Barbie World (Baby Doll Series) by Heidi Acosta Page A

through the white foyer, trying not to get lost. Katie’s house is huge; it is like a museum with a few carefully selected pieces of art on the walls and sculptures sitting on end tables in various locations around the house. Everything is white—the walls, the tiled floor, the carpeted stairs, the bathroom—everything is white. I kick off my dirty chucks so I don’t track dirt into the rest of the house. Black and white. Just like Katie, I used to be the same way, but now I am changed. I have been forced to grow up and see the world for what it really is. Not everything is as black and white as this perfect house.
    I wanted to break up with Katie the moment I saw Barbie at the dance in her butter cream dress, twirling around the dance floor. I knew I loved her more than anything in that moment, but I was a freaking idiot. I let my idiotic pride get in the way of being with her and that was the stupidest thing I have ever done. I was a tool. I hate how I treated Barbie. Why? Because I was scared what others would think. I hate that I was the one to ever make her cry.
    I want to make things better between us, I just don’t know how to. How do I earn the girl whose trust I lost back? How do I tell her that I lay awake at night thinking of her, that even though she is so close, I miss her so much? That being away from her makes me ache all over and being close to her makes me ache even more? How do I tell her these things? I was so close to her just a few moments ago. So close to having her back. Having what I wanted, but as close as she was, she was still too far away. I need to do the right thing here. I need to earn her trust back and being with Katie is not helping my cause.
    At first, I thought I was doing the right thing by going out with Katie. It makes my mom happy and eases that worry she has that Barbie and I might get it on if I am not with Katie. I don’t want to give my mother a reason to change her mind about having Barbie and Everett with us, either. If being with Katie keeps Barbie with me, then that is what I will do—no matter how messed up it seems. I can’t risk losing her again. I need to know she is safe.
    What the hell! I want to scream or punch something. I need to get it together and go upstairs in order to pretend to be the boyfriend Katie wants me to be. But how? How can I when I am sporting a boner for another girl?
    I grip on to the banister and lean over, trying to think about anything other than the way Barbie’s ass looked as she walked away, the way her shorts were cut almost too short, but not short enough. I am jealous of that damn fringe, the way it caressed her soft caramel skin. The way she smells so damn good, it swims around my head making everything foggy. Come on, Dylan, get it together. Don’t think about how the strap of her tank top fell off her shoulder exposing the bare skin. Or how it would feel to kiss that spot where her shoulder and neck meet again or how her skin tastes—
    Urgh! Get it together. Baseball. Mom. Third. Zombies. Third’s mom. Yep, that did it.
    I stand up and take the stairs three at a time. By the time I reach the landing, I am a little bit winded. The latest pop song seeps out of the bottom of Katie’s bedroom door making me want to turn around, run, go back to Barbie and make her listen. I don’t want to care about the casualties. Before I can think about skipping out any further, the door opens and Katie stands there with her hair in a low pony tail and a scowl on her face. She is pissed.
    “You are late,” she says in a disdainful tone. “How was your night?” she continues icily.
    Telling her I was late because I drove slower than normal to try and prolong my time with Barbie will not go over well. Or that I spent the night with her half naked in my truck. Yeah, not going to go over well. I push the images of Barbie pressed against me to the back of my mind. So I do what any other guy in my situation would do, I shrug and pull her into my