Babydoll Read online

  Copyright © 2021 by Nikkole Pruett

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the digital address below.

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  Cover Art: johanjk

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  Chapter 1

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  I checked, carefully, to make sure my swimsuit was in place when I popped up out of the water. You never knew when Haley’s cousin Gavin was going to show up. Not that I had a whole lot to keep covered. My boobs were taking their time showing up. That didn’t really bother me, though. Haley had boobs enough for both of us and, boy, did they ever get her attention. I didn’t want that kind of attention. I just wanted my bathing suit to stay put.

  "Whatcha looking at, Blondie?" I asked my best friend. She was at the fence peeking through the slats.

  "New neighbors," she said, motioning me over. "There’s boys!"

  Haley went boy crazy when she turned twelve. It was like, ding, some bell sounded and all of a sudden the only thing she could think of was boys, boys, boys. I was still convinced the boys at Carver Junior High were all dropped on their heads as babies. Except Cameron and Gavin. I thought they were almost as cool as Haley. Almost.

  I walked up beside her, shoulder to shoulder, head to head, so we could both see through the old wooden fence. The smell of her Banana Boat reminded me that I didn't put any on and I was probably going to burn. Sure enough, Haley's boy radar was right on point. She was the proud haver of two new boy neighbors. One looked older. He was huge with short cut brown hair. He was as tall as my dad and built like a wrestler or a football player. He was also super strong, he had two huge packing boxes in his arms and he wasn’t struggling at all. It was pretty amazing.

  The other boy wasn’t quite as tall and he was skinny. I could tell because he didn’t have a shirt on. Just basketball shorts, sneakers, and a Lakers hat. He also had shaggy hair, a lighter brown, flopping around under his hat. Ick.

  "Oh my God, he's so freaking hot! Like Vin Diesel hot," Haley moaned, next to me. Vin Diesel was Haley's hottest celebrity. Gavin dragged us to see 2 Fast 2 Furious the week before, and Haley pouted the whole time because Mr. Diesel wasn’t in it. The next door boy was cute but I wasn’t super impressed. I shrugged and Haley rolled her eyes at me. "Really, Bailey? You have no taste."

  Before I could reply we both jumped out of our skins when a camera popped up on the other side of the fence and snapped a picture. We both squealed and stumbled back. The picture taker was giggling like mad.

  "Hi, nosey neighbors," a girl voice said. We scrambled back to the fence so we could get a look at her. "I'm Lucy."

  My first impression was that she was awfully self-assured for a little kid. She was teeny-tiny and I was thinking she was maybe a fifth grader but she didn’t look like any of the little kids around our town. She was wearing a T-shirt with a cartoon of a rolled up piece of paper that said "I'm Just a Bill" sitting on a building's steps. She's also had on bright red suspenders attached to cutoff shorts. There were about twenty little blue and red bracelets up her wrist and she was barefoot.

  "Oh, I'm actually your neighbor," Haley told her, making sure Lucy knew what was what. "I'm Haley and this is my best friend Bailey. Come see."

  She motioned for Lucy to meet her to the gate so we didn't have to talk through the fence.

  "So," Haley said, after she opened the gate and we formed a loose semicircle. "How old are your brothers?"

  My eyes popped wide because, I just knew that little kid was going to go running to the boys and tell them Haley was asking about them. Then they would come over, and it would turn into giggly, flirty, boy craziness when all I want to do was spend the afternoon soaking up the sunshine reading my new Sisterhood book. Surprisingly, the kid just laughed.

  "Luke, that’s Lucas, is the oldest. He's fourteen. He's the big one. Lane is thirteen. And I'm twelve by the way," she told us. I looked at Haley and saw her surprised expression matched mine. We couldn’t believe that such a little pipsqueak was the same age as us. She was shorter than me and I was only 5'2. She made a face when she saw how shocked we were. "My mom said I'll probably still get another growth spurt."

  "You’re really twelve?" Haley asked. Lucy sighed and nodded. "I thought you were like ten or something. I'm twelve too. Bailey's only eleven. What grade are you in next year?"

  "Seventh. What about you?" Lucy replied.

  "Seventh too. What about your brothers?" Haley was really pumping her for info.

  It was kind of weird knowing that Lucy was our age. Had I been her, I would have been annoyed by the interrogation, but she just rolled her eyes. She must have been used to it.

  "Lane is going to eighth so he'll be at the junior high with us but Luke is going to high school. He's supposed to be getting his license when he turns sixteen. Mom said he'll have to drive us to school,” she said, with a satisfied smile. "I hate riding the bus."

  I wished my dad would let me ride the bus more often. He was a police officer and he was determined to embarrass me by driving me around in his cruiser every chance he got.

  "That’s awesome." Haley said, all breathlessly. Then it was my turn to roll my eyes because I could practically see little hearts in her eyes.

  Lucy grinned at her.

  "I could introduce you," she said.

  Haley had a girly freak out then. Her cheeks turned bright red as she shook her head no. Her hands flew up to check her hair and found it knotted on top of her head. I knew it was all a big show. Haley was pretty even first thing in the morning. Besides, I was a mess too, my own darker blonde hair was braided back for swimming but it was starting to frizz as we stood in the sun.

  "No – I'm a mess right now!" she protested, but Lucy ignored her and started yelling for her brothers to come meet the neighbors.

  "What's up Little?" the big one asked, as he approached and dropped an arm around his little sister. The skinny one followed behind him.

  While I wasn’t as impressed with the older boy as Haley, I had to admit he was pretty cute. He had dimples and pretty blue eyes.

  "This is Haley, she lives here. She's twelve and in my grade," Lucy told him, nodding toward Haley and her house. "And that’s Bailey. She's eleven. She doesn't live here and she doesn't talk much. This is Lucas, but we call him Luke."

  It was right then I realized I hadn't said a single word listening to the two chatter boxes.

  "Well, you talk so damn much it's hard for anyone else to get a word in," the younger boy piped in. He was teasing and grinning slyly. Under the floppy hair and hat I could tell he had light colored eyes, but I couldn’t tell what color they were. It was like they were between blue and gray and they couldn’t make up their mind.

  "Shut up, Lane, or I'll tell Mom you’re cursing," Lucy told him, really snotty. I guessed they didn’t get along that well.

  It was then I realized everyone was looking at me expectantly, but it didn't seem mean. Not like when Paisley Honor put me on the spot in the girls locker room the previous year, asking if I'd gotten my period yet. They all just seem curious except for Haley, she was just giving me that look that said come on, Bailey.

  "Um, hi," I said, with a little smile.

  For some reason that tickled Lucas and he let out this great big laugh. His voice was all deep and warm and I could see that Haley was looking at him
adoringly. His laugh set off a chain reaction and soon, we were all laughing. Except for Lane. He was just leaning on the fence and smirking. Those crazy eyes of his were on me.

  B

  I didn’t like Lindsay Stanton. I hadn't since third grade when she tried to say she was Haley's best friend. She bought them best friend’s necklaces. Haley wore it for a week just to be nice, but then she said she lost it when she really threw it away. In elementary we only started hanging out with Lindsay in the first place because her family had the only pool in the neighborhood. Luckily, Haley’s Dad decided they needed one of their own so spending time with Lindsay became a lot less necessary.

  Unfortunately, Lindsay became a part of our group again when junior high started because her mom was desperate to be cool and took us anywhere we want to go. That meant trips to the mall and the water park. One day, toward the end of the summer, Haley called Lindsay and told her we had to get to the mall to do back to school shopping. I was super excited because Mrs. Stanton even talked my dad into letting me do all my shopping with them instead of taking me himself. My dad didn’t seem to get that I was pretty much a teenager. He still wanted me in ruffley dresses and bows and I just wanted to wear the stuff my friends were wearing.

  "Damn it!" Haley huffed, throwing the cordless phone on her bed. She had been trying to call next door for the last fifteen minutes to tell Lucy to come over but no one was answering the phone. The Campbell’s phone was always off the hook and missing or the battery was dead.

  Since they moved in, Lucy had become our third musketeer. She was loads of fun. She always had her camera with her so we had a million pictures of just that past month. I liked that she loved taking pictures so much. It was the same way I felt about writing. I always had my notebook with me. Haley never understood my obsession so it was nice to have someone who got what it was like to have a hobby like that.

  I was actually amazed with the Campbell family over all. To me they were the most absolute perfect chaos. Mrs. C, that was what we called Lucy's mom, somehow managed to keep the house in perfect order even though her real estate job kept her busy. Mr. Campbell was equally impressive in his suits and shiny shoes. He ran an insurance company that just opened a branch in town. That was why the Campbells had relocated. Even though their parents ran a tight ship, kind of like my dad, their house was always full of noise and laughter and arguments because there was just so many of them. Since Haley and I were both only children I was only used to quiet houses. I loved getting caught up in the Campbell craziness.

  "I'll go grab her," I volunteered. I had been watching Haley try on outfit after outfit and it was getting pretty boring.

  "You should tell Luke to come with us, if you see him," she said, as I headed out the door.

  I just rolled my eyes. Like Luke would want to spend all day at the mall with a bunch of girls. I hadn’t seen him do one single thing that would make Haley think he liked her. At least, not any more than a little sister friend, but she swore he was into her. She was always telling him to come hang out when we went swimming. He just laughed and stayed inside playing video games. Every now and then, usually when Gavin was around so he wasn’t not the only boy, he would come running through the gate and cannonball into the deep end. I still didn’t see what Haley saw, but I liked having him around because he was strong enough to toss us off his shoulders and with two boys around we could chicken fight. I also thought it was funny that even if Haley had been saying she just wanted to work on her tan all day, she'd be in the water in no time flat. She was just so obvious.

  I instantly regretted knocking on the front door when Lane opened it. Mrs. C had told us a million times to just come in the back but I always forgot. My forgetfulness meant I had to deal with Lane. I hated dealing with Lane. He never hung out with us, even when Luke did, because he was just too cool. He was always smiling his smart-aleck boy smile and making jokes I didn’t understand. Plus, he hardly ever wore a shirt. Sure it was summer, but he could have put on a shirt. As soon as he saw me standing on the doorstep he leaned in the doorway and smiled that annoying smile. He looked down at my shoes.

  "What's up baby-doll shoes?" he asked. Calling me by my shoes. How stupid.

  I looked down at them. Even though I knew he was just being annoying on purpose, as usual, I had to look. They were Sugar shoes, flats with stripes and buckle. I thought they were super cute.

  "What's wrong with my shoes?" I asked, wrinkling my nose at him.

  He didn’t answer, of course, he just kept grinning at me. Thankfully, Lucas rescued me.

  "Baby-doll?" he asked, pushing his brother out of the way. Apparently, he didn't hear the whole conversation. He put his huge arm around my shoulders and dragged me inside. "Baby Bailey Baby-doll. Yeah, that’s perfect."

  Lucas grinned down at me. He was always giving me a hard time about being the youngest but not in an annoy way like his brother. He did it in a big brother, teasing way. I made a fussy face at him.

  "Lucy's shorter, she's the baby-doll," I told him, as we walked to the kitchen with Lane trailing after us.

  "Nope," Luke said, opening the fridge as I hopped up on a kitchen stool. "You’re my Bailey Baby-doll."

  "No way," I said, shaking my head. The last thing I needed was some silly nickname. "Is Lucy almost ready?"

  Luke took a huge bite out of left over sub sandwich as he plopped down in a seat across the island from me. With his free hand he reached out to playfully pinch my cheeks.

  "Looka those cute little cheekies," he said, around a mouthful of sandwich, as I tried to smack his huge paw away from my face. "You’re Baby-doll for sure."

  Lane startled us both from our play fight by screaming up the stairs for Lucy. He just shrugged when I looked at him like he was crazy. I just didn’t get why he always had to be so weird. Seconds later Lucy was bounding down the stairs making more noise than anyone her size should really make.

  "Move it butt-face," she said, pushing past Lane. Just like I thought the first day I met them, Lucy and Lane fought a lot. They were constantly pushing each other's buttons.

  I couldn’t imagine what it was like living with two stair step siblings. I didn’t think I'd ever want to fight and be mean like that if I had a brother or a sister but was so much fun to watch Lucy wipe that stupid smile off Lane's face.

  "Look, Bailey, I got pictures printed out from last weekend," she said, thrusting a cardboard folder into my hands. I took it and started rifling through pictures of all of us hanging out around the pool and sleeping over at Haley's.

  Weird as ever, Lane came to stand behind me and look over my shoulder. He was shirtless, as always, and he was so close I could feel the heat off of his chest. I didn’t know why but having him that close to me made my stomach go all wonky.

  "Guess what, Lucy," Luke told Lucy. "Bailey's got a new nickname. She's my Baby-doll."

  I looked up from the pictures and gave him a dirty look but couldn’t really hold it because he was smiling like he was all proud of himself.

  "Baby-doll Bailey," Lucy said, with a laugh. It didn’t sound so bad when she said it.

  "I told him you were the little baby-doll, Short Stuff," I said, sticking my tongue out at her.

  "Bailey-Baby-doll, Bailey-Baby-doll, Bailey-Baby-doll," she sang, taunting me and dancing around all silly.

  I couldn’t help but laugh even though I knew that silly nickname was going to stick. It could have been worse, like the guys at school calling Pence Lawton, Penis Longton. That poor kid.

  My laugh got stuck in my throat when Lane reached over my shoulder and grabbed my hands to stop them from flipping through pictures. The one he made me stop on was a picture Lucy took of me with a huge piece of watermelon in my hand, grinning like a fool. He snagged the picture from me.

  "Baby-doll," he said, with a chuckle. With the picture in hand, he took off up the stairs.

  "Weirdo!" Lucy yelled up after him.

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  Chapter 2

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  Seventh grade was so much work. Sure, there was a lot of actual school work, but that wasn’t the exhausting stuff. The part that seemed like so much work to me was keeping up with everybody.

  First, you had to make sure your look fit in with everybody. Thank God, for back to school shopping with the girls otherwise I would have been totally screwed. The “uniform” was low-rise jeans or skirts and American Eagle or Hollister t-shirts in our respective colors. My color was blue and Haley's was red. Haley said blondes look better in red. If we were planning to wear a different color we had to call and coordinate the night before.

  Lucy said she didn’t buy into the corporate idea of what a teenager should look like. I wasn’t quite sure what that meant but I loved her crazy style. She spent hours going through the racks at Goodwill and Second Hands Second Chances finding all kinds of crazy stuff like hippy dresses and bellbottom slacks. When she did buy new stuff it was usually from Hot Topic. It wasn’t really my kind of place but I did like the music they played. Haley said it was good to have an oddball in our group.

  Another thing you had to make sure of was that you were in the right place at the right time. You had to make sure you were on the quad before school to see how the day was going to shape up. You saw who was there and what kind of drama was going on that day. When Lana Dayton and Tyler Hines had a huge screaming match and broke up, it was right in the middle of the quad before first bell. It was crazy.

  Where you sat at lunch was super important too. Sixth grade babies sat closest to the lunch line. The jock seventh and eighth grade boys sat closest to the door. The important eighth grade girls sat next to the jocks. We staked out our table somewhere in the middle. It was the perfect place to sit and keep an eye on everything. Our lunch group consisted of Lucy, Haley, Lindsay, me and sometimes Tabitha but only when she didn’t have bible study group. We were the second most popular seventh grade group. Lauren, Caitlyn, and Emily were the most popular, but that was only because they were all dating football players.