I slid into my chair in the back of the room just as the
bell rang. In front of me, Sydney bent down to pick something up. I tried not
to stare at her perfect butt, shown off by tight jeans. She was undeniably
cute, with long chocolate brown hair, soft brown eyes, and the best smile. I liked the freckles which were smattered her
tan skin. In addition, Sydney was both smart and funny. She wasn't popular, but
she wasn't a straight-up nerd either. Sydney was the type that could fit in on
both sides, one minute being very social, the next minute reading a book by
herself.
Sydney pulled down her shirt and sat down. Mrs. Walker began
her lesson at the front of the classroom, but I was not really listening. I
could not help but imagine what it would be like her hold Sydney's hand. I
thought it was soft and warm. I also wondered what it would be like to kiss her.
I bet her lips taste like sugar. As I got lost in thought about Sydney giving
me a hickey, I became aware that somebody was staring at me. I looked up to see
Mrs. Walker looking at me. "What?" I said stupidly.
"If you were paying attention," she sighed in a
perturbed way. "You would know that I am assigning partners for the
assignment. I said that you are going to be working with Sydney."
"Oh right," I said, cheeks going red. Sydney
turned around and smiled at me, which only made me go redder. I fidgeted with
my watch while Mrs. Walker continued to assign groups. I could not believe my
luck. I got to be partnered with Sydney. I just hoped that I would not make a
fool of myself in front of her. While Sydney and I had been going to school
together since junior high, I only casually interacted before, mainly through
classes or our mutual friends.
"Okay," Mrs. Walker cleared her throat. "Each
group will be working together on a research project." Several people
groaned. "Don't worry; this should be a fun project. Each of you will pick
a science fiction or fantasy topic to cover. It can be a person, place, or
object. I want to collect as much information as you can from various sources
if possible. You will write a short essay and then prepare a presentation for
the class. Try to be creative, so avoid just doing a PowerPoint. The rest of
the period is yours to begin brainstorming. Feel free to get out the laptops if
you want to begin research."
There is a scraping of chairs as everyone moves around to be
by their partner. I turned to face Sydney. She smiled at me again, and I could
feel my cheeks getting red. "Sooo..ummm," I stuttered, "Any
ideas for our project?"
"Well, there are lots of possibilities," Sydney
started," But one of the first things that came to mind was a shrinking. I
have always been fascinated with the topic. We could cover the different
methods of shrinking, including shrink rays, potions, and spells. Additionally,
there are lots of movies about tiny people, such as the Borrowers. There should
be plenty of references in books, movies, and TV shows."
"Okay," I said, willing to agree with anything she
suggested. "That sounds like a great topic."
"Perfect, I will go tell Mrs. Walker that is what we
are doing." I watched as she walked up to the front of the class, unable
to stop myself from starring. When she turned around, I quickly made myself
busy with straitening the objects on my desk. "We are good to go. Have you
ever seen a movie with shrinking?"
"I've seen Honey We Shrunk the Kids and Honey We Shrunk
Ourselves, as well as the Ant Bully. What others have I missed?"
"Well, Downsizing recently came out. It's got Matt
Damon in it and is pretty good. There are some really old ones like The
Incredible Shrinking Man and Attack of the Puppet People. There is also a
foreign movie I like called Help, I Shrunk My Teacher. Those are just some of
the ones that are out there."
Sydney and I spent the next 30 minutes Googling movies,
books, and TV shows with shrinking. She made a pretty table in her notebook
with columns for shrink ray, shrinking potion, shrinking spell, and miniature
people. Additionally, Sydney put rows for books, movies, and TV shows. I liked
her handwriting. It was neat and flowery. Occasionally she would add a doodle
by the text. There was no shortage of media with references to shrinking. I
could not believe how many TV shows had an episode with it. I even remembered
seeing some like those in Jimmy Neutron and Phineas and Ferb. By the time class
was over, we had a pretty good list.
Sydney jotted her phone number and handed it to me.
"Here's my number. If you are free tonight, maybe we could meet up to
finish the list and start brainstorming for the paper and presentation."
I typically was always free, but I thought about it for a
minute so it would not seem like I was too eager. "Sure...umm...that would
be perfect...I mean great." Why did I have to get so flustered? Just two
seconds ago, I was fine.
"Great, we could go to my place if you want. I live
within walking distance. Just meet me at the northwest entrance at me end of
the day." Sydney began to collect her belongings.
"It is a date." I immediately regretted the words
the second they left my mouth. My cheeks went bright red, but Sydney just
smiled and waved as she walked to her next class. I still could not believe my
luck. Not only had I been partnered with Sydney, but she had invited me to her
house. When I was sure no one was looking, I did a fist pump into the air to
celebrate.