The rest of Nick’s day went by quite uneventfully, considering it had started with him losing three inches of height.  Tuesday was even drearier.  He didn’t leave Michelle’s house even once, and she didn’t even get back from school until after dinner.  She said she had a “meeting” to go to of some sort, and that she would tell him about it later.  He thought this was kind of odd, but welcomed the chance to be apart from her for another couple hours.

And when Michelle did come home, they hardly spoke, with Michelle spending most of her time in the basement presumably working on her formula and writing up the report.  Nick had offered once to help, mostly out of boredom, but she refused, telling him, “No, I want an ‘A’ on this.  You would just screw it up.”

‘No skin off my back,’ he thought as he plopped back in front of the TV to pass the time.

His only other contact with the outside world came that evening when his mother called, sounding mildly worried about him going missing.  He told her the truth, or at least a small part of it, saying he was at his lab partner’s house working on their project day and night.  His mom sounded skeptical but said it was OK.  Fortunately for Nick, with him almost an adult and soon going off to college on his own, she had recently withdrawn his curfew and let him do pretty much whatever he wanted.

But what his mother said next surprised him: she and his father had apparently won a seven-day cruise out of the blue, just like that.  They had apparently just been informed that evening via telephone, yet the cruise was set to depart the following afternoon.  They had told her something about a last-minute change of plans, the original couple backing out and them needing a substitute – but the whole thing struck Nick as peculiar.  And yet, Nick soon realized this could work out perfectly for him – his parents would be off cruising the Bahamas, and by the time they returned Nick will have been returned to his normal self, never having seen him in his current condition.  It was almost too good to be true.

He saw Michelle just before bed and mentioned this news to her.  She just stared down at him, giving a little “hmph” and a shrug.  She seemed oddly unsurprised, though it was probably that she just didn’t care.

“It’ll be nice having them out of our hair this week,” she commented as she walked off down the hall.

“Yeah …” Nick said after her, scratching his chin perplexedly.  “Hey … um, what was that meeting for again, that you went to earlier?”

She must not have heard him, disappearing around the corner and closing her bedroom door to leave Nick standing in the living room in silence.

* * *

On Wednesday morning, though, Michelle hit him with some bad news.  “Mrs. Miller doesn’t like that you’ve been missing class.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t care what that old hag thinks,” Nick snorted, tired and grumpy, rolling over to go back to sleep on the couch.

“Well, you should, because our presentation is next Monday, and she said if you don’t show up to class until then, we’re getting an ‘F’ on our project.”

“What?  That’s bull.  She wouldn’t do that.”

He suddenly felt his whole body rotating as Michelle’s big hand reached down and rolled him toward her.  With an annoyed expression, she told him, “I am NOT going to let you jeopardize my grade in this class.  We’re leaving in 10 minutes.”  Her frighteningly large yet strikingly beautiful visage loomed over him, draped in her lustrous blonde hair.  His lungs stopped in mid-breath as a lump formed in his throat.  She didn’t have any makeup on yet, she wasn’t even dressed for school, just wearing a loose t-shirt and cotton shorts.  But she was still an absolute knockout, a pure, natural beauty that couldn’t be disguised.  One look at her long, lithe arms as they shook him awake, one stolen glance down the open neckline of her shirt to the large, firm, succulent wonders held in by her white lacy bra, was more than enough to overwhelm the senses and leave Nick yearning for a taste.

His window to desire suddenly closed as she rose to her full height, looming impossibly far above him as he lay prone on the couch.  “Nick!” she snapped, annoyed at his lack of movement.  Or did she also notice his true intentions?

He just blinked and stared up at her dumbly, mesmerized but also groggy from having just awoken.

“Hey, Earth to Nicky!  I’m talking to you!”  She waved her hand in front of his eyes as if to break his hypnosis.  “You’re getting up now, right?”

“Huh? … Oh, uh … fine, whatever.”

Michelle rolled her eyes and headed towards her room.  “You’d better be ready in, like, fifteen minutes, or I’m gonna be pissed,” she called over her shoulder.  Nick was focused less on her words than on the gentle sway of her ass as she walked out, but after taking a moment to collect himself he started getting himself ready for his big day.

They rode to school in silence.  Nick stole a few glances at Michelle as he drove, noting how a few dabs of makeup and a tight little blouse made her already stunning beauty all the more breathtaking.  But as they drew ever closer to school, a mounting sense of dread took hold of him, enough to put thoughts of Michelle’s long, sexy legs and tight miniskirt temporarily to the back of his mind.

His palms were already sweaty by the time he pulled into his parking spot, the color draining from his face.  “Umm … I think I’ll just drop you off and come back later for chemistry class,” he told Michelle waveringly.

“What, seriously?  Why not stay for the whole day?”

He cringed but had to admit, “I just … don’t really feel comfortable, is all.”

She leaned toward him, put a hand on his shoulder, and said sincerely, “Nick, there’s nothing to be afraid of, right?  You said it yourself: just because you’re littler now doesn’t mean your friends won’t still accept you as one of them.”

“Well … yeah, but …”

“Nick,” she interrupted, her tone suddenly stern.  “This is part of our project, to test the social effects of height change.”  She leaned her gorgeous face down close to his and brought her hand up behind his head, grasping his hair loosely in her fingers.  She said in a low, ominous voice, “You agreed to cooperate, remember?  I don’t want to have to remind you again.”  Nick felt her fingers slowly clench as she pulled his hair taut.  Then she gave a slight but sudden yank backwards, holding his head back just enough to keep him uncomfortable and tense.

He yelped, suddenly feeling weak and exposed.  They had been getting along so amicably of late that he had almost forgotten the dark, sinister side behind her pleasant exterior.  She increased the pressure on his scalp, her green eyes staring intensely into his with an overpowering force of will.

All his thoughts of resistance had vanished in an instant.  Nick gulped loudly, his eyes growing wide as the tension on his scalp continued to grow.  “Okay!!” he exclaimed, submitting to her will.

“That’s better,” she said with smug satisfaction, releasing his hair.  As she gathered her things, though, her mood became light and relaxed again, as if nothing had happened.  “Wanna head in separately?” she asked casually.  “You probably don’t want your friends to see you walking with someone like me, right?”

“Uh … sure, whatever,” Nick replied, trying his best to play it cool.  Michelle got out and went through the entrance, and once she was out of sight he took a deep breath and readied himself.  He looked down at his shirt and pants and was satisfied with his appearance.  “Here goes nothing,” he sighed.  As he began stepping one foot at a time toward the front entrance, he repeatedly told himself, ‘Everything is fine.  It’s not a big deal.  Everything is fine …’  His palms were cold and damp with sweat as he pulled the door open then summoned all his courage and stepped forward amidst the sea of students getting ready for class.

He hadn’t taken two steps when he began to hear gasps and whispered exclamations all around.  Those who were the first to notice him nudged their friends and pointed his way, and it wasn’t long before a tense silence filled the air around him.  His eyes darted side to side to find dozens of eyes staring back at him with varied levels of shock and awe.  Nick recognized many of their faces, though in the past he would have had to look down to meet their gazes, having been the tallest guy in the whole school.

But now he had to look up at most of the guys, and at least half the girls too.  Before, he had always felt … above everyone in a crowd, somehow superior to them by virtue of being able to look out over the sea of heads in all directions.  But now that he was just 5’4” he felt disenfranchised, mediocre, powerless; like trying to keep afloat amidst the high waves of a choppy sea.  And this feeling was only magnified tenfold by the oppressive silence and open stares of everyone around him.  He stumbled and felt like he was about to pass out but regained his balance at the last second and staggered hurriedly forward, like a leper or perhaps a madman, avoiding all eye contact by keeping his gaze down at the floor in front of him.  This was not going well.

He slammed right into a towering mass of muscle and bounced off, falling clumsily to the ground.  “Hey, watch it!” a familiar voice boomed.  Nick picked himself up as he heard a few scattered laughs behind him; no doubt there would have been many more laughs if the rest of the crowd wasn’t so stunned into silence.

Standing straight, he looked up to see whom he had bumped into: it was his friend Kyle, a teammate of his from the basketball team and his main workout buddy.  ‘Holy Christ, he’s huge,’ Nick thought with dismay.  Kyle was ‘only’ 6’2” and though he was pretty ripped Nick had always been bigger and stronger than him and so was never at all intimidated by Kyle’s size … until now.

“What the … Nick, is that you!??” Kyle asked in bewilderment.

“Hey … Yeah, it’s me,” Nick replied dismally.

“Jesus Christ, when—how—I mean, what the hell happened to you??”

With pain in his eyes, Nick told him, “It’s … a long story.”  In an attempt to downplay the situation, he added hastily, “But it’s not a big deal; I’m just not as tall as I was before, that’s all.”

Kyle would have continued with his line of questioning, but just then, to Nick’s relief, the first-period bell rang.  Still unsure how to react, Kyle replied, “That … sucks, man.  I’ll catch you later,” before heading off, looking back twice over his shoulder to make sure of what he had seen.

Nick would normally go to his locker before school, mostly to flirt with his girlfriend Cindy, but he now feared having anyone see him, especially her.  So he instead made a beeline for his first-period classroom, ignoring the lingering stares of the scattered crowd that always seemed to be lingering around him, like a swarm of flies hovering just out of reach.  Everyone made sure to keep a reasonable distance from him, as if they feared to catch whatever disease he had.

His first period started out as a living hell, a nonstop barrage of questioning and prying eyes.  Eventually, his teacher had the good sense to send him to the front office, and once he got there he was surprised to find that the principal seemed to be expecting him.  He pulled out from his desk a very official-looking doctor’s note, signed and sealed, which she said Michelle had brought in earlier.  The note – which Nick assumed to be forged – said that Michelle’s sudden 14-inch growth spurt was currently being examined but there was certainly no cause for alarm, and that another student had actually experienced shrinking but, again, they were certain his condition was under control and he could safely return to school while further testing was performed.  The note concluded by advising the utmost discretion, since unnecessary public attention would only interfere with the doctor’s work.

Though perhaps, maybe this was what her “secret meeting” had been about yesterday afternoon?  Maybe she had gone to a doctor and managed to get him to write up the note.  But wouldn’t the doctor have wanted to see Nick, too?  And why all the secrecy?

He remained uneasy about the whole situation – but at least, for now, the school administrators seemed to have fallen for it, and Nick wasn’t going to tell them otherwise since this cleared up what would have been a very sticky situation for him.  Since word of Nick’s incredible shrinking had undoubtedly already spread like a wildfire through the whole school anyway, the principal decided to make an official announcement over the intercom explaining Nick’s situation and imploring everyone to treat him like normal, and also to avoid spreading the story around town to prevent unwanted attention.  While this announcement by no means stopped people from gawking at Nick, it at least obviated most of the endless barrage of questions directed at him by his teachers, and the rest of his classes that day proceeded with an uneasy air of normalcy.

He didn’t see Cindy at all in the hallways, nor were any of his best friends hanging out in their usual spot between classes, something that he found most peculiar.  Lunchtime rolled around, and despite his apprehension Nick decided to man up and join his friends like always, hoping to diffuse the tension quickly and move past it.  After getting his food, he walked up to his usual table and saw that Kyle was the first one there.  “Hey, dude,” Nick said as casually as possible as he sat opposite to him.

Kyle was again startled by his appearance but managed to respond, “Hey.”  Since neither of them knew what to say after that they began picking at their food in awkward silence.

After a minute or so, Nick chimed in, “So, where is everybody?”  Normally most of his friends would have been at the table by then.

“Uh … I dunno,” Kyle replied, keeping his eyes down on his meal.  Just then, Nick saw Tracy and Hillary, two cute chicks who were regulars at his table, suddenly stop in their tracks as they were approaching.  Tracy whispered something into Hillary’s ear and gestured in his direction, and they covered their mouths in embarrassed astonishment as they gawked at Nick, seeing him in the flesh for the first time that day.  Nick pretended not to see them.  He heard someone hiss, “Tracy!” in a loud whisper, and the two of them changed their bearing and headed for a table farther down.

Nick was just about to turn to his buddy Kyle and say what bitches they were for ditching him like that – being so non-subtle about it, too.  But to Nick’s horror he watched Kyle quickly stand up and mumble, “I have to … uh … get something from my locker … before class starts.”  He hurriedly walked away.  Again, Nick pretended not to notice as he watched Kyle take a circuitous path around the cafeteria, eventually plopping down at what Nick figured must be the same table where Tracy and Hillary had sat.

Nick wasn’t sure quite what to make of this.  It was all too clear that his ‘friends’ were avoiding him.  ‘And what kind of friends are they?’ he lamented.  ‘Abandoning me at a time like this …’  Soon his anger overcame his sorrow, and he decided to confront them all, confident that if they saw he was still the exact same guy he always was (albeit 14 inches shorter) they would get over it and accept him back into their group.

He stood up and looked across the cafeteria.  Indeed, all 7 of his usual lunch mates, every last one of them, had migrated to the same table to get away from him.  He stormed forward, ignoring the rude stares of those nearby, and stepped up to their table.

“Hey, buddies,” Nick said, with biting sarcasm.  “Looking for me?”  Turning to Kyle, he added, “Did you get what you needed from your locker, Kyle?”

As his piercing stare moved about the table, each of them in turn averted their eyes and grew red in the face.  No one said a word, so Nick took control of the situation and told them, “Look, guys, I know this is awkward for all of us, but though I may be shorter than you’re used to, I’m still the same old guy you’ve always known.”  Another heavy silence ensued.  More urgently, Nick added, “Come on guys, this is ridiculous!  Just give me a chance.  You’ll see.”  Seeing that there was room for one more in between Kyle and Hillary, Nick tapped her shoulder and asked impatiently, “So are you gonna let me sit down now or what?”  Hillary lowered her eyes regretfully but didn’t budge.  “Seriously, come on,” Nick snapped, starting to get pissed.

Kyle hesitated at first but finally spoke up, “Um, actually, Nick, we’re kinda … waiting for someone else.”

“Huh?” Nick replied, looking around the table and counting the usual number: 7 of them plus Nick, just enough to fill the booth.  “What do you mean?  Everyone’s here.  Now slide over already.”

“Well, uh … we kinda sorta told her she could sit with us today,” Kyle replied embarrassedly.

Surprised, Nick asked, “Her?  Who?”

“Well, she’s, uh … Oh, here she is right now.”  Kyle looked past Nick’s head, then his gaze slowly rose higher and higher.  Nick heard the loud, heavy ‘click, clack’ of heels approaching from behind.

“Hey, guys, did you save me a seat?” a familiar voice called out above him.  Nick froze.  He already knew who it was, without having to turn around.

“Hey, Michelle!” Nick’s friends called out cheerfully.  “There’s a spot here for you,” Kyle told her as Hillary promptly made room next to her in the booth.  A large hand fell heavily on Nick’s shoulder as Michelle stepped around him to engage her new friends.  Nick craned his neck to see the bottom of her chin as she went past.  Then his view was suddenly engulfed by the ample swell of her bosom as it swung by barely an inch above his eyes, filling his nostrils with their lovely scent in the process.

Nick was absolutely floored by the sheer size of not just her breasts, but her arms, her hips, her shoulders, her face … every single part of her had been magnified to almost terrifying proportions, especially from his own diminutive perspective.  He had forgotten how big she was.  Most kids he had seen that day had made him feel small and self-conscious, but standing so close to Michelle now made him feel utterly puny and insignificant.  She hadn’t even bothered to look down and acknowledge Nick’s presence, sidestepping him like just another stump in her way.  And then it dawned on Nick that he used to be just as tall as she is now … and he used to treat people like Michelle with no less disregard than she was now showing him.

“Oh my gosh, guys,” Michelle told the table eagerly.  “You won’t believe what happened to me in second period!”

“What?” they all responded, eagerly focusing their attention on the lively new member of their social group.

But before Michelle could begin, she heard a voice yelling at her from below, “What the hell is this!?  What do you think you’re doing, Michelle!?”

The eight of them fell silent as they turned their annoyed gazes to him.  Nick sneered up at Michelle and added aggressively, “That’s MY seat, Michelle.  You can’t sit there.”

Michelle stared down at him blankly, but Kyle reluctantly chimed in, “Sorry, bro, but … there’s not really any more room for you here.”

Nick blew a fuse.  “Shut up, Kyle,” he snapped.  Turning back to Michelle, he commanded, “This isn’t what we agreed on, Michelle.  Get up, NOW.”

In the past, when they were all on his side, such a display of force would have commanded respect, even admiration, for his confidence and machismo.  But from the sour expressions on their faces, Nick realized he had only succeeded in turning his friends even more against him.

“You know him, Michelle?” Tracy asked.

Michelle pretended that she didn’t know him personally.  “Hey, yeah, you’re the kid who shrunk, right?”  Without skipping a beat, she added, “Well, that’s no reason to be SHORT with me.”  The entire table burst out laughing.

“Yeah, GROW up,” Hillary added.  The laughter reached a fever pitch, and suddenly the whole table seemed more relaxed now that Michelle had found a way to dispel their nervous tension at Nick’s expense, all the while solidifying her own position as the new center of their group.

Michelle slid into the open seat next to Hillary.  Nick stood in humiliation as their laughter eventually died down and they listened intently to Michelle tell her story, all of them completely ignoring Nick as if he didn’t exist.  He wanted to say something … but he knew he had been defeated this round.  He was sure his friends would come around eventually; they just needed time.

But that sentiment did nothing to quell his emotions in the present.  Nick Avery—strong, invincible Nick Avery – felt tears begin to form in his eyes.  He knew he had to get away from this group of assholes before he really started to make a scene.

Nick stumbled backwards and shuffled away in defeat, hiding his eyes as best he could.  He couldn’t believe they were treating him like this – or that they had forgotten how much of an annoying BITCH Michelle was!  Could they really just change their mind about her, just like that?

Knowing there must have been many leering eyes on him, he did what he could to regain his composure as he searched for an empty table.

No tables were completely vacant.  He chose the nearest one with just a single occupant, an overweight, acne-riddled kid with dorky glasses, and he asked him if he could sit there.

“Go away,” the nerd replied meanly.

“Come on, dude, just let me sit.”

“Hey!” the kid exclaimed, a look of recognition crossing his face.  “I remember you,” he said accusatorily.  “You always used to shove me for the fun of it when I passed you in the hallway.  Screw you, prick.”  Nick couldn’t quite remember this specific nerd, but then again, he had shoved more nerds over the years than he could count.

Nick wasn’t one to let others tell him what to do – well, except for his embarrassing defeat a moment ago – so he decided to just try and sit down anyway.  But the nerd quickly stood and shoved him back with far more force than Nick had anticipated.  As Nick staggered back several paces, he realized that this kid was now a good six inches taller than him.  And though the nerd looked like he had never lifted a weight in his life, he was clearly more than strong enough to push Nick around now.  Nick had been in many physical confrontations, mostly involving him bullying others, but he had never backed down from anybody, ever.

Until now, that is.  He stumbled backwards, his face red with embarrassment and fright.  He managed to escape, but not before the nerd swiped his fries and drink as a toll.

Hearing snickers from nearby tables, he sulked away from the terrifying ‘bully’ and searched for another table.  But all the cool kids were sitting eight to a table, and the tables with empty seats were occupied by the lower caste of the high school which, as he quickly realized, hated his guts.  It wasn’t surprising, really – he had taken pride in building his reputation as a bully, mocking them whenever possible to win himself points with the ‘in-crowd’.  But now the tables had turned, and even the smallest and weakest among them were capable of revenge.

He slunk listlessly from table to table, shying away from all eye contact, until finally the bell rang, meaning there were 5 minutes until the next period started.  As the residents of a nearby table got up and left, Nick quickly sat down and stuffed his face with his now-cold food before shuffling off to class.

The events of that lunch period, though, seemed to spark a school-wide phenomenon; everyone saw how Nick was rejected by the cool crowd and pushed around by the nerd, and many, many students wanted to join in the fun as well.  The shocked embarrassment that they had felt that morning had worn off, with many of them feeling free to openly snicker and mock him.

What’s worse, whenever he walked down the hallway he was constantly assaulted by shoulder after shoulder as they were intentionally thrust in his way, to the amusement of all.  Nick felt like a human pinball as he was jostled about by everyone: the cool kids finding it fun to pick on him, and the non-cool kids exacting some revenge for the many wrongs he had committed over the years.  He had instantly plummeted from top of the social food chain to the most despised kid in the entire school and the butt of every joke.

Seemingly the only person in the whole school who didn’t join in the fun was Cindy, his girlfriend, whom he surprisingly hadn’t seen all day.  Nick knew she must have been avoiding him on purpose, but he remained hopeful that, once she was able to cope with the shock of seeing her boyfriend much shorter than her now, she would be the one person who could understand his pain and show compassion.  He had to hope.

When the final bell rang he literally sprinted out of school and entered the relative safety of his SUV.  He strongly considered leaving immediately but wisely decided to wait for Michelle.  He would have a few choice words when she got there, though.

Nick saw her emerge from the front door, but she took her sweet old time, chatting away with her new friends for at least 10 minutes.  As students streamed by his car and giggled as they saw him sitting there, he wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of there, but he also did not want to step out of his car again.  So, he was forced to wait at Michelle’s convenience.

While he waited, he tried calling Cindy.  But it went straight to voicemail.  Nick shook his head worriedly.  She ALWAYS answers her phone when he calls.  Hopefully this was just a fluke and she would return the call shortly.

Meanwhile, he saw Michelle finally approaching the car.  When she got in, he laid into her good.  “What the fuck was that about!??  How DARE you interfere with MY life and try to steal MY friends away!!”

She maintained a pleasant smile during his little tirade, and when he was done she shrugged and told him lightly, “I don’t see what the big deal is.  It wasn’t my doing; they’re the ones who invited me to their group.”

“Oh, how convenient,” Nick sneered sarcastically.  “Of all the people you could have hung out with, you just happened to join MY group of friends.  And you didn’t even lift a finger when they kicked me out!”

She gave a short laugh and replied, “Maybe they wouldn’t have if you weren’t acting like a jerk.  Seriously, you were such an asshole at lunch.  And you’re still acting like one, to be honest.”  Her haughty tone as she scolded him was really getting under Nick’s skin, but he decided to wait until they got to the house before setting her straight.

Having had time to plan his speech in the car, once they stepped through the door Nick got right down to it.  “Michelle, you listen to me and you listen good.”  She had been on her way to her bedroom but slowly turned in the doorframe and listened casually from across the kitchen, an infuriating smirk on her lips.

“I’m only going to tell you once,” Nick bellowed.  “STAY AWAY from my friends.  You hear me??  I don’t know what kind of crazy potion you conjured up to get people to like you and turn against me, but you’ve crossed the line.”

To Nick, it seemed that her eyes suddenly lit up with fiery defiance, perhaps the manifestation of a growing anger from years of being relentlessly being picked on by the ‘cool’ kids, ready to exact revenge on him now that their roles were reversed.  “You really don’t get it, do you?” she sneered, her tone betraying years of pent-up bitterness and hatred.  Nick’s resolve began to falter under her stare.

But, fortunately, this anger quickly dissipated into a calm confidence as she shrugged her shoulders and replied, “Hmph.  I don’t have to listen to anything you say anymore.”  She turned and stepped out of the kitchen.

Nick’s own anger boiled over after she said this, and with clenched fists he stomped after her and yelled, “What the hell do you mean, ‘you don’t have to listen to me’??  Bitch, GET BACK HERE!!”  She didn’t stop, so Nick lunged forward and shoved her hard in the back.

With lightning speed, Michelle whirled around and shoved him back so hard he toppled right to the floor.  It took him a second to realize what had just happened, but like a man possessed he immediately hopped back to his feet and went at her again.  But he quickly regretted it, as Michelle effortlessly deflected his feeble shove, held his wrists, and loomed terrifyingly high above him, glaring down into his eyes with deadly conviction.

“I don’t have to listen to a damned thing you say,” she snarled, shoving him again with overwhelming force.  He staggered back but managed to stay on his feet, until she laid yet another shove into his chest.  “You know why?  Because I’m the coolest fucking kid in the whole school now, and you’re just a lowly runt.”  She shoved him back against the wall and held him there with one arm, a haughty sneer crossing her lips.  “And you should consider yourself lucky if a girl like me even acknowledges your existence, you puny little worm.”

Nick’s eyes went wide with terror as he struggled futilely to move her hand from his chest. As Michelle increased the pressure, compressing his rib cage painfully, he remembered all-too-well the terrible agony he had endured at her hands last weekend.  He quailed in fear as he realized how much shit he had gotten himself into.  “Please don’t hurt me!!” he blurted suddenly, his anger having completely dissolved into terror.

A sly, victorious smirk formed on her lips as she put one hand on her hip while holding him in place with the other.  “Oh?” she inquired, regarding him with supreme condescension.  “Why shouldn’t I?”

“Because I’m sorry!” his trembling voice exclaimed.

“Sorry for what?”

“For yelling at you and calling you a bitch!”

Nick held his breath for several excruciating seconds as Michelle peered down at him viciously.  But, to his relief, she stepped back, released his chest, sneered, “You’re not even worth the effort.  So pathetic …” and strutted to her room.