It was a sunny day on Home but as summer made way for autumn, the mercury began to fall and this meant the weather was amiable for most of the students at Adder High School.

 George and Edmund sat on a bench under some shade, watching the rest of the students play. George was tall and lanky with a long oval face, thin straight mocha coloured hair that stopped at his forehead, wearing an emerald green jacket over a plain red shirt and slacks. Edmund was shorter and stockier than his friend, with curly black hair, a large nose and a weak chin, his choice of garb was a pair of black jeans, black jacket with metallic zips over a dark grey shirt. He had chosen to cover his chin with a goatee but no moustache as he hated having any hair on his upper lip.

 “ Oh George, how is it that she has a mother so loved by everyone while she stands out like a giant freak? Crushing the school fountain on her first day and sitting on the principal’s car have made her the laughing stock of the entire school. She’s even growing bigger, pretty soon her toe will tower us and then we’re done for.” Edmund complained as he pointed at Dawn.

  It wasn’t hard to spot Dawn, she towered over everyone even when sitting down, holding the record for being the only student with perfect attendance without having to ever step foot inside the building.

 George turned his bluish grey eyes on Dawn and Graham. It wasn’t fair, he thought to himself. Some people had all the luck.

 “ She deserves better than that fat pudgy blob,” he muttered to himself. Unfortunately for him, Edmund had heard him and this meant getting rebuked for it. Usually with a little smack to the head.

 “ You mean worse, George. Dawn Martel is a freak of nature, she deserves to be in a circus or some lab being dissected by scientists, not being here with us normal people.” Edmund clipped George on the ear with his hand for his stupidity.

 “ That’s quite harsh, no one says the same about Jessica and she’s been around for years.”

George rubbed his ear, it was starting to hurt less with each blow. Either Edmund was using less force with each hit or he was getting accustomed to the pain, both explanations suited George.

  “ That is because she has the biggest jugs in the galaxy. Her pageant pictures on Paradise nearly crashed the Web once they got uploaded. Not to mention she’s every boys pinup girl when they first go through puberty. Look at Dawn, no curves, no brains, nothing appealing. If she were normal sized she’d be lost in the crowds, nothing to make her stand out.”

Dawn giggled loudly, everyone in the school could hear her as she talked to Graham, often getting snippets of their conversations.

 George looked up at her face, framed by her locks of platinum white hair, he didn’t find her as ugly as Edmund said she was.

 “ Everyone’s beautiful in their own way, Dawn just has a different type of body which appeals to different people.”

 Edmund snorted hard, “ Pfftt!!! That’s just something ugly people say. Besides, she’s so full of herself, not wanting to hang out with us, not joining any clubs or anything.”

“ I heard she tried to join the cheerleading squad when she first came, she did try.”

 Edmund chuckled and stroked his goatee, “ Wasn’t that the one where she nearly crushed a girl while trying to do the splits? The poor girl needed counselling for that one, the sight of a giant crotch nearly turning her into jam.”

 “ Yeah, thats the...one.” George’s heart sank a little as he remembered that day. They couldn’t use the field for weeks after she had caused a huge depression in the ground. Tucker had come down too, Principal Baldrick was livid as he told off Tucker. George thought it was because he lacked the balls to tell it to Dawn so he had to channel his anger through Tucker.

 “ Whatever it is, she stuck her nose into business she should have stayed out of. Take Graham over there, he was supposed to do our homework but she plucked him away and made him do hers instead. I only just got everything up to a B average, five months it took!” He was furious with Dawn for disrupting a deal that had been in place for years.

“ What’s the point of having such a big brain if you don’t use it!” Edmund shouted at no one in particular. His heart began to beat fast as Dawn turned to face him, he had been louder than he expected. He held his breath as she stared at him before turning back, only then did he breathe out.

 “ That was close but I have a plan to get Dawn out of our hair for good. It’ll be simple, just using this,” He reached into his bag and pulled out a small clear bag, no bigger than his palm. What piqued George’s interest was the brown powder inside.

“ Is that some kind of drug?” George wondered if Edmund was going too far with his revenge plot.

Edmund shook his head, “ No. I’m not that fixated on getting back at her but this’ll do. It’s ground up peanuts. Dawn once mentioned she was allergic to them when she had one of her “private” talks with Graham. I’ll slip it in when she’s not looking and then we’ll watch as her face swells up like a balloon.”

 George eyed the brown powder, it was extremely fine and it looked like there was enough to sprinkle over her food.

 “ You usually tell me about your plans, why did you leave me out?” He asked, a little hurt about being left in the dark.

Edmund scowled at George, “ I have my own life you know, I don’t have to tell you everything but don’t worry, there’s a part in it for you.”

 “ What is it?” He asked with gusto.

 Edmund looked over at Dawn with a sly smile on his face, “ Go over there and get Dawn and her toy boy away from her lunch for a few minutes, I’ll put this inside.”

At least I get to talk to Dawn and she’ll talk to me, thought George. He should feel happy but this time not as much. He didn’t really like the idea of seeing Dawn’s face swell up, her pretty mug uglified by her allergies.

 Spotting the couple, he trudged over to them, hoping Dawn wouldn’t see through it.

**************

 “ Oh come on Dawn, you know Sabretooth could beat Wolverine!” Graham sat down on Dawn’s knee while she held her sandwich in one hand, taking little bites out of it while taking care not to get anything on her white shirt denim jeans. Dawn rarely got cold, something she attributed to her size. So while everyone had to wear some sort of sweater to keep warm, Dawn could get away with a short sleeved shirt.

   Graham leaned against her stomach, using her body heat to keep him warm even though he was already wearing a navy blue sweater with black horizontal stripes.

 “ Nuh-uh! Wolverine could easily take him. He has adamantium claws while Sabretooth only has bone and we all know adamantium is the strongest substance in the world, it’ll cut through bone like its paper,” Dawn rebutted fiercely. She and Graham often had these arguments and while she often disagreed with him, she loved that he took an interest in the X-Men.

 No one else on Home knew about them; Dawn knew because Tucker had brought them over to Home on one of their annual trips to Earth. Usually it was to visit his parents who adored Dawn and Jessica despite their large size.

  When he could, Tucker would go out and get things like comics of his favourite superheroes, stuff you couldn’t get on Home and bring it back with home. Dawn had eventually picked one up one day and she couldn’t put it down, insisting they download every copy onto a device for her to read. When Graham found out about this, he jumped right in and the pair would talk about it when they weren’t doing homework or trying out Graham’s experiments.

 “ Take that away and he’s just an angry man with thin bony claws. They both fight using brute strength so the stronger one will win. Which means Sabretooth but not that Wolverine would ever make it easy. It’ll be close.” Graham liked to add the little concessions at the end; Dawn would never bully him into accepting her view, she was not that type of person but he realised it often made the losing party feel better.

“ You have a point,not that I’m saying you’re right.” She took another bite out of her sandwich but her bites slowed as she spotted George walking up to them. Graham had noticed, usually it meant he had to run but this time with Dawn around he had little to fear. Dawn had forced them to stay away but sometimes the pair would feel brave enough to try but she had always put them in their place.

   Dawn set her sandwich on a table where it then shrank to its normal size, she often grew her meals. It was easier for Tucker to make one regular meal, have Dawn enlarge it and then eat it where the contact with her stomach would keep her filled.

 “ Yes George?” she asked in a sweet voice, she kept one hand close to Graham in case she needed to cover him or pick him. It was a reflex action after several incidents.

 “ D-Dawn, Mrs. Meeks wants to see you and Graham.” His legs were shaking but Dawn’s angelic features had a calming effect, what scared him was what she had done to them. He had deserved it, being the one to initiate all this but despite the teacher siding with him and Edmund Dawn could still instil fear in them with a single glare.

 “ Oh so you aren’t here to pick on poor Graham here, that’s nice of you,” Dawn was glad he wasn’t trying anything with her although she hated how always stared at her with she assumed was daggers in his eyes. She could never understand how he could hate her so much.

 “ Come on Graham, lets go see the teacher. George, don’t take my stuff okay? I’ll know its you if you did,” she tried to be as sweet as possible to people when they weren’t trying to hurt her or her friends.

She placed her books on the ground and they too shrank down to their original dimensions and picked up Graham, carrying him off. George watched as walked off, her gentle steps hardly shaking the ground thanks to the soles of her shoes, lined with a special fabric that could absorb the force she exerted on the ground with every step.

 It didn’t take long for Edmund to run up to him and  he gave George a pat on the back.

 “ Well done. This’ll be easier than I thought. Won’t have to climb over a bed of vegetables to do it.”

 He grabbed the uneaten end of the sandwich and flipped over the bread. Edmund then opened the bag and poured the powder all over it.

 When that was done he put the bag in the pocket of his jacket and ran off, George following swiftly. Both hoped that Dawn wouldn’t notice but one of them also hoped that she wouldn’t be hurt too badly.

********

“ Must be a prank,” Graham mentioned to Dawn as they walked back after being told by Mrs. Meeks that she wasn’t looking for the pair.

 “ It’s not a very clever prank, sure I wasted a couple of minutes looking into windows but it wasn’t exactly a bad one,” Dawn replied as she found her items and thankfully, George hadn’t done anything to them. Picking up her sandwich, which she then promptly enlarged to a more suitable scale, she began to eat it, Graham leaning against the top of her jeans and the hem of her shirt.

“ Hmm…I never noticed this before, Dad must have added something new but it tastes great! I’ll need to ask him what he added.” Dawn commented in between bites.

 “ Not that your Dad doesn’t make great sandwiches but weren’t we debating about Wolverine and Sabretooth?” Graham grinned at her.

 “ Oh? I thought we settled it but if you want to go for round two, lets go then!” She loved this part of Graham, he refused to let it be, always challenging her, the only person in school who wasn’t afraid of her; and why would he be? She had never given him a reason to be afraid of her and would never ever do that to him.

Dawn leaned in, her eyes focused on the whiteboard, it was a term dating back to a time when every classroom had one.

    Now it was the equivalent of a huge computer with a screen that responded to touch or in schools with better funding, simple gestures without having to even touch the board; making it easy for teachers to access any teaching materials they wanted as it had access to the Web .

  Mr. Melchett was their history teacher , a tall slightly obese man with a very prominent and thick handlebar moustache. He had a penchant for being extremely loud and it was hard to fall asleep in the class when it sounded like he was shouting all the time.

 However, he was also incapable of making any event sound interesting and as he droned on monotonously about some obscure event from Home’s distant past, a good number of students at the back were starting to doze off, George and Edmund among them.

 Dawn usually had no problems staying awake but her stomach was giving her some problems. It was churning and making odd noises, rumbling and it felt as if it was being stretched. Dawn was worried it would disrupt the classes that were level with her stomach. Usually they would give her a little poke if she was doing that but thankfully nothing like that had happened.

 “ Hey Graham, how are you feeling?” Dawn whispered into the class.

 Graham looked at the eye staring back at him but it began to retreat as Dawn leaned back and the rest of her face came into view, Dawn’s seat didn’t offer her the best view of the class but she had to make do with the limited infrastructure of the school.

 “ I’m fine. Anything wrong with you?” Graham replied, unsure of why Dawn would ask such a question.

   She gave a little shake of her head, “ A little but I think I’ll be fine,” Dawn didn’t feel like elaborating, it might only disgust Graham if she discussed her bodily functions and she didn’t want that.

 “ Miss Martel, you might believe you’re whispering but a girl your size is incapable of that. Please refrain from ‘whispering’,” Mr. Melchett had used air quotes, causing several students to snigger as Dawn could only look on sheepishly.

 “ Unless you intend to contribute to the lesson, zip it and look at the board. If not, you can doze off like Messrs George and Edmund at the back.” He glared at the two boys, now wide awake once they heard their names.

 “ Sorry Mr. Melchett, we were just resting our eyes.” Edmund calmly replied.

“ Sorry, it won’t happen again,” Dawn mewled.

 “ You’re forgiven, now pay attention.” Mr. Melchett turned without looking back at her.

 Dawn was embarrassed but it was nothing new to her, she had often been told off for talking in class, despite her attempts at whispering, she could never get the volume right.

 Now the whiteboard switched to a series of videos, a few groaned as they realised it would be another class of videos again. Dawn leaned in and tried her best to focus.

“ Now pay attention, I’ll pick a few students at random to answer questions. Failure to answer will require a one page report on the videos you just saw.” Mr. Melchett tapped a button on the screen and the video began to play. He then sat in his chair while it played.

 The videos themselves were uninteresting except that it covered the more recent history of Home and unsurprisingly for Dawn, she saw her mother in the video, mentioned as she saved the planet from various threats, including a scientist who had become a rampaging giant after an experiment gone awry. Dawn remembered that one, Jessica had said she did not want to kill her but she had no choice; she had to kill a woman she once considered a dear friend. That story had scared Dawn, who couldn’t imagine killing someone she held dear to her.

 A few minutes later in another video it happened. Dawn’s uneasy stomach had stopped but without even knowing it, Dawn farted. It sounded like a school band playing one long note at full blast and she immediately covered her face as it happened. As it was, everyone knew since she couldn’t hide it at her size.

 If anyone was sleeping in class, they weren’t anymore. Everyone was awake and all knew who had passed gas. There was much giggling and laughter and even Mr. Melchett had cracked up but unlike the rest of the students he managed to stop himself from laughing at Dawn.

“ Alright! Alright!” He bellowed to the class, “ There is no need to laugh at Miss Martel, what happened to her has occurred to all of us, no matter how much we deny it.”

 Dawn on the other hand was just grateful that it didn’t smell although she could hear some coughing from the lower floors. Deciding not to take any risks, she lightly fanned her butt, hoping to dilute the gas.

 Graham gave her a playful shrug, “ It happens. No sweat.”

“ I know, thanks.” Dawn was glad he didn’t laugh although the same couldn’t be said about the rest of the class.

 “ Lets continue with the video, everyone please divert your attention away from Miss Martel’s fart and towards the screen, it is far more interesting and more educational.”

 Everyone began to settle down and as Dawn listened to the sounds from the classrooms below hers, she could hear the voices getting quieter as the teacher told them to focus on the lesson. She felt a little sorry for the classes closest to her butt, they would have received a full blast but it was a one off incident, nothing more.

 Or it would have been, if not for what happened next.

 Dawn was more relaxed, her little release had taken some off the edge off her stomach pains, she made a note to ask Tucker what exactly went into that sandwich when she got home. Then, a second blast issued forth from her butt, this one went for several seconds longer and was more pungent than the preceding one.

 Dawn could smell it and it was rancid, rotten eggs had nothing on it. She tried to fan it away but this only succeeded in blowing it into the classroom. People began to clutch their noses, eyes watered as everyone gagged on her flatulence. No laughing this time, even George and Edmund were gasping and retching as their lungs filled with the noxious fumes Dawn passed out.

“ I’m so sorry!” Dawn uttered as she watched the struggle unfold.

 ‘ It’s….alright….Dawn…” Graham managed to get these few words out before coughing furiously.

 “ It’s okay Dawn, it was an accident! I’m sure of it!” Mr. Melchett assured while pressing his nose against a fine handkerchief, using it as a filter against Dawn’s gas. He managed to open the door with one hand, his other used to keep his nose protected.  

 “ No one leave, we will wait for the smell to dissipate before we continue. No one leave their seats!” Mr. Melchett barked at everyone and no one moved although a few students were questioning the wisdom of staying.

 Why must this happen to me? I’m a good person, I never hurt anyone, Dawn thought, her own eyes starting to water. Except for her, the reason was not physical.

“ I’ll just head home,” Dawn suggested quietly. No one opposed it, everyone was trying to survive. Not just in her class, those below were affected by the blast too, the situation was no different from what she was currently witnessing.

She got up and made the mistake of turning around, letting her bottom face the class. One gas cloud forced itself out of her anus, sounding like a ship’s horn in volume. Graham was the closest and was blown back, a look of shock on his face. He hit the opposite wall and fainted from the stench. A similar fate happened to those nearer to the window but none were blown back as far or as hard as Graham did.

“ Oh no!” Dawn exclaimed looked inside, a sense of dread building. The acrid odour was all she could detect and then she saw the unconscious bodies of her classmates, knocked out by her bodily functions. Tears gushed from her eyes, she had just humiliated herself in front of the entire school. Nothing anyone did after this would ever top this farce.

 “ I’m sorry!” That was all she could say as she bawled her eyes out while grabbing her things and when that was done, she took off, unable to stand around and risk further humiliation. She just ran, her long slender legs making it easy for her to get out of school and run home.

 All the while she was in tears, leaving little droplets as they fell off her cheeks and splashed down to the ground, leaving dark stains on the concrete pavement.

 It took her a matter of minutes to reach the house, easily distinguishable as it was the biggest single storey house in all of Home, even the richest Homeans stayed in smaller homes than Jessica and Dawn did.

 She opened the door and closed it, running past Lucky who was the only thing inside. He was his usual sunny self but he sensed something was wrong with his “mother” and ran with her, following with her to her room.

 “ Lucky,” she cooed while crying, stroking his head with her finger.

 “ Why am I so useless? My own mother is a hero on Home, she went on countless missions for it, saved the world so many times but all I am is a big waste of space. She fought a crazy giant and my biggest achievement will be big smelly farts!” She threw herself onto her bed and buried her head in a pillow. She didn’t want anyone near her, all she wanted was the Earth to swallow her and end her pain.

************

   Graham woke up on the hard concrete of the school yard, the last thing he remembered was looking at Dawn’s butt before some force knocked him out. He could see the clear sky and the sounds of other students chatting amongst themselves. Shouldn’t they be in class?

He could still smell Dawn’s fart, that girl had quite the butt. Sitting up, he could see other students still passed out while all around teachers checked to make sure the students were okay. Principal Baldrick was doing his rounds but as Graham had come to expect, he wasn’t contributing much by talking to various students in  but somehow, things were running smoothly since there was a general lack of chaos.

 Getting up, he went over to Mr. Melchett who was sitting by himself.

 “ Can I help you Graham?” He usually called students he was more fond of by their first names although those students were not allowed to do the same to him.

 “ Where’s Dawn? Why are we all outside?” Graham asked, confused by the situation.

 Mr. Melchett sighed but then he remembered Graham had not been conscious after Dawn last blast. “ Dawn ran off, she was rather distraught after her...last fart knocked you out . I can’t believe I’m saying this but that is what happened. You and a few other students got hit and you guys passed out from the force of it. You’ve been out for two hours.” He was a little shell shocked, speaking slowly and his eyes stared off into the distance.

 “ Then what happened?” Graham pressed his teacher for more answers, Mr. Melchett looked at back him ,snapping out of his trance.

 “ After that we had to evacuate the school, the smell was unbearable and we got some paramedics to come down ,take a look at you guys but fortunately, none of you needed to go to the hospital.” He still used the slow, soft voice, a stark contrast from the sharper and louder voice he used in the classroom hours before.

 “ I’ll go check on Dawn,she must feel terrible. Is it okay if I visit her?” Knowing Dawn and Graham did know her, she must be feeling awful over what she did to her fellow students.

 Mr. Melchett nodded his head but showed little emotion, “ Go on, school’s dismissed while the cleaning staff work to remove the smell. It’s…” He coughed hard, “ irritating at best and gut wrenching at worst, literally gut wrenching.”

 “ Thank you,” Graham had little to say, he began to run towards the nearest bus stop, intending to take a bus to Dawn’s house.

“ Where are you going Graham?” Graham turned and saw Edmund and George, curious to know where although Graham suspected the question was more rhetorical in nature. Edmund strutted up to him in the usual manner, arrogant and feeling as if he were in control although the latter aspect had died down after Dawn came into the picture. George followed from behind but with less confidence and he looked...guilty? How could that be?

“ To see Dawn, she needs a friend to be by her side after what happened.” Graham replied, inching away from them. Edmund grabbed him, “ Relax, we’re not going to stop you. Because after today, she won’t come back. Dawn Martel will be gone, after I slipped peanuts into her sandwich. Who knew it would be like this? I expected a bloated face but this takes the cake!”

He laughed, it was almost a cackle while George joined in but with less heart and soul in it.

 “ Go and see her Graham, say your goodbyes and soon it’ll be just the three of us! Just like old times!” He had to shout that last part as Graham had run off.

 For Graham, he realised he needed to get there soon. Dawn needed his help, something to ease her through such a difficult time or she might just blame herself. She was his friend and just as when she saved him from bullies, it was his turn to return the favour. He could only hope he wasn’t too late.

 Tucker unlocked the scaled down door made for him, it was the only way he could ever get inside if Jessica and Dawn were both out of the house. He had taken a short trip to the supermarket to stock up on some necessities for the house, which he carried in a large brown bag made of a paper like material.

  He began to notice something was off when his nose was assaulted by a stink that had managed to diffuse itself through the entire house. His nose hairs burned and his stomach gave its own opinion on the matter by threatening to send Tucker’s lunch back up. Tucker barely managed to keep it down. His only solution to this for now was to cover his nose with handkerchief he had in his pocket, forcing him to press the bag against his chest.

 Closing the door, he ran over to the large table and climbed the steps made just for him, placing the large brown bag down and climbing back down.

 Tucker made his way to Dawn’s room and as he got closer, he could hear the sound of a girl crying, spirits crushed and all hopes extinguished. Tucker’s heart sank, Dawn was being bullied again and whatever it was, it was enough to send her running home. He had never seen her leave school early for any reason, not even for being sick. Dawn had never been sick before and her tormentors at school never got to her to the extent that she’d just up and go.

“ Dawn?” Tucker inquired, her room door ajar.

 He had barely stepped inside when Lucky ran out, clicking and chirping, looking very flustered and….gagging? Tucker was astounded by it, he didn’t know that Lucky even had a gag reflex. Lucky didn’t stop, his tail moving from side to side as he took cover under an enormous couch.

“ Go away Dad! Go before I make you faint from my farts!” Dawn warned Tucker, her cries intensifying.  Tucker would not do that, he couldn’t let his baby girl just stew in her own sorrow. He would be a terrible father to let that happen.

 “ I’ve smelt more pungent odours dear. No wait, I’ve made worse, ask your mother.” He assured Dawn and it was no lie although Dawn had exceeded him when it came to quantity. Tucker slowly walked up to her but he made sure to stay away from her bum, he didn’t want to risk it.

 He wanted to have her open a window but he spotted the sole window in her room open, dismayed at how much of the flatulence remained.

 Dawn looked up, her eyes coloured red from all the tears she had shed on to her pillow, a large dark stain from where she had laid her head. The pain was only exacerbated by the sight of her own father using a handkerchief as a gas mask. Tucker picked up on it and in chose to forgo it and simply endure the stench, it would at least assure Dawn.

 “ Dad, have you ever made one so bad that an entire class almost died from it?” Dawn asked him, just thinking about what she had done put her on the brink of tears again. She wiped her face, why did all this have to happen to her? She was already a joke at school but this would be the one that broke her.

 Tucker was taken aback by this, he had heard nothing from her school about this. Surely she had to exaggerating? His daughter could not have done something so terrible.

“ Why don’t you start from the beginning? Tell me what happened,” he said to Dawn, hoping she was merely blowing things out of proportion. He didn’t know what to do if her flatulence had actually killed someone; probably something like going into hiding from the rest of the world.

 Dawn recounted her story, not leaving out any detail. Each moment she recalled cut into her like a knife and this led to the flowing of tears. Dawn had to stop and wipe her eyes before she could resume. Tucker assured her that he was not angry at what she did and told her to continue. Dawn continued and by the end, she had just one thing to say to Tucker, nothing else came to mind.

 “ I need to transfer to another school. As soon as possible,” Dawn declared, in her mind she knew she was done for. She looked at Tucker with hope, hope that she could get a fresh start somewhere else. In another city, province or even continent, anything but staying.

“ No,” Tucker shook his head, disappointed at Dawn. “ I can’t do that. I’ve never blamed you for getting removed from your previous schools, those incidents were handled poorly by the administration and even though your mother went down to fight your case, we couldn’t force them to keep you. Not legally anyway so we left.”

 “ I remember the last one,” Dawn recalled with a tear in her eye, it seemed that she would spend the rest of the day having her eyes act as waterfalls.

 “ I fought back against the bully, picked her up and yelled at her for calling me names behind my back and made her explain everything. By the end of it she needed therapy, or so I was told. Mary was never the same again,” Dawn felt a lump in her throat, regret for her actions even though her folks never attached any blame to her.

 “ Yes and it was an outrage that they never punished Mary at all,” Tucker noted bitterly, that was a dark chapter in Dawn’s life and he still recalled how she cried for hours after finding out what she had done to Mary. He had Dawn inform the school board of this but they had ignored all of this, simply barring her from being a student at the school. Would Dawn be a monster if she showed remorse? To Tucker, the answer was clear: No.

 “ Even so, I bring misery to every school. I have to go somewhere else, some place where this will never happen again,” Dawn replied, feeling morose after thinking about all the other screw ups she had done in her short life.

 “ No you don’t. Dawn, you have Graham. You gave him a reason to come to school, I’ve seen him when he visits, he loves being your friend. Did you make his life worse?” Tucker asked Dawn, he would never let his baby girl see herself as a jinx, she never was.

 “I-I-knocked him out with my gas!” Dawn cried out, though she never saw it, the sight of his body crumpled to the floor lying motionless on the floor. She didn’t need to see it, she had put two and two together and worked out what happened.

 “ Yes but didn’t you save him from George and Edmund, those nasty boys who made his life hell? You’re like a guardian angel to him, keeping his demons at bay.”

Dawn’s heart rose, Tucker’s sentiments were echoed by her. There were moments where she did believe she was Graham’s protector,watching over him while he went about his life. She remembered him thanking her so much on her first day at school that she thought he was having a nervous breakdown, it had made her feel good about herself. To Dawn it was proof she could be more than a burden to society.

 “ I-I did keep him safe….” she answered, “ but how will I ever face him now? I won’t have friends, no one will want me and I’ll die alone. If I live as long as Mom then it’ll be thousands of years isolated from everyone else.” She could picture it in her head so well, her older and withered self on her deathbed with no one to comfort her, her parents long since dead and no one to say their goodbyes to her. It was a future she imagined whenever she felt low and it filled her heart with dread whenever she did so.

 “ It’s an extreme scenario but your mother did worse things and people still love her. She is loved by her colleagues, her friends and her husband, no matter what she did.”

“ What did she do?” Dawn questioned Tucker, surely it couldn’t have been worse than what she did? Dawn saw her mother as the perfect woman, both physically and in personality. She often wished for her mother’s body, a body to drive boys wild and have them chase her but her genes had saw fit to give her small breasts and a slim frame instead of the curvy body of her mother.

 “ Before you were born, she was possessed by this malevolent being called Rammun who wanted to use her to take over the galaxy. Your mother nearly crushed her co-workers and her friends and although you could argue she didn’t actually do it, she still told me of the horror of watching your own body commit such atrocities and being unable to even fight back.”

 Dawn was stupefied by this bombshell, she had been taught in class about how this was just a gas leak that led to those affected having vivid hallucinations; it was even an actual case study on industrial safety standards.

 “ Wasn’t it some gas leak and everyone just saw things?”

Tucker chuckled, “ Oh it was real but we couldn’t afford to let the public know what really happened. Don’t tell anyone by the way but your mother was affected by it and although no one blamed her, she could have just hid herself from the world because of Rammun but she didn’t. She held her head high and lived the life she intended to live.” He paused and was heartened to see Dawn taking all of this in, he loved Dawn and he wanted to see her have some backbone, she often caved in too easily when she hit an obstacle.

 “ If Graham is a true friend, he’ll forgive you for it because that is what friends do, they kiss and make up when they screw up.Dawn, they move from it and Graham will remain chums with you if he is as good a friend as I believe he is. If not, you’ve lost nothing.”

Dawn came closer to Tucker, leaning her head in, “ I-I’ll see him tomorrow and I’ll apologise and after that...if he still wants to be a friend, we’ll carry on from where we left off.”

 “ Great. Thats what I want to hear from you, you’ll go back and deal with whatever awaits you and when it's over, you’ll resume the school life you had.”

 Dawn slapped her hand against the floor, gaining confidence with each second, “ Yes I will Dad! I will face my problems and after that...I’ll cross that bridge when I get it.”

 “ I want you to remember this saying from House Martell, from a Song of Fire and Ice. They have a motto, ‘ Unbowed, Unbent,Unbroken.’ Remember that last one, no matter what happens to you. It’s okay to fall but it isn’t alright to let it break you. When you fall off the horse, you get back up on it and persevere.” Tucker lowered his voice, speaking ominously to Dawn, hoping the message would get through.

 Dawn got it, she’d have to be strong. “ Dad, I know its just a show but that’s really deep. I’ll be strong, never bent or broken in any form. I am  one hundred and ninety eight feet tall, I shouldn’t let a guy the size of my thumb get to me that easily. I am literally above all of that,” she replied, finally finding a reason to smile, a tear broke from her eye and fell to the floor but it wasn’t made from dejection but from the optimism that coursed through her.

 “ I’ll go back tomorrow, no matter what Graham thinks of me. I’ll get through the names, the solitary live I’ll have and-” Dawn stopped as she heard the doorbell ringing.

 “ Guess it’s the police, here to arrest me for well…you know,” She tensed up as she anticipated a fight, Tucker was not too keen on having his daughter battle local law enforcement personnel.

“ Don’t fight them,” He advised her, it wouldn’t be worth it. He’d have to explain it, running out of the room, his giantess of a daughter having long since exited thanks to her longer legs.

 Dawn turned the big door and opened it and screamed in surprise, “ Graham!” She called down to him, thrilled to see her best friend back. His hair was a mess, wet after running from the bus stop to Dawn’s house and the back of his shirt soaked.

 “ Dawn! Don’t give up, you have to-” Graham pleaded, falling to his knees and begging Dawn. He was hoping a dramatic scene might sway her.

“ You can stop, I’m going back,” Dawn chuckled but she was touched he had come all this way, Tucker was right about him.

 “ Thank you for coming, I wasn’t sure if you’d still want to be friends with me after….what I did,” She added sheepishly.

 “ Of course I would! You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. Dawn, I never thought about ending this friendship, you mean a lot to me and it will take more than  a bad case of wind to ruin it,” Graham replied with a vibrancy she only saw when he was explaining his latest experiment or more recently, their debate over Wolverine and Sabertooth.

“ You’re right, it was silly of me to even think about it but thank you Graham, you’ve been a good friend to me. No, you’re my best friend too, there isn’t any other way to describe it.” Dawn was waxing lyrical about their relationship and why wouldn’t she? They enjoyed each other’s company in the two years since they met on that memorable first day at school, two social pariahs in school but they were far from miserable when together.

 “ You see Dawn, told you Graham would never abandon you,” Tucker ran up to them, slowing to a jog, panting from the effort. He wasn’t as fit as before but he certainly made the time to stay in shape, a result of needing to keep up with Jessica whenever they had a moment to themselves.

 “ Thanks Mr. Martel,” Graham replied. He wasn’t just here to comfort Dawn, he needed to tell her about George and Edmund, about what he had learned from them in a moment of hubris from the two.

 “ Dawn, I think I know why you got all that gas. Our two favourite bullies told me just before I left.”

 Dawn rolled her eyes hard, she knew where this was going, “ I am going to guess they did it and that they thought I would never come back so they even told you how they did it. Am I right?” She hated those two, too often she thought about just stepping on them and ending it but her judgement told her it wouldn’t end well for her.

 Graham gave a solitary nod in response, “ They knew about your allergy to peanuts and they added it into your lunch. I’m guessing George was a distraction while Edmund did the rest,” he theorized.

 Dawn balled her hand up into a fist, this was one of those moments where she wished she could do it but sadly, the consequences of squishing them were not worth the effort of ending their pathetic lives.

 “ One more reason to go back then...teach those worms a lesson in messing with me,” she said through gritted teeth.

 “ Now Dawn, don’t do anything to get you expelled,” Tucker wanted to dissuade her from dishing out revenge, not because the two boys didn’t deserve it but because she might go too far.  

Dawn turned to her father, she wouldn’t risk that, she had already been kicked out of her previous two schools, there was no need to complete the hat-trick. She relaxed her hand, calming herself down.

“ I won’t Dad, I promise you and Graham that whatever happens to them, I won’t be expelled. No broken bones, no deaths,” Dawn assured them although she had never done any of that and there would be no reason to ever start.

“ Good, you’re better than that,” Tucker said to her and he knew it, she’d never hit anyone out of anger.

 Dawn reached down and picked up both men, holding them in one hand, “ I know, thats why I would never do anything like that, picking on someone smaller and weaker than me. Graham, you look tired, would you like to rest for a bit? Maybe even have dinner with us?”

 “ I think I should head home, change out of these. Maybe another time or you could even have dinner with my family. My parents are really fond of you, always asking me questions about the two of us” Graham answered, choosing not to divulge the exact details of the questions, they made him feel awkward.

 “ Alright, I might take you up on the dinner thing. I’d walk you back but I’m afraid of letting one off on the way there,” Dawn chuckled as she set Graham down. He waved goodbye to her and Tucker before heading back, exalted at the outcome of his visit.

Dawn went back into the house, “ Dad, thanks for that talk. It really made me feel better, a lot better.”

 Tucker gave a simple bow, “ Glad I could help. Now lets open up more windows, the smells need to go and fast,” he replied, his nose tingling and in need of fresher air.

Graham sat by himself, taking a good sized chunk out of a habao, the Home version of a hamburger on an unusually chilly morning, marked by many of the students wearing sweaters, Graham wore a grey sweater that resembled a woollen one if it came from Earth. The animal was similar to a sheep but it also spat a caustic venom that could dissolve steel, setting it apart from its Earth counterpart; that and that fact it had two heads so and a barbed tail. He often felt guilty when ate them, particularly those from the stand at the foot of the apartment building he lived in with his parents. The man who sold them was a small thin man, no taller than him but he lacked Graham’s girth.

 He remembered when Dawn would often ask him to switch to something healthier, she often went on a lengthy sermon about the importance of a healthy diet and while he did try to follow her advice, he found him running back to the very food she condemned, it put his mind at ease; something a salad had never accomplished for him. He chuckled as he remembered the special name she had for this kind of food: Stranglers. Named because she believed that excessive consumption of them would strangle your arteries.

 Even so, he still loved the smell and taste of the habao, this one had what resembled beef and a golden cheese like goo splattered on top of the meat which itself was lightly toasted, soggy from absorbing the juices given out by the meat. Graham thoroughly enjoyed it, even over the smell of Dawn’s butt, the residual odour still present but fortunately, it had gotten progressively weaker

 “ So Graham, it’s just you , all alone. No Dawn, no giant freaks to get in between us,” said a voice that dripped with happiness. Graham found it unsettling for the sole reason being the person who said it had that effect on him.

 Graham looked up and sure enough, spotted the sight of his least favourite people in the entire world ambling up to him. George and Edmund took delight in flanking their lone target, sitting either side of him.

 Graham knew better than to engage in any sort of banter with them, mostly because he’d be on the receiving end of any jokes, jokes that left both physical and mental scars in the past.

 “ What’s the matter Graham?” Edmund gave him a punch in jest, his fist smashing against Graham’s arm with enough force to knock the habao out of his hand, it fell to the floor and spread itself over an area the size of his stomach, resembling a crater.

 Graham sighed, his breakfast now rendered inedible.

“ What do you want Edmund?” Graham asked with trepidation, he had been this enough to know where its going.

 “ Just popping by to check on you, make sure you’re alright. You took quite a blast from Dawn didn’t you?” Edmund  recalled with delight how Graham had been literally blown away by Dawn, he did not remember much but he did remember that scene and it had been playing in his mind.

 “ You all saw what happened but why so concerned about me?” he recalled, not too fondly over what his best friend had done.

  “ Because…” Edmund extended that one word, “ We need to make sure you didn’t lose a few IQ points after inhaling all that gas. Can’t have you making mistakes on our homework can we?”

 “ What even makes you think I’ll do it? Go do your own work,” Graham replied, neither George nor Edmund expected such a ballsy response from him, their former victim mostly bending over for them as and when they liked.

 Edmund shoved Graham to the ground, his head smacking against the pavement. Graham grunted as he lifted himself off the ground, “ You really shouldn’t do that,” Graham was concerned until an epiphany came to him, his lips curling into a knowing grin, the kind of grin you got when you knew something your enemy didn’t. Something crucial, something important.

“ You’re doing all this because Dawn isn’t here aren’t you?” He asked, anticipating Edmund’s next response as he hauled himself off the floor.

 Edmund nodded with a chuckle, balling up his fists, “ She won’t be here today or tomorrow or even next week. Dawn won’t dare to show her face, she’ll get a transfer out of here and honestly, the world will be a better place without her. I can’t understand why they even let her mix around with us normal people,” Edmund went on a rant.

 “ Well, not you Graham, you’re no less grotesque as Dawn,” Edmund corrected himself, not wishing to leave him out.

 “ She should be on a some rock far away from us where all the other monsters are. It doesn’t even make sense that the government would even allow it. Maybe after yesterday she’ll put herself there, her self esteem is the only thing lower than her IQ,” Edmund mused, laughing at what he thought was a wise crack while Graham listened, letting the words float in and out of his ears, he wasn’t really paying attention but waiting for Edmund to be proven wrong.

 “ You see her as a monster because she’s different but maybe it’s also because you got your asses kicked by a girl,” Graham rebutted Edmund.

“ She’s a pretty big girl, it’s not even fair!” George blurted out, he glanced over Graham’s head and got the shock of his life.

 “ George, don’t talk, you’re only making it worse,” Edmund moaned, “ I’m trying to put the fear of God in Graham in here and you’re only making us seem like a bunch of wusses. Please, let me do the talking-”

 “ No no, look over there!” George pointed off in the distance.

Edmund rolled his eyes at George’s defiance, couldn’t he just do as he was told?  

“ Alright, I’ll look but just keep your mouth shu-” Edmund’s words came to a halt as he saw the person he really didn’t want to see right now. Dawn, and she was coming closer, almost with a spring in her step.

****

 Dawn approached the school anxious to know how she’d be received but at the same time she felt contented to know that she had a friend like Graham who would forgive her for almost any wrong, her awesome father who knew how to rouse her spirits with a speech and of course, her mother who was always by her side, her fellow giantess in a world she sometimes felt was too small for her.

 Her hair fluttered in the wind, Dawn jammed her hands inside the pockets of her jeans to keep her extremities warm, her normal attire of long sleeved giving way in such frigid weather to a short sleeved turquoise shirt resting beneath a long sleeved brown sweater she had gotten from her grandparents for Christmas, her grandmother had knitted one that featured reindeer and Santa Claus delivering presents.  For her bottom half, she had opted for what was standard for her, a pair of blue denim jeans that clung to her legs.

 If not for them, Dawn would probably have locked herself in her room and refused to come out until everyone forgot about her. She knew her father was right and if her mother, one of the most beloved people on Home could show her face in public after Rammun’s failed attempt at galaxy wide domination, then it only made sense that Dawn could go to school after a bad case of gas.

 As she stepped inside the school grounds, she noticed no one seemed to even react to her, they carried on with whatever they were doing as if it were a normal day at school. Dawn didn’t mind but she had expected a reaction from them, their indifference was the last thing she expected. As she studied the scene before her, she was not particularly surprised to see Edmund and George manhandling Graham.

“They’ll never learn will they…” Dawn said to herself, shaking her head at their incorrigibility.

“ Guess I better step in before Graham gets hurt,” Dawn finished and moved faster through the school yard, past the fountain until she was right on top of the three boys, two of whom were terrified to see her.

 Her shadow fell over them and she could sense the fear in the bullies. Dawn squatted, her willowy frame descending and stopped once she was close enough. She was furious with George and Edmund, particularly the latter as he was the mastermind behind most of their machinations against her, their most recent plot drawing her ire. Her eyes narrowed into a glare, Edmund wished he were dead right now but he wouldn’t have that luck, he’d have to face Dawn with no route of escape.

 “ Good morning Graham, how’s your day so far?’ Dawn asked sweetly although she very well knew what was going on.

 Graham looked at Edmund and George, knowing full well that both of them were done for now that Dawn was here, “ Fine but Edmund and George here knocked my habao to the ground before doing the same to me,”

 Graham made a pouty face at Dawn.

 “ At least you won’t be filling your arteries with that junk but Edmund, that isn’t very nice of you. It’s very rude to do that to your friends, don’t you know?”

 Down below, Edmund and George were quaking in their shoes and realising this was one of those fight or flight situations, they opted for the latter. Dawn sighed, disappointed that both of them had chosen to run. Not that it mattered to her, she could always give chase.

 Getting on to her knees and using both arms, Dawn scooped up George and Edmund in one swift motion and brought them closer to her face, enjoying the hold she had over them. Both of them had their arms pinned to their sides and

 “ I know what you did to me and honestly, it’s a very dirty trick and I bet you thought it’d give me rashes or maybe a swollen face but you’re really too stupid for your own good,” Dawn chided them although she wanted to do so much more to them,pay them back in full for what they did to her.

  “ I can’t even tell you how I felt when I got home yesterday, everything I felt when I was on the toilet, it was excruciating,” Dawn paused, deciding it wouldn’t be the best idea to delve too much into what did on the porcelain throne although in truth Dawn and Jessica used one made of a special metallic alloy that didn’t corrode and was strong enough to support their weight.

 “ But it was nothing compared to the humiliation I endured. Me, a girl producing the worst farts in this school history? Much worse than if any boy did it and I bet you thought I would just stay away but thanks to my Dad and Graham down there,I found it in myself to step out of my house and live my life.”

 “L-look, just let us-” Edmund stammered but Dawn would not let him speak, giving him a little squeeze to shut him up.

 “ Not yet,” Dawn said in a commanding tone. Neither of them even let a squeak get past their lips, fear having put their tongues to rest.

 Meanwhile, Graham was enjoying the scene unfold. This wasn’t the first time Dawn had put them in their place but it never got old, the satisfaction he derived never once diminishing. With nothing left to do, he sat back on the bench he had occupied before Edmund and George had arrived.

 “ Maybe you just enjoy hurting the people close to me? Maybe you’ll want to pick on my Dad next? Do you?” Dawn shook her enclosed fist, George thought he was going to take flight if Dawn had so much as relaxed her grip while Edmund was more concerned about seeing his breakfast again.

“ Answer me or else I’ll shake you harder,” Dawn ordered.

 “ O-ok,” George started but like before, Edmund cut him off.

 “ I’ll explain it. Of course not Dawn, we don’t want to hurt your dad. Why would we ever do that?” He assured Dawn. He had no intention of ever hurting Tucker but he was insanely jealous of Tucker, most boys were and some had even considered driving Tucker away only for the sight of Jessica to remind them that to harm a single hair on his body would be the equivalent of having a death wish for it was common knowledge that Jessica would protect Tucker at all costs and she had the means to fight off anyone who.

 “ I don’t know, why would you ever want to pick on me or Graham?” Dawn responded, her tone increasingly flustered as she held Edmund and George.

“Alright, you got me! I don’t know! Just let me go,” Edmund pleaded. Seeing his friend doing so, George joined in.

 “ Yes, don’t hurt us! We may have done the thing with the peanuts but don’t hold it against us,” George begged and Dawn’s scowl softened, giving the two hope she’d let them off.

 “ Of course, I’ll move on but maybe you should get a taste of your own medicine!” Dawn moved the two boys,holding them with her thumb and forefinger against her butt. Edmund feared what was coming, he had smelt it and if Dawn could send Graham to dreamland with just one blast, he wondered what it would be like it to take a fart at point blank range.

  “ I think you two deserve some sort of punishment before I let you guys go, a reminder not to mess with me. Don’t you?” Dawn pressed the two against butt, the denim of the jeans in their face. Both of them held their breath, waiting for the inevitable. For the next ten seconds, they waited, their breaths held , each second only made it harder as their lungs demanded oxygen. When it seemed they could no endure no more, Dawn made her move.

 “ But…” Dawn moved them away and brought them back up to eye level, “ I won’t be punishing you that way, I have my own way of going about that,”

 Dawn took a couple of steps, and stood in front of the school fountain, a rather ornate looking one that had a few serpents at the circular stone base, most of the water came out in gentle streams from the heads of various stone snakes positioned at the edge of the basin, resembling the placing of the various numbers on an analogue clock.

Dawn crouched down and held the two about ten feet over the fountain, each one of them very well aware of what was coming next.

 “ Oh come on, not that! We’ll get wet, please think of something else!” Edmund asked Dawn but he doubt she would listen to him, he had not given her reason to.

  Dawn shook her head, “ No.” She then released them.

  Edmund and George barely had time to scream before they hit the water, causing a very raucous and large splash, Dawn’s hand was splattered with water. She wasted no time in checking on their well being, she had made sure that they wouldn’t break any bones or tear any muscles from the fall, hence the relatively low height.

“ Where the bloody hell is a teacher when you need one!” Edmund blasted as he waded out of the waist deep water and back on to dry land, his wavy locks hair now pressed against his head by the water.

 The teachers weren’t far away, most of them had watched the scene and some might have intervened on his behalf if not for his boast the previous day over how he had driven Dawn away.

****

 From his window, Principal Baldrick had seen everything and he picked up his phone, a small transparent rectangle. The screen lit up and he pressed a few numbers on the touchscreen interface.

“ Hello? Mrs. Meeks? You might want to go check on a couple of your students, they’re in the fountain. Yes, I’m aware Miss Martel did it, we all saw. No, don’t go after her, just make sure Edmund Black and George Hansen are okay. Alright? Thank you.” He ended the call and swivelled his chair back to observe the courtyard activities.

 ****

 Dawn sauntered up to Graham, feeling pleased with what she had done.

“ I hope they didn’t hurt you too badly,” Dawn enquired as she extended her hand and Graham climbed on. From his gait and his pace, he seemed to be no worse for wear.

“ I’m fine, just happy to see you back in school. You gave me quite the scare yesterday, I thought I was going to have get through this all by myself,” he smiled up at her, sincerity in each word.

 “ No you won’t. We’re friends and I couldn’t imagine letting you out there on your own. You need me to deal with Edmund and George and I can’t let them pummel you like they used to. I still remember the first time I met you,” Dawn recalled. She could still remember that day, Graham colliding with her foot as he tried to run from Edmund and George.

 Graham also remembered that day well, it was the day his school life finally climbed out of the pit it had stayed in since he moved to Adder High, the day when he met his closest friend and also a guardian angel, Dawn being the only person who cared enough about him to actually stand up for him and although it was seen as embarrassing for a boy to be defended by a girl, Dawn was no ordinary girl.

 “ Thanks for looking out  for me, you’re really the best friend I’ve ever had, no one else comes close.”  

 Dawn giggled, “ You’re welcome, it’s no hassle,”

 If she could only have one friend in her life, she’d pick Graham. Lucky was her pet but she’d choose him as her pet for life if the option was available. She had a feeling Graham would feel the same way too if posed with such a conundrum but for now it didn’t matter, their relationship worked and why tamper with something that isn’t broken?