Throughout the rest of my school day, I concentrate in classes as best I can, am offered another burger by my new acquaintance, Kevin, who I’ve nicknamed ‘Burger Kev’ (while both Thomas and Kev call me either Tom Thumb or MiniMark), and find myself looking forward to my afternoon at Thomas’s house. This will be the furthest I’ve been from home in my entire life. I rarely ever leave the vicinity of my street, and I never go anywhere alone.

As the bell rings though, signalling the end of our last class, which is biology, I’m ready to throw up. I had to be excused from class because as an introduction to the topic, the teacher instructed us to dissect bull’s eyes (literally). Seeing as one: all the students carried scalpels which could potentially be used to dissect me, two: the bull’s eye I was given could have served as a beanbag to my smaller frame and three: I made the mistake of stabbing my eyeball, spurting out a thick gelatinous liquid, which unfortunately doused me head to toe… in parts of cow. Thomas had to take me to the bathroom for a bath in the sink.

Now, I smell like rotting meat. Well, seeing as my body doesn’t have as much of an odour as a regular sized person’s, no one else notices my weird smell, but I do. And the thought of cutting open an eye sends shivers down my spine. “Do you know how intimidating it is to dissect something almost as big as you are?” I ask Thomas sceptically as he laughs at me as I sit amongst the soapy bubbles in the sink, my shirt hung over the metal rim. “It looks like sport won’t be the only subject I’ll be missing out on.” I add dryly.

Thomas grins cheekily down at me, causing my cheeks to redden as I bob around in the chest high water. It clings to my soaked pants like glue. He reaches over to grab a box of tissues from beside one of the cubicles and passes one down to me once I’m out of the makeshift bath. I stand on the bench of the bathroom, my teeth chattering uncontrollably as the cold sinks in. The tissue wrapped around me provides some protection, but it’s really not a good idea to go to Thomas’s house like this. Midgets like me don’t get sick like normal people (one of the perks from the cure), but I probably would if I went around saturated.

“I think we should have a change of plans.” I tell him as I wring out my wet hair. “Why don’t you come back to my place so I can change into some fresh clothes. Then we can hang out there.”

“How tall are you?” Thomas suddenly asks. I frown, feeling heat rising to my cheeks again.

“I don’t know why you have to know this, but I’m four and three quarters of an inch tall.” I say softly.

“I have some doll’s clothes back at my house from when I was younger, if you wanted to… you know…” Now it’s Thomas’s cheeks that are flushing red.

“You played with dolls?” I laugh as I tug my wet shirt over my head and turn around to inspect my reflection in the giant mirror behind me. My earmuffs aren’t on right now, because they’d break if they were submerged in water, but I’m pretty sure Thomas has them. I hope he does, because I actually feel pretty exposed without them. Already, my ears have begun ringing from all the un-muffled sounds.

“Well, yeah, but it used to by my mother’s.” Thomas explains hurriedly. I roll my eyes as I face him again.

“Still, I’m not really a fan of doll’s stuff.” I admit warily. “I prefer not to look like some toy.”

“But you told me you buy all your clothes from a doll’s shop…” Thomas reminds me.

“Mum shrinks some of my stuff in the clothes dryer…” I smile a little at those memories.

“That actually works?”

I look down at my saturated jeans. “It worked with these. You just have to get the heating and spinning settings in the drier just right and you’ve got yourself midget pants.”

“That’s awesome!” Thomas laughs. “So, which house are we going to?”

“Maybe mine for today… but I’m not kidding when I say that I want to thank your mum for curing me.” I answer from the bench. Thomas nods, smiles widely and holds out his hand, which I quickly scramble onto. My IPod is tucked safely away in his schoolbag with, which I presume is the case, my earmuffs.

I’m not quite used to going without the earmuffs, actually, so I’m a little shocked when everything outside the bathroom sounds so clear. It’s like hell to my ears, but I find I can hear so much better without them. Not that it’s hard anyway, to listen to someone ten times the size of you as they talk. Thomas moves me up onto his shoulder as he continues on outside, so we’re at the front of the school building. As usual, teenagers mill around chatting and gossiping, some playing handball again like they’d done yesterday. In all honesty, every time one of the students slams the rubber ball across the court, I flinch, thinking about what would happen if I was the one getting slammed across a bitumen court. Not fun.

Cam sees us as we reach the front gates of St Agathas and greets me with a toothy grin, which I return. He seems a tad agitated still, probably because I’m sitting on Thomas’s shoulder rather than his own, but I ignore it. He’s not the boss of me. “Hi Thomas.” He smiles. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.” He holds out his hand expectantly, palm up. Thomas hesitates, knowing he’s motioning for me.

“Thomas is coming over this arvo.” I say quickly, when my friend makes no move to transfer me into Cam’s waiting hand.

“Oh… cool.” Cameron smiles, looking almost shocked. I frown at the expression. “The bus comes in ten, so we’d better get a move on.”

**********

The bus ride takes forever, especially since there’s traffic, being the second day back at school. By the time Cameron, Thomas and I enter via the front door, I’m covered head to toe in goose bumps and my toes are blue from the cold water of the sink. I’m giddy despite it all, though. I’m actually having a friend over. To my house.

The moment Cameron and Thomas step into the kitchen, I leap off the shoulder I’d been sitting on, dropping the last few midget stories so I land in a roll on the bench. I notice Thomas’s amazed expression and wink teasingly at him before sprinting over to my little collection of bowls and plates.

“You guys like the sound of chocolate cake?” Cam asks, his head stuck inside the fridge.

“You bet I do!” I say instantly, the cold vanishing from my body. A change of clothes can wait. Chocolate cake on the other hand…

“I wish I was a midget right now.” Thomas laughs as Cameron sets the half-eaten cake down beside me, the chocolaty goodness the size of a house.

“Trust me, Tommy. You do not want to wish for that. Although…” My voice trails off to allow me to smirk up at him. “This might be an exception.” While Cameron cuts two thick wedges of the cake for himself and Thomas, I don’t hesitate in ripping crumb sized portions off my brother’s slice. It’s not like he’s going to care because after all, I don’t eat much. “Wanna see my room?” I ask Thomas as I swallow the final mouthful of my cake. My mouth is smeared with chocolate pieces that make me look ten years younger than I really am.

Thomas nods, a smile creeping at his lips. “We should play the Wii later or something.” Cam suggests, as I clamber up Thomas’s arm to sit back on his shoulder. I’ve always lived the Wii Console. Heaps of people don’t believe me when I say that it’s even possible for me to work a remote, particularly because it’s twice my width, two heads taller than me and weighs (on my opinion) more than a young midget rhinoceros. My choices of actual games are limited, because I’m not big enough as a midget to lift the remote and hold a nun chuck or accessory in the other hand, but Mario Kart is one of my options. Same with Nintendoland, for the Wii U Console.

As expected, Thomas shoots me a look of disbelief. “You can use a Wii remote?”

I roll my eyes. “I’m not that handicapped, Ryan.” Still, I can’t keep the doubt out of my voice. I preoccupy myself by pointing up my house’s mountainous staircase or as I like to call it, the heartbreak stairs. “My room’s upstairs.”

“Your house is huge, Marcus!” Thomas marvels as he climbs the staircase effortlessly, one hand on the wooden railing I sometimes use as a slide.

“Sucks for me.” I mutter, allowing a small smile to stretch across my face. Admittedly, the gesture’s a tad forced.

“You have a really crap attitude, MiniMark.” Thomas jokes as he’s directed to my room/bookcase. He’s about to pass it when I snap my hand out in front of his giant face.

“That’s it.” I say, pointing to the bookshelf. Thomas is confused. He moves to open Cameron’s bedroom door, which is locked. “No, you duffer!” I laugh. “That’s my brother’s room!” I move my pointing arm a fraction to the left, so it’s facing the shelf. “That’s my room.”

The look on Thomas’s face is stunned. That and a mixture of the common curiosity. Like everyone else who visits me, he’s instantly kneeling in front of my bedroom/book shelf to get a better look at its insides. As sparsely furnished as the bottom shelves are, he still wants to take it in. Taking his frozen stature as my advantage, I roll back on my heels before diving into the top section of my bedroom from his shoulder, almost missing the timber divider between the levels. Thomas blinks twice at my near death experience, but I’m too busy standing up and dusting myself off to notice.

“I know you’re dying to hear my life story.” I smirk up at him, walking to my tissue box wardrobe and yanking out a plain white shirt and a pair of black shorts. “Just give me a sec, I’m freezing.”

Thomas averts his eyes as I tug the dry clothes on and shivers a little when I touch his hovering hand lightly with a finger. “All set.” I smile.

**********

Cameron has already set up a Mario Kart 32 game marathon by the time Thomas and I are downstairs. Thomas is quick to settle himself down in our two seat recliner lounge with my brother, while I use my usual doll sized pillow to get a better view of the cinema sized tv screen that displays our game.

A remote and nun chuck (since I can’t use a Wii steering wheel) are placed on the coffee table in front of me and I quickly arrange the remote itself so it’s positioned horizontal to my body, with my two feet hovering over the accelerate and reverse buttons, like I’m driving a real car. I hold the nun chuck awkwardly between my legs, one hand on top of the joystick. The other hand rests just over the ‘use item’ button. It’s a really intricate and confusing way to hold and operate the remote, but it’s the best I can do with the body I have.

Trying to get Thomas’s eyes off me and my remote, I smirk up at him. “I’ll bet you ten bucks I’ll smash you at this!” Cameron giggles at my strong words but pauses in mock fear when I stare daggers at him.

Thomas purses his lips in consideration for a moment, before his lips twist into a smile. “I think I’ll shake on that.” He declares smugly. He holds out his car sized fist, his index finger free. A rush of a challenge surges through me and I jump up so I can take the bigger boy’s finger in my whole hand as he shakes it to seal our little bet.

Cameron’s laughing softly as the character choosing menu flashes across the TV screen. I’m instant when I select my all-time favourite character, King Boo. Thomas selects the Wario character, while Cameron scrolls down the Mii character list until he finds our homemade Sam Temple, from the Michael Grant Gone series. I lean forward in anticipation of the first race, feeling the adrenalin course through my veins.

3, 2, 1…

My hands grip the nun chuck joystick expertly, swivelling it around to control my kart. I hold first place, but Cameron’s close behind and Thomas isn’t going to give up without a fight. There’s a pixelated streak of yellow and purple as Thomas swerves into first place and I grit my teeth. I can’t lose this bet… I don’t have ten bucks… Luck is on my side when I obtain a red shell from one of the passing mystery boxes.

“Hah!” I laugh triumphantly as Wario’s hit. Thomas swings his steering wheel around like a madman, trying to catch up. My arm around the nun chuck tightens. Suddenly, Thomas has pulled in front of King Boo again and is leaving me behind. The finish line’s within sight now, but Thomas has a good lead…

The look on his face is priceless when I streak past Wario at the last minute to score first place. Kicking the heavy nun chuck off my lap, I punch the air with my fist and let out a ‘whoop’. “Toootally whooped your ass, big guy!” I poke my tongue out at Thomas, which causes my brother to stifle a laugh. I watch with satisfaction as my new friend reaches into his back pocket and fishes out a blue ten dollar note, as promised. He sets it a few midget centimetres away from me, and I pick it up using both hands to check it’s the real thing. The ultraviolet from the thick plastic catches on the overhead light and I nod in approval. Holding the money is like holding a poster twice my height and almost as wide.

Thomas rolls his eyes mockingly as I inspect my reward. “Who ever thought Mario Kart Wii would turn into a version of gambling?” He laughs.

Making sure he’s looking at me right in the eye, I wink slyly. “Me.” I say matter-of-factly.