Made of Plastic, It's Not Fantastic!

BOBBI :

Molly was dunking us in the Barbie pool on the front porch when Tristan got home from school. Of course Barbie and Ken were too beautiful to wet a single hair on their heads, so they played lifeguards. Molly was making Teresa drown me for some angry and dramatic reason that I didn't catch.

It was fun, minus the sparkly pink bikini strapped around my back. Molly froze when she saw Tristan stalking up the driveway, his head down.

"What happened to your face?" Molly wondered. My wet hair was slapped over my eyes so I couldn't see him when he passed by.

"Nothing." He mumbled. The screen door eased closed behind him.

Molly dropped us on the wooden deck and followed him inside, asking a new question every second. Teresa spoke first when she was out of earshot, which didn't surprise me.

"Damn, I guess we should have seen the other guy." 

I whipped my hair out of my face. "What do you mean?"

Midge squeezed out her hair. "He must have gotten into a fight." 

"A fight?" I blinked, wondering what someone -- a human -- really looked like after a fist fight. "Is he hurt?"

"If you think a dainty little black eye is pain, then --"

"He has a black eye?!" 

"Shh! I hear Molly."

I had to wait all night. I was sure I would die if Molly didn't take us back to her room soon. Molly wasn't even the one to answer my prayers ; her mom emptied the pool and tossed us on Molly's bed. When Molly finally fell asleep, I made my getaway.

I dodged the random objects on his floor and climbed up his bed. He wasn't sleeping, just staring thoughtfully at the ceiling.

I rubbed my arms nervously. "Tristan?"

He flinched at my voice and looked toward his door.

"Down here," I said, leaving out the insult this time. Teresa was right. The area above his cheekbone was turning purple.

He propped himself up on his elbows. "You're real?"

I ignored that. "What happened to you?"

Tristan averted his eyes to somewhere beside me. "It's nothing."

I should have guessed he wouldn't tell me right away. "Why did someone hurt you?"

He dropped back down on the pillow and blew air through his lips like a horse. "He bumped me, and he wanted me to apologize."

"So he hit you? What kind of world is this?" I anchored my hands in my knotty hair.

"No, not at first." He chuckled a bit. "I wanted an apology from him, too."

I tried connecting the dots. "So you hit him first?"

Tristan shrugged.

It sounded like such a thrill. Real world problems, real world fights. Real world emotions. "Can I come to school with you sometime?"

This made Tristan laugh, and it looked like he needed some cheering up. "Are you joking?"

I stared at him. "Why would I joke about something like that?"

Tristan laughed again. "No way! I'd get another black eye if someone found a Barbie in my backpack."

I was appalled. "Someone would hit you for that?"

Tristan sat himself up again, watching me with his lovely pools of honey. "You really have no idea what it's like out there, do you?"

I picked at the ends of my hair. "Don't remind me."

We were both silent before Tristan sighed again. "This is insane."

"What is?"

Without warning, he pinched my hand between his fingers and tested the flexibility of my arm. "How can you be real?"

I allowed him to flap my arm around. "I'm not real like you." But I wish I was, I added silently.

"No, but you're talking, moving your face." He rubbed his thumb up my arm. "You're plastic, but you're basically like a miniature human."

Something inside me sparked. "You think I look human?"

Tristan smiled in the sideways way I liked. "Well, isn't Barbie supposed to look like the ideal woman?"

With that, I gagged in the same way Teresa would. "Women do not have to look like Barbie to be ideal. That's disgusting. Do human women actually think that?"

Tristan's smile grew into a grin, regardless of his black eye. "Welcome to the real world."

I huffed. "Well somebody should tell them Barbie isn't as innocent as she seems."

Tristan raised his eyebrows.

"Okay, maybe I'm not either." I rolled my eyes. "But I'm certified to do all kinds of things in Barbie World, and the only thing I want to do here is impossible."

Tristan started to chew on his cheek, still testing my limbs. "I don't think it's a good idea to take you to school with me, but maybe we can figure something else out."

My heart fluttered at the word 'we'. "Does that mean you'll help me?"

"Looks like it."

I couldn't contain myself. I leaped toward his hand and encased his thumb in the biggest hug I could manage. "Thank you!" I repeated it a few dozen times.

"Why do you want to see the average human life so badly?" He asked. "It's alot more complicated than you think. Way more complicated than yours."

"It's like I told you before," I finally released his thumb and made sure to meet his eyes. "I'm not Barbie."