Gina ran into Jenna several times over the next week, as though the taller girl had planned it.  Each time she carelessly bumped into Gina she tried to play it off as though she hadn’t noticed the blond in her path.  When Gina tried to go around her Jenna would move to block her, keeping her trapped.  They would dance for a minute until Jenna got bored and stepped aside so that her “little friend” could pass.

Jenna might not have noticed it, but Gina certainly did: every day Jenna was a little bit shorter.  Gina played the hapless victim subject to the giantess’s whims, but inside she was glowing.  It might not be swift, but her revenge against Jenna for her abject humiliation was certain, and Gina looked forward to the day she held Jenna in the palm of her hand.

One day Jenna had shot up again, and once more looked down at Gina with scorn while blocking her path.  While they danced though Gina heard loud clicks with each of her steps and she came to a stop.  She looked down, and to her satisfaction her tormentor was wearing a pair of shiny black pumps.  “Hey beanpole,” Gina began, “why don’t you stop hiding behind your wardrobe and take those off?”

“Why?” Jenna asked smugly.  “Do I make you feel as small physically as you are on the inside?”

“Just do it,” Gina insisted, “unless you want me to scuff your fancy shoes.”

Jenna sighed and kicked of her heels.  She had been hoping to delay the inevitable, but standing barefoot across from her she could no longer deny it.  The two were eye to eye.  Gina laughed while Jenna looked at her furiously.

“I knew it!” Gina exclaimed.  “You’ve been looking shorter each day, but I thought I was just imagining things.  You’re actually shrinking!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jenna shot back while fumbling to get her shoes back on.  She had to maintain the illusion a little longer.  “You’re just having a growth spurt.  Enjoy it while you can squirt, I’m still growing too.”

“Yeah, sure you are,” Gina replied sarcastically.  “It has nothing to do with this shrinking disease I heard about on TV the other day.”

“On what, the sci-fi channel?” Jenna retorted, finally getting her heels back on.  She glared down at Gina and continued, “Enjoy it while you can.  Mark my words, in a month I’ll be big enough to squash you.”

Gina smirked.  “Just do me a favor and measure yourself, okay?  I’m really worried you’re shrinking.”

“Yeah, sure you are.”  Jenna continued her path down the hall, shoulder checking Gina as she passed.  To her disappointment the blond barely flinched from what should have laid her out.  Though it was impossible, she felt the niggling doubt in the back of her mind that Gina might not be spouting nonsense.

By the time she got home, Jenna’s tiny bit of doubt had turned into full-blown panic.  “Mom!” she shouted the minute she entered the door, before she even dropped her bag.  “I need you to measure me!”

“Already?” her mom replied from the living room.  “I just measured you last week before school started!  Are you having another growth spurt?”

“Just get the tape measure and stepladder!” Jenna implored while she walked over to her measuring wall.  Several years ago she had outgrown the doorway they marked her height on, and they began using the wall beside it. 

Jenna’s mom came through the doorway, stepladder folded under her arm.  Ever since her legs outgrew her Jenna had wondered how she came from such a tiny woman.  It couldn’t have been her father – last time she saw him she was head and shoulders taller than him, and that was years ago.  Her sister was also puny, even shorter than their mother: Jenna enjoyed teasing her sister about letting her rest in her palm if she got tired on long walks.

With a clank Jenna’s mother unfolded the stepladder and extended the measuring tape.  Having done this dozens of times before Jenna placed her foot on the cold metal tab, holding it flat against the floor.  The tape unraveled as her mom ascended the stepladder until it reached her shoulders.  As she had become accustomed to recently, Jenna’s mother lifted her arms the rest of the way, then set a pencil atop Jenna’s head.  She made a quick mark then tapped Jenna on the shoulder, instructing her to step away so she could look at it.

“Nine feet, three inches!” Jenna’s mom exclaimed.  “You’re still my gigantic daughter!”

“Three inches?” Jenna repeated.  “Mom, last week I was nine feet nine inches!”  Her face contorted, and she let out a high-pitched wail.  “I’m shrinking!”

Her mom patted her on the back.  “There there, honey,” she said.  “There’s no need to be upset.  I bet you still tower over everyone else at school!”

“But I don’t!” Jenna replied.  “There’s another girl, and she’s the same height as me, and she’s a lot meaner, and… what if I keep shrinking?!”

“Calm down, Jenna,” her mom implored, struggling to get her arms around her.  “If it’s that big of a deal to you I’ll call the doctor and make an appointment.”  Wordlessly Jenna heaved in her mom’s grasp, and the older woman made the call.

The next day at school Jenna tried to avoid Gina, not wanting to face her reversal of fortune quite so soon.  Unfortunately Gina was not keen to let her, and actively sought her out.  They met in the hallway as they so often did.  Jenna tried to duck into a classroom before Gina noticed her, but the blond’s eagle eyes spotted her easily and she interdicted.

“There’s my tiny friend!” Gina exclaimed when Jenna bumped into her.  “Did you learn anything about your shrinking disease?”

“Get out of my way,” Jenna demanded, trying to push her way past Gina.

Gina grabbed her by the shoulders and held her at arm’s length.  Though she was just an inch taller, Gina felt positively gargantuan looking down at Jenna.  She did her best to suppress a smile and continue with her mock concern.  “There’s no cure, you know.  They’re working on one, but it’s pretty far away.”

“Fuck off Gina.”  Jenna tried to escape the marginally larger girl, but Gina’s fingers kept an iron grip on her.

“I just want you to be ready for when you’re itty-bitty is all!” Gina protested.  “You’re going to need someone to help you get around, bring your assignments to you, get things off the bottom shelf, that sort of thing, and I want it to be me.”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Jenna growled.  “Just wait, when I shoot up in a few weeks you’re going to look like a bug at my feet and I am going to be merciless to you.  You’ll be lucky if all I do is smash you!”

“Sure thing, short stuff!”  Gina relented and finally let her pass, but decided to get a parting shot in.  “If you change your mind let me know while I can still hear you!”  Jenna fumed, and Gina finally stopped holding back her smile.  She was inside her head.  Time to turn up the pressure.

Jenna sat on the examination table while her doctor looked over the results.  She flipped the pages on her clipboard back and forth, shooting Jenna a glance every now and then, before she set it on the table beside her.  “You’re nine feet tall, and though the chart doesn’t go that high your body fat percentage hasn’t increased so you’re still far from an unhealthy weight.  Your tonsils look fine, reflexes are better than normal, and you’re not complaining of any aches or pains.  It may be premature to say without blood work, but you’re in perfect health.  So why the emergency appointment?”

“You already said it!” Jenna exclaimed.  “I’m nine feet tall!”

“While that is abnormally large, it’s perfectly-“

“I’ve shrank nine inches!” Jenna cut off the doctor.

“Oh.  You… think you’re shrinking?”  Jenna nodded, and the doctor took a second to adjust her glasses.  “Frankly, I’m relieved.  With your immense height I was worried you had a rare form of gigantism and was just waiting for the negative side-effects to kick in.  While there’s no medical reason for you to shrink, particularly at your age, there’s no reason for you to be so big either.”

“What about that shrinking disease?” Jenna asked.  The doctor gave her a confused look, so she elaborated.  “One of my classmates told me about a disease that makes people get smaller until they’re only a few inches tall and that there’s no cure.  I’m worried that I have it.”

The doctor chuckled.  “A shrinking disease?  Jenna, do you believe everything your classmates tell you?”  Jenna looked embarrassed, as though she had just now realized how ridiculous the premise was.  “I can assure you, there’s no such thing.  Maybe osteoporosis, but that’s something you won’t have to worry about for many years to come.  But if you have any more concerns about this shrinking disease just give me a call and I’ll fit you in, okay?”

Jenna smiled and got off the table.  “Thanks, doc,” she said, grabbing her folded jacket off the nearby chair.  Then she went out the door to where her mother was waiting for her and tried not to look down so she wouldn’t see the tears.