Two hours and countless explosions later, we were done. The explosions weren't a part of the experiment. Some crazy kids just felt like messing around with chemicals and almost burnt down the lab. One girl even had her hair burnt. And the lucky floor got painted a beautiful rainbow colour.

"Now that you're done can you all leave? Please." Everyone could see the teacher was mad. I don't blame him. You wouldn't be happy if someone tried to burn your lab down.

"That was fun!". Dory came out laughing and holding her stomach

" yeah" I said dryly.

"Come on girl, don't you know how to have fun" She frowned.

"She sure does." A guy said from behind me. I turned to look at him. Short, dressed in a checked shirt tucked into a faded black jeans. I studied his face a bit more. He winked at me and smiled, revealing a set of brown stained teeth. Nope. I've never met him before.

"What do you mean?" I asked this stranger.

"You strip for fun." He smiled and winked again. Does he even look at the mirror when he smiles? Wait a minute! Did I hear him say strip? Yup. That's what he said.

"What nonsense! You must be one of those lowlifes who get attention by spreading fake rumours." I fired at him.

"Nope. It's true. Its on the wall outside."

The way he said it, so boldly, made me believe it was true. That he was saying the truth. He also pointed to the said wall just to be clear.

I ran out to check the wall outside and there it was. Boldly printed on a large paper for all eyes to see. It was a picture of my head,super imposed on a strippers body and it was a very ugly picture. I mean, they couldn't even find a good photo of my head. It was one from my eighth birthday this person decided to use. I remember when I took the picture because I'd celebrated my birthday in school that year. My hair was packed into two ponytails and I smiled revealing a set of chocolate stained teeth.

Now imagine that on a DD breasted woman gripping a pole. If I saw a stripper that looked like that, I'd think I was at a Halloween party instead.

"Well,well,well" Amanda clapped her hands behind me. "If it isn't.. Wait! What's your stripper name?" She laughed.

"Okay. I've had enough." Dory pushed past her and ripped the photo off the wall.

"Good luck tearing the rest that's pasted round the school. Oh! And don't forget the one close to the principal's office. If I were you, I'll rush to tear away that one first." Amanda snickered and walked out.

A few boys walked past us and started laughing.

"Is that the stripper? She's more beautiful in person but I can't say the same about her breasts." One of the boys commented. Now you'll be wondering how they knew it was me. These ungrateful humans all ate my birthday cakes those years ago.

I couldn't take it anymore so I did what I knew best. Cry. Crying is how I let out the pain I feel inside. It doesn't make me feel better but it stops me from feeling worse.

As I walked past the school football field, I saw them. The popular girls aka the cheerleaders aka my sisters and her friends.
They're talking to some girls and laughing. I used to laugh like that too. Until they felt I was doing better and declared me a threat.

A girl spotted me and they all started pointing at me and laughing. No need to guess what was the cause of their laughter. The most annoying thing was that everyone knew it was fake but still laughed at me and called me names.

I walked faster till I got to the small lake behind the field. No one would come here until after school hours so it was the perfect place to let out the flood of tears. Like the one in the lake isn't enough. Is it just me or do you sound like one of my sisters? I sound like the old you silly. Not the girl who cries by the lake when she knows the whole thing's fake.

"I don't know what to say to you Barbie". Dory said startling me. I didn't know she'd followed me and was quietly sitting behind me.

"Don't say anything, please." I sobbed.

We sat like that for a long time. Me crying, her throwing pebbles into the water.

"I don't know what to do." I finally spoke.

"I know" Dory said, throwing a pebble. It bounced trice.

"You do?" My eyes lit up.

"Yes. I do know that you don't know what to do."

"What! I thought you wanted to give me a solution."

"Yes. I do. But you won't listen anyway. You already have that feeling of loneliness that you don't even know what a friend is for. A friend isn't just the person you call and meet up to study. Though that's good. But a friend is much more. A friend is someone who helps you in your time of need. Someone who's always there to put a smile on your face. Someone who'd never leave you at your time of need. You need a friend Barbie. I know I told you yesterday that I wanted to be your friend but I think you've mistaken me for a study buddy. So Barbie, can I be your friend?"

I looked up at her. She looked like she really meant it. "Yes. You can be my friend. "

I don't know why but somehow, I felt selfish. I felt like I'd only said yes because a popular girl had asked to be my friend and not because I needed a friend.

She smiled and pulled me up for a hug. "Thank you. Are you hungry?"

"Do you mean can I eat two boxes of pizza right now and still complain? Yes I'm hungry".

" I like it when you're funny." She smiled as we headed to the cafeteria.

"I like it too".

I actually finished two boxes of pizza. Dory had dared me to eat it.
Leaving, the cafeteria, I felt so heavy.

"Stop walking like you're carrying twins". Dory laughed as I struggled to carry myself to class.

"Twins? I feel like I'm having triplets do a happy dance in my stomach."

"Yeah. Probably babies of those old men you strip for." Amanda, stood by the door, leaning against it and looking at me with hatred in her eyes.

"Hot men also visit strip clubs you know." Dory frowned, pinching me to speak up.

"Look Amanda, its really sad to see what jealousy could do to you. Instead of following me around like some psycho paparazzi, why don't you work on your character and then maybe, you'll get a good friend. Dory chose to be my friend and I won't say no to that just because you don't like it. She's such a wonderful person and has been more of a friend in two days than anyone has ever been in my whole life." I paused. What was I saying? Where the courage to let out those words came from, I don't know.
Maybe it was the sting I felt from Dory's fingers. But Amanda didn't like it. Not that I expected her to. I wondered what she'd do next. Well, I could only wish I never cross paths with her again.

Anyone here ever tried playing with chemicals in the lab?

I remember this one time my friends and I were mixing the chemicals into a test tube and it started smoking. We'd thought we were going to burn down the lab.

I'll like to know what you think about Dory. Any questions?

Don't forget to vote,comment and share.😘😘