The Pops

by Jess Forte

The Pops

by Jess Forte

在躁动不安的青春年华里，小透明们谁不曾在心里悄悄地想象过自己变成校园红人、集万千艳羡的目光于一身的感觉？可是成为校园红人的感觉真有那般美妙？

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 [ɪn'taɪə] adj. 整个的，全部的

2) in awe 敬畏地

3) nibble ['nɪbəl] v. 一点一点地咬，啃

4) nugget ['nʌgɪt] n. 固体小块

5) buzz [bʌz] v. 发出嗡嗡声，叽叽喳喳地说

6) giggle ['gɪgəl] v. 咯咯地笑，哈哈地笑

7) every so often 偶尔，时常

8) closet ['klɒzɪt] n. 衣橱，壁橱

9) argument ['ɑːgjʊmənt] v. 争论，争吵

10) hit [hɪt] v. <口>被……想起

11) apologize [ə'pɒlədʒaɪz] v. 道歉

12) lottery ['lɒtərɪ] n. 彩票

13) awesome ['ɔːsəm] adj. <俚>棒极了的，非凡的

14) bunch [bʌntʃ] n. 一束，一串

15) stupid ['stjuːpɪd] adj. 愚蠢的，乏味的

16) crack up 吹捧

17) plain [pleɪn] adj. 平凡的，不漂亮的

18) miserable ['mɪzərəbəl] adj. 痛苦的，受折磨的

19) dumb [dʌm] adj. 愚笨的，傻乎乎的

20) irritating ['ɪrɪˌteɪtɪŋ] adj. 气人的，使人愤怒的

房间里的气氛完全变了。是她们来了。当她们在房间那头的餐桌入座时，我们都带着敬畏的神色望着她们。“红人们”如常来了。我正啃着我的鸡块，谈话声在周围嗡嗡地响起。“红人们”是大家给年级里“最有人气”的女生们起的称号。她们爱扎堆坐在一起聊天、咯咯地笑。偶尔我会看一眼她们那桌。每一个红人都像明星一样。她们是那么酷，那么令人惊艳。那天午餐时我就做了一个决定。我要成为红人们中的一员。

我制定了很多计划。我要穿什么衣服？我该谈论什么话题？我该做哪种发型？我发现没有哪个红人戴眼镜，所以当我和其中某位红人共处一室的时候，我也不戴眼镜。我只穿我觉得红人们会喜欢的衣服—其余的衣服都被冷落在衣橱深处了。

几周过去了，没有一点好运气光顾我。没有一位红人哪怕只是注意到我。我感觉自己的努力毫无意义。我永远都不会坐到高人气那一桌去了。但随后我的机会来了！上音乐课的时候，我们被划分成几个小组，而其中一位红人玛吉被分到我所在的小组。不知怎地我们因为分工问题争吵了起来，我很生她的气。几个小时后，我想到了一个主意。我要去向玛吉道歉，并邀请她和我，还有我的朋友们一起吃午餐。

于是我就这么做了。我径直走向玛吉，为音乐课上的争吵道了歉。而当我请她过来和我们坐一桌吃午餐时，她的回答令我很惊讶：“杰丝，为什么你不过来我们桌一起吃午餐呢？”我感觉像刚中了彩票一样！这是我人生中发生过的最不可思议的事！我要坐在高人气的那一桌吃午餐了！

午餐时间终于到了。其余女生到来的时候，我在玛吉旁边的位置坐了下来。这顿午餐一定会很棒！我好奇我们会聊些什么呢？也许她们甚至会再次邀请我呢！

其余的女生都没跟我说多少话。她们个个都说了一堆愚蠢乏味的事情，还一直在煞风景地高声吵闹。然后我就意识到，坐在高人气这一桌并不像吹嘘的那么美好。这只不过是些平庸、刻薄又招人讨厌的女生。我不断地张望我朋友们的那一桌，他们都像往常一样愉快。而我虽然和红人们待在一起，心里却苦不堪言。

第二天，我戴上了眼镜，穿上了一件看起来“不招人待见”的衬衫。午餐时间到来时，我就径直走到平时我和朋友们坐的那一桌。我往高人气的那桌望去，红人们个个都坐在那儿，举止傻乎乎的又招人恼怒。我的脸上露出了一个大大的笑容。究竟是什么让她们备受欢迎啊？回到我原先这一桌，而不是和她们在一起，感觉真好。我认识到，我和朋友们在一起的这桌，才是真正最有人气的一桌。

校园红人

翻译：秋斯