Not a barbie doll (based on the song by Kerli. Not very good, but leave your opinion.)

"Natalie, are you in here?" I open my sisters bedroom door and from to see her staring into her mirror again.

"It's getting worse," she cries. "My underwear can barely cover me."

"No kidding Nat, they're about to fall off!"

"They're about to rip open!"

I sigh and watch her turn to see her reflection from different angles. I know what she sees, but I see the exact opposite: a training bra literally hanging from her shoulders and a pair of panties barely hanging onto her hips. I know she needs help, but mom would never admit that something's wrong with her child, and dad's oblivious to everything that isn't work. I'm only sixteen, so I can't really do much except try to talk to her, which clearly isn't helping.

"Come on Natalie, why don't I make us some pancakes, then we can go shopping, what do you say?"

"Pancakes with syrup is just carbs and sugar. They'll only make me fatter."

"Fatter? There's no fat on you! You're 12 years old, you don't even have breasts yet!"

"Felicia says I'm not pretty enough, and that I have to be skinny like her if I want people to like me."

I grit my teeth at the sound of that name. Felicia used to be Natalie's best friend. Unfortunately, her mother never taught her about self respect, so Felicia is thirteen, getting high, and getting herself felt up (and probably more than that) by older boys while my sister is left to whither away in front of her mirror.

"She says only pretty girls get married, and that fat girls aren't pretty."

"Natalie," I close her door and sit on her bed.” She's wrong. First of all, you're not fat, and second, fat, skinny, tall, short, every girl is beautiful in her own way. But girls who treat people badly like Felicia does are only wearing a pretty mask."

"Barbie's pretty," she says, stepping away from the mirror to pick the doll up from her bed. "And she can do anything. I just want to be like her."

I smile a little. It looks like Barbie is the real idol here, not Felicia. "Barbie is also a clone. You can always find another barbie doll right on the shelf in a store. Besides, if you want to get married then you might want kids, and her hips are way too small for that."

"Really?"

"Yep, if she tried to give birth, she'd hurt herself and the baby pretty bad."

Natalie seems to look at her doll in a different light. She turns and look again into the mirror and seems surprised.

"Poor Felicia is just like Barbie," I continue, realizing I might have just made a breakthrough. "She's popular for all the wrong reasons. She's got a really pretty face, but inside she has nothing."

"She has a boyfriend." Nat tells me, turning her attention back to her doll. "I want a boyfriend. Natalie's had five already."

"That's because they all looked under Natalie's mask. Like I said, it's a pretty mask, but underneath she isn't so pretty. No truly beautiful girl would call her friend fat or ugly. She wouldn’t call any girl fat or ugly."

Matalie is quiet for a moment, then she tilts her head at her mirror. "Do you think my hips are too small for a baby?"

"Well you're twelve," I smile. "So right now all of you is too small. But I bet a good breakfast can help you grow up just right so that you can have a beautiful baby someday. Maybe a daughter who's every bit as beautiful as you are."

Natalie turns and throws her arms around me. I have to stop myself from falling back.
"Thank you, sis. I'm so happy I'm not a barbie doll."

I really liked it

bee-scuit wrote:I really liked it

Thanks so much ^.^ I'm so glad to get at least some feedback. If anyone reads it and doesn't like it, please let me know why.

It's great!

very nice.showcases teens today.

I almost started to cry! Oh man! That was my sister a couple years ago... she's older though... Oh... okay, that was a beautiful story. I loved every second i read it.