This prompted Prudence to roll over. With a groan she managed to sit up. "Why should I apologize? You started it."
"Did not!
"Did so!"
"You're such a liar."
"I am not!"
"Stop it, both of you," Rebecca said. "You're acting like babies."
"Who asked you?" Samantha said. "You think you're so grown up, but you're just a little kid. Well, not so little anymore. Another year and you'll be fatter than Prudence."
Tears bubbled up in Rebecca's eyes at this. She turned away to cry into her pillow. "That was mean," Annie said. The other girls nodded their assent.
"I don't care what you little brats think."
"We're not brats!"
"Oh, no, of course not. Let me tell you a new story. There once was a little girl named Samantha who lived on an island with a bunch of other girls. Those girls were mean to her all the time, calling her nasty names.
"Then a mean old reverend decided to turn all the nasty little girls into babies with his magic water. Only Samantha realized it was a trick. She kept some of the other little girls from drinking the magic water. But those who were really nasty still drank it and they became nasty little babies.
"After the mean old reverend was gone, Samantha took care of all the nasty little babies, even though they hadn't been nice to her. She fed them and changed their dirty diapers and sang them songs so they could sleep. She even told them stories before bedtime.
"Samantha did everything she could to make the nasty little girls happy. As they grew up, she still helped them, even though more than anything she wanted to go look for her parents. How did the nasty little girls repay her? They called her mean names just because she looked different from them. And when she offered to take them away from the horrible little island, they were too scared to go."
Samantha stood up and then went into her room. She plucked her pillowcase off the bed. Looking around at the girls on their pallets, she said, "So Samantha decided she was going to leave without them. She would leave all those nasty little girls to live out their nasty little lives on the island."
With that, Samantha stomped out of the dormitory.