Reid had come to terms with the truth: he was completely smitten with her. Rivalry and teasing all throughout middle school came back to his mind and things essentially hadn’t changed since the good old days. Lauren Nguyen was now his superior in every way imaginable: grades, chair, networking, and almost everything else you could imagine. He was beneath her more so than ever and it just fueled his attraction.

    The trumpets wailing behind him brought him back to reality. Sitting in band tended to induced daydreaming. Louise, Ryan’s next-chair began to laugh a bit.

“Do you even come to class for class’ sake anymore?”

Reid turned a bit red. His Latin friend was right. He had been gushing over Lauren for a good ten minutes and had very obviously been staring at Lauren’s feet as she played her clarinet. Reid sat behind Lauren because he was a bass clarinet player (as masculine as a clarinet player could be, he joked) and for the last weeks he was entranced by Lauren’s simplest behaviors…  More specifically her in-class footplay. The pattern was cemented in Reid’s head. Almost without fault, Lauren would show up to rehearsals a little late and would smile at Reid. Following that, her ballet flats would immediately be kicked off and her beautifully soft soles would cool themselves down on the tiles below. While she played, Lauren would casually tap her foot to the beat or keep them still in silence. The real fun began when she WASN’T playing he thought. She’d either scrunch her toes, wiggle her feet around a bit, toes grab and dangle her flats a bit or surprise him. Dangling was by far his favorite event. Reid’s infamous daydreaming sped up the final half hour of rehearsal and before he knew it class was done.

    “I’m so glad we’re done at 10:15. The other three bands don’t have music as difficult as ours but the last group gets out at 4!”

Lauren always made special small talk with Reid after band that he looked for to. He almost forgot to respond!

“Oh yeah!”, he stuttered. “I’d hate to be in their shoes come time to leave!” he joked.

SMOOOOTTTHHH he thought to himself.

“Oh, Reid” Lauren started with a hint of urgency, “Don’t forget about our earlier practice tomorrow. Dr. H won’t be happy if you’re late again. You barely play as it is!”

Lauren had an austere character. It's Probably the asian in her he joked. “Don’t worry. I’ll be on time… for you!” Lauren seemed pleased with his answer and winked. I STILL HAVE IT!

    “Don’t make promises you can’t keep dude” Louise had warned from nearby. “She’s still pissed the hell off about your skipping last week even if she doesn’t show it.”

Reid was notorious for skipping out on band in favor of sleeping. Louise and Lauren had a scary psychic bond with one another ever since they met in Jr. High and Reid was a little jealous of their “relationship”. Louise however, was Jealous of Reid’s position. Lauren tended to use Louise as a friend to vent to rather than treat him as a potential interest. He was okay with that but sometimes he DID wonder what it’d be like to be equipped with Reid’s chances and ambition. 

“Alright dude, I’ll stay on my word this time.”

    That night, Reid did nothing but fantasize about Lauren. Her well rounded but petite frame and shy bubble sprinkled with confidence made her the perfect woman in his mind. Reid was loving his lust. He awoke the next morning, however, with a splitting headache with an hour left until rehearsal began.. SHIT! I need to get there early to surprise Lauren! Reid showered, grabbed a bagel, and took a few unlabelled Advil tablets from containers in the medicine cabinet before he biked off to the school’s auditorium.

There was very few people there signaling his early arrival. Excellent! His speedy departure didn’t play in his headaches favor though. He nearly fell twice on the slick tile near his seat putting his instrument where it needed to be. I need to take my pills he decided. A trip to the water fountain a few yards from his seat to the hallway allowed him to take his funny tasting aid and await Lauren’s arrival. He normally hated this class!

    No sooner than Reid took his medication, however, he felt a bit more ill but he chalked it up to the medication working. Still, about ten other people were near him in the hallway killing time before class so he didn’t see the need to make a spectacle . He especially didn’t want Lauren to find out! He took himself quickly to his seat just incase he needed to hurl or avoid falling before anyone noticed he was ill. Reid’s heart raced, his temperature heightened and he was unable to fight any longer. He passed out completely.

“HIS HORN, EXTRA CLOTHES, AND BAG ARE HERE. I DON’T KNOW WHERE THE HELL HE COULD BE!”

Reid groaned upon awakening. Why the hell was Louise yelling in a hoarse whisper? Why was there a mini earthquake happening every few seconds ahead of him? Why was- - Reid’s brain froze. His questions had been answered. Directly in his sight was Lauren tapping her foot…his dream. Lauren’s foot, however, was about a basketball court’s length away and a thousand times his size and about a million times more deadly. All Reid could do was stare in disbelief. Despite the initial joy of seeing this amazing sight, a crippling fear of not being found grabbed him. He HAD to get Lauren’s attention somehow.

Reid wasn’t the most brilliant thinker. When confronted with any task, the most obvious but not-necessarily-logical answers always came to mind. Reid’s immediate goal was to be noticed by Lauren. His brain registered this goal and the magnificent plan of  “Run up to her toes and jump around so she sees you” was born. Throwing every bit of caution to the wind, Reid sprinted full speed towards the toes of Lauren passing the aisle where his chair towered over him, running beneath the shaded area of Lauren’s seat, and eventually reached near her towering heels. Things were already looking up! Literally!

Lauren, on the other hand, was fuming. I’ll be here for you? Was THAT what he had promised? Whiny Nguyen was a nickname she had inherited in middle school and it wasn’t without merit; Lauren was unapproachable with her complaints and grudges if she felt wronged. She was, of course, angry at Reid’s absence but she couldn’t help but feel worried about the slacker. None of this made sense to her. I just hope he’s back by the time we go outside to march, the loser!

As though the word marching ignited a subconscious command, Lauren’s bare feet both slapped down upon the ground knocking Reid around at the very least a few yards. This woman is powerful without even trying!

“Is this really my best course of action” Reid wondered aloud.
“I’ve gotta think this through a bit more!”

Reid was propelled to just a bit in front of her now still toes. The site was truly humbling. At his current stature, Lauren’s toes not only dwarfed him in size and brute strength but actually cast a shadow over his diminutive form. He’d be lucky to be comparative size to an ant!

Proceeding with caution, Reid brought himself roughly a yard at his height away from her largest toe. The atmosphere was completely new within her proximity. The heat caused him to sweat profusely and the air pressure condensing around her cheesy toe made Reid’s ears continuously pop. She was a universe in and of herself. What the hell was I thinking coming over here?

 “Jumping around wouldn’t be the best course of action to grab attention”, Reid thought to himself. “Maybe I should touch her or bite her or something! That‘s bound to get her attention!”

Nope. Everything in the world was competing with Reid for Lauren’s attention. She and Louise were exchanging laughs and whispering to one another, the trumpets were melodically dancing through the solo sections, and of course, her phone was out.  VRRRRRM. Lauren’s phone had been vibrating again ironically.
New SMS Message. Darin.

“Ugh.” Darin was a nice guy, ideal even. He was just a bit… boring. Lauren was up brought to embrace education and rank thanks to her parents and Darin did come from a wealthy background with stellar grades and experience. He was, however, more along the lines of an awkward lovesick friend in her book. Her parents, to her dismay, absolutely love him. Just imagining them together made her cringe a bit. He was coming up to see her at practice after work the message had told her and she couldn‘t control her ‘excitement’. Fantastic.

Reid couldn’t directly see if his jumping or toe punching was having an effect on Lauren (seeing as how he couldn’t see past her knees) but very little had changed on his level. She seemed too distracted right now.

Unbeknownst to Reid, Lauren wasn’t only distracted by Darin’s message and other exchanges but Dr. Harris had instructed the clarinets to play their respective parts from the field piece. Her focus was immediately brought back to music. She licked her lips, licked her mouth piece’s reed, and began playing  her Clarinet escaping into the world of music. Lauren began the infamous tapping of her foot again.

When the auditorium had become mysteriously quiet Reid was exerting every bit of his strength into pounding against his lovely Lauren’s toe with not a single change in her responses.

“This is fucking ridiculous!” Reid yelled in frustration.

“GODDAMNIT LAUREN, I NEED YOU TO PAY ATTENTION TO ME MORE THAN EVER!”

A sudden shift of weight shook Reid’s foundation. Lauren had moved her foot upwards. She noticed me! Reid smiled and waved his arms rapidly so she looked in the right spot.
“Lauren! Lauren?”

The foot of his lover came down at an astounding pace and everything stood still for a moment in Reid’s mind. He was much too paralyzed with fear and self pity to move. He knew what was about to happen. What higher being did I piss off to deserve this?!

The big toe of Lauren pressed into Reid’s chest with tons of pressure that would’ve normally killed him on contact but the shrinking had further strengthened his durability apparently. He was slammed onto the ground with his back pinned against to dirty tile only to see her toes and sole fly into the forever far sky ready to pounce on him again. Relentlessly and repeatedly, Reid was mashed to hysterics by the foot of his dream girl… barely staying tethered to life. The pain was slowly becoming a numbing coldness. Reid felt as though death had him in her cold grip. There was no telling how long this had been going on.

Lauren’s section never had to play long; they were extremely good (“Especially without lazy-bones Reid here”, she thought to herself). She lay her clarinet flat in her lap and began scrunching and wiggling her toes on the cold ground in freedom. She felt a faint crunch beneath her and instinctively look down. There was nothing there visible to her eye. We'll be going outside to march in a few minutes . My feet’ll be too tired and sweaty to care about what I step on.

Reid was buried beneath the now still foot flesh awaiting imminent death. He felt gross, broken, and couldn’t connect thoughts that weren’t related to his painful, humiliating position. Lauren’s scrunching of her toes mashed the frail remaining physical being and durability and he literally cracked under her pressure. Reid saw blackness, was no longer tethered to a physical human body, and expected to see the pearly gates waiting for him on the other side… However, a different fate altogether awaited him in the near future.

The entire band had been dismissed, none of them wiser or caring about Reid’s unfortunate situation.
In ten minutes, the entire band, however, had to be outside the auditorium ready to assume marching practices.

“Louise, wait!”

Louise was greeted by an overly cheery Lauren Nguyen holding a stack of athletic clothing.

“Still no word from Reid?” She asked with little genuine concern.
“Not even a little…” Louise quickly retorted.

“I’m not surprised. He hasn’t been himself lately. Oh, and could you do me a quick favor, Louise? I’m about to change but I… sorta have to tinkle. Can you wait outside the restroom door and hold my clothes to change into? I swear swear SWEAR I won’t ask again! Please?”

It’s hard to get a word in edgewise with Lauren. She was a master of manipulating words with her sickeningly sweet tones and charm. Louise couldn’t help but to say “Yes”.

Waiting outside the door for Lauren to grab the clothes from him once she ‘finished’ gave Louise time for internal debate. He was emasculated beyond belief and wanted to break his “friend zone” mentality. I've wanted her for so long. Reid’s a good friend but he’s messing up his chances. I’ve fallen for Lauren and I want this! I think I  love her even. I- -

Louise’s thoughts were dropped before him. He dropped too! In an instant, he went from standing outside the women’s restroom waiting for his friend to finish and was suddenly weightless, then covered in a cloth of sorts. No matter how much he struggled against the silky cloth he couldn’t budge it or move much further. He began to laugh. This is a REALLY elaborate prank!

Louise continuously struggled out of his ‘prank’ whilst Lauren came out of restroom in an undershirt and less-than-conservative panties. “Louise?!” Huh, he left my stuff by the door. Maybe he’s busy. I’m really scaring off guys again!

Lauren grabbed her t-shirt and shorts from the ground and slid them on effortlessly. Her shorts had a grainy itchiness to the however that she didn’t really like. Louise COULD’VE put these somewhere that wasn’t the ground. There’s no telling what’s out there on that gross tile floor. Whatever, It’s time to go outside! Maybe these two will show up eventually.

Louise was experiencing weightlessness, velocities comparable to space travel, and other uncomforts as Lauren’s clothing went airborne. Maybe this isn’t such a joke… What’s happening?!

Before her knew it, Louise was trapped in a pit of darkness trapped between two walls of  soft, foul smelling “flesh” and was being grinded between the two pounding aforementioned walls, his dwarfed form between them. This wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience at all. Where was he and what on Earth was going to happen to him?