rated a mild *
Don’t Mess With Diana
by Amber
Diana had just gotten to her room when her phone rang. “Hello?”
“Di?”
“Hey, Trixie. Who else would be answering my phone?”
“I didn’t want you to leave when Honey did. I was hoping you’d stay so I could talk to you.”
“Why didn’t you say so?”
“That might have hurt Honey’s feelings,” Trixie explained.
“Okay, see if Mart will drive you over. You can ask him to come get you in a few hours, or I can get the chauffer to take you back.”
“Thanks, Di. I’ll be right there.”
True to her word, Trixie was sitting in Di’s room about fifteen minutes later.
“What did you want to talk about, Trixie?”
“You know how Dan said that he looked after me by not letting me take advantage of his virtue?”
Di nodded. “Just what did you do, Trixie Belden?”
“I kissed him,” Trixie mumbled.
Di squealed. “You kissed him?”
Trixie nodded.
“But Dan stopped you?”
Trixie nodded again.
“So what’s the problem? You like Jim, and Dan didn’t want to be a stand-in? Is that it?”
“Sort of,” Trixie admitted. “He said as much. He said we could hang out as friends, but I think I want to see if we could be more.”
“What’s the problem? Do you think you’re on the rebound or something?”
“No,” Trixie said slowly. “I really like Dan. He’s so sweet and he understands me without my having to say anything. It’s almost like he can see into my thoughts, and nothing is bad or strange, you know?”
Diana smiled. “I know. That’s how it is with Mart and me. But I never would have guessed you and Dan were like that. I just don’t understand one thing. Why wouldn’t you want to talk to Honey about this too?
Trixie grimaced. “I think she thinks Jim and I will somehow end up together.”
Di nodded sympathetically. “I can see how it would be hard to talk to her about it. You know that if anything happens between you and Dan, you will have to tell her, right?”
“I know. I’d just rather not until… well, you know.”
Di nodded. “I think we may have a bigger problem than Honey’s acceptance.”
Trixie paled. “Jim’s acceptance?”
Di shook her head. “No. That’s not part of the equation. If Dan will make you happy, it’s really no one else’s business. I mean Kymber. I think she’s mad at us. You know how Kymber, Jessa, and Anna Grace can be when they get upset with someone. I think they’re upset with you. Kymber, at least, is upset at me because I stood up for you.”
Trixie nodded. “They could do all sorts of things.”
Di agreed. “I just hope they leave Honey out of it. I’m not sure she could handle them.”
Now it was Trixie’s turn to agree with Diana. “Well, I’d better get home and prepare for war then.”
Di stood to walk Trixie out. “You need a ride?”
“Yeah.”
Di called the chauffer to take Trixie home. “See you tomorrow, Trix.”
At school the next day, the first person Diana saw was Honey. She was crying.
“Honey! What’s wrong?”
Honey hiccupped, trying to stop crying. “They’re saying awful things about me. They think Brian and I, well, you know. And that I’m nothing but a poor little rich girl only good to spend Daddy’s money.” Honey started crying again.
Di was nowhere near crying; she was seeing red. She put her arm around Honey. “Do you want to go home?”
Honey nodded. “I already called Tom to come get me.”
Diana almost sighed with relief. Things would be easier for her and Trixie if they didn’t have to worry about Honey being hurt more. “I’ll wait with you.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Diana saw Trixie. She shook her head slightly, silently telling Trixie to stay where she was. Trixie nodded and settled down to wait to talk to Diana.
Thankfully, for all three female Bob-Whites, Tom pulled up at just that moment. Diana hugged Honey and said she’d call her after school. Honey nodded and got into the car.
As soon as Honey shut the door and Diana waved good-bye to her, Di made her way over to Trixie.
“What happened?” Trixie asked. “Why did Honey go home?”
Di glanced at Trixie. “Remember when we wished those you-know-whats would leave Honey out of it?”
Trixie nodded. “They didn’t, did they?”
Diana shook her head. “No. They must know she is the easiest to hurt.”
Trixie sighed. “It’s my fault.”
“No it isn’t!” Diana said sharply. “Honey chose to stick up for you. It’s their fault, since Honey didn’t know what she was getting into.”
“Let’s go inside,” Trixie said softly.
“Mm-hmm,” Diana agreed, distractedly. “Let’s go to the bathroom. That’s the best place to hear the gossip.”
Trixie was startled by Di’s sudden statement, but she nodded.
When they were at the door to the rest room, they heard Anna Grace talking. “Trixie was all over Dan at Kymber’s party. I’ve also heard all about Mart and Diana. And Honey! Wow, she’s dating a college guy, but she’s so uptight. I wonder how Brian gets what he wants…”
That was all Di and Trixie needed to hear. “Listen,” commanded Trixie to Anna Grace. “My brother would never push Honey to do anything she wasn’t ready to do. You and your so-called friends are mad at Di and me, so just leave Honey out of it!”
The girls Anna Grace was talking to decided to leave. Di was staring so hard at Anna Grace she didn’t even notice. “As for Trix and me, what we do is our own business, and you shouldn’t be talking about anything you know nothing about.”
“I know nothing?” Anna Grace asked, spitefully. “Then how do I know that you and Mart spend a lot of dates at the drive-in?” She switched her glare over to Trixie. “I also know you were hanging around us because Jim had dumped you.”
Before she realized what she was doing, Trixie had pulled her fist back and punched Anna Grace in the stomach. “I don’t care what you think you know, you will leave my friends alone,” Trixie said quietly.
Anna Grace practically ran out of the bathroom.
“Why did you punch her in the stomach instead of the face? I know I wanted to,” Diana asked.
“It won’t show on her stomach. No one will believe that I punched her.” Trixie put on her most innocent expression.
Diana laughed. “Good point, but why do you care if anyone knows or not?”
“If she could prove I punched her, I’d get suspended. If I got suspended, you would have to deal with those three by yourself.” Trixie shrugged.
Di nodded. “Let’s go to class and see what else we’ve done that we don’t know about.”
They both laughed and went to homeroom.
At lunch, the rumors about the Bob-Whites were flying.
The only reason the Bob-Whites even cared was that those rumors had hurt Honey. They spent the lunch hour discussing ways to dispute them and put the rumors to rest. They knew denial would probably make the rumors worse. They decided to laugh them off as if they were the silliest things anyone had ever said. “After all,” said Diana, “What is gossip except Garbage Of Stupid Silly Ignorant People?”
Every laughed at Di’s assessment. Then they all agreed it was true. “Who gets to tell Honey what to do?” Mart wondered. “Me?” he exclaimed when everyone looked at him. “All right, I’ll do it.”
Trixie started talking to Dan. Mart saw his opportunity and turned to Di. “Want me to come over and help you with your ‘homework’?”
Di giggled. “That would be nice. I have history and you know I can’t remember dates very well.”
Mart looked insulted. “That wasn’t the kind of help I meant.”
Di’s giggles turned into full-blown laughter. “I know, you could do that kind of help first, then the other kind.”
Mart nodded happily. He looked over at Dan and Trixie. “You know what they’re talking about?”
“No,” Diana shrugged. “Does it matter?”
“Not as much as what we were talking about matters,” he said softly.
Diana blushed. “Yes, I believe our conversation matters more. To us, at least.”
The bell rang for classes to resume.
That evening after dinner, Diana answered her door after shooing Harrison away. She opened to find Mart standing there. She threw her arms around him and kissed him. He kissed her back, then said, “We’d better get to work on the boring homework before the fun kind; otherwise, the boring stuff won’t get done.”
Di sighed happily at the implied promise, leading Mart to the downstairs study. She wanted to hurry up and get the boring stuff out of the way.
After doing their homework, Di asked, “Did you talk to Honey?”
Mart nodded. “She said she’d try, but wants someone with her most, if not all, of the time. She said that was the only way she could make sure she could laugh. She’s just afraid laughing might confirm everything.”
“I thought about that,” Di admitted. “And she’s right, but I haven’t thought of anything else to try, so we’ll just have to see if that works. If it doesn’t, we’ll have to brainstorm again.”
“Yeah,” agreed Mart. “Dan showed up at my house tonight to help Trixie with her homework and have a strategy session.”
“Strategy session, huh?” Diana looked at Mart with an ‘mm-hmm’ expression.
“What’s that look for? Shouldn’t I believe him?”
“I was just thinking we should have our own strategy session right here,” Di said, making her feelings known and evading Mart’s question at the same time.
On Tuesday morning, Honey was back in school. Unfortunately, the rumors were too, and they were worse. The word now was that Honey must be pregnant to have gone home sick so early in the morning. That made all the B.W.G.’s laugh, Honey the hardest. Honey knew she wasn’t pregnant. She knew what had to happen to get pregnant, and knew she hadn’t done that. With Trixie, the rumor was that she’d lost Jim and was trying to use Dan instead. To hurt Di, Jessa had said that Mart was cheating on her with Kymber.
The girls decided that Kymber, Jessa, and Anna Grace needed to be taught a lesson. They decided to go to Wimpy’s for lunch and the guys agreed to meet them there. The Bob-Whites always won when they went in on something together.
“Well,” said Di. “we’ve got a few options: One, ignore. Two, confront. Three, tell them to ‘shut up.’” Four, Jokes.”
Everyone voted for the jokes to begin. When they got back to school, a girl they didn’t know approached Honey. “Are you really pregnant?” she asked, her eyes wide.
Honey smiled. “No, I went home yesterday to give birth.”
“You weren’t pregnant yesterday,” the girl scoffed.
“Then how can I be pregnant today, but not yesterday?” Honey asked pointedly.
“You’re not?”
“NO!” Honey shouted.
“Oh, okay. You didn’t have to shout,” the girl complained, walking away.
“One down, two to go,” Honey said, grinning.
No one said anything else to the B.W.G.’s for the rest of the day.
On Wednesday, the rumor about Mart cheating on Di was alive and well. In fact, it had been added that Mart was cheating on Di with Jessa as well. The Bob-Whites pretended not to hear anything until lunch.
Anna Grace walked over to their table. “I was wondering, Di,” she began, with an evil smile and blazing eyes, “if you even cared that your boyfriend was cheating on you with both of my friends.”
Di turned to Mart. In a loud voice so everyone would hear her, she said, “Mart, how in the world could you cheat on me?”
Anna Grace’s smile became wider.
“I mean, really,” Di continued. “You were at my house until you went home last night, then Trixie called to tell me that you were smiling about five minutes after you left. How did you find the time between my house and yours?”
“I honestly don’t know, Di. But, it must not have been very good if I don’t remember that part of my evening.”
Everyone in the cafeteria laughed. Anna Grace scowled, turned, and stalked out of the room. Then the Bob-Whites joined in the laughter. Everyone was relieved that another rumor had been put to rest.
That afternoon, Trixie was confronted with the rumor about her. She was talking to Dan between classes. Luckily, Di was a discreet distance away, but still within earshot. She had a feeling something would happen when she saw Dan walk up to Trixie. She knew the feeling was right when she saw Kymber a few seconds later.
Kymber was smiling at Trixie. “I guess you’re still upset about Jim dumping you. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here talking to Dan.” She smirked.
“As it happens, Dan is one of my best friends. Oh, and just so you know, Jim didn’t dump me. We would have had to be going out for that to happen.”
Dan was proud of Trixie for saying that. Her voice had no shakiness whatsoever in it.
“Oh?” Kymber asked. “What are you going to do when Jim comes back to visit? Or should I say who? Maybe both of them?”
Dan had heard enough. “Listen, Kymber,” he said, his voice like steel. “Nothing has ever happened between Trixie and me except for that kiss. And—surprise!—everyone who needs to know about it already does. Just get it through your thick head that you are a very unhappy, manipulative, vindictive, and immature little brat. Come on, Trixie, Di.”
“Good idea, Dan. We wouldn’t want her to rub off on us. It must be horrible being so angry all of the time,” Di said, looking at Kymber with false pity.
Dan, Di, and Trixie walked away, only to find Mart and Honey around the corner. Mart and Honey had heard every word.
Mart said, “I’m proud of you three. I’m astounded that by revealing the truth, you got the gossip to discontinue, and the preeminent retribution.”
“Um, sure, Mart. Are we ready to go home?” Honey asked.
On Thursday, everyone was again talking about the Bob-Whites, only this time, everyone was admiring their effective ways of stopping ugly rumors and sticking up for their friends.
Thursday night, Mart was at Diana’s house helping her study math and Dan was helping Trixie because the girls had a test the next day. Luckily, Honey didn’t need help.
Mart and Diana hurried to get the boring work out of the way again. After Mart was sure that Diana understood all of the concepts, he wrapped his arms around her. Now they could work on the fun part…
At lunch on Friday, Di and Trixie had wonderful news. “We passed, we both got A minuses!”
“All right!” Mart shouted. “We should celebrate!”
Honey shook her head. “I can’t. Mother wants me to go into the city with her for the weekend.”
“Okay, then. I guess we won’t do it as a group. Di? Want to go out with me tonight?”
“Yes, Mart. I thought you’d never ask.” Everyone cracked up. They all knew Mart and Di had a standing date for Friday nights.
“Guess it’s you and me then, Dan.”
“Gosh, Trix,” Dan answered. “Don’t sound so enthusiastic. You might scare me off.”
Di looked at Trixie and discreetly winked. Trixie nodded back almost imperceptibly. Luckily, Honey missed the exchange. She was just happy no one asked why her mother wanted to go into the city, which was to see Jim.
Di was ready when Harrison answered the door that night. “Good night, Mummy, Daddy,” she called into the living room.
“Good night Mr. and Mrs. Lynch,” Mart added.
“Good night, kids,” Mr. and Mrs. Lynch said in unison. “Don’t forget you midnight curfew, Diana,” Mr. Lynch added.
“I won’t,” Di assured him.
Once in the car, they debated where they should go. They finally decided on Wimpy’s since there wasn’t much of a choice to be made.
They arrived at Wimpy’s and sat in their usual booth.
The waitress came over. “Can I take your order?”
Mart gave the waitress their usual orders and ended with, “and a cupcake and candle.”
“Oh, a birthday?” she asked.
Diana shook her head. “No, I got an A- on a math test. My boyfriend here helped me study,” she said with a huge smile at Mart.
“Well,” said the waitress, grinning. “That deserves two cupcakes. One for the grade, one for the tutor, on me. I remember how hard high school math was.”
Mart looked ecstatic at the thought of a cupcake all to himself.
“What? You didn’t want to share?” Di teased.
“Not when I get my own.”
When their food came, they thanked the waitress and started to eat. While they were eating, Diana went over the questions on her test with Mart. She was so happy to understand the material, she couldn’t stop talking about it. When they pushed away their plates, the waitress appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.
“Congratulations,” she said, lighting the candles on the cupcakes. She took their plates away. She looked back long enough to say, “Enjoy your celebration.”
Di and Mart laughed. Then they ate their dessert. They were almost finished when Kymber, Jessa, Anna Grace, and ‘their guys’ came in. Diana noticed that the girls studiously ignored her and Mart. The guys waved at Mart and gave him a thumbs-up. In typical guy fashion, Mart slightly lifted his chin to acknowledge them. That he didn’t do anything else, like talk to them, made Di happy.
After paying the bill and leaving a generous tip, they decided to walk around for awhile.
They looked around a store that was still open, where Di bought Mart a little stuffed monkey as a thank you for helping her study.
“You realize I can never show this thing to anyone, don’t you?” he said when he saw what she had chosen.
She giggled. “I thought it could be our little secret.”
“Trixie would have so much fun picking on me for the rest of our lives if she saw this.” Mart stopped himself. “Trixie,” he muttered. “Do you think she’s okay by herself?”
Di sighed. She knew Trixie was happy, but couldn’t say so to Mart. “She’s probably just fine. She and Dan are hanging out, remember?”
Mart visibly relaxed. “That’s right, she’s not alone. Is she really okay? I know you girls talk to each other about things like that.”
“She’s fine, Mart. You don’t need to worry about her anymore. She’s almost back to her old self. She will be fully happy again soon, trust me.” Di looked him straight in the eye so Mart knew she was telling him the truth. The truth as she believed it, anyway, but Mart knew Trixie. Trixie could make someone believe the sky was green and the grass was blue if she tried hard enough.
Mart decided to believe Di. If she wasn’t worried, he wouldn’t be either. “Let’s get back to the car,” he said.
“Let’s go look at the stars,” Di whispered.
Mart felt his heart skip. What Di had said was their own secret code. “Your celebration, your night, your choice,” he said in as controlled a voice as possible. He drove up to a hill overlooking the valley. They enjoyed their privacy for a couple of hours, then Mart took Diana home. After one last kiss, he watched as Harrison let her in. She went up to her room and waved at Mart through the window.
After watching Mart leave, she sighed happily. She couldn’t wait until she could talk to Trixie in the morning.
Five minutes after her shower, Di called Trixie and invited her over.
In true Trixie style, she came through Diana’s bedroom door twenty minutes later, breathing heavily. “Okay,” she panted. “Tell me everything. No, not everything, but everything else. You know what I mean, right?”
Di laughed. “Yes, I know what you mean. And I will, as long as you return the favor.”
Trixie smiled a mysterious grin. “You got it,” she promised.
Di smiled widely in anticipation. “Maybe I should make you go first.”
Trixie shook her head.
“Please?” Di begged.
“No! And quit asking!” Trixie wanted to prolong her side of the bargain as long as possible. She knew Di had said that she’d go with whatever made Trixie happy, but a part of Trixie was a bit afraid that Di would still be upset. Trixie knew a few people, at least, would be upset with her regarding her decision. She just wanted to make sure someone was on her side.
Finally, Diana relented. “Okay. We went to Wimpy’s…” Di told Trixie almost everything that happened the night before, trying to hurry and not leave anything out at the same time. She really wanted to hear Trixie’s story.
The End
Author’s Notes: Characters are property of Random House. Gossip definition is from Silver Ravenwolf’s Witches Night Out Series. Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on how to stop those ugly rumors.
I’m very glad Honey is smart, especially since there was no one left to help her with her homework. Thanks to Kaye and Chelsea for editing. Also, thanks to Kaye for her title suggestion.