Amy's father had also driven his car up to her house, so the three of them followed him in their car back down the road to his house. The pulled over somewhere next to Mr. Jackson's incredibly expansive backyard. A gardener could be seen hard at work taking care of the flowers. She was dressed in a simple pink shirt, white capris, and sandles. It wasn't until Mr. Jackson walked over to her and kissed her on the cheek that they realizzed the woman was his wife. These people are mulit-billionares, they live in a house only half again as big as mine, and they do their own gardening. What the hell is up with that? Ben thought.

Mr. Jackson said something to his wife, who waved at the boys before walking inside the house. Then he waved the three of them over to take a seat with him on his patio. The house itself wasn't big enough to be a mansion but the furnishings clearly deserved to be in one. The patio was huge and covered with a variety of furniture, all of which looked like it cost as much as the house itself. Mr. Jackson took a seat on a chair facing towards a fire pit perfect for marshmellow roasts on summer nights. Ben, Mark, and Johnny sat on a sofa directly facing Mr. Jackson on the other side of the pit.

"I've heard a bit about you three. I guess before anything else I should offer my apologies for my daughter. She's really never tried to hurt anybody, nor does she want to. It's just . . ." His voice trailed off as he struggled for the right words.

"She hasn't actually hurt any of us," Ben interjected. "I mean . . . she plays rough but I believe she doesn't do it to hurt people."

That brought the smile back to Mr. Jackson's face. "You must be Benjamin Lyons, right?"

"Just Ben if you prefer," he said nodding.

"I've heard some very interesting things about you Ben. Rumors have spread about you standing up to Amy in school in front of everybody. I must say, I was very impressed," Mr. Jackson said.

"Um . . . thank you . . . Mr. Jackson," Ben said, not sure how to respond.

At that moment Mrs. Jackson came out of the house with a tray of iced tea for the five of them. The boys thanked her as she sat down next to her husband.

"Now boys," Mr. Jackson began as he took a glass. "The reason I've wanted to speak with you is important. Can you tell me everything Amy has done to you since she started high school?"

Each of them took a glass of iced tea and told the two parents everything that's happened since the beginning of the week. All the while Amy's parents listened at all they had to say. By the time they were done Mr. Jackson sighed and rubbed at his eyes.

"Boys I . . . I'm sorry for her, truly I am. But you have to understand all that she's been through. Amy wasn't always this way," he explained.

"What uh . . . what exactly did happen to her?" Mark asked.

In response Mr. Jackson took out his wallet and handed the boys a small picture. "This is Amy when she was four years old," Mrs. Jackson told them.

The girl in the photo definitely looked to be four years old. Her hair was done up in a pony tail that revealed more of her face and made her eyes look bigger. She wore a wite T-shirt with a picture of Spongebob on it, pink sweat pants, and sneakers. What was amazing about the picture was that it was clearly her father standing next to her, and she barely came past his kneecap.

"This! This is Amy!" Johnny exclaimed.

They nodded.

Now that they had thought about it, it only made sense that Amy was once small. The reason it was so shocking was that nobody ever knew her when she was small so they assumed she had always been a giantess. When no one could explain how she had been born that way rumors started to float around. Everything from a government experiment on a woman to aliens. Each rumor was more ludicrous than the last, yet once you come to terms with a giantess going to school with you, you learn to keep a very open mind.

"So uh . . . h-how did she uh . . . get so big?" Mark asked, still in shock.

"We don't really know," Mr. Jackson answered. "She started growing at age ten, by age twelve she was almost seven feet tall."

"The kids must have been hard on her," Mrs. Jackson said. "She would come home from school crying most of the time. She spent so much time alone in her room."

Mr. Jackson nodded. "That summer she really took off, she reached heights scientists thought were impossible. In another year she was sixty feet tall." He sighed, thinking back to those times. "At that time we owned a nice house overlooking a beach. Since we had no room for her she slept in a circus tent on the beach. When she wasn't sitting alone inside of it she would sit on the beach and just look out at the ocean."

"We gave a sample of her blood to a research facility. I don't know how they did it but they predicted her maximum height would be around 150 feet tall," Mrs. Jackson continued. "That's when the government stepped in to help. I think if they could have gotten away with it they would have just taken her away. But too many people knew about her by then. So to make themselves look good they did everything they could to help her feel more normal."

"They built her a house and school," Ben said, understanding dawning.

They nodded. "Please understand," Mr. Jackson pleaded. "We love Amy with all of our hearts, ever since she was small enough to piggy back her up and down the beach. Even now, she's still our daughter, and we still love her."

"But she's just grown so distant over the years," Mrs. Jacson said. "She's stopped talking to us altogether. We've tried reaching out to her, she just shuts herself off from us."

"We've tried our best but . . ." Mr. Jackson shrugged. "How do you parent a girl who can pick you up and leave you outside."

"She's done that to you?" Johnny asked.

"No but she could whenever she wants," he explained.

Mrs. Jackson put down her empty glass and looked right at them. "Boys we're parents, we just want the best for Amy."

"I can understand that," Ben said. "What I don't understand is why you're telling this to us instead of someone like the Mayor." Whenever a town meeting was held the Mayor always lead the discusion on whatever the issue at hand was.

Mr. Jackson just shok his head. "No one will listen to us. They'd assume we're making Amy appear better than she really is and, honestly, we probably would."

"We heard that when the military showed up you boys defended Amy a little. Technically she did kiddnap you yet you played it off like it wasn't a big deal. Why?" Mrs. Jackson asked.

The three of them exchanged glances, not sure what to say. After a little consideration Ben decided to just tell them the truth. "At first yes, she did brnig us to her house to toy with us. But after a while, she kind of opened up to us. It wasn't a confession or anything but we saw for a few seconds how lonely she really is. She sees herself as a freak, a monster." He shrugged. "If she really was as bad as she pretends to be why would she hate herself like that?"

Amy's parents looked between each other before turning back to him. "I don't know," Mr. Jackson said.

"Neither do I," Ben replied. "That's why we came here today, to reach out."

Mrs. Jackson's face lit up in a warm smile. "Then you three really can help us." She clasped her hands in excitment. "Oh! The town might not listen to us, but you three? They'll definitely listen to three students she goes to school with. You have to talk at the meeting! Please!"

To say that they were surprised by the request would be an understatment. The very thought of speaking publicly in front of the entire town was enough to make all three of them cringe visibly. Ben could feel his palms getting sweaty at just the thought of all of those eyes gazing at him. Even if he didn't choke up, what would he say?

He had to refuse, there was no way he could pull something like that off. He was a terrible public speaker at best. And if the town didn't send him away along with Amy they would forever remember him as the guy that tried to keep the giantess bully around.

Ben tried to tell them no, but the image of speaking in front of the town had his voice all tangled up in his throat. "Uh . . . I-I uh . . . we uh . . ."

Mrs. Jackson's smile began to fade from her face. "Please." she begged him. "Please, you have to help us."

But her husband gently laid a hand on her shoulder, silencing her. "Boys," he said in a very weak voice. "We just want our daughter back. But we can't do that ourslves, and neather can she. Amy needs friends to help her through this."

It took some effort but Ben was finally able to find his voice. "Look," he said. "We want to but . . . but Amy said she doesn't want our help. She just told us to give up and go home, I think she wants this."

"Amy doesn't know what she wants!" Mrs. Jackson exclaimed, on the verge of crying. Mr. Jackson patted her shoulder as she appologized for her out burst.

"Ben," he said. "She thinks she's a monster. But you told me yourself you think she's just scared and alone." Mr. Jackson looked Ben straight in the eye. Ben found it tough to meet the man's gaze, but he forced himself to look back without flinching. "She told you to give up on her. Well now I'm begging you not to. I need my daughter back."

A large lump had formed in Ben's throat, it took the rest of his iced tea to help him swallow it. He looked between Johnny and Mark, each of them gave Ben a slow, reluctant nod.

"Ok," he said slowly. "We'll try."

*****

Later that evening Ben sat in his living room, watching reruns of Whose Line Is It Anyway while Katelyn colored on the floor.

"Katelyn!" their mother called from the kitchen. "Can you give me a hand in here?"

"Ok!" Katelyn happily called back.

As soon as she took off out of the room a looming shape came to replace her. Daniel Lyons, Ben's father, was as tall and lean as his son. One look at his face showed the strong jawline and eyes that marked Ben as his son, only with a beard. Today he had on a flannal shirt and a pair of cargo pants. When he saw that there was something on Ben's mind he limped over to the couch and sat down beside him.

"Something you want to talk about?" he asked in his usual husky voice.

Ben nodded as he turned off the TV. "You know about the town meeting coming up next week?"

"The one about the giant girl you go to school with?" Daniel asked.

Ben nodded.

"Yeah, what about it?"

Ben took a deep breath. "I was asked by her parents to speak out for her infront of everybody."

Daniel grunted. "I think you better tell me how this came to be."

So Ben gave him a broad overview on what took place over the week. Amy's bullying, taking him and his friends to her house, opening up, the military showing up, and finally her parents. By the time he was done daniel just stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Sounds like you've made quite the impression on this girl. Is she cute?" he asked with a grin.

"Dad! That's not the point!" Ben exclaimed.

Daniel laughed it off for a minute before he grew sober again. "What are you going to do?"

Ben shrugged. "I guess I have no choice," he said.

"No. no there's always a choice son," he replied.

Ben blinked. "What? So you're saying I shouldn't do this?"

But his father only shook his head. "I didn't say that. I'm saying you shouldn't do this if your heart's not in it. Everyone's got their choices in this world. I've made mine, both right and wrong. I've paid the penalties and reaped the rewards. And in the end life moves on."

"But . . ." Ben shook his head. "I still don't know what to do."

"And you never will until you decide how you feel about this girl," Daniel explained. "Do you want her around?"

Ben took a deep breath, he didn't need to think hard to realize this. "I've had a crush on her since ninth grade."

"And you just told me that, in spite of everything she's ever done, she's just a lonely little girl inside?" his father asked.

Ben nodded.

"Then doesn't that sound like a cause worth standing up for?"

"I uh . . . yeah,  it does."

"Think on that for a little while son. I believe you'll make the right choice."

He patted his son on the shoulder before limping back out of the room.