Every time I turned a corner or walked into a room I was on edge.  If I ran into Tanisha again Meredith would not be there to get her attention and I would be stuck, either until the next class or she got bored.  It was difficult to pay attention in class since I kept running the encounter over in my mind, trying to figure out if there was anything I could have done differently, even though it was an honest mistake.  Hopefully, by the time I saw her again she would realize she had gone overboard and acted inappropriately.

Physics rolled around and I started to believe I’d make it through the rest of the day without bumping into her again, making that just an unfortunate chance encounter.  I was one of the first students in and took my usual seat on the front row, then began getting my things ready.  Right when I got everything situated, however, a towering figure stooped through the doorway.  Blond hair fell back onto her frame when she stood upright, then she surveyed the room.  Tanisha spotted me, and her boots sounded like the pealing of bells as she came toward me.

“Hey, you little freak.”  What a charming greeting.  She placed her palms flat on my desk and leaned forward so she could loom over me.  “Why don’t you scurry off somewhere else and let me have a seat up front?”

I looked to the sides, where there were still three vacant desks.  “If you want to sit up front, why don’t you take one of those?” I retorted.

“Maybe I wasn’t being clear,” Tanisha said.  “Get up, or I’ll make you get up.”

I looked her in the eyes and immediately regretted it, shifting my focus to her chin.  “Listen, I think we got off on the wrong foot,” I started, and her left eye twitched.  “Silly mistake.  I’m –“

“If you don’t get up right now you’re going to be under one of my feet,” she growled.  “Now move.”

“If you wanted my seat, you should have gotten here earlier.”  I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, probably from the strange sensation of growing a backbone.  If I was going to stand my ground without Meredith backing me up, I’d need one.

Tanisha stood back to her full height and glared down at me.  “Have it your way, twerp,” she spat, then walked past me.  Seconds later there was a loud thump behind me, and I turned to see her sitting there with a smug smile.  “You just keep digging yourself deeper, and you can’t handle much of a hole.”

I faced forward, and Tanisha began what I’m sure she considered a clever campaign to change my mind.  She repeatedly kicked the back of my chair, her foot striking once a second.  “Sorry, I really don’t mean to keep doing that,” she lied, “it’s just that my legs are so long, and your chair’s blocking them!  If only I could stretch them out...”  While it was obnoxious, she would have to do more than moderately annoy me if she wanted to get her way.

The kicking stopped, but Tanisha didn’t give up.  Her legs swung around the chair from behind, and her enormous boots landed hard on my legs.  Her feet ran the length of my thighs and began digging into my skin.  The corners of her boot soles nearly cut into my quads through my jeans the moment she applied pressure.  I tried to push one of them off, but her legs were strong and it was already too entrenched.  In response she pressed down harder, and I suppressed a wince.

“This is much better,” Tanisha said, grinding her feet harder into my legs.  “When your legs are as long as mine it feels so good to stretch them a bit, not that I’d expect you to understand.  In fact, this feels so nice I think I’ll leave them there for the whole class.  And next class.  And the rest of the semester if I feel like it.  How’s that sound?  Good?  Worth giving up your stupid desk yet?”

It felt pathetic to cave so quickly, but I cared about this much less than she seemed to.  The first time I tried to stand her feet held me in place, and I barely even got my butt out of the chair.  Tanisha realized what I was trying to do, however, and released her legs’ grasp on me.  Her feet slapped hard enough on the tile to echo through the room, drawing a couple disinterested looks from other students.  With the pressure gone I thought about changing my mind, but knew it would be back just a few seconds later and got up, grabbing my things with me.

She stopped slouching, sitting as tall as she could in her chair as I approached.  Standing next to Tanisha was unnerving: despite being mostly legs, she was as tall sitting as I was standing.  With a smirk she looked me in the eyes, then swept her legs out wide and stood.  Her legs pushed me out of her way, and she took a moment before glare down at me from her full height and chortle before moving to take my seat.

“Glad you saw sense,” she said, swinging her hips wide to hit me in the chest.  “I guess sense lives somewhere around my belt.”  Tanisha eased down into her new seat and I flopped into mine, already regretting I had given up so easily.  She was a poor window, and her head and square shoulders blocked my view of the whiteboard.

I did not have much time to regret my decision before class began, though I still had to live with it.  The teacher walked in and stood in front of the boards, then turned to face the rest of the class.  “This is unusual so close to graduation, but we have a new student today!” she announced.  “And I see she’s sitting front and center, how nice.  Tanisha, why don’t you stand up and say a few words about yourself?”

The amazon in front of me stood and turned to her audience, seeming like an entirely different person from what I had seen.  She exuded warmth and had a positively bubbly demeanor about her.  “Hi everyone!” she began.  “This is this sixth time I’ve given this speech today, and I know some of you have already heard it, but I’m glad to give it again.  Like Mrs. Roth said, I’m Tanisha!  My family just moved here from Alaska, and I’m very excited to meet all of you!  I was an all-state volleyball player where I came from and I’m trying out for the team here, and I think I’ve got a pretty good chance of making it.  Before any of you ask, yes, I am tall, exactly seven feet, to be exact.  Now, I’ll go ahead and let Mrs. Roth get on with the lesson.”

Tanisha sat down, doing her absolute best to block my view of the boards.  As I tried to see past her she always moved to compensate, shifting just enough to block my sight.  Eventually I gave up and just hoped the book lined up with the lectures.

I bumped head-first into something solid as a wall, stopping me in my tracks.  I looked up to see chestnut brown eyes glaring down at me just before I was shoved away to crash hard into a bank of lockers.  Before I could recover an enormous figure was upon me, pressing on my shoulders and pinning me against the metal.  Nervously I looked up into the dark brown eyes again where a swirling, manic energy threatened to draw me in.

“Looks like you’re lost, little guy,” she teased, slamming a hand against my shoulder.  She stepped closer, pinning me against the bank of lockers while she loomed over me.  “Just be glad I’m the one who found you, do you know how many people want a piece of you these days?”

“Listen, Meredith, I’m not sure what you’ve heard, but –“

“But what?” she challenged.  “You’re on track to be valedictorian and everyone assumes you’ll get at least a 4 on all your AP tests, yet you keep harassing the captain of the volleyball team.  Seems like you’re not that smart after all.”

“Hey, if Tanisha sent you I think we can work something out,” I pleaded.  It was a foregone conclusion she’d get the position; most of the team was my size at best, and they’d been on hard times for several years.

“I don’t work for Tanisha, or any of those other jealous bitches,” Meredith declared.  “In fact, I’m here to get you away from them.”  She smirked.  “Get you below their notice, as it were.”  She glanced to either side before turning her smoldering attention back to me.  “And I think I know just the way.”

One of Meredith’s favorite characters over the past couple months had been the mysterious benefactor, coming out of nowhere to promise I could only be safe at her hands.  “Well, I don’t see anyone else trying to help me,” I said, “so let’s see what you can do.”

“I was hoping you’d say that,” she replied, and began focusing on me much more intently.  Meredith seemed to shoot up several inches in a second, the familiar, comfortable sensation of her shrinking me.  Still, she looked incredibly proud as I passed her waist and continued to get smaller, leaving behind the realm of common human sizes.  Her legs grew longer and she became more massive before my eyes, and I was still trapped between her and the metal wall at my back.

Meredith continued growing in my view until I was level with the cuffs of her Doc Martens, where my shrinking suddenly stopped.  I tore my eyes away from her for a moment, and to my surprise I saw a figure filling the doorway behind her.  Blond eyebrows were raised over her blue eyes, and her mouth was wide open in surprise.  It was unbelievably bad luck that Tanisha had not only spotted me, but also watched Meredith shrink me.

Meredith was oblivious to her one-woman audience while she stared down at me, satisfied to just be so much bigger than me now.  “Let’s get out of here, huh,” she said, squatting over me.  “I know just where to take you, too.”  Her hand came toward me, and while I wanted to focus on it I kept an eye on the titaness on the other side. Strong fingers wrapped around me, pinning my arms to my sides.  My whole body except for my head was wrapped in Meredith’s hand, forcing my attention back to her.  It was well enough, since Tanisha had ducked behind a wall to avoid being spotted by my much larger partner.

She held me tightly while she stood, making sure the only discomfort I felt was from the ascent.  When she reached her full height she leaned toward me, touching me with the tip of her nose that was the same size as my head.  “Well then, little guy,” she began,” looks like you’re about the size of a doll, if I’m being generous.  That should be small enough to get you out without anyone else noticing.”

“I’m so glad you came along,” I said, squirming in her hand to get comfortable.  This was the largest she had ever left me, and I still felt puny in comparison.  “I’d hate to see what Tanisha and her friends would do if they found me like this.”

“Don’t sweat it.  The question is, what should I do with you once I’ve gotten you to safey?”

“I’m the size of a doll,” I began, “so I guess you could treat me like one?”  Everything had been planned that morning, and the day’s events made it easy to improvise.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Meredith confirmed.  “I think I still have some of my old toys in a closet somewhere, you could have fun with them.”  She leaned in until her lips nearly engulfed my head and whispered, “And I think I could have a lot of fun with you, once I tear you away from Barbie.”  She planted a kiss that covered my whole face then turned, making the whole world spin with her.  We left the school while I stared into her great brown eyes and she tried to ignore anything was happening outside of her view.  In her hand, I could forget all about Tanisha until tomorrow.