) walked up to me. Yes, I know the name is a bit petty, but in a second, you'll understand why I'm calling her that. Anyway, as I was saying, Bum walked up to me and said, "Lilac, I heard you were talking about me." I looked up at her, got up, and replied, "And what exactly was I talking about?" She said, "About me and my boyfriend's breakup." (Quick side note: Bum and her boyfriend's breakup was already gossip spreading all over our grade.) Anyway, back to the story.) In that moment, I remembered that, yeah, the other day I had been talking about her and her boyfriend's breakup—well, more like her ex at that point, but you get it. I did talk about it. But I only told three other people: a classmate we'll call Kindness, my friend Music, and another classmate, Brunette. Knowing there was no point in lying, I calmly said, "Yeah, I did." She then had the audacity to clasp her hands, chuckle a bit, and reply in a sarcastic tone, "Well, it's funny, Lilac, because when I told you guys to leave me alone, you didn't." (Another side note: When she said "you guys," she was referring to me and my friend group.) We'd already had drama with her before. So if you see the words "you guys" in this story, just know she's talking about me and my friends. Anyway, back to the story.) I looked at her, slightly confused, and replied, "But we did leave you alone, Bum." She responded, "Well, you didn't, so I'm going to need you guys to keep my name out of your mouths." Honestly, in my head, I was thinking, This is so stupid. Are you really getting mad because I was gossiping about your breakup that actually happened? Then it hit me—I hadn't even asked her who told her I was gossiping. So I turned to her and asked, "Alright, so who told you I was talking about you?" You want to know what she said to me? She said, and I quote, "That doesn't matter. What matters is you guys need to mind your business." Like, are we serious right now? I thought to myself as I sighed in annoyance. Then, I gave her some half-baked apology: "Well then, I'm sorry, Bum. I didn't think you wanted your business out there." After I said that, she didn't say anything. She just walked away. I was so glad because, honestly, she was starting to piss me off. Anyway, once it was work time, I went over to my friend Music and started telling him about the confrontation I'd just had with Bum. I told him how it didn't make sense for her to come to me about it, saying that I should've "minded my business." Business? What business!?" It stopped being your business once the so-called friends you told about your breakup started telling other people, which turned into rumors spreading around. Then, it became gossip after everyone found out it was true!" That's what I told Music, and he completely agreed with me. After that, I told my group, and they agreed with me too—because, like I said, we'd already had drama with Bum, so none of us liked her. But yeah, that happened, and it was super irritating for me. Anyway, stay tuned for the next drama story coming up!