A doll named Holly: A Ragderful Christmas

Chapter 7: A christmas card for Barb

           On the classroom, Lisa and Holly have finished the book report about christmas on sunday. Maureen cleaned the lenses of her glasses while Portia began listening to hip hop versions of christmas songs on her phone. Vivian was reading her favorite christmas thriller novel Nothing Lasts Forever and became terrified at the terrible content of it. Mallory was thinking of having nutcracker dolls after seeing a display of nutcracker dolls on Google, "Girls, how about we give her a nutcracker doll to crack the nuts?" She suggested.

"I agree with the idea, Mallory. But, this sounds useless," Holly refused to accept her suggestion and pulled out the christmas card, "Let me think, what christmas means to her?"

"To dance in their pink shorts!" Verena replied stupidly.

"Uh, no..."

"Stayin' gangsta!" said Portia.

"Not gangsta, Portia," Lisa shook her head in disapproval before seeing Barb playing her video game system, "She is sitting in that chair, right there. But, what do we do to her?"

The rag doll stratched her head briefly and began thinking, "Oh! I know, I know!" She exclaimed as she started to write on the christmas card;

"Barb Leander,

Your grandpa loved christmas so much. You don't have to dislike christmas because of Leisen's death on 1993. He was a part of your life, you used to build a snowman with him, having snowball fights, skating together, creating snow angels and decorating your house with him. Christmas means a lot to you, Barb, Christmas has love, passion and generosity. When Santa puts you on the nice list, you're out of the naughty list and be nice forever.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays."

"That's impressive, Hol. What if Barb finds out that she was wrong about hating christmas in first place?" said Lisa.

"You'll see, Lis..."

After two hours of classes, Lisa, Holly and their friends went to the cafeteria, waiting to be given their lunches and drinks. They hoped that they would get Barb out of her hatred and into the christmas spirit. The girls saw Barb having lunch by herself, without anyone next to her, "Why Barb is having lunch all alone, girls?" Maureen asked.

"What does she do? Say merry happy Whatever again and again?" said Mallory as she ate a piece of roasted steak.

"There must be someone to deal with her," Holly stated, "Portia, why don't you talk to her?"

"Of course! You chose the girl who always raps!" Portia confidently smiled before pulling out the christmas card that her friend had wrote earlier and sat next to Barb, "Yo, Barbara! Can we talk?"

"Oh, porcelain, leave me alone..." Barb refused to talk to her as she kept eating her lunch.

"Ever since your granddaddy died, you never had a chance to celebrate christmas with your family!"

"Portia! Your smooth rap talking is bothering me!"

"Psst! Portia!"

"Huh?"

"Put the christmas card on her backpack!" Lisa whispered quietly.

"Oh, sure, sure. Barb-girl, That thang is not a lie, but, do you mind to see your backpack?" Portia asked her.

"OK, but, don't think what are you going to do, Portia. And don't put anything related to christmas to bother me."

One hour later, Portia have left the cafeteria, carrying the christmas card as she looked around before walking quietly. She began crawling on the hallways in order to avoid being caught by anyone who was passing by. She crawled, crawled and crawled until she noticed two boys talking to each other.

"On christmas eve, my girlfriend from Canada that I met on my travels is coming soon. She is coming to see me and meet my parents!" said the first boy.

"Or maybe invite my grandma to the christmas dinner," said the second boy.

"Phew...Man, I almost got caught," Portia said to herself before seeing the lockers and Kendra seeing the calendar showing how many days have passed before christmas eve, "Principal Wyman...chillax, Portia, it's gonna be okay." The porcelain doll walked quietly and encountered Barb's locker when she opened, it has Barb's yellow winter jacket and backpack, "Yep, that's rizzle," She looked around before putting the christmas card on the backpack, "Nice! I'm gonna tell Holly that everythin' worked out!"

"Portia, what are you doing?" Clary appeared behind her.

The porcelain doll chuckled nervously, "Nothing! I was just placin' some batteries," She claimed before seeing Lisa, Holly and their friends showing up, "I mean, puttin' a surprise for Barbara."

"That's right, Clary!" said Holly, "Barb never liked christmas and acted rude. People love christmas, even Principal Kendra and Mrs. Forrester."

"Listen to the tune, girls!" Verena pulled out two bells and began playing "Jingle Bells" with them, "She never heard jingle bells before, get it? Jingle bells!"

"Jingle bells?!" Barb appeared, "Grow up, girls! I don't want to end up on the nice list because of my hate!"

"Barb Leander? Why do you hate christmas so much?"

"Because my grandfather died!"

"Oh, please, girl! The christmas eve is coming and you have to escape from the naughty list! When everything ends, Santa will put you on the nice list!" stated Holly.

"You mean...I'm gonna be on the nice list?" Barb looked shocked.

"Uh-huh, on the nice list."

"And your parents will give you anything for christmas!" said Lisa.

"Really? Anything anything?"

"Anything anything!" The two girls smiled.

"That's so exciting!" Barb looked impressed and excited.

"And so exciting!" Holly stated, "You're gonna have anything like, christmas dinner, christmas carols, christmas films, nutcracker dolls, ornaments, holiday parades, christmas cards and a lot of christmas stuff coming on, girl! What do you say? Are you ready for it?!"

"Holly, this is getting so....so....embarrassing!" Barb shouted at them, causing the rag doll and her friends to gasp in shock, "Christmas means nothing to me! I'm on the naughty list, do you understand?! Happy now?" She continued as she awaited for her classmates' reply, but no response from them, "Good!"

"I thought that Barb changed her mind," said Nikki.

"I see her walking away showing disappointment," Clary facepalmed her face.

"I know she doesn't care about christmas, Clary. I think there must be...something to make her change her mind," Holly has put her hands on her pockets before coming up with an idea, "Hey! I think that I know what to do!"

"What is it going to be?" Lisa asked.