Nick

The Tribulations of a Broken Marriage.

Nicholas Tasker was most definitely not happy and he wore that displeasure like a grim funerary mask on his youthful face. Travelling forty seven hours by bus from Minnesota to Los Angeles had done nothing to improve his surly disposition.

Sitting in the patterned blue colored cloth upholstered bus seat, arms folded across his chest, he leaned his shoulder against the fingerprint smeared window, cobalt blue eyes narrow, the corners of his mouth pulled down into a frown.

He hated being on the bus. He hated that his parents had gotten divorced. He hated how he had been made the subject of an ugly custody dispute. And now he hated being told that he now had to go live with his father after having resided with his mother for the previous two and half years. Prior to the finalization of the proceedings, he and his mother had been living in Maple Grove, located in the northwest corner of the metropolitan Minneapolis St. Paul area.

He had begged and pleaded with the judge to be permitted to remain with his mother at least for the duration of his final school year.

Not that he was a particularly great student, though the consensus amongst his teachers was consistent. All said Nick was a bright, intelligent pupil, who if he applied himself, had the potential to achieve a high degree of academic success. Instead, he was frequently absent, and suspended on two separate occasions for physical altercations.

The lady judge, in her final decision, stated, “That while Mr. Tasker’s current scholastic circumstance was taken into consideration when determining judgement, the paucity of information states his inappropriate behavioral manifestations, including persistent defiance and contumacious attitude with blatant disregard for the conventions of propriety, at home, at school, and in the community at large, are growing in frequency and intensity. This coupled with his mother’s current domestic situation and her inability at present to provide a structured and stable home environment conducive to the wellbeing of young man who may be traveling down a very difficult path, lead the court to make the decision that in the best interest of all involved parties, custody is to be awarded to his father.”

And that was that. In the best interest of all involved parties, Nick who hadn’t seen his father in over two and a half years was now being uprooted and shipped across the country. He had two weeks to pack of his life and go.

Adding insult to injury, Nick found out his father was now shacked up in a common law relationship with another woman and her kid. New home, new school, new family. The whole thing pissed him off. In his anger, he seriously contemplated running away. It was only his mother who persuaded him to get on the bus.

When the bus finally rolled into the station in LA, it was around 4:30 in the afternoon, the brown haze of smog hanging low and heavy in the sky.

With no particular need for haste, he waited for most of the other passengers to leave the bus before getting up from his seat, mindful to stoop because of the low hanging overhead storage compartment. Cooped up for nearly two complete days, he felt a distinct need for a shower as he navigated his way down the aisle of the bus.

Dropping down the broad stairs onto pavement below, he was greeted by warm, muggy air, very different than the fresh pristine air he was used to in Minnesota.

“So, this is the City of fucking Angels,” he mused aloud to no one in particular, sour look on his face as he waited to collect his luggage from the underbelly of the bus.

Grabbing the big black canvas duffle bag he had previously used to tote his hockey gear, now filled with clothes and personal possessions, he slung the strap over his shoulder and followed the queue of other passengers into the terminal.

“Nick!” called out his father’s voice call out amidst the clamor of white noise amidst the throng of people waiting inside the terminal.

He paused to try and locate his dad, spying him with a fairly tall dark haired woman attired in a simple sun dress, oversized sunglass situated atop her head. She appeared tanned, though not overly so, her eyes a startlingly bright green, almost luminescent as she looked upon him. His dad wore knee length tan colored shorts and a light blue short sleeved button up shirt.

“There’s my boy!” his father said, wide grin on his face as he moved through the sea of people and closer to the youth.

Shifting the heavy bag containing all of his worldly possessions to his other shoulder, Nick nodded and stepped up to greet his father, no emotion in the facsimile of the smile he wore on his face.

“Here, let me give you a hand with that,” his dad offered, extending a hand toward the duffle bag. The woman hanging back a couple of steps, warm smile on her lovely face.

“I got it,” Nick replied, turning slightly.

His dad put a hand on the boy’s other shoulder, turning to introduce the woman with him, “Son, this is my fiancé, Calista,” he said.

Surly expression still etched on his face, the boy nodded, “Nick,” he said, bobbing his head. She was tall and lean, very pretty face, dark hair pulled back into a pony tail under the designer sunglasses.

She smiled, flashing him a mouth full of perfect white teeth, “I’m so happy to finally get to meet you. Your dad has told me so much about you though he forgot to mention how tall and handsome you were,” she said pleasantly.

“Funny, because in the two conversations I had with him, he hardly said anything at all about you at all,” he replied with a shrug.

“Nick,” reprimanded his father, a reproachful look on his face.

Calista’s smile never faltered. “It’s okay Marty,” she said, looping her hand through his father’s arm.

Turning and looking over the crowd, “We going to go or what?” Nick asked before glancing back at his dad and raising his eyebrows.

“Do you need the washroom or anything, at this time of day it’s about an hour from here to our house?” Nick’s dad asked.

“I’m good,” replied the boy, shrugging dismissively.

Marty Tasker took the fore, leading his fiancé and son out into the parking lot to where a 2013 black Cadillac Escalade was parked. Opening the door remotely on the back of the vehicle, he helped Nick toss the duffle bag inside.

Nick climbed into the seat behind Calista, the interior of the vehicle allowing him to catch a hint of her perfume as he fastened his safety belt. Having been told Calista possessed a daughter about his age, he was kind of surprised at how young she looked.

The Drive

Starting the SUV, Marty shifted it into gear and slowly navigated his way out of the parking lot.

Turning slightly in her seat, glasses still perched atop her head, “Nick?” Calista asked, “short for Nicholas right?”

“Yep,” he replied, leaning back in his seat and letting out a long sigh.

“You hungry sport? Did you stop anywhere? Fancy something to eat?” Marty asked, turning his head, but keeping his eyes on the road as he hit the turn signal indicator and changed lanes.

“Nah, I’m good. I just want a chance to wash up,” he answered.

Marty nodded, glancing to Calista, “Pizza later?” he asked, half smile on his face.

“Sounds good,” she replied, nodding her head.

They drove on in silence for several minutes before Marty pulled onto the freeway.

“I know this isn’t easy for you son and it’s going to take a while to adapt to life out here on the west coast, but we know I really have to say we are sure glad to have you,” his father said affectionately, breaking the silence.

“Uh huh,” Nick grunted, eyes watching the seemingly endless sea of traffic crawling along beside them through the side window.

“Once we get home, we’ve got a room set up for you with the basics. I have to be out of town this weekend, but maybe you and Calista, Asha too if she wants can hit the mall and get you what you need to set it up however you like, the only thing we ask though, is that you keep it tidy,” his dad said.

Nick shook his head and rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” he said, tone the teenage paradoxical mixture of exasperation and disinterest at the same time.

“Come on, we’re not asking for much here,” Marty said, a chuckle in his voice.

“You have just the one daughter Calista?” Nick asked, changing the subject.

“Yes, just one, Asha is her name,” replied his father’s intended. “I’m sure you’ll like her.”

“Asha?” he inquired. Odd name.

“Yes, Asha.”

“Short for like Ashley or Ashton? Or?’ he asked.

Calista chuckled, “Nope just Asha,” she clarified.

Nick shook his head, “And she’s seventeen like me?” he asked.

“Actually she’s just turned eighteen a couple of weeks back,” she answered.

Again he found it hard to reconcile the girl’s age given Calista’s appearance. The woman barely looked like she could be thirty.

Pulling out the iPod classic from the left hand jacket pocket, Nick unraveled the cord to two black ear buds encircling the device and put them in his ears. No sooner had he turned the device on than it promptly died again, battery depleted.

“How was the trip?” his dad asked.

“Nice, like taking a slow agonizing journey through America’s colon only to be crapped out here,” he quipped, pulling out the earbud headphones from his ears and wrapping the cord back around his iPod before slipping the unit back into his pocket.

“Oh I don’t think it could have been all that bad?” Marty said, lilt in his voice.

“You should give a try some time, we could compare notes on why America’s heartland could use angioplasty,” Nick answered back.

“I think if you give yourself half a chance, you might find that it’s okay out here. You know?” Marty countered.

“I’ll make sure to jot those insightful words of wisdom down in my affirmation journal once I get it unpacked,” he replied, voice thick with sarcasm.

“You like pizza Nick?” Calista asked, changing the subject.

“Sure, I guess. It’s okay,” he responded, arching an eyebrow. ”Who doesn’t?”

“True enough. You like anchovies on your pizza?” she asked.

“What, like fish? No. Who puts fish on a pizza anyway, it’s almost sacrilegious?” he scoffed.

Marty laughed softly. “I know. Right? Calista loves it, but not me,” he said, joining the conversation.

“You boys don’t know what you’re missing. What about sushi? Do you like sushi?” she inquired, again twisting in her seat to look in his direction.

“On my pizza? Um, no,” he answered, shaking his head.

“No, not on pizza, just in general. You know, as a meal unto itself. Is it something you enjoy?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he answered.

“You don’t know? Have you ever had it before?” she asked.

“I don’t know, maybe, I don’t think so,” he said, answer noncommittal.

“There is a nice little place down near the water, tremendous sushi,” she advised. “We’ll all have to go down there and share a meal some time.”

Nick shook his head again, “Sounds great,” he replied, voice lacking conviction. An hour of this? Christ.

“Your dad says you’re really into sports,” Calista mentioned. “What do you play?”

“I don’t know, little bit of everything I guess, hockey, baseball, football,” he stated.

“Oh come on, don’t be so modest. I heard there were some university scouts in the audience at your last hockey game,” Marty provided, pride seeping through into his tone.

“Yeah, I guess,” he replied, shrugging. “I think they were they were there mostly to watch Kirk, our goaltender.”

“Still, playing in front of a collegiate scout is nothing to sneeze at sport,” Marty said.

“I think that’s awesome,” Calista offered.

“I’m already beat from that spectacular bus ride, and this whole getting to know you stuff, while riveting and probably one of the high points in my whole trip so far, is really dragging me down. I’m going to try and grab a few winks,” Nick said, closing his eyes and tipping his head back against the rest atop the seat.

Marty shook his head. He knew trying to get through Nick’s defensive wall was going to take time and effort, he just wished the boy would at least make an effort to be open minded. “We’re almost there, another ten fifteen minutes or so,” he said.

“I can hardly contain my enthusiasm,” he mumbled half under his breath.

“Sorry, what was that?” Marty asked, swiveling his head.

“Great, I said great,” Nick replied with a wan manufactured smile.

A wry grin on his face, Marty turned back and exchanged a glance with Calista. He was so grateful to have her in his life. From the outset, she had been nothing but supportive. Knowing well in advance Nick was going to be a handful before they had made the petition for custodial intervention, they had walked into this with their eyes wide open and they both knew they were in for a spirited next couple of weeks. Nick wasn’t a bad kid, he wasn’t. The years leading up to the separation and ultimately the divorce had been a hard trying time, especially so for the boy, leaving deep wounds carved into his fragile young psyche. Lacking adaptive coping strategies, Nick became aloof, bottling up emotions that eventually manifested as behavioral outbursts.

Pulling up into the driveway of fairly large new looking two story home and parking the vehicle, “This is it,” Marty announced, pivoting in his seat and grinning at Nick.

The New Home

Leaning forward in his seat a bit, Nick paused a moment to look up at the house, surprised to find it a lot bigger and fancier than he expected. He frowned, wondering how his dad could possibly afford such a swank place. Climbing out of the Escalade, he circled around back of the vehicle to collect his duffle bag, again throwing the old hockey equipment tote full of his belongings up over his shoulder.

“Come one, I’ll show you to the room Calista picked out for you,” Marty offered, standing atop a flight of cement stairs leading up to the front door of the house.

Nodding, Nick walked over, stepping through the threshold of the doorway and onto a broad landing, stairs on the left leading up, stairs on the right leading down.

“Shoes,” Marty said, pointing at Nick’s broken in white Starter running shoes, “we don’t wear shoes in the house.”

Using his feet, Nick slipped off the shoes and looked at Marty, “Up or down?” he asked, eyes toward the stairs.

“Down,” replied his father, stretching out a hand in that direction.

Nodding, Nick descended the half flight of stairs with Marty following. When they reached the bottom, Marty moved out ahead, leading the boy a short distance down the hall to the first room on the right.

“Here you go,” Marty said, opening the door and reaching a hand in to turn on the light before stepping back out of the way.

Moving passed his father, Nick stepped in. The room was a spacious 20’X24’ feet, practically quadruple the square footage of his room at his mother’s place. There were two large windows set into the wall to his right, curtains deep burgundy in color standing open, facing out the front of the house. The furnishings were pretty Spartan consisting of a queen sized bed along the wall directly across from the door, the blanket on top the same color as the draperies, one stand up four drawer dresser between the windows, and a glass computer table with pull out keyboard tray and chair in the corner to his left. There was also a wooden night stand beside the bed with a shaded lamp and a digital alarm clock. Along the wall to his left were two floating paneled sliding doors opening into a closet.

Dropping the bag on top of the bed, Nick did a turn, nodding his head slightly as he examined the space.

“I know this is a big change for you, but I want you to know you have a home here sport,” Marty said.

Lopsided smile on the side of his face, “I have a home in Minnesota, this is just a place the court said I have to flop until I’m old enough to leave,” he replied dryly.

Shaking his head, Marty frowned, “It doesn’t have to be son. Like I said, we’ll hit the mall and get you some things to help put your own personal stamp on the place,” he reminded.

A quizzical expression crossed the boy’s face. “You know there’s something I’m curious about, when you abandoned us, you didn’t barely had two nickels to rub together. How is it you can afford a place like this?” he asked.

Marty expected this, knowing there was going to be an extensive litany of questions cropping up in the days to come, so he smiled, “Fair question,” he acknowledged, nodding. “The answer is Calista is in a financially stable situation,” he answered.

“So this is her house?” Nick asked, arching an eyebrow.

“No, this is our house,” he replied.

Nick laughed out loud, “But she’s fronting the bills. So what you got is like your very own sugar momma,” he mocked.

“It is a team effort, we each contribute what we can in our own way,” Marty defended.

Expression going serious, the boy stepped closer to his father, “You each contribute what you can? Is that what you said? Well, that’s nice. That explains why there were intermittent child support checks. Living on Kraft Dinner and getting clothes from the Thrifty Mart,” he stated acerbically. “I’m glad you were able to contribute what you could.”

Turning his head, Marty looked away, “You deserved more and now I’m in a position to do more,” he answered softly, fingers of guilt clawing at his belly.

Calista popped her head in, smile vanishing from her face as she felt the palpable tension hovering in the air, “Sorry. Am I interrupting?” she asked, taking a step into the room.

Nick looked at her and smiled, “Nah, it’s all good. Dad was just sharing some background on this sweet little set up here,” he replied.

“That’s good,” she answered, the smile returning to her pretty face. “So what do you think?” she asked, spreading her arm wide.

Eyes now on his father, “It’s a whole lot more spacious than I’m used to,” he said, lingering a moment before looking at her and smiling.

“It’s your room, you can do what you want with it, paint it, whatever,” she offered.

Nick nodded, “Thanks,” he said. “I think for now I would just like to put some stuff away and grab a shower, you know, feeling a little ripe from the trip,” he said.

“Oh sure,” Calista said, “There’s a fully stocked bathroom down the hall on your left, towels and whatever else you might need in there, beyond that is a laundry room if you’ve got dirty clothes.”

“Okay,” he replied, nodding.

An awkward silence ensued.

Clearing his throat, Marty walked over to Calista and put his arm around her shoulders. “Well I guess we’ll leave you to it,” he said. “Remember if there’s anything you need, don’t be afraid to give us a shout.”

Calista smiled and nodded, “We just want you to feel welcome here,” she said warmly.

Nick smiled wanly, giving her a thumbs up and nodding.

“Now,” she started, pausing to look at Marty then back at Nick, “I don’t want to sound like a bitch, but you don’t smoke do you?” she asked, hoping he didn’t.

He shook his head.

“Whew, okay, that’s good, but I had to check,” she answered with a sigh of relief.

“Come on dear, let’s give Nick some space,” Marty urged, smiling at his fiancée and aiming her toward the door.

“Okay,” she replied, “Pizza in say an hour?” she asked, pausing near the door.

“Sure,” Nick said.

“Any specific kind?” she inquired.

“No fish,” he asserted, “or some other weird California avocado combo, maybe just pepperoni or something.”

“Got it,” she said, nodding before leaving the room with Marty.

A Clean Start

When his dad and Calista left, Nick walked over to the bed and unzipped the sturdy bag, pulling out some of his clothes and packing them over to the dresser, putting them away in drawers. He removed the charging cords for his iPod and cell phone, plugging them into the wall outlet under the transparent computer desk. Getting his phone and iPod, he connected each of them to the charging cords and laid the devices on the top of the computer desk.

After about twenty minutes, he had most of his clean clothes put away, the worn ones piled in a heap beside the door. Grabbing his 2 in 1 Old Spice body wash/shampoo, he wandered out of his room, easily finding the bathroom. A spacious room, with a tiled shower, enclosed by clear glass and equipped with a door. As Calista had said, there were maroon colored bath towels, hand towels, and face cloths hanging up on two separate towel bars. A large mirror spanned the breadth of space over a long fancy granite looking countertop with an inset sink and cabinet against the far wall.

Closing the bathroom door and pushing the handle in to lock it, he began to disrobe, dropping his dirty laundry on the floor near the door. Pausing to check out his reflection in the mirror, he brought his arms up and flexed. As an athlete, he was in very good shape, broad at the shoulder, narrow at the hip and well defined. Satisfied, he brought his arms down and leaned closer to the mirror to inspect the progress on his sparse facial hair. Frowning, he shook his head and picked up his bottle of body and hair soap. Next, he grabbed a towel, hanging it on the shower door before stepping in and turning on the taps to activate water spray from two different shower jets installed into the wall. Setting the red Old Spice bottle on the little shelf built into the shower wall, he stepped into the water. It was hot, pinking his pale skin as he put his hands up on the wall and lowered his head under the spray. It felt good to be getting clean, to wash away the grime of his lengthy trek across the country. Steam fogged out the glass partition enclosing the shower area. As he luxuriously cleaned himself he allowed himself to let go of his anger, if only for the moment.

Fingers pruning, he reluctantly turned the shower off before opening the door and stepping out, only to be instantly startled when he discovered there was a very attractive girl standing there, dressed only in a very skimpy two piece black bathing suit, the small triangles of fabric of the top barely covering the nipple area of large firm looking rounded breasts, while the bottom of the suit scarcely concealed the smooth swell of the mound below her navel.

She was tallish, 5’9”, hair very dark, eyes the same iridescent green as Calista. Her body was athletically lean like a swimmer and sporting a golden tan. There was the ghost of a smile on her plump lips, almost a smirk but not quite.

 “You must be Nick, or perhaps the absolute worst burglar in all of Cali,” she said, rewarding him with a dazzling smile as her amazing eyes gave him the once over.

Her presence possessed such an impact it felt like the air had been sucked from his lungs. With only the towel between them, he suddenly felt very vulnerable and didn’t like it. Hadn’t he locked the door?

She lowered her eyes and chuckled, before looking up at him again through long dark lashes, “Nick?” she repeated.

“Ah,” he stammered, “yeah,” he answered, hurriedly wrapping the towel around his lean waist.

“Asha,” she said, smiling, stepping forward and extending her right hand.

Holding the towel secure in his left hand, he reached out clumsily with his right and shook her hand, the contact like an electric shock traveling up his arm before he released it.

Looking at his muscles chest then his ribs, she frowned, reaching out toward him and gently touching the lattice work of vivid white scars on his right side with the tips of fingers each ending in a brightly polished nail.

Stepping back, he turned his body away from her, embarrassed by the physical reminders of times he had cut into himself to try and deal with the maelstrom of shit in his head.

Moving passed her, he bent down to grab his dirty clothes before hastily leaving the bathroom and back down the hall to his room, shutting the door behind him with enough force to make a loud noise.

There had been many good looking girls back in Maple Grove, though he had never gone out with any them.  He couldn’t be bothered to invest in the petty bullshit games. Asha had surprised him and caught him unaware, in a moment of exposure. She was certainly good looking, the very air around her seemed to shimmer in excitement at being in her proximity.

It should have come as no surprise how incredibly pretty the girl was considering how attractive her mother appeared.

How had she managed to get into the bathroom? He knew absolutely he had locked it, though that didn’t mean the lock actually worked. The more sobering thought that popped into his head was how long had she been there watching him? He shrugged. No sense getting tangled up over it now. Next time he would be better prepared.

Toweling himself dry, he tossed the used towel onto his pile of dirty clothes and walked over to the dresser, taking out a pair of white Fruit of the Loom underpants, blue jeans and a faded purple Minnesota Vikings t-shirt from the dresser and put them on.

There was a strong rapping on the bedroom door, “Hey sport, pizza is here if you want to come up and join us,” Marty said from behind the other side.

“I just got to throw on some socks,” Nicks answered loudly from the dresser, leaning against it to slide his left foot into a white sport sock.

“Okay see you in a few minutes then,” his dad replied, the sound of footsteps fading as the older man departed.

Putting on his other sock, he walked to his dirty clothes pile and picked up the pants he had been wearing earlier, fishing a black plastic comb out of the rear pocket and running it through his still damp hair, before sliding into the rear pocket of the jeans he was wearing and exiting the room.

Family and Friends

Climbing the stairs to the upper floor, the area opening up into a large living room. Nice rich plush furniture, antique looking tables. Moving toward where he though the kitchen. “Hello?” he said, calling out.

“In here,” Nick heard his dad say from up ahead just around the corner. Following the voice, he found his way to the expansive kitchen with expensive looking cabinetry, granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. There was a small table situated in a nook surrounded by windows overlooking a big backyard.

As he approached, he could see a generous kidney shaped swimming pool inset into the ground surrounded by a concrete deck, the rest of the verdant yard was a manicured lawn, all shielded by neatly trimmed hedges.

Seated at the table were his father, Calista, and her daughter. Two cardboard boxes with the words Pizza Baron written on them on the table and a half dozen red and white cans of Coke.

“This is my daughter Asha,” Calista introduced, extending a hand toward the beautiful girl. The girl was now dressed in a very snug white sleeveless tank top and bright red shorts, looking breathtaking.

Nick slipped his hands into his pants pockets and ducked his head in the semblance of a nod.

“It’s okay, we met already, downstairs,” the girl said, leaning forward on the table and smiling. “He was coming out of the shower and I had to pee.”

Marty looked from the girl to Nick and back.

Nick nodded, eyes downcast.

“Oh? Well then,” Marty said, nodding, looking from the girl to his son and back. “Pull up a chair,” he invited. “Pizza is there, soda is there,” he added pointing. “Help yourself.”

There were four chairs at the small square table in the kitchen, so he pulled out the only unoccupied one which was on the side opposite his father between Calista and her daughter. Moving his plate closer to the pizza box, he pulled out a couple of slices of what appeared to be pepperoni and dropped them on his plate before pulling it back in front of him.

He couldn’t help but notice that while he was doing that, Asha watched him, a fingertip at the edge of her lower lip as she observed, almost like she was studying him.

“This is meat right? Not some weird vegan substitute or something?” Nick asked, looking at Calista.

She smiled and nodded, “Of course.”

Picking up a slice, he quickly wolfed it down. He hadn’t realized how hungry he had been. Grabbing a can of Coke, he cracked it and took a long sip.

Asha leaned back in her chair, the finger that had been at her mouth now traced the front of her throat as she continued to look at Nick.

“Good?” Marty asked around a mouthful of his own piece, looking at Mick.

Nodding, “Yeah, no it’s pretty tasty,” Nick said, lifting up the second slice and taking a bite. It was actually very good.

“That’s good,” Calista said. “There’s one other I would like to discuss, and I know this may not be right venue, but now that’s there is another man living in the house, I think we should discuss the toilet seat rule,” she brought up.

“Right,” Marty said, nodding, turning to Nick. “If you could remember to make sure the seat is down after you’ve gone pee, that would be great,” he added.

For real? Still chewing, Nick looked at Marty, then Calista, “Sure, whatever,” he replied, turning to look at Asha. Meeting his gaze, she peeled a small circle of pepperoni free from its cheesy prison, placing it on her tongue before closing her eyes and smiling as she retracted her tongue, closed her mouth, and swallowed it down. 

“Is it okay if I go out, you know, take a walk and get some air?” Nick asked, cramming the remainder of his second slice into his mouth.

“Walk?” asked Marty, looking at Calista.

“You know, get the lay of the land,” he replied, munching somewhat noisily.

“Sure, just be careful not to get lost out in the urban wilderness,” Marty answered with a chuckle.

Picking up the Coke, Nick washed down his food, letting out a small belch as he set the can on the table, “Excuse me,” he murmured, shaking his head.

“You may be excused,” Calista replied, leaning forward and put her hands together, elbows on the table.

Sliding the chair out, Nick got up, snatching a napkin off the table and wiping his mouth.

“Can you take your plate into the kitchen please?” Marty asked, looking at his son.

“Sure,” Nick said, grabbing the ceramic dinnerware by the edge and carrying it into the kitchen. Moving down the stairs to the landing near the front door, he leaned a hand against the wall and slipped his runners on without bothering to undo the laces.

Getting up, he took the doorknob in his hand, peering back up the stairs as he opened the front door, jumping backward almost a foot when he found a strange girl standing right there.

Similarly startled, she too jumped back, hand up as if she were about to knock. Dressed in a simple but snug light green T-shirt and a pair of black short shorts, she was probably the same height as Asha, maybe a little shorter. As Asha was dark, this girl was light, fine platinum blonde hair rolled up into a ball on top of her head and like Asha, she was positively lovely. Amazing penetrating blue eyes, opened wide with sudden fright. “Looking for Asha?”

He nodded, choking on some of his own saliva.

Putting a hand to her substantial chest, “You surprised me,” she accused, gorgeous smile on her angelic face.

Bringing a hand to his face, he coughed.

“TJ!” came Asha’s voice from behind him.

The blonde girl looked passed him and up, still smiling.

Turning his head, Nick saw the dark haired girl at the top of the stairs looking down. Stepping aside, he let the other girl pass, then slipped out the door before any introductions could be made.

Descending the steps, he walked down the driveway, still coughing. The blonde girl Asha called TJ was like the dark haired girl, appearance transcendent of pretty.

Walkabout Then Back Home

Out in the fairly warm October air, Nick glanced up and down the road in front of the house. Turning to his left, he set a purposeful stride, strolling through the neighborhood toward the sun settling out over the ocean in the west, lighting the sky on fire. There were so many houses, virtually indistinguishable from the rest. He understood now why Calista has teased about getting lost. On the surface, she seemed well meaning and intentioned and he knew he was being kind of a dick but he didn’t know how else to express his frustrations. He would grad in just over eight months, so why couldn’t they have just let him be? Why did they have to do this thing and drag him out here? Was it spite? His father’s way of sticking it to his mother? Why hadn’t she fought harder to intervene? These questions rattled around the interior of his mind as he walked, hands buried in his pockets.

After a while, he stopped to assess his surroundings, realizing he had covered a fair bit of distance. Turning around, he retraced his steps. By the time he returned home, the sun had been swallowed by the sea, orange sky surrendering to magenta stars speckling the eastern horizon.

Ascending the stairs at the front of the house, the door opened before he could take the knob in his hand.

“There you are,” Marty said, smile on his face as he held the door open.

Nick nodded, “Yep, no drive by shootings or LA turf wars,” he said sarcastically, removing his runners.

Marty chuckled, “We usually don’t see any of that out this way,” he assured.

Nick looked to the stairs leading down, then back to his father, “I guess goodnight then,” he mumbled.

“Oh, another thing,” Marty said, recognizing he was in the way, “I’ll take you into school tomorrow if you could be ready by quarter to eight? That would be great. There’s cereal and stuff in the kitchen if you want to make yourself something to eat in the morning,” he added.

Nick smiled disingenuously, “Swell,” he replied, sidling passed Marty into the house.

“Anything else I can get you?” asked his dad, closing the door after the boy had entered.

“Not unless it’s a plane ticket back to The Land of 10,000 Lakes,” Nick replied, shaking his head and vanishing down the stairs and into the shadowed hall.

Marty frowned but said nothing, knowing only time and support could possibly bring the boy around. Knowing how delicate and fragile currently Nick was, he didn’t have the heart to tell the lad it was his mother that had voluntarily surrendered custody, struggling with her own demons. Shaking his head, he climbed the stairs and joined Calista in the TV room.

Entering his room, Nick flicked on the light and closed the door. Crossing the room to the night table and the lamp, he could hear muffled sounds coming from the room directly above his, female voices, something else, TV, music maybe. It was indistinct and annoying.

Scowling, he clicked on the lamp before returning near the door and shutting off the overhead light and then grabbed his iPod from the desk. Pulling the duffle bag off his bed, he put the headphones in and turned on the device, Natalya Kills Problem mid song, as he sat on the side of the bed.

Setting the alarm clock for 5:30am, he threw his feet up on the bed and closed his eyes. He definitely was not looking forward to going to school in the morning. Being the new kid absolutely sucked. Then there was Asha. There was no doubt in his mind that she was one of the school’s queen bees. A girl that looks like she did, same as her friend TJ, no chance they weren’t the ones who held sway over the court amongst the school’s ‘in’ crowd. What kind of reception had she prepared for her new stepbrother? Was he to be left to make his own path? Or had she set it up for him to be shunned like an interloper into her space, a pariah? He didn’t know. One thing for sure he did know though, was the first kid to mouth off and he would hang an epic hockey style beating on him, definitely rattle some teeth and make a lasting impression on anyone else who wanted to poke fun at the new guy. He really didn’t care if he got suspended or not, but he sure wasn’t going to let anyone take liberties. All he had to do was make sure the other kid threw the first shot. Just one.

He wondered how his mother was doing, alone back in Minnesota, a pang of homesickness in his gut as he thought about her. He could tell the divorce was having a profound effect on her, the way she withdrew into herself in the last while. Turning off the iPod, he slid his hands up under his head. It was a lot of change to process, for her, for him. A small consolation, at least he wasn’t still stuck on the bus with the odiferous snoring drooler sitting beside him. He was glad that guy was only along for a short leg of the trip.

There was still a bunch of noise coming from the room overhead. Frowning, he stood up on the bed and thumped his fist against the ceiling, “Keep it down!” he bellowed, lying back down on the top of the bed.

His protest was immediately met with silence, followed shortly thereafter by a sequence of three loud thudding noises, sounding like stomps near the center of his ceiling.

He glared up at the ceiling, frown etching lines into his face. “Really?’ he seethed, slight shake of his head.

After another pause, there was muted giggling, distinctly girly and feminine. It had to be Asha and TJ.

“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath. Letting out a long exasperated breath, he decided this was not a fight he needed to pursue, so he turned his iPod back on, greeted by Elle King’s Ex’s and Oh’s, before clicking off the lamp. Closing his eyes, he was able to blank out all the noise of the world.

The bed under him was very comfortable, maybe a tad too soft, but overall not bad for new accommodations. Weariness, both physical and psychological taking their toll on him, he slowly drifted off to sleep.

A Brand New Day - Thursday

Nick jerked away, ZZ Top in his right ear belting out Gimme All Your Lovin’. He blinked in the darkness, turning his head to the side, he looked at the digital display on his clock, 3:27.

Running a hand over his face, he removed the one bud still in his ear and turned on the lamp, shadows streaking across the unfamiliar landscape of his new room.

Turning off the iPod, he sat up in bed, swiveling his legs over the side.

Needing to take leak, he stood up and ambled across the room toward the door and out down the hall, entering the bathroom before turning on the light and moving over to the toilet.

Lifting the oval shaped white plastic seat, he leaned back and unbuckled his pants, before urinating into the clear water in the immaculate bowl. When he was done, he shook off, tucking himself away but leaving his pants unbuttoned before reaching forward and flushing the toilet, other hand on the top of the toilet seat. After a moment of consideration, he released the toilet seat, deciding to deliberately leave it up as a passive aggressive display of defiance. Snickering to himself, he walked out of the bathroom, clicking off the light and returning to his room before dropping his pants and taking off his shirt. Pulling off his socks, he pulled the blanket back and crawled under the sheets and turned off the lamp.

Laying there, the unfamiliar noises emanating from around the house kept him from slipping back into sleep. Up above, it sounded like Asha, or something big was moving around on the floor, shuffling sounds, like someone on hands and knees. What the hell is she doing up there? It’s bloody three thirty in the freaking morning!

Rolling onto his side, he sandwiched his head between the two pillows to quiet the noise. Still wearied, eventually he was able to fall back asleep.

At 5:30 the radio came to life, the tail end of The Marshall Tucker Band singing Can’t You See before a man’s voice declared Classic Hits, KVPI 92.5.

Mouth dry, Nick looked at the clock, reaching over in the darkness and fumbling with the little button on the side of the clock to shut it off before reaching up and turning on the light.

Getting up, he got dressed and completed his morning ablutions before heading upstairs into the kitchen, opening and closing cabinet doors looking for the cereal his father had mentioned the evening previous.

“What are you doing?” he heard Asha ask from the doorway.

Turning, he looked at the girl. Dressed in a skin tight pair of faded denim jeans worn through in patches across both thighs and a short sleeved white top, she kept her long dark hair pinned back. “My dad, Marty said there was some cereal here someplace,” he answered.

“Here,” she said, coming into the kitchen, carrying a subtle hint of Dolce Gabanna The One in her wake.

Stepping aside, the fragrance playing with his olfactory senses as she passed, he watched as she showed him where to find what he was after. Cereal, bowl, spoon. “Make sure you rinse out your bowl and put it in there when you’re done,” she advised, pointing a delicate finger toward the sink.

Nodding, “What were you doing up there last night, having a seizure or something?” he asked as he poured himself a bowl of Cheerios.

“Sorry?” she inquired, quizzical expression on her face, a quirky smile playing at the side of her mouth.

“Last night, I don’t know, around 3:30 maybe, it sounded like you were flopping around on the floor,” he said, setting the box down and rolling up the plastic bag inside.

“I didn’t realize you were under me,” she said with a smile, the tip of her pink tongue playing at the corner of her mouth.

He frowned, debating whether or not to challenge her and call bullshit.

“Wait a minute,” she said, brightening, “Was that you making a fuss down there earlier in the night last evening?” she asked, leaning across the counter from him, breasts straining to spill out of her top.

He nodded slowly, trying extremely hard to keep his eyes focused on her face and not gaze into the shadowed space between the rounded globes of her cleavage.

She pouted, “You must think I’m awful, stomping away on top of you,” she said, green eyes glinting, pout transforming into a smile.

At least she owned it. “Hey, no worries, you know, I’ll try and keep my noise level down too,” he said, circling around the counter to get the container of milk out of the fridge.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you will be as quiet as a little mouse,” she said, chuckling softly as she seemed to glide effortlessly out of the room.

Shaking his head, he splashed milk into his bowl and set the plastic gallon jug on the counter before munching away at the cereal. That was weird.

A Brand New School

South Torrance High School, one of five in the Torrance United School district, with a student base of over two thousand, it was bigger and more diverse than Maple Grove.

Seated in the passenger side of the parked black SUV, Nick looked at the school.

“This is it sport,” Marty said, nodding.

Still looking at the school, Nick nodded, a knot in his belly.

“You know they filmed the movie American Beauty here,” Marty said.

“Cool, I guess,” he replied, unfastening the seatbelt and climbing out of the Escalade.

“Plus Asha is here too, so at least you’re not all by yourself,” Marty added, as Nick closed the door.

Crossing the lot, Nick navigated his way through the milling throng of students, easily finding the administrative offices.

A jowly woman with thick horn rimmed glasses looked up and smiled up at him, “I’ll be with you in a moment dear,” she said, holding up a finger as she picked up the receiver of the telephone on her desk.

Nick nodded and took a seat, pulling his back pack onto his lap.

After a few moments, the woman called him back up to the desk. He introduced himself and she gave him an orientation map including a layout of the school and the location of his locker assignment, his class schedule, and the welcome to South High School speech.

Exiting the office, Nick used the map to find his locker. Opening it with the combination provided, he placed his pack inside and headed for his first class, which was Math 12, taught by a short thin aging man named Mr. Rockford. A teacher the students called The Rock, as he appeared very short, awfully pale and the complete antithesis of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.

The class was already in progress, the slight teacher at the chalkboard at the front of the room.

Nick knocked on the door. Mr. Rockford looked over and beckoned him in.

Opening the door and walking up to the desk at the front of the room, “I’m Nick Tasker, I’m supposed to be in this class,” he said, handing the small man his class list card.

“Right, right you are,” said the teacher, bobbing his head before picking up a thick text book from the desk and handing it to Nick.

“Thanks,” Nick said, taking the book.

Reaching up and putting a hand on Nick’s shoulder, Mr. Rockford cleared his throat, “Everyone, this is Nicholas Tasker, from Minnesota. He’ll be joining us for the balance of the semester,” he said, patting Nick’s shoulder. “You can take a seat there,” he said, pointing to a vacant desk in the fourth row, second from the front. Nick followed the finger and saw the desk.

Walking to the desk, he scanned the faces watching him. He saw the girl TJ whom he had seen at the house the night before seated in the first row near the back. She smiled, he slid into the desk.

“Just in from Brainerd yeah,” joked a male voice from behind him, using an accent similar to the one Frances McDormand employed in the movie Fargo.

“Oh yeah,” commented another male, using the same dialect and stretching out the word yeah.

Nick turned in his chair, half smirk on his face as he looked back to identify the speakers. The first was seated in the back of the third row, appearing as what he imagined was the prototypical California dude complete with shoulder length wavy blonde hair and bronzed tan, small shelled necklace around his throat. He appeared athletic in build. The second speaker was seated at the back of his row, similar in size, short black spiky hair.

The blonde raised his hands out to the side, a challenging gesture.

Nick chuckled and turned back.

The rest of the class was without incident. When the buzzer rang, Nick got up, collecting his books, he left the classroom.

He felt a hand on his arm.

Turning, he saw TJ standing there.

“Hi,” she said, “we met last night, sort of.”

“TJ,” he said, nodding.

“Taja, but everyone calls me TJ on account as no one seems to be able to pronounce my name right,” she said with a grin, tucking a stray strand of loose blonde hair back behind her ear.

“Taja,” he repeated, saying her name correctly.

“Hey, TJ,” called out he blonde student who had made the Brainerd comment earlier.

She smiled at Nick and turned, then looked back to Nick, “That’s Scott Turcott,” she said, shaking her head and departing.

Nick watched her leave. Scott Turcott. He got the impression by the way the girl said the name that is was supposed to mean something, like maybe the kid was a big deal at the school.

Shrugging, he returned to his locker and dropped off his math text before finding his next class. English 12. This teacher was Miss Pennington, an attractive woman in her early thirties, dressed in a mid-length grey skirt, white blouse.

Like Math, Nick went through the uncomfortable process of having to find a place to sit. Scott Turcott was also in this class, though TJ was not.

Letting the teacher direct him to a desk, he settled in.

Miss Pennington approached, book in hand. “I’m not sure about where you were in the curriculum at your old school, but we’re currently focusing on Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf,” she said with a warm smile, setting the copy of the long poem down on Nick’s desk.

He smiled up at her and nodded. “Thanks,” he expressed.

Miss Pennington walked back up to the front of the room. Turning, she was about to address the class, when she pointed to the back of the room, “Scott?” she asked.

“Being Geatish, was Beowulf in fact like a dirty Viking?” Scott asked. “You know, like a rapist and pillager?”

“The Geats were located in what would eventually become southern Sweden, so in essence, Beowulf could be considered an early example of the people who would be considered the early Vikings,” she said.

The remainder of this class was spent dissecting some of the story and analyzing its compositional elements. Nick followed along, keeping to himself. Every once and a while, Scott would make some offhand comment about Vikings, though Nick chose to ignore the verbal jabs, deciding not to personalize it.

At the end of the class, as Nick was filing out, he heard, “Hey newbie.” The voice belonging to Scott.

Making Friends, the Hard Way

Stopping in his tracks, Nick turned, looking back at Scott. The blonde youth was only an inch or so shorter than Nick, not nearly as solid, but he was flanked by a couple of other male students, the spiky haired youth from Math, a big robust looking kid with a military style buzz cut, and another sandy blonde kid, Two of the four were sporting lettermen jackets with a crossed bats crest sewn onto the sleeve.

“So, I was telling my teammates here, I think it’s only proper we welcome our new friend from, geez where was it again?” he inquired, looking at Nick. “Where are you from?”

“Minnesota,” Nick replied, a casual smile at the corner of his mouth.

“Right, Minnesota, fuck that’s practically Canada for crying out loud,” he chuckled, looking at his friends.

“Practically,” Nick answered with a lopsided grin. He knew where this was going. There wasn’t a whole lot of fighting in baseball, hockey however, a different story.

“Anyway, now that you’re here, to help you assimilate, I think you need a Cali nickname, get it, Nick name. Now let me see,” Scott mused, face a mask of concentration as he contemplated just the right one. “It’s got to be something catchy, you know, something people can use.”

Shaking his head, Nick turned away and was about to leave, the line hadn’t been crossed yet.

“I think I’ve got it. It’s perfect, Needledick. Needledick Nick,” he offered, tone smug and laden with derision and he bobbed his head.

Nick stopped again. That did it. Turning back, he walked up close to Scott. “Needledick? I guess you’re calling me that because really, deep down, you’re hoping I’ll flop it and you can have a good look at it, but I’ll tell you what, if you really want to know how big my cock is, go ask your mom how well I filled her up last night,” he replied, grinning and giving Scott a capricious wink.

There was a collective gasp from the other students in the immediate vicinity, not just Scott’s entourage. This was a relative first, the rogue male was calling out the Alpha.

“What the fuck did you just say?” Scott challenged, face flushed, features contorted, unaccustomed to being challenged and surprised at the chutzpah of the newcomer.

Nick’s face grew serious, “Oh I’m pretty sure you heard me just now fuckstick,” he growled, feeling adrenalin coursing through his body. He was ready to go.

Scott stepped in close, nose almost touching Nick’s, “I think you got a big fucking mouth,” he snarled, spittle coming out.

Wiping his face, “And I think you got no balls,” Nick countered, waiting for the other boy to make the first move before he handed out a beating. He caught movement in his periphery,

“Not here man,” said the thick youth with the buzzed hair sternly, stepping in and sliding a big arm between the two boys and pulling Scott back, shaking his head.

Pushing the arm away, Scott sneered, but suddenly lurched forward, bringing his clenched fist up toward Nick’s face, stopping only inches away. “You’re lucky Tank was here to stop me,” he spat.

Nick didn’t flinch, eyes locked on Scott’s.

“We’ll settle this another time,” Scott threatened, lowering his fist and backing away again.

Nick grinned, “Anytime,” he replied.

“You better watch your back boy,” Scott warned.

Nick chuckled, “Why? You going to try and mount me from behind when I’m turned the other way?” he asked sarcastically.

There was some laughter and somebody in the crowd said, “Oh snap!”

Scott shook his head, lips pulled back as the others shuffled off, pulling him along and throwing menacing looks back toward Nick as they departed.

Nick just watched, remaining rooted to the spot, body still hardwired in fight mode. He hoped Scott would’ve had the rocks to throw a punch, just one. Letting out a long slow breath, a smile touched his lips.

“Well look at you, making friends already,” he heard the sultry voice of Asha say. He had been so focused on Scott, he hadn’t noticed her in the crowd.

Turning his head, he saw her standing a short distance away, leaning against a bank of lockers. There were a number of other students still loitering in the area as well. “That guy is a clown,” he commented, shaking his head, eyes narrowed.

Asha grinned, arching an eyebrow, “That guy is currently Mr. Popular here,” she said, moving in close beside him. That hint of perfume touched his nose again, alluring, seductive.

Snorting, he shook his head again and grinned broadly. “Go figure,” he chuckled.

“You could be cruising for a beat down,” she warned, half smile on her face.

He didn’t think so.

TJ walked up, “You coming along for lunch?” she asked, looking at Asha.

The dark haired girl nodded, “Sure, in a minute. You just missed my boy Nick here squaring off you’re your boy Scottie the Hottie Turcott,” she advised.

“Really?” TJ said, smile fading, turning to look at Nick as a concerned expression crossed over her face.

He shrugged dismissively as if the incident was trivial.

Asha nodded, “A regular testosterone showdown, it was all very thrilling,” she remarked, green eyes bright.

“You should be careful,” TJ cautioned, putting a hand on Nick’s muscular arm.

“I got to go,” he said, nodding to Asha, then TJ before turning away and heading down the hall toward his locker. He didn’t bother to look back to see if the girls left, or watched him go.

Putting his English books away, he grabbed an apple from his back pack and decided to head outside to eat it. He wanted to see whether or not the school had an exercise room available to students during lunch hours, so after he powered down the piece of fruit, he went to the gymnasium.

He was happy to find the school did possess a fairly extensive training area full of workout and cardio equipment, though priority was to be given to students engaged in the school’s athletics activities, but it was open to all.

Smiling, he returned to the main building.

Developing Chemistry and Applied Biology

The first class Nick had after lunch was Chemistry 12, and as with his two previous classes, Scott was in this one too, along with two of the three others who had been at the confrontation at the end of English class, buzz cut, better known as Frank Winston aka Tank, and sandy hair who turned out to be named Roger Watson.

The desks in the classroom were actually two person workstations, the tops covered in chemically impervious and heat resistant black colored phenolic resin, equipped with a sink in the center and a gas nozzle on each side. In all, they were four rows of four. All of the workstations were occupied by two students with the exception of one.

The teacher was a Mrs. Dahlgren, a tallish lady maybe double his age, shoulder length straw colored hair held back. She wore a white lab coat. As soon as he walked into the room, she motioned him over to her large desk at the fore of the room.

“Welcome to chemistry Mr. Tasker,” she said. “Given your arrival in the class, you are going to need a lab partner, and this is perfect, so I am going to pair you with Miss Primrose,” she said, pointing to the workstation with only one student, a slight framed, short, bespectacled girl with honey colored hair on the far side of the room. Unfortunately for Nick, it was also the desk directly in front of Scott and Roger.

“Thank you,” he said, nodding and making his way over the desk and pulling out the stool.

“Look, Needledick and Nerdgirl,” Roger sniggered, loud enough for Nick and the girl to hear, but not the teacher.

Nick turned to smile at the vocal boy.

“Ignore the vulgarians. My name is Hester,” she said, sticking out her hand sharply.

Turning to look at her, the prescription of her glasses she wore, slightly too large for her slender face making her hazel colored eyes appear overly large. “Nick,” he replied, capturing her much smaller hand in his and giving it a shake. She seemed to possess a tic, moving her head slightly to the side, reminding him of a bird.

She smiled and nodded, extracting her hand, a touch of color staining her cheeks. She couldn’t have been more than five feet tall, delicate, pretty pale face behind her glasses.

Turning forward, he leaned his elbows on the desk.

“You know you are very attractive,” she said, direct and unfiltered, more statement rather than an emotionally laden observation and unfortunately at a volume loud enough for pair seated behind them to overhear.

Nick wasn’t quite sure how to respond or what to say back. “Um, thanks, I guess.”

“Oh my god, Nerdgirl has crush!” Scott said with a chuckle, voice loud.

Mrs. Dahlgren looked in their direction, “Problem?” she inquired.

Still guffawing, Scott shook his head.

Halfway through the class, Nick had a much better understanding of his newly assigned lab partner. She was practically a genius, but almost completely devoid of any adaptive social skills, hence her observational statement on his physical appearance.

She could cite all 118 elements in order and provide atomic weights for each, but she had absolutely no clue about how to socially interact with others.

Initially, he thought her manner somewhat disconcerting, but by the end of the class, he actually found it refreshing, saying exactly what was on her mind without artifice. Further, she was able to help him conceptualize the work in a way that he had never considered before. It was also painfully obvious his presence had some type of an effect on her.

At the end of the class, he turned to her and thanked her, eliciting a small smile from the girl along with a fresh blush.

Walking the short distance to his last class of the day, Biology 12, Nick shook his head and smiled, reflecting on his previous class. Normally chemistry was one of those subjects he dreaded, but now he hoped Mrs. Dahlgren would keep him paired with the waifish Hester.

When he arrived at the classroom, he found the same kind of black workstations in the room, laid out similarly to his chemistry class. He espied Asha seated at a desk near the back left hand corner of the room, a gorgeous looking girl with reddish auburn hair in the accompanying chair. He also noticed Scott and Frank seated together, as well as TJ and Hester.

Scott, seeing Nick, rolled his eyes.

The teacher was a Mr. Wexler. His tall, gaunt spindly body straight out of a Guillermo del Toro movie, giving Nick the immediate impression of a mortician rather than high school teacher.

“I’m,” Nick started, only to be cut off when the teacher brought his arm up and extended a long bony finger, pointing at a vacant space next to a dark haired boy seated alone at a workstation in the front right corner.

Nodding, Nick walked over and put his books on the desk, turning his head to look at the other boy. He thought he recognized him from his math and chemistry classes.

“Tom, Tom Clady,” said the other boy, smiling. He was tall and lanky, dark brown hair kept short and parted on the side.

“Nick,” he replied, nodding, plunking down on the stool.

“I know, you were in The Rock’s math class this morning,” replied the other lad.

Nick nodded, “I thought I’d recognized you,” he confirmed.

“I’m in chem with you too,” he said, nodding. Looking about furtively, “I heard you had a dust up with Scott at lunchtime,” he said, flicking his eyes surreptitiously in the direction of the aforementioned youth.

Nick shook his head and grinned off the side of his face, “It was just words,” he replied.

The buzzer to begin the class sounded, Mr. Wexler turned to face the class, dark sunken eyes commanding silence from his students.

“Welcome our new student Nick,” said the teacher, voice dry and raspy.

“Needledick,” Scott said, masking it with a cough.

There were a couple of sniggers from around the room, silenced quickly when Mr. Wexler frowned.

Nick knew it was only going to be a matter of time before he needed to put Scott in his place, and the time would most definitely be sooner than later.

Standing Out

The focus of the class was the ear, its anatomy, function. Nick found he was more enthralled by the spectral Mr. Wexler, his delivery suited his creepy appearance and made the class fascinating. He glanced surreptitiously toward Asha a few times, only to find her and her redheaded companion looking back at him. He also kept tabs on Scott and wondered whether or not they might actually chuck knuckles at the end of the day. He kind of hoped so, though doubted it.

At the end of day when the bell rang, he looked over to see if Scott was lingering, but both he and Tank were already out the door.

“Figures,” he mused, grinning.

“Hi Tom,” Asha cooed playfully, looking at Nick’s workstation mate, mischievous smile on her face as she appeared in front of the desk.

“Asha,” Tom replied, turned away, cheeks burning.

Nick looked at Asha and frowned as Tom hastily grabbed his books and darted away. What was that about?

“Nick,” she said, “I don’t know what arrangements you made with your dad, but if you need a lift back to the house, you can catch a ride with Carissa, TJ, and me,” she offered, pointing at the two girls standing near the door out of the classroom, recognizing TJ and the other red haired girl.

Looking over, he made a face, “I don’t know,” he said, “I think I’ll just walk.”

Asha shrugged indifferently, “Just offering,” she said, turning away.

He couldn’t help himself, eyes drifting down to check out her bum as she sauntered back toward her friends. A perfect teardrop.

Gathering up his books and materials, he exited the class and made his way to his locker and put away his books.

He spied Tom further down the hall, looking back in his direction.

“Hey, Nick,” Tom said, grinning as he walked up.

“Why did you bolt when Asha appeared?” he asked. “You have history or something?”

Tom shrugged and shook his head.

Nick nodded slowly. The answer was simple, she was beautiful and she knew how to use it. Nick himself had felt it when he first saw her, like something special and out of reach. You felt like she could see every flaw you possessed and you were unworthy of her.

“How do you know Asha?” Tom asked softly.

Nick chuckled, “I guess she’s my stepsister, my dad, her mom, you know,” he answered.

Tom whistled, “Brutal,” he said, shaking his head from side to side, a grim expression on his face.

“Brutal?” Nick asked, “Why brutal?”

“Living under the same roof with one of the, if not the hottest girl in school. No wonder Scott is being a total dick,” he replied.

“Scott?”

“He’s been chasing after Asha for a while,” Tom stated, “but she, you know, not that I would, I, well as far as I heard, she didn’t go out with him or anything.”

“I’m not sure he even knows about my connection to her, it seems to me he was pretty much a douche right from the get go,” Nick replied, shrugging.

“You should maybe steer clear of that guy,” Tom warned, shaking his head. “He is trouble with a capital T.”

Nick made a dismissive noise with his lips, “He’s more bark than bite.”

“He’s the school’s ace pitcher and there’s serious talk he could bring a state championship here, plus, there’s more talk he could possibly make it in the majors, so in these here parts he’s a pretty big deal. It might not necessarily be him personally that comes at you, but one of his cronies, you know, one of those guys he hangs out with who will try and mess you up,” Tom explained.

Nick snorted, scrunching up his face in disdain.

“No offense,” Tom hastily interjected, thinking perhaps he had given some affront, “You’re a pretty big guy who looks like he could probably handle himself in a jam and all,” he clarified.

“I’m not worried about Scott, he has no heart,” Nick said, frowning.

“I didn’t imply you were scared of him or concerned he could hurt you or anything, just more like letting you know he might make a more concerted effort to get at you is all,” he added, offering a conciliatory smile.

Nodding, “It’s alright,” Nick said, clapping the reedy youth on the shoulder. “I got what you meant.”

“Just a bit of an FYI about your chemistry partner Hester. She is probably the smartest person here in the school, but she possesses the emotional instability of a five year old. The last time someone picked on her, a guy Ricky, she created some kind of nonlethal superglue bomb and planted it in his locker. He opened it and ‘blam’, shit coated him, like from head to toe. No one could prove it, but pretty much everyone knew it was her. That was someone she who taunted her. You, it appears she really took a shine to you so just a heads up, so who knows what that might do to her thought processes,” he informed with a chuckle, making an explosion noise with his mouth and miming it with his hands.

“She seems harmless enough, but as for the heads up, duly noted,” Nick answered.

They continued on in silence a little further, before Tom spoke again, “So you an X-Box or PlayStation guy,” he asked, “or PC?”

Nick shook his head, “Honestly, I’m not really much of a gamer,” he replied, leaving school grounds and taking the pedestrian walkway over the Pacific Coast Highway.

“Oh,” Tom said, disappointed. “Not even like Boom Beach on your phone or something?”

“Sorry,” Nick replied, shrugging his shoulders. “You?”

“X-Box mostly, COD and stuff,” he answered.

“I can’t get over how absolutely big this place is,” Nick murmured. “It just goes on and on.”

Nodding, Tom continued to walk beside Nick, “Must be a pretty big culture shock moving from Minnesota to here?” he commented.

“Yep,” he replied. “There are a whole lot of differences between there and here,” he added, ruminating.

“I myself wouldn’t know, I’ve lived here my whole life,” Tom responded.

Nick smiled and nodded. He got the feeling Tom wasn’t a terribly bad guy, just someone on the fringe who someone finally paid some attention to and it made him feel connected. Nick could relate somewhat.

“Do you live close to the school?” Tom asked.

Nick provided the address, which happened to be fairly near to where Tom lived. Tom talked incessantly, and Nick’s mind drifted back to Asha, well not just her, but also the two other stunning girls, TJ and the redhead he presumed was the one Asha called Carissa. He chuckled to himself, even back in Minnesota, the hot girls seemed to run in packs and LA was apparently no different, other than just maybe the sheer number of hotties. He also found the memory of his interaction with the strange girl Hester coming back into his mind as Tom babbled away. She was such an odd girl. The way she looked at him. Maybe Scott and Tom were both right, did she have a crush on him? He envisioned the locker exploding on that kid and it made him smile. Tom parted from Nick at Nick’s new home, stating he lived only a couple blocks further on. Watching the other boy leave, Nick walked up the drive, reflective on the day that had been.

Asha

Essentially her whole life, Asha was accustomed to getting what she wanted when she wanted, and being fawned over. Boys were silly simple creatures. The things she could get them to do with nothing more than a smile, a bat of the eyes was astounding, powerful. Nick came across differently, it seemed as if he were somehow impervious to her impressive charms. He didn’t play the game the same way as any of the other boys in school. When she first ‘surprised’ him in the downstairs bathroom, she initially thought he would be no different. But that moody, sullen, and brooding disposition gave him a bit of a hard edge. She liked that. It didn’t hurt that he was very cute and possessed an absolutely rocking body. She was curious about the story behind the scars carved into his side.

She had hoped Nick would have taken her up on the offer of a ride, that way she and the others would have had an opportunity to interrogate him and see what he was about. Three on one would have definitely been more advantageous to the girls in prying into him and uncovering any weaknesses which they could have exploited to bend him.

When he turned down the offer, she made the conscious decision to take Nick’s seeming indifference as a challenge, a test of wills. Her versus him. No prisoners. She wanted to break him, dominate him, and wrap him completely around her little finger and leave him lying at her feet. The thought made her smile. Not that she disliked him, on the contrary, she found herself very physically attracted to him.

Watching him refuse to be browbeaten or cow to Scott and his cronies was intriguing, almost arousing. Scottie was the darling of the school, the boy with the golden arm who fancied himself the cock of the walk. As far as she was concerned he was a more of a twerp, immature and self-obsessed. Nick was the mystery. Thus far, she had not yet encountered a boy she could not conquer. Could it be Nick? Trying to devise a strategy to penetrate his armor would be fun, she just hoped he was up to the challenge.

It almost didn’t seem fair, given that she also had TJ and Carissa in her corner and the only friend Nick seemed to have made on his first day was Tom Clady.

Thinking of Tom made her smile. She had known him for quite a long time, though they had never really been friends. He was one of the first to help her understand the true power of her physical appearance when in the seventh grade he had publicly declared his undying love and devotion for her in the school cafeteria. Of course, while she thought the gesture sweet, she didn’t reciprocate the feelings, watching him collapse in on himself when she told him so.

Knowing Tom’s feelings for her, if anything, had only intensified since that day, she felt confident he would certainly paint a positive picture of her for Nick, helping her get to his protected core.

Returning home, she walked up to her room, changing into some snug almost knee length black shorts and a bright pink tank top, she stood in front of the fill length mirror in her room, twisting her hips to examine her spectacular physique. Satisfied, she nodded and grinned, and walked downstairs to see if Nick was in his room.

Knocking on his door, she waited, frowning and contriving a discomforted look on her symmetrical face.

The door opened, he stood there, hand over the top of the open door, “Yes?” he said, frowning.

“Can I come in for a moment?” she asked, flashing him a smile and moving forward before he answered.

Stepping back, he opened the door further to grant her access.

“My mother says you’re quite an accomplished athlete,” she stated, entering the room, eyes exploring the room before she turned and faced him.

He shrugged, “I played a lot of different sports back in Maple Grove,” he answered, eyes narrowing, unsure.

Seeing him go on the defensive, she held her hands up and chuckled lightly, “No, I just had a question regarding muscle strains or sprains and I thought maybe you help me,” she said, smiling innocently.

He frowned, “What do you mean?” he queried,

“Here,” she said, turning her back to him and pulling her hair over her left shoulder, “I think I pulled something in my neck getting out of Carissa’s car earlier and it’s been bugging me since,” she explained.

“What do you want me to do?” he asked, spreading his hands.

“Maybe, do think you could just check it, you know, feel it and see if everything feels alright?” she requested.

He made a small noise, “I guess,” he said, stepping up and putting his right hand on her right shoulder. He wasn’t sure what she was wearing for a fragrance, whatever it was smelled terrific.

“Wait,” she said, pulling her arm out of the sleeve so that there would be nothing between his hand and her skin.

Putting his hand on her trapezius muscle, he kneaded it a little, trying to feel for anything that might be out of the ordinary.

She let out a little groan and dipped the shoulder, “That’s the spot right there,” she said, inwardly triumphing when she felt his hand tremble slightly.

Massaging it, he shook his head, “Doesn’t feel like anything is out of place,” he commented, unable to find any knots or other signs of inflammation.

“I sure hope not, but whatever you’re doing sure feels good,” she said softly, letting out a small moan then stepping forward to break contact before slipping her arm back through the sleeve of her top.

“Sorry,” Nick said, shaking his head.

She turned slightly and smiled, “No, I appreciate it, thanks,” she cooed, smiling at him through long lashes.

“No problem,” he replied.

“Don’t pay any attention to Scott, he can be kind of a tool,” she said, sauntering toward the door.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I got that,” he remarked dryly. “Anything else?” he inquired, raising his eyebrows.

“Not for right now,” she said, stopping at the door, “thanks again.” That said, she left and closed the door, leaving a lingering hint of her scent in the air.

Nick at Night

Letting out a long slow breath, Nick grinned and shook his head. Brutal, just like Tom had said. The girl had left him with a bone. He briefly considered rubbing one out, but decided instead to grab some paper and sit down at the computer table to start mapping out the interior of the room, trying to figure out what he might like to do with the space and cooling off his overheated blood in the process. He didn’t feel the room itself needed to be painted, but it certainly could use a few posters to liven it up, some different curtains, a couple of speakers for his iPod dock might make it passable for the duration of his stay.

Marty made an appearance, popping his head in to let Nick know he had brought Chinese food home supper.

Adding ‘lock for door’, to his list, Nick got up from the computer table. Going upstairs to the kitchen, he found a half dozen already opened circular aluminum pans with a variety of food offerings on the kitchen table as well as plates and cutlery.

Asha and his father were already there.

“It’s just the three of us,” he started, “Calista said she’s running a little behind so she said we should get started, dig in,” he said, using two forks to portion out some chow mien onto his plate.

Dropping into the same chair he’d used the night before, he moved his plate near some magenta colored sweet and sour pork, taking a spoonful before sampling a little bit from each of the other trays.

“How was your first day?” Marty asked, taking a forkful of fried rice.

Nick shrugged, “Okay I guess,” he replied.

Asha smiled, “He did pretty good for his first day,” she offered, nodding her head and winking at Nick.

Marty smiled and nodded before clapping Nick on the shoulder, “I told you it wouldn’t be so bad,” he said.

Nick shrugged again, shoveling some food into his mouth.

“After supper you and Asha can get these dishes down hey sport?” Marty asked, looking from Nick to Asha.

Letting out a long sigh, “Fine, I’ll dry,” Nick said, turning his head toward the girl, “you’ll have to show me where the dishes go though.”

Asha nodded, taking a long noodle between her lips and slowly sucking it up into her mouth.

Nick lowered his head and focused on eating his food.

After they finished eating, dishes stacked next to the double sink inset into the granite countertop, Asha filled the left sink with hot water and a splash of Dawn dish soap while providing Nick directions as to where everything belonged.

Asha washed the dishes, using the retracting spray nozzle to rinse suds off clean dishes in the empty right sink before putting them in the rack for Nick to dry.

As he was drying a handful of cutlery, she moved a plate over the right sink and tilted it, commencing to spray. Instead of the water going down into the sink, it ricocheted off the plate and directly into Nick’s chest and midsection.

“Hey!” he groused, stepping back, looking down at his now wet shirt.

“Oh my, I positively soaked you” she teased with a chuckle, the small spray nozzle still in her hand.

She had soaked him. Spreading his hands apart to show her his sodden shirt, he cocked his head. “I think you got me.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry” she giggled, shaking her head and setting the plate in the dry rack.

Nick frowned. He got the feeling the dousing wasn’t accidental, but he didn’t know for sure.

“If it makes you feel any better,” she said, aiming the spray nozzle at her décolletage, “here.” She pulled the trigger and sent a jet of water down her cleavage. “That’s not as warm as I thought,” she breathed, mouth agape, eyes wide.

Nick could see her nipples tighten, peeking through the thin fabric of her now wet top. He could feel his body beginning to respond.

“Even?” she said, half grin at the corner of her mouth as she leaned forward and replaced the spray nozzle.

Nick shook his head then picked up the plate, “I suppose,” he said, turning to his side and away from her to dry the ceramic dish but more to conceal his burgeoning excitement. Putting the plate away, he dropped the dry towel on the counter, “I got to go to the john,” he said.

“What about the dishes?” she asked. “You still need to dry them.”

“I’ll get back to it,” he remarked, drifting off down the hall.

A slow Cheshire smile played across her lips as she watched him walk away. Rough and rugged on the outside, definitely malleable in the inside. Maybe not as hard to bend him as she thought, but definitely fun.

Nick did go to the washroom, requiring a few moments for his condition to subside before taking a leak. Washing his hands, he looked into the mirror, frowning at the huge wet spot on the front of his shirt. Was she fucking with him or was he just being overly sensitive? He didn’t know. At least she wasn’t being a bitch. That was a plus because given her position amongst the school’s elite, she could easily have totally sabotaged him there.

After about five minutes he returned to the kitchen, peeking around the corner. The rest of the dishes were washed and in the rack, but Asha had gone.

“Hey there Nick,” said Calista from behind him, startling him. Seeing that she had surprised him, “Sorry,” she offered with a smile as she entered the kitchen, dressed in a charcoal grey pantsuit.

“Just didn’t hear you was all,” he replied, abashed.

She was about to ask about his day, but pointed at the water strain on the front of his shirt, “Let me guess, Asha?”

He shrugged, slipping his hands into his pockets, “No big deal,” he answered.

Calista smiled, “Be careful, she’s a lot like her mother and she can be very aggressive when she’s got her mind set on something,” she warned with a wink, coy little smile at the corners of her mouth.

“Um, thanks,” he said, nodding. “Like mother, like daughter,” he said.

Chuckling to herself, she touched his cheek, “You are a dear,” she said before moving over and checking the refrigerator.

Returning downstairs to his room, he peeled his shirt off and threw it on his pile of laundry needing to be done and flopped onto his bed. Grabbing his iPod, he put in his earbuds and tuned it on. A slow smile spread across his face, Soulstripper by AC/DC, how appropriate.

Friday Morning – Round 2

Waking early, Nick decided to grab himself a shower to start the day. Breaking his proverbial cherry the day before, he figured day two should be easier.

Getting dressed he went upstairs, half hoping, half dreading to find Asha there, but she was nowhere to be found. It was a paradoxical mixture of relief and disappointment. Grabbing a quick breakfast, he left for school.

Because of class rotation, Nick’s schedule for the day was English, chemistry, biology, and a new class history.

“Nick!” he heard his name being called.

Turning back, he stopped when he spied Tom running up to him.

Huffing and puffing, “I thought that was you,” he wheezed.

Nick smiled and nodded, “In the flesh,” he said, spreading his arms.

“I’ll walk with you,” he said, falling in step beside Nick.

Exchanging some minor chit chat the pair made their way to school.

English turned out to be a breeze, the whole class consisting of the first two thirds of the 2007 animated feature Beowulf.

Next up was chemistry. Walking into the class, Nick was greeted by Hester, her voluminous hazel eyes bright and wide. It was obvious to Nick now that he was paying attention to it, she was infatuated with him and he wasn’t quite sure how to set her straight. It wasn’t that she was unattractive, quite the opposite, she was very pretty in her delicate odd way, exceptionally bright, but, it was him, too wounded to allow himself to be vulnerable. Though, as closed off as he was, it was funny how quickly the seeds of friendship had rooted with Tom.

Dropping his books on the desk, she already had some type of experiment partially underway, tubes and beakers and a burner.

“Hi Nick,” she said, turning away from him timorously.

He smiled, “Hester,” he said nodding, looking at the assorted materials on their desk that seemed different from what was on the other students’ desks. “Aren’t we supposed to be doing what everyone else is doing?” he asked, pointing at the chemicals.

Shaking her head, she handed him a duo-tang, “The entire process for today’s instruction is in there, documents, observational notations, everything. This is something else I want to experiment with and Mrs. Dahlgren has given me her assent,” she said, obvious excitement in her tone.

Nick smiled, “Okay,” he said, “What are we going to do then?” he inquired rubbing his hands together.

“Well,” she started, eyes drifting up and to the right, “we are going to do a biochemical analysis of copulins to determine if there is a measurable interpersonal effect or correlational increase in responsivity,” she said, eyes back on him, demure, shy almost but there was something else there. Mischief maybe?

He had no idea what she was talking about, “Okay,” he relied, nodding. “I will be Igor to your Victor.”

“Oh yes I see,” she grinned, “Though there was no mention of an Igor in Shelley’s work,” she said before hustling off to go gather some more materials from the shelving on the far side of the room.

Nick laughed softly to himself, not noticing Roger behind him, leaning forward over the workstation before flicking the back of his left ear.

Whirling around to face Roger, “Touch me again and I swear I’ll knock you the fuck out right here in class,” Nick growled under his breath, lip curled up.

Roger held his hands up, “Easy now Needledick, I just wanted to say I didn’t know you were Asha’s new stepbrother is all,” he said. “You know maybe we got off on the wrong foot and all.”

Nick stared at him hard, unaware that as he and Roger we engaged in their conversation, Scott had slipped in front of Nick and Hester’s desk, Erlenmeyer flask containing a small measure of an orange colored liquid in his hand.

“I mean, fuck dude, you are one lucky sonofabitch! Living in the same house as her,” Roger said appreciatively, though he kept his voice barely above a whisper.

Nick shook his head, “Whatever, don’t ever flick my ear again,” he cautioned, brows narrowed, expression menacing.

Seeing where Nick and Roger were talking, it appeared to Tom that Scott was slinking up with ill intent. Recognizing there was potential mischief was afoot, he got up from his desk, navigating toward them.

“I mean think about it, you could sift through those fine panties of hers anytime you want,” Roger said, closing his eyes and inhaling audibly through his nose.

Lifting the Erlenmeyer flask, Scott tipped it over the beaker, pouring the bright orange fluid into the green liquid.

“Stop!” said Tom loudly, stepping up grabbing hold of Scott’s arm, but it was too late.

The instant the orange hit the green, it went absolutely black and started bubbling as if boiling on a stove.

Hearing Tom, Nick turned suddenly, “What?” he said, eyes catching sight of the fluid roiling in the glass beaker just as the liquid made a whooshing noise and belched out a small but thick puff of acrid black smoke right into the faces of all the three boys.

Jerking back, Nick waved a hand near his face, coughing out soot. The chemical cloud dissipating almost instantaneously.

Similarly, Tom turned and leaned over the sink in the desk and spat out an inky looking substance.

Scott laughed, “Holy shit!” he said, coughing, tarry material staining the back of his hand.

“No!” Hester screamed from across the room, drawing everyone’s attention as she frantically raced back over to the desk.

“What’s going on over there?” Mrs. Dahlgren demanded, coming out from around her desk and looking in the direction of the commotion.

Hester arrived first, eyes darting to the viscous black fluid residue still in the bottom of the beaker then to Scott, “You’ve ruined it you imbecile!” she yelled, emotion in her voice.

 Scott scowled and shook his head, breaking into another fit of coughing. Mrs. Dahlgren arrived, trying to piece together what had just transpired.

“This buffoon spoiled my experiment, pouring in who knows what!” Hester charged, stepping toward Scott and stabbing a slender finger into his chest.

Wrinkling her nose, Mrs. Dahlgren shook her head, leveling her gaze on Scott before looking at Tom and Nick, “Is everyone alright?” she asked.

Tom stood upright, wiping the spittle from his mouth, nodding. Nick too.

“It was just a prank, nobody got hurt,” Scott scoffed dismissively.

Mrs. Dahlgren frowned, “I will not tolerate any further shenanigans in the class Mr. Turcott,” she stated sternly.

“Yes ma’am,” Scott said, saluting.

Whatever had been released was gone as quickly as it had appeared, but it left a bitter aftertaste in Nick’s mouth and tickle in his throat. He tried to clear his throat a few times.

“Are you okay?” Hester asked, leaning in close to him, a hand on his shoulder.

He nodded, “Yeah, fine,” he said, turning his head to give Scott an evil look.

She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into an awkward hug, “Okay then,” she said, suddenly disengaging, tilting her head to the side and smiling.

After chemistry, it was biology with the spectral Mr. Wexler. No matter how hard he tried to attune himself to the lesson, he found he just couldn’t connect. Tom seemed to be in about the same condition. He was enthused for history, but like biology, he just seemed to lack the ability to mentally focus on it, that lingering essence in his system. He was glad by the end of the school day.

Afterschool Special

Tom was waiting for Nick on the cement partition next to the stairs leading down out of the school. To Nick, he looked a little green around the gills, like he had eaten bad chicken or something.

“How are you feeling?” Nick asked. “Because you look like crap.”

“I don’t know, kind of woozy, you know, not dizzy, just weird I guess. You?” Tom replied, getting up.

“Off,” he answered with a shrug. He was feeling out of sorts, unable to really find the words to describe how he felt other than not normal.

“Yeah,” Tom agreed as they descended the stairs, “I know what you mean.”

Nick nodded, holding out his right forearm and pointing at the prominent veins just beneath the surface of the skin there, “Look how dark they are,” he said, shaking his head, “that doesn’t look right does it?” he asked.

Tom reached out and touched Nick’s arm, “That is most definitely strange,” he said, pulling up his own sleeve and looking at his forearm. Not quite as vascular as Nick, they could still see the underlying veins, normally blue, also looking substantially darker.

Nick scowled.

“What do you think it is? That stuff we breathed in in chemistry maybe? We both got a pretty healthy snoot full of whatever that was that Hester was brewing,” Tom offered.

Nick shrugged, “Don’t know, Scott got it too and he looked okay in history class,” he replied. “That makes five for five classes so far that he and I share, it’s as if the scholastic gods have blessed me.”

“Aren’t you lucky?” Tom joked.

Nick snorted, “Been on a roll lately,” he quipped.

“I’m sweating like crazy,” Tom said, perspiration staining his clothes and beading on his forehead.

“Me too,” said Nick, swiping a hand across his face and shaking it.

“Maybe we got more than Scott and are poisoned or something?” Tom offered.

Nick shook his head, “I don’t think they let stuff like that into public schools,” he replied as they walked.

“I guess, that does make a lot of sense,” Tom replied, nodding, “what with Homeland Security and all.”

“Right? Like they would give a bunch of high school kids anthrax or something to play with?” he scoffed, half smile on his face.

Tom laughed. “Yeah,” he agreed, nodding.

Nick got a case of the chills, his teeth starting to chatter, despite the mid-seventies temperature outside.

Noticing Nick’s condition, “You alright?” Tom asked, expression concerned.

Nick nodded, “Probably just inundating my lungs with the proper level of pollution in an attempt to acclimatize to the environment,” he said with a half grin as he tried to keep from chattering.

Tom started laughing but broke into a wracking cough, flecks of black material speckling the hand he used to cover his mouth, “Oh, that can’t be good,” he stated, showing Nick his hand before wiping it off on his pants.

“I think it might be the black lung,” Nick teased, the shivers gone as quickly as they had manifested.

“Tastes like, I don’t know, like something bitter, I can’t place it,” Tom replied.

“Yummy,” Nick answered. He had had that lingering taste in his mouth ever since the mishap in chemistry. Had they been poisoned? What was it Hester had said she was trying to extract, something or other, he couldn’t rightly remember. Whatever it was, it definitely was outside the normal curriculum for public school chemistry.

“You got any plans for the weekend,” Tom inquired.

“My Dad and Asha’s mom said they are going to take me out to do some shopping so I can get a few things to personalize my room,” Nick replied, hawking up a chunk of phlegm and spitting into the dirt off of the side, the mucous filled with tendrils of black. Same taste as before.

“Cool,” Tom replied, nodding, “you have to push for a TV and game system. Just saying.”

Nick shrugged as they approached his new home.

“You mind if I come in a moment, you know, sit down catch my breath, maybe a glass of water or something?” Tom asked. “I don’t know how to qualify it, but I am feeling pretty gnarly,” he added.

“Sure,” Nick said, walking up the cement steps and leading the other boy into the house and down the stairs to his room.

“This is a pretty big room, you can do a lot to it,” Tom commented, stepping into the room and doing a visual sweep of the space.

Nick nodded.

Tom let out a long breath, “Wow, I feel putrid,” he mumbled, slumping into the chair at Nick’s computer desk, sweat now streaming down his brow. Bringing a hand up, he passed it over his sodden forehead and wiped it on the thigh of his jeans.

Nick shook his head, he wasn’t feeling any better. Everything sounded tinny and far away, his vision seemed to blur then clear. His fingers felt strange.

“Sorry if I sweat on any of your stuff,” Tom apologized, looking around himself and making a face.

Nick waved it off, “No worries,” he said.

Tom’s head lolled back and to the side, eyes closed and jaw hanging slack.

Seeing the jello necked head bob, “Tom? Tom?” Nick asked, moving close and putting his hand on the other boy’s shoulder, giving it a shake. Tom didn’t respond.

“Tom!” Nick repeated, gripping both shoulders and trying to rouse the other boy. Nothing. Lifting Tom’s left eyelid with his thumb, all he could see was the white, small blood vessel appearing black.

“What the heck?” Nick muttered, shaking his head and letting go off Tom’s eyelid. Standing upright, a queasy wave passed over him. Lifting his hands in front of his face, they seemed to phase in and out of focus. What is happening to me? He glanced back at Tom and it was the weirdest thing, he appeared out of place on the chair, like it was too big for him, or that he had gotten smaller. Staggering backward a couple of paces, he turned and reached out toward the bed to steady himself. Taking a couple of deep breaths, he saw spots before his eyes, then consciousness fled him.

Hester Primrose

After the misfire in chemistry, Hester had stood there, bereft of words. Her carefully laid out experiment was in shambles thanks to Scott Turcott. Her face screwed up in a contorted mask of anger and hatred, she glowered at the boy. It had been going perfectly.

She had never been successful with any boy and despite her astonishing intelligence she didn’t know why. She presumed it was because she lacked social graces and didn’t primp and preen like the other empty headed vapid girls.

When Mrs. Dahlgren had assigned Nicholas Tasker as her lab partner, she knew it was a portent, he was to be hers. He was very handsome and it stirred a biological response in her, feelings she knew she couldn’t ignore. Doing some extensive research, she decided to see whether or not she could refine a pheromone extract using her own copulins to make him fall in love with her. While complex, it was of no challenge to her except for the fact not all of the chemical ingredients were available at the school. She was undeterred. It took her all night and much of the morning to plot her solution and prepare and when she arrived in chemistry class she was ready only to be undone by that imbecile Scott Turcott. If she wasn’t so mad, she could just cry. Gathering up the remnants of her failed experiment, she looked at the viscous sludge left in the bottom of the beaker. She contemplated disposing of it, but was curious about its chemical makeup so she carefully dismantled it and stored it in a stoppered test tube with Nick’s help.

As for Scott, he laughed and joked with Roger while she fumed. She knew she could not just simply let this incident pass, but also knew she was too emotionally engaged at the moment to properly communicate with Scott. Right now all she wanted to do was splash a healthy dose of H2SO4 in his smug face and watch it melt.

It took her the rest of the school day for her to feel suitably in control of herself to be able to speak to Scott without losing control of her emotions. Being after school, she knew where to find him, he was out on the school’s baseball diamond. Sitting on the bleachers, she watched him practice. Even after all of the other boys had gone in, he stayed out there, refining his two seam fastball splitter grip.

After another fifteen minutes, Scott doubled over on the mound, placing his hands on his knees. He stayed that way for a couple of moments before straightening up and gathering up the baseballs at the backstop and putting them in the equipment bag before making his way back toward the gymnasium. If he saw her sitting there, he gave no indication. Almost to the gym, he suddenly staggered forward, catching himself at the last moment before falling. He paused again, taking a few deep breaths before resuming his trek to the gym.

She trailed behind him by about forty feet, school books clutched to her chest as she followed him into the gym.

When he turned and went into the boys change room, she paused, frowning. Standing at the door, she shrugged, pushing it open and stepping into the change room where she was instantly greeted by the smell of sweaty boys.

He was seated, hunched over on a wooden bench facing a bank of blue metal lockers, a towel draped over his shoulders.

Face scrunched up, “Scott!” she barked loudly.

Turning back to look over his shoulder, “Nerdgirl,” he addressed, grinning weakly, sweat streaming down his pallid face as he pushed himself to standing and turned to face her.

She frowned, “I wanted to convey my supreme displeasure for your act of sabotage on my experiment in chemistry earlier today, your behavior was reprehensible,” she stated, brows knitted, small hands still holding her books defensively in front of her.

He chuckled, dragging an arm across his brow. “Are you sure that’s the real reason you snuck into the men’s change room?” he asked, arching an eyebrow and grinning.

“Of course,” she assured, nodding once in emphatic fashion.

“You know, lose the goggles, put a little effort in your appearance you might actually be hot enough to bone,” he said, staggering a step back and shaking his head.

She snorted, “You are a licentious cur,” she stated.

He laughed before slumping back against the lockers, “I don’t feel very good,” he mumbled, eyes blinking erratically.

Frowning, she tilted her head to the side, he did not look well. “What’s happening?” she inquired.

“I feel,” he paused, shaking his head, “ill.”

“You are very pale,” she stated, angling her head to the other side.

Looking toward the ceiling, Scott let out a long breath.

Hester narrowed her eyes. She was just a shade over five feet in height, while Scott was more than a foot taller, except now he appeared to less, smaller somehow.

Scott raised his arm and tried to wave her away, “Get out of here Hester,” he slurred, voice like a drawl.

Stepping closer, her already large eyes appeared positively huge behind her thick glasses, brows high on her forehead, mouth opened in a perfect circle as she couldn’t believe what she was witnessing. Scott was shrinking, diminishing right before her very eyes.

Scott’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as he slid sideways across the face of the lockers and fell to the ground all the while still getting smaller and smaller.

Moving closer, she set her books on the wooden bench and crouched down beside Scott.

“Amazing,” she breathed, eyes alight as she watched in wonder.

He lay unconscious amidst his clothing, no more than two to three inches in height.

Reaching down, she scooped him into the palm of her right hand. Tilting her head to the right, she regarded the tiny life she held as she rose back to standing. Immediately Kleiber’s Law crossed her mind as she considered how shrinking might affect his metabolic rate.

From a scientific point of view she was very excited, but there was also something else there, something deep inside her awakening.

Looking for someplace to stash her precious find, a slow smile spread across her face as she tucked his tiny form into the right hand side of her B cup bra.

Picking up her books, she exited the locker room.

Brave New World

Nick awoke, feeling groggy and out of sorts. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious, but there was still a fair measure of natural light coming in thro8ugh the windows and illuminating the room. Groaning he rolled over and sat up, startled to find himself completely naked. Knuckling his bleary eyes, he blinked a couple of times as his vision came into to focus. It was definitely his room, but his perspective was all wrong. Everything was ginormous.

He was in what appeared to be a sea of his own clothes, the bed to his left rising up like a five story apartment building draped in a giant comforter. Similarly, across the football field distance between him and the humongous structure of his chair, he could see Tom’s clothing draped over it.

Suddenly he laughed and shook his head. His first inclination was simple denial. This could not be. Nope. Had to be some hallucination or trick of perception, except, he felt completely lucid. Examining his arms, he looked for traces of discolored veins. They were normal, he felt normal, but he was incredibly small, no more than three inches in height.

Rising to his feet, it was an odd sensation being in the cavernous room, reminiscent of the time when he was a kid and he had seen the Vikings play in the Metrodome, except this space wasn’t some mega sports venue, it was his room.

Running a hand over his head, he frowned, definitely unsettled by what he was seeing. He certainly didn’t understand how such a thing could have happened. It defied logical or rational explanation. His mind drifted back to Tom. Judging by the empty clothing, he presumed Tom had suffered a similar condition. Looking in the direction of the chair, he spotted a tiny figure on the seat, naked like himself. It was Tom, his movements appeared animated, frantic. Clambering over his now empty clothes, Nick jogged toward the chair.

“Hey!” he called out loudly trying to get the other boy’s attention. “Tom! Down here!”

Tom’s face appeared over the edge of the chair, “Oh my god!” he exclaimed, looking down at Nick, his eyes huge and round and visible even across the distance separating them.

Hands on hips, “You okay?” Nick asked.

“Okay? Dude, I am so freaking out right now!” he blurted. “What the hell happened?”

Nick shrugged and spread his hands apart, “Your guess is as good as mine,” he said.

“Oh man, this is so not cool,” he replied, shaking his head.

“You need to come down from there,” Nick said, motioning with his arm.

“How? How am I supposed to get down there?” Tom asked.

Nick frowned. How indeed? “Elevator?”

“Haha, not funny,” Tom replied.

“Crawl down the outside seam of your pant leg,” Nick suggested, pointing.

Not a fan of heights, Tom shook his head emphatically, “Um, no. It is way too high. I will be killed if I slip and fall,” he stated.

“That’s easy, don’t fall,” Nick offered.

“Easy for you to say,” tom countered, though not in bad physical shape, he certainly was nowhere near as athletic as Nick.

“Go down the inside of your pant leg, like an escape tube they use in tall office buildings,” Nick proposed.

Turning to look over his shoulder, Tom nodded, “Maybe.”

“Go on try,” Nick urged.

Tom did try, climbing into his jeans and wriggling down through the fabric of the leg. Squirming out of the opening in the cuff of the leg, he shook his head.

“I thought for sure you were going to fall,” Nick said jokingly, grinning.

Shaking his head, “This is absolutely terrible,” Tom said, tone forlorn.

“You need to chill for a second,” Nick stated, putting a hand on Tom’s shoulder.

“Look at us,” prompted Tom, voice stilled high pitched and filled with panic, “we’re so tiny,” he lamented. “What are we going to do?”

“For all we know, this is only a temporary thing and could wear off at any time. We’ll do what we need to do to try and figure a way out of this until then, but pissing and moaning isn’t going to help us at all,” counseled Nick, trying to calm Tom’s rising tide of anxiety. “And being balls naked with another dude you just met isn’t awkward at all,” Nick added, trying to inject some levity into the situation to put his friend a little more at ease.

Tom glanced down and he grinned, “Yeah definitely not awkward,” he agreed. Pointing a finger at the scars on Nick’s side. “What’s the deal with those?” he asked.

Nick turned away, “Nothing,” he replied gruffly.

“It’s okay, I won’t judge,” Tom assured, inviting Nick to talk about it.

“Just stupid kid stuff, you know, trying to figure difficult shit out,” Nick replied, a little embarrassed.

Tom nodded, “I get it,” he commiserated. “On the plus side, you didn’t stand up in front of the whole school and profess your love for the hottest girl on earth,” he added.

Nick turned, “What?”

Tom tapped a finger on his chest, “That was me. The girl was Asha,” he said, a touch of color staining his cheek. “She didn’t quite feel the same way,” he said, frowning.

“You told Asha you loved her?” Nick asked.

“Broadcast my undying devotion in front of the whole school. You asked me yesterday what the deal was between us, well, that was it. At least you can hide your scars, mine are etched into the very fabric of my self-esteem,” he said, pointing at Nick’s side.

Nick grinned, “You’re right, I think I’d rather have the physical scars,” he said.

Tom grinned back, “See, context can change perspective.”

Nick nodded, “You’re right, now just a curiosity, this kind of weird stuff happen often out here? You know, earthquakes, mud slides, wild fires, shrinking?” he asked. “Just a ‘Cali’ thing?”

Tom pursed his lips, a pensive look on his face as he appeared to given the statement some thought, “I am pretty sure this is a new one to me too,” he replied.

Nick shook his head. “I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore Toto,” he said.

Situation Desperation

Yet to decide, what it was they were going to do next, there was a loud thunderous knocking from the bedroom door.

“Nick?” came the sound Asha’s voice from the other side of the door, “I thought I saw you arrive earlier. Are you still in there?” she inquired. “Listen, I just got off the phone with my mom, work called your dad away for the weekend, he would have contacted you himself but I guess he doesn’t have your number, anyway my mom said she and I can still go shopping with you to help spruce up your room if you’re okay with that? Nick?”

“Asha,” Tom said, eyes huge as he looked toward the door.

Nick nodded slowly, eyes also moving to the gigantic portal.

The door opened inward, Asha’s massive head appearing up high as she leaned in, “Nick?” she repeated, verdant eyes sweeping the room. Had she looked down, maybe she would have seen the two tiny little youths there on the floor, as it was, she never noticed them.

Nick froze, feet remaining rooted to the carpet. Seeing her at this scale was truly daunting. She was at least over a hundred feet high. Dark haired pulled back, save for a few strands hanging loose to either side of her huge lovely face.

“Where the heck did you vanish to?” she asked rhetorically, frowning as she withdrew her head from the room and closed the door.

“Oh my god, did you see her? She was so beautiful, like a goddess,” Tom said, voice animated and filled with a high level of excitement.

Nodding, Nick put up his hands, “Easy there Hoss, it seldom works out in favor of the mortal who pines for a goddess,” he said through a frown. There was no denying Tom’s assertion on her beauty, it was the sheer magnitude of her presence that was unnerving.

“It was amazing,” Tom said, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

“What happened to ‘This is terrible, we’re doomed’?” he asked with a wry grin.

“Asha happened,” Tom said. “She could help us,” he suggested, nodding eagerly, “she could save us.”

“I suppose, if she doesn’t accidentally step on one of us first,” Nick countered.

Tom shuddered, “That would definitely not be good,” he said, shaking his head as he contemplated that fate.

“There is also the fact that her room is on the upstairs and we, my wee little enamored compadre, are on the downstairs,” Nick said, spreading his hands.

“Hmm, that does seem to be a bit of a wrinkle,” Tom conceded, nodding to himself, a contemplative look on his face.

“A bit,” Nick said, motioning Tom to follow as he started moving toward the door.

“There has to be something we can do to get up that handful of stairs,” Tom said.

“I’m all ears,” Nick responded, not bothering to look over.

“The stairs are carpeted right?” Tom queried, a gleam in his eyes.

“Yes,” Nick answered, trying to figure out what strategy Tom had devised.

“Couldn’t we try and climb up the carpet, you know, like one of those exercise walls with the handles and stuff?” Tom asked, grinning.

Nick thought about, the carpet was a short pile, their hands were small enough to grab individual strands. Kind of like climbing a peg board in the school gym. “Maybe,” he said nodding, wondering whether or not Tom possessed sufficient upper body strength to make such a climb. If not, they would have to find something to lower down to help Tom. “Do you think you could climb up using only your hands?”

Tom frowned, “I’m not sure,” he replied, shrugging his shoulders. “I think I could do a few chin-ups, but to climb up, ah, don’t know.”

Nick nodded, “I guess we shall find out,” he said, clapping a hand on Tom’s shoulder.

Crossing the room, they arrived at the door. The narrow gap under the door looked like it might be a tight fit to try and squeeze through.

“I’ll try,” Nick volunteered, “if I can get through, it should be a cinch for you,” he said.

Tom nodded.

Dropping down, Nick lay on his stomach, trying to shimmy under the door. The passage was very tight and left some furrowed scratches on his back and minor abrasions on his stomach, but he made it through. “Okay, now you,” he said.

Tom got down and pulled himself under.

“We need to stay near the wall,” Nick said, pointing down the hall toward the stair.

Tom nodded, falling in behind Nick as he set an easy lope down.

The stairs, once so easily scaled, now seemed mountainous and near impassable. “This isn’t going to be easy.” Nick said, turning his head and grinning at Tom.

“Aphrodite dwelt atop Olympus and I would make that climb,” Tom said, undeterred by the herculean task before them.

Rolling his eyes, “Okay then you try first, see if you can climb up using the carpet,” Nick said, sweeping a hand at the riser.

Rubbing his hands together, Tom nodded and walked over. It took only one attempt for Tom to concede there was no way he could do it. It hadn’t been close. “See if you can,” he urged Nick. “Because if you can, then all we need is something to use like a rope or something to help me climb.”

Taking hold of some of the carpet fiber, Nick launched himself upward, swaying from side to side to ascend hallway up the first stair. Letting go, he dropped back down neat Tom. “Piece of cake,” he said with a grin.

“Show off,” Tom scoffed, rolling his eyes.

The doorbell rang, sounding loud in their little ears.

“Coming!” Asha yelled, her footstep crashing as she descended the upper flight of stairs to the door.

Nick glanced at Tom, who simply appeared rapt by the sight of the gigantic girl.

Opening the door, Asha stepped back as the TJ and Carissa entered the house.

“Marty is gone till Monday night and mom will be back tomorrow. The house is all ours,” Asha said, closing the door.

“What about Nick?” TJ asked.

“Not sure where’s at,” Asha replied with a shrug, “but, with the three of us here, that poor little boy from Minnesota doesn’t stand a chance,” she said, projecting out her lower lip in a mock pout, eyes sparkling.

The other two girls chuckled.

Nick frowned. What the hell did that mean?               

Scott

Scott awoke with an audible groan, startled to find himself bereft of clothing. Turning his head sharply to the right, he was greet by two gigantic hazel colored eyes staring at him from behind thick glasses. Each orb appeared equal in size to his entire torso.

“Argh!” he screamed, his own eyes wide round with abject terror as he pushed himself backward away from the giant face, stopping only when he struck a cold transparent surface.

“Subject appears in an agitated state,” Hester commented, leaning back and making a notation in her journal.

“Nerdgirl?” Scott babbled, recognizing the face, shaking his head as he looked at her.

She smiled. “Do you know your name?” she inquired, head tilting to the right slightly.

“What’s going on?” he asked, voice high pitched and full of panic.

Letting out a sigh, “Do you know your name?” she repeated.

“You know my name, Scott, Scott Turcott,” he said, looking left the right. Realization came to him. He was in a dry aquarium, some kind of multicolored fine particulate sand beneath his feet.

“Subject is self-aware,” she commented, making another notation.

Pushing his back more firmly against the glass, he rose to standing, “Oh my god Hester, what’s happening?” he beseeched. “Am I inside an aquarium?” he asked, snapping his head back and forth.

She smiled again, “I used to have a pet fish named Pasteur, but he died,” she answered.

“No,” he wailed, “this can’t be real, it can’t be,” he added, shaking his head.

“Subject is becoming emotional, usual denial as a primary coping strategy,” she stated, writing more in her journal.

“Hester, please,” he said, walking forward over the colored sand, “You have to help me,” he said, voiced choked with emotion. It had to have been her concoction in chemistry, had to be. In his mind, it was the only logical thing that might explain what was happening.

She angled her head to the opposite side, “Why?” she asked, reaching up and pushing her spectacles back up onto the bridge of her button nose.

He dropped to his knees, hands clasped together in supplication, “It’s not right,” he said, “not natural.”

She smiled, revealing small even white teeth, small for her, frightening for him each tooth looking larger than his entire head. “This is astounding, transcendent,” she said.

“Whatever you did to me, please, undo it,” he begged.

“No,” she replied.

“Please, I’ll give you anything you want, just make me back the way I was,” he said, attempting to negotiate.

“Unfortunately I need to examine the science that did this to you in order to try and find a remedy,” she explained.

“Fix it!” he screamed, tears streaming down his face.

Tilting her head again, she chuckled, “Getting irate will not hasten my understanding of your situation,” she said.

“Take me to my house, to my parents,” he stated.

“No,” she answered.

“What do you mean no?” he challenged.

“I should think that at your current academic level, athletic exceptions included, the word no should be fairly self-explanatory, though, I suppose in your defense, it is not one you are accustomed to hearing very often,” she replied.

He stared at her hard, giving her a look of ill intent, “If you don’t get meet out of here right now, I swear,” he seethed, lips curling up.

“Feel free swear as you will, to use whatever profanity you choose to help you process the situation, though, I must say, the use of expletives is an indication of a poor vocabulary and impoverished linguistic skills,” she responded.

“Hester, please, take me to my parents, they can get me help,” he said, tone returning to pleading.

She shook her head.

“When I get out here, I promise I’m going to tell everyone what you did, that you did this thing to me and then put me in here and tortured me,” he spat.

“Torture?” she inquired.

Grinning almost manically, “That’s right, I’ll tell them all sorts of twisted things, make you look like a crazy psycho,” he asserted.

Pursing her lips, she leaned forward again, “I shall excuse your comportment for the moment due to the unusual circumstances of the situation, it must be very difficult for a mind as small as yours to comprehend,” she advised.

“How about fuck you! Comport that,” he snorted.

She smiled, “I think perhaps in your current state of discombobulation, you fail to appreciate the gravity of your predicament.”

“Yeah?” he sniped. “What about Needledick and Tom? They were caught in your toxic cloud too. You have them stashed away in another fish tank somewhere?” he indicted, swing his head from side to side wildly trying to look out through the glass.

Her brows rose, she hadn’t considered that fact. “Nick?” she said, visualizing him reduced to the same size as Scott. Not that she didn’t care about Tom, she just didn’t know him.

“Yeah, what about him you giant sized evil cunt?” he impugned angrily.

Eyes narrowing, she shook her head. “I urge you to be more civil,” she said, tilting her head to the side.

“CUNT!” he screamed, elongating the word and pressing his hands up against the glass separating them.

Getting up from the table, she turned and walked away.

“Hey, where are you going?” he demanded.

Ignoring him, she left the room. If Nick was small, he might need her help.

“Nerdgirl!” he hollered, but she was gone, he was alone in his tank. Dropping to his knees, he cradled his face in his hands.

Learning How to Climb Stairs

“So, what can we use?” Tom asked, looking up at the immense set of stairs leading up to the landing.

Letting out a breath, Nick started shaking his head, then paused, snapping his fingers, “My earbuds. We could use that. I’ll climb up, you toss a bud up to me, I’ll pull the cord up and then you shinny up the cord,” he suggested.

Tom nodded, “Can we get to your iPod to get the headphones?” he asked.

“It’s on the nightstand beside my bed,” he said, visualizing it. “There a digital clock there too, electrical cord hanging down. I could climb it and get the earphones,” he said with a grin.

“That sounds like a plan,” Tom replied, nodding approvingly.

Together they returned to the room, the passage under the door scraping Nick up some more, leaving his pale skin pink and raw looking. Climbing up onto his night table using the clock’s cord was easy, the hardest part being right at the top where the cord bent over the edge of the table. Pulling himself up, he circled the clock, now taller than him and made his way to the iPod.

Looking down at the device, he looked at the tangled mess of cord.  Kneeling down, he tried to remove the jack from the top of the device, but it was ignorant and refused to budge. Sitting down, he took hold of the cord above the jack, feet to either side and heaved, exerting himself to get it to come out. One last massive jerk, it came free. Walking over to the edge of the nightstand, he looked down, “Hey, stand back,” he said, waiting for Tom to move before he threw the jack over and stepped to the side as the cord followed it down to the ground.

Using the clock’s cord much like a fireman’s pole, he slid back down to the ground. “Bare skin on plastic,” he mumbled, looking at the marks on the inner part of his legs.

The shadows in his room were growing long and Nick knew night was approaching. Hustling over to Tom, each took an earbud and scurried to the door, dragging the length of cord and jack behind them.

Squeezing back under the door, they pulled the buds under and then the length of cord before scurrying back to the base of the stairs.

Climbing up onto the stair, Nick used the same principle as climbing the peg board in the school gym, shifting his weight from side to side and pulling himself upward until he was at the top of the stair.

“You know,” said Tom, “there are some who might call that kind of laissez-faire demonstration showing off.”

Nick grinned. “Just throw the earbud up here,” he said.

Tom started by swinging the earbud in a circular fashion, generating momentum and inertia before launching it up toward the stairs. It took a few attempts to time it just right before he was finally successful.

“Throw the other one up too,” Nick said, motioning with his arm, “You can hold onto the cord just above the jack.”

Tom nodded, picking up the other ear bud and swinging it up toward Nick who deftly plucked it out of the air and put it up on the stair.

Looping the cord around his midsection, Nick sat down and braced his feet, pulling Tom up as the other youth walked up the face of the riser.

The only hiccup they encountered when repeating the process was on the third stair up, when as Tom neared the top, his feet slipped out from under him and he let go of the cord and desperately grabbed onto the carpet at the edge of the stair.

The cord in his hand suddenly slack, Nick hurried over to the edge to find Tom hanging there.

“I can’t hold it!” Tom shouted, eyes wide.

“Wait,” said Nick, reaching out and snatching Tom but the wrist, grunting with exertion as he dragged the smaller boy up over the edge.

“Oh my god,” breathed Tom between gasps, lying on his back.

“You should loop the cord around your waist,” Nick advised, also breathing heavy.

Tom nodded. After that, he tied also tied the cord around his waist and the rest of the stairs leading to the landing near the front door were fairly simple.

“Halfway,” said Tom, looking at the flight leading to the upper floor of the house.

“Look at the size of that bloody shoe,” said Nick, shaking his head and pointing at a white running shoes with bright lime green piping.

“This one is TJ’s,” Tom said, walking over to it near the hollow dip beneath where her ankle would go. Putting his back to the shoe, he put his right hand on his head and slid it back against the shoe to measure his height against it. “Holy,” he said, finding himself below the opening for her foot.

“Huge,” said Nick, “if she came down on top of you, I doubt she would even notice or miss a step.”

Tom nodded, circling the massive piece of footwear, “It’s like an Al Bundy nightmare,” he said with a grin.

Nick chuckled. “So these girls are all pretty tight then, you know, close to each other? Does their friendship go back to the days of your declaration?” he asked.

Tom emerged from the other side of the shoe, “Yep,” he said, coming over and sitting down beside Nick. “That’s the beauty of living in the same community your whole life and blundering the way I did, everyone knows, everyone remembers, practically guarantees I’ll graduate from high school a virgin. But hey, there is always college right?”

Nodding, Nick simply said, “Hmm.”

“Hmm? What do you mean hmm?” Tom inquired.

“I’m just trying to figure out what Asha meant when she said with the three of them together I don’t stand a chance, I just don’t know what that’s supposed to mean,” he answered.

Tom shrugged, “Who knows?” he queried.

“It’s like they’re planning something,” Nick commented.

“We can ask her when we see her,” Tom said, rising back to his feet.

Making Summit and Finding New Horizons

“Make sure you keep to the side, just in case one of those girls comes flying down the stairs,” Nick said, looking at Tom before he scaled the first step leading from the landing to the upper.

Tom saluted military style and moved over to the edge. As before, they slowly ascended the flight of stairs. One by one, Nick shouldering more of the burden due his dual role of climbing up first, then assisting Tom.

At the top, they paused, both young men grinning with a sense of accomplishment at the climb that had taken them a combined time of almost two hours. There was the sound of talking and music coming from somewhere else in the house.

“Climb that Hillary,” Tom said triumphantly.

“Who’s Hillary?” Nick asked, twisting and stretching his fatigued muscles.

“Sir Edmund Hillary, the first guy to summit Mt. Everest,” Tom explained.

Nick chuckled, “Maybe not quite as formidable as Everest in the grand scheme of things, still, we did good,” he said with some measure of pride.

“Where to now? Which way to Asha’s room” Tom asked, rubbing his hands together, a glint in his eye.

Shaking his head, Nick pointed and set off in the direction of her room.

The short hall leading to her room was dark, though not gloomily so, there was still enough residual natural light filtering into the house to allow them to see.

Trotting casually along the baseboard, they found the door closed, the small gap underneath similar in size to the one under Nick’s own door.

“Getting a chance to see inside Asha’s room, I’m so nervous,” babbled Tom, sounding almost giddy with excitement, huge smile on his face.

“I don’t hear anything coming from the other side,” Nick said, leaning an ear toward the door.

Tom frowned, his expression crestfallen, “Oh,” he said.

Nick chuckled, “You got it for her pretty bad still?” he queried.

Tom grinned and nodded. “Not quite stalker crazy, but,” he said, rolling his eyes, “ she’s so beautiful and smart and funny, so I guess so.”

Nick shook his head, “I was hoping they would be in here, you know so I could listen in on their secret plan, talk about being a fly on the wall,” he said, mildly disappointed.

“Or a cock-a-roach,” Tom said, doing his best Tony Montana impression.

Nick laughed, “Not bad,” he said.

“Is there like a den or TV room up here?” Tom asked, looking back down the hall toward where they had heard the TV or movie or whatever it was the girls had been doing.

Nick laughed, “I don’t know, this landscape is as foreign to me as it is to you, I’ve only been here a couple of days,” he replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“You have been very helpful,” Tom joked, grinning.

“I think we go in here and wait, see when she or they come back,” Nick suggested.

Nodding, Tom bowed slightly, “After you my good man,” he invited, gesturing with his hand.

Nick chuckled and shook his head. Funny how Tom’s demeanor had gone from utter dejection to almost elation at the prospect of seeing Asha. He himself was not quite so enthused. He wasn’t lying when he said he wanted to eavesdrop on whatever plan the girl were hatching, not out of some necessity to preen his ego in the hopes they were saying flattering things about him, on the contrary, they were planning something and he wanted to  prepared. Being practically helpless and small enough to fit entirely inside a cigarette package left him with a heightened sense of vulnerability and made him wary.

Getting down, Nick squirmed under the under into Asha’s room. He supposed it looked pretty much like any girl’s room should, shades of pinks and hues of purples everywhere. He estimated it was probably larger than his room downstairs. There was a bed which by normal standards would be considered queen-sized situated mid-wall with a night table and lamp to either side. A shelving unit on the wall over the headboard. Other furniture included a vanity, blanket chest at the foot of the bed, a couple of tall dressers, a woven looking lidded laundry hamper, three separate cork board with all sorts of pictures and notes pinned on them. There were a half dozen different stuffed plush toys and the room held the tantalizing scent of the perfume she seemed to favor.

Tom appeared partway under the door, mouth dropping agape, “Oh my goodness,” he mumbled, climbing to his feet. “Mine eyes have seen the glory,” he said in a southern drawl, shaking his head and spreading his arms out, “Can I have a Hallelujah?”

“Easy Brother Love, right now we need to find a spot where we can stay hidden, wait for the right time to reveal ourselves, you know?” Nick cautioned.

“Asha will help us,” Tom assured.

“I’m not saying she won’t, but I am saying what if she chooses not to? We have no idea how Asha or the others might respond and I think it would be prudent to be cautious,” Nick said, trying to reason with Tom.

“I think you’re just being paranoid,” scoffed Tom, grinning.

“Yeah? Let me lay this out. We make the approach, Hey Asha, surprise, me and Tom got accidentally shrunk down by Hester, at least that’s what we think happened anyway, so do you think you can help us out?’ and she goes, ‘Okay, how?’ and then what?” Nick asked.

“Get her to contact Hester,” Tom suggested.

“And then?”

“What do you mean?” Tom inquired, frowning.

Nick held up his hands, “So what happens then? We wait, right? In the care and custody of Asha or her friends?” Nick said.

“Okay?”

“So what if one of these young ladies decides maybe she wants a pet? Have you thought about that?” Nick inquired.

Tom grinned and arched an eyebrow, “I don’t think that would necessarily be so bad,” he offered.

Nick shook his head. “You need to get your head out of the clouds my friend, stuff like has the potential to turn sideways very quickly and there isn’t anything you or I can do about it while we are this size,” he warned.

Rolling his eyes, Tom made a conciliatory gesture, “Fine, you want to go slow? We take it slow. I just think you need to have a little more faith in Asha,” he stated.

“And I think your feelings of adoration are interfering with your reason. If I’m wrong, I’ll own it. But if I’m right, at least we may have a chance,” Nick countered. “We’ll go right toward the desk. Remember, we’re looking for a good place to hole up until we feel safe enough to make the approach. I’m actually thinking maybe we should wait until the other girls leave before revealing ourselves to Asha.”

“You heard Asha, she said the girls had the house to themselves for the night. If you want to stay here and until morning, I’m okay with that,” he said, nudging Nick with his elbow and winking.

Growling in his throat, Nick shook his head and started walking.

Test Subject – Scott Turcott

Fit of emotion at an end, Scott got to his feet. Walking the interior perimeter of the fish tank, he could conceive of no possible way he might be able to climb over any of the glass walls. Like it or not, he was stuck. It was dark outside and the bright light overhead made the glass walls reflective making it so he couldn’t see very much of the environment outside the aquarium. Bending down, he picked up a handful of the colored sand and flung it angrily against the glass, cursing under his breath He was mad, but more, he was afraid.

Seeing an immense Hester like that had driven a blade of fear deep into his belly. What was she going to do? Would she help? It certainly didn’t seem like she was inclined to be of assistance. The last thing he could remember was the locker room, vaguely. He doubted anyone even knew what had happened to him or that he was in her charge.

How could you possibly shrink a person? The whole situation seemed to fantastic and surreal, like some bizarre psychotic break with reality. He felt like himself, not impaired, or loopy or anything. He had smoked pot a couple of times and this certainly didn’t feel like that. Were Tom and Nick small like him? Located somewhere nearby in some type of twisted Nerdgirl experiment? The way she said Needledick’s name made him think not. But that didn’t mean he might not be small. Maybe he was at home, or stuck outside? Scott consoled himself with the thought that for the moment at least he was safe, relatively speaking, and that things could definitely have been worse. Imagine being tiny and trapped at school, you would be trampled at first class change.

Sitting at her desk, Hester shook her head, loose blonde hair swishing across her shoulders and upper back as she watched Scott inside the tank. It was ironically amusing to see one of the school’s ‘giants’ made so tiny and helpless. There was a certain sense of power, looking at the tiny figure. It was Friday evening and she had absolutely no idea how she might contact Nick to check on his well-being. She tried to find him on Facebook or some other version of social media, though her own use of such was fairly limited and she didn’t find anything. She was able to find Tom Clady’s profile, Nick seemed to be friendly with him, so she sent Tom a message of ‘How are you?’ and a friend request, but so far she had heard nothing back.

Like Scott, she too was curious about Nick’s condition, though for her it was both from a personal and scientific perspective and in the vein to a lesser extent Tom. Had they been shrunk also? If yes, where were they now? If one or both of them had been found, wouldn’t that have sparked some type of public reaction or viral social media response? There was nothing. So either the other two boys were perfectly normal, or, if they were small, no one had found them yet. She imagined the world took on a whole different complexion from the shrunken perspective, fraught with an overwhelming abundance of hazards that would seem innocuous enough to a normal sized person now made lethal by being shrunk. She hoped Nick was safe. She didn’t know where he lived, but maybe he made it home before he shrank? If he was clever enough to assemble the pieces of the situation, maybe he could get whoever finds him to convey a message to her. That would be great.

Getting up from her desk, she approached the tank, circling it at a distance she knew Scott could not see her. Looking at the delicate little figure, she wished it was Nick in the tank instead of Scott. Thinking of Nick made her smile and feel naughty things, wicked things that made her blush in the darkness.

Scott moved inside the tank, pressing his hands against the glass and trying to peer out. The motion drew her out of her reverie. She didn’t have Nick, she had Scott. Though her ire has lessened, she was still not happy with tiny Scott.

If only Scott hadn’t meddled with her experiment, everything would be perfect right now. Seeing him in the tank brought some small measure of satisfaction to her for his predicament. At least Scott got what he deserved.

Moving forward, she lowered herself down so that she was close enough for Scott to be able to see her, “Are you hungry?” she asked.

Scott turned to face her, walking over to where she was and putting his hands on the glass. “Hester, please, just take me to my parent’s house,” he asked, keeping his voice calm, his tone civil. “I promise, I will tell everyone how much you helped me,” he added, smiling.

She knew he was only saying what he thought she wanted to hear, telling her things that might influence her to do what he wanted. Even now trying to manipulate her for his own benefit. There was a tingle of sensation between her thighs, a sexual titillation teasing her, strange and delicious at the same time. Curious. Why was she experiencing these feelings? Similar in nature to the ones Nick brought out in her, but different.

“Hester,” Scott repeated, lowering his chin and looking up at her, “it’s not too late,” he said.

Frowning, she stood up and turned, walking away from the aquarium and hopping up onto her bed in the darkened room. Lying there, looking at the little thing in the tank, she allowed her fingers to explore her slender body before slipping into her pants but over her panties. The sensations she was experiencing were decadent as the ache of need tormented her, the heat intensifying, making her heart beat faster and her breathing to become shallow. The voice of her analytical mind was lost in the howling roar of her rising hunger. If only it was Nick.

The Long Night

Nick was tired, worn out not just by the climb, but also because he’d yet to adapt and his body was still stuck two hours ahead on Minnesota time. Eyes drooping, the sounds of the girlish idle banter becoming distant.

Tom on the other hand, wasn’t sleepy at all. He was fascinated, watching how the girls behaved when they thought no one was watching. The sound of Nick’s breathing changed. Looking over at the other boy Tom saw he was asleep. He suspected Nick was used to feminine attention, but for Tom, hearing the way Carissa spoke about him made him smile, bolstering his fragile self-esteem.

As the night moved on, the girls listened to music and messed around with Snapchat apps, giving themselves pirate beards and Rastafarian hats.

The conversation switched to tattoos and piercings they wanted, TJ confessing that the next thing she was going to pierce was her nipples and promptly pulling up her shirt and exposing her breasts, revealing small pink nipples, pinching each between thumb and forefinger.

Tom nearly swallowed his tongue. It was one thing to see naked girls and watch porn on the computer, but to see real breasts in the flesh was another thing entirely.

By the time the girls had completed their preparations for bed, each was attired in just panties and a t-shirt, all of them sharing the same bed as Asha, sleeping on left to Tom’s perspective reached over and shut off the light.

In the dark, Tom glanced over a Nick, the shape of the sleeping youth in a recumbent position against the desk leg, head off the side.

What harm could there be in just taking a look? Slipping out from under the desk, he moved silently across the floor to the nightstand beside the bed. Nick had used the electric cord to climb up to the nightstand in his room and Tom felt fairly confident he could do the same here in Asha’s room.

Wrapping his legs around the cord, he slowly shinnied his way up, the effort making his sweat, his grip growing tenuous. Finally managing to get atop the night table, he bent over at the waist, hands on shaky knees. Straightening up, he peeked back over the edge whence he had scaled the cord and smiled self-satisfactorily. Moving around the base of the lamp, he stood near the edge by the bed, pausing to regard Asha in the weak light.

In repose, lying on her back, pale lips parted, she appeared so serene, so beautiful. A few loose strands of raven silk across her face. The blanket across her chest rose and fell with the gentle rhythm of her breathing.

Sitting down on the stand, legs over the edge nearest her, he gazed upon her countenance, broad smile on his face.

Glancing back toward the desk, he couldn’t see Nick, but was curious why the boy was reluctant to approach her. Tom had no doubt Asha was a good person and would most certainly help them anyway she could. He could only guess it was because Nick had been hurt before, which might explain those scars on the side of his chest.

Eyes drifting back to Asha, he watched her lips quiver then pull up into a partial smile and he wondered what thoughts might possibly be dancing about in her gorgeous head, what things did she dream about?

TJ, in the middle moved, turning and pulling the blanket off of Asha’s chest. In the pale light, he could discern the outline of firm erect nipples protruding through the fabric of her shirt. The image of TJ’s bared breasts flashed through his mind, making him grin. The smile on Asha’s face melted away, brow furling slightly as she turned toward him, dark hair spilling across her cheek, the warm exhalation of her breath engulfing him, slight hint of minty toothpaste.

He had worshipped her for years, watching her transform from pretty girl into goddess in that time. He really didn’t regret his declaration, though the fallout and teasing from other students that accompanied it had left some furrows in his psyche. While she hadn’t reciprocated his feelings of declared devotion, neither did she spurn or ridicule him for his. It was an important distinction in his mind and kept him his ardor for her alive.

His eyes moved across the wide expanse of her face, from her hairline over perfectly shaped and threaded eyebrows, to her wondrously long lashes, button nose, the small depression of her philtrum flaring out to subtly creased lips. What he wouldn’t give to kiss those sweet plump lips, to feel her kiss him back.

Should he try and steal a kiss? Just one? It would be just a kiss. He wouldn’t do anything crass or vulgar. The idea thrilled him. Leaning forward, he peered into the abyssal darkness of the crevasse between the nightstand and the bed. Could he cross that distance safely? With his great big thick skater legs, Nick probably could. He glanced back at Asha, she was worth the risk. Getting to his feet, he moved back several paces, enough to give his room for a running start. He could feel his heart pounding, both from the thought of the jump and the prospect of the kiss.

Taking a big breath, he bolted toward the edge, like a sprinter out of the starting blocks. Arms pumping, he tried to calculate which foot to launch himself with in relation to the rapidly approaching edge. Timing as best he could, he jumped, pushing off, eyes impossibly round as he sailed over the darkened chasm.

Landing, he ed momentum to pitch him forward, rolling into a ball on the soft sheet near her pillow. Coming to a stop, he abruptly looked in her direction to make sure he hadn’t disturbed her slumber, but the pillow was in the way. Clambering up the pillow, he smiled at her, moving cautiously nearer and close enough to actually be able to touch her. Putting his hands on her ample pouty lower lip, the texture of the lightly lined flesh smooth under his fingers, he touched his lips to hers, like a peck. She swallowed, lips pursing slightly. Making him pull back. Being this close she was so utterly massive, he suddenly felt almost insignificant, thinking if she opened her mouth and inhaled strongly she could easily draw him inside and he would be lost in her. It was all very humbling and he thought maybe this was what Nick was talking about.

He felt her body begin to move as she slid her arm up and under her pillow, rolling back over toward TJ. The unexpected and abrupt movement, threw him off his feet pitching him into the hollow near her collarbone before she turned and he was tossed over the dark valley of the bed between Asha and TJ, bouncing unceremoniously of the blonde girl bosoms taunting his memory and falling onto his back on the bed, the landing knocking the air from his lungs.

Trying desperately to breathe, he understood the grim predicament he found himself in, trapped between two immense sleeping girls who could inadvertently and unknowing crush him to death if they simply rolled over.

Alone in the Dark

Asleep, Nick’s head slipped off the side of the wooden desk leg, the sudden motion jarring him awake and him leaving him momentarily discombobulated in the darkness. It wasn’t a dream, he was still small. Chuckling softly to himself, “Tom?” he said, looking around the leg only to discover he was by himself. “Tom?” he repeated, speaking a little louder. There was no response. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach and though he hoped he was wrong, after all, it was entirely possible Tom needed some privacy to go take a leak, he had sinking feeling he knew exactly where Tom had ventured off to, to see the girls.

Over the sounds of the girls’ breathing, he called out once more, “Tom!” No response.

Peering through the gloom toward the bed, he really had no real idea how long he might have been asleep or how far Tom may have gotten in his trek. The fact that a riot of commotion had yet to break out was a pretty good omen he hadn’t yet found a way to present himself to Asha. Which meant if he hurried, there might still be enough time to rein Tom.

Letting out a big breath, he massaged his face and yawned before getting to his feet. Speaking of needing to relieve himself and left with few options, he did what he needed to do. He had no clue how the girls were arranged on the bed or where Asha might be, but he figured more than likely Tom would probably try and get up onto one of the night tables to either side of the bed. He figured Tom was capable enough to get up the cord, after the efforts on the stairs, though he dreaded the possibility he might find the broken body of his friend on the carpet at the base of the nightstand.

“Tom you fool,” he muttered under his breath tone irritated. Sprinting across the carpet and making his way toward the corner of the bed nearest him, he arrived near the mammoth piece of furniture and slowed up, ducking under the edge of the foot of the bed. In the inky blackness hidden under there, it was near impossible to see anything under the bed, so he stayed near the threshold between light and dark, travelling along the side of the bed toward the nightstand. Above his head, there was a loud sound of movement, gigantic bodies moving and compressing the mattress springs. It was so loud, his initial panicked thought was the bed actually might collapse under the combined weight of the girls and come crashing down on him.

Groaning, “What are you doing climbing on top of me?” came the voice of Asha, sounding groggy and very close.

Slowing up from his startled run, Nick paused and turned his head upward to eavesdrop on what the girls were saying.

“I think I shouldn’t have had the big glass of juice just before bed because I need to pee,” TJ replied, her own voice drowsy as she threw her leg onto Asha’s midriff and attempted to clamber over.

“Your boob is practically right in my face,” grumbled the dark haired girl, using an arm and nudging TJ back toward her own spot in the middle of the bed.

“Sorry, but I really have to go,” TJ replied, turning onto her side and propping herself up on an elbow.

“Alright, give me a second. Do you need some light?” Asha inquired, stretching a knowing hand out toward the little switch on the lamp resting on her nightstand

“Mm-hmm, yes please,” TJ responded.

There was an audible click and abruptly the area was bathed in warm soft illumination emanating from the lamp.

The light made Nick jump and drifty back several steps under the bed. Where was Tom? He hoped to hell this wasn’t the moment the other boy chose to reveal his tiny presence to the girls.

“Okay wait,” Asha said, followed by more sounds of shuffling overhead, then suddenly first one then another enormous foot materialized almost directly in front of him. There was no way for him to tell who the owner was, Asha or TJ, either way it was big, toenails painted red.

Another pair of feet appeared, “Thanks,” came TJ’s voice as she stood up and took a couple of paces.

“Ugh, shut off the light,” came Carissa’s pleading voice, farther away, the far side of the bed as she pulled TJ’s pillow over her head to blot out the light.

“What is that?” Asha asked.

“What?” TJ replied.

“On your leg. Is that blood?” Asha said.

Blood? Nick moved forward closer to the edge to see if he could see anything.

TJ looked down at her thigh, a thin smear of crimson across the side.

“Are you on your period?” Asha queried.

“No,” TJ replied in a befuddled tone, reaching a hand down to touch the still tacky streak and bringing her discolored fingers up to her face.

Turning her head to the side, Asha flicked the blankets back, revealing a small human form amidst a discolored spot on the bedsheet. “Oh my god,” she breathed, shifting her position and climbing on the bed on her hands and knees to get a closer look at the blood stained little figure.

For her part, Carissa rolled over toward the light, to investigate the source of Asha’s amazed expression. “What is that?” she inquired.

TJ walked back toward the bed, quizzical expression on her face as she rubbed thumb and forefinger together to get rid of the mess, necessity to pee momentarily forgotten.

Crawling forward on the bed and directly over top of Tom, Asha settled back on her knees, the unconscious sprawled form of the youth situated between her naked thighs near her knees. “It’s Tom Clady,” she answered, creating a cloth corral with the blanket before placing her hands on the smooth skin of her of her legs and shaking her head, “a very teeny Tom Clady,” she commented.

Strange Bedfellows       

Looking down at crumpled Tom and then to her leg, “Oh my god,” TJ mumbled. “Is he alright?” she asked, big blue eyes round with genuine concern.

“He’s seems to be breathing,” Asha replied, pointing a finger at the rise and fall of his chest. There was a fair amount of blood smeared around his head and face, the majority of it from his mouth and nose.

Shaking her blonde mane, “He must have crawled into bed with us,” TJ offered, shrugging her shoulders.

“I don’t know, however he was in the bed, I’m guessing he got pinned under your leg when you tried to get up and go pee,” Asha supplied.

Suddenly TJ’s face puckered, the mention of having to pee restoring her urgency to urinate with a bladder bursting vengeance. Bringing her knees together, she put her hands near her crotch, “I got to go,” she blurted, hastening out of the room with small but rapid footsteps.

Reaching down, Asha carefully nudged Tom over from his side and onto his back, his head lolling to the side. Inspecting him for signs of traumatic injury by checking for limb angularity or protruding bones, she found nothing sinister, “Might be something internal, ruptured by the pressure,” she speculated, shaking her head.

“There are so many things wrong with this whole situation right now. Like how in the world did Tom Clady get so incredibly small and then wind up in this bed?” Carissa asked, rolling onto her tummy and shuffling closer to per over Asha’s leg to look down at the unmoving boy.

“Both very valid questions,” Asha acknowledged, nodding.

TJ reappeared in the room, a manufactured look of relief on her face as she bounced across the floor and draped her upper body over the end of the bed, resting her weight on her elbows. “How in the world could this possibly be happening?” she inquired with a chuckle, glancing at the other girls completely unaware that as she approached, Nick retreated back a handful of steps deeper under the bed in fear of her thunderous feet.

Chuckling a little, “That’s funny because we were just talking about that,” Carissa replied. “Plus why he was here in the bed.”

“It’s so weird, he’s so small, I swear I didn’t even feel it when I rolled over,” TJ said, shaking her head glumly and reaching back with a hand to rub the area on her leg where the spot had been.

“This is so amazing, but I’m wondering how could this even be, you know?” Carissa asked.

“It certainly is an odd occurrence and as for how, I don’t know,” Asha replied, sliding her hand under his little body and scooping him up. “He’s so light,” she commented.

Carissa pulled herself up on her knees and TJ climbed onto the bed.

Reaching out with a tentative right index finger, “Should we get him to a hospital?” Carissa inquired, gently touching the side of Tom’s face.

TJ frowned, “I don’t think so. Like I mean, what could they really do for him in this condition? I for one have never ever heard of someone being made tiny before,” she clarified, plus aside for concern of Tom’s wellbeing, she was kind of worried about what the authorities might say about the nature of the injury he suffered and her involvement, intentional or otherwise.

“I think I have to agree with TJ,” Asha added, nodding slowly, “besides, there isn’t any significant bruising on his torso, his limbs are fine, he seems to be breathing alright on his own, and there is nothing fresh leaking out of him.”

“What if he dies?” Carissa asked bluntly, eyebrows raising.

“I really don’t think he is going to die,” Asha commented reassuringly as she moved her hand and rolled the motionless boy over.

“I hope he doesn’t die,” TJ stated, voice soft.

“What I really want to know is, why is he here in my house?” Asha asked, pausing, reflecting, pieces to come together in here mind.

“Maybe he came here to look for Nick, you know, to get help from him?” TJ proposed, shrugging her shoulders.

A slow smile crawled across Asha’s pretty face. “Or, maybe they were both here when it happened?” she suggested. “When I went downstairs to talk to Nick, there were clothes all over the floor, I didn’t think anything of it at the time. Let me check something,” she said, looking at Carissa and extending her hand.

The redhead put her hand out and allowed Asha to gently put Tom in her palm.

Sliding to the edge of the bed, Asha hopped up and hustled across the floor toward the door.

“What are you doing?” TJ queried, looking at the dark haired girl in askance. Carissa for her part, seemed rapt, fascinated by the small youth lying in her hand.

“Checking something,” Asha blurted, vanishing out into the hall only to return a few moments later carrying a set of earbud headphones. “Two pairs of boys’ running shoes on the landing, two full sets of clothes lying on Nick’s bedroom floor and I found these at the top of the stairs,” she explained, holding the cord out for the other girls to see.

“Are those headphones?” TJ inquired, brow furling.

“Nick’s headphones. I found them at the top of the stairs. I highly doubt anyone as small as Tom could have got up those stairs all by himself,” she offered, sauntering back toward the bed.

“That means,” TJ started, grin widening.

“It means Nick is more than likely also small and that he is somewhere here on the upper floor, if not in this very rom right at the moment,” Asha surmised, nodding her head, tongue tucked into the corner of her full mouth.

“Nick, honey,” TJ said, calling out loud and peeking around the room, “are you in here?”

“Come on Nicky, there’s nothing to be afraid of little guy,” Asha assured. “I mean, after all I’m sure you wouldn’t want any of us great big girls to step on you by accident,” she cautioned, grinning at the others before looking down around the floor.

Into the Light

As much as Nick was irritated with Tom’s impulsive and reckless behavior, he really couldn’t blame him. No. The whole shrinking thing kind of turned their entire worlds upside down and then pulled it inside out.

And now the girls had discovered Tom in the bed of all places, steamrollered apparently by TJ’s gargantuan thigh. Grinning off the side of his face, he nodded slowly. They knew he was here and there was little point in trying to hide from them. Stepping out from the security beneath the bed, he carefully gave wide berth to TJ’s feet which were still planted on the floor.

Standing next to the side of the bed, Asha was the one who spotted him first, “There,” she said, pointing a finger in his direction.

TJ turned. Eyes finding him, she pushed herself back onto her feet.

Nick froze. Looking up at the gorgeous TJ, he was astounded by the sheer magnitude of her presence, so daunting. He felt a jolt in his body as his brain delivered a healthy dose of adrenalin directly into his blood stream. Fight or flight. He did neither, remaining standing and trying to breathe calmly as the gigantic blonde girl crouched down near him.

Smiling, eyes impossibly huge, “Nick!” she exclaimed, voice loud in his ears.

Nodding, he allowed himself to be picked up as she curled her hand cautiously around his tiny form, the smell of soap strong coming off her skin. There was a very profound sense of the sheer power she possessed, like with little or no effort, she could easily crush the life out of him if the whim struck her. It was very unsettling. As she lifted him up, it wasn’t like an elevator ride, more like the slingshot ride at the carnival, the rapid acceleration causing his stomach to drop.

Asha jumped up onto the bed, again on her knees, motioning for TJ to put Nick down on the bedsheet near them.

Penned in by her legs and the blanket at the end of the bed, Nick found Asha to be staggeringly huge at this proximity to him and he tried to smile as she loomed above him. Positioned as she was, he tried not to follow the sight line up the inside of her legs to the clearly visible white cloth covered tringle of her privates. He had no idea of what she might do, then the sobering thought hit him, whatever she wanted.

“Hi Nick,” she said, lips parting into a smile.

“Is Tom okay?” he asked, turning in the direction of Carissa but unable to see the redhead because of Asha’s thigh.

“He’ll be fine,” Asha assured, waving a hand at Nick, How is it that you two are so teeny?” she asked.

Shaking his head slowly, Nick shrugged, “Tom and I figure it might have had something to do with that blow up in chemistry,” he shared.

“Hey, wasn’t Scottie caught in that too?” TJ inquired.

Looking over his shoulder at TJ he nodded.

“Tom is lucky to be alive. Why was he in my bed in the first place?” Asha queried

“I think he was just trying to get your attention,” Nick replied. Was that it? Or was Tom’s true intent a little more personal. Judging by the quirky smile on her face, he suspected the same thought had crossed her mind, that perhaps Tom’s motives might not be quite as innocent as Nick attempted to make them out to be.

“I don’t know how much Tom has told you of our history together,” she said, giving him a knowing smile.

Shaking his head, “Asha, come on, look at how tiny we are. What else would Tom be thinking? He would be like a little mouse crawling over you,” he replied.

“Indeed, you are very tiny,” she acknowledged, expression turning coy.

“Can you help us?” he inquired.

Asha glanced over at the alarm clock on the stand beside her bed, 12:47am, “What can we do?” she queried, shrugging her shoulders, breasts heaving under her nightshirt.

What could they do? “I don’t know, maybe try and contact Hester. Maybe she has an antidote or chemical concoction to reverse the process?” he suggested.

She flicked a look at the clock again, “It’s late, I highly doubt we would be able to get in touch with her until tomorrow,” Asha replied.

They were right. It was a long shot at best. Should the girls get him and Tom to a hospital? Call poison control?

“Maybe it will wear off?” TJ offered.

Shaking his head, “It’s been hours,” Nick replied.

Leaning forward, Asha slid her hands on her knees, looming over him. “How long were you two little boys up here?” she questioned, tilting her head to one side inquisitively.

“Yeah?” verbalized TJ, getting up and sitting at the end of the bed, bringing one leg up.

“Don’t know for sure, I think I passed out by the desk,” he replied, shaking his head and beginning to feel very uncomfortable.

“You avoided the question, how long were you guys up here?” TJ asked.

“Not too long. It took us quite a bit to make it up the stairs,” he replied, nodding in her direction.

“Before we went to bed?” Asha asked, brows rising as she sucked her bottom lip into her mouth.

Nodding slowly, he wasn’t sure where the conversation was going. He supposed the lack of shock they were expressing was due to the discovery of Tom, but there was an unsettling feeling in his gut.

“So,” she said, looking at TJ then to Carissa, who still seemed to be fixated on Tom in her hand, before looking back to him, “you two snuck in here and peeped on us while we were unaware,” she accused, touching a finger to her lips.

What should he say to her, that he wanted to know what devious plots there had been hatching for him? Or that he didn’t trust them? He didn’t think responding honestly would earn him any favors. “We were really just hoping you might be able to help us,” he said, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction.

“But it took you until after we crawled half naked into bed before you could approach,” she clarified.

“Ooh,” Carissa noised, “I think Tom is starting to wake up!” she said, tone excited.

Truth be Told

Rolling over in Carissa’s open hand, Tom blinked a couple of times, “Feel like I got hit by a freight train,” he said with a chuckle.

Carissa looked at TJ’s legs and grinned, raising her eyebrows.

“I have you know I have exceptional legs,” TJ said in mock indignation, stretching her right leg out to display the smooth muscularity.

“Here,” Asha said, stretching her open hand toward the redhead.

Reaching over, Carissa carefully put Tom in Asha’s outstretched hand,

“You’re trembling,” Asha observed, noting how his tiny body shivered in her palm.

“I am in awe of you,” he replied, gazing raptly up at her.

“That’s sweet,” she commented.

Turning his head to look over at Nick, “See, I told there was nothing to be worried about, she would help us,” he said, beaming.

Asha brought her eyes back to Nick, “Worried?” she inquired, a curious little smile appearing on her lovely face.

Nick nodded slowly, “Being this size is pretty intimidating and I felt there was a certain need for caution,” he explained nonchalantly.

If not for the expression on tom’s face, Asha might have accepted the explanation more readily. However, Tom’s body language was communicating something else. “And that was it?” she asked.

Nick hadn’t seen Tom’s reaction, so didn’t know Asha’s was on to the fact he was omitting some things, “Pretty much, I guess,” he answered shrugging his shoulders.

Looking at the other two girls, “Keep our little friend here entertained for a moment,” she said, curling her fingers around tom and scooting off the bed. Crossing the room, she went out into the hall and down to the bathroom taking a seat on the downed lid of the toilet before opening her hand up again. “Okay, what gives?” she asked, intent on getting to the bottom of Nick’s decision to misrepresent the truth.

“I’m not sure I know what you mean,” he answered, shaking his little head.

“Nick, he’s hiding something, and you know what it is,” she stated.

Tom shook his head again.

“You know you can tell me, I mean if you were speaking truthfully about your affection for me,” she urged.

Feeling conflicted, “I, I,” he mumbled, averting his eyes. On the one hand, he was sitting in the hand of a girl he pledged his undying love for, on the other, he didn’t want to betray Nick’s trust and newly burgeoning friendship.

Bringing her hand up near her face, Asha puckered her lips, kissing Tom on the torso.

“He said he wanted to find out what you girls were planning for him and that he didn’t quite trust your intentions,” Tom informed, nodding, member pooling blood and becoming erect.

“Really now?” she snorted, lowering him back away. “He said he didn’t think he could trust us? Me?”

“Yes,” he confirmed, unabashed by his heightening arousal.

“What was it he thought we would do to you guys?” she asked, expression becoming curious.

Tom shook his head and chuckled, “I’m not sure, he wanted to listen in when you and the others talked about power and control or something,” he answered, basking in her attention.

“Well now, isn’t that interesting that he would want to do that?” she commented, reflecting on some of the conversation she and the others had engaged in. The question was how much did Nick know? How much had he heard? Of course the fact that he was so small put every advantage in her hands and made both Nick and Tom wholly dependent on her and the other girls, which suited her fine.

Holding the slight form of Tom in her hand elicited exotic feelings and conveyed a wonderful sense of power. While Tom seemed to revel in it, Nick was aloof and it only made her want to dominate him all the more. He would bend to her will, her desire.

“I worship you,” Tom avowed, disrupting her thoughts of her newfound step brother.

Smiling down on him, she nodded, “You’ve been a very good boy Tom,” she praised, touching him tenderly on the side of his face. “What would you do for me?” she asked in a sultry voice.

“Anything, everything,” he pledged zealously.

“Anything?” she asked, angling her head to the side and raising an eyebrow.

He nodded, “What would you have of me? You have but to speak it,” he offered.

What would she have of him? There was an almost religious fervor burning in his eyes. He would do anything and everything she desired. The thought and the sheer absolute power of the situation aroused her considerably, making her privates moist. A stray thought flicked across the surface of her libidinous mind. Could she? What would it be like to put him there? To feel him struggle with the rising tide of her want? The more she contemplated it, the more she wanted to explore it. “Your ardor pleases me Tom,” she cooed, leaning back on the cool porcelain tank.

He grinned broadly, “If you are pleased, then I am pleased,” he assured.

“There is something I need you to do for me,” she stated softly, tone seductive and sweet.

“Name it,” he asserted, making a cutting motion with his hand.

Parting her legs slightly, she set him down between her knees, “Do you see what you’re devotion is doing to me?” she asked, touching her right index the small but expanding damp spot visible on her panties.

Swallowing hard, Tom nodded, entranced.

Removing her moist finger, she chuckled softly and brought it close to his face, “Taste me,” she encouraged, presenting the digit.

Gripping the end of her finger between his hands, he moved his face close and licked at the clear fluid coating the pad, licking greedily.

“Mmm, good,” she rewarded, smiling down at the little youth.

He was in near ecstasy, her essence rich in his mouth, “I love you,: he moaned.

Nodding slowly, “I know,” she whispered back, her tone soothing as he applied himself back to her finger.

In the Nick of Time

After Asha had departed with Tom in hand, an uncomfortable silence hung in the air like a palpable presence as Nick was left standing on the bed under the scrutiny of TJ and Carissa.

The blonde broke the tension, “Bet you didn’t have this back in Minnesota?” she commented.

Grinning, nick nodded slowly, “Not a lot of shrinkage back home no,” he responded. “I suppose it’s a pretty common occurrence out here?”

The two girls exchanged a telling glance, “Sometimes,” Carissa answered.

Nick frowned. Sometimes? What was that supposed to mean? While the girls had seemed surprised to see him and Tom, was this not the first time they had seen a little person? If not, what the fuck was happening on the left coast where people can get shrunk? He had never heard of this type of thing before, ever. He had even joked earlier with Tom about shrinking being a Cali thing.

“You look like you are in great shape,” TJ purred, pointing at Nick’s well muscles torso.

Carissa grinned wickedly, “Very decent shape,” she added, pointing a little lower.

Manufacturing a cardboard smile, he nodded, “Shouldn’t we be calling a hospital of something?” he asked, spreading his hands apart.

The two girls glanced at each other before the blonde shook her head, “Not sure what they could do,” she offered glumly.

“So true,” added Carissa, “I mean even at regular size you could get misplaced in a hospital. I would dread to think what might happen to the two of you,” she finished, shifting her position on the bed.

TJ lay down, essentially penning Nick between the two of them. “No girlfriend back home?” she asked.

He shook his head in negation, that knot of caution tightening in his gut.

TJ’s expression brightened and Carissa chuckled throatily.

Looking from one to the other, very self-conscious of his nudity, he raised his hands, “Maybe you could contact Hester and find out what that goop she was making was and how we can undo it,” he suggested.

“She’s kind of an odd girl, you know, kind of a science nerd. I wouldn’t even know how to get in touch with her,” TJ replied, “but let’s get back to this no girlfriend thing,” she urged.

Biting his tongue to prevent saying something he might regret, he forced another smile, “Right, no girlfriend though I’m not quite sure how that factors into this little predicament,” he said, trying to keep his tone convivial.

“No, the only reason I brought it up, is because I think at your size, you would make an amazing pocket boyfriend,” she cooed, nodding slowly, tongue touching the left corner of her mouth.

“No,” Carissa countered, shaking her head, “I don’t think he could survive in a pocket without getting squished. No, I think you would need to pack him around somewhere else,” she voiced, eyes narrowing, “somewhere soft and warm.”

Nick really didn’t like the direction of this discussion and the cavalier way in which they were having it. It seemed they were treating it like some kind of joke. Pocket boyfriend. Horseshit. And what the hell was Carissa implying? “I thought you and Scott were kind of an item,” Nick countered, trying to point the conversation in another direction.

TJ snorted, “Fuck, I wish Scott was like you are now,” she chortled. “You don’t even want to know the things I would do to that boy.”

Her tone was laden with menace and she was right, he didn’t want to know, but Carissa did.

“What?” she asked, eyes sparkling.

“He’s been a real dick lately, you know, saying if we don’t start doing stuff he might have to find someone else, says I should be grateful and give it up,” TJ answered.

“Grateful? Really? That’s not cool,” replied the redhead.

“If he was little like Nick here,” she chuckled, “I’d roll him up into a little ball and stuff him in my pussy or my ass,” she added laughing.

“That would be funny,” Carissa agreed.

“What do you think Nick?”

He thought the notion terrifying, but trying to be amendable, “If we’re talking Scott, I think yeah, in your ass, that’s where he belongs,” he said, tone guarded.

“I wonder what that would feel like. You know, to have someone at the mercy of your ass? Feel him squirm.” TJ mused.

Carissa giggled, “Or wait, like stuck in your panties and smashed up against your pussy,” she added.

TJ grinned, “That could be a lot of fun,” she stated, emphasizing the words a lot. “Don’t you think Nick? I mean, boys are practically willing to do anything and everything they can to try and get into a girl’s pants, wouldn’t that be the ultimate?”

“No,” he replied flatly. The thought of being held hostage in some girl’s underwear was a far cry from what he would describe as fun.

“Come on, “ she cajoled, her smile expanding and she rolled onto her back, head still turned toward Nick and Carissa, hands snaking down her body to the hem of her nightshirt. “Somewhere nice and warm and cozy and just the perfect fit,” she added, drawing her shirt up to her lean tummy and tracing a finger through the groove in her panties.

This was going of the rails in a hurry. “Gear down there big rig,” Nick said, shaking his head and bringing his hands up in a halting motion.

“No, I think she’s right Nick, a little fella like you would make the perfect pussy companion, all nestled right in there,” Carissa said, nodding in affirmation. “You’re like the perfect size.”

TJ giggled and rolled back onto her side, “If we could find out exactly how you got shrunk, we could make a fortune selling pussy pals,” she said, a touch of color in her cheeks.

“I would love my very own pussy pal,” Carissa attested, rolling her eyes and grinning broadly.

“I know,” TJ tittered.

Looking coquettish, Carissa fixed her eyes on Nick, “You want to try?” she inquired.

Swallowing hard, he shook his head. TJ looked up and over Carissa.

“What are you two up to?” he heard the sound of Asha’s voice, though his sightline to the door was blocked by the sprawling redhead. Letting out a sigh, he was glad she had returned, maybe she could rein the other two in.

“We were just asking Nick if wanted to volunteer to be our prototype pussy pal,” TJ replied.

Chuckling, Asha came into view, pausing at the edge of the bed, hands on hips, eyes on Nick.

Looking up at the dark haired giant girl, Nick realized she wasn’t holding Tom.

Neither the grin on her face, nor the glint in her eye did anything to assuage the sense of foreboding he felt. What did it mean?

Out of Options

“Where’s Tom?” Nick asked, neck craned to look up at Asha’s face.

Chuckling, Asha move her right hand off her hips and pat the fleshy mound hidden beneath the front of her panties, “Right here,” she commented.

Nick’s eyes followed her hand. There was a flutter of movement from within her panties. Was Tom there? Why? Before he could ask, TJ moved, flopping onto the bed and shuffling toward Asha on her belly.

“Really?” TJ asked, stretching out a hand and tracing her index finger over the silky fabric in the front of the Asha’s panties.

“Mmm hmm,” Asha noised, wiggling her hips slightly.

“I can totally feel him there!” she exclaimed, mouth and eyes wide.

Nick swallowed hard. Why was Tom in her underpants? Dumb question. Tom was utterly and hopelessly devoted to Asha. Squirreled away in her panties really was not much of a surprise. But what about him? Where the hell could he go? He didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of trying to make a break for it.

Giggling, TJ pulled her hand back and rolled back onto her side facing Nick though eyes on her hand, rubbing thumb and forefinger over the sticky clear fluid on the tip of her finger. “You’re wet,” she chuckled.

Asha smiled, “If anything, Tom is enthusiastic in his effort to please,” she purred, enjoying the sensations moving through her body.

Nick chose to say nothing. The whole uncertainty of what was happening raised all of his defensive barriers.

Eyes back on Nick, Asha smiled, “So, Tom tells me you were a little reluctant to approach us to help, that you had some concerns,” she stated.

“Were you afraid Nick?” TJ pouted, making a sad face and touching her tacky finger to her lips.

Expression serious, Nick look first to TJ then Asha and shook his head, “Not afraid, cautious,” he replied.

“Of what?” Asha asked, innocent look on her pretty face.

How could he explain it? The visceral internal sense of warning? Was he afraid of her? She had been tormenting him since he arrived, playing little games. “My caution was not to get accidentally trampled or trodden upon, much like we saw with Tom,” he extrapolated, pointing at TJ.

Asha shook her head, dark hair brushing across her shoulders, “Nope, that’s not it,” she stated.

Shrugging his shoulders, fuck it, “I wasn’t sure what you were about, your little flirts,” he said.

Chuckling, Asha smiled, “You don’t think girls talk about boys they find cute? Talk about ways to get boys to notice them?” she asked.

“And now Tom is in your panties,” he retorted, jabbing a finger at her crotch.

“Fuck Nick, he’s in between my lips and three quarters of the way into my pussy, arms and legs tickling me and making so wet I’m sure he’ll drown before I’ll come,” she cooed.

“No,” Nick said, shaking his head defiantly.

“No?” Asha asked. Bending her head forward, she pulled out the front of her panties, “Do you want to come out Tom?” she asked.

TJ propped herself up on an elbow to peek inside as well.

“No? Okay then,” Asha said, releasing the waistband and looking back at Nick. “See? Tom’s is just a happy little camper there,” she stated.

“Listen,” Nick started, trying to reason. “We can wait till morning and get your mother to help me, you know,” he urged.

“Where is your sense of adventure?” Carissa asked.

Nick turned at the hip, “Adventure?” he snorted. “I don’t know, maybe my sense of adventure vanished when I would up the same height as a roll of hockey tape,” he quipped.

“You can’t tell me you’re not curious,” Asha said.

He wasn’t curious. He wanted to be restored and the girls were acting all crazy. “Asha, you need to get a grip,” he stated.

“On you? Use you to push me over the edge?” she asked, licking her lips.

“No. Wait until your mother comes home and we can sort this all out,” he asserted.

“And let her get ahold of you? No chance. You’re mine,” she declared.

“Yours? Hardly,” he scoffed.

“You don’t think so? Let me tell you how this is going to play out. I am going to take Tom out of my panties and give him to TJ and Carissa to play with and then I’m going to play with you,” she advised.

“You’re nuts,” he said feeling the noose tightening.

Asha laughed, “You know what’s nuts is this whole thing. You know why? Because it is so totally random. You don’t realize you were destined to be like this, I already had plans for you but my mother said no and then out of the blue, Hester doses you and you wind up tiny anyway. That’s what’s crazy,” she said.

Frowning, he wasn’t following, “Plans?”

Shaking her head, Asha let out a sigh, “Okay, let me clue you in. I have, I don’t know what you would call it, an ability, a talent to make people small like you,” she said.

“Talent, I would definitely call it a talent,” Carissa said.

“To make people small? Why, why would you have a talent like that?” he asked.

“It’s a long story,” she said, “anyway, when my mom and your dad found told me you were going to be coming to live with us my mother made me promise not to reduce you thusly,” she shared.

“But, what?”

“You see my plan was to try and seduce you and make you eager to do anything I wanted. Then I would get you to ask me to make you itty bitty in order to circumvent my oath to my mother, but you wound up small anyway! Somehow Hester combined some elements and created a compound or a potion, making you small and now you’re mine to do with as I please,” she informed.

Nick blinked. “Hold on, if you can make people small, can you make them big again?” he asked.

Asha grinned, “I suppose it all depends on how nicely you ask, but there is so much we can do between then and that possibility,” she said mischievously, slipping her thumbs inside the elastic of her panties.

Scott and Hester

Scott jerked awake, sour taste in his mouth, right shoulder throbbing from sleeping on it awkwardly. Smacking his lips, he sat upright, massaging his shoulder. It was still dark beyond the boundary of the light cast by the lamp near the aquarium and he had no idea what time it might be. One saving grace, at least he wasn’t getting any smaller.

Getting to his feet, he stretched. Hester appeared, materializing like a wraith out of the darkness.

“I want some food,” he said through a yawn.

Hester cocked her head to the side, “I would think one completely existing upon the charity and kindness of others might choose to employ a modicum of civility and manners when making a request,” she advised.

Scowling, Scott curbed his tongue. He wanted to rant and rail at her, bitch, cunt, and any other epithet he could use, but it was obvious she was playing with him instead of trying to help and if he harbored any hope of getting out of this intact he knew he would have to play along. “Please,” he said, feigning a smile.

“Better,” she approved, vanishing from his sight.

He wondered if it was still Friday night. Tonight was the night he was going to drop the ultimatum bomb on TJ, put out or get out. She had been playing coy, stringing him along or so it seemed to him. What he really wanted was what he couldn’t have, Asha, but fucking a tight little package like TJ would’ve made for a nice consolation. Of course after he boned her he could notch his belt and move on to the next little slut that thought she could follow him and his golden arm to the bigs.

Hester returned, pushing her glasses back up her nose before placing a red plastic screw down bottle top filled with water and a plastic lid covered with what looked like granola into the aquarium.

Walking over, “What am I, a gerbil?” he asked, looking down at the provender

“I’m trying to ensure you receive adequate nutrition for the duration of the experiment,” she stated.

Experiment? He was her test subject and as such, he knew there was no way in the world the wannabe scientist in her was ever going to let him go. He needed a new strategy, some way into her head. Given her socially awkward disposition, he doubted she was accustomed to compliments from boys and that might be a means of eliciting something other than the scientist in her.

Grabbing a piece of food, he nibbled at it and smiled up at her. “Thank you,” he said, smiling.

Hester nodded, disappearing only to return a moment later with her notepad and a pen.

“You know,” he started, taking another morsel into his mouth, “I never really realized just how pretty you are,” he said, sucking up, though when he thought about it, the comment was actually true, she was pretty in a waifish kind of way.

She smiled at the compliment.

“I suppose I think the reason I was such an asshole to you was I was intimidated by how brilliant you are, I mean my god what a brain you’ve got in your gorgeous head,” he praised, hoping he wasn’t piling it on too thick. But again, as with his earlier assessment, this comment wasn’t too far off the mark either.

Nodding, she jotted down some more notes, though what, he couldn’t see because of the way she was holding the pad.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, studying him.

Time to lay it on, “Scared, lonely,” he said, lowering his gaze.

“Mmm hmm,” she said, making more notes.

“You know I think you have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. Are they green?” he said, showing her a smile.

She angled her head to the side, “Really?” she inquired.

He nodded.

“They’re actually more hazel, though I suppose the diffusion and scattering of weaker light by the turbid medium in the stroma of the iris may make them appear more green than is typical,” she hypothesized.

Only fucking Nerdgirl. He grinned, “Whatever it is, they are amazing,” he praised.

A smile pulled up at the corners of her lips.

Scott nodded. His assumption had been correct. Being called beautiful by a boy, whether a couple of inches tall or full sized, bitches were all over it. Setting down his piece of granola, he crossed the tank to the side nearest her. “Could you lean down so I could get a closer look at your eyes?” he asked.

Hester seemed to ponder a moment before setting the notepad facedown and bringing her face near the glass.

“Wow,” Scott chuckled.

“I know what you’re doing,” Hester replied.

“Realizing what a fool I’ve been for not seeing you in this light before? Guilty as charged,” he confessed.

“No, you’re trying to sway me by appealing to a nonexistent sense of vanity,” she replied.

“Not at all. Go look in a mirror and tell me you don’t see a gorgeous girl looking back, I challenge you,” he said.

“You are only saying these things because of your current situation,” she asserted.

“What? This?” he chuckled, “It’s finally allowed me to see beyond all the bullshit, like a veil has been lifted from my eyes,” he stated.

“You like girls like TJ and Asha,” Hester countered.

“True, they are pretty, but in a superficial way, plastic, fake. I know for a fact TJ spends hours trying to make herself look the way she does. You don’t even have to because you are natural and breathtaking,” Scott admired.

“You are flattering me,” she accused.

“It’s not flattery if it’s true,” he declared.

Leaning back away from the tank, Hester adjusted her glasses again, a stirring feeling deep within her body, pleasant and urgent. Was it all just a ploy to get her to loosen her guard, or was there merit to his words. Was he succumbing to some form of Stockholm syndrome?

Getting up, she slipped out her room and went down the hall to the bathroom. Clicking on the light, she looked into the mirror over the sink. Did he really think she was pretty?

Step Sibling Rivalry/Bonding

Mind reeling, Nick frowned, watching silently as Asha removed Tom from her person and her underpants, laying his glistening friend on the bed near him.

Climbing to his feet, Tom grinned broadly at Nick, mouthing the word ‘heaven’ as he combed his fingers through damp hair, a fervent expression on his face.

“Come to me, take Tom’s place,” invited Asha, beckoning Nick with her index finger.

“No,” he replied.

Tom frowned and shook his head, “Just go, it’s more amazing than you could possibly imagine,” he urged.

To Nick this was wrong on so many levels. Tom was literally gone, whatever allegiance he had to Nick was replaced with by blind ardor and undying devotion to Asha.

Asha chuckled, “It’s funny you think I was asking,” she said. Looking at the other girls, “Why don’t you two take tiny Tom to the spare bedroom while Nick and I get better acquainted?” she suggested.

Looking from Tom to Asha, Nick favored her with a sullen expression of defiance, lips pulled tight.  There was nothing else he could do really. Just like the court telling him he had to come out here, had to do what they ordered. In the best interest of the young man. He seriously doubted they had this in mind.

TJ giggled and the mattress beneath him shook as she and Carissa reoriented themselves.

Reaching over him, Carissa took Tom in her hand, “He’s all sticky,” she commented on her way out of the room.

“Well I guess that leaves just the two of us,” Asha said, sliding her panties down over her smooth legs.

Crossing his arms over his chest, “So what now? You have your way with me?”

She smiled, “Is that what you want?”

“I want to be myself again,” he replied as she climbed onto the bed and sat with him between her calves.

Parting her legs wider so he could see her smooth privates, she traced her right index finger delicately up and down the length of her wet vagina. “Am I not pretty?” she asked coyly.

Nick took a couple of steps closer, “That’s a loaded question. You know you’re pretty,” he rebutted.

She smiled, “So, you do think I am pretty,” she purred.

“What’s your game here? Ever since I got here it feels like you’ve been toying with me, you know, trying to mess with my head,” he asserted.

“My game?” she asked, expression innocent

“Listen, you got Tom are twisted around, I get it he’s gaga for you. He’s happy, you’re happy. I’m not made that way,” he stated.

“What way are you made then? Boys? You like thick cock?” she queried, leaning forward. “Maybe you’d like me to tie you to Scott dick and let him fuck me with it?”

Nick snorted, “I don’t think so,” he replied, waving a dismissive hand. “If you can restore me and Tom, or keep him that way if he likes, I don’t care, either way, show me you have the juice to undo this thing.”

Asha laughed, “That would be much too vulgar a display of power,” she answered back.

“So what you’re really saying then is that you’re full of shit?” he challenged.

“You want to go up inside my cute little bum and find out? I’m game,” she countered, arching an inquisitive eyebrow.

Frowning, “Fix me,” he requested.

“Convince me,” she prompted.

“No,” he refused, shaking his head and waving a hand to the side.

“You realize I could make you my little pet, force you to live out the balance of your days a slave to my whims?” she warned.

Looking left then right, from calf to calf, he nodded. “It’s true, you’re a lot bigger than me and I’m pretty much at your mercy, but something you fail to comprehend or realize because I suspect no one in your life has had the wherewithal to say no to you before is that despite your advantages, you will never break me, ever!” he growled.

Leaning back, Asha laughed softly, pleasantly, “I love it, I absolutely love it,” she stated mirthfully. “Like a stubborn little nail that just refuses to go in.”

Nick glowered truculently as if to emphasize her assertion but remained defiantly silent.

“I don’t want to hurt you Nick. I could take you and do all sorts of delicious and wicked things with you, to you. I just don’t understand why you are being so hard headed,” she informed.

“You have lived in your precious life in an insulated bubble of sunshine and fucking rainbows while my life hasn’t been quite so carefree. I’m out here against my will because someone I care about asked me to come and I wind up like this and you want me to do what? Come over there and fucking amuse you?” he question with an indignant snort.

“So much raw emotion, pent up passion,” she purred, index parting the delicate dewy tissue of her outer labia.

Whether it was the pheromones she was emitting, or the fact she looked incredibly stunning, Nick felt himself getting aroused, his flesh weak despite his iron will to not give in to her.

“Uh oh,” she said, slipping her finger inside her snug pussy, “looks like somebody wants to come out and play,” she cooed, sucking her lower lip into her mouth and grinning at the same time.

Stupid dick. Nick laughed bitterly, “Don’t flatter yourself, this thing has a mind of its own,” he replied, shaking his head. Shampoo ads, the smell of perfume, giant girl playing with herself, it was all the same. Wasn’t it?

“I think you want this,” she said playfully, nodding her head slowly, sensing his resolve might be weakening.

“I want to be fixed Asha, can’t you understand?” he pleaded. His cock was standing at full attention.

“Come to me Nick,” she tempted, looking at him through long lashes and beckoning him with the slick finger that had so recently been inside her moistened vagina.

What else could he do?

TJ, Carissa, and Tom

Tom was in a state of euphoria, his flesh still tacky from having been in Asha damp underwear. There was no doubt in his mind whatsoever that his decision to approach the girls was the right one, the only one. He couldn’t understand Nick’s stubborn refusal to give himself over to Asha, it was nonsensical, but his concern for his new found friend was fading as he gazed rapturously up at TJ and Carissa. He had never been with any girl, pining for Asha in the hopes she would reciprocate his ardor. When she had lain him against the tender flesh of her most delicate spot, he thought it couldn’t get much better. Now he would get a chance with other girls? If this moment never ended, it would be too soon.

The spare room was neat and tidy, Carissa bounding in and peeling the blankets and sheets back before hopping into bed.

Tom in hand, TJ followed suit, facing Carissa, both girls on their knees.

“Where do we begin?” Carissa, asked, giggling as she placed her hands on TJ’s firm breasts.

TJ set Tom down on the bed between her and the redhead’s legs before taking Carissa’s face in her hands and leaning into a kiss.

Essentially directly under the two girls, Tom craned his head up to watch though careful to make sure he didn’t inadvertently get caught under knee.

For the first several minutes, he was a spectators as the blonde girl and the redhead made out, touching each other over clothes. The perspective was so odd.

When TJ sat back, drawing a hand across her mouth, she looked down at the tiny figure between her legs.

Reaching down, Carissa picked Tom up, bringing him near her face, “Come here you,” she said, opening her mouth and placing him inside.

Sliding off her hand, Tom rolled over on her tongue, the slippery muscular appendage undulating under him and rolling him around. Then there was another tongue in Carissa’s mouth, intertwining with him and Carissa’s tongue, tossing him about. He felt like he was in a washing machine, being rolled over and over and pulled this way and that and then he was sucked into TJ’s mouth.

Drooling him out onto her hand, TJ grinned down at Tom as he rolled onto his back, sputtering and coughing.

“I want him inside me,” Carissa said coquettishly, grinning before stripping off her nightshirt.

“What do you think Tom?” TJ asked, arching an eyebrow.

Nodding, he continued to wipe saliva from his face.

Sliding hands down her sides, Carissa shifted her position on the bed and dropped back onto her bum, lifting her legs up and removing her panties.

When Asha had placed Tom in her panties, she had laid him in the groove of her vagina. As TJ lowered him toward Carissa, this was different, this was a hungry pussy in full bloom, lips parted ready to receive him.

Eyes widening, he pressed himself back into TJ’s rapidly descending hand. Deftly she turned him and pressed his head and shoulder into the moist opening of Carissa’s privates. Arching her hips to facilitate entry, the redhead moaned softly.

Sliding into the beautiful girl, Tom started to panic. He couldn’t breathe, choking on thick secretions as his body was being jammed in amongst the dense mucous laden tissue. Twisting as best he could, he tried to fight back out, to find air. The pressure on his legs and at his feet was unbelievable, something hard digging into his skin, a fingernail maybe, driving him deeper into Carissa, the force buckling his legs and making him want to holler in pain.

The interior was incredibly hot and the sounds of her body loud in his ears as he felt himself swallowed all the way into her. When she moved he felt the pressure of her muscles shift, crushing down on him from every angle.

“Help!” he screamed as best he could but he knew there was no way either of the girls could hear him. This isn’t at all what he had imagined as desperation made his struggle more and more frantic. Catching a weak breath from amidst the corrugated folds smothering him, he knew he was being drawn deeper and deeper into Carissa. Up and down no longer had reference. Rolling to his side, he found a moment of reprieve from the crushing pressure, fingers sliding over something smooth and slimy as he filled his lungs again. Her cervix? In the pitch blackness, his fingers found the small aperture leading to her uterus. It was her cervix. He had passed through her vagina and up the birth canal. At least there was a small pocket of respirable air, thick and heavy with her scent and essence, but still breathable.

The whole area around him seemed to tremble and shake and again he surmised Carissa was moving. Turning, he put his feet against her cervix and tried to angle himself back toward the compact tunnel of rippled tissue leading out of the girl.

There was naught that he could do except wait and pray. After a time, her cervix twitched and suddenly smashed into his legs, causing them to buckle as the walls around him gripped mercilessly onto him. Again and again he was bashed by unrelenting forces inside the girl as she orgasmed. Whatever air had been trapped there was gone making him gasp only to be filled with the milky results of her climax. Had he breath to spare, he would have screamed again as he tried to claw his way out of her.

Carissa lay on her back, luxuriating in the delicious afterglow of her tremendous release, body glistening with perspiration.

Spreading the labia of the redhead’s labia, TJ slipped her fingers into Carissa, opening her up. There amidst the drooling come soaked folds lay Tom’s tiny arm. Putting her lips around the tender opening, she sucked, tongue flicking at the limp little arm until she could draw him partway into her mouth. Him captured, his legs protruding from her lips, she reared back, grinning down at Carissa. “My turn,” she mumbled.

The Path of Least Resistance

Taking a tentative step toward the gigantic girl, Nick shook his head, brow furrowed and lips pursed. What the hell did she want him do? Rub it? What? He really wasn’t clear on her intent.

“Good boy” she cooed as he moved closer to her.

Stopping in front of her, he spread his hands wide, “What now?” he asked, shaking his head.

“Look how wet she is,” Asha remarked, touching her index finger back to her slit and pulling it away, tendrils of clear liquid clinging to the finger before breaking. “Here,” she said, moving the finger near his face, “taste me.”

Still managing to retain his scowl, Nick lifted his chin and extended his tongue.

Chuckling, Asha moved her finger to his face, wrapping the viscous thread completely around his head.

Moving back and twisting to his right, the thick secretion covered his mouth and nose forcing him to reach up and wipe his face in order to breath.

Watching him struggle with her lubricant, she giggled. “Nice?”

Looking at the gooey mess webbing his fingers together, he shook his head. “Listen, why don’t you put me back to normal and I promise I will bend you over fuck the shit right out of you, hey?” he offered, her flavor lingering on his senses as he flicked his hands.

“Bold statement but for now I think I prefer you this way, literally eating out of the palm of my hand,” she returned.

“The tables will turn,” he stated, hoping it sounded more confident than he felt.

“We’ll see,” she replied. Turning her hand over, index finger still extended, she traced the tip of it up his thighs and over his swollen member. “Is that for me?” she asked, grinning.

Nick chuckled, “Sure, why not. Going to fill you up,” he retorted facetiously, rolling his eyes. Truth was he figured he was hard enough to be able to pound nails.

She gave him an exaggerated pout, “Come on Nick, don’t sulk,” she said, expression turning to a mischievous grin.

He laughed bitterly, “This isn’t sulking. This is me saying do whatever it is you feel you need to do and just get it over with already,” he said.

Climbing onto the bed, she sat on her knees with him positioned midpoint between her thighs, “Let’s make this a little more interesting,” she suggested, eyes sparkling.

Shaking his head, “I have no idea what your idea of more interesting looks like, but sure, I’m game,” he stated.

“For the next hour or so we are going to play,” she said sly, “and if in that time, I make you come, you’ll agree to be my own little pet, but, if you’re able to control and you don’t come I’ll restore you,” she offered.

Was it a trick? Undoubtedly. Asha was a tigress and Nick’s extremely limited history with girls was such that he had zero confidence he would be able to restrain himself from letting go, fucked up size situation or not. “No deal,” he asserted, shaking his head and sliding his hands out.

“Scared?” she asked playfully.

“Are you kidding me right now?” he asked, chuckling. The first night in his room he had heard sounds of her shuffling around in her room in the small hours of the morning. She’d made all sorts of size references. If what she said was true about her ability to alter people’s sizes, how many people had she shrunk before?

“All of this chit chat is getting me rather hot and bothered and in need of some relief,” she purred, fingers back to her pussy.

“Take a cold shower,” he urged.

She shook her head, dark hair swishing across her shoulders and upper back, “I don’t think that will do it,” she breathed heavily.

He knew no matter what he said, what resistance he put up, she was going to do want she wanted in the end. There was nowhere to run, no one to intervene. “Listen, if I do this thing, will you fix me?” he queried, changing tactics.

“Maybe,” she said coyly, bringing her left index finger to her mouth. Closing her eyes, she sucked the juice from it.

Maybe was better than a definitive no, but he knew this all part of her game and if he wanted to have a chance he was going to have to play. Smiling, he nodded slowly, “Alright,” he said.

Opening her eyes, she removed her finger, “What was that?” she inquired.

“Let’s do it,” he said.

A Cheshire smile appeared on her lips, “That a boy,” she congratulated. Reaching down, she picked him up in her right hand and repositioned herself on the bed so that she was semi recumbent on her back leaning against the pillows at her headboard.

Parting her legs, she brought him down toward her vagina.

“Control yourself a second,” he said, putting his hands out to get her to arrest his descent.

“Teasing time is over Nick, now it’s time to play,” she moaned, tongue snaking out and licking along her lower lip.

“This may not be new to you but it is to me, so give me some time to familiarize myself with your obviously beautiful body so that I can do my part, alright?” he asked.

She seemed to consider his words before she chuckled, “Okay,” she conceded, shifting her hand and setting him down on his feet atop her taut stomach.

Nodding, he looked at her face, “Thank you,” he said.

Arching an eyebrow, “You’re welcome, now explore my body,” she prompted.

Climbing to her chest, he ascended her left breast, actually able to feel the beat of her heart and the warmth of her skin through the soles of his feet. Her nipple was already fully erect, tight nub of flesh protruding upward. Straddling it, he took the nipple in his hands, kneading the pliant flesh.

“Mmm, I like that,” she said softly, chin tucked in and watching him.

Looking up at her, he twisted the flesh playfully from side to side as he licked his own lips and chuckled. It was fucked up, the whole situation, but still, there was something incredibly erotic about it.

Subjective Evaluator Bias

Despite Hester suspecting Scott’s surreptitious intent, she did find herself a little surprised at her body’s physiological reaction to his praise. While she understood the biological processes involved, it was quite another to feel a gush of serotonin released into her system. She liked it.

Looking at her own reflection, she smiled, trying to see herself through Scott’s eyes. Given the symmetry of her face, she supposed she did qualify as attractive.

She was under no illusion that Scott was adapting to his limitations and changing strategy. On some level, she did find the words appealing. That said, it did not lessen her frustration toward him for disrupting her attempted chemical experiment.

Walking back into her room, she jotted down some notes in her spiral bound journal, glancing up to see Scott with his tiny hands pressed against the glass side of the aquarium looking in her direction.  How he and potentially Nick had been so reduced was still a matter of some curiosity. Why the release of energy alone should have been significant and should have had some discernable effect, but there had been none, just shrinking. Getting up, she took her notebook and pencil and moved closer to the tank.

Scott grinned as she walked up, “I wasn’t sure when you were going to come back anytime soon, but I’m glad you did,” he said.

“Are you frightened?” she asked, reaching her right hand into the tank.

“Not now,” he replied, moving closer to enable her to pick him up.

Scooping the tiny youth into her hand, he was light, though perhaps not as much as he should be at that size. She considered the molecular compression may have made him denser than he would normally be at full size. Would it affect his durability on a scale she might be able to detect? Moving over to her bed, she climbed onto it and sat cross legged, setting him near her feet outside the corral of her legs and placing the notebook on her thigh.

Looking around, Scott maintained the smile on his face. It was working, she was falling for his charm he though inwardly. If he could keep her buttered up and off balance, she might be persuaded to contact his folks. “I don’t know, maybe it’s the light, or my new found perspective, but I repeat my earlier wow,” he commented, grinning and shaking his head.

Tilting her head to the side, Hester smiled, “Perhaps,” she said.

“No two ways about it girl, you got game,” he added.

Setting her book and mechanical pencil to the side, she leaned forward, elbows near her knees, “And what game is that?” she inquired, head bird tilting to one side.

As she loomed over him, he chuckled, “Just that you’re a double threat. Gorgeous and more than likely the smartest person I know,” he offered.

“Considering your reputation with the girls at the school, I must say I find the veracity of your words to be in question,” she advised.

Raising his hand to the side of her head, he swept it back through his hair, he had been with a fair number of the girls at the school, using the potential future his arm represented as a means of getting a lot of action. There was no point denying it, so he tried to turn it to his advantage, “It’s true, girls have thrown themselves at me, and I enjoyed it, but don’t think for a minute those girls didn’t have designs of their own. Aspirations linked to what my arm could do and the life it could bring. They used me and I used them. This is different, right here, right now. If I never get put back the way I was, my arm has no future, no major league prospect. I really don’t think you might consider my words a sugary attempt to try and get into your panties,” he chuckled. At his size, obviously that wasn’t his intent.

The thought hadn’t occurred to her either, until now. She had never before intimate with a boy before, in fact no boy had ever tried to woo her with words. She felt warmth in her privates. What might it be like put him there? She could document the experience as part of her scientific study. She could also test her theory on his density and durability as part of the shrinking process. While she the idea of Nick touching her there only heightened her arousal, as an addendum to her observations of the shrinking, Scott would do as an alternative.

Scott could tell the gears were turning inside Hester’s head and suppressed a smile, leaving her to try and come to terms with his ploy. Whether he was small or not, the poor girl didn’t have a chance when he plied the charm. Like putty in his hands. He would be home before sunrise.

“I think so,” she commented, nodding to herself as if coming to some mental conclusion in her mind.

“What’s that?” he asked, coyly arching an eyebrow, confident she would be more inclined to help now that she was wrapped up in his guile.

Looking down at him, the more she thought about, the more inquisitive she became. The hornier she became. “Your words have stirred me,” she conceded, nodding again.

Victory! He kept his face a blank mask, stifling the urge to hoot and holler or gloat for having outwitted supposedly the school’s smartest girl. Stupid Nerdgirl. A little razzle, a little dazzle, and all the bitches just couldn’t resist Scottie the Hottie. He was actually kind of surprised how quickly she folded. “So you’re going to contact my parents and get them over here to pick me up?” he asked expectantly, feigning an appreciative tone.

Hester chuckled and shook her head, “No,” she said softly. Sucking her bottom lip into her mouth as she studied him a moment.

No? What the hell? She had said his words stirred her so now what? What was she waiting for? He didn’t let his confusion show on his face as she slid off the edge of the bed.

“You’re going to be my first,” she said, unbuttoning her top.

“First?” he inquired.

“Uh huh,” she replied.

First what? Then it occurred to him.

To Boldly Go

“No, you can hold him by the legs,” TJ said, showing Carissa how to hang on to Tom before turning herself around and spreading her long smooth legs.

Looking down at the little body starting to come awake in her hand, Carissa grinned broadly, “He’s alive and kicking,” she said, lowering him down toward TJ’s privates.

Blinking his eyes, Tom felt himself descending, his stomach dropping like on a rollercoaster. The first thing to come into focus as he was twisting was TJ’s enormous exposed and swollen privates. “No, no, no,” he muttered, unable to arrest his descent as Carissa guided him in between the puffy lips of the blonde girl’s outer labia.

“Oh god I’m so wet,” moaned TJ, arching her hips up to facilitate Carissa’s efforts.

She was wet, sopping wet. Clear viscous fluid oozed out of her vagina and over her perineum and across the puckered surface of her asshole.

Sucking in as big a breath as he could, Tom squinted his eyes shut, feeling the slippery flesh part around him as he effortlessly slid inside of TJ. The flesh around him was rippled and dense, crushing on him from all sides. He knew once he was deeper inside the girl the force would relent somewhat.

“I can totally feel him,” TJ groaned with a giggle mixed in as Carissa drove Tom as far as she could into the vagina.

“Right?” Carissa said, slowly extracting her slick index finger and touching it to her lips.

“Mmm,” TJ cooed, hands cupping and caressing her breast, pinching and teasing her tight nipples.

Getting down on her stomach, Carissa positioned her mouth over TJ’s incredibly wet vagina, tongue snaking out and flicking the hardened little nub ever so gently.

Passing through the vagina into the space under the cervix, the pressure around Tom abated and he let out his breath. He knew better than to let his guard down after what had happened inside Carissa when he was assaulted by her cervix. The air was so humid and the flesh around him hot, he knew he was sweating like crazy, his perspiration adding to the rising tide of moisture TJ‘s body was producing. He needed to listen to her body, the sound of her blood in order to prepare for her orgasm. He likened getting bashed by her cervix to being hit by a Volkswagen. Onto the other hand, being nestled amongst the fold leading away from the cervix was like being in the barrel of a cement truck. Lose lose. Being inside TJ wasn’t a great deal different than being inside Carissa, subtle tastes and flavor differences, but very similar. He presumed Asha too would not be too different either.

It didn’t take long for TJ’s level of arousal to reach the threshold of release. Laying Carissa back, she straddled the redhead’s face, lowering herself down in a sixty nine position.

Tom knew it was coming, like sensing an impending earthquake or other unstoppable force of nature. Tucking himself into as tight a ball as he could he braced for impact.

Flesh above her trembling, Carissa too was aware TJ danced along the precipice of coming so she altered pressure, changed the pace of her dutiful attention to prolong the sensation and keep the blonde lingering deliciously at the edge of no turning back.

Rearing her head back, “You are such a tease,” TJ mumbled, grinding her hips down on Carissa’s face in an effort to release.

“You going to come for me?” Carissa asked, tongue tracing along the length of TJ’s vagina.

“Uh huh,” TJ whimpered, lowering her face down and licking Carissa.

Unfurling his body inside TJ’s depths, why was it taking so long Tom wondered? The spongy flesh around him was positively engorged and superheated. Her heart was racing unbelievable fast. Why hadn’t she come? Shifting around, his fingers moved across something inside her, flesh, but harder, more compact than the other tissue enveloping him. What is that? Cyst? Gross. As he palpated his findings, TJ’s body erupted with the force of a volcano, smothering him in flesh and molten ecstasy. He couldn’t breathe.

TJ screamed, her body spasming and quavering as she came, gushing fluid all over Carissa’s face.

“Oh my god,” Carissa murmured, turning her face away with streams of juice spraying out of TJ.

“I…can’t…stop,” TJ moaned blissfully, body convulsing and contracting for what felt an eternity before collapsing onto Carissa.

“What the heck happened?” Carissa asked, face and hair soaked from TJ’s tremendous release.

“I don’t know,” TJ breathed softly, twitching with aftershocks as she rolled off of the redhead.

“You practically drowned me,” Carissa chuckled, flipping herself around and slicking her hair back before lying beside TJ.

Bringing her hands up to her face, TJ chuckled, “That was amazing,” she murmured, voice still shaky.

“Tom?” Carissa asked, propping herself up on an elbow.

“He did something,” TJ said, parting her legs and contracting her pelvic muscles in an effort to try and expel the boy lodged in her pussy.

Moving again, Carissa positioned herself near TJ’s crotch.

“Anything?” TJ asked, grunting with exertion as she bore down once again.

“Nope, no wait, I see a leg,” she said, reaching out and taking the limb between the thumb and forefinger of her right hand and gently tugging Tom free of TJ.

TJ shuddered, nerves still vibrantly alive and sensitive as the limp form of Tom passed out of her.

Changing position, Carissa lay on her side, putting Tom down on the bed between her and TJ.

Also rolling onto her side, TJ grinned down at the sprawled Tom, “His skin looks all pruned,” she commented, wrinkling her nose.

Carissa chuckled, “After spending a half hour inside you, can’t say I’m overly surprised,” she replied.

Flopping on her back, TJ looked toward the ceiling, “I think we might have to keep him,” she joked, an inflection in her tone contradicting the assertion the statement was a jest.

“Mm hmm,” Carissa agrees, bringing her hand up and touching his sticky little body.

Something Has Got to Give

Eyes on the heated, excited nipple under his hands, Nick slowly shook his head. “No,” he murmured. As erotic and sexy as it was, this was wrong. Like sacrificing his soul, he just couldn’t do it. 

“Don’t stop now little one,” Asha pleaded, tone sultry and full of want.

Looking up, “I can’t do this,” he said with almost a surprise look on his face. Yes, his cock was hard, yes that little voice in the back of his mind was whispering capitulation.

Asha frowned, “What do you mean you can’t do it? Are you kidding me right now?” she demanded, voice growing stern as she stared at the little figure on her breast.

Shrugging, Nick chuckled again, “I can’t do it. I can’t give in. I mean I thought I could, I thought I could just give you want you wanted, but I can’t,” he stated, raising his eyebrows and pursing his lips.

“You’ve started something that needs to be finished, you can’t just quit,” she growled over an evil insistent laugh.

He laughed in return, finding some inner peace within himself for having remained true, “I just did,” he replied.

Shifting herself more upright, he grabbed hold of the protruding flesh to prevent from tumbling down her body. “You will finish this!” she asserted, pointing a finger at him.

“Listen, I know you’re going to do what you feel you need to and we both know there’s not a goddamn thing I can do to stop you, but in all honesty, I think I would rather be this small with my sense of self intact rather than surrender to myself you for a chance at restoration,” he explained, shaking his head.

“You are a fool Nicholas Tasker! A complete and utter fool!” she impugned, eyes fierce.

Grinning, he nodded, “A fool I may be, but at least I remembered who I was before giving in to you.”

Reaching her right hand up, she seized him off her chest, grip firm and uncompromising as she brought him in front of her face. “Do you know the things I am going to do to you?” she asked menacingly, her warm breath rolling over him.

The force was such it was hard for him to breathe, “Probably not, but it really doesn’t matter what you do. You have the power to shatter my bones, pull my arms and legs off, even take my life but even with all your advantages, you can never break my spirit,” he asserted.

“How can you be so bloody stubborn?” she asked rhetorically, shaking her head from side to side.

Grinning, “It’s a gift,” he provided despite the fact she wasn’t actually looking for an answer.

“I suppose if I told you I could keep you forever as my little pet, that your father wouldn’t even bat an eye if I told him you ran away, that wouldn’t bother you?” she inquired.

“It’s true, you could and I don’t think it’s a stretch that he wouldn’t believe you if you told him that,” he agreed.

“You are completely and totally impossible,” she said with a chuckle, face brightening. In all her days, never had she encountered such determined defiance, ever.

“You are not the first to say so,” he replied. What would she do? He fully understood the stand he was taking. She could do all the things he had mentioned to her and so much more he daren’t even consider, but he would not yield.

She stared at him hard, dark eyes boring into him as if seeking a crack in his resolve. There was none.

Suddenly her face lit up, transformed by a smile, “Nick, we don’t have to be at odds here,” she offered pleasantly.

“Fix me and we won’t be,” he replied directly. “No harm no foul.”

Setting down on the bed, she rolled off the side, standing over him, a slight smile on the corner of her mouth, “Alright already,” she said. “You win, I’ll fix you.”

Nick stared up at her. Had he triumphed or was it a ploy? Was she really going to do it or was this just another one of the tricks in her arsenal meant to mess with his head?

Bringing her hands together over top of him, she rubbed them, almost like she was wringing them as she closed her eyes. Her lips were moving, but she wasn’t making a sound he could hear.

Parting her hands, she clapped them together forcefully, making a loud cracking noise. Opening her eyes, she grinned down at him, “There,” she said.

He didn’t feel any different. He thought there might have been a tingle, but nothing appeared to be happening.

“It’s not working,” she said, eyes narrowing, brow furling, tone a mixture of disbelief and anger.

“What do you mean?” he inquired, crossing his arms and making a sour face.

“I mean it’s not working. You should have started growing, rapidly,” she asserted.

Uncurling his arms, he extended them out to his sides, “In case you hadn’t noticed, not growing,” he said, keeping derision out of his tone.

“No, I see that,” she retorted sarcastically. Closing her eyes, she repeated the process. Still nothing, he remained unchanged.

Smiling wryly, “Give it up. You got called on your bluff, let it go,” he said.

“No, you don’t understand. I can do this but there must be something interfering with my ability to alter your size. It has to be whatever it was in that cloud from Hester’s brew that’s blocking it and preventing me from restoring you,” she speculated, nodding slowly.

Nick shook his head. She sounded convincing, her body language too, but as he said to her, the end result was still the same, he was small and the prospect of him being returned to normal were fading like a dream upon waking.

“Dammit,” she cursed, stalking across the room and exiting, leaving him alone on the bed.

Sitting down on the bed, he stared at the open door. What now?