A.N. I know, I know. You guys are DYING to have Phil back in the story and I PROMISE he will be in the next chapter. I am totally spoiling you guys for posting two chapters in one day but I can't help it! 3 Your reviews are making me so happy!

Disclaimer: I know own nothing. Lol

Chapter 8

"Who was that?"

Barbie was smiling as she brought her baby blues to Maryse's eyes, her friend looking at her curiously. "Remember that girl Serena I was telling you about?"

"The hot guys friend, right?"

"Yep! Well, that was her. She said she was finally able to get those pictures she took developed, and if I wanted to come take a look."

"You told her yes, right?"

"Of course!" Barbie grinned, "I asked her if it was alright that you came with me. We're going to have to ride the bus, she lives downtown, Fuller street."

"Fuller street?" Maryse shrieked, "Barbie that neighborhood is the very definition of ghetto…"

Barbie frowned, giving Maryse an odd look. "So what? We just dress casual, put our hair up, and no one should bother us. If it was dangerous I don't think Serena would be asking me to come down there."

Maryse gave Barbie a stiff look, and then slumped her shoulders. "Alright, but I'm leaving my jewelry and purse here."

"Whatever Maryse, you're being dramatic." Barbie sighed, moving to her dresser to pull out the clothes she was going to wear. She was just happy that her and Maryse were talking again, and even hanging out like they used to do in the old days. It's been three days since her birthday and Barbie returned to the squad and things went back to being somewhat normal. Maryse was noticeably less nasty towards other people; she'd even pulled Aj to the side in the hallway and openly apologized to her in front of a bunch of other people. Aj had been pretty scared when Maryse had grabbed her, but had ended up with a totally confused expression once the words "I'm sorry." left the head cheerleaders lips.

"So you said this chick doesn't have hair right? Is she like a skinhead or something?"

"No Maryse, she's not a skinhead." At least that had never crossed Barbie's mind, Serena really didn't give off that whole "neo-nazi" vibe.

"Cancer then?"

"Maryse, seriously," Barbie turned around, giving her friend a disproving look, "I don't know why she's bald, I didn't ask her and I am begging you not to either, okay?"

"Geez Barbs, it's not like I'm going to try and offend the lady or anything. She seems pretty cool from what you've told me."

"I don't know if you realize it, but sometimes you just have a way of making the things you say…catty."

"I just say what's on my mind."

"And sometimes what's on your mind is really rude and offensive."

Maryse laughed, knowing full well that Barbie was right. She really did have a way of offending people without really meaning to. "I'll watch what I say, Barbs, don't worry."

Barbie's smile returned as she headed off into her bathroom to change. When she came out she had on a pair of blue jeans, a white t-shirt and was in the process of pulling a hoody down over her head. When it was finally down, Barbie put her hair up into a messy ponytail/bun/who knows what the hell that's called - kind of thing and grabbed her only non-pink bag. While she'd chastised Maryse for the way she'd been thinking, Barbie still had her apprehensions. The South End wasn't the nicest of neighborhoods and she really didn't want to paint a target on their backs saying: HEY WE ARE DUMB BLONDES OBSESSED WITH PINK COME STEAL OUR STUFF!

Maryse was in the process of dumping her gold chains, rings, and diamond studs in her bag and tossing it in Barbie's closet when Barbie spoke, "Ready 'Ryse?"

"Yeah, just give me a sec," the taller blonde was sifting through the pile of clothes that Barbie hid in her closet, it gave new meaning to the term "closet-slob". Barbie's room looked immaculately clean, but that was only because she threw her messes in the closet and hid them behind the sliding doors. "Aha!" Maryse cried as she pulled a heavy gray hoody from the pile. "Red leather attracts attention." Maryse wore a grin as she eyed her studded jacket that was hanging over the back of Barbie's desk chair. "We want to be invisible, right?"

"Right…" Barbie answered, resisting the urge to giggle. She really was very happy to have her friend back.

"So its hotstuff going to be there?"

"I don't know. I didn't ask." Barbie replied, the two girls were sitting at the very back of the bus. The air was stuffy and neither girl could figure out why they would have the heat on when it was 60 degrees out. What really sucked though was when they tried to pry the window open the tiny bit it was allowed to open, the stupid thing wouldn't budge. "Even if he's not, you'll still see him. Serena took a couple pictures of us sitting together."

"You didn't tell me that!" Maryse gasped, eyeing her friend.

"Sorry?" Barbie grinned, and Maryse playfully shoved her. The rest of the ride was spent gossiping and chitchatting about various things. Barbie even learned something new: Dolph Ziggler was scared of spiders. Maryse had told her about a time they'd gone to the movies, and a spider had swung down from the ceiling in front of Dolph and he'd jumped out of his seat, and flailed around like he was drowning. His ego had been damaged when Maryse took a napkin and squashed it like it was nothing.

"What number did she say?" Maryse questioned as the two girls walked close together down the cracked, and broken sidewalk.

"She said it's the big building down there." Barbie pointed in the direction of a four story apartment complex. It looked like it had seen better days. "We gotta press the number 13 doorbell." She informed as they climbed the short step way to the building. Not but a few seconds after Maryse pressed the button did the door make a funny buzzing noise. The two girls looked at each other and Barbie gripped the door handle and pulled. "That's kinda cool."

"If you say so Barbs," Maryse gave her friend a smirk and the two girls began the journey up the various staircases until they came face to face with the number 13 door. Barbie's hand was just about to connect with the wood of the door when it was pulled open and Serena's smiling face greeted them.

"Hi Barbie! This must be….Maurice?"

"Maryse." Maryse corrected, but offered a pleasant smile.

Serena chuckled, "Sorry about that. My hearing isn't all that great, I listened to loud music for to many years." She explained that she misheard Barbie on the phone. "Let's get you girls inside before the neighbors start complaining."

"Would they really?" Barbie asked as they followed Serena into the apartment. It was a small, but cozy space. She had a lot of photographs hanging on the walls, an old comfy looking couch and one of those old box tvs.

"They're kinda bitchy." Serena explained, offering the girls to sit on the couch. "If they so much as hear me cough they complain. Even called the cops one time when I was sick, they told them I was having a party. I was throwing up."

"Are you serious?" Maryse asked with wide eyes.

"As a heart attack. Coppers were pretty upset with them for that, told them if they ever made a call like that again that they'd be the ones getting hauled down to the station. Haven't had 'em back since," Serena said with a shrug. "Are you girls thirsty? I've got Canada Dry or Coke."

"I'd just like some water, please." Barbie smiled, looking towards Maryse.

"Coke, thank you." Maryse mirrored Barbie's smile.

When Serena returned she set a plastic cup in front of Barbie on the table that sat before the couch, and a cold can of Coca Cola in front of Maryse, she had one for herself as well and a manila folder shoved under her arm. "These came out spectacular." Serena boasted as she plopped into a dinning chair she'd dragged over, the manila folder in her hands. "You and Phil have great chemistry, ya know?" Serena had a monster of a smirk on her face.

The mention of Phil had both Barbie and Maryse perked up, but for different reasons. Barbie because his name made her heart flutter and Maryse because she really wanted to see who this guy was that Barbie was clearly head over heels for. "Do they now?" Maryse wore a smirk of her own as she noticed a blush spreading over her friend's nose.

"Hell yeah," Serena said seriously, "They couldn't take their eyes off each other the whole time."

Maryse turned her attention to Barbie, who at this point looked a lot like Elmo. "You didn't tell me that either, Barbs."

"So, like I was saying. These pictures are awesome." Serena began again. It was the second time since Barbie had known Serena that the shorter woman had saved her from her own embarrassment. "Check them out." Serena wore a huge smile as she handed the folder to Barbie, who took it gladly. As soon as she opened it she was meant with the first picture. It was of just her, sitting under the tree, her eyes, she knew, were trained on Phil still sitting at the picnic table. Serena had given it a sepia tone and to be completely honest, Barbie thought it was a picture of a young woman gazing at the love of her life.

"Holy shit, Barbie!" Mayse had nearly screamed, as the taller blonde poked her head in front of Barbie to peer at the photograph. "What are you thinking about in this picture?"

"Denise." Barbie lied, and quickly at that.

"Yeah right." Maryse teased, "You don't get that kind of look on your face when you think about your sister." Barbie chose to ignore her. "This is a beautiful picture of you though." Maryse turned her eyes over to Serena who was obviously proud of her work. "This really is fantastic, Serena."

Serena only grinned as the girls continued to look through the photos. It was when the one of Barbie and Phil sitting together came up did Barbie appear to stop breathing. Maryse looked inquisitive as she gazed at the picture, seeing Phil for the first time. She was going to come out with a: Yeah, he really is hot; when she caught herself. She didn't want to embarrass Barbie that much. When she finished checking him out, she finally noticed the way he was looking at Barbie and a massive smile cracked her face. "He is SO into you Barbie!" Oops.

Barbie's eyes were still glued to the photograph when Maryse spoke, a horrified look appearing in her baby blues. She nervously peeked a glance at Serena who was surprisingly still wearing a gigantic grin. "You can't fake that look, Barbie doll." Serena said, using Phil's pet name for her.

Despite her face feeling like she'd just been bobbing for apples in magma, she smiled. "These are beautiful, Serena. I'm so glad I was able to inspire this." She let the cover of the folder slip back over the photos, moving to hand them back to the woman who'd taken them.

"No, no. Those are yours Barbie, I made copies for my portfolio. I want you to have the originals."

Before Barbie could protest, Maryse spoke up, "Speaking of portfolio's, I've been dying to start one myself. I'm interested in getting into modeling, but I don't really have any good pictures of myself. How much would you charge to do a shoot with me?"

Serena looked genuinely surprised. "I've never actually thought about it, I'm still just an amateur. I've only been taking this photography class for a few months now…"

"Well shit!" Maryse proclaimed, "Amateur of not, they're lovely and I'd be honored to start my portfolio with your work. How would $200 sound?"

"Wow Maryse." Barbie looked at her friend wide eyed. She didn't really know how much things like this would really cost in the professional world, but $200 was still a lot. Totally worth it, but still a lot.

"You would really pay me that much to take pictures of you?"

"Yes." Maryse nodded, "With all the fancy editing and stuff too, of course."

"Are you eighteen? I can't take your money unless you're legal." Serena said. She wasn't about to have this girls parents banging her door down demanding their daughters money back.

"Since January." Maryse grinned.

"Awesome." Serena mirrored her grin, "We can set this up now or you can call me sometime."

"I'll call, that way I have time to get the money."

"Alright. Barbie has my number, you'll give it to her right?"

"Of course." Barbie grinned as she carefully put the manila folder into her bag. She then reached for her water, taking a sip. "Honestly though, Serena, you are really talented."

"Thank you. That means a lot to me. I didn't really expect this to be something I'd really enjoy doing, but it's been great so far."

The three girls talked for almost an hour before Barbie and Maryse had to go, or else they'd miss their bus back uptown. Serena offered to walk the two of them to the bus stop but they'd told her not to worry about it, Barbie had promised to text Serena when they got back to her house, that way she knew they'd made it back okay.

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