

Punky's friendship with Cherie is put to the test when Cherie falls for Donald Sotta, a new boy in the neighborhood, and Cherie begins to spend more time with Donald than she does with Punky, making a jealous Punky think Cherie likes Donald more than she likes Punky, until Cherie proves Punky wrong by telling Punky that Cherie loves Punky as her best friend, and Cherie doesn't like Donald so much anymore because all Donald cares about is baseball, basketball, and wrestling.
After learning that Punky did not do her book report, Henry cancels Punky's plans to see her favorite singing group DeBarge in concert, a move that Punky vows to never forgive Henry for -- until Henry gets DeBarge to come to the apartment and tell Punky how important reading is.
Punky decides to write a gossip column in the school newspaper, and she soon finds herself in hot water with her teacher, her schoolmates, and Henry when the gossip column does nothing but cause problems, especially when Punky's column tells her teacher, Mrs. Winston, which class put a frog in Mrs. Winston's briefcase. Mrs. Winston thought it was her biology class, but it was her history class.