<p>Previous research into the school environment’s impact on adolescents’ academic procrastination has often separately considered the roles of teachers and peers. However, few studies have explored the impact of negative school gossip, a type of relational bullying that can originate from either teachers or peers, on adolescents’ academic procrastination. This study sought to fill this gap by investigating the influence of negative school gossip on adolescents’ academic procrastination, as well as its mediator and moderator. A sample of 803 Chinese adolescents (<i>M</i>_age=14.79, <i>SD</i> = 1.77) participated in our survey. The findings revealed that, first, negative school gossip positively predicted academic procrastination among adolescents. Second, depression served as a mediator between negative school gossip and academic procrastination. Third, authenticity was found to moderate the effects of both negative school gossip and depression on academic procrastination. It is worth noting that while authenticity generally negatively predicted academic procrastination, individuals with higher levels of authenticity showed an unexpected augmenting effect on academic procrastination when exposed to risk factors (i.e., negative school gossip and depression), contrary to the expected buffering effect. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.</p>