The Pops

by Jess Forte

The Pops

by Jess Forte

在躁動不安的青春年華里，小透明們誰不曾在心里悄悄地想象過自己變成校園紅人、集萬千艷羨的目光于一身的感覺？可是成為校園紅人的感覺真有那般美妙？

The1)entire mood of the room changed. It was them. We all watched2)in awe as they took their seats at the lunch table across the room. The “Pops” had arrived like every other day. I was3)nibbling on my chicken4)nuggets while conversations5)buzzed around me. The “Pops,” the name we had given the “popular” girls in our grade, would sit in their group talking and6)giggling.7)Every so often, I would look at their table. Each one of the Pops was like a star. They were just so cool and amazing. I made a decision at lunch that day. I would become one of the Pops.

I made a lot of plans. What clothes would I wear? What should I talk about? How should I do my hair? I realized that none of the pops wore glasses, so I stopped wearing glasses when I was in the same room as one of the Pops. I only wore clothes that I felt the Pops would like—the rest of my clothes were left at the back of my8)closet.

Weeks passed and I was having no luck. None of the Pops even noticed me. I felt like my efforts were meaningless. I was never going to sit at the popular table. But then I got my chance! During music class, we were put into groups and Maggie, one of the Pops, was in mine. Somehow, we got into an9)argument about who would be doing what, and I was mad at her. A few hours later, it10)hit me. I would11)apologize to Maggie and invite her to eat lunch with me and my friends.

And that’s just what I did. I went right up to Maggie and apologized about the argument in music class. When I invited her over to our table, she surprised me by saying, “Jess, why don’t you come eat lunch at our table?” I felt like I had just won the12)lottery! This was the most unbelievable thing to ever happen in my whole life! I was going to eat lunch at the popular table!

The lunch time finally came. I grabbed a seat next to Maggie while the other girls arrived. This was going to be so13)awesome! I wondered what we would talk about? Maybe they’d even invite me again!

The rest of the girls didn’t say much to me. All of them talked about a whole14)bunch of15)stupid things, and were making loud, unpleasant noises all the time. And I realized that being at the popular table wasn’t all it was16)cracked up to be. These girls were just17)plain, mean and annoying. I kept looking over at my friends at the other table. They were all having a good time as usual. And here I was with the Pops, and I was18)miserable!

The next day, I put on my glasses and one of my “unpopular” looking shirts. When lunch time came, I walk right over to my regular table with my friends. I looked over to the popular table, where all the Pops sat acting19)dumb and being20)irritating. A huge smile came across my face. What even makes them popular anyway? It was so nice to be back at my own table instead of with them. I realized that my table, with my friends, was the real popular table.

1) entire [?n'ta??] adj. 整個的，全部的

2) in awe 敬畏地

3) nibble ['n?b?l] v. 一點一點地咬，啃

4) nugget ['n?g?t] n. 固體小塊

5) buzz [b?z] v. 發出嗡嗡聲，嘰嘰喳喳地說

6) giggle ['g?g?l] v. 咯咯地笑，哈哈地笑

7) every so often 偶爾，時常

8) closet ['kl?z?t] n. 衣櫥，壁櫥

9) argument ['ɑ?gj?m?nt] v. 爭論，爭吵

10) hit [h?t] v. <口>被……想起

11) apologize [?'p?l?d?a?z] v. 道歉

12) lottery ['l?t?r?] n. 彩票

13) awesome ['??s?m] adj. <俚>棒極了的，非凡的

14) bunch [b?nt?] n. 一束，一串

15) stupid ['stju?p?d] adj. 愚蠢的，乏味的

16) crack up 吹捧

17) plain [ple?n] adj. 平凡的，不漂亮的

18) miserable ['m?z?r?b?l] adj. 痛苦的，受折磨的

19) dumb [d?m] adj. 愚笨的，傻乎乎的

20) irritating ['?r??te?t??] adj. 氣人的，使人憤怒的

房間里的氣氛完全變了。是她們來了。當她們在房間那頭的餐桌入座時，我們都帶著敬畏的神色望著她們。“紅人們”如常來了。我正啃著我的雞塊，談話聲在周圍嗡嗡地響起。“紅人們”是大家給年級里“最有人氣”的女生們起的稱號。她們愛扎堆坐在一起聊天、咯咯地笑。偶爾我會看一眼她們那桌。每一個紅人都像明星一樣。她們是那么酷，那么令人驚艷。那天午餐時我就做了一個決定。我要成為紅人們中的一員。

我制定了很多計劃。我要穿什么衣服？我該談論什么話題？我該做哪種發型？我發現沒有哪個紅人戴眼鏡，所以當我和其中某位紅人共處一室的時候，我也不戴眼鏡。我只穿我覺得紅人們會喜歡的衣服—其余的衣服都被冷落在衣櫥深處了。

幾周過去了，沒有一點好運氣光顧我。沒有一位紅人哪怕只是注意到我。我感覺自己的努力毫無意義。我永遠都不會坐到高人氣那一桌去了。但隨后我的機會來了！上音樂課的時候，我們被劃分成幾個小組，而其中一位紅人瑪吉被分到我所在的小組。不知怎地我們因為分工問題爭吵了起來，我很生她的氣。幾個小時后，我想到了一個主意。我要去向瑪吉道歉，并邀請她和我，還有我的朋友們一起吃午餐。

于是我就這么做了。我徑直走向瑪吉，為音樂課上的爭吵道了歉。而當我請她過來和我們坐一桌吃午餐時，她的回答令我很驚訝：“杰絲，為什么你不過來我們桌一起吃午餐呢？”我感覺像剛中了彩票一樣！這是我人生中發生過的最不可思議的事！我要坐在高人氣的那一桌吃午餐了！

午餐時間終于到了。其余女生到來的時候，我在瑪吉旁邊的位置坐了下來。這頓午餐一定會很棒！我好奇我們會聊些什么呢？也許她們甚至會再次邀請我呢！

其余的女生都沒跟我說多少話。她們個個都說了一堆愚蠢乏味的事情，還一直在煞風景地高聲吵鬧。然后我就意識到，坐在高人氣這一桌并不像吹噓的那么美好。這只不過是些平庸、刻薄又招人討厭的女生。我不斷地張望我朋友們的那一桌，他們都像往常一樣愉快。而我雖然和紅人們待在一起，心里卻苦不堪言。

第二天，我戴上了眼鏡，穿上了一件看起來“不招人待見”的襯衫。午餐時間到來時，我就徑直走到平時我和朋友們坐的那一桌。我往高人氣的那桌望去，紅人們個個都坐在那兒，舉止傻乎乎的又招人惱怒。我的臉上露出了一個大大的笑容。究竟是什么讓她們備受歡迎啊？回到我原先這一桌，而不是和她們在一起，感覺真好。我認識到，我和朋友們在一起的這桌，才是真正最有人氣的一桌。

校園紅人

翻譯：秋斯