“Well, Mr. Avery?”

Startled out of his nap, Nick Avery jerked his head up to find his 12th grade chemistry teacher, Mrs. Miller, peering down at him sternly over the top of her horn-rimmed glasses.  “Uhhh … H2O?” he guessed, thinking, ‘Please be right, please be right …’

Mrs. Miller scoffed.  “Oh, really?  So you’re saying that, for your term project, you would like your lab partner to be … water.  Nice.”  Addressing the class, she added, “Well, that may not be a bad choice; maybe if his lab partner splashes him in the face he could manage to stay awake!”  Half the class snickered at Nick’s expense.  He blushed slightly but played it cool, trying to protect his image.

Nick was a bad student, plain and simple.  He was moderately intelligent but had a reputation for being one of the laziest students of the entire senior class of Belmont High School.  That didn’t hurt his popularity, though – quite the contrary.  He was the tallest and probably the best player on his school’s state champion varsity basketball team, came from a fairly wealthy family, and possessed a muscular physique with fairly good looks to boot, automatically making him highly popular and well-known around school.  His status came with many perks, most notably his current relationship with Cindy, who was hands-down the hottest chick on campus.  Her slender, statuesque form with delicious curves reminded one of a runway model, and though he wouldn’t have minded adding a cup size or two to her C-sized chest, she was otherwise flawless in his eyes.  It was no surprise when Nick and Cindy were named King and Queen for the prom, which was coming up in 3 weeks.

Meanwhile, he had recently signed a letter of intent with the nearby Division I-AA college, and since he now had a full scholarship waiting for him he saw even less need to pay attention to his schoolwork.  Just a month and a half until graduation, then teachers like Mrs. Miller wouldn’t be able to nag him any longer.

But, for the moment, Mrs. Miller still had him in her clutches.  As punishment for his insolence, she sarcastically announced, “Since ‘H2O’ isn’t enrolled in this class, I’ll have to choose someone else for you.”  A hand shot up in the back.  “Oh, Michelle?” she said with surprise.  “Are you sure you want HIM in your group? … Well, alright then.  Nick, you’ll be working with Michelle.”

Nick groaned as he made eye contact with the petite blonde sitting in the opposite corner of the room.  Michelle Newman was not unattractive by any means, possessing a slender physique and a plain yet moderately cute face.  But Nick was WAY out of her league both in terms of appearance and social status – she always sat by herself at lunch and had apparently no interest in making friends.  She had a well-earned reputation as a know-it-all: always getting the highest grades in everything, and always preferring to work alone and avoid helping others in class who were struggling, which only enhanced her status as a snooty bitch and a recluse.

That was why Michelle’s offer came as such a surprise to Nick, his teacher, and everyone else in the room.  But Mrs. Miller saw in this a fitting retribution for Nick’s disrespectful attitude, so she ignored Nick’s pleas to switch partners.  And so, five minutes later, when the class had broken up into their groups, Nick grudgingly walked to a lab table and waited for Michelle to come over.

As she approached, he openly checked her body out.  She saw this and frowned with disgust, but Nick kept eyeing her over anyway.  He had a thing for tall girls with plenty of curves, and his current girlfriend Cindy certainly met those criteria, but the little girl walking up to him now didn’t exactly fit the bill, to say the least.  Her 5’4” frame looked puny next to his imposing 6’6”, and with her flat butt and what couldn’t have been more than an A-cup-sized chest, Nick found her wholly uninteresting.

As she walked up, not quite as tall as his shoulders, Nick said irritably, “I don’t know why the hell you picked me, but let’s just figure out our topic and get this over with.”

She replied emotionlessly, “I already know what our topic will be and I’ve already started working on it at home.”

“Huh?” he replied dumbly.  “Well … what’s the project, then?”

“Don’t worry about it,” she replied haughtily.  “Just don’t get in my way, and we’ll be fine.”

He shrugged his shoulders, not knowing why she had picked him but not really caring, as long as she remained willing to do all the work.  They didn’t bother making small talk, sitting idly until the bell rang 10 minutes later.

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

A week went by without Nick giving the slightest thought to his chemistry project.  Mrs. Miller had given them just over two weeks but didn’t give any class time to work on it, expecting her students to get together on their own.  That Thursday, though, Michelle caught up to Nick in the hallway after class and told him, “I need you to help me with something for our project tonight.”

Nick waved at a fellow jock walking by and then told her dismissively, “Sorry, babe, not tonight.  I’ve got a basketball game.”  He was lying, but how would she know the difference?

“Then help me right after school.”

“Naw, sorry, I’m busy then, too.  I’m sure you can handle it by yourself.”  She gave an annoyed grunt and stomped off, much to his liking.  It was uncouth to be seen with such a lowlife in these halls, and he was glad to be rid of her.

That night, however, as he was sitting in his living room playing PS3, he heard a knock on the front door.  “Mom, can you get that?” he shouted, but she apparently didn’t hear.  Another knock.  He sighed and paused his game to see who it was.  As he opened the door, he was greeted by a short, irritated blonde with one arm on her hip and the other holding a covered beaker with some light red liquid inside it.

“Jesus, what are you doing here, Michelle?” Nick demanded.  “And how the hell did you know where I live, anyway?”

“Oh, I have my ways,” she spat.  “But it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out you were lying about having a game tonight.  Ever heard of the internet?”

Angry at her intrusion, Nick replied, “Whatever, I don’t have to explain myself to you.  Now get lost.”  He started to close the door but a petite foot stepped forward to block it.

“Not so fast, Nick.  If you don’t help me, I’ll inform Mrs. Miller that I’ve decided to work alone on this project.”

Nick got the hint.  With an exasperated sigh, he told her, “Fine!  Have it your way, geez.  Now what’s so freakin’ important that you needed to come all the way out here to pester me about?”

He pulled the door open again as she uncovered the beaker and held it out.  “Just drink this.”

“What the hell is that?”

“It’s for our project, idiot.  I would try to explain it to you, but you wouldn’t understand.”  Nick fumed silently and was hesitant to take this unknown substance.

“What, is the big tough basketball player too scared to try it?  It’s nothing bad for you.  Here, I’ll drink some to show you.”  She took a swig from the beaker, consuming about half of its contents.

Nick sighed but took the beaker and downed the rest of the red liquid, surprised to find that it didn’t taste half bad.  “OK, thanks,” Michelle said casually, taking the beaker and turning towards the driveway.

“What, was that it??” he called after her.

“Yep,” was all she replied.

‘What a freakin weirdo,’ he thought, slightly unsettled by this odd turn of events.  But he quickly shrugged it off and went back to his PS3.

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

Friday

The next day, Nick felt a bit … off.  He wasn’t sick or anything, but every now and then something would strike him as unusual, like how his clothes didn’t feel quite right on him and his pencil seemed ever-so-slightly larger in his grasp.  He figured it was nothing, just lack of sleep or something.

He got that same feeling when his lab partner approached him again after class.  “Oh, it’s you,” he told her flatly.

There was an awkward silence when she didn’t reply, instead seeming to look him over in a somewhat unsettling way.  As he watched her mildly bizarre behavior, he seemed to recollect that the top of her head was usually no higher than his shoulder, but now he could swear her head rose an inch or two above it.  ‘Calm down, Nick,’ he told himself.  ‘She’s obviously just wearing heels.’

But he didn’t have time to check her feet as Michelle spoke up just at that moment.  “So, are you free to help me out again after school?  And don’t try to tell me you have another game; I already checked your team’s schedule.”

‘What a bitch,’ he thought.  “Seriously?  It’s Friday, and I have a life, so I’ll be out partying all night.”  He added snidely, “I don’t suppose you’ll be at Mitch’s kegger tonight?”  He knew full well that no one had invited her.

Michelle squinted disdainfully at him and replied, “What time do those parties start?  Around 10 o’clock?  So I’m sure you’ll be free before then.  I’ll come by around eight.”

“What?  Screw that!  You can’t just show up at MY house whenever you feel like it.”

“Don’t be such a baby.  It’ll only take a second, like last time.”

“I said no.”

“Hrmph,” she snorted.  They were still standing outside Mrs. Miller’s door, so Michelle reached for the handle and started to call out their teacher’s name.

Nick hastily pulled her arm away from the door and told her, “OK, fine.  Come by after school gets out.”

“Can you give me a ride?”

Nick frowned and said, “I thought you had a car,” remembering the car she used to get to his house the night before.

“That was my parents’ car; they let me borrow it last night.”

Nick sighed and told her, “Sure, whatever.  Just meet me in the parking lot after school.  But don’t make me wait.”  As she walked away, Nick looked down and noticed she was wearing flats, not heels.

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

Michelle met him by his Cadillac Escalade, the car his parents got him for his 18th birthday.  He loved the head room it provided for his 6’6” frame, as well as the jealousy it inspired in everyone else in the parking lot.

They didn’t speak on the ride over to Michelle’s house, heading there because that’s where Michelle kept her lab stuff.  But Nick didn’t realize just how intense her little project had become.  In the basement of her parents’ house were three tables full of beakers, flasks, test tubes, and powders and liquids of various colors.

“Good lord, what is all this stuff?  … Wait, on second thought, I probably don’t even want to know.”  Whatever it was, it would surely just fly right over my head anyway.

Michelle spent a few seconds combining two flasks and stirring their contents before handing him another red liquid, the same hue as before except noticeably darker this time.  “Just a minute,” Nick said, holding the flask at arms’ length.  “What’s this supposed to do, anyway?  I didn’t feel anything last time.”

“You didn’t feel anything?  No dizziness, nausea, anything like that?” she asked with sudden interest.

“No.  Why?” Nick replied cautiously, feeling ill at ease.

“Oh, nothing.  That’s good; it means there are apparently no side effects.”

“Apparently?  Look, I don’t like putting chemicals into my body without knowing what they are.”

“Just relax, Nick.  Everything I put in there is just household stuff, and the worst that could happen is, well, having no effects at all, and then we would just have to try something else.”

“I don’t know …”

“Well, if you really must know, it’s designed to, how do I put it … enhance some desirable physical characteristics while diminishing some unwanted ones.”

“Huh?  Like what?”

“Well, you must enjoy being such a big, muscular guy”, she said, winking suggestively.  He nodded.  She replied, “Uh-huh.  Well, that’s basically what this solution is designed to affect.”

Nick thought about this briefly.  He really did love being as tall and strong as he was, and he knew that the ladies loved it too.  As he watched Michelle drink about half of the liquid before handing the flask to Nick, his doubts were assuaged.  ‘Couldn’t hurt,’ he figured as he took the flask and downed the rest of the red substance, noticing a strong, slightly bitter taste, reminiscent of a dark beer.  ‘Hmm, not bad,’ he thought as he took the last gulp.  “Is that it?” he asked.

“Yep, that’s all – Oh wait, one last thing real quick.”  She picked up a camera that she had set on the nearby table, turned it on, and positioned it to face the wall.  “Stand right here,” she said perkily as she tugged his arm until he was standing against the wall in front of the camera.  Nick looked behind him and noticed the measuring strip on the wall behind them – a sticker attached to the wall used to measure height.

“What the hell is all this about?” Nick asked.

“Well, duh, if there are gonna be changes, we should record and document them.  So we need before and after pictures.  This IS a science project, remember?”

Nick figured that made enough sense.  They both took off their shoes and stood against the wall until the countdown timer ran out and the camera flashed.  They walked over and examined the photo, and Nick noted with satisfaction how tall and buff he looked standing next to Michelle’s tiny body.

“We done now?” Nick asked impatiently.

“Yep, that’s all.  See you Monday.”

“Uh-huh,” he replied while heading out.  He then spent a relaxing Friday evening before partying the night away at Mitch’s.

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

Saturday

Nick awoke with a throbbing headache, the after-effects of last night’s party.  His girlfriend, Cindy, was still lying in bed next to him; Mitch had let them use his parents’ bedroom since they were out of town.  Nick admired his girlfriend’s naked backside and thought back to the hot drunken sex they had had to end the night.  He didn’t usually hang on to girlfriends for long, but he might have to make an exception for Cindy …

Nick quietly got out of bed and picked up his clothes which were strewn about the floor.  Oddly, as he pulled his boxers up around his waist, they were a couple inches too wide and hung down quite a bit lower than usual.  ‘What the hell…?’ he muttered.  ‘Um … maybe when I ripped them off in front of Cindy they got stretched out?’

He quickly discovered, though, that his pants were suffering from the same affliction, hanging just as loosely around his hips, and now the pant legs were also bunching up around his ankles.  His eyes grew wide in bewilderment.  He spun his head around and checked the tag in the back: they said 36-34, like they always had.  With trepidation, he picked up his shirt – while holding his pants up with the opposite hand – and pulled it over his body, finding that this, too, was unmistakably larger than normal, not quite clinging to his muscular chest as tightly as it should have.

His heart pounding in his chest, Nick walked over to the bathroom doorway and stood in the frame.  His head found significantly more clearance than normal.  Either this was an especially tall door, or … No.  Impossible.  He refused to entertain the idea that he had actually … shrunk!  But as he stood there with a growing sense of dread, it seemed to him like the only possible explanation, as absurd as it sounded.

In his agitated state, he hadn’t heard Cindy wake up and walk up behind him.  He jumped in surprise as she wrapped her arms around him languorously, saying, “Good mornin’, sexy.”  Nick couldn’t be sure, but Cindy’s arms seemed a bit larger than normal as they encircled his stomach, and he was pretty sure her breasts weren’t normally so high on his chest as she pressed into him from behind.

“Uhh … h-hi,” he stammered in response.  Though he couldn’t be sure, it almost seemed as if his voice was higher-pitched than normal.

“You won’t mind if I went in first, would you, stud?” she asked, referring to the bathroom.

“N-No, go ahead.”  He stepped aside as his girlfriend walked past him, and then his eyes went wide as he realized he couldn’t see over the top of her head anymore.  In terror, he glanced down to confirm that, no, she wasn’t wearing any shoes.  There were no two ways about it: his 5’11” girlfriend was now barely 2 inches shorter than him.

As she closed the bathroom door, Nick slumped down on the side of the bed and tried to come up with some plausible explanation for why he was only about 6’1”, but nothing came to him.  ‘People don’t just shrink like this!’ his mind screamed.  ‘What the fuck!’

He managed to calm down just enough to realize he had to get back to his house, away from all his friends downstairs, and especially away from Cindy.  He needed time to think, alone.  At least she had been too groggy to notice his change yet, but he couldn’t rely on that once she got out of the bathroom.  So he hurriedly grabbed his socks and shoes and started putting them on, calling out, “Hey, uh, Cindy, so … I just realized I have an appointment right now and I have to run.”

“What!?  I thought we were spending the morning together,” she replied through the bathroom door.

“Well … sorry,” he replied dumbly.

The door opened and Cindy stepped out.  “What the hell, Nick!  You always do this crap!”

“Sorry!” he said anxiously.  “We can hang out later, OK?”

She let out a frustrated sigh and told him, “Fine.  At least drive me home first.”  She sat next to him on the side of the bed and started putting on her 3-inch heels.

Nick tied his shoes in record time and stood up while Cindy was sitting to avoid any more height comparisons.  “I … uh, I really can’t, baby.  I’m sure Mitch will give you a ride.”  He walked hastily towards the door.

“What the fuck?  You’re really just gonna leave me here for some stupid appointment?” she yelled furiously.

He paused in the doorway to at least try to smooth things out for later.  “Cindy, babe, there’s nothing I–“  He gulped as his girlfriend stood up in her heels, and even from across the room he could tell she now stood as tall as him, if not slightly taller.

“At least let me send you off right,” she said in a persuasively sexy voice while strutting towards him.

‘Oh shit!’ he thought, desperate to avoid her getting any closer and finding herself looking down at her formerly big, sexy six and a half foot tall boyfriend.  “I … I’m … I have to go!” was all he could think to say as he darted around the corner and down the stairs amidst a slew of obscenities from Cindy.

As he darted downstairs he heard Mitch call out, “Hey, bro, what’s up?”

“Gotta go!” Nick replied hastily, not slowing down as he practically sprinted down the hall and out the door, having to hold his pants up to keep from tripping on them.

He drove recklessly, not knowing where he was going, his mind racing with thoughts of disbelief and horror.  After almost hitting a few cars in his distracted state, Nick decided to pull off onto a side street to give himself time to think.

‘How the fuck could this happen?” he thought, running over the events of the last few days in his head.  ‘Did I do anything out of the ordinary?  Was it something I ate?  Or drank ...”  Then the truth hit him like a ton of bricks.  ‘SHE did this!!!  Michelle’s god-damned concoction for the science project!’  He still didn’t know how in the hell it could have made him shrink, but he knew that that had to be the cause of this.

Boiling with rage, he headed straight for Michelle’s house to have a little chat with her.  When he got there, he parked his car in her driveway and noted that there were no other vehicles to be seen.  ‘That bitch had better be here,’ he fumed.  He hoped it was just her parents who were gone, leaving her all alone for him to deal with.

Ringing the doorbell, he recalled that her height was only about 5’4”, and despite his recent height loss he would still tower over her by a whole 9 inches, meaning he would have no trouble being forceful with her or even intimidating and threatening her if need be – whatever it took to get her to change him back to normal.

Soon after he rang the doorbell, he heard the shuffling of feet on the other side of the door, and when the peephole went dark he knew Michelle was there checking to see who it was.  “Nick!  I’ve been expecting you,” she called out through the door.  “Just a sec.”

He wondered why she could possibly be expecting him, since they had made no plans to meet that weekend.  Soon, though, he could hear the click-clack of heels as she re-approached the door.  ‘Did she just go put heels on … for me?’ he wondered, with a sinking feeling in his gut.

But nothing could have prepared him for what he saw when the door opened.  He knew it was impossible, yet there she stood: the petite girl from his chemistry class, who had stood lower than his shoulders just two days ago, was now every bit as tall as him in her heels, if not slightly taller.  His eyes bulged, his jaw drooped, and his muscles went slack.  ‘What the fuck …’ was his last thought before his knees gave out and he blacked out at Michelle’s feet.

He was rudely awakened a minute later by a splash of cold water on his face.  Coughing and sputtering, he wiped his face clean and beheld Michelle’s face hovering over him.  “You OK, big guy?” she asked casually.

“Wha … what happened?  I remember opening the door, and then …”  Nick suddenly remembered having to look up slightly to meet her gaze in the doorway.  “… Whoa, I must have been dizzy or something; I could have sworn you were … uh …”

“…Taller than you?” Michelle chimed in happily.  “That’s right!”

Nick now realized with dismay that it wasn’t just his imagination.  “Oh God, why is this happening to me!?” he cried aloud.  “I was barely 6 feet tall a half hour ago, and now I’ve shrunk again!  Jesus, you’re only 5’4”!”

Michelle simply laughed at his reaction.  “No, silly, you’re still about 6’1” if I’m not mistaken.”

“Huh?  How can that be; I’m barely taller than you now!  Unless …”

She nodded encouragingly.  “Go on…”

“You-you got taller!??”

Michelle’s face lit up.  “Bingo!  I grew five inches!”

His brow furrowed in thought.  “Wait a minute – I must have shrank about the same amount, 5 inches.”

“Uh-huh,” she replied cheerfully.  “See, you’re not really as dumb as you seem.”  Nick was too thrown off to heed her offhanded insult.  Instead, he allowed her to help him to his feet, bringing him literally face-to-face with his lab partner.  For the first time, he noticed that her clothes were clearly a size or two too small for her, her blouse stretched tightly around her torso and exposing some of her midriff.

Despite his embarrassment, Michelle circled around him, sizing him up with delight.  “This is so awesome!” she squealed girlishly.

“How could you say that!!?” Nick exclaimed.  “This is serious!”  She gave a smirk and a shrug in response, pissing him off even more.  “Jesus, Michelle, don’t you realize what effect this will have on my life!?  I can’t even go back to school like this!”

“Don’t be such a baby, Nick.  You were too tall for your own good anyway.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Michelle made a pouty face and replied, “Aww, is the big bad basketball player feeling insecure about being ‘only’ 6 feet tall?  Or about having to look up into his wittle lab partner’s eyes??”

By now Nick was seething with rage.  “You insolent bitch!!”  He slapped her hard across the face.

“What the fuck, Nick!!?” she screamed.

“Shut up!” Nick barked.  She rubbed her cheek in silence as he continued, “This is your fault!  I don’t know what in the hell your stupid potion was supposed to do, but obviously you fucked something up and it made me shrink!”

Michelle glared at him and said coldly, “You’re an asshole.”

She started stepping away from Nick, but he told her forcefully, “Not so fast.  You need to fix this, right now.”

“Screw you.”

He caught her wrist and spun her around.  Though she seemed much bigger to him than before, he was still 4 inches taller (without her heels on, that is) and easily outweighed her, especially in terms of muscle mass.  She tried to wrench her arm free, but Nick held it firmly.  “Bitch, you are going to undo what you did to me, or else.”

“Or else what?” she spat.

His eyes went wide in fury.  “That’s it.  I’m gonna teach you a lesson.”  He grabbed her shoulder with his other hand and slammed her back against the nearest wall.  “So you like being taller, eh?  How’s this?” he sneered, lifting her off her feet so that her head was above his.”

“Stop it!” she screamed.  Nick let her down but, instead of relenting, pulled her into the adjacent living room and threw her body down on the carpet.  As he lunged on top of her she flailed her fists against his chest, but to no effect.  He grabbed her throat and squeezed just enough to shut her up, using his other hand to strike her face again.  He lowered his face to hers, his hot, musky breath filling her nostrils as she writhed helplessly under him.  Her free hand was powerless to stop him as he ripped open the buttons of her blouse, exposing her stomach and bra-covered chest.  He brusquely copped a feel of her small tits and then snaked his hand down and squeezed her crotch dominantly through her shorts as Michelle continued to thrash about helplessly.

“I could take you right here on the floor if I wanted,” Nick snarled.  “But … you’re not even worth it.”  He released her throat and stood up, glaring down at her loathingly.  As Michelle began to sob, Nick commanded, “I don’t care what it takes, but you had better make me a god-damned cure before school on Monday, or I’ll come back and finish what I started.”  He stormed out of her house as she curled up into a ball on the floor and cried.

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

Sunday: 6’3” – 5’7”

Nick pulled into Michelle’s driveway again at 3:00 the next afternoon.  She had called and quietly told him that she had finished concocting a new solution which would revert his height back to normal, and he headed right over.  Though his parents were home that weekend, he had mostly stayed in his room and managed to avoid standing near them to avoid arousing any suspicions, so now once he drank Michelle’s new potion this little episode would be over and no one would ever know about it.  Except for Michelle, of course.  Although, after what he did to her the day before, he was confident that she wouldn’t be giving him any problems from then on.

Michelle let him into her house without a word, and he noticed with satisfaction that she had kept her heels off this time, so that he was now standing a respectable 4 inches taller than her.  She led him into her basement and stirred up the contents of a medium-sized flask before handing it to him.

He was comforted by the fact that the liquid was a dark purple instead of red like before; he figured at least she wasn’t just giving him the same stuff and pretending it was different.  But he was still skeptical that she had actually found a cure so quickly.  “Are you sure this will work?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“How do you know?” he replied dubiously.  “What if there are more unintended side effects?”

She replied haughtily, “I know exactly what my solutions do.”

“Yeah, like last time?” he scoffed.

She snorted and replied, “Well, if you’d like, I’d be happy to explain the details of how I used a modified beta-3 polymerase to create a synergistic coupling with–“

“OK, OK, spare me the details.  This had better work, though,” he warned.  She crossed her arms and nodded self-assuredly.  “Well, here goes nothing,” Nick said before tilting the flask back and imbibing all of its bitter contents in one swig.  The purple liquid tasted similar to what he drank on Friday, though a bit stronger.

He burped and set the empty flask on the lab table.  “How long until it takes effect?” he asked.

“Since it took all night to work last time, I decided to accelerate the process with a catalyst.  Shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes to complete the transition this time.”

“Wow, that’s … great, thanks,” he replied, feeling just a twinge of sincere gratitude.  “Hey, um, Michelle, now that everything is about to go back to normal … well, no hard feelings, right?  About yesterday and all.”  She shrugged dismissively, though Nick noted she didn’t explicitly agree to the truce.  Still feeling bad about, well, practically raping her the day before, he added, “I guess I might have taken things a bit too far.  It’s not like you intended for me to shrink or anything.”  She cocked her eyebrow and gave him an unsettling look – though she didn’t say it, Nick guessed that she was certainly not over the events of yesterday.  He suddenly felt uneasy as a thought popped into his head: ‘She wouldn’t … make me shrink again, on purpose –would she?’  He considered this for a moment but concluded, ‘No way; no one would consciously do that to another human being.  Besides, of course the drink was different than before, otherwise why would it be purple this time?’

He felt reassured by this line of reasoning, but also began to feel awkward as Michelle still didn’t say anything, just regarding him coolly, her eyes darting down to the rest of his body every now and then.  It almost felt like she was … examining him.

Nick started to feel like he was slouching and made a conscious effort to stand up straight.  As he looked at her, his eyes level with her forehead, he couldn’t wait for them both to be back to their normal heights; he much preferred towering head and shoulders over her.  In this vein, he asked her, “So, you’re gonna, like, return to your old height too, right?”

She returned his gaze and answered impassively, “Whatever changes in height you experience, I will also experience, but in reverse.  That’s how the compound works.”

To avoid more awkward silence, Nick probed, “How does that happen, anyway?  You didn’t drink anything.”

With a supercilious tone like that of a rocket scientist trying to explain the intricacies of space travel to a 5-year-old, she replied, “It’s quite simple, really.  I drank a complementary precursor a couple days ago which allows for a reciprocal response in my body whenever a change occurs in yours.  I would explain the details, but you wouldn’t understand anyway.”

He scowled; though she was probably right, he didn’t like her attitude.  Meanwhile, though, he had to reach his hand down to keep his pants from slipping off.  That was another thing he wouldn’t miss about being shrunk.

“Hang on, I’ll be right back,” Michelle announced as she headed for the stairs to get out of the basement.  “Don’t touch anything,” she added as she ascended the steps and walked out of sight.

“Uh … sure, whatever,” he called out in reply.  He saw a couch off to the side of the room and sat down on it for the next few minutes before Michelle returned.  ‘Damn it,’ he thought to himself, ‘when will that potion kick in?’  His clothes seemed looser than ever, although when he brought his hand up to the opposite sleeve he found that his normally rock-hard biceps seemed softer than usual.  ‘No wonder my clothes have been feeling extra-baggy lately,’ he reasoned, ‘It’s not just that I’m shorter; I haven’t been to the gym in almost a week.’  He planned to head straight for the gym once his height was restored to return his muscles back to their normal size as well.

About two minutes had passed before he saw Michelle emerge at the top of the stairs, and – What the hell!?  She … She was looking FINE!  Nick almost did a double take as he watched her descend the steps toward him.  She had changed tops into a tight-fitting blue tank top that showed plenty of midriff as well as a healthy amount of cleavage – wait a minute, that can’t be right.  Michelle was always the most flat-chested girl in class, but somehow in this tank top her tits looked definitely in the upper B-cup range, her palm-sized orbs pressing nicely out against the soft fabric of her tank top, with just enough spilling out the top to give a pleasant show.  And he’d be damned if her hips didn’t look a bit curvier and her legs and arms more toned than they had in the past.  Though she wasn’t the hottest girl he had ever seen, the sudden change in her attractiveness amazed him, and he couldn’t help but stare at her assets which he somehow hadn’t fully appreciated until now.

She seemed to notice the attention he was paying to her body as she let a slight smirk cross her lips.  She told him, “Sorry about that; my other shirt was feeling a bit too constricting.”

“Uh … what?” he said distractedly.  Cough.  “Oh, um, no problem.”  She walked up and stood over him as he remained seated on the couch.  Feeling another awkward silence coming on, made even more awkward by the closeness of her now-attractive body, he said, “Uh … while I’m here, we should probably get some work done on the project.  So, um, what were you trying to accomplish with those solutions, anyway?”

Something about the way she was looking at him made him uneasy, as she peered down from her high vantage point and seemed to be watching him, studying his body for any sign of changes.  But she slyly cocked an eyebrow and answered slowly, “Well, I actually started this project several months ago, and finally this last week I figured out the final formula.  As a matter of fact, Nick, you’re the one who inspired this whole project.”

“Me??”

“That’s right, Nick.  You.  You were the tallest, most athletic, and most popular boy in school, with a personality to match, and because of that I knew you were the perfect candidate for this project.  That’s why I chose to work with you.”

“Huh?” he replied, bewildered.  “B-But why?  And besides, I only partnered with you because I decided to go along with it.”

“Oh, I could have convinced her to pair you up with me anyway, no problem.  I am the teacher’s pet, remember?”  He frowned in confusion, not liking any of this.  Michelle went on, “As I was saying, you were gifted with a tall, attractive body, from a family with plenty of money, and as a result you became popular but also incredibly arrogant, lazy, and stupid as a result.  All you had to do was act like a perfect asshole, and bimbos began to fawn all over you, everyone would beg you to make an appearance at their own parties, and you began to accumulate your ever-growing cohort of shallow acquaintances you call ‘friends.’”

Nick blinked as his mind tried to process this little bitch’s words.  No one had ever said any shit like this to him.  He was dumbstruck, more than anything.

Michelle wasn’t finished.  “I, on the other hand, wasn’t graced with the looks or the money required to join the popular clique.  So I had to work hard and earn every little piece of what I got.  Have you ever wondered what it’s like, Nick, to have kids spit in your face on a regular basis?  To hear an endless chorus of jeers and snickers whenever a ‘cool’ kid walks by?  To have never, ever been invited to a high school party?  To—“  She cut herself off to quell the bitter anger burning in her chest, her eyes squeezed shut and her fists clenched.

She eventually cooled down, and in a low, determined voice, said, “So, Nick, in light of this, I decided to conduct a little … social experiment, as well as a chemistry experiment.  My hypothesis is this: if our situation were reversed – if I were tall and beautiful, and you weren’t – I would become popular and you would become an outcast, shunned by those closest to you, your so-called ‘friends.’ ”

Nick was getting more and more confused –and more agitated – by the second.  “What the hell are you talking about?  There’s much more to being popular than just looks; people like me because of my personality.  And you,” he sneered, “YOU could never be popular, ‘cuz you think you’re so smart and everyone else is so dumb, and no one will EVER get along with you.”

She shrugged lightly and replied, “We’ll see.”

Nick was rapidly becoming hot with anger.  “What the hell do you mean, ‘We’ll see’!??  You’re never gonna find out, because I’m returning to my old muscular, sexy 6’6” self and you’re about to be the same little unpopular bitch you always were!”

A wide grin crossed her face as she laughed down at me, “Oh my god, I can’t believe how fucking STUPID you are!”  It was then that Nick looked down at her body again; being so engaged in this angering conversation, he hadn’t stopped to realize how not-small and not-like her old self she still looked; in fact, he could have sworn she was even curvier and busty even compared to a minute ago when she returned, and, what’s more, her clothes seemed to be getting stretched more and more by her body, and she was almost certainly showing more midriff now, as even her belly button was now exposed.

And then there came a loud ‘pop’ as the button of her shorts broke free and fell off to the side, relieving the tremendous pressure that had built up around her waist.  “I was wondering when that would come off,” Michelle announced happily.

Nick’s eyes went wide as he finally realized what was happening to her.  He stammered, “Y-You l-l-lied!!  You’re n-not sh-shrinking, you’re g-g-growing!!”

She laughed, replying smugly, “What gave it away?”

But then his jaw dropped open in horror as he figured out the implications.  “If you’re growing, that means I’m … I’m …”

“Go on …” Michelle encouraged.

“But the drink was purple this time!”

Michelle broke out in a brief fit of hysterical laughter, after which she replied, “Are you seriously that stupid!?  Ever heard of food coloring??”  She laughed again as she saw his shell-shocked expression.  “Here,” she continued after managing to calm herself down, “I think you should stand up now.”  She reached down and grabbed his wrists, and Nick dazedly let her help him to his feet.  All the breath went out of his lungs as he let out a loud gasp.  She was taller than him by a solid two inches.

Nick frantically looked down at her feet to see if he somehow missed her putting on heels, but alas, she was standing barefooted.  “No …” he breathed in disbelief.  Michelle had meanwhile been greatly enjoying his reaction, her face lit up in a huge, predatory smile.  Nick jerked his hands back, freeing them from her grasp, and started backpedaling away from her towards the far end of the basement.  She sauntered after him, keeping pace as he shuffled his feet backwards while his eyes remained locked on her in horror.  He bumped into the corner of the table behind him and lost his balance, his feet tripping over the much-too-long leggings of his pants, sending him sprawling backwards onto his ass on the hard concrete floor.  He panicked and tried to get up too quickly, not taking into account the looseness of his pants as they dropped down into a heap around his ankles during his struggles.  He finally managed to stand and stumble out of his pants, leaving them behind, and fortunately through all of that he was able to keep his boxers up even though they also threatened to fall off.

“What’s the matter?” Michelle taunted.  “Not feeling so cocky and confident anymore, are you?”

“Stay back!” Nick exclaimed as his back touched the far wall of the basement.  He was out of room.

She continued, “You see, Nick, all your coolness and macho arrogance has melted away, just like that.  You can’t even cope with a girl two inches taller than you without feeling intimidated.”

Backed into a corner, his instincts kicked in and gave him a second wind.  With a new burst of adrenaline and confidence, he sized his lab partner up and realized there was nothing to be afraid of; he surely outweighed her still, and besides, she was just a girl for God’s sake.  He clenched his teeth determinedly and took a step towards her, causing her to recoil momentarily in surprise.  “Shut up!” he yelled.  “I’m not afraid of you!!  You may be taller, but you’re still weak like a girl, and I’ve still got more than enough muscles to teach you a lesson!”  He charged.

Caught off guard, Michelle couldn’t quite avoid him as she was knocked off her feet, hitting the floor hard although managing to protect her head from the collision.  Nick then grabbed her wrists and forced them back behind her head, although she quickly bucked him off, causing him to roll off her momentarily before lunging at her again.  As they grappled with each other, Nick learned with dismay that it was an even match, with neither opponent able to maintain the upper hand for long.  He couldn’t understand it; even at his reduced size, he should have been able to easily overpower her thanks to the extensive conditioning and weightlifting he had undergone to maintain his strong, muscular physique.  But he felt as if he hadn’t been to the gym in months; his muscles were unable to give the same bursts of strength, and they were tiring much more quickly than they should have.  As the minutes wore on, though, he felt not only that his own muscles were growing smaller and weaker, but also Michelle’s body was growing yet larger, her hands now bigger than his, her arms able to wrap around him more and more easily over time, her weight beginning to crush him when she lay on top of him.  Slowly but surely Michelle gained the upper hand, and though she didn’t finish him off she continued to wrestle with a calm composure, almost as if she were holding back her true strength.

He was almost in panic mode when suddenly Michelle’s strength seemed to give out.  With renewed vigor, he flipped over on top of her and pinned her arms back against the concrete floor, releasing a victorious grunt as he straddled her subdued body and sneered down at her face.  “Who’s the tough one now?” he laughed despite his body having been pushed to the brink of exhaustion.  “You know what, Michelle?  I think it’s time for me to finish what I started yesterday.”  With that, he slid one hand down her body, pausing several seconds to give her bosom a hearty squeeze, marveling at how much more her boob filled his hand compared to the day before, and then continuing further south to undo the zipper on her shorts.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Michelle warned calmly.

“Shut up, bitch!” Nick yelled, momentarily bringing his hand up to slap her squarely across the cheek, although she didn’t cry like yesterday; in fact, her expression only hardened as she returned his stare with steely resolve.  In response, he brought his other hand to her throat and clamped down.

Michelle quickly brought one hand over and pulled his hand away from her throat enough to say sharply, “Not the throat.”  Nick ignored her, pressing down even harder although seeming to meet more resistance as Michelle kept him from being able to choke her as much as he intended.  Unfazed, he kept his one hand on her throat as he brought his other back down and began peeling off her shorts.  “You’re making a mistake,” she warned in a sinister voice.  He responded with a sneer as his hand plunged down underneath her shorts to grab her pussy.

It all happened too fast for Nick to process it all: Michelle grabbing his arm and yanking it away from her crotch, then peeling his other arm off of her throat, then flipping his body over until she was sitting on top of him as she slowly but surely overpowered his arms and flattened them against the concrete floor beside his head.  He writhed desperately but was no match for Michelle’s strength, seeming to spring up out of nowhere.  Terrified, he looked up at Michelle’s body hovering over him, every dimension of her body now unmistakably larger than his own – the frail, petite girl he knew from chemistry class now looking huge, toned, athletic, while at the same time feminine, curvaceous, and very, VERY attractive.  But admiring her body was the last thing on his mind as he frantically struggled to free himself from her grasp.  But it was useless.

In a calm, confident voice, Michelle told him, “Oh, Nick, there’s one thing I forgot to mention about the solution I gave you.  Not only does it make you smaller and me bigger, but, after you took advantage of me yesterday, I decided to add another effect to ensure it would never happen again.  It was easy, really,” she went on, as if in a casual conversation, “all I had to do was add a few chemicals to alter the testosterone levels in your body, inhibiting your body’s ability to create and maintain muscle mass to make you a little … easier to handle.  As an added benefit, it created the opposite effect in my body, boosting my estrogen levels in such a way as to promote the sexual characteristics of my physical appearance.  I’m sure you’ve already noticed how certain parts of my body have … developed!”  As she said this she brought her chest down onto his to emphasize her now substantial bosom.

Nick’s face was red with his continued efforts to break free, but, while he probably would have been overmatched even if he were fresh, the fact that his muscles tired so easily now made his struggles … pathetic, really.  He soon stopped trying, prompting Michelle to tell him, “Aww, don’t give up yet, baby, I like it when you try to fight back.  Here, I know what will get you going again.  What say I continue where YOU left off.”  As he had done to her just moments ago, Michelle dragged her hand down his chest and began tugging down on his boxers.

“NO!!” Nick screamed, and, with a sudden burst of adrenaline, actually managed to break both hands free and yank her arm up off his own crotch.  Michelle grunted unhappily and quickly forced his arms back above his head, but as soon as she tried to bring one of her arms down again he used his free hand to, if not overpower her, at least get in her way enough to prevent what she was trying to do.

He actually thought he would be able to continue holding her off, until she raised herself up and roughly flipped him over so that his chest was pressed against the floor.  Planting her weight down on his back, she didn’t have much trouble yanking his shirt over his head, tossing it aside as she went for his boxers next.  Nick tried to throw her off of him, but it was clear that she was well over two inches taller than him now, and no doubt heavier as well.  He couldn’t dislodge her as she spun around on his back and pulled his boxers down past his ankles until they dangled on his left foot.   He kicked wildly but hit nothing but air, and before he knew it the entire weight of her large body lay down on top of him.

The concrete felt freezing cold against his naked skin but he couldn’t raise himself up an inch with her weight pressing down on his back.  His hair was yanked back, lifting his head painfully as Michelle’s mouth descended to his ear.  Her hot, moist breath accosted his inner ear as she whispered, “How does it feel to be small and helpless, completely at my mercy?  Doesn’t feel good, does it?”  Nick felt her free hand slide gently down along his skin and caress his upper thigh.  He tried to press his legs together as tightly as he could, but Michelle deftly swung her own legs down, using both of her feet to pry his legs apart.

He desperately begged, “Please, stop this, Michelle!  I’m sorry!  I never meant to—“

“Never meant to what!!?” she yelled painfully in his ear.  “I know EXACTLY what you would have done to me if I hadn’t stopped you, and now I’m going to return the favor.”  She reached around past his ass and grabbed his scrotum firmly, sending shockwaves of sensation coursing through his body.  He yelped in surprise and then screamed to be let go, but Michelle only yanked his head back even harder and snarled, “You’re my bitch, now,” before shoving his face into the cold floor as she continued to violate his privates.

Several agonizing minutes went by as she roughly handled his shaft and balls, and despite everything Nick couldn’t avoid sprouting an erection.  The floor below his eyes became soaked with his tears as he endured this dehumanization.

Though there was nothing stopping her, she spared him from orgasm.  Instead, as a grand finale, she ever-so-slowly dragged her finger up, away from his privates, past his thighs, and plunged it knuckle-deep into his anus.  If any neighbor happened to be walking by on the sidewalk, they surely would have heard Nick’s scream as she poked around inside him, sending him through what was by far the most humiliating experience of his entire life before finally withdrawing and rising to her feet.  He lay face down and motionless, sobbing against the cold concrete, as she walked over to the nearby sink and washed her hand.

After allowing him to wallow in misery for a couple minutes, she came over and lightly kicked his side, telling him, “Get up.”  After a few increasingly forceful kicks Nick summoned the strength and courage to raise himself onto his hands and knees.  He had regained enough of his wits to bend down and grab his boxers down by his feet.  Though Michelle gave an impatient sigh, she allowed him to slide his boxers on before standing in front of her.  He burst into another round of sobs as he discovered his eyes were only level with the top of her shoulders.  He lowered his head in frightened submission while holding his loose boxers up to keep them from falling down.

“There, there,” she soothed as she lifted his chin up with her hand until his gaze met hers.  “That little episode is over now, Nick.  I only did that to you because you did that to me – or at least, you would have if you weren’t so weak.  But there’s no reason we can’t put this behind us and get along from here on out.  After all, we’ll be working together VERY closely on our project over the next week, so it’s important that you learn to cooperate with me.”  He cringed as he looked up at her towering form, the memory of what she just did to him fresh in his mind.  “Oh, don’t be like that, Nicky,” she told him condescendingly.  “You’re a big, tough guy, right?  I’m sure you’ll get over it in no time.”  He sure as hell didn’t think so.

Seeing his dismayed expression, Michelle smiled and added sympathetically, “It’s really not so bad; you’ll see.  Once our experiment is done, I’ll return you to your old height, and everything will be back to normal.”

He regarded her distrustfully, remembering how she had said the same thing just a short while ago.  But he could detect no deception in her eyes; she seemed sincere.  As if sensing his doubts, she put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly and said, “I know, I know, you probably don’t believe me.  But really, Nick, after our project is done I’ll have no reason to keep you like this.”

“B-But what about you?  Won’t you shrink back to your old height too?”

She shrugged dismissively and replied, “Well, it might be fun to try this out for a week, but I would never let this be a permanent thing.  I’m not evil, you know!”  She gave an oddly wide smile.  “So,” she continued, “do you agree to cooperate for the next week, until we turn in our project?”

Looking up at her intimidating figure, he wondered if he really had any choice.  But he was comforted by her apparent sincerity, so he answered, “Well … OK, I guess.”  Her face lit up.  “But,” Nick added as an afterthought, “only if you promise I won’t have to shrink any more than I already have.”

Michelle considered for a moment then replied, “Sure, Nick.  I’m sure a change of 11 inches will be more than enough to get us an ‘A’, don’t you think?”  She laughed, and Nick cautiously joined in with a nervous laugh of his own.  To make it official, she added, “I promise I won’t shrink you anymore.”

He sighed in semi-relief.  “OK then, I’ll agree to cooperate.”  He still hated her guts, especially after she essentially raped him not 20 minutes ago, but she had said that was over now and she was acting much more reasonable since then.

“Excellent!” she exclaimed before confidently strolling over to the lab table and picking up her camera, the same one from the other day.  She set it up facing the wall like last time and stepped towards Nick.  “OK, time to record our new data point for the project!”  Nick slowly backed away, leery of seeing a visual confirmation of his diminished stature.  But Michelle told him, “Come on, Nicky, we just talked about this; you really should cooperate for our project.”  She said it sweetly enough, but Nick detected a sinister undertone to her voice which immediately melted his resistance and convinced him to stand next to her in front of the camera.  He was too afraid to turn his head back and look at the height markings on the wall.

“Stand up straight,” Michelle reminded just before the camera went off.  As she walked over and looked at the photo, her eyes lit up with glee.  “Holy shit, I look fantastic!!  Hey, Nicky, come over here and see.”  He shook his head nervously, fearing her wrath as he did so, but to his relief she simply said, “Suit yourself.   Hmm, but I think we should do one more, a fun one this time.”  She skipped back to the wall and roughly but playfully maneuvered his body in front of hers.  She pulled him into her and rested her chin on top of his head, having to stoop down slightly to do so.  Nick shuddered as he felt her now-substantial bust press into his upper shoulders, causing his face to contort in a jumble of emotions as the camera went off.

Michelle moved him aside and bounded back to the camera, giggling loudly when she saw the photo.  “Geez, Nicky, you’re so little now!  And you’re face looks priceless!!”  He blushed profusely but refused to see this picture as well.  The next thing Michelle did was open a notebook and create a quick data table, reading aloud for his benefit.  “Starting heights: 5’4” and, what was it, 6’6”?”  Nick nodded dejectedly.  “OK, so, trial number 1: 100 mL ingested, and I’m guessing that gave 5’5” and 6’5”.  And trial number 2: 400 mL ingested, resulting in, let’s say, 5’9” and 6’1”.  And now after trial 3: 600 mL ingested, yielding current heights of 6’3” and 5’7”.”  Nick grimaced as he found out just how much he had lost: 11 inches since Thursday.  He recalled that the average male height in the US was 5’10”.  ‘Jesus Christ,’ he thought with dismay.  ‘In 3 days I’ve gone from being the tallest guy in the whole senior class to being shorter than probably two-thirds of them.’  This was a tough pill for him to swallow.

Meanwhile, Michelle was having the time of her life checking out her new and, Nick had to admit, greatly improved body.  Walking over to a full-length mirror mounted on the far wall of the basement, she began posing and admiring herself as Nick sulked in a corner.  He was strongly considering making a run for it, but he noticed that she was stealing frequent glances at him to relish his reaction.  After what she had just done to him, Nick didn’t want to provoke her anger any further if he could possibly help it, so he just sulked in a corner and watched her.

His heart skipped a beat as he heard a sudden ripping noise.  As she had raised her arms in a pose, the clasp of her overmatched bra finally gave out and snapped open, causing her bosom to spill forward as the tension was released.  “Whoopsies!” she announced merrily.  “Looks like I need to go shopping!”  She chuckled as she began lifting up her shirt to removed the useless bra.  Despite Nick’s fear and hatred for her, he couldn’t help but watch in eager anticipation.

“Tsk, tsk,” Michelle scolded playfully.  “No peeking, Nicky.”  She gestured for him to turn around, and he complied as she slipped off her bra.  Were it not for the fear of getting caught, he certainly would have snuck a few glances, but as it was he diligently kept his eyes averted.

“OK,” she announced as she approached him, holding what was now a comically small bra in her hands.  But, as she walked up, he couldn’t help but react to the awesome sight of her braless chest standing up magnificently on its own, despite gravity.  She certainly noticed but didn’t acknowledge it, instead asking off-handedly, “You wanna go with me to the mall?  Looks like you could use some new clothes yourself.”  She gave a cute little wink and a smile.

He knew that 5’7” wasn’t anything to be embarrassed about under normal circumstances, but the odds of people from his school being at the mall on a Sunday were very high, and he couldn’t risk being seen like this.  And besides, in any case, he would look flat-out ridiculous wearing his current outfit in public.  N-no thanks,” Nick replied dejectedly.  Knowing he needed something, though, he added cautiously, “Um … could you pick something out for me?”

Michelle smiled knowingly and replied, “Sure, why not.  Here, let me get some rough measurements.”  She retrieved a tape measure and began sizing up his dimensions.  After the legs and waist, she told him, “Arms out, please.”

Nick almost panicked, realizing that this would force him to retract his hands from his boxers, leaving them free to slip off and expose himself before her.

“Ahahahaha!” Michelle laughed as she saw his reaction.  “Just kidding, little guy.  I’ll just eyeball it when I look at shirt sizes.”  She started heading upstairs but turned and said, “I guess I’ll drop you off at your house first, then.”

Until then, Nick hadn’t considered the implications of returning home and having his parents see him like this.  “I, uh … maybe I could stay here for a while?”  He figured it was his only option; though he still hated her, Michelle was the only one who knew about his situation and he wanted to keep it that way.

She seemed pleased with this idea.  “Sure, Nicky!  Heck, my parents are gone for several more days, so you could stay here as long as you want.”

“Uh … thanks,” he replied flatly, not thrilled with the idea but knowing he didn’t really have a choice.

“Cool,” she answered with a smile.  “You know, Nicky,” she added, walking back to him, “I’m really glad you’re starting to come around.  To be frank, you always used to be such an arrogant asshole, but I think you’re already changing into a nicer person, and I’m glad.  I feel like we have a real chance to become good friends in the next few days.”  As he mumbled a reply, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in for a brief but tight hug, nestling his chin just on the top line of her cleavage before pulling back.  “Oh,” she added, “You don’t mind if I drive your car, do you, Nicky?”

Still catching his breath from the hug, Nick replied, “Uh, sure,” handing her the keys.  As an afterthought, he said, “But please call me ‘Nick.’  My parents used to call me ‘Nicky’ when I was in elementary school and I hated it.”

She laughed and replied, “Sure, Nick, whatever you want,” as she took the keys and headed upstairs.  Once at the top, she called down, “I’ll be gone several hours.  Don’t touch any of my lab stuff down there, but otherwise make yourself at home.  There’s some leftovers in the fridge if you get hungry.”  She went out of sight and was soon out the door.

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

She was true to her word, not returning until around 5:30.  Nick had draped his oversized clothes onto his body again and spent his time sitting on the living room couch watching TV, but when he heard her come in and set some bags on the counter he walked over to see what she had gotten him.

Whoa.  He entered the kitchen and was greeted by an impressive display of feminine beauty.  Michelle had changed into a newly-bought outfit: a green blouse which revealed a tasteful amount of cleavage, along with a very short black skirt that showed plenty of her long, shapely legs.  She saw him in the doorway and cheerfully exclaimed, “Hey there!” as she pulled out some clothes from the shopping bags.

He slowly approached, his eyes transfixed on her impressive body.  Though he had already concluded that she wasn’t a perfect 10 by any means, more like a 7, still he was a bit overwhelmed by how fine she looked in her new attire, the effect only being magnified by her impressive size.  As he approached, though, he realized her shoulders were about even with the top of his head, and her cleavage stood just barely below his eye level; he had a brief panic attack, thinking he had shrunk again, but he quickly discovered she was simply wearing a brand new pair of 4-inch heels.

She turned her head towards him coquettishly, apparently noticing his reaction and enjoying it, though she didn’t acknowledge it verbally.  “So how was your afternoon, Nicky?”

Snapping out of his brief trance, he replied with a hint of annoyance, “Fine.  But my name is Nick.”

She gave a carefree laugh and said, “Oh yeah, that’s right.”  Nick didn’t press the issue when she continued, “So here’s what I got for you.  I tried to get the same style you usually wear.”  She pulled out several pairs of shirts, pants, socks, and boxers.  He was actually quite pleased with her selections, most of them matching his style fairly well.

“These are good, thank you,” he told her sincerely.  Trying with limited success to avoid gawking at her tits as he leaned forward, he picked out one of the outfits and headed for the bathroom, saying, “I’m gonna go change.”

“K, sounds good.”

A minute later, he emerged wearing his new clothes.  The shirt was just a bit baggy, but otherwise they fit pretty well, to both he and Michelle’s satisfaction.  Nick thanked her again, figuring it was in his best interest to be as nice as possible to her.  Michelle had also brought dinner, and the two of them ate while maintaining a reasonable level of small talk.

During such talk, Michelle mentioned, “Oh, so the ‘weirdest’ thing happened to me,” with just a hint of sarcasm.  “As I was leaving the mall, I ran into a group of guys from school.  Seniors, like you.  I’ve seen them in the halls at school plenty of times but none of them had ever spoken to me until today, when one of the guys stopped me and said he thought I looked familiar.  Haha, he’s in my English class but didn’t know it was me!  It was SO funny.  Anyway, I chatted with them for a while, and I actually got along with them REALLY well.”

Nick scoffed.  “You!?  No offense, but you don’t get along with anyone in school.”

She replied casually, “Well, apparently, now I do.”

He still didn’t really believe her.  Sure, her body had changed, but on the inside she was still the same stuck-up know-it-all, and he was confident that this would still deter anyone from befriending her.  He quipped, “Who was it, the math team?”

“No.”

“The Dungeons and Dragons club?”

“Nope.”

“Well, who was it?  Or are you just making it up?”

“It was Billy Wade and his friends.”

“What!?” Nick exclaimed.  “The quarterback of the football team??”  She nodded calmly.  “Bullshit.  You’re joking, right?”

She shook her head no.  “In fact, they invited me to a little get-together at his place tonight, and I’m going.  You can come, too, if you want.  You’re, like, the coolest guy in school, right?  So I’m sure they’d be more than happy if you showed up.”  Nick’s jaw dropped open.  Michelle’s voice sounded sweet and innocent, but Nick couldn’t help but think she was somehow mocking him.  He had hung out with Billy and his clique on a few occasions but didn’t really know him that well; Nick mostly hung out with some basketball teammates and a few others, and though the two groups didn’t comingle much they had a mutual respect and shared a status as the top of the social food chain.  So it was a tremendous shock to Nick that they had suddenly become interested in HER, a social pariah among the student body, one of the last people Nick would ever expect Billy Wade to approach.  This left him bewildered.  Was popularity really based so much on looks and attire?  Could it be that Michelle Newman, after simply becoming taller and more attractive, had instantly become eligible for the popular clique?

His face became red with embarrassment, knowing that he couldn’t just show up there and reveal that he had mysteriously lost 11 inches.  And not only could he not go, but SHE could and would go, participating in the elite social life of the school’s most popular, while he was stuck in her house avoiding the outside world.  Oh, how the tables had turned.

He tried to play it cool by saying, “Uh … I would but I don’t feel like going out tonight.  I guess I feel a little sick or something.”

The real reason why he didn’t want to go was completely obvious to both of them, but Michelle simply replied, “K, that’s cool.  You mind giving me a ride then?  I’m sure I’ll be drinking there.”

He didn’t want to but could think of no excuse to tell her, so he said, “Sure.”

“Thanks, Nicky.  It’ll take me a while to get ready, and then we’ll go.”

“OK,” he replied, silently fuming at her continual use of his childhood nickname.

When the time came, he got in the car with her gorgeous lab partner.  After adjusting the seat way forward so he could reach the pedals, he headed for Billy’s house, the location of which he still remembered from hanging out there a while ago.  To be honest, Nick was having trouble staying focused on his driving as the sweet aroma of Michelle’s perfume filled his nostrils and he stole frequent glances at her attractive body and pretty face, done up with a tasteful amount of makeup.

As he turned into Billy’s driveway, though, he saw a few acquaintances of his from school standing around out front.  Nick suddenly veered back toward the road, squealing the tires slightly, and pulled around the house until it was obscured by a few shrubs.  Michelle didn’t say anything, but he knew that she knew the reason for this.  Nick gave her his cell phone number and she told him she would call to be picked up, and once she had shut the door he promptly put his foot on the gas and got out of there.

It was not until midnight that she called, obviously drunk.  He picked her up, and on the way home she sloppily told him about the great time she had and the people –mostly guys – that she met.  It came out that this was her first time drinking, since she had never been invited to such a get-together before.  Needless to say, Nick was in a foul mood the rest of the drive, jealous that she was able to have such a good time while he was stuck at home.

She stumbled getting out of the car, and he offered to help her inside but immediately felt awkward next to her towering body.  As she wrapped her arm around his shoulder for support and moved forward, her breast brushed lightly against his cheek with every step, and the whole situation made him feel a combination of humiliation, intimidation, and … arousal.

But annoyance and anger would soon be added to this list as they walked to Michelle’s bedroom and she began blabbering, “It’s so freaking awesome to be a cool kid now.  Bet you wish you coulda gone.”

He looked up at her past her shoulder and retorted, “I’m the coolest god-damned kid in the whole school, and I may be shorter for now, but that doesn’t change anything.”

“Ha!  Wanna bet?”

He was getting hot.  Stopping in his tracks, he disengaged from her arm and turned his head up to her angrily, telling her, “Yeah, I do want to bet, ‘cuz you’re flat-out wrong.”  He knew in his mind that he had doubts, but he didn’t show it in his voice.

“Aww,” she mocked, “You’re just upset because I was invited tonight and you weren’t.”

He answered through clenched teeth, “Fuck you.  You only got invited because of your looks.  Once people start talking to you, they’ll realize what a bitch you are and you’ll be an outcast like always.”

She put a hand on her hip and gave him a sardonic smile, replying, “Well, that’s not what the three guys who asked me out tonight would say.”

“Bullshit,” he replied, unable to imagine why anyone would want to date her of their own free will.

She simply shrugged and gave a short, dismissive “Hmph.”

He couldn’t think of a good response, so he just sneered, “Whatever.  We’ll see what happens when you get to school tomorrow.”  With that, he spun around and stomped off to her living room as she snickered behind him.  She soon went to bed in her room, and he did likewise on the couch.

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

Monday: 6’3” – 5’7”

Michelle bustled about the kitchen early in the morning, waking Nick up.  He continued laying sleepily on the couch as she ate breakfast, and afterwards she came into the living room, dressed in another fashionable outfit, and told him, “Come on; we’re gonna be late for school.”

“I’m not going.”

“What, you’re just gonna skip school?  No wonder you get such awful grades.”

“Screw you,” he retorted, in no mood to argue.  But his tone suddenly sweetened as he asked her a favor: “Can I just stay here today?”

She peered down at him disapprovingly but agreed, “Fine, suit yourself.  But only if I can take your car.” 

He nodded grudgingly, not really wanting her to take his precious Escalade but knowing it was a good trade for him.  But another thought came to him: “Hey, maybe you should stay home too.  It’s gonna draw a lot of attention, you suddenly growing 11 inches taller over the weekend.”

She replied nonchalantly, “I’ll just say I hit some big growth spurt or whatever.  Sure, people will be surprised, but why wouldn’t they believe me?  It’s not like I, you know, SHRUNK eleven inches.  That would draw some attention …”

His mood soured even more by this reference to his diminished height, but he didn’t let it bother him too much as she took his keys and headed out, leaving him behind to spend another boring day in front of the TV.

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

Wednesday: 6’3” – 5’7”

Monday and Tuesday went by completely uneventfully for Nick.  He didn’t leave Michelle’s house, and the only contact with the outside world was when his mother called, 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.

At Michelle’s house, even when she was home in the evenings they hardly spoke, with Michelle spending most of her time in the basement, presumably working on her formula and writing up the report.  Nick offered 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 resumed watching TV to pass the time.

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

“Yeah, well, I don’t care what that old hag thinks,” Nick snorted, 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 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.  Come on, we need to leave in 10 minutes.”

She crossed her arms and stared down at him impatiently until he gave in and said, “Fine!  Geez.”  He got ready quickly, and soon they were on the road.

But as he pulled into his parking spot, a sense of dread took over him.  “Umm … I think I’ll just drop you off and come back later for chemistry class,” he announced timidly.

“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.”  Then she leaned her face down close to his and lowered her hand to his upper thigh, telling him in a low voice, “You agreed to cooperate, remember?  I don’t want to have to remind you again.”  Her hand gave his thigh a light squeeze as a reminder of what she could do to him.

He gulped loudly and stammered, “O-Ok-kay.”

“Cool,” she replied, her tone suddenly becoming light and casual.  “Wanna head in separately?  You probably don’t want your friends to see you walking with me.”

“Sure, whatever.”  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.  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 reached out and pulled the door open then summoned all his courage and stepped forward amidst the sea of students getting ready to head to class.

He hadn’t taken two steps when he began to hear gasps and whispered exclamations all around.  Those who saw him first nudged their friends and pointed his way, and very soon a tense silence filled the air around him.  His eyes darted side to side and found 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 had to look down to meet their gazes, being the tallest guy in the whole school.  But now he had to look up to most of the guys, and many of the girls too.  He had always felt above everyone in a crowd before, somehow superior to them as he was able to look out over the sea of heads in all directions, so now that he was just 5’7” he felt an overpowering feeling of powerlessness and mediocrity, floating helplessly amidst the high waves of a choppy sea.  And this feeling was only amplified by the oppressive silence and open stares of everyone around him.  He stumbled and felt about to pass out but regained his balance and walked briskly forward, avoiding all eye contact by keeping his gaze down at the floor in front of him.

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

Standing straight, he looked up to see who 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 looks huge,’ Nick thought to himself.  Kyle was ‘only’ 6’2” and though he was pretty ripped Nick had been both bigger and stronger than him and so was never at all intimidated by his size … until now.

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

“Hey, Kyle.  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, “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 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 normally went to his locker before school, mostly to flirt with his girlfriend Cindy, but he now feared having anyone else see him, especially her, so he instead made a beeline for his first-period classroom, ignoring the lingering stares of the small crowd that had formed around him, though everyone stayed away at a reasonable distance as if they feared to catch whatever disease he had.

His day was a living hell, a nonstop barrage of questioning and prying eyes.  His first-period teacher, not sure what else to do, sent him to the school nurse, who of course was just as bewildered as everyone else.  To make things easier for himself, he told the nurse that he had already seen a doctor who was doing everything he could, which was of course not true, but he didn’t need one since he already knew the cause and the cure.  The nurse brought him to the front office where the administrators held an emergency meeting to interrogate him and decide what to do.  Nick was able to convince them that it wasn’t a communicable disease, meaning no one else was endangered, and since word of his change had undoubtedly already spread like a wildfire through the whole school anyway, they decided to make an announcement over the intercom explaining Nick’s situation and imploring everyone to treat him like normal.  They also asked everyone to keep his situation under wraps to avoid drawing unwanted attention to the school and to Nick.  While this announcement by no means stopped people from gawking at him, it at least obviated most of the endless questioning directed at him, and his classes proceeded with an uneasy air of normalcy.

He didn’t see Cindy at all in the hallways, or any of his best friends for that matter, something that he found most peculiar.  Lunchtime rolled around, and despite his apprehension Nick decided to man up and join his friends like always.  After getting his food, he walked up to his usual table and found Kyle already sitting 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 own trays of food in awkward silence.

After a minute or so, Nick chimed in, “So, where is everybody?”  Normally most of his friends would have sat down by that time.

“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, stop suddenly as they were approaching.  Tracy whispered something into Hillary’s ear and gestured in his direction, and they covered their mouths in embarrassed astonishment when they saw Nick sitting there, while Nick pretended not to see them.  He heard someone call out “Tracy!” in a loud whisper, and the two of them changed their bearing and headed towards 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, but to Nick’s horror he watched as Kyle quickly stood up and mumbled, “I have to … uh … get something from my locker before class,” before hurriedly walking away.  Again, Nick pretended not to notice as he watched Kyle take a circuitous path around the cafeteria, eventually sitting clandestinely at what seemed to be the same table where Tracy and Hillary 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 in my time of need.’  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 11 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 had migrated to the same table, away from him.  He stormed forward, ignoring the relentless stares of those nearby, and stepped up to their table.

“Hey, buddies,” Nick said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice, “Looking for me?”  Turning to Kyle, he added, “Did you get what you needed from your locker?”

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, you’ll see.  Just give me a chance.”  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 sadly but didn’t budge.  “Seriously, come on,” Nick pleaded.

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 made 8, just enough to fill the two booth seats at the table.  “What do you mean?  Everyone’s here.”

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

Surprised, Nick asked, “Who?”

“Well, she’s … Oh, here she is right now.”

Nick froze as he heard a familiar voice call out above him, “Hey, guys, did you save me a seat?”  He couldn’t bring himself to turn around and look at the girl behind him, but he already knew who it was.

“Hey, Michelle!” Nick’s friends called out cheerfully.  “There’s a spot here for you,” Kyle told her as Hillary promptly made room for her on the seat.  A large hand was placed on Nick’s shoulder as Michelle stepped around him to sit down.  Ignoring me, she told them, “Oh my gosh, you guys won’t believe what happened to me in second period.”

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

Before Michelle could begin, though, Nick yelled, “What the hell is this!?  What do you think you’re doing, Michelle!?”

The 8 of them went silent and turned their annoyed gazes to him.  Nick looked at Michelle and added petulantly, “That’s MY seat, Michelle.  You can’t sit there.”

Michelle stared back at him blankly, but Kyle 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.”

Normally, with all of them on his side, such a display of force would have commanded respect, even admiration of his confidence and machismo.  But from the sour expressions on their faces, Nick realized he had turned his friends even more against him.  “You know him, Michelle?” asked Tracy.

Michelle played it off like 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.

Hillary added, “Yeah, GROW up.”  The laughter reached a fever pitch, and suddenly they all seemed more relaxed as 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.

Nick stood there in humiliation as their laughter eventually died down and they listened intently to Michelle as she told her story, all of them completely ignoring Nick as if he didn’t exist.  His eyes welling up in tears, Nick stumbled backwards and stomped away in defeat.  Knowing there must have been many eyes on him, he did his best to regain his composure as he searched for an empty table.

All the tables had at least one or two people sitting at them.  He chose the nearest one with just one person and asked him if he could sit there.

“Go away,” the nerd replied meanly.

“Come on, dude, just let me sit.”

“Screw you!  I remember you; you always used to shove me for the fun of it when I passed you in the hallway.”  Nick couldn’t quite remember him, but then again, he had shoved a hell of a lot of nerds over the years.

Nick wasn’t one to let others tell him what to do (excluding his embarrassing defeat a moment ago), so he made a move to sit down anyway.  The nerd quickly stood and shoved him back with far more force than Nick had anticipated.  As he staggered back several paces, Nick realized that this nerd was now a good six inches taller than him and apparently quite a bit stronger, too, especially after Michelle had drained Nick of most of his muscles.

Nick had been in many physical confrontations, mostly involving him bullying others, but he had never had to back down from anybody.  Until now, that is.  He backed off and managed to escape, but not before the nerd took his fries and drink as a toll.

He sulked away from the terrifying ‘bully’ and searched for another table.  But all the ‘cool’ kids were sitting 8 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 and had mocked them whenever possible, winning him points with the ‘in’-crowd.  But now he was greatly regretting his past actions, as he literally couldn’t find anyone who would let him sit with them.

He wandered listlessly from table to table 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 even 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.  Nick figured she was probably avoiding him on purpose, but he remained hopeful that, once she was able to cope with the shock of seeing him 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.

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 just wait at Michelle’s convenience.

He decided to test his theory about Cindy by calling her.  It was the best way to get in touch, since he had no idea where she was and absolutely didn’t want to walk amongst the other students if he could avoid it.

He held his breath as it rang several times.  But finally it just went to voicemail.  He shook his head worriedly.  She ALWAYS answers her phone when he calls.  But Nick did his best to remain optimistic – maybe she was in the bathroom or something?  If so, he could expect her to call back 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.  “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 patiently from across the kitchen.  “I’m only going to tell you once: 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 the tables had turned.  But, surprisingly, this anger quickly gave way to 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 as a result, 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!”  When she didn’t stop, 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 realized what had just happened, but then Nick immediately hopped back to his feet and prepared to shove her again, though he quickly realized he would have been better off staying on the ground as Michelle effortlessly deflected his feeble shove and loomed head and shoulder 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, though he saw it coming and managed to stay on his feet.  But he had only just recovered by the time she laid another hard shove into his chest.  “You know why?” she added imperiously.  “Because I’m the coolest fucking kid in the whole school now, and you’re just a lowly runt, and“—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 remembered the terrible things she had done to him that weekend, and he cowered in fear as he realized how much trouble he was in now that he had gotten her mad again.  “Please don’t hurt me!!” he blurted suddenly.

A sly, victorious smirk formed on her lips as she put her hands on her hips and regarded him with condescension.  “Oh?” she inquired, “Why shouldn’t I?”

“Because I’m sorry!”

“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, but to his relief she stepped back and said, “You’re not even worth my time.  SO pathetic,” and strutted to her room.

It took Nick a good 15 minutes to regain his composure, taking a seat at the kitchen table to relieve his wobbly legs.  Then he got to thinking about his situation, and he realized that she was right – sure, she didn’t have to be such a bitch about it, but the cold, hard truth was that he had no hope of regaining his social status on his own; the only possible way was for her to help him.  Thinking that if he could just convince Michelle to let him back in to his group, then he could much more easily make it through the rest of the week, until she returned him to his normal height after the science project was over.  And then, he though with great satisfaction, he would be back on top and she would pay dearly for what she’s done.

He pulled himself together and went to Michelle’s door to plead for her help.  He knocked, but she simply told him to go away.  So, in an effort to win her good graces, he decided to make dinner.  To be honest, he was a lousy cook, and the best he could come up with was spaghetti and meatballs, sans meatballs.  But he hoped it would at least be a step in the right direction.

She came out just as dinner was ready and asked, “What’s that smell?  Are you cooking something?”  She walked into the kitchen, saw the pasta sitting on the stove, and frowned disapprovingly.

Not wanting to lose his window of opportunity, Nick chimed in, “I just wanted to make you dinner to show how sorry I am, Michelle,” sounding as nice as he possibly could.  “By the way,” he added casually, “I’d like to make you a deal: you’re welcome to hang out with my friends, as long as you don’t mind … um … helping convince them to let me back in the group too??”

“No.”

“Please!?  Just for the rest of the week??”

“No.”

He tried not to sound desperate, but with little success.  “I promise I won’t be such an … asshole anymore.  And I won’t try to take control of the group or anything.  Really, you’ll hardly notice I’m even there.”

She sighed loudly and repeated, “No,” starting to walk past him.

As she stepped beside him, though, Nick grabbed her forearm to stop her.  She withdrew her arm quickly, as if touched by a leper, but nonetheless Nick begged, “I’ll do anything you want, Michelle!  Just please let me hang out with the cool kids again.”

Her eyebrows raised as she looked down at him over her shoulder.  “Anything I want?”

“Yes,” he replied, nodding eagerly.

“Anything,” she repeated, and Nick nodded again.  “Hmm …”  She stroked her chin thoughtfully.  “I really shouldn’t be seen with you in public, unless …”

“What?” Nick asked expectantly.

She flashed a wide grin as a light bulb went off in her head.  “I’ll make YOU a deal, Nicky.  I will let you hang out with me and my new friends, but only if you … do things for me.”

Her tone sounded ominous to Nick.  “What things?” he asked hesitantly.

“Well, really the only POSSIBLE way that I would let a lowlife like you anywhere near me is if you, oh. let’s see, carried my books for me, opened doors for me, got my lunch for me, and whatever else I ask.  Just some simple little things like that to show that you know your place—beneath me.  If you can just do that for me, I’ll let you follow me around whenever you want.”

He gaped up at her in shock at what she wanted him to do.  His gut reaction was, ‘Hell No!’, but then he got to thinking whether this might actually be better for him; he hoped that other kids would at least see he was with Michelle and company and would keep a respectful distance.  But was it worth trading one humiliation for another?

He was just about to refuse Michelle’s offer when she leaned in closer and wrapped her hand around the back of his head, stroking his hair gently.  He managed to keep his eyes looking up at hers for the most part, though not without a few instinctive glances at her more-than-adequate bosom on display mere inches from his face.

In a soft voice, but not without a sinister undertone, Michelle told him, “Just so you know, Nicky, if you choose not to be nice and help me with things, I’ll have to be a bit … mean to you from time to time.  Being the most popular kid in school, I’ll be forced to put you through some pretty embarrassing moments.  And the more people who see it, the better …”  Nick gulped loudly as he squirmed under her intense stare, his legs beginning to shake uncontrollably.  Then, even more ominously, Michelle added, “Of course, I can only get away with so much at school.  But who knows what I might do to you, all alone in my house with no one to help you …”

“Okay!!!” Nick blurted out, fearing that he might not make it to next week otherwise.

Michelle withdrew her hand and took a step back.  “It’s a deal,” she announced with satisfaction.  “So, first order of business: get me some dinner.”

“Y-Yes, Michelle,” he stammered, rushing to the stove to serve her spaghetti.

But he stopped when she said, “I don’t want that.  Get me some Subway.  Footlong turkey, with everything.  Oh, except pickles.  And not too many tomatoes.”

“Uh .. OK.  Should I use your credit card, or …?”  Michelle snorted derisively and stared back at him.  Getting the hint, Nick replied, “Oh, OK, I’ll pay for this one,” trying to sound gracious.

“Whatever, just hurry back, OK?  I’m hungry.”

“Got it,” he replied, quickly grabbing his keys and heading out the door.

It was a rather long drive, especially with the heavy traffic, but he finally made it back and handed her the sub.  “Took you long enough,” she chided.  Nick didn’t risk defending himself.

After dinner she had more ‘good’ news for him.  “Soooo, Nicky, I was thinking … You know how I said I could get you into my group of friends?”

“Yeah,” he replied apprehensively.

“Well, here’s the thing: I’m new to the group, you know, and it’s kinda a lot to ask of them, since of course they absolutely loathe you now.”  Nick frowned, not liking where this was going.  Michelle sighed and continued, “I mean, I am pretty good looking and popular already, but it might not be enough.  But if I were a bit taller, and better looking, and therefore even more popular, well, then I just KNOW that I wouldn’t have any trouble at all changing their minds.”

Nick was a bit slow on the uptake, but he soon realized what she was suggesting and pleaded, “No, no, please, not that …”  He backed away from her.

Michelle stood up from the table and sauntered confidently towards him, saying, “Oh, come on, little fella, no one will notice if you’re a few inches shorter …”

“No!” he exclaimed.  “The deal’s off!  I don’t care if I can’t join your group; I will NOT let you shrink me again!!”  He tried to sound as authoritative as possible, but meanwhile his back reached the corner wall of the kitchen; he had nowhere to run.

“Tsk, tsk,” she admonished, wagging a finger at him.  “You agreed to do what I tell you, and there’s no backing out now.”  Nick made a frantic lunge to the side but Michelle caught him and restrained him.  She wasn’t too much stronger than him yet, but enough that he couldn’t break free.  “Come along, Nicky; let’s continue our lab experiment downstairs …”

She began hauling him towards the staircase but not without him making it difficult.  Finally she stopped and, realizing she might not be able to force him to drink downstairs, she bent down and whispered in his ear, “OK then, have it your way.  After I’m through with you tonight, I’m going to drag you into the middle of the school, pull down your pants, and spank you in front of everyone.”

Almost instantaneously, Nick’s body went limp as he submitted to her will, believing that she would carry out her threat and realizing the folly of resisting her any further.  He allowed himself to be herded downstairs and waited silently as Michelle prepared the solution.

She took a swig and handed him the flask, with about the same amount of liquid as before though of a slightly darker hue.  He hesitated, but one small, threatening movement from Michelle was enough to get him going.  He closed his eyes and drank the heavy concoction, then hung his head in shame.

“Cool,” Michelle said as she took the empty flask from his hand.  Then she waved at him dismissively and said, “I have to document this for our project, so just, like, stand in a corner or something so you don’t get in my way.”

Nick trudged sadly to the nearest wall and slumped against it.  Within minutes he was already feeling the signs of change: his belt was looser, his pants hung down to the floor, and he definitely felt somehow weaker and more impotent than before.

It wasn’t long before he noticed changes in her, too: BIG changes, not so much in her height as in her figure.  With each passing moment her already satisfying curves seemed that much more bodacious and sexy; her child-bearing hips flared out more and more, her cute little butt slowly grew to J-Lo proportions, and what used to be perky B-cups were now clearly C-cups, then D-cups, and finally blossoming into succulent DD-sized breasts.    Nick became completely enraptured as Michelle, in the span of 10 minutes, developed far beyond what most girls ever would over the span of many years.

His pulse quickened, and he felt that familiar stirring in his pants as he watched her every movement from across the room.  He nearly lost it when she undid several more buttons on her blouse, exposing a gut-wrenching display of cleavage spilling out of her undersized bra.  She remained focused on her work, seemingly oblivious to the effect her body was having on Nick.

After 15 minutes had passed, Michelle announced, “K, the changes should be finished now.  Get over here so I can record your height.”  ‘Jesus,’ he thought, ‘even her voice had become deeper and sexier.’

He stood up and walked forward, his knees trembling more and more as he approached her, able with each step to better appreciate her beauty as she filled his vision.  He involuntarily muttered, “Oh my God …” as he stood in front of her, now eye-level with her bountiful chest even though she had taken her heels off.  He couldn’t keep his eyes from wandering hungrily over her enormous features which simply oozed sexuality from every pore of her body, which seemed more fit for a goddess in heaven than a mortal woman.

“Hey, eyes up here,” she snapped.  He immediately raised his gaze to meet her stare.  “You don’t get to look at me like that, you little pig.  Got it?”  Nick nodded nervously.  She then led him to the wall and set up her camera for another photo.  It took all of his willpower to keep his eyes off her as she walked up next to him and faced the camera.

‘Click.’  Michelle strolled forward, and Nick followed along to check out the photo.  “Hot damn!  I look fucking incredible!!” she exclaimed.

Nick sheepishly told her, “Yeah, you do.”

“Shut up, Nicky,” she scolded as she wrote down their new heights in her lab notebook: ‘Michelle: 6’6”, Nicky: 5’4”.’  Nick’s eyes went wide as he realized she was as tall as he had been, and he was as tall as she.  The memory was still fresh in his mind: him looking down condescendingly on his petite little lab partner last week, her body seeming so tiny and insignificant next to his towering form.  And now, he realized, he looked every bit as tiny and insignificant to Michelle now as she had seemed to him.

“Well, I think I’ll head to the mall again; I’m gonna need clothes that fit.”

“OK, I’ll go too.”

“Pshh.  Yeah right.  Like I would myself be seen with a loser like you in public.  Just stay here and, I dunno, clean up the house or something.  Whatever.”  She turned to leave but stopped herself and laughed, “Oh yeah, I almost forgot: I’m gonna need your credit card.”

“What!?  Michelle, I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Don’t be like that, Nicky.  You know I of all people can’t show up to school tomorrow with clothes that don’t fit.  Besides, aren’t your parents, like, semi-rich or something?  I’m sure you can afford it.”

“Well, yeah I guess they are, but they don’t give me much allowance and my credit card is for emergency use only.”

“Well duh, this IS an emergency, stupid.  Come on, I don’t have all day.”  She snapped her fingers at him impatiently.  When he didn’t comply, she sighed and said, “Fine, the deal’s off.  Have fun getting picked on tomorrow.”

“No!  … OK, fine.”  He pulled out his credit card from his wallet but momentarily held it away from her as she reached for it.  “Just don’t spend too much, OK?  Seriously, Michelle, my parents get really pissed when I put a lot on the card.”  She reached again for it but Nick extended his hand back further.  “Promise?”

Michelle had had enough.  Grabbing his shoulder with one hand, she held his body still as she used her other arm to outreach him and snag the card with ease.  As she pulled it away from him, Nick quickly leapt up to get it back, but Michelle simply raised her arm just above her head and held it out of his reach.  He gathered his strength for one mighty lunge, but this time Michelle used her hand on his shoulder to easily hold him down.  He couldn’t even leave the ground as he flailed helplessly for the card, being held tauntingly by Michelle mere inches above his hands.

He felt exactly like a kindergartener who had his lollipop stolen by a third-grade bully, and it took considerable effort on his part to avoid crying like a kindergartener too.  He soon realized the futility of his struggles and gave up, though he did tell her, “OK, you can have it, but I’m begging you: no more than a hundred dollars, OK?  You don’t know my parents; they’ll freakin’ kill me!”

“Hmph.  Don’t see how that’s my problem.”  She let Nick go and put his credit card in her purse.

“But Michelle, I—“

“Will you quit whining already?  God, you’re annoying.”

“But—“

Her face turned menacing.  “Not another word!!” she said with such sudden force that he immediately went silent with fear.  “Keys,” she added coldly, and Nick fumbled in his pocket before his trembling hands gave her the keys to his Escalade.  Not another word was spoken as Michelle marched up the stairs, changed into a looser-fitting outfit, and headed out the door, leaving Nick shaken and distressed at the latest turn of events.  He could scarcely believe how easily she had overwhelmed his pathetic efforts to maintain any sense of control.

All he wanted to do now was plop down on the couch and watch TV until she got back, especially since she hadn’t really ordered him to clean, more like suggested.  But he was scared enough of her now that he didn’t want to risk it: he spent the next couple hours doing the dishes and tidying up basically the entire house, except her bedroom which he figured he was not allowed to enter.

She returned home several hours later with several bags of clothes in her hands.  As she walked by the couch she flicked his credit card onto his lap before heading to her room.

“Um, Michelle, how much did you spend?” he asked nervously.  It certainly looked like more than a hundred dollars’ worth in those bags.  But she simply ignored him and spent the rest of the night in her room.

As much fear and hatred as he held for her, he still found himself feeling quite disappointed that she hadn’t been sporting one of her sexy new outfits, instead wearing the loose T-shirt she had put on just before leaving.  He felt an irresistible attraction to her now, despite it all, and a part of him was actually looking forward to hanging out with her tomorrow in school, despite whatever demeaning tasks he would have to perform.

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

Thursday: 6’6” – 5’4”

He got out of bed quickly the next morning and was soon sitting at the dining room table eating breakfast, his eyes anxiously glancing down the empty hallway waiting for Michelle’s beautiful figure to emerge.

She finally came, and Nick thought it was well worth the wait because, Holy Shit, she looked INCREDIBLE.  Everything about her was a symbol of perfection, from her long, slender legs standing atop cute black high heels and covered in trendy black spandex leggings, to the sexy purple shirt enclosed by a thin belt about the waist and unbuttoned more than enough to reveal her ample cleavage, to her flowing blonde hair and the stunning facial features of a supermodel.  He took one look at her and knew that he just HAD to have her; he didn’t know if such a relationship was possible given the circumstances, but he could not but look upon Michelle and feel a desperate longing for her.

“G-Good m-morning, Michelle,” he stammered, blushing.  “Y-You look really nice.”

“I know,” she replied haughtily as she sat down across from Nick and grabbed the box of cereal.

After a brief silence, Nick tried to keep the ‘conversation’ going by saying, “So … nice day today, huh?”

Michelle frowned and replied, “You know what?  I don’t really want to hear you talk right now.”

“Oh … sorry,” he replied in a whisper, disappointed that his attempts at friendliness were being shot down.

Once she was done eating, Nick graciously took her bowl and cleaned up after her, although this didn’t elicit any praise from her.  Instead, she stood to her full height and stepped up to where he was standing in front of the sink.  Nick turned and beheld the sight before him, both exhilarating and frightening.  Now that she was in heels, his eyes were only level with the very underside of her impressive bust.  Her every dimension was now much greater than his own, magnifying her beauty beyond comprehension while at the same time making it painfully obvious that she could do whatever her twisted mind pleased to his puny self.

Nick gulped and gave his full attention to what she was about to say.  Biting her lower lip pensively, she told him in a casual voice, “So, Nicky, with my new status I really can’t be seen getting a ride to school from you.  So I’ll just take your car.  I’m sure you understand.”

“Oh … OK.  But, um, maybe I could just drop you off on a side street so no one sees?”  Seeing her frown, he hastily added, “Or even better, you could drop me off and then pull into school by yourself.”  Her expression told him she didn’t like the idea, so he begged, “Please, Michelle!?  How else would I be able to get there?  I swear I won’t tell anyone; no one will ever know we rode in together.”

His eyes pleaded with hers, but she returned a disinterested, superior glance and replied, “Nah.  I’ll just drive myself.  You can take the bus, which will get here in”—she looked at the clock—“Oh, whoops,” she laughed.  “Looks like you already missed it.  Oh well …”  With complete indifference, she gathered her things and made ready to drive to school by herself.

Nick stared blankly at her, his mind trying to cope with the ridiculousness of her decision.  He badly wanted to scream his thoughts aloud: that it was HIS car and HE should decide who gets to take it; that she was being a humungous bitch for not even putting up with the tiny inconvenience of dropping him off where no one would ever see, instead making his trip a whole hell of a lot more difficult as a result.  And, Lord knows, a week ago he would have thrown in a good deal of physical abuse along with the verbal.  But now, what could he do?

Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  Michelle held all the cards; arguing with her would only make things worse, persuading her not to let him back into his clique, something he desperately wanted in order to help him survive the next week at school.

He nodded his head sullenly in acquiescence.  Michelle smiled devilishly at this and finished getting her things together.  As she did so, Nick tried to think of a way to school.  Could a friend give him a ride?  That now seemed very doubtful based on his experience with his ‘friends’ the day before.  And of course he didn’t dare ask his parents or anyone else he knew since the shame of his new appearance would be too great.  There was no other way: he would have to walk the entire 3 miles to school.

…Or maybe he could just skip school?  Why not?  Between the long walk and the constant harassment he would face in school, the idea of staying home again seemed by far the most attractive option.

As if reading his mind, Michelle turned her head as she was leaving and told him, “And don’t even think about skipping school today.  My first class is History with Mr. Rodgers.  If you know what’s good for you, you’ll be waiting outside his door when the bell rings so you can carry my books.  A girl like me shouldn’t have to carry heavy stuff.  Got it?”  She gave an imperious glare and, without waiting for a response, opened the front door and headed for his car.

It was a long, arduous walk to school, made even more unpleasant by the unusually warm weather, as well as the backpack which weighed increasingly heavily on his small, weak frame.  As he slowly marched toward his destination, he cursed his lab partner again and again, fantasizing about how he would heroically confront her after class and strip her of her arrogance and undeserved popularity, winning back the respect of his friends and classmates.  He was all too aware, though, that the real confrontation would surely play out far differently.  He looked at his watch and realized he needed to pick up the pace to make it in time.

He finally reached the school, signed in late at the front desk, and waited nervously outside Ms. Rodgers’ door for Michelle to emerge.  When she did, his behavior would have been described as anything but heroic.

As she walked past him by the doorway, without saying a word she slipped her book bag off her shoulder and held it out for him to take.  He took it in his hands and was taken completely by surprise at its heaviness.  The bag plummeted to the floor and pulled his arms with it.  “What the hell …” he muttered under his breath as he gripped the strap with both hands and heaved it up onto his shoulder.  He felt inside the bulging bag and counted 5 or 6 heavy textbooks, which wouldn’t have caused his normally huge, muscular frame any problems, but after Michelle’s potions had made him smaller and atrophied his muscles, the bag felt like it was filled with solid ingots of lead.  His shoulders were already sore from lugging his own backpack three miles just now, but this new bag, twice as heavy as his own, was almost too much for him to bear.  At least he could carry them both the short distances between Michelle’s classes.

Meanwhile, Michelle didn’t so much as look back or slow down as she headed for her locker.  He scampered after her, having to lean his torso heavily to the opposite side of the book bag to counter its weight.  It was an awkward business, trotting to trot quickly while carrying such a heavy burden, but he managed to pull within a few feet behind her.  That is, until an unseen hand shoved him from the side and toppled him to the floor, spilling a few books and papers from Michelle’s bag.  “Hey!” Nick exclaimed as he skinned his knees on the hard cement floor.  His head swiveled around to see the looming form of the bully-nerd, the kid who had threatened him and stolen his fries when Nick tried to sit with him the day before.

“Watch where you’re going, dweeb,” he took great relish in saying.  Then the nerd hocked up a large wad of spit in his mouth and sent it flying down, splattering his chest and the strap of Michelle’s book bag.

“What the fuck!!?” Michelle whirled around and saw the contents of her bag spilled out on the ground and the strap speckled with spittle.  Enraged, she grabbed a fistful of the nerd’s shirt collar and pushed him back against the nearby lockers.  “Watch where YOU are going, you little twerp,” she sneered.  Though the kid, around 6’1” or so, had towered a good 9 inches over Nick, it was now his turn to feel small as Michelle had just as much of a height advantage over him in her heels.

“S-Sorry,” he choked in fear.  In one quick motion, Michelle grabbed his chin, tilted his face up toward hers, and spit viciously into his eyes.  She then cast the little nerd aside, and he stumbled away while wiping his face free of her saliva, his face beet red in embarrassment.

Michelle then picked her bag up, still lying next to Nick on the ground.  She looked with disgust at the wet, sticky spots on the strap and held it out at arms’ length for Nick to take (surprising Nick by showing little sign of exertion as she supported the heavy bag with one arm).  He quickly stood up and used two hands to take it from her, while she matter-of-factly told him, “Pick the rest of my stuff up off the floor, and get this crap cleaned off,” gesturing disgustedly at the spit stains.  “But follow me to my locker first.”

Nick hesitated as he looked around him and saw that a crowd had formed around them, eager to see the interaction between the two most talked about members of Belmont High.  Though he hated being bossed around like this in front of the whole school, he dared not get on Michelle’s bad side, so he quietly replied, “Sure, Michelle,” trying in vain to sound casual in front of the spectators.

While everyone’s attention was focused on them, Michelle took the opportunity to make an announcement: “No one had better lay a finger on my book bag today, got it!?”  A few voices replied with a low murmur of acknowledgement, and the crowd made way as the #1 most popular person in school strolled forward, followed by the former #1 who was now carrying her books like a pack mule.

They arrived at her locker, and Michelle told him to hold her bag open so she could exchange folders for her next class.  He was really starting to feel the burn in his arm and shoulder muscles – what little was left of them.  He couldn’t wait to hand the bag back to her and rest his muscles for a while.

Despite his fatigue, though, he had to admit that he very much enjoyed the view of her voluptuous body as she loomed in front of him.  He noticed that she had been avoiding all eye contact with him whenever possible, treating him less like a human being and more like a piece of equipment used for transporting her belongings.  He would have greatly preferred her attention – any man would – but as it was, he was free to check her out as much as he pleased since she was ignoring him anyway.  Suddenly, the strain and humiliation he faced from carrying her bag like a slave seemed more than worth it; just being this close to her was a reward in itself.

Just as Michelle finished swapping stuff from her locker, the bell rang, signifying the start of second period.  She gave a frustrated grunt at being late and looked down at him, putting her hands on her hips.  ‘Oh shit!’ he thought as he was caught staring big time, his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide with lust.  But, instead of being mad, she peered down haughtily, with perhaps the slightest hint of a smirk.  Maybe he was imagining things, but Nick got the sense that she not only didn’t mind that he was checking her out, but actually enjoyed his reaction, as if it pleased her to be worshipped like a goddess by the once-mighty Nick Avery.

After a brief pause, though, Michelle told him, “I still need that cleaned.  Bring it to me ASAP; I need it for class.”  She began walking away.

“Wait!” Nick called after her.  She didn’t slow down, so he had to awkwardly trot alongside her with his heavy burdens, saying, “But I have to go to class now!”

“Then you’re wasting time.  I’ll be in Mr. Henry’s class, and hurry up,” she replied dispassionately as she rounded the corner and left Nick standing there, unsure what to do.  ‘Does she really expect me to miss class for her stupid book bag?’ he asked himself.  ‘Well … yes, yes she does.  She really doesn’t give a crap about my schedule.’  With that realization, he quickly headed for the nearest bathroom and scrubbed away at the spit stains.

It took him several minutes, but he eventually got it to the point where the stains were hardly visible.  He then poked his head out into the empty hallway and looked about.  Fortunately her class was just a short ways down the hall, but … Uh-oh.  The dean was patrolling the halls for kids who weren’t where they were supposed to be – kids like him.

He had been on good terms with the dean, mostly since he was a big fan of the basketball team and Nick was the team’s star player.  Normally he wouldn’t have sweated this, but now, based on everyone else’s reaction to his changes, he could only assume the dean’s attitude toward him would have changed as well.

The dean walked slowly in Nick’s direction, looking side to side for anything out of the ordinary.  He drew closer, and Nick’s heart rate began to elevate.  He would be sure to check the bathroom for elopers, and then Nick would be screwed.  But he had nowhere to run as the dean stepped within ten feet of the bathroom door, then five feet, then three, then …

“Hey, Mack, you old son-of-a-bitch, get over here,” a voice called out jokingly from farther down the hall.

“What is it, you old coot,” the dean jibed back.  “Your dentures fall into the trash or something?”  The two of them laughed and exchanged more harmless banter, and to Nick’s relief the dean passed on the bathroom and headed down the hall and eventually out of sight.

With a sigh of relief, Nick scampered down the hall in the opposite direction and safely reached Mr. Henry’s classroom.  But he hadn’t considered what he would actually do when he got there.  ‘I can’t just barge in in the middle of class … can I?’ he thought.  But, looking down at his watch and seeing that 12 minutes had already gone by, he knew he had no choice, if he wanted to stay in Michelle’s good graces.  With a nervous sigh, he grabbed the handle, opened the door, and stepped inside.

“… so that’s why the Native Amer—Um, excuse me?  Can I help you?”  Mr. Henry stopped his lecture to look at the short intruder comically overburdened with two book bags.  “Wait … Nick Avery, is that you?  What are you doing here?”

“Uh, hi, Mr. Henry,” Nick said meekly.  He had Mr. Henry for fifth period, so he knew who Nick was, which made it all the more awkward.  Nick’s cheeks were burning red with embarrassment as every eye in the room was turned on him.  He told them, barely above a whisper, “I … uh … just need to drop this off.  S-Sorry, Mr. Henry.”  He immediately picked out Michelle from the crowd and shuffled toward her, head down.

“You can’t just interrupt my class like this!  What’s going on here?”  He was usually a very mellow teacher, and Nick wasn’t sure he had ever seen him so agitated before.  Nick just wanted to get this over with, so he kept going and arrived at Michelle’s desk, setting her bag gently next to her on the floor.

“Young man, answer me!”  Nick also couldn’t remember him ever scolding anyone like a child, as he was doing now.

Thankfully, Michelle spoke up for Nick.  “It’s OK, Henry,” she said in a cute, perky voice, straightening her back and leaning forward to afford her teacher the best view possible.  And he did a poor job of hiding the fact that he noticed.  Michelle continued cheerily, “Little Nicky here carries my bags around now.  And I’m SO sorry to interrupt your class.”  She leaned forward even farther and crossed her arms to prop her boobs up, just for added emphasis.  “He just”—she turned a cold eye to Nick –“took a LOT longer than he should have.”  Nick gulped loudly enough for the whole class to hear.

“Oh!  Um … I see,” Mr. Henry replied, thrown off by the odd circumstances, as well as by the obvious effect her display of cleavage was having on him.  “Well, in that case, Ms. … I mean, um, Michelle … thank you for explaining the situation and … uh … I’m sure you didn’t mean for this to happen, so I’ll let it slide.”  He gave a cheesy smile and she smiled back coquettishly, more than aware of her new power over him.

Mr. Henry’s foolish grin disappeared, however, as he turned to Nick.  In a completely different tone, he told him, “As for you, young man, I am very disappointed.  You should know better.”

Michelle chimed in helpfully, “He probably deserves detention or something.”

His face lit up in appreciation for her help.  “You know what, you’re right!  Thank you, Michelle.”  He pulled out a slip of paper from his desk and filled it out, saying, “OK, Mr. Avery, you’ve earned yourself some after-school detention today.”

“Detention!?  But … this is ridiculous!”  He had never been treated like this before, especially not by Mr. Henry, who, despite having a slight grudge about Nick’s poor effort as a student, was also a fan of the basketball team and as a result usually did nothing more than roll his eyes at him.

‘Aha!’ Nick thought as he realized a way out.  He told Mr. Henry, “I have basketball practice after school.”  Nick had forgotten about it until now, but surely it would cause Mr. Henry to change his mind.

Nick wasn’t expecting to hear many snickers around the room; apparently the thought of HIM still trying to play basketball was comical to them.  And apparently Mr. Henry thought so, too, since he couldn’t help a derisive smile cross his face as he snorted, “Oh yeah?”  He seemed to be contemplating making him miss practice for a moment, but then he sighed and told him, “Very well.”  Nick breathed his own sigh of relief.  But then Mr. Henry added, “You’ll have detention tomorrow morning, then.”

“What?  Oh, come on!”  This was SO unfair.

“That’s enough, unless you want another.  Now take this slip and present it tomorrow morning.  That’s one hour before first period, got it?”  Nick clenched his fists and fumed but wisely remained silent and snatched the paper.  “Now,” Mr. Henry continued, “I think you’ve wasted quite enough of our class time today.  And I’m sure your second period teacher won’t be pleased to see how late you are, either.”  He made a shooing motion with his hand.

Nick took one more glance around the classroom and his cheeks flushed with embarrassment to think that the other students had heard the entire exchange.  When his eyes fell on Michelle, she said perkily, “See ya later, Nicky!”  She was enjoying this far too much for his liking.  He grumbled a few choice words at Michelle and his teacher before shuffling out the door.

He immediately crumpled up the paper and was about to toss it into the trash when a gruff voice called out, “Hey, what are you doing in the hallway?”  It was the dean.  Walking up, he asked sternly, “What do you have there?”  Defeated, Nick held it out for the dean to look at.  “Hmm … I see.  Trying to throw it away, were we?  That’s not how a grown-up would behave.”

“I … uh … no I wasn’t.”

“Yeah, sure you weren’t.  Now I don’t know why the hell you aren’t in class right now, but you had better run there or I’m taking you to detention right now.”

‘Son of a bitch!’ he thought to himself, but, fearing the dean’s wrath, he immediately bolted down the hall towards his second period class.  Once he was there, he received even more berating from his teacher and would have received another detention if he hadn’t shown that he had already gotten one.  He slumped back in his chair the rest of the period and tried to ignore the frequent stares and snickers that he knew were directed at him.

Nick couldn’t believe it.  First his classmates, and now the teachers and administrators were picking on him!?  The dean was one of his biggest supporters, and now even he was treating him like a naughty eighth grader, for Christ’s sake!  Sure, he was about as tall as your typical eighth grade boy, but still … there must be more to it than that.  The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that it was because he used to be popular.  Surely a normal, nice kid would have received much more compassion and concern, but it seemed that everyone, even the adults, took great pleasure in seeing him fall so far, both in height and in popularity.  It definitely didn’t help that he was notorious for being a jerk to everyone, which used to be cool, but now caused the entire school to turn against him.

He had missed most of the class, so the bell rang shortly.  Despite his increasing resentment of Michelle, he figured he would keep playing along with their arrangement and hopefully soon reap the benefits.  He spotted her quickly: it was easy, since in her heels she towered at least a foot above most of the students.  To his surprise, however, she was still waiting outside her second period door.

He approached and saw her book bag sitting on the ground next to her, propped against the wall.  With arms folded across her chest, she leaned against the wall casually and nodded in reply to the many passersby who said hello.  Her eyes flitted down to him and briefly gave him a haughty glare before ignoring him and walking toward her locker.  Nick got the hint that he was supposed to carry her bag, and with effort he hoisted it onto his shoulder and bumbled after her.

When he caught up to her at her locker, he asked, short on breath, “Hey, Michelle, maybe you can put some of these books back in your locker?  The bag is kinda heavy.”  He needed both hands to help support its weight to keep the strap from pressing down too painfully on his shoulder.

She didn’t reply, but she did grab the bag from Nick’s shoulder and hold it up in the air with one arm.  She gave a brief, victorious glance his way as she used her other arm to swap folders for third period.  Though she acted casually, Nick surmised that this show of strength was intended for his benefit.

Nick was at least hoping she would take a book or two out of the bag, but she did nothing of the kind, returning it to his shoulder just as heavy as before.  After grunting slightly as he accepted its weight, he pleaded, “Seriously, Michelle, why would you need all these books in here at once?”

She slammed her locker closed and spun around to face him.  With a huff, she glared down at him and said haughtily, “I don’t need to explain myself to you, you little turd.”  She stepped past him, but not before reaching out and shoving his forehead with the palm of her hand, lightly but enough to cause him to stagger back a step and reconsider the next time he thought to talk back to her.  All his life, HE was the one who made threats, who used his size and strength to his advantage, and he never, ever backed down from a fight.  But things had changed.  Dramatically.  As Michelle’s huge, swaying hips brushed past his chest, instead of fighting her he held his tongue and hastily stepped out of her way, before dejectedly following in her wake, his head bowed low to the ground in shame.

The next two periods went by in similar fashion: Michelle treating him like a slave, his teachers disrespecting him, his classmates leering and pointing at him.  And he still hadn’t seen Cindy at all – highly unusual, given how frequently they tended to meet up during the day.  It was becoming increasingly obvious that she was avoiding him in the hallways, probably taking a different path to her classes to be sure.

But at least Nick had a couple things going his way.  For one, he hadn’t been touched or spat on in the hallways ever since Michelle had made her declaration (which technically only protected her book bag, but no one dared lay a finger on the person carrying it, either).  That was a plus.  Of course, the opportunity to stare all he wanted at Michelle’s firm, round ass as he walked behind her was a reward in itself.  And, what’s more, all his troubles were about to pay off now that he was headed for lunch, which was his first chance to hang out with his friends again, after being allowed back in by Michelle.

Michelle strutted into the cafeteria, followed by Nick, and she happened to run into her friends, all seven of them, by the doorway.  Well, they were Nick’s friends again, too …

They all greeted her enthusiastically.  “Hey, Michelle!  How’s it goin’?”  No one seemed to even notice Nick.

“Hey, guys, pretty good,” Michelle replied.  “See an empty table anywhere?”

“We were looking, but I think they’re all taken already.”

“Hmph.  We’ll see about that,” Michelle replied confidently.  She strolled up to the nearest table, where four nerds had already pulled their chess boards out and were intensely plotting their next moves.  “Hey, you,” Michelle called out, stepping up to the table and snapping her fingers.  “This table is mine.”

The four of them looked up in astonishment as the hottest girl in school was actually speaking to them in person.  They froze.

“Get lost!” she added impatiently, and just like that they cleared off their boards and scampered off, mumbling apologies and averting their gaze as if her beauty would turn them to stone.

“Haha, you’re awesome, Michelle!” Kyle told her, reaching up to slap her back before sliding his backpack under the table.  The others did the same, and Nick stepped forward to put down Michelle’s book bag as well.

Finally, they noticed his presence.  “Hey, uh, Nick?  What are you doing here?” Kyle asked disdainfully, much different than the embarrassed voice he used the day before.  The seven of them turned to face the intruder and frown disapprovingly at him.  They loomed around him on all sides, all of them much taller than him.  Kyle was 6’2” and the other three guys – Jeff, Ted, and Andy – were also around that height, while the three girls – Tracy, Hillary, and Steph – ranged from around 5’11” to 6’3” in their heels.  All of them were tall, statuesque, and attractive, and right now they all intimidated the shit out of Nick as they encircled his diminutive frame.  From their body language it was abundantly clear that he was not welcome.

He was starting to fear the very real possibility of being made an example of by these cool kids.  His memory flashed to one instance where these same guys (headed by Nick, of course) poured chocolate milk in some little brat’s hair, and another time when they found a love letter a sophomore had written to someone and they stole it from him and read it aloud for all to hear.  There was even one time after school when, for lack of anything better to do, they duct taped an annoying little guy to the bench in front of school when no one was looking.  … And now Nick was that annoying little guy.  Holy shit.

“Uhhh … I was just leaving.”  Nick took a step back but two heavy hands fell on his shoulders, locking him in place.  He almost wet his pants.

But then Michelle, of all people, spoke up for him.  She was the one who was holding his shoulders, and now she gave them a gentle, almost friendly squeeze as she told the others, “Actually, I told Nicky he could join us today at lunch.  Hope that’s OK with everyone?”

Tracy gave a disgusted look and said, “Seriously?  HIM?”  Nick wanted to tell her, ‘I’m standing right here, you bitch,’ but he wisely kept quiet.

“Yeah,” Michelle nodded, “I know it sounds ridiculous, but he and I have a little … arrangement.  For what it’s worth, he’s promised not to act like such a dick today.  Right, Nicky?”

Nick winced but submitted to her, simply nodding his head.  The rest of them weren’t pleased with this arrangement, and they surely would have refused if it was anyone but Michelle asking.  “Fine, whatever,” Tracy grumbled.

“Cool, thanks guys.  Now let’s get some food, eh?  Nicky, watch our table for us while we’re gone.”  She nudged him towards the table before releasing his shoulders and walking with the rest of them toward the lunch counter.  With a forlorn expression, Nick watched his ‘friends’ go, excluding him from the group yet again.  But at least this time they were willing to give him a chance – well, sort of.  Maybe it was more like he was being forced upon them, but in any case he resolved to try his hardest to change their minds about him while he still had the chance.

They weren’t gone long; Michelle and her friends had no trouble cutting to the front of the line.  One by one, they slid into the seats around Nick, with Nick moving to the end to give them space.  But it would have been a tight squeeze to fit in the ninth person, Hillary – tight, although certainly manageable.  At least, that’s what Nick thought.

Michelle, sitting directly across from Nick, chimed in, “Oh geez, looks like we can’t really fit nine people.  Someone’s gonna have to stand.”

Nick didn’t necessarily agree, but, to be honest, he never particularly liked Hillary, so he didn’t feel too sorry that she didn’t have a seat.  But he looked up at her anyway, shrugging his shoulders by way of an insincere apology.

No one moved, though.  There was an awkward silence as the eight of them slowly turned their gaze to Nick.  Michelle repeated, more forcefully this time, “I said, someone’s gonna have to GET UP.”  She stared directly at Nick as she said this.

Nick’s surprise soon gave way to bewilderment, and he protested, “Oh, come on, guys, there’s plenty of room for one more.”  He scooted all the way over to give Hillary as much room as possible.  Their faces remained impassive, though.  “Hey,” Nick added pleadingly, “you remember when Arthur used to sit here with us, right?  There were nine of us and it wasn’t a problem then.  Plus, I mean, I don’t take up nearly as much space as he did now.”

They were quickly getting annoyed at Nick.  Hillary began tapping her heel impatiently.  “Come on, get up!” she said in a bitchy tone.

Nick tried scooting even closer to Tracy sitting next to him, making plenty of room for Hillary to sit.  But Tracy, bigger and stronger than him, used her elbow to keep him away from her.

“You sure he needs to be here, Michelle?” Kyle asked disdainfully.

Michelle sighed and replied, “You’re right, Kyle.  I think the deal’s off.”  She turned her gaze down to Nick and spat, “Get lost, you little dweeb.”  When he didn’t move, she snapped her fingers and pointed angrily away from the table.

This was not going as Nick had hoped.  Trying to salvage the situation, he quickly stood up to give Hillary his seat, but instead of leaving he turned back to the table and addressed his friends earnestly, saying “I’m sorry, guys.  Don’t worry about it; I felt like standing anyways, hehe.”  His attempt to lighten the mood failed miserably.  “Seriously, though, I’ll be cool from now on – the same old Nick you guys always liked.”

Ted snorted and said, “I always thought you were a douche bag.”  Andy and Steph snickered at this.

Nick grimaced but was eager to remain in the group.  He tried to laugh it off by saying, “Haha, I don’t mind you guys making fun of me.  That’s what buddies do, right?  And I know you’re just joking.”

“No, actually, I really do think you’re a fucking douche bag,” Ted replied coldly.

The rest of them nodded and agreed.  “Yeah,” Tracy added, “and, like, he would just NEVER shut up about how great he thought he was, and how he was so ‘cool’ and ‘popular’.” She mockingly made quotation marks with her fingers for emphasis.

“Oh my God, I know!  He’s such an arrogant prick!”

“Oh, yeah,” the rest of them agreed.  They continued like this for several minutes, saying the meanest possible things about him even while he was standing right there.  At first, Nick tried to laugh along with them and play it off, but it wasn’t long before he fell into a sullen silence, his eyes welling up with tears.  They eventually moved on to other topics, though they frequently threw in more degrading remarks about Nick whenever they got the chance, always breaking out in uproarious laughter when they did so. 

It felt like an eternity by the time the bell rang.  But, now that the lunch period had ended, Nick suddenly realized that he hadn’t eaten anything!  Shit.  It was too late now to get his own food.

The eight of them filed out of the booth and put their backpacks on.  “Take care of my trash, won’t you?” Steph said imperiously, giving Nick her messy tray.

“Mine too,” said Kyle, plopping his tray on top of Steph’s.  The rest of them followed suit until Nick was left with a wobbly stack of sloppy trays and half-eaten food.

Michelle added hers to the pile last and told him, “Remember my bag.  And don’t take too long.”  She caught up to the rest of them and the eight friends high-fived each other and had a good laugh, no doubt celebrating all the vicious things they did to Nick that lunch period.

Meanwhile, the top tray shifted and almost fell off.  Nick saved it, but not before spilling some applesauce and milk on his shirt.  “Damn it!” he shrieked, venting some of his pent-up frustration.  But then his stomach growled to remind him how hungry he was, and his eyes settled on a half-eaten slice of pepperoni pizza resting under a used napkin on the top tray.

God damn it.  It was either this, or starve for the rest of the day.  And he didn’t think he could cope with the rest of the school day while dealing with an empty stomach at the same time.  He made sure that the cafeteria was empty, which it was, and slowly set down the trays and plucked out the slice of pizza lined with bite marks.  ‘Well,’ he thought bitterly, ‘this isn’t the worst thing I’ve had to do today.’  He closed his eyes and ate, first the pizza, then the bready ketchup-soaked remains of a hamburger, some leftover fries, and finally a delightful medley of applesauce and corn which had been swirled together.

The bell rang.  “Fuck!!” he yelled aloud.  Grabbing up the trays, he hurled them into the trash, again splotching his clothes with some of the leftover food in the process.  He put his backpack on and then heaved Michelle’s over his shoulder, running out the door as fast as his heavy burdens would allow.

Out of breath, he burst into Michelle’s fifth period class, trudged over to her desk, which was fortunately near the door, and dropped her bag next to her chair.  At least this time, the teacher had only just started class, though she was still quite displeased with his intrusion.  But Nick found her disapproving look nowhere near as intimidating as Michelle’s icy stare, reminding him of his failure to get there on time yet again.

He got the hell out of there and the teacher didn’t bother to detain him.  But his own fifth period teacher proved much more problematic: Mr. Henry.  Needless to say, he was none too pleased to see Nick Avery entering his class after the bell for the second time that day.  Mr. Henry chewed him out in front of the whole class and, while the rest of the class sat back and watched a documentary on the Civil War, Nick was forced to sit in front of Mr. Henry and work diligently on some bullshit busywork handouts for the entire period.

Then came sixth period, the last period of the day, and the one that Nick had been dreading the most.  For it was Mrs. Miller’s chemistry class, which was Nick’s only class with Michelle.

Michelle strolled in casually, followed by Nick grunting under the heavy load of her book bag.  They were among the last students to enter before the bell, and Nick followed her to her seat in the far right row of desks, three seats from the front, to drop her bag off before heading to his own seat across the room.

But Michelle’s voice stopped him.  “Actually, Nick – and I hope it’s alright with you, Mrs. Miller – why don’t you take a seat right here.”  She pointed to the desk behind her which, incidentally, was already taken.  Michelle added by way of explanation, “Being lab partners and all, it’ll be easier this way to work together if there’s time for it.”

“Well, I don’t see why not.  Certainly, Michelle.”  Michelle had always been Mrs. Miller’s favorite student, and her recent explosion in popularity hadn’t changed that, since she had continued to be an excellent student despite her other changes.  Being a teacher’s pet would have seriously damaged anyone else’s popularity, but Michelle was in a league of her own now and not even this faux pas could bring her down in the eyes of her worshippers.

One such worshipper was Emily, the girl who was sitting in the seat behind Michelle.  Unremarkable in every way, Emily had once thought little of Michelle, except that she was a know-it-all who ruined the curve for the rest of them.  But now, like so many others, Emily had become quite attached to Michelle, rather like a suckerfish parasitically attaches itself to a shark.  She was quick to tell Michelle how cute her outfits looked or how smart she was after answering Mrs. Miller’s questions correctly.  She never received any much-desired acknowledgement from the goddess Michelle, but that didn’t stop her from trying.  In any case, she was just happy to get a chance to sit behind her.

And this is why she was saddened when Michelle looked down and told her authoritatively, “You gotta sit somewhere else now.”

With a disappointed frown, she nodded and replied, “Oh … okay,” and quickly gathered her things to move away, looking back with regret.

Meanwhile, Nick obediently sat in the now-vacant seat; he knew by now that arguing would get him nowhere except in Michelle’s doghouse.  Michelle sat in her own seat and faced the front without saying another word to Nick.  He wondered what the point of her sitting him behind her was.

She sat up straight as Mrs. Miller began class.  Jesus, even sitting down Nick could barely see over her shoulders.  He had to extend his back and neck out as straight as they would go just to read the top half of the chalkboard, and as Mrs. Miller began writing on the bottom half he was forced to lean quite a ways to the left to see around Michelle’s wide shoulders.  But he grew weary of keeping up this effort just to see past her, and very soon his focus turned from looking around Michelle to looking right at her.  He took in the impressive magnitude of her stunning features and forgot all about chemistry.  His vision restricted to the back of her head, her flowing blonde hair, her angular shoulders and athletically toned arms, and the top half of her back – but though he couldn’t see her most breathtaking attributes, nonetheless he had more than enough in front of him to be enthralled.  And when his eyes occasionally moved away from her body, he noticed that he was far from being the only one checking her out.  He saw every single guy turn their gaze to her at least once within the first five minutes of class.  He wondered what it would be like to have so much attention on her at all times.  Sure, he turned plenty of girls heads back in the day (i.e., up until last week) but never like this.

Then, about halfway through class, Michelle made a simple change to her posture that rocked his world.  She simply scooted her butt forward in her seat and leaned back against her chair, at just enough of an angle to give Nick a million dollar view down her neckline.

“Gah,” Nick blurted quietly, wholly unprepared for what had opened up before him.  He could see enough of the side of her face to see her lips and cheek stretch outward in a smirk.  She knew exactly what she was doing, and she didn’t even need to look behind her to visualize the stunned expression on his face.

Nick remained quite silent and motionless for the rest of the period, his eyes transfixed on her awe-inspiring cleavage.  Michelle had unbuttoned her shirt generously, and the open flaps of her shirt were pulled away from each other by the weight of her DD breasts, leaving him a clear view straight down her neckline revealing her milky white flesh sublimely pressed together and outward by her bra.  His own breathing synchronized with hers as he watched the soothing rhythm of her chest moving up and down, up and down, stretching her shirt taut across her bosom and then allowing it to slacken slightly in the valley of her cleavage before being stretched again.

He must have witnessed at least a hundred cycles of inhale and exhale before his reverie was interrupted.  He heard a voice call his name, “Nick Avery …” as if carried on a breeze from afar.  But he didn’t relinquish his gaze.

The voice repeated, much louder this time: “NICK AVERY!”  There was a loud rapping sound on his desk.

“Wh-What!??” Nick blurted, snapping out of his trance to see his teacher glaring down at him sternly.

“I don’t appreciate your eyes wandering where they shouldn’t be during my class.  And I don’t think Michelle appreciates it, either.”  Nick blushed in embarrassment while Michelle snickered, knowing exactly what Nick had been staring at.  Then she sat up straight and nodding appreciatively at Mrs. Miller.

Nick rubbed his eyes as if disbelieving what they had seen.  Fortunately, with Michelle sitting up straight again he had somewhat less trouble peeling his gaze away from Michelle and glancing at the board periodically to give Mrs. Miller the impression that he was actually paying attention.

The bell finally rang and Nick followed Michelle out the door.  She made no mention of what had happened, to Nick’s relief.  Michelle headed for the parking lot in front of the school, and once outside she spun around and plucked her backpack from his shoulder, hoisting it easily up onto her own.

Nick didn’t suppose she would have let him ride with her anyway, but he still felt compelled to tell her, “I have basketball practice until 5:00.”

She scoffed and replied, “Why should I care?”

“I dunno, I just won’t be home for a while, that’s all.”  He paused and added timidly, “Um … maybe you could—“

“No.”  She had anticipated him asking for a ride home.  She just spun around and headed for his car.

He stared after her and thought, ‘Whew.  She may be a stuck-up bitch, but … goddamn, what an ass.’  He forgot to move his feet towards the gym until she had gotten into his car and drove away.

From the moment he stepped onto the basketball court for practice, Nick wished he had just gone home instead.  His old status as a star on the court was apparently not enough to quell the open laughter of his teammates around him as he started shooting hoops to warm up.  The sight of their once dominating center, now by far the shortest person on the team, straining his short arms to heave the surprisingly heavy ball up to the 10-foot net brought laughter even from his coach.  But he immediately turned serious when he saw Nick looking at him.  “Hey there, Nick,” he said sadly.  “Heard about what happened.  Wasn’t sure I’d see you out here.”

“Why?” Nick shot back defensively.  “My name’s still on the roster, isn’t it?”  He didn’t know what he expected from them; maybe not playing time, but at least some sympathy and respect.

From the looks of it, his teammates wouldn’t be showing him any, but at least his coach might.  “Sure, Nick,” he told him gravely.  “You’ve got a spot if you still want it.  Can’t change rosters this late in the season.”  He grimaced as he realized how insensitive his comment was.  “I mean, we’d be happy to have you.”  He gave an unconvincing smile and sat on the bench, motioning for Nick to do the same.  Seeing the rest of the team staring awkwardly, the coach announced, “Start with some two-line layups.”

He then turned to Nick and said, with pain in his voice, “Damn shame what happened to you.  Any idea what caused it?”

“No.”  Would he believe him anyway?

The coach sighed and said, “Well, we’re sure gonna miss your presence on the court, that’s for sure.  Just gotta hope the other guys can step up.”

“Uh … yeah,” Nick replied, depressed that he wasn’t man enough to play anymore.  Fortunately, though, it was only temporary until Michelle returned him to his old height.  “Well, I’ll be back to normal next week anyways.”

His coach was highly skeptical.  “You sure?  How do you know?”

Nick wasn’t about to explain the whole situation with Michelle, so he just shrugged and assured him, “I will, you’ll see.”

“Um, okay …”  He still didn’t believe him.

Nick let it slide for now.  In the meantime, he at least wanted to do what he could for the team.  “So, I may not be able to contribute like I used to, but heck, I’m not THAT short now, and I can still give you some good minutes when you need me.”  He put more confidence in his voice than he actually felt.

His coach winced, and after an awkward silence he asked, “How tall are you, exactly?”

Nick replied uncomfortably, “I’m, uh … five foot four.”

His coach couldn’t hide a disapproving frown as he answered softly, “Look, Nick, you’ve already done so much for this team, and, well …”

Nick’s spirits sank.  “You mean, I can’t play at all anymore?”

His coach winced again and replied, “Well, I suppose you deserve a fair shot.  I mean, if you REALLY want one.  But, the thing is … well, for Christ’s sake, Nick, we both know you’re no point guard.  Your post moves won’t do you any good now.  And, well, you know the playoffs are starting soon and, frankly, a 5’4” player just doesn’t belong out there.”

Nick hung his head and said in frustration, “But I just want to help out the team!”

“Hey, hey, don’t worry about it, Nick.  I’ll tell you what.  You really want to help us out in any way you can?”

“Yeah, coach, anything I can do.”

He hesitated, almost reconsidering what he was about to say.  But he put his hand on Nick’s shoulder and told him, “Well, Nick, you know Brandon, our equipment manager?  He quit about a week ago; too much homework or something.  Anyways, we could really use your help in his place.”

Nick grimaced.  “You want me to do what Brandon did?  Clean uniforms and stuff?”

His coach nodded.  “Honestly, it’s the only way you can help.”

Nick reluctantly agreed, saying confidently, “OK, I’ll do it until I’m 6’6” again next week.”  His coach nodded patronizingly.

Nick was content with this opportunity, since didn’t want to just leave his team cold turkey until he was back to normal; if he couldn’t compete anymore, he could at least be there for the practices and the games.  And there was something to be said for the way his coach treated him; though certainly not how he usually talked to Nick, he had still treated him with a basic level of respect and concern that had become hard to come by for Nick these days, and he appreciated it.

But he quickly found that Brandon’s job wasn’t exactly glamorous.  He spent the next two hours filling water bottles, wiping them clean after the players got their sweaty hands on them, fetching cones and other equipment for drills, and other inglorious tasks.  And his former teammates didn’t share the same respect for Nick as his coach did, treating him like a lowly water boy instead of the basketball star they had known and admired.

At 5:00, he left the gym in a foul mood and began his long trek home.  But a few minutes into his walk he got a call from Michelle.  He had originally given her his number in case she needed him for the chemistry project, but now he could only assume she was calling to make him run some errand for her or something equally demeaning.

“Yeah, what do you want,” Nick answered the phone in a huff.

There was a snort of derision on the other end followed by, “Well, I WAS going to invite you to dinner with my friends, but with that tone of yours I’m not so sure …”

“What, really?  You want ME to hang out with you guys??  … Wait a minute, you just want me to come so you all can embarrass me again.  I don’t think so.”

“Actually, Nick, I was talking with the rest of them on the phone after school and they told me they kinda felt sorry for what happened at lunch, and I suggested that we make it up to you by inviting you to dinner.  What do you say?”

“They said that??”

“Yep.”

“Huh.”  Nick was surprised and befuddled; he never would have expected any sympathy from them after what they said at lunch.  But this offer was too good to pass up.  “Well … yeah, thanks, that sounds great.”

“Cool.  And, heck, I won’t even make you walk there.  Where are you?  I’ll come pick you up.”

“Oh … thanks,” he replied, while sarcastically thinking to himself, ‘Gee, how gracious of her.’  But at least it was a start.  Maybe she and his friends were actually starting to warm up to him.

She picked him up and drove over to the restaurant, where the other seven of them were already waiting at a table.  “Hey Nick,” Kyle said sincerely, standing up to greet him.  “We all wanted to apologize for earlier.  We’re cool, right buddy?”

Nick wanted to tell him, ‘Fuck you!  No, we’re not cool! You can’t just unsay what you said at lunch with a little apology!’  But that would only turn them against him again; no, he had to admit that they held all the cards and Nick just had to play along and act cool.  He simply told them, “Yeah, sure.”

Nick and Michelle took seats at the end of the table as the rest of them continued their conversation.  “So anyway,” Tracy said, “this lame kid, Luke Cowell or Caldwell or something, he keeps turning to me and pestering me for a freakin’ pencil all period long.  And then I realized it was just so he had an excuse to look down my blouse every time.  Fuckin’ pervert.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Michelle chimed in.  “It’s been happening to me all the time now.  Like in sixth period, this one guy sitting behind me was staring at me so hard, the teacher actually had to call him out on it!”

“No way!” they laughed, imagining that little pervert’s embarrassment, whoever he may be.  As they laughed, Michelle looked at Nick and winked mischievously at him.  He gulped loudly after this confirmation that she had known what he was doing the whole time in class.  But at least she didn’t seem upset about it.  Curious, he thought.

Right about then, the waitress came and took their orders.  Ted went first: “I’ll just have spaghetti.”

“Oh, come on, buddy, live a little!” Andy encouraged.

They exchanged a knowing smile, and Ted replied, “Yeah, you know what, I’ll go with the Tour of Italy instead.”

They all cheered, and Andy added, “I’ll have one, too!  Oh, but how about some appetizers first?”

They ordered four different appetizers as well as some of the most expensive entrees on the menu, and they seemed to be having a blast while doing so.  There must have been some running joke going that Nick didn’t get, but he wanted to fit in as best he could, so he cheered along with them and ordered a $30 plate for himself.

The entire dinner was filled with lively conversation – although Nick could never seem to get himself involved in it, because every time he interjected with a funny joke or witty remark they all just kind of stared at him blankly before continuing with their own conversation, as if Nick was nothing but an annoying distraction.  Surely some of the things he said ought to have elicited a positive response!?  As the meal went on, he became increasingly frustrated, feeling more and more like an outcast.  But at least they weren’t picking on him anymore; that was something.  Though his patience as he waited for them to warm up to him was running thin as of late …

At some point after they had all finished eating, Michelle leaned towards Andy and whispered something in his ear.  Andy then looked around and nodded to the others, who nodded back to indicate they were ready for whatever was coming up.

The table got quiet, and for once they all turned their attention to Nick.  Kyle announced, “So, buddy, since we’re all just so glad you’re back with us again” – Jeff tried unsuccessfully to stifle a laugh – “we thought we’d all give you a … surprise now.  Something to commemorate how we feel about you.”  Nick looked at their faces and saw a couple more of them holding back a smile.  “We just need to all go out front to get it, and we’ll bring it inside.  You’ll see why.  Just stay right there, OK?”

Nick nodded, breaking into a smile of his own.  As the eight of them got up and stepped outside, Nick waited in eager anticipation for his surprise.  He surmised from their behavior that it was something funny, probably a harmless prank or maybe even a legitimate gift that would make him laugh.  Either way, it seemed that this was the moment he had been waiting for; that they were willing to prank him or whatever told Nick that they saw him as ‘one of the guys’ again, a big step towards winning them back.

He chuckled to himself as he saw them walk out the front door and round the corner.  ‘Oh man, this is gonna be good,’ he thought.  His anticipation grew when a couple minutes passed and they still hadn’t emerged.

The waitress came with the bill and said, “Oh!  Um … did they all leave?”

“Naw,” Nick laughed, “they’ll be back any minute now.”

“Oh, OK.  Well, in the meantime, the bill is ready.  No rush.”

“OK, thanks.”  She walked away, and Nick opened the bill and whistled when he saw the number: $327.90.  “Whew,” he chuckled to himself, “they had better come back, or they’ll stick me with the whole thing!”

It was another couple of minutes until that thought started to sink in.  “They had better come back …  Wait.  … no … No! They … they wouldn’t!”  He dashed outside and looked around the parking lot frantically.  No sign of his friends, or their cars, or his own car either.  “What the fuck!” he exclaimed.

The hostess rushed up to him, accompanied by the manager.  “Is anything the matter?” the manager asked concernedly.

Nick whirled around and said, “What?  … Oh, uh, fine.  Everything’s fine.”

The manager regarded Nick warily and said, “Very good sir.  And you’ll be returning inside now…?”

It dawned on Nick that the manager was suspicious that he would dine and dash, without paying the bill.  “Oh!  Um … yes, right away.”  The manager smiled curtly as he opened the door for Nick to return inside.

Nick was fuming as he sat down at the table again.  ‘How the hell could they do this to me!!?’  They had really crossed the line this time; badmouthing him was one thing, but dumping a $330 bill on him was just goddamned awful.  Well, that explained their little inside joke when they all ordered the most expensive items on the menu.

He noticed the waitress hovering near his table, no doubt being told to keep an eye on him.  But he wasn’t going to give in just yet.  He had all of their phone numbers, and he proceeded to call each and every one of them.

None of his ‘friends’ answered their phone.  He could just picture them all hanging out somewhere together, laughing as each of their phones went off in turn.  What a great practical joke, just fucking great.

He had no choice but to pull out his card and pay the whole bill.  He had a good credit limit which should easily cover this, even on top of whatever Michelle charged for her clothes earlier.  But his real concern was his parents; he remembered them chewing him out for putting a $50 charge on the card for some new headphones, since it wasn’t an emergency item like they had intended the card for.  His family had plenty of money, but his parents kept telling him they wanted to instill a sense of economic discipline and responsibility in him, hence their hard stance with the card.  But there was no telling what they would do to him now with probably $500 of unnecessary expenditures.

He was absolutely livid when he left the restaurant and started on the long walk home.  Surprisingly, Michelle called him back less than ten minutes into his walk.

“Where the FUCK are you!!?” he screamed, turning a few heads on the sidewalk.

He heard what sounded like laughter at the other end – not one person, but many.  Then Michelle’s voice cut over the laughter and said happily, “Hey, little guy!  Just hangin’ out with MY friends right now.  What’re you up to, buddy?”

Her carefree tone was more than he could handle.  “You know exactly where I am, goddamn it!  I just had to pay the entire $330 bill myself and now I have to walk home, thanks to you assholes!!”

More laughter.  He heard one of the guys say incredulously, “Damn, $330!?  That’s more than I thought.  Good job, guys!”  Nick heard the sound of high-fives and cheers on the other end.

Nick clenched his phone so hard the cover almost snapped off.  “Listen to me, Michelle: you bring MY car back here and pick me up, or else I’ll … I’ll …”

“You’ll what?” she scoffed unconcernedly.  “Sorry, Nicky, but I can’t really pick you up.  Kinda busy right now.”

“Oh yeah?  Doing what?” Nick sneered.

“Oh, you know, we’re just hanging out at Andy’s.  Havin’ a great time, actually.  You can come if you wan—Hold on a sec.  What’s that, Andy?  Oh, OK … Hey, Nicky, sorry, but you’re not invited.  Cool kids only; you understand.  So anyways, I think we’ll be goin’ out to a club later, so just head home and I’ll be there sometime tonight.”

Nick could hardly hold the phone steady, he was so enraged.  “That fucking does it!!  The deal’s off, you hear me!?  I don’t care about joining you’re goddamned ‘cool clique’ anymore!  I’m not going to just sit back and let you belittle me like this.  Tonight I’m going to take back MY car and you’re going to pay me back for that goddamned $330 you sprung on me, and then I’m fucking THROUGH with you until you change me back on Monday.  Got it??”

There was no response.  In fact, the phone was completely silent.  He looked at the phone and realized she had hung up on him sometime during his rant.  “Bitch!!” Nick screamed in frustration.  People on the sidewalk were now giving this angry little Napoleon a wide berth.

He fumed the entire 30-minute walk back to Michelle’s house.  When he got to the front door, though, he discovered a major problem: he didn’t have a key.  He whipped out his phone and dialed Michelle again.  “If she doesn’t answer, I swear to God …”

She didn’t answer.  “Fuck!!”  He tried again.  And then again, and again.  After the fourth try, she turned off her phone so that it went straight to voicemail.  He left such a long, furious message that it left his voice hoarse, although this did get enough anger out of his system to allow him to plan his next move.  He had no way of getting inside short of breaking and entering, and he wasn’t about to risk breaking the law – the odds of a neighbor seeing him or the broken glass was too great.  He thought hard about where he could go, but he could think of nothing.  He would be back to normal in a few days, and until that time he wanted to avoid letting his parents see him at all costs.  Normally, he would turn to his friends next, but all of his closest friends were in the group of seven that he had just eaten dinner with, so obviously they were out of the question.  And if they wouldn’t even help him, then none of his others friends from school would either.

Jesus Christ.  He now had zero friends.  Except for his basketball coach, who had showed him at least a small modicum of respect, every single person he knew, outside of his own family, now hated his guts and had gone out of their way to show it.  What kind of phony-ass friends had he made over the years?  Clearly his friendships were purely based on social status instead of any meaningful connection on a personal level.  Only now did he see the truth …

But, hell, who was he kidding?  He had always known what was going on.  All those times he used his status to get what he wanted and to ensure his place as leader of his group, he had known deep down how artificial his friendships were.  But, even still, he had never expected that they could so easily and vehemently turn against him.  What could he do?

Aha!  He had forgotten about her, the one person whom he thought might still care about him: his girlfriend, Cindy.  He called her immediately.

But again, no answer.  This couldn’t be chance, that she had not answered his call twice now in two days.  Along with the fact that she hadn’t called him back and she clearly seemed to be avoiding him at school.  He contemplated going to her house anyways, but it was way on the other side of town and would take far too long to walk there, especially since he feared that she would just end up dumping him on the spot.  No, his best course of action was to wait it out; if he could avoid seeing her until next week when he was back to normal, he very well may be able to avoid this whole situation entirely and continue dating her like nothing happened.

So, he waited.  And waited, and waited, for what seemed like forever.  The hours crawled on; eventually he went to the backyard to at least be out of sight, but soon it didn’t matter much anyways since it had grown dark.  He tried calling Michelle about once an hour, and though she had turned her phone back on she still refused to pick up for him.  He thought up some particularly vicious things to say to her when she got back.  He even planned to gather his things from her house, take his car, and just take it to an empty parking lot and sleep there for the night, to get away from Michelle.

He had actually dozed off for a bit on her back porch when he saw the lights come on inside.  Looking at his watch, he saw that it was 1:00 AM; she had spent over 6 hours with her friends!!

He knocked on the sliding glass door, and from inside the house she turned her head and said mildly, “Oh, there you are.”  She unlocked the door and let him in.  “What were you doing out there?” she asked, sounding a bit inebriated.

“I was locked out, damn it!!”  He clenched his fists as he glared up at her.

“Oh, whoops!” she laughed unconcernedly, turning away from him to put her purse down on the kitchen counter.

“Damn it, Michelle, you make me sit outside for 6 hours and all you can say is, ‘whoops’!?”  She ignored him, keeping her back turned to him as she fiddled with her purse.

“Hey, I’m talking to you!”  Nick stomped towards her.  “Give me back my keys, pay me my $330 back, and FUCKING APOLOGIZE FOR WHAT YOU DID!!”  He stepped up to her and tugged at her forearm to spin her around.

She didn’t spin at all.  Instead, she yanked her arm up out of Nick’s reach and, with her back still turned to him, snapped, “Don’t touch me, you jerk.”

Frustrated by his ineffective move, he said in a huff, “Fine, don’t apologize … yet.  Just give me my keys and stay the hell away from me until Monday.  And when you change me back to normal, THEN you had better apologize, or you’ll be sorry.”

She scoffed indignantly but didn’t turn around.  Nick responded by walking around to her front side and reaching for her purse.  But she lifted it off the counter and above his outstretched arms before he could grab it.

“Give me my keys!” he shouted, quickly lunging off the ground to snag it.  But she simply raised it a bit higher as she smirked down at him smugly.  He looked truly pathetic, flailing his arms as high as he could but unable to reach his target, even though Michelle was barely holding it above her head.  She began to toy with him, lowering the purse enticingly until he took the bait and jumped, and then easily raising it completely out of his reach again.

He gave up, realizing it was futile.  With clenched fists, he regarded her for a moment: her wide, child-bearing hips chest-high to him, her slender midsection eye level, her imposing breasts hanging just above, and her bemused face leering down at him from its vantage point almost out of his arms’ reach.  She was incredibly tall by anyone’s standards, but from his diminished perspective she was fucking huge.  He managed to maintain his stern composure but, truth be told, he was becoming increasingly intimidated by her presence.

“Give them to me,” he demanded.

“Nope,” she replied casually.

“I’m … I’m going to count to three …” he threatened.  Her grin widened in amusement.  He started counting, “One … two …” but paused before finishing, not even sure what he planned to do next.

“… Three,” Michelle finished for him.  “So what happens now?” she added smugly, setting the purse on the counter behind her, out of his reach, and putting both hands on her hips expectantly.

He couldn’t take it anymore.  In a burst of unreasoning fury, he lunged forward and punched her in the stomach with everything he had.

“Hey!”  She doubled over, putting her hands on her knees to support her torso after the wind was knocked out of her.

Nick triumphantly put his own hands on his hips before stepping around her to grab her purse.  But just as he was pulling it off the counter, a huge hand slammed down on top of it, knocking it free of his grip with a loud thud.  Oh shit.

He spun his head around to see that Michelle had fully recovered from the blow and was now standing erect, her hips inches from his chest.  Then his veins turned to ice as he looked up and beheld her vicious glare.  He had really done it now.

Nick started to back away from her, but she wrapped her huge hand around his jaw, holding him firmly in place.  “You’re gonna pay for that, you little shit.  I’m going to count to three …”

Nick squirmed uselessly under her grip, his hands unable to pry her fingers away.  “I-I-I didn’t m-mean to, Michelle!  I’m s-s-sorry!!”

“ONE …” her voice boomed as she held her icy stare.

“You can have the keys!  Please, take them, they’re yours!!”

“TWO …”

Nick pissed his pants in terror.  “What do I have to do to stop this!?  I’ll do anything, just tell me!!”

But she had no intention of stopping.  “THREE.”  Her death grip on his chin suddenly released, leaving him momentarily dazed.  But before he even knew what hit him, Michelle brought her palm down to his chest and shoved him clean off his feet, sending him flying backwards onto the hard tile floor of the kitchen and sliding until he slammed into the wall.  He lost consciousness for a second, leaving him so dazed and confused that he didn’t hear her order to stand up.  She kicked him hard in the gut, knocking the air out of his lungs for a good 10 seconds.

“GET UP,” she repeated.  When he finally regained control of his senses, he scrambled to his feet as she stepped up to him and pinned him against the wall with one hand.  Leaning way over until her face was only six inches above his, she brought her other hand up and slammed her open palm into the wall right next to his ear, sending shockwaves of terror through his puny body.  He pissed his pants some more as he tried to imagine what that arm would have done to his face if it had been a few inches to the left.

She hissed, “That will be the last time you EVER try to tell ME what to do, got it??”  Nick nodded profusely.  “That’s right.  Now, I’m taking your keys for good, and there isn’t a damned thing you can do about it.”  He nodded again in perfect compliance with her law.  “And as for you calling our deal off …”

“N-Nevermind that, we can still—“

“SHUT THE FUCK UP.”  She slammed the wall next to him again, causing him to cringe in terror.  “I didn’t say you could talk.  Now, we’re going to scrap that old deal and make a new one.  You will do whatever I say, whenever I say, and wherever I say it.  If you don’t, I will fuck you up.  Deal?”  It was literally the worst deal imaginable for Nick, but what choice did he have?  He nodded in terrified agreement.

She stood up straight but kept him pressed against the wall.  “OK.  So, you’re lucky it’s so late already, otherwise I would punish you now, but I’ll let it slide for tonight.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Nick replied obediently.

But he soon found that they disagreed on what constituted ‘punishment.’  “You know what, though,” she told him snootily, “I don’t want you sleeping in here anymore.  Come on.”  She wrapped her hand around his upper arm and pulled him with her as she opened the sliding door and walked into the backyard.

“We used to have a dog named Scruffy.  His dog house is still back here.  I’m sure it’ll be plenty big for you.”  She led him to a red and white barn-shaped dog house and shoved him roughly inside.

“Michelle!?” he shrieked in dismay.

“Quiet,” she snapped, picking up a metal chain from the wooden floor of the house.  Then she yanked him forward and slipped a metal collar around his neck, snapping it closed until she heard a click.  She released her grasp, and his hands immediately darted up to the abominable thing around his neck.  It was attached securely by the metal chain to the base of the dog house, and he could find no release for the collar, no button or latch of any sort.  Instead, there was only a small opening – what turned out to be a keyhole.

“The key is somewhere in the house … at least, I think it is.”  She gave a quizzical look as she tried to remember where it would be.  But she shrugged and said, “Well, if I find the key, I’ll let you out in the morning – if I feel like it, that is.”

Nick was utterly shocked and appalled.  “Wh-What!??  You … but y-you can’t!”

“I told you to be quiet!!” she threatened.  “One more word out of you, and I’ll make you sleep out here naked.  And don’t get any funny ideas about trying to alert the neighbors that you’re out here, or you’re dead.”  She stood up, brushed herself off, and went inside, turning the porch light off behind her.

He shivered as a gust of cool night air crossed his bare arms and legs.  ‘What went wrong?’ he thought silently.  ‘Why is she doing all this?  What did I do to deserve this?’  One thing was clear: she had absolutely no qualms with putting him in the most degrading, humiliating positions imaginable – and he knew it wasn’t so much that he did anything wrong, it was really just because she could.  It seems she had this in mind all along, when she told him how her science project was a ‘social experiment’ as well as a chemistry experiment.  But she had never intended for his situation to play out naturally with the other students in school; she wanted in on the action too.

On the cold, hard floor of the dog house he could find no comfort, either for his troubled mind or his feeble body, huddled up in a corner and shivering constantly until his neck chafed from the metal collar and his side became sore from discomfort.  Hours later, he mind slipped away from this miserable condition into a fitful sleep.

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

Friday: 6’6” – 5’4”

“Wake up!”

Nick was jolted awake by a loud pounding on the roof of the dog house.  “What the hell…!?”

Michelle got on her knees and leaned down towards the small opening of the house.  “Good news, Nicky: I found the key to your collar!  Looks like you won’t have to spend the day in there after all, haha.”  She was in an awfully chipper mood, which only served to annoy Nick into an even fouler mood.  He sat up inside the dog house and stretched a bit to loosen his stiff muscles – surprisingly sore from the combination of cold and discomfort they experienced all night long.

Michelle happily reached both arms towards his neck and used the key to unlock his collar.  Despite his grumpiness, he just had to take a moment to admire the incredible display of cleavage Michelle was presenting before him.

She tossed his collar aside and told him, “You had better get going now; I hear if you show up late for detention they automatically give you another one.”

“Fuck,” Nick said under his breath.  He had forgotten about detention this morning.  “What time is it?” he asked.

“Almost 7:45, I think.”

Nick did a double take.  “What the hell!?  Detention starts in 15 minutes!  Jesus, there’s no way I’ll make it in time!”

She chuckled.  “Well, then you’d better get a move on, then.”  She moved aside to give him room to get out.

He stayed where he was, though, since he wasn’t done asking questions.  “But why the hell didn’t you wake me up earlier??”

She scoffed.  “Because I don’t get up until now.  What, you expect me to get up early just so I can wake you up?”

“Well … You …”  He sighed in frustration and added, “Will you at least give me a ride?”

“Um … naw, I don’t feel like it.”

“Damn it, Michelle!  It’s your fault I’m late; just give me a ride.  It’s the least you could do.”  He started to slide out of his little house so he could ask her face-to-face.

But Michelle’s face turned serious and she moved to block his exit.  The enclosed space of the dog house suddenly got a lot darker as her body filled the doorway, blocking the outside light.  She leaned her head in menacingly and said, “I warned you not to tell me what to do, Nicky.  Hmm, maybe I’ll leave you here today to teach you a lesson.”  Her long arm reached behind his cowering form and snatched the metal collar from the floor.  He feebly tried to ward her off, but was unable to slow her hands as they reached around his neck and started to clamp the collar shut.

“I’m sorry, Michelle!  Please don’t leave me here!  You’re absolutely right, I should never have told you what to do.  Please, please, please don’t lock me up again!”  He broke down in tears.  Already famished and worn out, he couldn’t imagine being trapped in there another 8 hours, maybe 10 – hell, he could even imagine her leaving him locked up indefinitely, tossing him just enough scraps of food to live off of …

But Michelle sighed loudly and rolled her eyes.  “Fine, I’ll do you this one favor.  But only because I have plans for us at school today, and I wouldn’t want you to miss it.”  He shuddered, momentarily wondering if he wouldn’t rather stay where he was for a while instead of finding out what her plans were.

She removed the collar from around his neck and stood up in front of the dog house.  “Well, get moving!” she scolded.  He hastily clambered out of there and crawled away from Michelle a few steps before rising to his feet and scampering towards the sliding door to retrieve his backpack.  “No time for that now,” she called after him.  He knew he couldn’t argue, so without looking back he walked around the house and immediately started jogging down the street in an attempt to reach his detention on time.  At least this way he didn’t have his backpack to slow him down.

He didn’t make it in time, not by a long shot.  The teacher who was running the detention scolded him harshly for being 10 minutes late, and promptly assigned him more detention on Monday morning.  He then had to soldier through another 50 minutes of monotonous busy work with no talking and no daydreaming.  But finally they were dismissed with 15 minutes left to get ready for first period.

Nick was seated right next to the door, so he reached it first and swung it open.  He took one step out of the room and immediately recognized Michelle’s towering form standing right beside the doorway.  She had been waiting for him.

“Come on, Nicky, we gotta hurry up before class starts.”  She grabbed his upper arm and lead him towards the bathrooms, faster than his short legs could carry him.  To his surprise, Michelle hauled him right into the girl’s room and, after confirming that it was empty, turned and locked the door.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Nick asked worriedly.

“Just shut up and do as you’re told.  We don’t have much time, and I want us to be all changed and ready to go while there are still people in the halls to see us.”  She released her grip on his arm and flung open her book bag, pulling out two sets of clothes.  He recognized the tight-fitting black tee shirt and cargo shorts he had worn to her house last weekend – normal sized clothes, back before he had shrunk considerably.  And the other set of clothes was clearly hers from before she grew: a frilly pink blouse and a white mid-length skirt.  A conservative outfit, in line with her old style, yet still very girly.

She briefly explained, “It’s Friday, which means it’s a school spirit day.  This week is ‘twins’ day, so I thought we would wear these, for a good laugh.”

He shrugged his shoulders and said, “Um … OK, I can try putting my old clothes on.  But how are you ever gonna fit in yours now?”

“No, dumbass, you’re wearing my clothes, and I’m wearing yours.”  She handed Nick the pink blouse and white skirt.

Nick stared at them dumbly, wondering if he had really heard her correctly.  “Take them!” she snapped impatiently, shaking the clothes in front of him for emphasis.  He numbly took them from her and continued to stare as if shell-shocked.

Out of nowhere, an enormous hand descended on him and slapped him across the face.  “Oww!” he yelped.

“Put them on, NOW,” she boomed.  “And don’t even THINK of arguing about this.”

He sprang into action, out of sheer terror.  Like a man possessed, he threw off his shirt and shorts, then awkwardly fumbled with Michelle’s old clothes to figure out how to put them on.

“God, you’re useless,” Michelle quipped, stepping up to him and grabbing the skirt.  In his rush, he hadn’t noticed that Michelle had stripped down to nothing but her bra and panties.  There she stood, her supermodel physique on full display for the first time, seventy-eight inches of female perfection dominating his vision.  He nearly had a heart attack as Michelle leaned her torso down in front of him to wrap the skirt around his waist.  Since the zipper was in back, she draped her long arms around behind him while still bending over in front of him, and as she roughly jostled his hips about to pull the skirt snugly around him, her double D tits jiggled tantalizingly inches in front of his face, her hair draping down to cover his left cheek and her arm rubbing along his side.  It was the single most erotic experience of his life – sex with a girl like Cindy didn’t even compare to this, the opportunity to witness with his own two eyes an extreme close-up of the most breathtaking body he had ever seen.  It was as if a centerfold from Playboy magazine was blown up to epic proportions and brought to life before his very eyes.

His member started poking forward, forming a clearly visible tent in the front of his skirt.  Michelle noticed this, of course, and once she was done fastening his skirt she adjusted its positioning on his hips then brushed her hands down the front, as if to straighten it out.

He gasped and twitched from her touch.  “Oh my,” Michelle breathed sultrily.  “Is this cross-dressing turning you on, Nicky?”  He vehemently shook his head no.  “Be honest,” she added in a low, sexy voice.

“No, Michelle, no!”

“Aww, poor little guy, too embarrassed to admit it.  But it’s OK; your secret is safe with me.”  She gave a seductive wink before picking up the pink blouse from the countertop.  She then held it over his head to put it on him.  One stern glare was all the motivation he needed to lift up his arms so she could slip it onto his body.  Both the skirt and the blouse felt fit him almost perfectly, if not just a bit too tight, but he wasn’t sure if that was because he was any bigger than she used to be, or simply because women’s clothes were generally tighter anyway.

He looked down in dismay at his new clothes as Michelle quickly threw on his own much bigger clothes.  The shirt fitted her somewhat loosely, but not too much since it had always fitted Nick tightly when he had worn it.  The shorts actually posed more of a problem, as she had to really struggle to stretch them around her wide hips and prominent ass cheeks.

Michelle admired herself in the bathroom mirror and Nick looked up as well, almost crying when he saw his appearance.  It was all too easy to imagine Michelle’s petite 5’4” figure wearing these exact same clothes, and he was reminded of how short and puny she used to look to him.   And, looking at his clothes on Michelle, he remembered vividly what it had been like to fill those clothes with his towering, muscular form.

But the clothes swap served to dramatically emphasize their new physiques.  His chest and arms were left fully exposed by the small blouse, and, far from the muscular build he had enjoyed in the past, he was shocked by how puny, undefined, and lacking in muscle he looked.  The skirt had the same effect, emphasizing his slender waist and fragile, stick-like legs.  In fact, though he hated to say it, if you didn’t see his face and ignored his lack of breast development, his body looked delicately feminine in his new outfit.

On the other hand, looking at Michelle, despite the fact that she was wearing men’s clothes there was still absolutely no doubt as to her femininity.  She had rolled up the shirt almost to her bra, putting her taut stomach and sumptuous curves on full display.  The black shirt was a bit loose around the arms and shoulders, but was stretched tightly against the impressive swell of her bust, accentuated all the more by the rolled-up shirt exposing her creamy white skin beneath.  And not even his baggy shorts could hide the shape of her firm rear end, and despite her very low body fat her child-bearing hips were almost too wide for his shorts to contain.

The overall effect was overwhelming for both of them.  Nick never in a million years could have imagined anyone looking so sexy in his standard guy’s outfit, nor could he come to terms with how effeminate his figure suddenly looked by wearing her simple blouse and skirt.  And where Nick felt shock and humiliation, Michelle felt nothing but delight at the incredibly provocative effects that this quick clothes swap had created.

“Perfect!” Michelle exclaimed, smiling broadly.  Her smile grew even wider as she gauged Nick’s shocked reaction to all this.  “This is gonna be so fucking awesome, walking around school like this!”

“No, Michelle!” Nick whined desperately.  “I can’t go out there looking like this!”

She eyed his body again.  “You look great, Nicky.  … Oh wait, you’re right!  You can’t go out there – not until you put your shoes on.”  She knelt on the floor and pulled out of her bag a pair of light pink 4-inch high heels with a cute little bow in front.  “Give me your foot,” she commanded, holding a shoe on the ground next to him.

“Michelle, I—I can’t!”

“Give me your goddamned foot, NOW.”

His fear overcame his humiliation as he obediently lifted his foot.  She slid the shoe underneath and fastened the clasp.  “Just the right size, sweet!  Other foot now.”  He did as he was told, and soon his feet were propped up by an additional 4 inches.

Michelle took out his old sneakers and put them on her own feet, then she stood up behind him and admired their reflection in the mirror.  The only conceivable benefit that Nick could think of from wearing her clothes and shoes was that he had effectively gained about 6 inches on her – she had dropped down to ‘merely’ 6’7” now in his shoes (assuming they were about an inch thick), while he had risen to around 5’8”.  His line of sight had gone from below the underwire of her bra, to just clearing the top of her breasts; and the top of his head was now even with her shoulders.  Her height, though still imposing, was significantly less so now.

But her dimensions hadn’t shrunk; every part of her body still dwarfed his by just as much as before.  And the fact that his outfit emphasized his physical weakness and fragility, especially standing next to her toned arms and abs and her healthy curves, more than made up for any confidence boost he may have gained from his improved height.  He felt like a little sissy bitch – perhaps rightfully so.

“Oh my God, I’m so excited for this!  Come on, let’s get out there while the halls are still full.”  She picked up her book bag and headed for the door.

Nick didn’t budge.  “Niickky …” she warned.  He gulped, realized he had no choice, and timidly stepped towards her, wobbling greatly as he walked in heels for the first time.  “There you go, Nicky.  It’s really not that hard once you get used to it.”  He took a wrong step and almost tumbled over, but Michelle stepped forward and grabbed his arm just in time.  “Whoa there, little guy.  Looks like you could use a hand.”  She put his arm around his shoulder for support and guided him gently towards the door, adding, “You know what, I’ll even be nice and carry my book bag for you today.  Wouldn’t want your delicate self to pull a muscle or anything.”  She winked and pinched his upper arm playfully, causing him to wince.  She added, “And we’ll just have to see if you’ve gotten the hang of wearing heels by the end of school today.  Otherwise, I might have you practice some more after school.”

“What!?” Nick exclaimed, looking up into her eyes with dismay.  “You’re not gonna … make me keep wearing this, are you??”

“Why wouldn’t I?  This is so awesome!”  Then she chuckled and added, “Besides, Nicky, we both know this is turning you on.”

“No, Michelle, it’s not the cross-dressing, it’s–“

“Shhh,” she told him, putting a finger to his mouth to silence him.  “It’s OK, Nicky, don’t be ashamed.  And for what it’s worth …”  She walked behind him and turned him so he could see his reflection in the mirror.  Leaning down, she whispered huskily in his ear, “I think you look sexy like this, too.”

His eyes went wide as he experienced a mix of horror and arousal like he had never felt before.  Michelle continued to whisper, “You know, I’ve never really had any lesbian tendencies, but seeing you looking so frail, so helpless, so … feminine!   Mmm, something about it just turns me on …”

He didn’t know how to react to this.  He felt a deep revulsion to the very notion of him being effeminate.  But how could he deny the incredible rush of having a sex goddess like Michelle whispering her lust for him in his ear?

She rose to her full height and patted him lightly on the head.  “Anyways, no time for that now.  To answer your question: Yes, you will be wearing this tonight as well.  But in the meantime, it’s time to go show you off to the whole school.”  She started to pull him towards the door but paused, looking down.  “Ahem,” she coughed, pointing towards his crotch.  “You might want to hide that before we get out there.”

He noticed the painfully obvious bulge that was again tenting the front of his skirt.  “Oh!  Uh …”  He looked up at her, waiting for her to turn around to give him some privacy.  But she never did.  Though he felt incredibly awkward under her gaze, he reached down underneath the hem of his skirt and fumbled around with his pecker, trying to pin it up against the top of the skirt, but it came loose every time, poking forward again.

“Hell, screw it,” Michelle said.  “You’ll just have to deal with it.”  She squeezed her arm around his shoulders, moving him along with her, and unlocked the door.

“No!” he yelped impotently as she opened the door and stepped out into the sea of students.

No one happened to notice them for the first three seconds or so.  But then one girl burst into a deafening peal of laughter, and once everyone looked around to see what was up, they too saw the ridiculous duo emerging from the ladies room, and suddenly a roaring chorus of laughter the likes of which that school had never seen echoed through the halls of Belmont High.

The crowd multiplied at an insanely fast rate, as nearly the entire school dropped what they were doing and ran towards the great commotion.  Some could only see Michelle’s broad grin as she stood at the center of attention.  Those who were close enough, though, were able to enjoy the entire spectacle: the hottest, most popular girl in school, Michelle, delightedly posing for their benefit in her surprisingly kinky and sexy tied-up shirt, with her arm wrapped tightly around the shoulder of the most despised, and one of the smallest and weakest, boys in school, who was now looking astoundingly feminine in his pink blouse, white skirt, and high heels.

The mad uproar continued for an utterly unbearable amount of time for Nick.  He witnessed an entire sea of students laughing themselves hoarse, with tears flowing and having difficulty breathing in between laughs.  He was blinded by flash after flash from countless phones as they took pictures of this remarkable duo.  Nick himself was in tears, but not from laughter, and he constantly struggled to free himself.  But Michelle made sure to hold him shoulders nice and tight to prevent his escape.  She continued to make pose after pose next to him, some sexy, some playfully demeaning towards Nick.

Nick could have sworn it lasted hours, but in reality it had only been a minute or two before the bell rang.  Most students ignored the bell, enjoying themselves far too much, but eventually the school administrators made their way through the crowd, managing to disperse them as they went.  But when the administrators were close enough to see what it was all about, even they couldn’t help themselves; they burst into laughter just like everyone else.  Fortunately, though, the dean managed to regain enough of his composure to walk up to Michelle and Nick and tell them, trying to hold back more laughter, “OK, you two, start heading for class.  Come on.”

Nick couldn’t believe it; he was sure they would send them to the front office with a referral and make them change back into their ‘normal’ clothes.  Maybe they weren’t technically in violation of the dress code, but certainly they were creating enough of a disruption to warrant a change, right?  That’s how Nick felt, anyway.  At the very least, they could tell Michelle to lower her (or rather, his) shirt since her entire midriff was exposed – they were normally very strict about that kind of thing.

But apparently the administrators were getting such a kick out of the whole thing that they let it slide, midriff and all (it probably also helped that they were all male and certainly didn’t mind the view).  “Sure, guys, we were just heading to class now.”  Michelle gave them all a coquettish wink as she headed for her classroom, propelling Nick forward with her.  The admins just chuckled as they turned to watch her go.  One of them made a comment when they were out of earshot, and Nick could hear their hearty laughter fading away behind them as he was herded towards Michelle’s first period class.

Once they got to her door, she turned to face him and said, “That was fun, right?”  He dropped his head in shame.  Unaffected, Michelle continued, “K, so meet me here as soon as class is over; I want to spend as much time as possible with my little guy.”  Nick sure as hell didn’t want to; he just wanted to get the hell away from her at this point.

But Michelle continued to chat.  “Well, I guess you’re not so much a little GUY right now.  More like a little girl.  I mean, look at you, for God’s sake.”  She poked his nonexistent pectoral muscles as he continued to wallow in shame.  “I’m not sure ‘Nick’ is really an appropriate name for you.  What should I call you … oh, I got it!  Nicole!  You’ll be Nicole from now on!”  She was really excited by her own cleverness.  “OK, Nicole, see ya after class!”  She bent down and playfully pinched his ass through the skirt to send him on his way.

He trudged through the halls at a snail’s pace, his heels clicking on the floor loudly as he tried to keep his balance.  He felt like he was walking on miniature stilts; every step felt awkward.  Fortunately, the halls had almost completely cleared out, with only one or two stragglers coming in late for class.

He was halfway there when he heard a female voice call out from behind him.  “Damn, lookin’ fine, girl!”  Someone else whistled a cat call at the same time.  He spun his head around to see two familiar faces: Tracy and Hillary, whom he had seen just last night at dinner.  ‘What the hell do they want?’ he wondered with growing concern.  They were still about 25 yards behind him but closing fast – they had longer legs, and he was encumbered by his awkward high heels.

Their taunting continued.  “Michelle told us she was gonna dress you like a bitch, but I didn’t think she’d actually do it!” Hillary said.  “But damn, you sure do look like one!”

“Yeah,” Tracy added, “the ugliest bitch I’ve ever seen!”  Their laughter echoed down the hall.

“Just leave me alone!” Nick called back, turning his head to see them within 15 yards now.  He picked up the pace as much as he could, though this made his walking even clumsier.

“Where you goin’, little bitch?” Tracy jeered.  “We just wanna have a bit of fun with you, that’s all.”

“Yeah, and get a better view of your new look, too!  I gotta say, you already know how to sway your hips like a pro; your little tush looks good in that skirt.  Nice skinny legs, as well.”  They were wearing heels too, but were far more adept at walking in them, continuing to gain ground.  Nick didn’t turn his head but could hear the clicking of their heels growing louder and louder, now almost as loud as his own heels.

He stumbled a bit on his heels, barely recovering before toppling over, and this brought them right on top of him.  He jumped as he heard the closeness of Tracy’s voice when she said, “Hey, buddy, we’re talking to you.”

His first period classroom was just one door down now.  He tried to make a break for it and run but misjudged the height of the heel and awkwardly caught it on the ground earlier than anticipated, causing him to stumble yet again.

He may have fallen this time, though, if Hillary’s hand didn’t reach out just then to pull him back and spin his body around to face them.  Though not as tall as Michelle, even when she wasn’t wearing heels, each of the girls still had him by a good 6 inches and no doubt had a significant weight advantage too.  And there were two of them.

“Look at us when we’re talking to you, dipshit,” Tracy sneered.

Hillary added, “Michelle told us last night we could have you to ourselves once in a while.  And that we could do whatever the fuck we want with you.  So if I were you I would do EXACTLY what we say.  Got it?”

‘Jesus Christ,’ he thought, ‘they sound exactly like Michelle now!’  They stood on either side of him, hands on their hips and glaring menacingly.  He tried inching away from them but Tracy shoved him roughly into Hillary, who shoved him back into Tracy, who grabbed a fistful of his blouse.

“GOT IT!?” Tracy repeated.  Nick nodded in fear.  She let go of his clothes and said, “Good.  Now, I don’t know about you, Hillary, but I’m thinking we all skip first period and have some fun with him behind the school.  Just the three of us, all by ourselves…”

“Hell yeah, let’s do it!”

“No, please!” Nick whined impotently as Hillary put her hand on his back and guided him down the hallway.  Fortunately, they were leading him right past his first period classroom, and he figured it was now or never.  Suddenly, he ducked under Hillary’s hand and darted behind Tracy’s back in a mad dash toward the door.  Tracy got a few fingers on him but couldn’t hold on, and Nick broke free, though his sudden movement caused him to lose his balance entirely and sprawl onto the floor, skinning his knee.  But, acting on pure adrenaline, he managed to scramble on all fours and reach the doorknob before they could get their hands on him again.  He used the leverage of the handle to pull himself up as he opened the door, darted inside, and slammed it shut.

His teacher was pissed at his loud intrusion, and she gave him a referral on the spot, as much for that as for the “disruptive and unseemly” way he was dressed that day, citing the uproarious laughter he incited from his classmates as soon as he walked into her class.  All his teachers now treated him more or less as cruelly as Mr. Henry had the day before, and it didn’t help that he was constantly being forced to be late by Michelle or other distractions beyond his control.  His teacher then promptly sent him to the principal’s office to get changed into proper attire.  He had no objections to getting out of this damned blouse, that was for sure.

He did have objections to leaving the relative safety of the classroom, though.  After enough threats of punishment from his teacher, though, he finally gathered enough courage to step outside and pray that Tracy and Hillary were gone from the halls.  He tried to tiptoe quietly, but it was absolutely no use with the loud clacking of his heels, so he just sucked it up and made a beeline for the administrative office, which fortunately was nearby.

He drew plenty of stares and disapproving frowns from the front office staff as they instructed him to see the dean.  He was meeting with other admins, many of whom had already seen him in the halls.

“What the hell are you wearing?” said one of those who wasn’t present before.  “For God’s sake, take that off!”

“Now, wait just a minute, Brad,” the dean told him.  “It’s OK; I saw him in the hallway a little bit ago.  He’s wearing that to go along with that Michelle girl for Dress Like Twins day; you know, the tall one, the one with the big …”  He held his hands out a few inches from his chest to mimic the size of her breasts.

“Oh!  I know exactly who you’re talking about,” Brad replied with a knowing smirk.  “So he made this little guy dress like a girl, but what’s she wearing?”

“Oh, you should see it, man.  She’s wearing one of his old outfits, from before he started shrinking!  She has the shirt rolled up to here and everything.”

“Damn.  Wow.  Isn’t that, like, a dress code violation or something?”

The dean gave him a frank look and replied, “Well, I’m sure as hell not gonna ask her to lower it.  Wait ‘til you see her yourself and then see what you think of her.”

“Oh yeah?  I suppose I will keep an eye out for her …”  The two of them had forgotten about Nick during their conversation.  Part of Nick was appalled at the things they were saying about one of their high school female students (sexual harassment lawsuit, anyone?), but then again, he couldn’t blame them.  And besides, it was clear that they didn’t give a crap about Nick or what they said in front of him, anyway.

The dean finally did remember him standing there, though.  “Oh, right, it’s you,” he said flatly.  “Look, I see no dress code violation here: your skirt is long enough, and, well, you aren’t exactly showing any cleavage!”  Brad snickered loudly.  “So,” the dean added, jotting down a quick note for his teacher, “just go back and tell any of your teachers that I said it was OK.”  Nick took it from him as he said, “Alright, now beat it,” with a dismissive wave of the hand.

Nick returned to class, though his teacher didn’t like it, and fumed over how unfair everyone’s treatment of him was, especially compared to how they treated Michelle like a queen.  Hell, the only reason why they hadn’t made him change was because Michelle wanted him to wear it, and she clearly now had far more sway over the administrators and teachers than he could ever hope to.  He couldn’t imagine how miserable school, or life in general, would become if he wasn’t being returned to normal in a few days.  But even then, he wondered what would happen: would people still hate him, or would his status return as if nothing had happened?  He would just have to wait to find out.  But in the meantime, his life would continue to be a living hell.

After class, he rushed over to Michelle as soon as fast as his high heels would permit, receiving an endless barrage of jeers from passersby.  Michelle was waiting outside her classroom door as he approached.  “Hey, Nicole!  You’ve definitely gotten better in your heels; good job!”

Nick grimaced and replied softly, “Um … thanks.”  Michelle let him walk alongside her for once, not behind, and she again draped her arm across his shoulders, probably to emphasize their differences and enhance their comic value for the other students.

On the way to her locker, Michelle gave him some pointers.  “Not bad, Nicole, but you should really be putting one foot directly in front of the other; it’ll help you strut your stuff better.  … Now you’re getting the hang of it!  Good, now as you do that you should really try swinging your butt out more with each step.”  Nick unwillingly tried this a little bit.  “Come on, Nick, put some swagger into it!  Sway those hips, girl!”  Plenty of students around them had noticed what they were doing and were loving every second of it.  There was no way Nick was going to do what Michelle asked in front of all of them.

“Nicole,” she said loudly enough for all to hear his new name.  Then she leaned down a bit and lowered her voice to tell him, “Don’t worry about them Nicole; just let it flow.  I know you want to.”  Nick looked up at her and shook his head again in protest.  “Don’t try to hide it, baby,” she responded, gesturing down at his skirt.  Unfortunately, the close proximity of her body – particularly her breasts, which periodically mashed into the side of his face as they walked – had the same arousing effect it always had on him, and he was sporting yet another erection.  Highly embarrassed, he brought his hands down to cover it up, but this was a big mistake, since this only drew everyone’s attention to his crotch, and now they all knew what was going on down there, something that they made clear through an increase in jeers and laughter.

Meanwhile, he hadn’t increased his hip action the way she had wanted.  “Nicole …” she warned, “You don’t want me to have to punish you in front of all these people, do you??”

Nick grimaced in dismay but relented a bit, purposefully increasing the sway of his hips to please her.  Seeing this, Michelle told him, “Oh, honey, we’re gonnna have to work on that.  I’ll let it slide for now, but later on I’ll be expecting more.”  She left it at that as she reached her locker and exchanged some books.

He followed her to her next class, still shamefully erect, and then managed to make it through his second period in one piece.  But as he was hastily walking to meet Michelle before third period, he turned a corner and ran straight into a girl’s curvy backside.

“What the hell!?” a strangely familiar voice called out.  As she turned, he felt another twinge of familiarity as he observed her slender, statuesque physique, her healthy C-sized bosom, and her elegantly tapered neck leading up to striking facial features and –

Holy shit, it was Cindy.  His girlfriend, whom he hadn’t seen or heard from ever since he had shrunk.  ‘Oh God, Oh God, Oh God,’ he thought.  ‘Get the hell away from here, Nick, come on!’  He tried darting sideways but stumbled again thanks to his high heels, forcing him to stand in place to regain his balance.

This gave Cindy more than enough time to fully turn around and lower her gaze to the short man – or woman? – who had so rudely run into her.  “Watch where you’re going, you --  Oh my God.  … Nick!?”  Her jaw dropped as her mind struggled to reconcile her mental image of her boyfriend with the small, weak, feminine-looking boy clad in a pink blouse, skirt, and high heels.  She continued to stare down at him in shock, standing more than a head above him in her heels.  It wasn’t long ago that she was the one who had to look up to him.

Nick broke the silence by saying, “Hey, Cindy.  Uh … as you can see, I’ve gone through some … changes, and –“

She interrupted him by suddenly busting out with laughter.  “Some CHANGES??  Jesus Christ, look at you!  You’ve changed from a big, sexy man to a … a little girl!!”  Her laughter continued as Nick’s face turned beet red.

Flustered, he retorted, “Damn it, Cindy, I was talking about my height, not how I’m dressed!  I’m still a man, for God’s sake!”

She found this hilarious as well, starting a new wave of laughter at his expense.  “What the hell happened to you?  How did you shrink so much?  And, holy crap, why are you dressed like that!?”  He was about to explain, but Cindy cut him off.  “Never mind, it doesn’t even matter.  We’re through.”

“WHAT!??” he exclaimed, completely unprepared for that.  “You can’t dump me!!”  He couldn’t remember the last time a girl had actually dumped HIM; it had almost always been the other way around.  “Can’t we talk about this first?” he pleaded.

“Fuck no,” she replied with disdain.  “Get the hell away from me, you sissy little bitch!  I only date real men.”  Cindy had been his one remaining hope for understanding and compassion, to get him through these hard times.  But his hopes were instantly dashed by her vitriolic stare.

He knew it was over, but he had to at least give it another try, to retain what little dignity he still had.  “Cindy, please, just hear me out –“

A huge wad of spit from Cindy’s mouth rained down on him and hit him right in the eye.  “You’re pathetic.  Get the fuck out of here.”  She made a threatening move toward him and he recoiled away from her.

Before he left, though, she added, “Oh, one more thing: I’VE BEEN CHEATING ON YOU.  Like, every fucking week.  Just thought you should know.”  She gave a haughty, evil smile before twirling around and strutting off down the hallway.

Everyone student either saw this exchange or soon heard about it, and this added even more fuel to the schoolwide phenomenon that was Nick and Michelle.  Literally everywhere he went that day, he heard people talking about him – and usually very nasty things, too.  After Cindy dumped him, he trudged forward in a daze, hardly hearing all the remarks directed at him.  By the time he had reached Michelle’s second period classroom, she had already moved on to her locker and third period.  With nothing else to do, he went to his own class and spent the next two periods wallowing in misery, the normal amount of grief that comes with any break-up being multiplied 10-fold by the horrible circumstances surrounding it and everything else in his wretched life.

Nick found Michelle after fourth period, and not a word was spoken between them as he followed her to lunch.  She told him after third period just how angry she was that her little twin wasn’t there to walk with her the period before, and she was still upset about it.  She had made it clear to Nick that he would be receiving some extra punishment after school.

She sat down with the rest of her friends at the lunch table and told Nick, “Just stand there and keep quiet.  I don’t want to fucking hear your voice right now.”

“Geez, Michelle,” Andy asked, “Nick really did somethin’ to piss you off, huh?”

“Yep, and by the way, he goes by ‘Nicole’ today.  And everyone tell him how pretty he looks.”  Michelle turned an evil eye to Nick as a chorus of sarcastic compliments was raised in his honor, telling him how skinny his blouse made him look and how his outfit really emphasized his feminine features.  Nick blushed and lowered his head in shame as the rest of them carried on with their meal, with the occasional humiliating reference to ‘Nicole’ thrown in.

The rest of his school day didn’t get any better, of course.  Sitting behind Michelle in chemistry class gave him an entire hour to compare the way her enormous, curvy physique filled out his Men’s XL clothes, to his own frail form which fit daintily into her blouse and skirt.

There was one noteworthy moment in class, though.  Mrs. Miller was going around the room, assigning times next week for each group’s presentation as well as asking for the name of their project.  “… And last but not least, Michelle and Nick.  You’ll be presenting at the end of class on Monday, unless we run out of time and push you back to Tuesday.  What’s your project called?”  She held her pen in hand waiting to write it down.

Michelle responded, “Our project is “An advanced beta-3 polymerase compound for modification of human height and physical characteristics.”

Mrs. Miller’s pen dropped out of her hand.  “What did you say!?”

Michelle smiled smugly and replied, “Basically, I shrunk him, and I grew as a result.”

Several gasps were heard around the room.  Up until that time, everyone had assumed the changes that had occurred were just some bizarre coincidence; as incredible as it was that two people in the same class had happened to change heights so drastically all of a sudden, it seemed crazier still to think that this could have been more than a bizarre natural phenomenon; how could anyone possibly engineer such a change themselves?  It had to be some fluke of mother nature.

Mrs. Miller was disturbed by Michelle’s declaration.  Dramatically removing her glasses, she looked at Michelle and said, “I’m not sure what you THINK you did, Michelle, but I assure you that there is a perfectly natural explanation for what has happened, and not because of some magical potion you concocted.”

Michelle shrugged her shoulders smugly and replied, “I’ll prove it during our presentation.  You’ll see.”  Mrs. Miller shook her head disbelievingly but agreed to let Michelle present her case on Monday anyways.  Meanwhile, Nick pondered her words for a moment and could only come to the conclusion that Michelle would be shrinking him further.  For God’s sake, he was short enough already!  He would have to talk her out of it over the weekend.

After school, Nick was hit with some more bad news.  “So, Nicole,” Michelle told him cheerfully once they were out in the parking lot, “how are you liking your new outfit?  And those heels?”

“I hate them,” he shot back petulantly.  Apart from the utter humiliation he faced, he was beginning to understand why girls complained so much about wearing heels – his feet felt like hell after wearing them all day.

Michelle laughed it off and continued, “Anyways, how long does it normally take you to walk home from here?”

“Huh?  … Um, about 30 minutes, I guess.”

“OK.  And that’s just when you’re walking slow, right?”  He nodded cautiously, not sure where this was going.  “Cool.  So I’m sure you can easily walk it in half that time if you wanted to.  So I’ll make you a deal, Nicole.”  She draped her arm across his shoulder as she would a friend and told him, “You’re gonna walk home in your heels, and if you make it back in 15 minutes then I’ll know you’ve gotten good enough at walking in them and you won’t have to practice anymore.”

“But what if I don’t?”

She laughed.  “We’ll just have to see.  OK, now get moving.”  She waved her hand in the direction of her house.

“Wait, Michelle, I can’t do this!  I could hardly make it there in time with sneakers!  And my feet are already killing me from today!”

“Well, that’s a good thing, Nicole.  Sore feet just means your feet are getting used to them.  You’ll be wearing them enough from now on that your feet will need to build up a tolerance.”

“What!?  Oh, come on, Michelle, don’t make me wear these again!”

“Hush, hush.  Talking’s not doing you any good.  You’ve got less than 14 minutes now, by the way.”

Shit!  She had been counting this last dialogue towards his time!?  With a frustrated grunt, he stomped off down the sidewalk, his heels clacking loudly on the cement.  ‘Fuck this,’ he thought, ‘I’m just gonna take them off when she’s out of sight.’

She was too smart for that, though.  She pulled his car alongside him and said out the window, “By the way, I would keep them on the whole way if I were you.  I’m gonna swing by once or twice to make sure.”  She pulled out into the street and drove off as Nick picked up his pace as much as he could.

He quickly learned that wearing heels worked out a different set of leg muscles than normal shoes did.  Rarely-used muscles in his calves, quads, and glutes were soon screaming in pain from the rapid, nonstop steps he took to try to reach his destination under the time limit.  He noted with satisfaction (and dismay) that he had at least gotten noticeably better since that morning, able to avoid stumbling except occasionally when his heel found a small bump in the pavement.  He was well aware of other students from his school, as well as other random pedestrians, openly mocking and laughing at his ridiculous appearance, but he was too anxious to care.

The pain in his feet and legs occasionally became so great that he needed to rest briefly from time to time, adding precious seconds to his time.  And the slower pace of walking in heels in general made it almost impossible for him to make the 15 minute time limit anyways.

He reached Michelle’s front door after 20, maybe 25, strenuous minutes.  Yanking the door open, he stumbled inside and collapsed on the nearest couch.

Michelle bounced into the room, saying, “Well, didn’t quite make it this time, but that’s OK.  It just gives us something to work on.”  She hadn’t driven by him on the road like she said, but her bluff had worked by keeping him honest nonetheless.

He reached down to take her damned shoes off, but Michelle pulled his hands away and scolded gently, “Uh-uh, Nicole, not until you’ve practiced some more.  Come on, let’s work on your walk.”  He didn’t move a muscle, but Michelle grabbed his wrists and pulled him up anyway.

She led him to the dining room where there was a good amount of open floor space.  He noticed his backpack sitting on the kitchen counter nearby, next to Michelle’s purse and phone.  Taking several steps away from him, she said, “OK, Nicole, now walk towards me like I showed you at school today.  One foot in front of the other, and swing your hips.”  She crossed her arms and watched him carefully.

He sighed, thinking, ‘Just get this over with, Nick.’  Slowly, he brought one heel forward, then the other, sticking his hip out an exaggerated amount so Michelle wouldn’t hound him over it.

“Hmm,” she said, watching him with a look of mild disappointment.  “Not terrible, but you look far too rigid.  It should be a nice smooth motion.  You know what, hold on a sec while I get my own heels.”

She returned a minute later, still wearing his shorts and t-shirt, rolled up sexily, but with her usual 4-inch heels instead of his tennis shoes.  So much for his heels giving him a height advantage; he was back down to eye-level with her breasts, her body looking almost as imposing as normal when he wasn’t also wearing heels.

She started walking towards him, exhibiting the style of walking she was looking for.  And God damn, she knew how to flaunt it.  With the confident composure of a runway model, she locked eyes with Nick as she strutted up to him.  Her rolled-up shirt allowed Nick a full view of her curvy hips as they swayed mesmerizingly side to side, drawing his gaze unshakably toward her child-bearing hips as they undulated to and fro.  He didn’t notice, but his jaw had dropped open and a line of drool had just started trickling off his lips.

“See what I mean?” she said with a smirk as she stopped within a foot of Nick, striking a confident, sexy pose that filled his entire vision.  “See the effect that had on you?  I want you to try it the exact same way.”

She stepped back to give him room.  He managed to snap out of his reverie as he concentrated on what Michelle was asking him to do.  It was one thing to force him to dress like a chick, but to actually walk and behave like one?  That was too far.  He would play along just enough to satisfy Michelle, but his mind and spirit would remain resolutely masculine.

He put his game face on and looked Michelle in the eye as he stepped towards her, putting one heel directly in front of the other and swaying his hips like she asked him to, though he hated himself for doing it.  He stopped within a few feet of her towering beauty.

“Hey, now we’re getting somewhere,” she encouraged.  Nick was relieved to hear her say this – all the sooner to get this whole episode over with.  But she added, “Although … I know you can do better, Nicole.”  He felt a growing knot in his stomach as she rested her arms on his shoulders to guide him back where he started.  But then he felt butterflies as she unexpectedly bent down to grab his hands and place them directly on her hips.

She had his full attention now, as the growing protuberance on the front of his skirt made all too obvious.  Her bare skin felt gloriously soft and smooth, and he felt the urge to squeeze her generously sloping hips and run his hands all along them, but was too timid and cowed to risk it.  So he kept his hands completely still, barely resting any weight on her hips.

His hands were raised almost as high as his shoulders, and her close proximity meant her double Ds were staring him right in the face.  He sheepishly lifted his gaze above them to meet her face, which was regarding him with a sexy grin.  He shuddered, feeling overwhelmed by the simple act of standing next to her and holding her by the hips.  It was a position he had been in countless times before at school dances, at parties, and also during his sexual exploits with numerous lucky ladies, although of course those usually involved even less clothing.  But, though he had always had the utmost confidence when interacting with girls, right now his hands were beginning to tremble, his breath quickening, and a lump forming in his throat to prevent him from speaking.  Michelle’s awesome presence made him behave like a shy, skittish teenager who had never been with a girl before.

She could clearly see all of these visual indicators, as well as what was happening in the front of his skirt, and this only encouraged her to smile more devilishly and draw her body even closer to his.  “Keep your hands there as I step backwards, and as I do so I want you to mimic every singly motion of my hips, OK?”

Nick still couldn’t speak, so he nodded silently.  She took a step backwards, thrusting her hip sexily to the side.  Nick was pulled forward, prompting him to take a step of his own.  Fortunately, she had purposely taken a short step with her long legs to accommodate his size.  And since his arms were connected to her hips, as they swayed to the side his own body was pulled that way, and naturally he let his own hips jut outwards to support his shifted weight.

“Good …” Michelle breathed as she took another step, and he moved in tandem with her again.  As their rhythm picked up, he began to get the hang of it, moving more fluidly and gracefully with each step, although of course he still had a long way to go to match Michelle’s natural adeptness at walking sexily.

She paraded him around the room, circling it once or twice before stopping, her hands still resting on his shoulders.  “Impressive …” she breathed lustily.  “You have the mechanics down.  But you’re still missing spirit.”

Flustered, Nick asked, “Wh-What do you mean?”

She brought her hand down and started running it across his chest.  “I need you to do more than just acting the part, Nicole.  I need you to BELIEVE in it.”  As she continued to rub his chest, she also pushed him slowly backwards, forcing him to take several steps back to keep from falling.  She continued in a low, sultry voice, “You need to start thinking of yourself not as Nick, but as Nicole … a small, petite, frail little girl, shy and timid, too timid to ask anyone out, but secretly yearning for the right someone to come along …”

She continued to advance, still using her seductive walk to full effect.  She continued, “… Someone tall, confident, and sexy, someone who will take control and tell you what to do …”

“Michelle, please, just cut it out …” Nick protested meekly, uncomfortable with this whole situation.

But she kept pushing him back until his back bumped into the wall.  Her hand remained on his chest, holding him firmly but not painfully in place.  “You might say ‘no’ at first, but deep down you know what you really want, and you submit.”  Michelle then slid her hand up past his shoulders and behind his head, then Nick felt a sudden shock as her hand grabbed his hair and yanked his head back.  He flailed feebly, but with amazing quickness Michelle’s mouth descended onto his, her powerful jaw muscles prying his open as she thrust her tongue past his lips, exploring his mouth at her own pace.  He resisted at first, but very quickly a surge of adrenaline took over as he returned her kiss with such a passion as he had never felt.

She soon lifted her mouth away from his, ending their embrace far too quickly for his liking as, with eyes still closed, he extended his neck and puckered his lips upwards searchingly, but could not find hers anymore.  He reluctantly opened his eyes to see her standing up straight, panting softly in arousal.

“Now,” she commanded, “Seduce me.  Put that same passion into every step, and show me how badly you need me, how you want me to take you and ravage you …”

She withdrew from him, and when his arms reached forward to regain their hold on her hips, she thrust her hand into his chest, throwing him back forcefully against the wall again.  She then turned and walked seductively to the other side of the room, where she spun around again and beckoned him forward.

He needed no further encouragement.  Gathering himself up, he locked his gaze on hers and immediately strutted forward, using all the catwalking skills she had just taught him, but this time throwing an added spiciness into his gait, really losing himself in the moment and strutting his stuff with reckless abandon.  All reservations he had had about behaving femininely had been thrown out the window, as he now only sought to impress and seduce her.

When he got within a few steps of her, he stopped, spun around on one heel and thrusting his behind out for her benefit as he turned his head and gave a seductive look, bringing his finger up to his mouth and then tracing it down his neck, along his frilly blouse, and then running it along his legs and backside before propping his arm up on his hip to complete his pose, like something out of a glamour magazine.    Intoxicated by his burning lust for Michelle, he had thrown all rationality and sensibility to the wind.  He needed her desperately, so much so that nothing else mattered; he would do anything to have her. 

Until then, he had taken pleasure in ‘conquering’ women, in getting them to swoon over him as he played it cool and acted disinterested to drive them crazy and get them to try even harder to seduce him.   He loved that control over them.  But, in an instant, Michelle had radically altered his point of view.  Now HE was the one pining after HER, flaunting his assets in a desperate attempt to impress her.  She was in control, and it was up to him to convince her that he was worthy.

And the attention she had just given him made him feel … sexy, in a way he had never felt before.  He looked down at his slender form and actually felt proud of how well he had maintained his figure, able to slip into this petite outfit.  And he admired how his heels accentuated his slender legs and caused his butt to flare out slightly from beneath his tight skirt.  Running his hands along his legs and torso, he continued to admire his frail physique, for the first time grateful for the potion Michelle had given him to do away with all those hard muscles and manly features.  Michelle clearly enjoyed his soft, delicate appearance, and since his self-image was now completely dependent on how Michelle viewed him, he now felt pride in his new physique.

“Well, well …” Michelle told him sultrily, closing the gap between them and bending down until her face was inches from his.  “Now THAT is more like it.”  He could feel her hot breath on his lips, and he eagerly anticipated another prolonged kiss, hopefully progressing into a full make-out session …

But, to his dismay, Michelle simply rose to her full height again and walked away, picking up her phone from the counter and clicking a few buttons while ignoring him.  He cringed in disappointment, wondering why she didn’t seem interested anymore.  Had he said something wrong?  Looked at her the wrong way?  Did she not like how he looked – perhaps this blouse made him look fat?  He felt his stomach and felt gross as he pinched the excess flab around his hips.  He needed to stop being such a little piggy and lose some weight for once.  No wonder Michelle didn’t want him.

Now feeling very insecure about himself, Nick sucked his gut in and tried to maintain a pleasant smile as Michelle turned to face him again.  She told him casually, “K, I’ll be in my room.  Don’t bother me unless it’s really important.”

“Oh …” he said with hurt feelings.  Trying hard not to sound too desperate, he added, “Sounds good, Michelle.  And, hey, if there’s anything I can do for you, just ask.”

“There won’t be,” she assured him as she walked down the hallway out of sight.

Nick sighed in frustration, still not knowing what had gone wrong but hating himself anyways.  He spent the next hour or so moping on the couch and rethinking how he acted around her.  Sure, he absolutely hated wearing her clothes and being bossed around so much, but it would all be more than worth it if it meant having a shot with Michelle.  She was all he could think about lately.

Hearing Michelle’s bedroom door open, he leapt to his feet and leaned against the nearby kitchen counter, trying to act casual.  But, though he was watching her every move as she walked by, she hardly seemed to notice him on her way to the fridge.

He followed her into the kitchen and watched her pull out some leftovers.  “Oh, hey Michelle, want me to make you something?” he asked enthusiastically.

“Naw, I’ll just have this,” she replied, putting it in the microwave without turning to look at him.

“Oh … OK, cool,” he told her, but on the inside he was beating himself up for not taking the initiative to make her a nice, hot meal.  Damn it, he would never get anywhere with her like this!

He watched her from across the kitchen as she pulled out her food and took it to her bedroom, still without making eye contact with him.  He glumly opened the fridge and thought about having some leftover enchiladas, but then he saw a Caesar salad and decided on that instead.  It was already mixed with dressing, no more than he would normally have on a salad, but after putting some lettuce in his bowl he took a minute to scrape off as many excess globs of fatty dressing as he could – he didn’t deserve it.

He finished his bowl and still felt hungry, but when he felt his stomach flab bulging out the bottom of his blouse he cut himself off at one bowl of salad.  He then spent the next couple hours cleaning her kitchen and other parts of the house, even though they were still quite tidy from his efforts the other day.  But he made sure to make many trips down the hallway in the process, always staring longingly at her closed door when he passed by it.

Finally, she emerged from her room.  “Nicole,” she called out on her way to the kitchen.

Nick dropped what he was doing and rushed over to her.  “Yes, Michelle?”  She had changed out of his clothes into white long-sleeve top over a form-fitting black spaghetti strap tank top, dark blue jeans, and black heels.  Though the white top unfortunately concealed some of her curves, it was open enough in front to display her cleavage in all its glory.

“Ready to go?” she asked.

“Huh?  Where to?”

“There’s a little get-together at Hillary’s place.  They all wanted me to bring you along.”

“What, really!?  They actually wanted me there?”  He was highly suspicious of their motives.

“Yep, they sure did.  So, I’m all ready.  Let’s head out.”

Nick shook his head in confusion but figured he didn’t have much choice anyway.  “Just give me a second to change into my clothes.”

Michelle laughed heartily.  “No, silly, those ARE your clothes.”  Nick gave a look of dismay, realizing she was actually serious about making him wear this blouse and skirt in public again.  Michelle smiled evilly and added, “What, you thought you would be invited otherwise?  They asked for ‘Nicole,’ not ‘Nick’.”

Nick started to protest, but Michelle simply put her hand up to his mouth to silence him as she used her other hand to guide him toward the doorway.  He knew that arguing could only make this worse.

It was only around 10:00 by the time they got there, so only Tracy and Hillary were there yet to greet them.  “Hey, hey!” they said, exchanging friendly hugs with Michelle.  Then Tracy added, “Oh, and you brought your bitch, too, I see.”  A wicked smile crossed her and Hillary’s faces, causing Nick to recoil in fear as he recalled the incident in the hallway that morning and their promise to have ‘fun’ with him later.  From the evil looks they were giving him, they surely had something planned and Nick had to avoid isolating himself with them tonight at all costs.

“Come along, bitch,” Hillary said, beckoning him to follow as they stepped back inside.  Nick spun his head up to Michelle’s and gave a pleading look, but he could immediately tell that she was perfectly fine with how the other two seemed to be treating him.  A firm nudge on his back told him it was unwise to stall any longer, so he had to follow them inside.

The two girls led him to the master bathroom, where a variety of cosmetic supplies had been laid out.  “Wow, you girls are prepared!” Michelle laughed.

“Yep, and it was a great idea by the way, Michelle,” Tracy told her.

“Wh-What are you gonna do?” Nick asked worriedly.

“Whatever the fuck we want,” Hillary retorted.  “Now shut up.”  Nick closed his mouth immediately.  He had a terrible feeling about these two.  Sure, Michelle was bad, but was also generally much more reasonable when he was ‘behaving.’  But he got the impression that Hillary and Tracy wouldn’t really give a damn if he obeyed them or not – they would enjoy torturing him just for the hell of it.

Tracy and Hillary moved to the counter to decide which makeup to use, while Michelle spun Nick around by the shoulders and told him, “You’re gonna need to be up higher, short stuff,” then before he knew what was happening Michelle lifted him effortlessly under his arms and set his butt down on the counter.

“Good thinking,” Tracy commented.  Now, instead of being at or below shoulder height to each of them, he was now about eye-level with Tracy and Hillary, though still several inches shorter than Michelle of course.

Nick’s eyes grew wide as Tracy brought up a powdering brush to his face.  “Hey!” he protested, holding her wrist back.

But he didn’t account for her other wrist, as it came with blinding speed from the other side and stung his cheek with a loud smack.  “Oww!!” Nick cried, releasing Tracy’s wrist to hold his cheek in pain.

“Don’t try that again or you’ll be sorry,” she threatened.  He kept his hands up to his face for protection, but Tracy added icily, “You want me to break your fingers?”  Nick gulped and lowered his hands to his sides, worried that she actually might be capable of carrying out her threat.  Tracy then proceeded to powder his face with makeup as Nick held back tears.

He sat submissively, not daring to move or make a sound, as the two girls took turns applying makeup.  They were having a blast, chatting happily and deciding which products would look best with his complexion and facial features.  About a minute or two in, the doorbell rang.  “I’ll get it!” Michelle announced, bounding away into the hall.

Now that she was gone, the other two took this opportunity to fill Nick in on some of their plans.  As she applied mascara around his eyes, Tracy told him, “You know, Nicole, we really didn’t appreciate how you ran away from us this morning.”

 “Yeah, we were just trying to hang out with our little buddy!” Hillary chimed in with an evil smile.  “But you won’t be able to escape us tonight …”

“That’s right,” said Tracy.  “Michelle promised us as much time as we want with you at the party.  What do you say, Nicole, wanna spend some quality time with us tonight?”

Nick didn’t want to respond too harshly to risk angering them.  “I’d … uh … rather not.”

Hillary chuckled, while Tracy interrupted her makeup work to lean her face down in front of his, mere inches from his face, and say in a sinister tone, “Too fucking bad.  You’re in our world now, bitch.”  Nick’s heart began pounding a mile a minute out of fear as Tracy completed the final touches on his face, then proceeded to tie his medium-length hair into pigtails.

“Damn, lookin’ good, Nicole,” the familiar voice of Michelle complimented.  She had emerged in the doorway, immediately followed by Kyle and Ted who had just arrived.  Of course, as soon as they saw him they very nearly died with laughter in the hallway.

“Great work, girls,” Michelle told them as she confidently sauntered up to Nick, put her hands on her hips, and admired their handiwork for a minute.  Nick felt extraordinarily uncomfortable and humiliated, but at the same time, the sheer delight and perhaps arousal with which Michelle inspected his body created a spark of excitement in him nonetheless.

When she was satisfied, Michelle effortlessly lifted Nick off the counter and spun him around to face the mirror.  For a moment, his brain didn’t know how to process the image in the reflection, seeing only a young, petite girl with soft facial features accentuated by a tasteful amount of makeup, her hair done up in cute pigtails that lent her an even more youthful appearance, and whose well-fitted pink blouse highlighted her delicate build which, despite a general lack of curves, was appropriately feminine.  They had done such a remarkable job of changing his appearance that he actually did not recognize his own reflection in the mirror.

But soon the reality of the situation came crashing down on him with full force.  He swooned, the strength of his legs giving out beneath him.  He would have fallen if not for Michelle’s hands supporting him beneath the armpits.

After regaining control of his senses enough to stand on his own, he continued to stare in shock at his thoroughly feminine appearance, while Michelle also stared at him through the mirror while pressing his body to hers and running her hands along his bare, hairless chest.  He could feel the huge softness of her breasts pressing on the back of his head, and her touch sent waves of goosebumps cascading down his frail body.

Though the mirror, he saw Michelle bend down to his level, and in his ear he heard her whisper sexily, “My, how sexy you look, Nicole,” engulfing him in a flood of conflicting emotions.  She then rose to her full height and sauntered off into the hallway, saying over her shoulder, “She’s all yours, girls.  Just make sure to at least bring her downstairs now and then to give everyone a chance to see her …”  She briefly glanced back at Nick, who gave a desperately pleading look to have her change her mind.  As much humiliation as Michelle had put him through recently, he felt that he was still far better off in her hands than in Tracy and Hillary’s.  But Michelle only returned his gaze with a smug, knowing smile before walking out.

“Oh, we will,” Tracy replied, turning her hungry gaze on her new prey.  The two guys laughed and followed Michelle downstairs, leaving Nick completely at the mercy of Tracy and Hillary.

His two captors stood next to each other and turned to face him, confidently crossing their arms and barring his exit from the bathroom.  Nick made a slight move to try to get past them but Hillary adjusted her stance to block him, letting out a low, evil chuckle as she enjoyed seeing a growing terror take hold of him.  He had to get the hell out of there at all costs, but how?  Even if he somehow managed to slip under their legs and out the door, he couldn’t possibly manage to get all the way downstairs and out the door before they called out to Michelle and the others to stop him.  And any show of disobedience on his part could only cause more trouble for him.

 Still, he wasn’t ready to completely give in just yet.  “Look, girls,” he said, taking a stand, “This has gone far enough!  I’m a human being, damn it.  You can’t treat me like this.”

“And what the fuck are you gonna do about it, huh?” Tracy snickered.

“I’ll … I’ll get a fucking lawyer, that’s what!  They’ll lock you up for this!”  His voice was quavering.

“Ooooh, I’m so scared!” Hillary mocked.  “How about you, Trace?”

Tracy chuckled and said, “I don’t think we’re the ones who are afraid right now.  Look at this little bitch; she’s shaking in her boots before we’ve even laid a finger on her.”  They started advancing towards him.

“Seriously, stop it!” he yelled, trying to sound assertive but only revealing how frightened he was.  They kept on coming, cornering him where the bathtub meets the wall at the far end of the bathroom.  He couldn’t retreat any further, and their hands began slowly extending towards him …

As one pair of hands grabbed his shirt, he swatted them away and spat, “Fuck you, bitch!”

Both Hillary and Tracy’s eyebrows raised at his defiance.  Turning to Hillary, Tracy said, “What a dirty mouth!  Let’s clean it out for him.”

“Good idea,” Hillary agreed.  She reached across the tub and grabbed a bar of soap from the tray, dangling it in front of his eyes.  “Open wide …”

“Fuck off!”

Suddenly, the two of them sprang into action, Tracy easily overpowering him and pinning his arms behind his back while Hillary grabbed his jaw and forced his mouth open as her other hand quickly shoved the entire bar of soap into his small mouth.

His cries were muffled as he struggled pathetically under the girls’ iron grips.  His taste buds were overpowered by the nasty flavor of soap.  As his wet tongue writhed against the bar, soon his entire mouth was flooded with intense soap-infused saliva.

Hillary removed the bar of soap from his mouth and asked, “Have you learned your lesson yet, bitch?”

Nick spat up some soap suds from his mouth and cried, “Fuck you!”

“Wrong answer,” Hillary replied as she shoved the bar even farther into his mouth, this time working it in and out like an oblong dildo raping his mouth.  She rammed it so far in it triggered his gag reflex and he retched a small amount of stomach acid, adding another horrid taste to his mouth.

He continued to struggle, so Hillary kept the bar in his mouth a while longer.  Soon, tears were streaming down his face, as much from the humiliation as from the overwhelming barrage of revolting tastes.  He felt some soap water begin to trickle down his throat and into his stomach.  Though he held out as long as humanly possible, soon enough all his resistance faded as his one and only concern right now was to end this horrible ordeal.

His body went slack in submission.  Hillary sensed this but kept the soap in his mouth a moment longer for good measure.  Then, to Nick’s relief, she pulled the soap out of his mouth, while at the same time Tracy released her grip, causing him to crumple into a sobbing heap on the floor.

“That oughta clean your fuckin’ potty mouth, for once.  Come on, Trace, let’s head down to the party and give this little bitch some time to recharge her batteries before we have some more fun later.”  The two cruel girls stepped around his slumped form and left the bathroom, leaving him to sob in misery for some time more.

They returned in about twenty minutes, not nearly long enough in Nick’s opinion.  Without even saying a word, they each grabbed an arm of his and hauled him to his feet.  Walking on either side of him, they practically carried his puny body down the stairs and towards the growing din of the party, now in full swing.

There was a moment of stunned silence which quickly gave way into a loud chorus of cheers and jeers, uproarious laughter at his expense.  He very well may have been mistaken for just another girl if all his classmates hadn’t already seen him so attired in school that day.  But they all recognized him now, and the pigtails and makeup, now smeared from all his sobbing, were an added bonus for their viewing pleasure.

His captors led him to a nearby couch and sat down, holding him in front of them as the crowd closed in around him.  For the next twenty minutes, Nick was subjected to an endless barrage of torments from partygoers, everything from spitting in his mouth and forcing him to swallow, to writing ‘SLUT’ and ‘WHORE’ in big black letters across his forehead, and much more.  Pretty much the only thing that didn’t get abused was his clothes –everyone knew they originally belonged to Michelle, so they didn’t want to ruin them.  But even still, not a single person spoke up against this violation of his humanity; not too surprising, since there was no one at his school whom he could even remotely consider his friend.

Soon enough, Hillary and Tracy had grown tired of this and wanted a more private experience with their new slave.  They nodded confidentially at each other then stood and announced that Nick would be leaving for a while but would return later.  They then carried him and his pitiful face up the stairs and into the master bedroom, shutting and locking the door behind them.

“OK, bitch,” Tracy told him, “you’ve spent enough time entertaining the others; now it’s time to entertain us.”  They unceremoniously dumped him in the middle of the floor.  “You can start by worshipping our feet.”

Nick was still somewhat dazed from his ordeal downstairs, but he managed to turn his gaze up to hers and give a puzzled look.  “You want me to do what?”

He saw Tracy’s long, shapely leg suddenly moving forward, and before he could react he felt a strong blow from her foot landing directly in his gut, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to keel over in pain.

“WORSHIP MY GOD-DAMNED FOOT!” she boomed, planting her extended foot on the ground beside his head.  Though he was still seeing stars, her voice was threatening enough to put him into action as he began kissing the top of her foot rapidly.

Her foot quickly lifted up, smacking him squarely in the nose and causing some blood to trickle out.  “I said worship my foot, not peck at it like some god-damned chicken or something.”  Desperate to please, Nick now wrapped both hands around her ankle and ran them up and down in a fervent caress as his lips worked their way along the length of one foot, then the other, giving them as much loving as he could.

“Hey, don’t forget about me, bitch,” Hillary sneered, kicking Nick painfully in his side.  He frantically darted over to her foot and applied the same treatment.

He was forced to continually swap his attention between the two girls, constantly receiving kicks regardless of how well he was doing.  When they were finally bored with this, Tracy gave one last emphatic kick to his abdomen, causing him to double over again in pain.  Meanwhile, she walked over to the bed and sat down, commanding him, “Get your ass over here, now!”

He could barely breathe, but he managed to crawl his way to the side of the bed.  Without being told to, he began caressing her feet again, but her hand shot down and grabbed a handful of his hair, yanking him up onto his knees, his torso pressed against the bed and his face between her legs.

“Ever gone down on a girl before?” she asked dominantly.

Nick gulped, eyeing her crotch just inches from his face.  He looked up and emphatically shook his head ‘no’.  Not only had he never eaten a girl out before – he had always refused in the past – but he sure as hell didn’t want to start like this.  “Please, Tracy, don’t …”

She laughed evilly.  “Fuck you,” she spat, raising herself up briefly to pull down her underwear.  She repositioned her pussy in front of his face again, and Nick tried to push off her legs to get away, but Hillary’s huge, strong hand suddenly snatched his hair from behind and mashed his face into Tracy’s waiting lips.

He fucking hated it.  Her juices tasted musky and slightly salty, and he found it almost impossible to breathe considering how hard Hillary was pressing his face into her.  The taste, the heat, and the lack of air were quickly becoming more than he could handle.  Fortunately, Tracy apparently was sufficiently turned on by this whole situation that it didn’t take long for her to come, washing her feminine juices onto his face and mouth while clamping her legs around his head until he thought he would pop.  He gave a muffled scream of pain, but this only caused Tracy to shudder in a little added pleasure from the vibrations.

Hillary pulled his face out of Tracy’s bush but continued to hold his hair, dangling his head a few feet off the ground as he hung limply, trying to recover both physically and psychically.  But the girls didn’t give him much of a reprieve as the two of them swapped places, and now it was Hillary’s turn to benefit from their control over him.  He was forced to service her in the same manner, though this time he became all the more exhausted and demolished from the ordeal.

After the two girls were finished with him and had tidied themselves up, they stepped out of the bedroom, leaving Nick sprawled on the ground in misery and exhaustion.  But they only gave him about 5 minutes to recover, as the two of them returned to the room accompanied by a guy Nick vaguely remembered from class.

"Here he -- or should I say, she -- is.  Pay up first."  The guy handed Tracy a 10 dollar bill.  "Alright then!  Enjoy."  Tracy and Hillary stepped out and closed the door behind them.

Nick picked his head up.  "What the hell is this about?" he asked, growing more worried with each step the guy took towards him.

He shrugged.  "They told me 10 bucks and I get a blow job.  And for that price, I don't really give a damn who gives it."

Nick rose to his knees and started inching away in horror.  "What!?  You can't be fucking serious!"

But he was serious.  With one huge hand he grabbed a fistful of Nick's hair, pulling his head forward as he unzipped his pants.  Nick screamed, but no one came to help.

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

Saturday: 6’6” – 5’4”

It was 2:00 in the afternoon.  Nick hadn't left his bed yet, trying in vain to shake off the horrible events of last night.  Let's just say that Tracy and Hillary made quite a profit, from both sexes.  Whether Michelle actually felt an iota of sympathy, or just wanted him out of her sight, she had allowed him to sleep in the guest bedroom on the second floor.

On multiple occasions as he lay in bed, Nick heard the doorbell ring, and heard Michelle answer it and have a conversation with whoever it was.  He didn't really give a damn, though.  He lay awake for hours, only getting up once to go to the bathroom, and wallowed in misery.

Eventually, he heard the floorboards creaking beneath the weight of Michelle's towering frame, growing louder as she approached his door.  Without bothering to knock, she barged in confidently and strolled up to his bedside, wearing a very professional-looking yet incredibly sexy business-type suit that fit her curves perfectly and opened up enough in front to give a stellar view of her cleavage.

She had four pairs of handcuffs in her hands; lord knows where she got them.  Before he realized what was going on, she quickly and efficiently hurled the covers off him and grabbed his wrists and ankles one by one, handcuffing each of them to a bedpost.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" he shrieked.

"Just shut up," Michelle replied dispassionately.  "I'm going out for a few hours and I can't have you running around saying mean things about me like I know you will."

"What?  What the hell are you talking about?  What people?"

"Oh yeah, you've been lying in bed like a bum all day and didn't know.  Well, the media has gotten wind of my little scientific breakthrough and they're dying to know more about it.  But I'm afraid that if they got a hold of you, you might paint an ... unfair picture of your circumstances."

"Unfair!?  So you're just going to tie me to the fucking bed instead, even after all you've already done to me, and then you expect me not to say bad things about you!?  Bullshit.  Let me go, you bitch!"

With a smug expression, she shrugged and replied, "See what I mean?  You're much better tied up in here, where I know you can't cause any trouble."

"Oh yeah!?" Nick replied viciously.  "Next time someone comes to the door, I'll yell so loud they'll hear me.  And then you'll be sorry."

Michelle raised her eyebrows.  "Hmm ... I hadn't thought of that."  She disappeared down the hallway and Nick thought she might have been leaving anyway until she returned with a roll of duct tape.  Picking up Nick's used boxers from yesterday, she told him, "Thanks for letting me know, Nick.  I really appreciate it," before shoving his own dirty underwear in his mouth and wrapping his head with tape.

Nick screamed and thrashed about but was utterly helpless to do anything at all.  As Michelle went downstairs and headed out, he kicked himself (figuratively) for his little outburst.  The musky odor of his boxers only added to the putrid taste in his mouth that had accumulated from the variety of bodily fluids he was subjected to the night before.  He fell into a woeful stupor as the hours trickled slowly by ...

Five hours later, his door opened again.  "Hey, Nicole!" said Michelle cheerfully.  She walked up to him and removed the tape and underwear, allowing him to take several long gasps of fresh air.  "How ya feelin'?" she asked, but Nick was too miserable to reply.  "Hehe, poor little guy.  You want out?"  Nick nodded slowly, cautiously.  "You're not going to give me any more lip, are you?" she asked, and Nick silently shook his head.  "Good girl."  She pulled out the key to the handcuffs and removed them one by one until he was able to sit up in bed, using his muscles for the first time in about 16 hours.

Michelle reached out to stroke his hair and neaten it up a bit, but Nick pulled his body away from her in trepidation.  "Hey, it's OK, Nicole.  I'm not gonna hurt you," she soothed.  Nick nervously remained still as she tenderly ran her fingers through his hair.  "Heard you had a rough time last night.  I didn't intend for it to go that far."

Nick looked into her caring eyes and realized she might actually be telling the truth.  She continued, "You must be starving.  I got us something to eat.  Why don't you come downstairs for dinner, and after that I'll give you the night off.  You can do whatever you like."

"A-Anything?" Nick asked in surprise.

"Yep!  You will have to stay inside the house of course, but otherwise you're free to watch something or use my computer or whatever.  And I'll even let you change into your other clothes."

Nick didn't know where this kindness was coming from, but he warily went along with it, putting on his normal guy clothes and eating a nice dinner with Michelle with even a bit of civilized banter between them.  Then he plopped down in front of the TV and watched some movies, the best way to relax while taking his mind off of his miserable life.  Actually, it ended up being a nice evening for him, the best since this whole ordeal had begun many days ago.  He would see Michelle passing by every now and then with a  warm smile, and he actually felt a twinge of warmth and happiness when he saw her -- a very, very slight twinge, but a twinge nonetheless.

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

Sunday: 6’6” – 5’4”

"Wake up ...  Wake up ..."

Nick slowly opened his eyes to view the source of this soothing voice.  As his eyes came into focus, he saw the gorgeous face and exquisite body of Michelle sitting beside him on the bed.  Her sweet smile temporarily washed all his anguish away.  He also felt his loins stirring as he drank in the voluptuous flare of her hips and the juicy swell of her bosom wrapped in another sexy business outfit.

But his momentary euphoria was immediately washed away once he tried moving his arms and feet.  With horror, he realized that Michelle had just rebound them to the bedposts as he slept.  "What the hell!?  No, Michelle, please!" he begged, his face scrunched up in a look of dread and anxiety.

"There, there ..." Michelle soothed, rubbing her hand gently across his bare chest.  "I'm leaving the house again, and unfortunately this is the only way I can be sure you'll stay out of trouble."  He started struggling futilely against his bonds and was about to start whining and yelling, but Michelle put a finger to his lips and told him, "Now, now, if you don't behave I'll be forced to gag you again with your dirty underwear, and you don't want that, do you Nicole?"

Nick stopped struggling immediately.  "Good girl.  Now, I don't know how long I'll be gone, so I made you a sandwich to help you make it through."  She picked up one half of the sandwich which was on her lap and brought it to his lips.  "Open wide!"

Nick hated being fed like this but knew it was far better than starving.  He opened his mouth and allowed Michelle to feed him the sandwich.  It was a simple PB&J but actually tasted quite delicious to Nick, and he was grateful at least that she had let him have it.  Well, maybe grateful wasn't the right word, but he at least acknowledged that things could have been worse.  Once he was done eating, she leaned down and planted a wet kiss on his forehead.  Nick involuntarily gasped, not so much from the kiss as from the immense and spectacular display of cleavage that had opened up before his eyes.  This image would return to him again and again over the next several hours, tormenting him with arousal though his bound hands were unable to do anything about it ...

Like yesterday, she returned in time for dinner and let him free.  But this time she stopped him before getting out of bed, putting a hand on his chest while leaning towards him and saying sultrily, "Why don't you wear something a little ... sexier tonight.  For me?"  Her other hand brought up a white dress with yellow flowers on it, clearly one of her older outfits from when she was short and petite like him.

"Michelle, no!  Please don't make me wear that!"

Completely unexpectedly, she told him, "OK, if you don't want to you don't have to."  But her hand snaked up his neck and stroked his cheek enticingly as she added in a sexy voice, "But I'm sure you'll find me a bit more ... amicable tonight if you're wearing what I like ..."  She rose to her feet and sauntered off, swaying her hips seductively.

Nick made up his mind instantly.  He picked up the dress and slipped it on, then went to the mirror.  Damn it, the dress made him look fat, at least to his eyes.  It did showcase his lean upper body at least, but he had to make sure to suck his gut in around Michelle.  He had to look his absolute best for her; that's all he cared about now.

He put his high heels on then returned to the mirror to straighten out his hair some.  When he was satisfied enough with his appearance, he headed down to the kitchen, where Michelle greeted him with a very pleased smile.  "Very nice," she purred.  Then, standing up and walking past him to the fridge, she added, "Your face and hair could use some work though."

Nick was deeply hurt by this comment, and he immediately became insecure and worried about his appearance again.  They ate dinner together, and Nick tried his hardest to keep a pleasant smile and maintain a nice conversation, trying to impress her as much as possible with his attitude.  She seemed happy, but her comment still weighed heavily on his mind.

As soon as they were done with dinner, the first thing he said was, "So maybe you could help me look better?"

Michelle was absolutely delighted with his newfound eagerness to cross dress.  "Hell yeah!  Let's do it!"  She grabbed his tiny hand and lead him to her bathroom, where she proceeded to deck him out in makeup and a new hairdo, all the while giving him pointers on what each step was in the process and why it was important, so that he may learn to do it himself eventually.  He was more than willing to go along with it, and he quickly discovered a tremendous side benefit: since she was so damn tall, she had to bend way over every time she wanted to apply makeup, which permitted him a full view of her astounding cleavage over and over again, even to the point where he had trouble standing still in his arousal.

"Sweet!  All done.  That's much better, wouldn't you agree, Nicole?"  She stood him in front of the mirror so he could get a good look at how effeminate he looked -- much like yesterday, except Michelle had done a slightly more thorough and tasteful job of it than the other girls.

"Thank you," Nick replied softly, quietly hating himself for going along with this but at the same time hoping against hope that his appearance would have the desired effect on Michelle.

"You're welcome, little girl," she replied sweetly, draping her arms over his shoulders and lightly pressing her breasts against the back of his head, and amused by the audible gasp he let out when he felt her against him.  "Sooo ..." she added, "now that you've accepted your new role as a girl, we should do girly stuff tonight.  Come along to my room; we can gossip and paint each others' nails."

"Oh ... um, okay," Nick replied slowly.  He would play along for now, and hopefully the fact that she was letting him into her room was a good sign.

He felt like he was entering the Forbidden Palace as he stepped into her highness's bedroom.  She started up some girl talk, though Nick had a hard time responding in kind.  So, bored with his lack of conversational ability, she called her friend Hillary as she had Nick paint all 20 of her nails, keeping a close eye on him and reprimanding him for painting sloppily.

He finally finished the painstaking process, but she remained on the phone.  Placing the nail polish on the end table, he sat on the bed and looked at her expectantly.  She didn't make any indication of noticing him, though, and continued jabbering away with her friend for nearly another hour as Nick sat near her awkwardly, grief-stricken that she wasn't spending time with him instead.  But he didn't want to leave to potentially miss his chance.

At long last, the conversation was drawing to a close, though not on account of Nick waiting for her.  No, it was for a far worse reason.  "Oh, you're going out tonight?  Where to?" Michelle asked.  "... Market Street?  Sounds awesome ... Hell yeah, I'll come.  I'll leave right away ... Oh, haha, don't worry, I won't bring Nicole ... See ya soon!"

Michelle closed her phone and got up to get ready, apparently forgetting Nick had been there the whole time.  He followed after her and said half-pleadingly, "I thought we were going to spend the evening together -- just the two of us."

Michelle turned her head and raised her eyebrows as she realized how sad this was making him.  But evidently she didn't care.  "Hmm ... don't think I ever agreed to that ... besides, we already just spent the last hour together."

"Yeah, but you were on the phone--"

She shrugged.  "Some other time, OK?  You may be free all night, but I've got a social life to keep up with."

Nick watched mournfully as this tall vixen gathered her things together, then to his surprise she said, "Follow me," as she ascended the stairs.  Entering his guest bedroom, she quickly though nicely grabbed his left wrist and pulled it to the nearest bedpost, latching the handcuff on his wrist.

"Michelle!" he whined.  "You don't have to do this!"

She shrugged and replied dispassionately, "Soon, I may be able to trust you, but until then it's better to be safe than sorry.  But I'll be nice and only put one handcuff on you, as a token of goodwill."  He didn't know in what universe locking someone to a bedpost could be considered 'goodwill', but he didn't bother to argue, at the risk of provoking her to rescind her 'generous' offer.

"OK, Nicole, I'm heading out.  See you later!"

"Bye," he grumbled sourly, as he prepared for even more long hours of monotony, tethered to the bed.

When she finally did return home after midnight, she was at least 'merciful' enough to unbind him and let him sleep in his bed like a free human being.  Once freed, he decided to make a move on her by wrapping his hands around her neck and trying to pull in for a kiss.  He hoped to take advantage of her drunkenness, but she was having none of it, simply standing up quickly, breaking his grip and leaving him on the bed wanting more.

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

Monday: 6’6” – 5’4”

When Nick came downstairs the next morning, Michelle was already eating breakfast, dressed in yet another impressive and sexy business-type suit.  He guessed that her professional attire lately was related to the supposed media attention her invention had garnered.

What she said next helped confirm these suspicions.  "I need you to sign this," she announced, sliding a rather thick packet of papers towards him as he walked up to the kitchen counter.

"What is it?"

"Legal documents, drawn up by my lawyers."

"You have lawyers?"

"Yeah, hired them this weekend; mostly patent lawyers to help me secure the rights to my product."

"What, you're planning to sell this!?  You can't just let anyone have this power!"  Nick knew first-hand how drastically her concoction could change lives, especially for the worse.

"Sure I can; this is a free country.  And you know people will be dying to pay for it."  He tried to protest further, but she raised her hand and said, "Enough complaining; just sign the forms, wherever it's marked."

"But what the hell are these forms, then?"

She sighed in mild exasperation.  "They're just confirming that you consent to participating in our experiment.  Basically, so you can't press charges against me for anything."

"Press charges?"

"Geez, will you stop with the questions already?  It's just that my lawyers thought you might have a good case against me, that I may have, like, violated your rights or something when I shrank you without you knowing and maybe forced you to do things against your will, especially in public."

A light bulb turned on in Nick's head: he could sue her ass!  Or at the very least, use this as leverage to get his way with her from here on out.  "But you DID do all those things," he said with a confident smile.  "And maybe I do deserve something for my troubles ..."

Michelle seemed completely unconcerned.  "No, once you sign this form it'll prove that I'm innocent."

He scoffed.  "Oh?  And what if I don't sign?"

She shrugged and stood up next to him.  "I thought you might give me some trouble over this."

"You got that right," Nick replied, his confidence growing by the second.  "You never shoulda told me about taking it to court.  BIG mistake."

"Hmph," she retorted.  "So what are your terms?"  She put a hand on her hip as she stepped in front of him and looked down.  Despite her blank expression, he felt more than a little intimidated by her size -- he had taken off her girlie clothes including her heels, so now his eye level was reduced to just below the bottom of her bust again.

But he remained confident, knowing he had her where he wanted her.  "For starters, you're going to return me back to my normal height today -- actually, let's make it right now."

"Before the lab presentation?  We'd fail it for sure."

"Fine, whatever," he replied, unperturbed.  "After we get home then.  And as for all the pain you've caused me ..." he added, pausing dramatically, " ... I'm thinking we split all the money you make from your invention 50-50.  And then maybe, just maybe, I'll drop the charges against you."

She continued to stare down at him impassively until he began to feel a little uncomfortable.  Finally, she shook her head and replied, "Naw, I like my offer better.  You just sign these forms, and leave the rest to me."

Nick laughed confidently.  "Yeah right!  Why would I ever agree to that?  No way."

She returned a smug grin.  "Oh, you will agree to it, trust me."

"Hah!  There's no way in hell I'll ever--"

He was stopped in mid-sentence when Michelle swiftly leaned down to his level, snapped his head back with her hand, and descended her mouth onto his with great force, parting his jaw open and working her tongue back and forth inside his mouth.  He willingly submitted and let his mouth be taken by this towering goddess.

When she finally pulled away, she brought her hand up to wipe a line of saliva from the corner of her mouth, and then stood straight while pressing her body against his and saying, "There's more where that came from, little one.  Just sign the form, and you'll see just how nice it is to be on my good side."

Nick's mind and body was still reeling from the intensity of her kiss.  But he also hesitated in part because he wasn't sure he could actually agree to her terms, as tempting as they may be.  After all, there was potentially a whole shitload of money to be made from her enterprise, and could he really forgo all of it just for the instant gratification she could provide?  It sounded like an easy choice when he said it to himself, yet as he looked at her he remained enraptured ...

She seemed a bit peeved that he hadn't caved immediately, so she added, "Who are we kidding, Nick?  I could easily force you to sign it, and you couldn't stop me.  But," she continued, lowering her face just above his again and staring him directly in the eyes, "I would much rather you give yourself to me openly.  I would just be soooo pleased with you, Nicky ..."  She planted a soft, tender kiss on him, allowing her lips to linger enticingly before withdrawing.

His head was spinning deliriously from the attention she was giving him.  His resistance faded as he considered the incredible benefits of her offer.  And so what if he was giving up his share of the pot, and perhaps relinquishing control in other ways as well; if she was to be as warm and intimate with him as she seemed now, then surely she would not only keep him close but let him reap some of the monetary rewards as well.

"OK, I'll do it," Nick told her decisively, thinking this may be the best decision he ever made.

"Good boy," Michelle said, smiling warmly.  She stepped aside and tenderly stroked the back of his neck as she flipped the pages to where his signature was needed.  There were about 10 places to sign, and when he was finished Michelle gathered the pages together and placed them in her book bag.  Then she turned back to Nick and, instead of kissing him again as he expected, she happily patted him on the head and said, "Well now, time for school, eh?"

"Oh ... Sure," Nick replied, disappointed that he wasn't getting more action now but figuring it could wait until later.  And hell, maybe it would be better to wait until she returned him to his normal size that afternoon, then he could really give her some lovin' like a real man.

At Michelle's orders, Nick loaded the car with various pieces of lab equipment from her basement in preparation for their presentation.  Then Michelle actually let him ride into school with her, another sign that he was in her good graces.  However, she did still make him tote her overweight backpack around, telling him that since he was dressed as a boy again he ought to take on his 'manly' responsibilities.  All things considered, though, he couldn't complain.

Michelle went straight into the principal's office, with Nick following her.  There was a sophomore currently meeting with him at the time, but Michelle gave the kid one mean look and told him, "Get out," and he obeyed instantly.

"What is the meaning of this?" the principal demanded, rising to his feet and planting his closed fists on the desk angrily.  "... Wait, you're that Michelle girl that everyone's been talking about, aren't you?  Well, it doesn't matter who you are, you can't just barge in here uninvited!"

Michelle turned to Nick and said, "The door," gesturing for him to shut it, which he did immediately and then stood timidly off to the side, out of her way.  Then Michelle strolled briskly around the principal's desk and confronted him face-to-face, or rather face-to-shoulders, since the principal at merely 6 feet tall was utterly dwarfed by Michelle's 6'10" in heels.

He gulped and retreated one step, suddenly wishing he had remained seated.  Unable to return her hard stare, the principal cringed beneath her as she stated forcefully, "You're gonna want to be nicer to me from now on.  And you can start by giving me the auditorium for my science presentation this afternoon."

The principal had mostly recovered from his initial shock and replied, "Excuse me?  I don't think so, young lady.  I--"

"Lock the door, Nick."  Nick turned the bolt until he heard it click.  "Now," Michelle continued, turning her attention back to the principal, "this is what's going to happen today.  Reporters from all over will be coming in to see my invention, and you will give me the whole auditorium so I can fit them in with the rest of the class.  And in the meantime, you will do everything you can to help me set the stage up to my liking.  Any questions?"

The principal was getting flustered, caught off-guard by this brash teenager who had the gall to boss him around.  But not just any teenager -- an extraordinarily tall, extraordinarily hot one.  But, after retreating a few more steps, he took a deep breath and said, "Look, young lady, this is highly inappropriate.  You're getting detention for this, and you're lucky if I don't suspend you."  He turned to Nick and said, "Open the door."

Nick shook his head no, happy to not be on the receiving end of Michelle's wrath for once.  As the principal began moving for the door, Michelle shot forward and pinned his arms against the wall, catching him completely by surprise.

It wasn't clear whether Michelle actually had a strength advantage -- he was a fairly strong man, after all.  But, where pure strength and physical dominance might possibly fail her, she could always fall back on her seduction tactics without fail.

Before he had time to muster his strength against her, Michelle pressed her ample chest into him, nestling his chin firmly into her cleavage.  He gasped loudly, and even from across the room Nick could see his strength instantly give out as his brain short-circuited from the sensory overload.  For good measure, Michelle grabbed the back of his head and rubbed his face back and forth against her milky white flesh.

"Oh ... my ... God ..." was all he could mutter.

"Mmmm," Michelle hummed, pleased with his reaction.  "I always figured you were a breast man ..."

"Y-Yeah," he stammered weakly.

"Of course," she added, twisting her body against him to grind her butt into his crotch, "I suppose it doesn't really matter what part of the female anatomy you like; I know I have more than enough to please you."  He nodded again as she returned to her original position, with her tits mashed into his neck and chin.  His knees gave out temporarily, but her body held him pinned up against the wall.

"Now, little man," Michelle added authoritatively, "are you going to be good for me and do everything I tell you?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good.  And don't forget it.  I'm sure Nicky here can tell you what happens when I don't get what I want."  Nick lowered his head in shame, but found comfort in the knowledge that he may not have to experience that from here on out.

She stepped back while keeping a hand on his chest.  "OK.  So, the presentation is at 2:00, and I'll need you and some others to help me set up beforehand -- microphones, lights, everything.  And you should probably write me an all-day hall pass, in case any teachers give me lip about missing class."  She gestured to his desk, and he hurriedly got out a pen and a slip of paper and filled it out appropriately before handing it to her, his face beet red from both arousal and embarrassment.  Nick knew the feeling all too well.  "Anything else?" he asked, anxious to be rid of her.

"Hmm ... yeah.  I'm heading to Ms. Halloway's class now, and I could really use a Coke.  Why don't you go ahead and bring one to me once class has started?"

"A ... A coke?"

"Yep.  And just so we're clear, I want YOU to bring it to me, in person, after the bell rings."  She turned to the door, and Nick swiftly opened it for her as she stepped through, leaving the principal speechless and dumbfounded.

Surely enough, after Nick had dropped off Michelle's book bag and the first period bell had rung, there the principal was, interrupting class with a deep blush on his cheeks as he walked up to Michelle and set an ice cold Coca-Cola on her desk, a drink which was forbidden in all classrooms at this school.  The teacher was too shocked to say anything, and not knowing what else to do, allowed Michelle to pop it open loudly and begin drinking it as the lecture began.

***********

The hour of the presentation was rapidly approaching.  Nick was pulled out of his class by an administrator and sent to the auditorium at 1:50, per Michelle's request.  As he stepped onto the stage, he peeked out around the closed curtains and saw what could almost be described as a media frenzy, with dozens of cameras and microphones being set up by the various news crews who had come to see what this was all about.  Space was left open for the rest of Mrs. Miller's chemistry class, though much of the rest of the auditorium was filled with reporters.  He saw the logos of every local news station in the area, and even a few regional/national stations.

Inevitably, photos of Nick and Michelle from Friday's dress-up day in school had sparked an internet phenomenon on Reddit and other online pages -- understandable considering the combination of sexy girl, humiliated cross-dressed guy, and comically ridiculous height difference -- which generated enough hype to warrant a press conference that weekend, in which Michelle announced her invention and that proof would be shown at Monday's chemistry presentation in the auditorium of Belmont High School.  Though the media was no doubt skeptical as to the veracity of her claims, hence the absence of some of the nation's top news sources, nevertheless her stunt had generated enough hype to at least warrant coverage by a variety of media outlets.

"There you are," the familiar voice of Michelle called out.  "Come over here."

He walked up to her as she was preparing a few chemicals in some beakers on the lab table that had been set up in the middle of the stage.  Michelle was all business, psyching herself up for the presentation which would likely mark the beginning of the rest of her (and Nick's) life.

Once he approached, she continued to prepare her potions as she said, "I'm going to need you on stage with me, Nicky.  Just stand there next to the table and keep quiet, and let me do all the talking.  And make sure to keep a nice, pleasant smile to convey the right message to them.  Oh, and one more thing ..."  She put the flasks down on the table and walked up to him.  Putting her hands on his shoulders and looking down at him seriously, she said, "I need to prove to them that my solution works, and the only way to do that is for you and me to drink more of it so everyone can see the effects."

Nick gave a startled look but Michelle continued before he could protest.  "I'm telling you now so you don't freak out in front of everyone and make me look bad.  So I need to know that you won't give me any trouble when the time comes."

Nick looked up at her uncertainly.  Wasn't he short enough already?  He hated the idea of shrinking even more.

"Please, Nicky?" she asked, batting her eyes innocently at him.  He couldn't remember the last time she had actually asked him to do something, as opposed to commanding him.  But he still wasn't quite sure he could agree to this ...

"One minute until we're live, Michelle," one of the stage crew announced.

"K," she replied.  Running out of time, she turned back to Nick and swiftly lowered her lips to his, giving a brief but passionate kiss that took his breath away.  "Will you do it?"

He caught his breath and nodded, saying, "Yes!"

"Good," she replied, standing straight and walking around to finish the final touches with her beakers.

"Ready when you are," the stage hand called.

"Let's do this," Michelle replied confidently, picking up the wireless mic from the table and clipping it to her collar.  The curtains were drawn, exposing Nick and Michelle to the bright lights and excited murmurs of the crowd.

Michelle stepped forward and raised her arms, saying, "Welcome everyone, and thank you for coming.  What you are about to see this afternoon will astound you, but I assure you it is 100% real.  No tricks."  Nick gave a short chuckle as her opening reminded him of basically every magic act he had ever seen.  Though he knew first-hand that, unlike the magicians', Michelle's act was indeed 100% authentic, even though it was almost too incredible to believe.

After a few more introductory remarks, she had Nick come to her and stand against a doctor's height measurer, probably from the nurse's office.  She announced their heights, 6'6" and 5'4", for reference, then she had him return to his spot next to the table as she continued speaking.  Poured the contents of two flasks together, she created a solution that had the same dark red hue as he remembered from before, though he could have sworn it was even darker and more potent-looking than before ...

Michelle confidently drank half of the beaker's contents before placing it into Nick's waiting hands.  He hesitated for just a moment, but as soon as he looked up at Michelle's pretty face and remembered the warmth of her embrace and the reward she had promised, he took a deep breath and brought the beaker to his mouth, downing all of its bitter contents in one long swig.

Michelle flashed him a broad smile -- actually, almost too broad.  The glint in her eye made her look almost drunk with glee, reveling in the power of her concoction and what fortunes it would bring her.  She turned back to the audience to continue speaking, and Nick blinked several times, thinking he may have just been imagining things.

As she waited for the effects to kick in, Michelle went into a few details about the chemical composition of her solution, and what she had done to trigger the desired effects, though vague enough to avoid giving away any secrets.

By the time she started explaining what effects it would have on each of their bodies, those changes were already becoming noticeable in the form of baggy clothes on Nick and undersized clothes on Michelle.  She snapped her fingers at him to have him step forward, and he did so until he was standing right next to her, drawing several gasps and murmurs from the audience as they tried to remember if he had stood quite that far below her breasts before ...

As Michelle continued to speak over the next few minutes, the audience's suspicions were confirmed beyond any doubt.  Michelle now had to speak up into the mic to be heard above the growing din of the bewildered crowd which, -- unless it was the work of some crazy special effects they had never seen before -- was actually witnessing with their own eyes the simultaneous growth and shrinking of two fully-formed human beings.

Nick grew more and more concerned with each passing minute, looking up to see Michelle's face looming even farther above his reach than ever before.  Nick could hear the straining of Michelle's clothes against her ever-growing body.  At one point, Michelle even had to bend down and remove her heels, telling the crowd proudly, "Looks like I won't be wearing these again!" producing a small wave of stunned laughter from the crowd.

Nick was utterly captivated by Michelle's body as she stood back up, her curves now even more voluptuous and exaggerated than before, stretching the fabric of her outfit to the breaking point.  He was so enthralled as she stood up, and up, and up, past his tiny frame, that he forgot to mind his own clothing.  His pants dropped around his ankles, and it was out of sheer good fortune that his hands managed to dart down in time to save his boxers from doing the same and exposing his penis for the entire world to see.

"Might have to start shopping in the children's section for his next clothes!"  Michelle exclaimed, drawing raucous laughter from the crowd as they began to accept the evidence of their eyes and started enjoying the spectacle, at Nick's expense no less.

When their bodies had finally stopped changing, Nick looked over in dismay at the utterly gargantuan form of her lab partner, staring her right in the gut, around the level of her navel.  Jesus Christ, and she wasn't even wearing heels anymore!!

He didn't even have to guess what his new height was, as Michelle led him by the arm back to the height meter and announced him at a whopping 4'10".  His jaw dropped when he heard that number, an entire six inches off of his already diminutive height.

Next, Michelle tried to step under the bar and extend it up to her full height, but she ended up just pulling the whole attachment out of its slider as she was now literally too tall to measure.  "Well, looks like I won't be able to give you an exact measurement, but I'm sure you get the picture," she said with a broad grin, tossing aside the defeated bar as she stepped off the short platform.

Being mostly finished with what she wanted to say, Michelle took the opportunity to pose next to Nick as many thousands of flashes went off from audience members eager to capture this experience on camera.  She allowed time for a few questions, but returned mostly vague answers and assured them that Michelle's new start-up company would immediately begin developing her product for FDA approval and, as soon as possible, begin releasing small quantities to the public, for a hefty price of course.  She did, however, confirm that the product would only allow women to grow, not men, although it did require a male "recipient", as she called it, to compensate by losing height of his own.  She left out her lawyers' concerns about the potential legal and ethical concerns her product would create, which would also need to be sorted out, probably by Congress or the Supreme Court itself, before moving forward.  But her lawyers were confident they could eventually get such a remarkable product pushed through sooner or later.

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

3 Weeks Later

"OK, Michelle, all done."

"Give me the mirror," she replied, holding out her hand.  Nicole complied, hefting the small hand mirror in his tiny hands and letting her inspect Nicole's handiwork.  She held her breath, hoping for Michelle's approval.

"Not bad, Nicole!  You're getting better at this every day!"  Nicole beamed, delighted to please her master so.  Nicole had to admit that this was the best makeup job she'd done on Michelle to date.  Though she had initially objected, Nicole now took great pride in the tasks she performed for Michelle each day, ranging from doing her hair and face, massaging her muscles after a hard day of school or negotiating business deals, keeping her house in tip-top shape, and basically any task whatsoever that Michelle wanted her to do.

Nicole truly loved her new role in life, getting to spend the majority of each day in the presence of a true goddess, the likes of which the world had never seen.  Almost immediately after the chemistry presentation, at the suggestion of Michelle, Nick had begun behaving full-time like the little girl Michelle wanted him to be.  Thanks to her encouragement, Nick had soon adopted to the fullest extent he could the attire, body language, and speech of a very petite, shy, innocent little darling girl.  She had discarded all of her old men's clothing and, with Michelle's help, picked out an entire new wardrobe for every occasion: blouses, skirts, dresses, heels, panties, and even training bras, to help her transition to her new female persona.  Nicole spent at least an hour every day making herself look as good as possible for Michelle, and in Nicole's mind it was all completely worth it just for the chance to be in the presence of Michelle and receive the grace of her smile and, if he were extremely lucky, a kiss on the lips.

There had been some temporary hardships once his family found out about all of this, with his parents telling him in no uncertain terms that they would disown him if he continued to allow himself to live a shrunken life, as a girl no less.  But he found that he actually didn't really give a damn; he now felt a far more powerful connection to Michelle than to his family, and as long as Michelle would keep him he was perfectly happy.  He had become so absorbed in his role, with the all-consuming goal of attracting Michelle, that at some point in the last few weeks Nick had quite literally stopped thinking of himself as a man, and actually began thinking of himself as Nicole, embracing her new persona one hundred percent.

Michelle had told Nicole that she originally hadn't planned on shrinking her any more after the chemistry presentation, but several talk shows had offered them obscene amounts of money (all of which Michelle had persuaded Nicole to give to her) to have the two of them on the air for an interview and an exclusive shrinking/growing session (making sure Michelle wore extra-tight clothes that would rip as she grew, to the crowd's delight).  All things considered, Michelle had been reasonable about it, only agreeing to two of them and limiting Nicole's total shrinkage to an extra 6 inches, putting him now at a miniscule 4'4", while Michelle loomed absurdly huge next to him at an astounding 7'6", taller than any current male basketball player in the world.  Nicole was literally no taller than Michelle's tree-like legs, and probably weighed little more than each of them separately.  And that was only when Michelle wasn't wearing one of her new pairs of 6-inch heels.

Michelle assured her now that she had decided not to grow any taller; her stupendous height, along with her devastating sex appeal, had proven a great boon to her international fame and recognizability, ensuring her spot as a regular on the front page of every major magazine, newspaper, and news site both domestic and overseas, and more often than not she would bring Nicole along since the media couldn't get enough of Michelle's tiny companion who even further exaggerated her already ridiculous size.  Nicole felt more like a pet than an actual human being when he was in public with her; all people would do is laugh at how tiny she was and perhaps occasionally ask inane questions as if speaking to a toddler.  And Michelle was only too happy to play along, frequently whisking him into the air and carrying him on her hip (though he quite enjoyed this, to be honest).

It seemed that hardly a commercial break would go by on any channel that didn't have Michelle touting her upcoming product -- still sifting through legal issues -- or a whole slew of other products, earning her an incredible fortune on advertisement money alone.  And her fame was seemingly only growing; she remained ostensibly focused on school for now to keep a good public image, but once summer begins she would be able to pursue quite literally anything she desired.  Some believed she would choose to star in  that summer's biggest blockbusters, while others speculated that she would pick up a sport or two and easily dominate the upcoming Summer Olympics.  There was even talk of her running for political office -- who knows, maybe the age restriction would be amended in her favor in time for the next presidential election ... It was far-fetched, but hell, if Schwarzenegger could do it, Michelle Newman would certainly have no trouble.

But for now, Michelle continued to attend school every day, while handling other pressing concerns in the evening.  By now, she quite literally ran the school as she pleased thanks to her now legendary international fame, not to mention her extraordinary good looks and unmatched physical strength and intimidation, which made every student and administrator little more than play-doh in her hands, easily molded at her will.  To Nicole's absolute delight, Michelle persuaded the administrators to rearrange Nicole's schedule to match her own, so that Nicole was always there with her to do her bidding, be it rubbing her feet in the middle of class, fetching her snacks or whatever else she desired, and the like.  Nicole took great pleasure in this great honor, and no doubt every student in school was insanely jealous of her for it; and, interestingly, this afforded Nicole quite a boost in her social status among her classmates, as being even the slave girl to almighty Michelle was more than enough for every other person in school to treat Nicole with respect and deference, paying homage to Michelle by proxy.

When the mood struck her, Michelle would stand up in the middle of a lecture and begin teaching her own lessons on whatever she pleased, and her teachers would give her the floor in respect and admiration.  For lunch, she would regularly hire chefs to prepare gourmet meals for her and her only while the rest of school looked on in envy.  Her favorite game during gym class was to either wrestle and easily defeat the strongest boys in class, or have Nicole go up against the absolute weakest girls and be hopelessly overpowered by them, to the delight of all.  Though Michelle could undoubtedly have pushed the limits much farther still, she consciously restrained herself to these simple liberties in order to avoid any negative repercussions for her public image.

Michelle had left her parents' house and moved into the biggest mansion in town, allowing Nicole to live with her, though in the servants' quarters.  In fact, Michelle didn't have much need for additional servants, since she made sure to keep Nicole busy around the clock with cooking, cleaning, and running errands for her.  Nicole often had difficulty getting around her house to clean, since not only was she ridiculously short, but every countertop, chair, and table was specially modified to accommodate Michelle's astounding 8 foot height (in heels).  Nicole required an array of footstools and ladders of various heights just for everyday tasks like preparing food and getting cups and plates out of the cabinets.

That evening, when they were finishing up their dinner, with Nicole sitting in her specially made booster seat to be able to reach the table, she asked Michelle, as she had every day for the last three weeks, "Um, Michelle, are you going to return me to my old height soon?"

As usual, Michelle replied, "Oh, maybe later.  I like you how you are for now."

"Oh.  Okay," Nicole replied, disappointed yet again.  "Someday soon?" she added anxiously.

Michelle shrugged.  But this time, she added something that gave him hope.  "Actually, things have been progressing nicely on the legal front.  So, someday very soon, I may have a big surprise for you."

"What is it?" she replied, her interest piqued.

"Oh, you'll see.  Suffice it to say, there will be some big changes, in both our lives."  Michelle got up and leaned down to plant her huge, plush lips on his in a brief but tender kiss.

Nicole's eyebrows jumped as she considered the possibilities.  She had been growing increasingly frustrated over the last few weeks that she hadn't made any further progress in her relationship with Michelle; she had made sure to give Nicole just enough kisses and physical contact to fuel her obsession with her while always leaving her wanting more, to the point that Nicole could hardly think of anything else but being with her.  It had become an all-consuming passion, making her constantly try harder and harder to please Michelle, but she never quite gave her the reward she was looking for and it was driving Nicole mad.

But would she finally reward Nicole's obedience after all?  Nicole fantasized that, after settling whatever legal issues there were, Michelle would give him a romantic evening all alone with her, where they would confess their love for each other and Michelle would return her to her normal height of 6'6" -- still far shorter than Michelle, but enough to satisfy her needs.  And then they would consummate their relationship and spend the rest of their lives together in bliss ...

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

Four days later - Saturday

The day had finally arrived, the day that Nicole had been waiting for more eagerly than any other in her whole life.  Last night, Michelle had informed her that the surprise would be revealed the following morning, and after lying awake in bed all night in restless anticipation, the hour had finally arrived.  Nicole eagerly cleaned up their dishes from their breakfast and rushed to Michelle's new full-scale basement laboratory to find her hard at work creating a new potion ...

"Hey, little girl, just getting everything ready!" Michelle announced cheerfully.

"Sounds good!" Nicole replied, climbing onto a nearby seat to watch her work.  Nicole still hadn't the foggiest idea how her solutions worked, but he did find it fascinating that something as simple as a liquid in a beaker could so radically change lives, for better or worse.  And his life was surely about to change unequivocally for the better.

"So is this really going to change me back just how I used to be?" Nicole asked eagerly.  "And won't it change you back, too?  Have you found a way to avoid shrinking yourself in the process?"  This was a concern that had been eating away at her the last few weeks -- would she actually be willing to change Nicole back if it meant Michelle would also return to her old 5'4", unattractive self?

"My, my, so full of questions, aren't we?" Michelle replied with a grin.  "You'll just have to wait and find out, little one."

Nicole decided to have faith in Michelle's chemical genius and assume that she would find a solution that would satisfy both of their needs.  But she was still curious about one thing: "So, what was the big legal issue that you just settled?"

"Oh, yeah," Michelle replied as she continued pouring liquids into beakers, "The courts and the FDA have finally agreed to let me start testing my solution on patients who are willing to volunteer their time -- and their money, of course.  And you wouldn't believe how much demand this has created for it, way more than I can supply right now since at this point I'm not sure I can trust other lab workers with my formula so for now I'm making all of it myself.  Since the supply is so low, I'm starting out by charging ten million dollars per inch gained."  Nicole's jaw dropped in amazement, and Michelle added, "And I already have ten suitors lined up for today alone!"

The doorbell rang.  "Oh, that must be Lina Blom and Frida Jensson now, flown in from Sweden this morning!  Would you be a doll and bring her down here for me??"

Nicole was greatly perplexed.  "Wait ... so this potion you're making isn't for me?"

"Just get the door, honey.  Everything will be clear very soon."

Nicole suddenly felt sick to her stomach as she dropped down to the ground and climbed the stairs to the foyer.  This wasn't going as she had anticipated ... it seemed as though today wasn't about Nicole at all!  Michelle had told her that today would be a major change in both of their lives, but how could that be if she was only going to sit back while these other rich people came and drank the potion instead of her!?  She felt cheated and depressed.  After days of eager anticipation, Nicole would have to wait until some other time to get changed back.

She reached the foyer and heaved the solid oak door open with both hands and beheld the two towering blondes, decked out in extravagant jewelry and designer clothing, their hired limo parked out front.  In reality, though, they only appeared tall; they were actually just 5'6" and 5'0", on the shorter side for women in Sweden.

"Hej hej!"  The two women squealed in delight when they saw Nicole standing in front of them.  The taller one announced, "I'm Lina, and this is Frida," and then added, "And you must be little Nicole!  I must say, you look even cuter in person!"

Nicole winced and replied glumly, "Oh ... uh, thanks.  Follow me, please."  She lead the two multi-millionaires down the stairs as they continued to dote on their cute little guide, to her chagrin.

"Welcome!" Michelle announced, setting her beakers down.  "You must be Lina ... and Frida," she said, firmly shaking each of their hands.

"My goodness, what a grip you have!" Frida laughed.

"Yes, sorry about that, I forget sometimes.  And I apologize that I hadn't arranged a more formal greeting for such esteemed guests."

"That's perfectly fine, Michelle.  I would have little Nicole here greet me any day of the week!  Isn't he adorable?"

They all laughed and agreed, then Michelle suggested, "Well, why don't we get started.  I understand you have both signed the appropriate forms and are aware that my company is not liable for any possible harm that may result from using my product?"

"Absolutely," Lina replied.  "And totally worth the risk, I'm sure."

Michelle nodded in agreement as she handed her the flask with the familiar dark red liquid.  "Please drink half of the contents and hand it to Nicole."

"Wait, what!!?" Nicole shouted.  "You can't mean ..."

Michelle peered down haughtily at the tiny person standing next to her.  "Hush up," she told her in a stern voice.  Raising her gaze to Lina again, she told her, "Please, continue."

Lina was all too eager to drink her half, saying, "Six inches, here I come!"

She then handed it down to Nicole, who refused to take it.  "You never said you were going to SHRINK me even more!!" he yelled up at Michelle.  "I won't do it!"

Michelle sighed and told the two clients, "My apologies.  I should have known Nicole would act up like this."

They looked uncertain.  "This ... won't be a problem, will it?  I mean, if she's not willing to participate ..."

Michelle laid one huge hand on each of their shoulders and told them sincerely, "I assure you, Nicole has signed all of the necessary paperwork to ensure her complete cooperation in everything I tell her to do.  There will be absolutely zero ramifications, regardless of how she chooses to behave from here on out."

"What!?  Surely I have SOME rights!?"

The three towering women looked down at him with condescension.  Lina locked eyes with Nicole and gave her a smug grin while telling Michelle, "Well, I do feel just a TINY bit sorry for her ... but there's no way in hell I'm going to let a little thing like that get in the way of such a wonderful opportunity."

"Excellent!" Michelle replied.  "So, Nicole, it's time for you to drink up now."  Nicole shook her head vehemently.

"Well, Lina, I won't waste any more of your time."  Nicole almost thought that she was actually letting her off the hook, but this notion was quickly proven wrong as she saw Michelle's gigantic arm swoop down and swiftly wrap around Nicole's torso, plucking her right off the ground as she stood up straight and repositioned Nicole against her side, using just one arm to pin both of Nicole's arms and her chest against her, letting Nicole's feet thrash violently in the air.

"Stop that!" Michelle commanded, squeezing Nicole's chest with but a small fraction of her strength, forcing all the air from her lungs and quickly subduing her.  Nicole hung limply as Michelle told Lina, "Now, if you wouldn't mind pouring the solution while I hold his mouth."

"Certainly."  Michelle wrapped her free hand, easily bigger than his entire face, around her neck and jaw, locking her head in place while painfully prying her jaw open.  Nicole screamed until Lina brought the beaker to his lips and filled her mouth with the bitter fluid.

Nicole couldn't move her jaw so much as a millimeter under Michelle's death grip, so she was unable to spit any of it out.  But she also refused to swallow, breathing out of her nose instead.

Frida knew how to handle this, though.  She strode up to Nicole and pinched her nose closed, completely cutting off all air from her lungs.  She announced casually, "Now she has no choice but to swallow, or she'll suffocate."

"Good thinking, Frida!" Michelle complimented.  The three of them clearly had no ethical issues with how they were treating Nicole, and they continued to stare down at her patiently, unsympathetically, until Nicole's face had turned blue from asphyxiation.  She tried valiantly to hold out as long as she humanly could, but they knew she would have to give in sooner or later.

Nicole could take no more.  She gulped down the horrible drink and frantically gasped for air, but too soon: she breathed before the liquid was out of her throat, causing quite a bit to flow down the wrong pipe.  Michelle unceremoniously dumped her on the floor as she tried as best she could to steal quick breaths between wild bouts of painful coughing.

Meanwhile, the three women casually stepped aside, unconcerned with Nicole's plight, and chatted amongst each other.  "You are a godsend, Michelle!  I can't tell you how much this means to us!  All our lives, we have been able to have anything that money can buy, but the one thing we could never change were our bodies.  Sure, plastic surgery can improve things some, but I always dreamed of having a tall, sexy body that would be the object of men's desires and make all the other women jealous.  So exciting!"

"Oh, I'm so glad to help, Lina!  I can tell you first-hand what it's like to be just another short, unappealing girl, but even a few weeks ago before I had wealth and fame, the change in how both men and women treated me was absolutely staggering.  It's amazing how such a simple thing as physical appearance can change your life ..."

"Well, I can't wait until it starts taking effect!  How long will it take?"

"Just ten minutes or so."

"Great!"  They continued to chat for the next couple minutes, giving Nicole enough time to finally get over her coughing and regain her senses.  About five minutes in, Lina announced, "Oh my gosh, I can definitely feel a change already!  How much have I grown?"

Michelle responded by walking up to Nicole, slumped on the floor in the fetal position.  Michelle simply reached down, grabbed Nicole by the fabric of her now loose-fitting dress, lifted her up, and hauled her across the room like a bag of groceries.  She then plopped Nicole down on her feet and held her up next to Lina, who giggled with glee.  "Oh my gosh, she looks so much tinier already!"  Lina newly-expanded breasts loomed just above Nicole's head, whereas they had originally been about eye level on her.

Nicole hung her head in shame as she muttered to Michelle, "How could you do this to me?  I've been good to you; I've done everything you've asked of me.  And you promised you wouldn't make me shrink anymore!"

Michelle laughed.  "No, silly, I never said that!  I told you that I wouldn't be GROWING anymore.  Big difference."

Tears welled up in Nicole's eyes as she let out a pathetic whimper and asked, "But ... you're going to change me back to my old height soon, right?"

"What's this?" Lina asked.  "You have a way to do that, too?"

Michelle chuckled and lowered herself to her knees, still looming far taller than Nicole as she picked her chin up with her hand and told her with an impish grin, "Whoopsies, I must have forgotten to tell you.  I never intended to change you back; in fact, I don't think it's even possible to reverse the height loss once it has occurred."

Nicole's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets.  "Wh--Wha-Whhaaattt??"  Her legs gave out underneath her, but Michelle's strong grip on her chin kept her aloft.

"Sorry, little fella.  Must have slipped my mind," Michelle told him casually.  But from the satanic glint in her eye, Nicole knew that Michelle was fully aware of this all along and took pleasure in telling him now.

Nicole burst into tears as she cried out, "But I love you!  And I thought you liked me too and thought I was sexy as a helpless little girl and that you were going to change me back and we would be together forever ..."  Her voice trailed off as she was overcome with sobs.

Michelle laughed again.  "You seriously thought that YOU could ever be with ME!?  Oh my God, Nicole, get a grip!  I was just toying with you, leading you on so that you would be more cooperative.  Couldn't have you making a scene on national television, after all.  Although I must admit that it has been fun to take a big, arrogant prick like you and reduce him to a sniveling little girl completely under my control."  She stood up to her full, terrifying height again.  "Well, the process appears to be complete.  Congratulations, Lina, you are now six feet tall."

Nicole looked around her to find everything looking even more enormous than ever.  Lina had also grown, of course, and Nicole was now just stomach-level with her.  And, Jesus Christ, she could hardly comprehend the sheer enormity of Michelle's body now; eye-level with the middle of her thighs (massive pillars each at least as big around as Nicole's entire body), she wondered if she could even reach up and touch Michelle's waist if she tried.  With another pathetic whimper, she asked, "You're not going to make me keep shrinking even more, are you?"

Michelle snorted derisively.  "What, and give up all this money just for you?  Please.  I'm making sixty million dollars apiece with these two lovely ladies, plus I've got eight more on the way."

Frida spoke up.  "Actually, dear, seeing the wonderful results your product has had on Lina, I simply must double my order up to 12 inches!"

Nicole nearly fainted from this news, while Michelle cheered.  "Great decision, Frida!  I'll whip up some extra solution for you.  Here, hold this please."  She hoisted Nicole's almost weightless body into the air and passed her to Frida, who held Nicole down at her side like an oversized rag doll.  But she wouldn't be oversized for long ...

Once Michelle had brewed up enough for an entire 12 inches of growth, she gave the flask to Frida's free hand as she eagerly downed half of its contents, then held Nicole's limp body out for Michelle to take.

This time, Michelle wrapped her hands around Nicole's chest and lifted her up to her face, telling her, "Do I need to restrain you again, Nicole?"

Nicole, finally seeing the depths of Michelle's depravity and the permanence of his shrinking, fought her to the end.  "No!!" he shouted, beating his chest like a proud warrior.  "I am Nick Avery, and I am a man, and a member of the human race!  I don't give a damn what documents I signed; I have certain unalienable rights as a human being, and so help me God if you keep doing this to me I will find a way to let the world know what you've done, and your entire life will come crashing down around you!  Now let me go this instant!"

Michelle managed to maintain a straight face throughout his tirade, but finally she couldn't help it anymore and busted out in a hearty laugh, which was echoed by Lina and Frida.  "She's so adorable when she's mad, isn't she!" Lina exclaimed.  The other two laughed and agreed.

He was becoming both furious and desperate.  "SHUT UP!!  If you don't stop la--"  Michelle began playfully jostling him side to side and up and down in her hands, and though it didn't seem like much to them, to Nick it was an utterly jarring rollercoaster ride that left him breathless and unable to speak.

Needless to say, this brought another wave of uproarious laughter from the ladies.  Nick tried to yell again, but this only brought more body-wrenching abuse from Michelle, keeping him from getting a word out.

"Well, I suppose that's enough fun for now.  Frida, would you like to do the honors?"

"Certainly!"  The three of them proceeded like before, with Michelle holding Nick securely in place while Frida filled his mouth with the red liquid and Lina plugged his nose.  This time, though, there was much more liquid than could fit in his mouth at once, so Frida kept the beaker poised against his lips, ready to pour the remaining contents once the first wave of the solution inevitably started going down.

Nick again endured as long as humanly possible.  This time, he had taken a mighty breath beforehand, allowing him to hold out even longer ... but he knew it was ultimately futile.  He began to wonder if he should try to pass out first before drinking, and in this manner possibly fill his lungs with liquid and choke to death.  Perhaps this was the best choice for him now ...

Meanwhile, the three women held their positions around him, chatting to pass the time until he caved.  "So, Michelle," Frida asked, "just how far are you going to take this?  I mean, are you going to leave him with anything or just take it all?  And what exactly would happen -- would he just, you know, vanish completely?"

Michelle laughed.  "Haha, I hadn't actually thought of that, Frida.  You may be right."

Lina looked down at Nick with a look of mild concern, as a rich person might look down upon a starving child on the street before she tosses a ten-dollar bill at them to feel good about herself.  She asked Michelle, "But surely you could spare him a FEW inches.  After all, there are other fish in the sea to catch ..."

A wry grin crossed Michelle's lips as she peered down to meet Nick's desperate, nihilistic gaze, casually replying, "You see, ladies, what Nicole doesn't understand yet is that she is no longer a person to me, merely a commodity.  She's got, oh, about 46 inches left.  That's four hundred and sixty million dollars for me.  So of course I'm going to milk this for all it's worth.  Although ..." she added, her mouth parting in an absolutely satanic smile as she considered Nick's future, "I suppose I COULD find it in me to spare him an inch or two.  After all, I'm sure I won't have any trouble seducing other men to 'participate' in my little experiments, and it would be fun to keep Nicole around, at least for a little while, as an ode to my accomplishments, as well as a tiny pet for my amusement.  I think I'll keep him in one of these beakers here, maybe put him on a shelf in my room and feed him little crumbs every day when I get home."

"Oh, sounds like so much fun!  I'm jealous," Frida replied.

"Hey," Michelle said, "maybe when I've found some other strapping young lads and reduced them to size, instead of just getting rid of them I may give you a call, if you're interested in keeping a new pet ..."

"Absolutely!" the two women replied in unison.

It had been over a minute now, and Nick was beginning to see stars and lose feeling in his limbs.  Michelle glanced down at him and gauged his expression as casually as if she were checking a pizza in the oven to see if it's done yet.  Turning her gaze back to Frida, she said, "Well, can't be long now.  Hopefully this won't take so long for my next clients.  Hmm ... maybe she is more trouble than she's worth.  I might just go ahead and get my full $460 million right away and not even worry about keeping her ..."  She stopped, pondered for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders and added, "Yeah, I think I'll do that.  It's just easier that way."

Nick couldn't take anymore.  Unable to hold it off long enough to pass out, he opened his throat and chugged two entire mouthfuls of the vile concoction before sucking in a deep, desperate breath of air.  But no sooner had he caught his breath than the doorbell rang again.

"Another one has arrived!"  Michelle tucked her light cargo under her arm and eagerly climbed the steps to greet her latest customer.