a/n: Almost a year later… Uhm, so sorry for not updating sooner. Stupid, crazy life. Anyways… enjoy and LOL with me!

Chapter 5 – Bully

"Get your arm down, Ken! You're poking my side!"

The day had barely started and Jacob was already annoyed with me. Ever since that night after I'd met Angela, he'd felt like he had to compete with me for Bella's attention and it hadn't done our friendship any good. I had taken up the habit of avoiding him as much as I could. That proved a little difficult this morning.

"I know, but there isn't enough space in here to move my arm," I said. But before I had time for another attempt at moving, the bag we were trapped in rolled over again. We were in the trunk of a car and Renee was driving. It was by no means a smooth ride.

"Ouch, you hit my head!" Now Rosalie was complaining too. She and I had gotten along well after her introduction to the group. Still, it was a little awkward being confined with the three of us in such a small place.

"I'm sorry, Rosalie. At least I'm not poking you anymore, Jacob."

"Good. Let's keep it that way," Jake responded.

"Sure, someone's head detaching is no problem as long as nobody is touching your precious flank," Rosalie sneered.

"Don't start with me, Blondie."

"Guys! Cut it out already. I think we stopped." We heard doors slamming and a few seconds later bright sunlight was shining through the seams of the bag. Voices were getting louder as I felt us being lifted in the air.

"Hey Bella!" I recognized Angela's voice from the countless of times Bella and her had played together. "I brought Yasmin. Who did you bring?"

"I couldn't choose, so I brought Jacob, Ken and Barbie. I hope Mrs. Cope won't mind. Bye mom!"

I heard Renee calling after her about lunch, but Bella and Angela were too engrossed in their conversation to notice. We were going to Bella's classroom. It was her last day of fourth grade and everyone could bring a toy of their own to celebrate the year's end. I'd been looking forward to this day since Bella first mentioned it. I was finally going to see where she spends most of her time when I'm not with her.

Unfortunately we were trapped in the backpack until after lunch. We listened to Bella's teacher and the class as they did their math and grammar lessons in the morning and sat in silence while the children were playing outside during the break. When the class returned, Mrs. Cope told everyone to take out their toys. The zipper opened above our heads and we were finally seeing some light again. I had to blink a few times before I could look around.

My mouth would have dropped open from amazement if it weren't for the risk of exposure. The view I got as Bella lifted me from the bag, turned me around and placed me on her desk was truly wonderful. There were tables and chairs in little groups of four and boys and girls were busy showing each other what they'd brought to school everywhere I looked. The enthusiastic atmosphere was the perfect complement to the colorful walls. The brightest shades of yellow, blue and green paint were only visible in the small openings between the hundreds of beautiful artworks that decorated every spot. I wondered which ones were made by Bella.

But before I could further examine the crafts and paintings, Mrs. Cope came into my view and silenced the class. She looked quite strict with her red hair pulled back into a tight bun and glasses on the tip of her nose. But she had a very pleasant voice and was actually more than friendly while explaining the assignment for the afternoon. The kids at each group of tables were to prepare a scene from The Wizard of Oz and act it out with their toys in front of the class as an exercise in presenting.

It wasn't long before the whole room was filled with various discussions. Bella was seated with Angela and two boys whose names, I soon figured out, were Mike and Eric. They would be performing the scene where Dorothy and the others first meet the wizard and while they talked about the story and who should play which character, us toys had a little time for proper introductions.

"Welcome my friends," the doll belonging to the boy named Mike, started the conversation. He wore a white lab coat over his shirt and pants, but there was another costume lying beside him. His voice was laced with hospitality as he continued, but I couldn't help feeling there was something off about his demeanor. "I am the Hulk, but you may call me Aro. This here is Marcus."

He nodded to the racecar driver on the table beside him. The second boy, Eric, had brought him and his racecar to school. Aro told us he was supposed to be modeled after a famous driver, but I'd never even seen a race, let alone remember the drivers. Aside from a nod of the head, Marcus didn't really react to Aro's words.

"We are so very pleased to meet you all. Please introduce yourselves," Aro continued, unfazed by Marcus's coolness.

Just then, however, Mike reached over and picked me up from Bella's desk. "Ken dolls are so stupid! Look Eric, he's wearing pink!" They both laughed as Bella shouted to give me back.

"Oh yeah? Than what's so different and cool about yours?" Angela defended.

"Mine is not a Ken doll! This is the Hulk. He has superpowers." Mike picked up Aro's other costume to show them. It was piece of green fabric, stuffed full so that the arms and legs of the suit were barely visible in all its bulkiness.

I asked Aro what kind of powers it had and he proudly answered: "When I'm angry it makes me really strong." I honestly doubted that a simple costume could make a doll stronger. In my imagination, the most it would accomplish is make him look incredibly ridiculous.

The girls weren't convinced either and returned to trying to take me back. Mike and Eric weren't going to give in that easily though. Eric snatched Rosalie away as well and said: "I bet she pretends he's Barbie's boyfriend." And he started singing: "Ken and Barbie sitting in a tree…"

Mike and Eric moved us closer together until our heads were almost touching. I heard Rosalie say "Oh no!" just before our noses crashed against each other. The boys moved us around making kissing noises. I heard Jacob's howling laughter and Jessica's jealous huffs.

They didn't stop until Mrs. Cope took us away from them. "Boys, boys. It's not nice to make fun of other people or their toys. How far are you with the assignment?"

She gave us back to Bella while Rosalie said to me: "No offence, but… gross." I had to agree with that statement. There definitely wasn't anything more between us than friendship.

Angela told the teachers how they had divided the roles. Yasmin would be playing Dorothy while the Hulk would play the wizard. The driver with his helmet was assigned the Tin Man and Jacob's fur made him the ideal candidate for the Cowardly Lion. He didn't seem too happy about that decision himself. That left the Scarecrow for me. There were no more female roles and since Bella now had two characters already, Barbie could sit this one out.

We rehearsed the little play a few times until the teacher announced the start of the performances. I had expected Bella to be a bit more enthusiastic about the whole assignment. She enjoyed making up little stories for her dolls and stuffed animals all the time and The Wizard of Oz was still her favorite. But she seemed to grow more reluctant to participate with every minute, keeping her head down and only speaking when she had to say her lines. I pondered why until I remembered something Jacob had said to me on my very first day.

Bella was uncomfortable in large groups. Of course that was it. She was nervous about standing in front of the entire class. And now she had not one but two roles to perform in the play. I felt extremely sorry for her. I wished I could do something about it. Tell her she didn't have to do it and protect her from the stares of her classmates. But I was just a doll. There was nothing I could do. For the first time in my short life I felt helpless. If only I were Pinocchio and the Blue Fairy would turn me into a real boy…

My fears were confirmed as our part of the story came. Bella's cheeks became red as soon as she walked to the front of the class. She took her position between Angela and Eric, but kept her head down and her eyes glued to the floor. She mumbled through her first lines for the Cowardly Lion and had to repeat them on Mrs. Cope's request in a louder voice. They came out even more trembling the second time and the already impossible color in her face turned even brighter. I desperately wanted to know how to calm her down and give her more confidence before my part came. But I couldn't think of anything that didn't involve me blowing my cover and having some serious explaining to do. It was hard to think straight in any case, because I was getting a little nauseous in Bella's shaking hands.

"And what is it you want, Scarecrow?" Mike said in a poor imitation of the Wizard's voice.

It was Bella's turn again. She had remembered to speak louder, but she still struggled to get the words out. "I… I don't h…have a… brain."

"Now we know why Ken dolls are so stupid," I heard Eric whisper to Mike. They both sniggered as Mike responded: "That's not the only body part he's missing."

Mike hadn't learned the art of whispering so it seemed, because the front row of kids had easily heard his comment. He reached his hand with Aro towards me. The outstretched arm of the Hulk-doll hooked into the waistband of my little jeans and in one swift movement he pulled them down.

I was naked… In front of the entire class… If I hadn't been made of plastic I would have blushed, profusely. Why didn't dolls wear underpants?

The first thing able to break through my own shock was the earsplitting sound of laughing children and the teacher yelling for everyone to be quiet. Chaos had erupted in the classroom. I saw Mrs. Cope trying to make her way towards the front before everything suddenly turned dark. Bella had tugged me under her cardigan and she was running. I heard her fast steps on the tiled floor of the school's hallway. She rounded a corner, jerked to a stop and sank to the ground.

We sat there for a few moments while soft, shaky sobs escaped from Bella's mouth, the only movement coming from her unsteady breathing. I became aware of something else than the fabric of the cardigan touching my right arm. "Jacob? Is that you?"

"Yeah… You okay?"

"I'm fine… Thanks. For not laughing earlier." I would have recognized his booming laughter over all the rest, especially because he'd been right next to me.

"I was staring right at Bella's face during it all. Not something to laugh about," he said seriously. I had to give him credit for worrying about her first of all.

"What do we do now?" I asked, but Jake remained silent. There wasn't anything we could do. Again. I was really starting to get sick of feeling helpless.

Bella's sobs slowly started to calm down and I saw light again. She placed Jake on the ground next to her crossed legs but held on to me. I got a quick glance at her face. It was blotchy and red, with tears streaming down both her cheeks. She shouldn't be feeling this sad. It hadn't been her fault after all and it happened so fast, there was no way she could have prevented it. Bella whipped her face with her sleeves and started fumbling with my pants. They were still hanging around my ankles.

Oh no! I'm still naked… I was sure the embarrassment would show up on my face this time, in spite of the plastic. Being naked in front of Bella was somehow infinitely worse than being naked in front of a few unfamiliar children.

I couldn't help my next move. The overwhelming feelings took over and I didn't even think about it. Completely on their own and involuntarily, my arms moved in front of me in an effort to cover up, just as Bella managed to pull up my jeans. I realized the mistake too late and I anxiously watched the shocked expression on Bella's face. Her eyes flew open wide, as did her mouth and she almost dropped me.

I held myself as still as possible. Afraid even to respond to Jacob's hushed warnings between his whispered string of curses. Bella's eyebrows knit together and she pursed her lips. She held me a bit closer and tilted her head slightly as she examined me.

Just then Mrs. Cope stepped around the corner of the little nook we were hiding in. "There you are Bella! Are you okay?"

She kneeled down and laid her hand on Bella's shoulder. "You don't need to be embarrassed. It wasn't your fault. I've given Mike detention this afternoon and he has to apologize to you. He won't do it again."

Bella nodded, but didn't take her eyes from me. Her teacher stood up again and reached out her hand as she asked Bella if she would come watch the rest of the performances. With one final look at me and a little shrug, Bella took her teacher's hand and returned to her classroom.

I was safe. For now…

Little, teeny, tiny bit of a cliffhanger. Don't forget to tell me what you think! Motivation comes from shared enthusiasm…