But I didn't share these thoughts with my teacher. I might be a bimbo but I'm a very polite bimbo. Whereas Miss Rowntree showed me no respect whatsoever. "Melanie Beeby, you are just an airhead with attitude," she snapped at me another time.

　　But on the last clay of term, she said something so sarcastic, I get the chills just thinking of it.

　　"School is irrelevant to you, isn't it, Melanie?" she said in a scornful voice. "You're just killing time until you're spotted by a talent scout and get signed up as a TV presenter."

　　I nearly fell off my chair. Did Miss Rowntree have some creepy teacher's ESP? Not even my best friends knew my secret fantasy! It was like she'd deliberately set out to humiliate me, basically telling me in front of the whole class that my sad little daydream would never come true.

　　I didn't let her see she'd got to me, obviously. I just did my bored shrug, and spent the rest of her lesson peeling varnish off my nails.

　　But the minute I got home, I bawled my eyes out. First I cried all over Mum. Then Des, my step- clad, came in and I had to choke out my story all over again.

　　"Silly old battle-axe," Des said. "What does she know!"

　　"Yeah, she's a ole battle-axe," said my five-year- old sister fiercely.

　　Actually my teacher is depressingly glamorous. But if my family wanted to picture her as a bitter old bat with bristles on her chin, who was I to disagree?

　　我可没敢告诉老师我的这些想法。

　　我也许是个坏女孩，可不管怎么说，我表面上看还是个淑女啊。伦翠小姐怎么就不知道要给淑女留点面子呢？

　　有一次，她竟当着很多人的面大声斥责我：

　　“美兰妮·比比，你简直是烂泥糊不上墙！”

　　还有上个学期的最后一天，她说了一句很伤人很伤人的话，想起来就让我心里结冰。她用非常轻蔑的口吻说：

　　“美兰妮，学校不是你待的地方，是吧？我知道，你在这里不过是打发时间，等着天才的星探来发现你，然后签约成为电视节目主持人。”

　　听完这话，我吃惊得差点一个跟头从椅子上栽下来。妈妈咪呀，伦翠小姐是不是有做老师的特异功能啊？成为电视节目主持人——这是藏在我心灵深处，最宝贵的小秘密啊，这个就连我最好的死党都不晓得，伦翠小姐是怎么知道的呢？

　　过分的是，她居然用那样的语调说出来，明显是想存心奚落我，要我在全班同学面前出丑，挑明我那点可怜的梦想不过是痴心妄想、白日做梦而已。

　　她的目的达到了！我被她点中了死穴，不过我可没让她看出来。

　　我装作无聊的样子耸了耸肩膀。

　　而那节课余下的时间里，除了把自己的指甲咬得像个秃瓢外，我什么都没做。

　　一回到家里，我的泪水就像放了闸似的出来了，连眼珠子都快哭掉了。

　　我哭着把整件事情告诉了妈妈。

　　快说完的时候，后父戴斯走了进来，我又抽抽噎噎地把它重复了一遍。

　　戴斯听后，生气地叫了起来：

　　“什么？这个大笨蛋，母老虎，她懂什么啊！”

　　“对对对，这个母老鼠。”我5岁的妹妹小玉，连老虎和老鼠都说不清，也在旁边起劲地附和。

　　而事实上，我的那位老师长得很好看，漂亮得一塌糊涂。不过，就算家里人把她说成老巫婆、丑八怪，我也没有什么意见。