Значительный

The silence in the room was broken by the ringing of the alarm clock. Barbie opened her eyes sleepily, rubbing her chin with the palm of her hand and scratching her eye with her index finger. Looking at the time, she stretched sleepily, about to get out of bed, but her feet got tangled in the blanket and the blonde fell to the floor, hitting her knee painfully. Yes, it seems that the day did not start well.

With a hiss of pain, she untangled the blanket from around her legs, finally extricating herself from her captivity. Stroking her bruised kneecap, Barbie pressed her lips to the aching spot, hoping that at least a kiss would ease the pain. In any case, it helped, although not completely.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she put her weight on her hands as she rose. Standing up, she groaned a little - stepping on her foot was far from pleasant, but at least tolerable. With an offended snort, the blonde limped toward the bathroom - school still hadn't been canceled. When she reached her destination, she let out a sigh of relief - she was the first to arrive, and there was still no queue to go to the toilet.

When she finished with the water treatment, she went downstairs, but because of a bad knee, she had to take the elevator. Once in the kitchen, the girl found no one there, blinking in surprise. Usually at this time, the parents were already having breakfast, getting ready for work.

But then it suddenly occurred to that mother had taken a vacation, and father had a long-delayed day off. However, the absence of her younger sisters confused her much more - they also need to go to school. Well, except for Chelsea, of course - she'd only been in prep class so far, and she didn't have to go there today. Although even if it was necessary, the lesson still did not take place in the morning.

It was clear enough with Skipper - she was always the last one to wake up. But Stacey usually got up with her, and sometimes earlier. But now, for some reason, she didn't come down.

The girl shook her head, knocking out unnecessary thoughts, and just gave up on everything, making herself breakfast and a couple of sandwiches for school. When she was done, she took an anti - inflammatory ointment out of the refrigerator - her knee was really sore.

After treating the bruised joint, the blonde mumbled like an old grandmother from Russia, carefully sitting down on a chair and starting to eat.

When breakfast was over, the elder Roberts slid off her chair, leaving the dishes in the sink, and limped off to her room. After changing, she looked at herself in the mirror, looking at her clothes. She was wearing a white short-sleeved top, loose pastel pink 7/8-length trousers, and a matching light button-up blouse. Satisfied with her image, Barbie habitually applied a pale red lipstick and smacked her lips lightly as she stood in front of the mirror.

Ready for kissing Ken, as they say.

Giggling, then immediately putting the thought out of her mind, she limped down the stairs, still limping, and picked up her backpack. Putting on her favorite white sneakers, the girl was about to take the car keys, but accidentally stepping on her foot harder than she wanted, she moaned piteously - she would have to give up the car today.

Somehow, when she left the house, she noticed Ken, who was already waiting for her on the street - they had an unspoken rule: every morning to give a ride and wait for each other. And this was not an agreement: somehow it just so happened, they did not discuss this topic. They just decided whose car they were going to drive.

The blond man was wearing the same kit that Barbie had picked up for him, and he had a backpack on his shoulders. Turning, he noticed his beloved, who had just left the house. Immediately noticing her pained expression of concentration, the surfer headed in her direction, a worried frown on his face.

- Good morning, - the guy greeted first, opening his arms for a hug, and the girl immediately dived to him, wrapping her hands around his lower back, - What happened to you?

- But what is it kind... - she muttered a few more curses into his chest, - Fell...

- Fell? - Ken asked, pulling back slightly, - From where?

- Out of bed... - she smiled a little sheepishly, - I hurt my knee, and it hurts to walk.

The blond man rolled his eyes, grinning.

- You're always getting into some kind of trouble, - he said, pulling away from her and giving her a gentle kiss on the temple, as if to comfort her, - Come here, Mount onion.

Barbie didn't have time to say anything, just gasped in embarrassment when the blonde suddenly crouched slightly, one hand grabbing her under the hips and the other wrapping around her back.

Once in the air, she almost screamed in surprise, frantically wrapping her arms around the guy's neck.

- Ken, - she said, nuzzling his collarbone with an embarrassed squeak, - I could have...

She couldn't finish her sentence, as she was interrupted rather abruptly.

- No, - he said firmly, still carrying her, - couldn't. If it keeps hurting, I won't let you go to practice.

She started to protest, and then realized that this was just an act of concern. Ken was obviously worried about her, and he didn't want her to make things worse for herself.

- You...  - the girl hesitated, not knowing what to say, - aah...

- What am I?- he finally reached his car, carefully easing the girl into the seat through the door of the convertible, - Mmm?

She looked up into his eyes, embarrassed but brave, and touched his palm with hers.

- You're the best, Ken,- Barbie felt her face grow hot, - the best.

The blond man hesitated, embarrassed by the compliment, but he didn't take his hand away. He stared into her eyes, blushing like a cancer.

They didn't notice how they were so close to each other. He was already leaning forward, about to kiss her, when Ken's mother's voice came sharply from the side, startling them both. Moving briskly away from each other as if nothing had happened, the blonde couple stared at the woman, clearly as red as tomatoes.

- What are you doing here? - Heather grinned cheerfully, noticing the embarrassment of both of them, - Are you going to kiss?

- Mom!

- Aunt Heather!

Their simultaneous shy cry made the brown-haired woman laugh, which made her laugh merrily into her fist, amused by their embarrassment.

- Okay, okay, I was just kidding, - she said, walking over to the car, ruffling the unruly hair of her son, who was still standing on the Barbie side, - Go already, or you'll be late.

After saying this, she retreated back to the house, and the confused friends went to school.

                                 ***

A group of friends, laughing, came down the stairs from the dining room, periodically teasing each other. Ken went down first, then helped the blonde down the stairs. She was coming down, lightly holding on to the railing. However, it almost cost her some broken limb if the surfer didn't react in time.

Tammy, who was going down the stairs much faster than the blonde, accidentally bumped her shoulder. Although, maybe not by accident. Apparently, she was in a hurry to go somewhere, because she threw a completely uncharacteristic sincere apology and continued to walk somewhere at a brisk pace.

Barbie, unable to resist, flew forward from the stairs. The girls walking behind her didn't even have time to grab her hands, crying out in fright. The blonde squeezed her eyes shut, already ready to break something, but soon she felt not the hard concrete floor, but someone's strong hands gripping her waist.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Ken holding her tightly. The guy carefully set her down on the floor, no longer on the steps, holding her by the shoulders. Her friends looked at each other at that moment, glad not only that the girl had survived, but also that no one else but a surfer had caught her. Ken gave her a worried look, finally releasing her.

- Are you okay?

She nodded, still slightly shocked by the unexpected flight.

- Y-yes, I'm fine, - Barbie said, smiling a little, - I'm all right. Thanks.

The girls exchanged meaningful glances, but said nothing as they followed her down the stairs. Daisy patted her friend's shoulder, encouraging her. The blonde smiled, shooting a jealous glance in the direction of Ken, who, having made sure that everything was all right with his beloved, was now distracted by a conversation with Harriet.

Renee clearly noticed the hurt look on her face, so she didn't hesitate to give Roberts a little shove on the shoulder.

- Hey, are you jealous?

Barbie blinked stupidly, realizing that she had just given herself away. Her face immediately flushed.

- No! What are you doing? - she smiled tightly, barely able to keep from glancing sideways at her friends as they spoke, - I'm not jealous! Absolutely! I'm not jealous at all, you know! Why should I be jealous?

Teresa laughed, unable to contain herself, but when she met Barbie's angry gaze, she immediately covered her mouth with her hand, trying to stop the laughter that was trying to escape, but the quiet giggles still slipped out. It was like the popular meme "I laugh when I can't".

- Well, well, we believe you, Barbie Roberts, - Nikki grinned, noticing another sideways glance in Ken's direction, - you should learn how to disguise yourself.

- All right, that's enough! - Barbie somehow viciously snorted, turning in the other direction, - I'm not jealous!

Her friends laughed, clearly pleased with their victory.

-Okay, okay, we get it!

The girls also turned to look at Ken and Harriet, who were already finishing their conversation. Ken nodded to the girl one last time and said goodbye to her, just about to go back to his company, when suddenly some unknown brown-haired woman stopped him, grabbed him by the muscular shoulder, and unceremoniously kissed him on the cheek.

The girls ' jaws dropped. And not just them, but almost everyone else in the hallway: Barbie, Ken,and the rest of the group were always being watched. This was the fate of the school's most famous and popular students.

A murmur of gossip crept along the corridor, which soon grew louder. Dumbfounded, Ken barely had time to move away from the first shock, as the impudent girl coquettishly ran her fingers over his hand, saying too languidly:

- Did you like it, pretty boy? I can repeat it...

- No, - the guy somehow glared at her, pulling his hand out of a rather strong grip, and then disgustedly wiped his cheek from someone else's drool and too bright lipstick, - I didn't like it. Don't repeat it, I don't want to throw up.

- What are you...? - the girl barely had time to sigh indignantly, as the blonde immediately touched the shoulder of the brown-haired woman, leaving traces of her own act on her clothes, - What are you doing!?

- I return you your spent lipstick.

The corridor, which had fallen silent during his words, suddenly burst into wild laughter and whistling, taking on its usual liveliness.

- Y-you, you... - dumbfounded by such a sharp refusal, the girl could not find words for a clear answer, - you're an cretin!

- Yes, I'm a cretin, - he nodded, turning away and heading towards the dumbfounded friends, - The most appropriate description for a guy who was kissed without asking by some girl who had nothing to do with him.

The guffaw in the corridor after this phrase only intensified, and the self-confident brown-haired woman was left with nothing, standing in the middle of the corridor with an evil expression on her face.

- You've disgraced yourself, Lara! You're being too conceited!

- You'll talk less about how any guy will fall for your appearance!

- The most popular guy in school - fish is not for your pond !

To say that Barbie was shocked by this performance is to say nothing. She didn't even have time to react in any way to the trick of the girl, whom she knew only from the stories of her friends: one of the girls studied with her.

- What do you have to think, - Daisy leaned in, grinning, - to allow yourself to just kiss a stranger?

Ken came up to them with a restrained smile, nodding to his friends. Responding to some teasing from Teresa with a joke, he looked into the face of Barbie, who continued to just stare at him with wide eyes.

- Hey, what are you doing? - he gently touched her cheek with his palm, gently shaking her, - Barbie, are you there?

The girl finally froze, blinking. The blond man immediately removed his hand, so as not to allow himself too much. After repeating his question and receiving an affirmative answer, he nodded, lightly patting her shoulder.

The brown-haired woman herself stared at the blonde, who now came up to her friends, starting a conversation with them. Seeing the care and tenderness with which he treated Barbie, she gritted her teeth enviously, so much so that the muscles in her cheeks twitched.

Seething with anger, she pushed a girl who, along with the others, saw her shame and chuckled softly, causing her to fall right into her boyfriend's arms. Not listening to the indignant shout of the same student, she went somewhere along the corridor, listening to the remarks that were showered on her classmates and students from the parallel.

She was going to avenge her shame.

She was going to get Ken.