不渝的友情

竹 音 譯

Everyone seemed to think my birthdaypresent was so funny. Obviously， they knewanything I didn't.

My 15th birthday was one of the worst daysof my life， all because of that bright bouquet offlowers.

The flowers arrived between second andthird period. They looked innocent enough， white，red and pink with a sprig of baby's breath.

“Happy Birthday， Elesha. Love， Peter.” Mystomach sank. Peter was a super-shy guy who'dhad a crush on me for months. I had returned hisinterest for a little while， but then his puppy-dogpersistence started to really annoy me. He wasn't abad guy or anything， but he was the last person Iwanted to get flowers from. Especially with theword “l(fā)ove” on the card!

When I got down the hall， I tried hard tostuff the flowers and the whole situation into mylocker. But somehow， the news spread fast， all myfriends knew about my birthday present. Before，after and during every class， someone was askingme what I planned to do.

Lunch was the worst. Seven of my friendscould pester me at once.

“How does it feel to have a guy profess hisundying love to you?”

“Why don't you just talk to him?”

While I couldn't avoid my friends' questions，I did manage to avoid Peter until fifth-periodchem. class. When I walked in， all of the guysexcept Peter were laughing， Peter had his headdown on his desk. One of my friends saw me， andthe laughing stopped.

I bolted out of class as soon as it was over，the sounds of laughter following me. I wentstraight to my desk in the foreign language roomand waited for my French class to start.

I hadn't told anyone about the flowers， buteveryone seemed to know about it. And they wereall laughing at me， except for Leah.

When the bell rang to start class， it hit mein my head: The whole thing must have been abig joke. My “friends” had watched me suffer allday， and nobody told me the truth. I got up frommy desk and ran ort of the room. I couldn't bearcrying hard from rage and humiliation.

I refused to look at or speak to my “friends”for the rest of the day. They had betrayed me.

When the end of the day rolled around.Three of four of my friends， the ones I usuallywent home with， were waiting for me. Leah wasone of them. They stood in silence. I screamed:“There's your joke! I hate you all， and I will neverspeaking to you again!”

When I got home from school， I wentstraight to my room and locked the door. I knewif Mom saw my red eyes， I'd have to tell her thestory， but I really didn't want to relive it.

Lying on my bed in the half-dark of evening，I thought the whole thing， And for the firsttime since the whole thing with Peter started， Iconsidered his feelings. From the way he lookedin chem. class， I could tell he wasn't in on thejoke， though he obviously knew about it. I bet hewas even more embarrassed than I was.

At about 8:00， the doorbell rang， and I heardmy mom's footsteps coming down the hall.

“Elesha? Leah's here， and she'd like to talkto you.”

“I'm not talking to her.”

“She really wants to see you. Could youplease come out?”

Sensing it was useless to keep refusing， Iopened my door and shuffled down the hall. leahwas standing just inside the front door， soakedfrom the cold rain falling outside and cryingsoftly.

“I wasn't in on the flowers，”she said. “Iwanted to tell you， but the guys who bought themmade me promise not to. I was so scared thisafternoon. I thought you'd really never talk to meagain， I don't want to lose you as a friend.”

Her words trailed off into sobs. She reallywas scared. But she had the guts to come overand talk to me about how she felt. Mad as I was，I had to respect that from the bottom of my heart.Besides， we'd been good friends for a long time.I knew it would be stupid to let one practical jokeend our relationship.

So I forgave her. And I decided to have a talkwith Peter. I hoped he'd forgive me， too.

似乎每個人都知道我的生日禮物非常可笑，顯然只有我被蒙在鼓里。

正是那束鮮花，使我的15歲生日成了我一生中最糟的一天。

那束花是在第二與第三節(jié)課的課間送來的。它們看起來那么純潔，白紅粉相間，還配著滿天星。

“生日快樂，伊麗莎。愛你的彼得。”我的心沉了下去。彼得是個非常害羞的男孩，他已經暗戀我?guī)讉€月了，不久之前我已經回絕了他。但是他的執(zhí)著卻使我真的感到很煩惱。彼得不是一個壞男孩，但我就是不愿意收到他送的花，尤其是那卡片上扎眼的“愛”字!

我穿過大廳，努力把花和所有的煩惱鎖進柜子。然而這消息卻不脛而走，我所有的朋友都知道了我的生日禮物，每節(jié)課和課間他們都在問我打算如何處理這個問題。

午飯的時候最糟，我的七個朋友一直不依不饒地追問我。

“有人對你說愛你至死不渝時，你是什么感覺呢?”

“你為什么不好好和他談談?”

我無法回避朋友們的問題，所以只能躲避著彼得。第五節(jié)化學課，當我走進教室時，除了彼得，那些家伙都大笑起來。彼得低頭趴在桌子上。一個朋友看見我，笑聲停止了。

一下課我就沖出教室，隨著我的退場笑聲豁然響起，我徑直沖進外語教室，等待法語課的開始。

花的事我并沒有告訴過任何人，而所有的人似乎早就知道了，除了我的朋友利亞，他們都在嘲笑我。

上課鈴響起的時候，我忽然間豁然開朗：整件事情只不過是一場鬧劇，我的朋友們看著我難過一整天，卻沒有一個人告訴我真相。我起身沖出教室。憤怒和羞恥令我忍不住痛哭起來。

在那天剩下的時間里，我拒絕和任何一個“朋友”對視或說話。他們背叛了我。

倒霉的一天終于結束了，三四個經常和我結伴而行的伙伴在等我一起回家。利亞也在其中，她們靜靜地站在那。我尖叫道：“這是你們的惡作劇!我恨你們所有人，我再也不會和你們多說一句話了!”

回到家后，我徑直走到自己的房間，鎖上了門。我知道如果媽媽看到我紅腫的眼睛我就不得不告訴她這件事了，可我并不想告訴她。

傍晚，我躺在床上仔細思索整件事。這是我在整個彼得事件發(fā)生后第一次考慮到彼得的感受。從他在化學課上的表現看，他并未參與這個惡作劇，但顯然他知道這件事。我打賭面對這種情形，他比我更加難堪。

大約8點鐘，門鈴響了，我聽到大廳里響起了媽媽的腳步聲。

“伊麗莎?利亞來了，她想見你。”

“我不想和她說話。”

“她的確想見你，你能出來一下嗎?”

感覺繼續(xù)拒絕也無濟于事，我打開房門，慢吞吞地向大廳走去。利亞站在門口，衣服已經被雨水打濕了，她輕輕地啜泣著。

“我沒有參與送花的事，”利亞說：“我想告訴你，但買花兒的家伙們逼我發(fā)誓不告訴你，今天下午我一直很害怕。我想也許你以后真的不再和我說話了。我真的不想失去你這個朋友。”

她的聲音越來越小，直到哽咽得說不出話來。她真的害怕了。但是她卻有勇氣克服困難告訴我她的想法。盡管今天下午我很生氣，但此時我卻發(fā)自內心地敬佩她。此后我們一直是好朋友，這件事使我明白了因為玩笑而結束友誼是一件愚蠢的事情。

所以我原諒了她，同時我決定向彼得道歉。我希望他也能原諒我。

(洪楓林摘自《英文閱讀》)