Here is a story scenario you can use to help teach about the need for Self-Mentoring when you are a victim of false rumors and trying to get to the bottom of a he said – she said situation. Have you ever had one of those he said / she said situations where you are not sure who to believe? That’s what happened to Cindy and Emily.
Troublemaker Donny decided to make trouble for both Emily and Cindy. He would tell Emily that Cindy spread a rumor about her. He would tell Cindy that Emily was spreading a rumor about her. Emily’s inner wisdom alerted her that Donny was lying; therefore, she did not take the rumor seriously. Unfortunately, Cindy believed Donny was telling the truth. She was determined to get revenge on Emily for tainting her name. Would Cindy realize the truth before it was too late?
A. Teacher reads story to the class called “Who Really Started the Rumor about Cindy?”
B. Story Description: Troublemaker Donny decided to make trouble for both Emily and Cindy. He would tell Emily that Cindy spread a rumor about her. He would tell Cindy that Emily was spreading a rumor about her. Emily’s inner wisdom alerted her that Donny was lying; therefore, she did not take the rumor seriously. Unfortunately, Cindy believed Donny was telling the truth. She was determined to get revenge on Emily for tainting her name. Would Cindy realize the truth before it was too late?
Chapter 1: Cindy Retaliates by Spreading a False Rumor about Emily
Cindy walked down the hall and blinked her eyes hard. No way was she going to let anybody know that her feelings just got hurt. She suddenly forced herself to smile, walked up to one of her friends, Alicia, and said, “Do you know what Donny just said?”
Alicia said, “No, what?”
Cindy said, “He just said that he heard that Emily went into the boy’s bathroom over at the Community Center.”
Alicia said, “Really? Oh, my! Was someone with her?”
“What do you think?” Cindy replied mysteriously.
Drawing her own conclusions, Alicia started off at almost a run. “Just wait until I tell Pam about this!”
Cindy smiled complacently. Feeling calmer, she walked to her locker. She was determined that she was not going to let her mind stray to what Donny had really said until she got home. If she let herself think about it for even one minute, she just knew that she would burst out crying. Instead, she wondered who else she could get Emily in trouble with.
Cindy thought, “That will show Emily for starting rumors that aren’t true. Well, two can play that game.” Before the day was out, Cindy was determined to smear Emily’s reputation with a few more key people.
Teacher Says Or Asks: Why was Cindy so upset?
Students Respond: Cindy was upset because she learned from Donny that Emily had started a false rumor about her.
Teacher Says Or Asks: What did Cindy do about this false rumor?
Students Respond: Cindy decided to get revenge on Emily by spreading a false rumor about her. She told Alicia who planned to tell Pam what she heard.
Teacher Says Or Asks: What was the false rumor that Cindy was now spreading about Emily?
Students Respond: Cindy reported to Alicia that Donny had heard that Emily had gone into the boy’s bathroom at the Community Center. When Alicia asked if someone had gone into the bathroom with her, Cindy replied, “What do you think?” Of course, this gave Alicia the idea that Emily had probably gone into the bathroom with some guy.
Teacher Says Or Asks: What do you think Donny really told Cindy that got her so upset?
Students Respond: (Accept Reasonable Answers.)
Teacher Says Or Asks: What should have Cindy done instead of trying to get revenge?
Students Respond: Cindy should have checked her facts with Emily.
Chapter 2: Lunchtime Confrontation between Cindy and Emily
By lunch time, Cindy was feeling much better. Nevertheless, her best friend, Misty, looked into her eyes and asked, “What’s wrong, Cindy?”
Cindy looked as innocent as she could and replied, “Nothing.”
Misty said, “No, something’s wrong. I just know it! What happened?”
Cindy said, “Misty! Nothing’s wrong!”
When Misty continued to stare at her, looking unconvinced, Cindy finally relented and said, “I can’t talk about it right now. Call me after school and I’ll explain.”
Still concerned, Misty finally said, “Okay. But I want to hear everything then. After all, you’re my best friend.”
Cindy nodded and mechanically began to eat her food. She wished that Misty didn’t know her so well. She would much rather just go along and pretend that nothing had happened, that nothing was wrong, and that she could start this day all over again.
Before lunch was out, Emily came storming up. “Cindy, what do you mean spreading a rumor about me?”
Very innocently, Cindy asked, “Rumor? What rumor?”
Emily said, “You said that I went into the boy’s bathroom at the Community Center with some guy.”
Misty and the other girls at the table all sat up and asked, “Who’d you go in there with?”
Emily snapped, “I didn’t go in there with anybody. In fact, I didn’t go in there at all. It was little Miss Innocent over here who was the one who went into the boy’s bathroom with some guy.”
Cindy said, “I did not! You were the one who did. I’m not the sleazy one. You are!”
Misty looked at Cindy and inquired, “Was this what you were so upset about? Well, I know that you would never do anything like that! Emily, who did you hear that piece of garbage from?”
Emily defensively said, “Donny said that a friend of his saw you go in the boy’s bathroom with some guy.”
Confused, Alicia spoke up then. “But wait a minute. Just this morning,
Cindy told me that Donny told her that somebody saw Emily go into the boy’s bathroom with some guy.”
Cindy looked a little shame-faced at that point. “Oh, that was a lie. I was just so upset when Donny told me that Emily was going around spreading that rumor about me, well, …, that made me want to get back at her. Emily, why are you going around lying to people like that?”
Misty said, “I’m terribly confused. Let’s try to get to the bottom of this right now before the dismissal bell rings. Cindy, what exactly did Donny say to you this morning?”
Cindy, half-crying, half-defensively, said, “Donny told me that Emily is going around saying that I went into the boy’s bathroom with some guy at the Community Center. And if I wasn’t careful, they’d all be calling me a skank. Well, I’m not a skank and I’ve never even been in a boy’s bathroom anywhere.”
Then big tears began to streak down Cindy’s face. She was mortified that everybody was seeing her cry. But the more she tried to stop, the more the tears seemed to pour down her face.
Misty looked at Emily, “What about it, Emily? Are you the one who told Donny that?”
Emily said, “No, he’s the one who told me that about Cindy. I never started that rumor. And I never told anyone what Donny said because I didn’t think it was true. I think that Donny is probably trying to make trouble for Cindy and me.”
Misty nodded. “That’s possible. He’s always trying to manipulate people into getting mad at each other for no reason. Cindy, I think you and Emily need to go to the guidance counselor or maybe make an appointment with a Peer Mediator and get them to bring Donny in on this. Then perhaps the two of you can get to the bottom of this and figure out what Donny is up to.”
Cindy stopped crying and Emily nodded her head. Neither of them could look at each other for they both were still feeling pretty emotional. Instead, they both focused their attention on Misty.
Alicia made the comment, “Misty, you sound like a pretty good peer mediator yourself. You managed to get Cindy and Emily to realize that it’s Donny who is the bad guy, not each other.”
Misty smiled. “I just can’t stand to see my friends be mad at each other for no reason. Why don’t we go ask the lunch monitor if we can make an appointment with the guidance counselor? The sooner this problem gets solved, the better.”
Emily and Cindy nodded their heads once again. They got up and emptied their trays while Misty went to talk to the lunch monitor. Granted permission, the three of them waved good-bye to Alicia and the other girls at the table and headed out the cafeteria door.
Teacher Says Or Asks: As it stands now, what is the outcome between Cindy and Donny: LOSE-LOSE, WIN-LOSE, or WIN-WIN?
Students Respond: I think Cindy and Donny have a WIN-LOSE outcome with Donny probably feeling like a WINNER and Cindy feeling like she LOST.
Teacher Says Or Asks: What would it take to get Cindy and Donny to a WIN-WIN?
Students Respond: (Accept Reasonable Answers.)
Teacher Says Or Asks: As it stands now, what is the outcome between Cindy and Emily: LOSE-LOSE, WIN-LOSE, or WIN-WIN?
Students Respond: I think Cindy and Emily managed to reach a WIN-WIN outcome with each other as they were able to talk things through.
Teacher Says Or Asks: As it stands now, what is the outcome between Emily and Donny: LOSE-LOSE, WIN-LOSE, or WIN-WIN? Audience, please respond.
Students Respond: As for Emily and Donny, I think they reached a WIN-LOSE outcome with Emily feeling as if she WON and Donny feeling as if he LOST.
Teacher Says Or Asks: What would it take to get Emily and Donny to a WIN-WIN?
Students Respond: (Accept Reasonable Answers.)
Teacher Says Or Asks: Why do you think Donny felt it necessary to start a false rumor about Cindy in the first place?
Students Respond: (Accept Reasonable Answers.)
Chapter 3: Flashback: Donny has Fun Making Trouble with Two Girls
Donny was having a great morning. He was in a mischievous mood. He wanted to see if he could push a few buttons. He saw Emily first. He sidled up to her and said, “Guess what, Emily?”
Warily, Emily asked, “What?”
Donny said, “You’re a friend of Cindy’s, aren’t you?”
Emily said, “Yeah! What of it?”
Donny said, “Well, I thought you should know something I heard about her.” Pretending great concern, Donny said, “A friend of mine told me he saw Cindy go into the boy’s bathroom at the Community Center with this guy.”
Emily had previous experience with Donny’s trouble-making tendencies. She disbelievingly asked, “Really? And who was this guy she supposedly went into the boy’s bathroom with?”
Donny mysteriously responded, “Well, …, uh, …, my friend didn’t say.”
Emily snapped, “You know what?”
Donny asked, “What, Emily?”
Emily said, “I don’t believe you at all! I know Cindy well enough to know that she would never do such a stupid thing as that!”
Donny didn’t like how his little game was going. He defensively said, “She did too! My friend said she did!”
Emily snapped again, “Yeah, right!” Then she walked off muttering to herself, “What a LOSER you are!” She purposely said it loud enough so Donny would be sure to hear.
Donny didn’t like that at all. Now, he planned to go for double trouble just to teach Emily a little lesson.
Teacher Says Or Asks: As it stands now, what is the outcome between Emily and Donny: LOSE-LOSE, WIN-LOSE, or WIN-WIN?
Students Respond: I think Emily and Donny have a LOSE-LOSE outcome as Donny got called a name by Emily and now Donny is going to get revenge on Emily.
Teacher Says Or Asks: How could the outcome have been transformed into a WIN-WIN between Emily and Donny?
Students Respond: (Accept Reasonable Answers.)
Biding his time, Donny waited around until he saw Cindy. Then he sidled up to her and said, “Cindy?”
Cindy said, “Yeah, Donny?”
Donny said, “Isn’t Emily one of your good friends?”
Cindy said, “Yeah, why?”
Donny said, “Well, Cindy. She sure isn’t acting like it.”
Cindy looked and felt a little alarmed. She asked, “Why? What did she do?”
“Well,” Donny confided, “she’s going around telling everyone that you went into a boy’s bathroom at the Community Center with some guy.”
Cindy snapped, “I would never do such a sleazy thing as that!”
Donny, pretending to be all sincere and concerned, said, “Well, I know that and you know that, but Emily is going around telling everyone that you did that.”
Cindy wailed, “Oh, no! That’s terrible!”
Donny said, “Cindy, I’d be careful if I were you. Before you know it, everyone will be calling you a skank.”
“But, I’m not!” Cindy affirmed.
Donny said, “Well, just remember that Emily’s the one causing all this trouble – not me.”
Cindy said, “Okay. Uh, …, see ya, Donny.” Then she walked off, looking miserable.
Donny was thrilled. “This is going to be fun to watch all the fireworks. Or at least, I hope I’ll be somewhere nearby so I can see what happens.”
Teacher Says Or Asks: As it stands now, what is the outcome between Cindy and Donny: LOSE-LOSE, WIN-LOSE, or WIN-WIN?
Students Respond: I think Cindy and Donny have a WIN-LOSE outcome with Donny probably feeling like he WON and Cindy feeling like she LOST.
Teacher Says Or Asks: How could the outcome have been transformed into a WIN-WIN between Cindy and Donny?
Students Respond: (Accept Reasonable Answers.)
Chapter 4: Donny’s Anticipated Lunchtime Fireworks did NOT go as Planned
Sure enough, the fireworks began at lunch. Gleefully, Donny watched Emily come storming up to Cindy’s lunch table. He wasn’t close enough to hear, but by watching their body language and facial expressions, he could pretty much figure out what was going on.
Donny even elbowed one of his buddies in the ribs and said, “Get a load of this!”
Greg asked, “Get a load of what?”
Donny filled Greg in on all the pertinent details. The other guys at his lunch table listened in. They all watched the girls’ table with interest. Another guy at the table, Jim, made a rather crude comment stating, “Cindy’s fine! She can go into a boy’s bathroom with me anytime!” The guys all laughed gleefully.
As Donny continued watching, he saw something he didn’t like. He noticed that Misty seemed to be doing most of the talking. Cindy and Emily looked much calmer. Finally, he saw all three girls get up and walk out of the cafeteria together, looking determined.
Greg, who had been watching too, said, “Uh-oh, Donny! Looks like trouble is coming your way!”
Jim said, “Yeah, Donny! Perhaps they’ve gone to report you. That Misty is pretty smart. She’s probably got you all figured out.”
Donny shrugged and said, “Well, let’s just say that I hope you’re wrong.”
Unknown to Donny and the other guys, the three girls went up to the office and scheduled an appointment with the guidance counselor, Mrs. Feelgood. Unfortunately, she didn’t have an opening until the next afternoon. Cindy complained, “I don’t want to have to wait until then. We don’t know how many other people Donny has spread that rumor to.”
Emily said, “With any luck, it was just us two. I guess I shouldn’t have let him hear me call him a LOSER. It probably made him even more determined to cause trouble for the two of us.”
Misty said, “Well, he sure acted like a LOSER. Tell you what. We still have a little over five minutes of our lunch period left. You two checked your facts with each other. How about we go check our facts with Donny?”
Cindy guiltily said, “Well, I didn’t exactly check my facts, did I? I mean, I fell for Donny’s lie and started a revenge rumor about Emily.” Glancing at Emily quickly, Cindy said, “I’m really sorry, Emily! I hope you can forgive me.”
Cindy waited anxiously for Emily’s response. Emily first asked, “Who did you tell besides Alicia?”
Honestly, Cindy said, “Only her. I was planning to tell more people at first, but then I got feeling too upset. I was afraid I would burst into tears if I even opened my mouth.”
Emily finally said, “Yeah, I forgive you. But please come ask me next time. I hope you now know me well enough to realize that I don’t treat my friends that way.”
Cindy felt very guilty and rather miserable. Almost crying again, she said, “I will. I promise. And again, I’m so sorry.”
Misty gave Cindy a quick hug and asked, “Are you up to this right now, or do you want to wait to talk to Donny until you feel calmer?”
Cindy thought quickly and said, “No, let’s do it now. I want to get this over with.”
Emily said, “Yeah, me too!”
The three girls entered the cafeteria. Misty steered Cindy and Emily over to Donny’s lunch table. Misty announced, “Excuse us, Donny. We need to talk to you.”
Donny asked, “Yeah? What is it?”
Emily jumped in and calmly but firmly challenged, “Donny, now that Cindy is standing here, are you brave enough to tell me again what you told me this morning?”
Getting the idea, Cindy said, “Yeah! And then you can tell Emily what you told me this morning too.”
Donny turned a bit red. He hadn’t counted on his prank backfiring this way. He sort of stuttered, “Well, …, uh, …, you see, uh, … .” Then feeling trapped, he muttered, “It was just a joke.”
Misty said, “We girls didn’t find it a bit funny. Now, according to Emily, you told her a false rumor about Cindy and told her that you heard it from a friend. Right?”
Donny, turning even redder and feeling defensive, said, “Whatever.”
Misty continued, “Then a bit later on, you told Cindy the same rumor, only this time, you claimed that Emily was the one who started the rumor and not your friend. Right?”
Greg had been listening along with Jim and all the other guys at the table. Greg said, “Man! Good detective work, Misty!”
Jim teased, “Yeah, Donny! Looks like the girls have got you all figured out.”
Donny was feeling more and more backed into a corner. Again, he muttered, “Whatever!”
Just then, the dismissal bell rang. Before Donny had a chance to get up, Cindy bravely confronted Donny. She firmly said, “Donny! Emily was smart enough to know you were lying. It took me a little longer. Just know that from now on, I will always check my facts before falling for any of your lies.” Then, Cindy used an ‘I Message’. She said, “I expect you to NOT do that ever again because it wasn’t honest or fair.”
Emily said, “I agree, Donny! We all expect you to only tell the truth from now on; otherwise, your reputation as being any girl’s boyfriend just might be ruined. It could even get to the point that no girl will ever trust you again.”
Donny snapped, “Is that a threat?”
Emily said, “No, it’s a promise, if and only if, I ever hear you try to pull a stunt like that again.”
Misty said, “You’ve got that right!”
Jim said, “What about us guys? We weren’t part of Donny’s lie. We just heard about it at lunch time.”
Misty said, “Oh, you’re okay.”
Greg said, “What about me?”
“Yeah, you too,” Misty said with a smile.
Donny didn’t apologize. Instead, he just sat there, looking stunned. Actually, the other kids barely glanced in his direction as Misty, Cindy, Emily, Jim, and Greg all walked off to their lockers together, chatting away.
Donny trailed behind them, feeling rather lost and left out. Perhaps he had learned an important lesson as a result. What do you think? Did he?
Teacher Says Or Asks: As it stands now, what is the outcome between the girls and Donny: LOSE-LOSE, WIN-LOSE, or WIN-WIN?
Students Respond: I think the girls and Donny have a WIN-LOSE outcome with Donny probably feeling like he LOST big time and the girls feeling like they WON.
Teacher Says Or Asks: How could the outcome have been transformed into a WIN-WIN between the girls and Donny?
Students Respond: (Accept Reasonable Answers.)
Return to Self-Mentoring Lesson Plan- Who Really Started the Rumor about Cindy?
