When Barbie Takes Over

46- Panicked Phone Calls

“I did! I did believe you!” I lied. “But there wasn’t a train in your room.” Alice couldn’t think she caused the train thing. She didn’t have a train, and it’s not possible for a six year old to control such big things like planes and trains.

Alice shook her head. “We did it at Maddy’s. Remember? You took the tape from us.”

“What?” I asked.

“It was a couple of weeks ago. But I don’t remember when.”

I thought for a moment. When had I taken tape from Alice? Then I remembered. “Wait, are you talking about the time you were taping Barbie and Sam to the train tracks?” They’d done that after seeing a similar scene in a movie Garrett had been watching.

Alice nodded. “We stopped it before it actually hit them! It wouldn’t work anyways. And I didn’t know it would really happen!”

“Alice you didn’t make it happen,” I told her.

“Yes I did! Why aren’t you listening to me?” Alice screamed at me. Her bottom lip shook.

“I am listening to you! Just you couldn’t have really made that train thing happen. You have no control over what trains do, or what I do.”

“No! You’re not listening to me! If you were listening to me, you would be mad at me! You would be mad at me for almost killing you!”

“You didn’t almost kill me Alice. Quinn saved me, and you have no control over what trains do! I told you that!”

“You’re not listening!” she cried. She didn’t even give me a chance to respond, she just turned and ran down the hallway into the safety of her room.

I chased after her as fast as I could with my crutches.

“Cutie! Please talk to me!” I said, as I knocked on her bedroom door. But she didn’t answer me.

After a couple of moments I gave up and went to my own room.

I put my camera down on the desk and pulled my phone from my pocket. I scrolled down to Garrett’s number and called him.

It rang and rang. He never picked up. I hit his voicemail and I didn’t leave a message. I didn’t want to just leave a message, I wanted- I needed- to talk to my boyfriend.

I called him again, but he still didn’t pick up. It wasn’t like him to just miss calls, he usually always had his phone on him. I got his voicemail again, and hung up once again without leaving a message.

I glanced up at the clock and realized that Garrett would still be in his basketball camp. I also realized that I didn’t care. I needed to talk to him and if I kept calling I had greater chances of that actually happening.

Finally on what was my eighth call, he picked up.

“Hey Pigtails, I know you miss me, but Coach is getting annoyed at how much my phone has been ringing. Can I call you back later?” Garrett said. I could hear the sound of whistles, and the pounding of both shoes and basketballs hitting the floor in the background.

“No,” I said softly. “I need to talk to you now.”

“I miss you too Pigtails, but I gotta get back. I’ll call you as soon as I can, okay?” he said.

“Garrett! No now! I need to talk to you!” I told him, my voce raising quite a bit.

“Are you alright?” he asked, finally noticing my distress.

“No I’m…I’m… I don’t know yet,” I admitted.

“You don’t know what you’re feeling?” Garrett asked. I could sense the smile he was wearing.