HBIC: Head Barbie in Charge

3 - Reflect

BARBIE SOLDIERS. Bunny was going to need the slyest of the sly on the front line to declare victory, but instead of guns, grenades, and bombs, they kept an elaborate artillery of lipstick, bleach kits, and bling. The new girls were proving themselves to be worthy. Bunny had taught them to mind their manners in the presence of their queen. While Ally was busy trying tirelessly to win the affections of Maxwell, her queendom was going to come crumbling underneath her.

"I still can't believe she said that to Tammy." Bunny sat limply as Xavier made another attempt to nibble on her neck. Any other time she would have been down but once again, Ally was crowding her vision.

Xavier backed off once he realized Bunny wasn't in the mood. "Tammy?"

"Ally told Tamika that her name was too ghetto."

Xavier was appalled. "She said that?"

Bunny shook her head. "Not exactly, but she implied it. Ally is ruining us, Xavier. She has the girls spending their allowances on designer labels all because she wants us to look expensive. Kim and I can afford it, but Tammy's family doesn't have much. I don't want her to feel like she doesn't belong. We're the Ghetto Barbies but Ally's been shouting Valley Girl commands at us ever since she came into this thing. Next, I suppose she'll want us to stop riding the bus because we can all get Porsches just like that."

"Well, I don't know about a Porsche, but you won't have to worry about riding this raggedy bus much longer. I'll be getting my permit soon and then I'll be taking you wherever you want to go." Bunny threw Xavier a small smile. She hadn't imagined them making it to their first anniversary, but here they were the following September, locked into their daily afternoon routine of riding the bus. It was going to be cool when he did get his permit, but Bunny had no complaints about taking public transportation. She had no problems with cubic zirconiums as opposed to diamonds or Marshall's as opposed to Saks Fifth Avenue. Why was Ally desperate to take them from ghetto fabulous, to fabulously in debt? That was what was great about being a Ghetto Barbie. Their faces were the only brand names they needed, but Ally was so basic that she had to take an already good and unique thing and make it plain and plastic. If she didn't want the Ghetto Barbies to be ghetto, she should have pledged for the Valley Girls. Too bad those rich, stuck up bitches didn't want her black ass. Ally was just too high and mighty to admit it. They wouldn't dare touch her, so she had to make a mock Valley Girl crew of her own. Had she left the Ghetto Barbie name alone and taken its message seriously, she would have understood that here, she would always be welcomed. Who wants to be perfect and plastic when you can be ghetto fabulous? That was a badge Bunny wore proudly and had Imani not blindsided her by pulling the crown out of her grasp, she would have kept it going. Not only for the Barbies of the past but the Barbies that were to come. "Baby, I know you're still upset about not being picked to be Head Barbie, but don't let it get to your head. You'll get your chance to shine."

Bunny threw him another smile, this one genuine. What he was saying was true. Bunny was the one who deserved the title more than anyone. It didn't mean she couldn't help to speed up the process. As she concocted a plan Tammy and Kim would agree on, Bunny closed her eyes and looked back at where it all went wrong.

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Four years earlier...

BERNICE MCCOY clutched her Hello Kitty lunchpail tightly to her flat chest. It was pink and it matched her backpack, blouse, and shoes. She loved the color pink because it was the color princesses wore, and she was a princess. That was what her father always told her. "You're a princess, Bernice," her tall and handsome father would always kneel in front of her and say, "and a boy should always treat you like one. If he doesn't then he doesn't deserve your time." Bernice had always taken those words close to heart. For as long as she could remember, her father had been her chauffeur to and from school each day, even though the school was a mere two blocks away.