"Shrinking Under Pressure"

By Sonicfan287

Chapter 1: No direction


Zack Austin had an overactive imagination and at times appeared as if his head were in the clouds. Somehow, though, he managed to land a decent job working for his dad's graphics company, an attractive girlfriend ... well, at one time, and was going to college to further his advancement in art.

Yes, Zack Austin could've done a lot of great things, if it weren't for him always being so easily distractable...

Right about now, it was Science class ... after that would be Pre-Calc, or something ... Zack was never one to stay right on with his schedule.

"The algorithm holds true ..." Mr. Castino spoke, in his usual slow drawl, "...even under subspace conditions... Mr. Austin!"

Zack's notes, which had begun as mere handwriting soon found themselves contorted into all kinds of crazy sketches. What started as a letter R soon trailed off at the tip of the last serif into a sharp diagonal line which outlined the page and highlighted a spectacular abstract representation of a large floating dragon grasping a space craft in it's tightly gripped claws. Zack panned his head up, his eyes somewhat obscured by his trademark gray wool hat which touched the upper part of his forehead, creating a small tuft of brown hair which squeaked through.

"Yes... sir?" Zack said, his voice saturated in boredom. He realized immediately that the direction of Mr. Castino's gaze was his own artistic notebook.

"Mr. Austin... since you seem to have paid such astute attention to my lecture today..." Mr. Castino spoke, a smug tone in his voice as he backed away from Zack's desk and addressed the larger class, "Why don't you come on up and show the class what I've already demonstrated? How would one go about sustaining perpetual motion under sub-space conditions?"

"Um... how? Well..." Zack spoke, with an eloquence as flimsy as the notebook paper he shuffled under his elbows as he craned his head down to view the conglomorate of notes, most of which pertained to drawings or a list of girls in the class that he thought were attractive. As if by some divine intervention, his mind was suddenly struck with inspiration and he rattled off an answer, "Um... you see... perpetual motion, as it were, can be sustained by calculating the mass of the traveling object multiplied by it's acceleration..."

"I see, Mr. Austin" Mr. Castino replied, nodding his head as if humoring Zack and the rest of the class, "you've successfully calculated force. Then what?"

"Then what? Um... well, then you take the momentum in any given direction and..." Zack stuttered.

At that moment, among a sea of various tones of laughter came a raised hand in the back corner of the class. It was a blonde kid wearing a black vest, known for his scientific intellect.

"Yes, Eddy?" Mr. Castino commented, gesturing towards him.

"Mr. Castino, as amusing as this all is" Eddy interjected, his unmistakable nasally voice overtaking the room, "We ALL know that perpetual motion is impossible, it's been calculated as such for years by the greatest physicists in the world... even under subspace conditions"

"Wh-What?" Zack said, turning sharply to face Eddy. His usual malaise had been temporarily broken, even in a subject he knew nothing about, "Yeah? Well then why was Mr. Castino just calculating...?"

"...The impossibility theorum, Mr. Austin" Mr. Castino chortled, "I was simply demonstrating to the class why perpetual motion is impossible under a given set of laws... but certainly I'm not one to discourage a student exploring the laws of science"

"So... ugh" Zack said, a noticeable frustration forming in his words, "So then why did you let me ...? Ugh, why do we even NEED to know something that we won't use?"

"What do you mean?" Mr. Castino contested, "Of course it's useful information, you will be using it on the exam"

"We CAN'T use it!" Zack challenged, "You just said we can't use it, it's impossible, so then why are we calculating impossible things?"

"Oh Mr. Austin..." Professor Castino sighed, shaking his head to and fro, "One most be familiar with all variables... just like your little ... doodles down there. They're not particularly useful but I was aware of them at the least"

"Hey! Now you look here!" Zack said, starting to get up out of his seat, nearly pulling his iPod out of his jacket pocket in the process. There were a serious of gasps from the other students but several classmates nearby halted him before he could approach the pretentious professor, one of them being his friend Jack.

"Cmon man!" Jack cautioned, keeping his voice hushed but still firm as he addressed his friend, keeping him close by the collar of his jacket, "You don't need this... not now. Just relax"

"Right... relax" Zack said and sighed, sitting back down.

The fact of the matter was Zack was all over the place. In what he did, what he wanted and even his emotions. At most times, he'd be quiet and reserved but sometimes, like in his own Science class, he'd find himself easily provoked and would take out anger in outrageous ways. He had been in a few fights throughout his life but for the most part it was more his threat of violence. He very rarely took action of any kind so most of the time, his hollow challenges went ignored and if he ever was in any kind of fight, he would end up on the losing end.

"Why do you think that is, Zack?" a female voice asked him. Zack retained his flat demeanor in front of her. The silence was so strong it seemed to echo in the office space around him as he sat. Standing tall was his long-time counselor, Nancy Dawes.

Zack let out a heavy sigh, barely making eye contact with Nancy.

"Zack, I'm serious" she sighed, sitting back down in her chair, "I'm sorry to get so firm with you but you never give straight answers, I just want to get to the root of what's troubling you... yknow?"

"I know I know..." Zack sighed, "I... I don't know... I don't know why I start fights"

"Well, your professor called the office earlier and seemed pretty distressed..." Nancy frowned.

"Yeah, Professor... Asstino!" Zack chuckled, referencing one of his least favorite teachers. Unfortunately he wasn't the only one. Zack had only just started at Eastern Connecticut State University and he was already falling behind in more than one subject. Art was the only subject he seemed to thrive in, only for the moment and he worried about that as well.

"Zack." Nancy said, in a sharp blunt tone, "You need to start taking these things seriously. I know you wouldn't fight a teacher... at least you SAY you won't fight a teacher but you have had these outbursts before, and you make a lot of rash decisions"

"Psh, like what?" Zack sighed, "According to you and others, I don't make enough decisions... I don't take any risks, I don't try new things, that's what you've been telling me for years and some of my friends, so which is it?"

Nancy paused and gave Zack a slight smile, more of a tongue in cheek gesture, because they both had such a rapport from so many years together, they knew exactly what she meant.

"I mean Ashley, Zack" Nancy sighed.

"I know... Ashley" Zack repeated, his voice lowering a bit as he spoke the name of his one time love.

"You don't really talk about her much" Nancy said, "And actually, you didn't even talk much about her while you were together... you told me you loved her though"

"I... yeah... I did" Zack said, unable to make eye contact with Nancy or really anything. Instead he found his eyes wandering the room, shifting between the books on the shelf, the doorway and the thickly carpeted floors.

"But then you guys just broke up..."

"Yeah, like 4 months ago" Zack scoffed.

"4 months ago, but you still talk, don't you?"

"Once in a while" he admitted.

"Okay, and what do you talk about?"

"I'm sorry but is this really what we're here to talk about? I thought you wanted to see me because I got upset with that science teacher" Zack said.

"Actually, Zack, I moved our appointment to today because I'm going to be out of the office starting tomorrow, I'm going on vacation and won't be able to see you until the beginning of next month, so I figured this would be a good time to touch base" Nancy explained, "and in light of hearing from your Professor, I thought it would be good to just get it all out there, yknow?"

"Well there's nothing to say, okay?" Zack retorted, "Yeah, I loved Ashley, we dated, it was great and all that and now we're done... we talk once in a while though"

"You paused" Nancy said.

"What do you mean?" Zack asked.

"When you mentioned her... a couple times, actually, you paused, there was a hesitance in your voice" she said.

"Yeah, so?"

"That's what you need to use more often, that's all I'm saying. You should make decisions in life and you shouldn't be afraid to take chances but it's also okay to admit if you made a mistake" Nancy explained in a slow calm voice.

"What mistake?" Zack said, his heart suddenly tensing up on him as he felt his last few words crash down on him. It was something about words like 'mistake' 'regret' 'fault' 'blame' or any such words that evoked an emotional response. Zack also hated being wrong

"Breaking up with Ashley..."

"Okay, this session is over!" Zack said and got up, stepping towards the door

"Zack" Nancy said, just once, in a powerful voice. She knew it was all she'd need. Still he made his way towards the door, a bit slower in his approached. He paused, looked at her and then looked at the open door.

"Damn it!" he said, striking the door with it's fist so it collided with the threshold but didn't slam shut, instead sliding back into it's original position. Zack threw himself back onto the small sofa in front of his counselor. "What? What do you want from me? You got me angry, you happy now? You got your response"

"That's not what I'm looking for" she said, a slight chuckle, "C'mon Zack, we both know this isn't you, snapping at people, slamming doors, but that's what happens when you keep your emotions in for too long"

Instead of his usual snide response, Zack sat in silence. He knew she was right. That also didn't mean he wanted to admit it. Still, Nancy spoke on.

"Ashley still goes to school near you, right?"

"Yeah, up at UCONN" Zack replied.

"Have you ever suggested meeting up with her?" she asked.

"She's asked a few times but man... I just... I shouldn't have to" he sighed, his voice lowering down to the same seclusive tone he was capable of.

"You don't have to" Nancy chuckled, "it'd just be a good chance to catch up with a friend, yknow?"

"Yeah, a friend I had sex with" Zack remarked.

"you're missing the point" Nancy said, sounding tired out but at the same time a slight smile appearing on her face.

"I know... I ... I don't know actually" Zack said, "I guess I do have trouble making decisions"

After that, they both took a moment to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere that came from a brief laugh. The office was quiet for several moments after that.

"I'm just trying to help, Zack" Nancy said, "You're 22 years old... you've only had one major relationship and in general have struggled to make friends"

"Is this supposed to be helping?" Zack asked, a slight chuckle in his voice. He could appreciate even the darkest of humor.

"I'm just saying... you haven't really put yourself out there, you've made it through life and had some really meaningful accomplishments but you take them for granted" Nancy said, "And then you dwell on the negatives and try to hide in your artwork..."

"You leave my artwork out of this" Zack said, a bit of anger in his voice, "That's just what Asstino got on me for... he can't appreciate ART, because he can't explain it with some bullshit law"

"Zack, language..." Nancy frowned, "I'm not insulting your art, all I'm saying is you've spent so much time alone and Ashley was the only one you really spent time with other than your friend Jack and your parents, and even they don't seem to know much about you but they all want the best for you"

"I...I know they do" Zack did, running out of words to say.

"Look, we've already run over the hour, but I hope this has been helpful" Nancy said, a sincere tone in her voice as she looked towards her disgruntled patient, "I'll see you in a couple weeks, okay?"

"Sure. Thanks" Zack said and rose from his seat to shake her hand as she directed him towards the waiting room to make a follow up appointment. In his head, several thoughts were swirling, but many of them focused on one thing...

"Maybe if I werent so weak, I wouldn't need to keep seeing a fucking therapist"

"Shrinking Under Pressure"

by Sonicfan287

Chapter 2: Family Issues & New Beginnings

Zack got into his Chevy and slammed the door. He took out his keys but didn't put them in the ignition. Instead he held them in his hand and kind of gazed at them. He almost never accomplished anything in a timely manner. Everything from walking the halls in the morning to taking a shower was always elongated and prlonged for whatever reason. In this case, Zack didn't mind at all. He was content to just in his car, peering up at his rearview mirror and back down at the keys in his hand before finally shoving them in the ignition. He started the car and backed out of the parking lot, leaving the radio off for a few moments before finally shuffling through some channels.

"I am in..." "--mutha fuckers don't know how to --" "--and in other news --" "I don't believe it ... " "In your community for over ..." "Two for the price of one!" "...and on Sunday..."

"Fucking nothing on" Zack chuckled and turned off his radio. In his pocket he could feel his cell phone vibrating but he didn't care to answer it. He let it keep going until it finally stopped. Contact from anyone via his cell phone was usually bad news or his dad calling for something.

"Oh crap" Zack mumbled, talking to himself as usual, "My dad!"

He sped up and took the first left turn he could to turn around and head back in the direction of his father's office.

Austin & Son Graphics had been in business for over 20 years but of course at one time it used to be called just 'Austin Graphics'. Over the years Zack developed a love for his dad's business, signing trucks and businesses all over Connecticut. Many of the graphics were done by hand but by this time, he had adapted most of the new digital technology and printed massive decals at his facilities, an office as well as a production plant for his large scale graphics.

When Zack turned 18, his dad was thrilled to have him aboard and was pretty much his first and only employer. Zack's dad, Frank Austin had his own short fuse but for the most part took solace in the fact that Zack shared his enjoyment of art. Business had been slow for Frank and his wife, Diana when they started the business in the 1980's but over time, it grew in popularity, his sole motivation to provide for his coming son.

Being Zack's father and boss though took a toll on their relationship and many times, he found himself frustrated with Zack's lazy approach to things. A successful business is a reliable one, he'd always say and there was nothing reliable about keeping clients waiting because of video games that were more important.

It was about 6:44 in the office when Zack ran through the door.

"Dad, I am so sorry" Zack said, fighting to get the words out. Zack also hated to be sorry.

"It's after 6:30, Zack" Frank sighed, "What took you so long? You're usually done with Nancy by 6..."

"Our session ran a little long and..." Zack hesitated.

"And what? You thought you could have another day off?" Frank shouted. It wasn't uncommon for Zack to veer off and decide he didn't feel like coming to work after his counseling meetings, since Nancy's office wasn't too far from Eastern. He'd usually prefer to head back there and waste the night away, rather than driving the 20 minutes to get back to his hometown in Norwich. "Jesus, Zack, I don't even know why we pay for this counselor for you... it's not like you..."

"Hey! No, I didn't want a day off, dad!" Zack snapped, hesitating at first before deciding to just jump right in, "Leave me alone, I don't want to talk about it"

"Okay fine, we won't!" Frank said and then sighed, "Look... we've both been under a lot of stress... we've got the Strickler account again this year and it's going to be pretty involved."

For the past few years, Austin Graphics was fortunate enough to land an account with the Fall Festival committee who threw a large parade in Norwich. This involved printing several large scale posters, designs and more. After seeing what a great job their company did, it was only natural that they'd stick with them, but now they were looking for even more. It all started a couple years back when Zack designed the logo that would eventually be used to represent the Fall Festival, a swirling orange leaf he had more or less doodled on accident. The leaf itself was part of a larger drawing and wasn't a leaf at all, but rather an abstract representation of female hair which curled and contorted into crazy patterns before resting at the top of a girl's face, with distinct facial features, the most remarkable of them being fully rendered light blue eyes.

"Man, we gotta do this project again?" Zack sighed.

"Yes, and cmon, you used to love doing this" Frank replied,

"Yeah, when I was in high school, and had more time!" Zack said, "I'm in college now! I don't know what the hell I'm doing and I don't have time to design everything for them, because that's always what it ends up being..."

"They trust you, Zack, they trust us" Frank said, "And you should be proud of that, trust is a very important thing"

"Yeah, well I'm not" Zack sighed, a glum look on his face.

His father could only stare back in disgust.

Up at UCONN Storrs, things were looking a little more positive. A new crowd of students filed into and out of buildings at an alarming rate. UCONN's main campus was full of buzz, which is what left Ashley Tremorton feeling a bit out of place. Other than her good friend Alicia, she didn't have too many personal acquaintances, and as she made her way up to her room, she couldn't help but feel a bit weighed down by her stress.

She turned down a busy corridor packed with people, feeling occasionally jostled by some of the unfamiliar faces who carelessly made their way through. Before she could turn around and express frustration, the antagonists were usually nowhere to be seen. She scoffed and tried to disguise her anger as a quick laugh, brushing some of her auburn hair aside as she hurriedly proceeded up the flight of stairs to her second floor dorm, clutching her books and supplies tightly against herself.

She walked into the room and flopped down on the bed, allowing her books to fly haphazardly onto the floor and surrounding areas. Her roommate Caroline paused, removing her headphones for a moment to greet her.

"Sup, roomie?" Caroline smiled. Caroline was always smiling. Considering Ashley's current mood, maybe it was for the best that she was lucky enough to be paired with such a mellow roommate. It also helped that Caroline regularly engaged in smoking marijuana.

"Hey" Ashley said, her voice sounding distant as she rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling above her.

Caroline slid one earphone back on, allowing herself to speak while still listening to the Paramore album blaring from her iPod.

"What's up?" she asked, also preoccupied with her laptop as she studiously slid her finger across the touch pad to engage in an exciting session of Farmville on Facebook.

"Huh?" Ashley asked, slightly surprised to even be spoken to, "Oh not much... how are you?"

"I am fantastic..." Caroline said, her voice drawling a bit as she spoke, "You know Trent from Physics class?"

"Uh-huh" Ashley nodded, realizing she could've just about said or done anything and Caroline would've kept right on going.

"Well, I just checked his facebook out and guess what? He's single!" she exclaimed, "I've been waiting that relationship out for quite some time..."

"Hmm. Cool" Ashley said, attempting some kind of emotion

"Psh!" Caroline tsked, taking off her headphones altogether and glancing right at Ashley. Sensing this, Ashley swerved her head and made eye contact, "C'mon Ash, this is Trent Davis for fuck's sake, and guess what? His friend Travis is having a party this weekend and we are so going"

"What do you mean 'we'?" Ashley asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well c'mon I need a wing man... girl, whatevs" Caroline shrugged.

"Heh -- I, I'm sorry" Ashley said, sitting up now in her bed "I like you and all but I don't know if I'm really --"

"Oh c'mon, it'll be awesome! And I'm thinking before that, we get totally made over" Caroline said, causing Ashley to stare back inquisitively, "Yknow, new hairstyles, wardrobe, everything... I'm trying to help you too, yknow ... there's going to be so many hot guys there"

"I appreciate it, but I don't know..." Ashley said, "I was never really the party type and..."

"You got that right, girl" Caroline said, getting up and setting her headphones down on the bed, proceeding to her closet.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ashley tsked, crossing her arms

"Chill" Caroline sighed, crouching down and rummaging through her things to uncover a small shoe box. "It's just that you have 'quiet girl' written all over you, but this is college now! It's time to spread your wings, yknow"

"My wings are fine where they are" Ashley said, half smiling and turning away from Caroline as she unveiled a small plastic baggie with a small sample of pot.

"I'm telling you, Ash, you remind me of my roommate last year... total bore" Caroline said, "She didn't do anything... but you on the other hand, you look like you have potential ... just hope you don't waste it"

"With all due respect, Caroline, some of us are here to get an education" Ashley retorted.

"Yah... sure" Caroline smiled and leaned back as she lit up a pipe, "Ya want some?"

"I'll pass..." Ashley sneered and slumped back onto her bed, rolling over and facing the adjacent wall.

"Shrinking Under Pressure"

by Sonicfan287

Chapter 3: Making connections

SLAM!

"It's just the lamest thing ever, man..." Zack sighed, throwing another swift kick into the training dummy within Eastern's fitness center. Jack braced for impact, holding the hard foam training implement.

""I don't know, man, at least your dad pays attention to you, I barely even see mine" Jack sighed.

"I know, it's just -- ugh, he can be so annoying sometimes" Zack grunted, kneeling down to grab a drink of water from his sports bottle. "Now we gotta do this lame fall festival thing again..."

"Well what does he pay you?" Jack asked

"What does it matter?" Zack sneered, "Nothing's worth this trouble... I already got school to contend with... fucking Asstino's determined to flunk me"

"Well you did get kind of hot under the collar" Jack commented, following Zack over to the shoulder press for the next set of work outs. He sat down next to him and began lifting free weights.

"Do you blame me?" Zack said, thrusting all his force into the first set of shoulder presses. He strained himself on the first rep and sets the bar down with some excessive force.

"Dude, you can't push all that weight at once" Jack said, "you gotta build up the muscle first"

"Damn it, man, it's only 60 pounds" Zack commented, "Even Eddy can lift 60 pounds"

"Ha, you kidding?" Jack laughed, "He can only calculate 60 pounds, besides you're doing fine. You're always pushing yourself man, you gotta relax"

"How can I ... relax?" Zack said, pausing slightly as he gripped the bar and took another thrust upward, slightly ashamed to have lowered the weight to 45. "I've got all this college crap going on, my dad always expecting more of me, and I just don't have any direction in my life..."

"Man, who does?" Jack asked, "We've made it through rougher times than this , we always find some way to land on our feet"

Zack sat still for a brief moment, contemplating what his friend had just said. At that time, Julie came around from behind a pull-ups machine.

"Just by the way, Zack, I totally think you could've taken him" she chuckled, brushing her red hair from her eyes. Julie was a younger girl with a cute twinkle in her eye, who stood at about 5'4. Probably her most distinguishable characteristic was her light blue eyes, which added a level of intrigue to her otherwise average appaearance.

"What?" Zack asked, still preoccupied with raising the weight on his shoulder press. He let out a pained grunt as he reasserted his strength on the machine, struggling to raise the bar. Jack chuckled in the background, focusing on the conversation Julie was attempting to initiate.

"Eddy, man, you could've taken him" Julie chuckled, "I'm kinda glad you didn't though... class would be pretty boring without you"

"Yeah" Zack said, maintaining a stone-like appearance in his face as he made another attempt on the shoulder press, a bit more satisfied to be lifting the bar higher, even as he felt a strain in his left shoulder and could feel the muscles in his right shoulder tighten as well.

"So Jules, you going to the party tonight?" Jack asked.

"Y'know, I'm not sure..." Julie sighed, "Jason keeps wanting me to go..."

"Well, of course" Jack replied with a certain hint of sarcasm in his voice, "he wants you bad"

"Yeah, no shit" Julie chuckled, "How about you Zack?"

"Heh, what about me? I don't like Jason either" Zack chuckled, missing the point completely

"No, I mean are you coming to the party, silly?" she asked.

"Wh-What party?" Zack asked, finally ceasing his workout long enough to talk to his friends. A small drop of sweat had formed on his forehead, secreting from his hairline as it made its way down his face.

"I tried calling you last night" Jack said, "but you never got back to me, it's going to be this huge party in Noble Hall, Sandra's older sister is bringing booze and..."

"You say that like it's such a big deal, man" Zack interuppted, "Of course there's booze, its a college party ... besides I don't even know if I feel like partying"

"Oh c'mon" Jack said, "Remember in high school? We always wanted to be invited to these kind of parties but we never had the connections"

"Well, you've been to a few" Zack reminded

"Yeah but that was a long time ago" Jack said, "and besides it wasn't exactly what I thought it'd be..."

"Why? Because you didn't get laid?" Zack joked, eliciting a laugh from Julie as well. Jack narrowed his brow

"Yeah, real funny" Jack said, faking a laugh, "No, I just felt out of my element and..."

"Yeah, because you were..." Zack said, shooting Jack a brief glare. "Why can't we just put high school behind us? It's ancient history now"

Julie paused before asking, "Didn't you guys like just graduate?"

"Yeah" Jack replied nonchalantly, "and it was fucking awesome! Remember how wasted we got during graduation? I think we all got some that night"

Zack remained silent for a few moments, letting Julie and Jack continue talking. Without saying much else, he proceeded to the bicep curls and began the workout process anew. Julie had to get going and bid farewell to Jack, exiting almost as quickly as she arrived.

Jack walked over to the bicep curls and sighed.

"Man, you know she's into you, right?" Jack asked.

"Who, Julie?"

"Yeah" Jack said, "You see the way she acts around you"

"Nah man, that's just how she is" Zack said, getting that determined look in his eyes again as he took hold of the bicep curls and started lifting again, his arms tensing up as he pulled with all his strength, "she's always nice and cheerful like that"

"More than that, man" Jack said, "I think she wants you"

"Oh yeah, here it is..." Zack said with his usual sarcastic tone, rolling his eyes as he continued working out.

"She's pretty decent" Jack shrugged, "I'd tap that"

"You'd tap anything" Zack said, a certain cycnicism in his voice

"Hey, I'm just trying to help you out" Jack said defensively

"Help me with what, man? I got enough going on, I'm sorry if going to some random party and fucking Julie aren't on my mind every second" Zack said

"Sometimes I wonder what is on your mind..." Jack sighed, "Anyway, I tried to call you last night because I really do need you to go to this party"

"And why's that?" Zack said, sighing before finally admitting defeat. He lowered the bicep weights gently, for the last time and stood up from the bench.

"Y'know that hottie I was telling you about? Sandra?" Jack asked, "She's going to be there and man, I could really use a wing man"

"Sandra? She's way out of your league... she's out of all our leagues" Zack said, as they begun making their way from the fitness center.

"Out of our league? Nah." Jack said, a certain determined quality in his voice, "Terms like 'out of our league' is high school bullshit... there are no more leagues anymore"

"You certainly changed your tune fast" Zack retorted, "That's not what you were saying last year"

"Can we just let that go, man?" Jack sighed, his bushy eyebrows wrinkling as he spoke. "What do you care anyway? You were too busy with Ashley at that time and..."

"You leave her out of this" Zack snapped, the only time his voice changed tones and seemed to show some real emotion. "You abandoned all of us last year to go pursue some juvenile fantasy and we all understood that and let you do your thing, even as you continued to shun us"

"Shun you? What are you talking about?" Jack asked, "You weren't available much either... always hanging out with Ashley. I can't 'shun' someone who isn't even around"

"Maybe you're right, we should drop this" Zack said, deciding to change his own tune for the moment. Whatever had happened in the past needed to be buried. As his thoughts took him from negative to positive yet again, he decided that maybe a party would be what he needed to take his mind off the stresses he had. "When's this party?"

"This Friday night, man" Jack said, his usual confidence returning to his voice as they strolled down the student center towards the cafe. "A bunch of people from Noble Hall will be there and of course Sandra, and her sister Angie who ain't too bad either"

Zack simply nodded. He could've said more but he didn't see the point in arguing or agreeing with Jack. Whenever his friend got on these determined missions of his, it was just a matter of letting him find out on his own that things aren't always as ideal as he thinks. Zack had plenty else to occupy his time anyway and wasting a few hours at a party on Friday night wouldn't do too much harm, he figured.

As the 2 boys sat down to eat, Zack couldn't help but make another astute observation, bringing his cheeseburger towards his mouth to take a bite.

"Man, this food kinda sucks, huh?" he chuckled.

Not too far away, at UCONN Storrs a similiar conversation was taking place.

"This food kinda sucks, huh?" Ashley chuckled, as small strips of lettuce dribbled out of her loaded cheeseburger and landed back onto her plate. She took another bite, smearing some ketchup and mayonaise on her face. She tsked and quickly wiped herself with the adjacent napkin. Her friend Alicia chuckled

"Hey, it's college" Alicia said and shrugged. Alicia was a very laidback girl and had been a great influence on Ashley throughout their time in high school. She was a year older but in the same grade due to her being held back in middle school. Because she was older, Ashley seemed to look up to her even if her "wisdom" wasn't always insightful.
"You take what you get"

"Yeah, I mean, what do you expect for a 400 dollar meal plan?" Ashley chuckled, "but I mean yeah, it's not really that bad, I'm just feeling bitchy today I guess"

They both chuckled briefly.

"But seriously, I think you're going to like it here" Alicia stated, "Actually scratch that. You WILL like it here"

"Ever the optimist.." Ashley shrugged, making another attempt to finish her cheeseburger. A pickle clumsily dribbled out from under the bun but she didn't notice the errant topping, which slid to the floor with a soft squishing sound.

"So I assume you found your classes okay" Alicia inquired.

"Yeah" Ashley laughed sarcastically, "I'm not a retard, c'mon"

Just then, a guy carrying his tray slipped and fell right beside the table, his shoe slipping on a misplaced pickle. He caused a small commotion around them before pulling himself up, his burger and fries disheveled on the navy blue tiled floor.

"Fuck" the guy exclaimed, before calming down. He was a taller guy, wearing a vertically striped navy blue button up shirt with nice jeans, a fancy silver buckle and Puma sneakers on. He sat up and retained his normally mellow demeanor, "Well I guess that's what I get for ordering out, huh?"

Ashley sat aghast at what had happened for several seconds before getting down to floor level and trying to help the guy out.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry" Ashley said, her voice filled with distress.

"For what? Shit happens" the guy replied.

"Yeah but I think you may have slipped on my pickle" she said, slightly cracking a smile from the stupidity of it all. "...yeah, I can't believe I just said that"

The guy laughed again, before extending his hand. Ashley helped him up.

"My name's Jake, what's yours?" he said.

"Ashley" she said, "What a great way to be meeting..."

"Nah, it's cool, don't worry" he said, "although I think you got a little ketchup on your face...right here."

He took one of his napkins and gently dabbed her cheek, eliciting a quick smile from her, as she became unable to make eye contact.

"Heh, thanks" Ashley said, her voice soft and muted.

"Yeah, no prob... I should probably clean this shirt" he chuckled, "Hey I'll see you around"

Ashley glanced back at Alicia as Jake started getting himself up and began walking around. She gave her a stare that said it all, and Ashley found herself prompted to follow him.

"Um... hey" Ashley said, feeling uneasy as he turned around to face her again. His demeanor didn't change, neither positively or negatively. "I... uh... kinda feel bad about ruining your meal... how about I buy you lunch?"

"Oh yeah?" he asked, his face finally smiling for a moment as he looked down at her, "You sure? You don't really have to"

"No, I insist" she said, sounding a little more confident, "Y'know... when you're all cleaned up and all"

"Actually I was just going to go to the bathroom and wash some of this ketchup off... I'm still hungry as hell..." he joked, "so... you mind, waiting here?"

"Here?" she asked shyly, Jake nodded yes. "Y-Yeah... right here. I'll be... right. here."

"Ok, cool" Jake said nonchalantly and continued to proceed into the bathroom to clean his shirt. Ashley's nervous grin burst into a wide smile as soon as he was out of sight. She looked back at Alicia who smiled as well and gave her a thumbs up.

Maybe this won't be so bad... Ashley thought to herself.

"Shrinking Under Pressure"

by Sonicfan287

Chapter 4: Family, friends and more

"So, you a freshmen here?" Jake asked, dipping into his small cup of fries from the grill. While he ate, Ashley stayed fixated on him most of the time, her eyes barely moving despite the myriad of distractions around her.

"Y-Yeah, I mean I just started here... well actually I mean, I graduated high school in... well, I mean you know that because..." she stammered.

"Heh, it's cool" Jake said, "Must be a bit overwhelming to come here for the first time. What school did you go to?"

"Ledyard High" she said

"You like it?" he asked.

"Yeah... I mean, it was fun but psh... yeah" she said, unable to answer the question with certainty.

There was a brief pause before Jake resumed conversation.

"Y'know, you didn't have to buy me more food" he said.

"I know... but I mean, I made you fall" she sighed, her eye contact fluttering between his face and the plate of food just below him

"Technically..." he said, with a stern voice that was soon going to be broken, "...the pickle made me fall"

At that point, they both laughed, overcome by the absurdity of it all. Ashley glanced down and noticed an overloaded backpack of things at the leg of his chair. Sticking out were a couple of spiral bound notebooks, which jut out at the corners, appearing ready to burst free at any moment.

"You... taking a lot of classes?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah... well I mean, I take four" Jake explained, "but I have a couple art classes which..."

"You're an art student?" Ashley asked, completely interuppting him.

"Y-Yeah, y'know, it's what I do, it's what I like" Jake asked, "I've been here a couple years, I started as a science major actually... Biology... my dad thought it would be a great path for me"

After a moment's pause, Ashley jumped back into the discussion.

"But... you didn't think it was for you?" she assumed.

"Yeah, pretty much" he shrugged, "I mean, I could handle the work load.. it got tough and it didn't give me much time for friends or anything... and I mean, I've always loved art. I'm just not sure what I'm going to do with it"

"You could go into graphic art maybe?" Ashley suggested.

"I was thinking of that but I don't know... it's all too commercial... I'm looking for something more real, yknow? Something ... something where I can truly express myself" Jake rambled, "You probably don't know what I mean"

"No... No, I do" Ashley stated, her voice sounding confident at first but slowly drifting as she thought more about his statement. She gazed briefly back at Alicia who was shuffling out of the food court, taking a glance back at Ashley and flashing a short smile. Ashley acknowledged her with a nod and then went back to thinking.

....something more real....

Back in Norwich, a small household was cluttered with the noise of dishes hitting an open sink, as Diana Austin engaged in her usual regimen of cleaning in the kitchen and dining room, where her exhausted husband sat before his emptied plates.

"Busy day at work, hon?" Diana asked, taking a brief moment to sit down next to him. Zack's mother, Diana was almost always going, seemingly endowed with limitless energy and a perky personality that was sometimes seen as a facade to hide her overworked and stressed emotional state. Through it all, she loved her son to death but couldn't help but feel irritated by the stress he had been putting on their once happy family.

"You don't know the half of it" Frank grumbled, "The committee behind the fall festival wants to see what we're working on and particularly, they want to buy the rights to Zack's logo"

"The leaf pattern with the girl?" she asked. Frank nodded, "so what's the problem?"

"The problem is, they pretty much want Zack's involvement on the project, almost exclusively. They want him to modify the logo and make it into something that they can use year after year" Frank explained, "and legally, I can't negotiate on a price since I don't own the art, and of course Zack is never around to talk to them himself..."

"I thought he was supposed to be working with you tonight?" Diana asked.

"Oh yeah. About that" Frank scoffed, ending his earlier point, "he called me about an hour before he was supposed to get in... supposedly starting feeling sick while lifting weights in the gym... said the school doctor told him to lay down and take it easy, so he wouldn't be able to make..."

After that, Frank threw a hand up in disbelief, eliciting a frown from Diana, who stood up to continue her busy work.

"You think he's making it up?" she asked, fading into the kitchen briefly to gather the plates into the sink.

"It wouldn't be the first time" he sighed, "I just don't know where that kid's head is... he's an art student for crying out loud! He should take this as an opportunity... I never had this when I was a kid... I had to work hard to start my business... my family couldn't afford to send me to school"

"Yes, we know hon" Diana said, a half smile on her face as she came back into the dining room, nearly done with her job, except to wipe the table down. She spread a dampened cloth across the surface many times rigurously, prompting Frank to move his elbow and some of his papers from the table.

He picked up the large brown expandable file that had been leaning on the table and set it on the chair next to him. He took out some of the logo designs and other graphics from recent projects.

"I just don't get it." Frank said, "He's not depressed anymore... I mean, right?"

There was a brief moment of silence between both of them, where they gazed into one another's eyes, unsure of the answer to that question.

"I mean... yeah, he seems better" she nodded. Frank gave a brief nod of approval as well, cracking a grin as he looked down at Zack's designs in his hands.

"Yeah, and I mean look at his art work..." he said, his smile widening as he shuffled through the papers. Out of them all he took a small crumply piece of yellow notebook paper. On it were several crudely drawn symbols, mostly stars in black marker ink. At the center of it was a jagged comic book character, his body constructed of a couple differently sizes triangles and his head an oval who wore outrageous sunglasses, depicted as an outstretched polygon with jagged corners. "Remember this crazy guy?"

"Heh, yeah, who could forget?" she laughed, "Poly-man..."

"Yeah, what the hell happened to Polyman? What happened to all of his... I don't know, all of his passion, all of his energy?" Frank asked.

"School happened, you know that" Diana sighed, "it's all part of growing up"

She walked over towards Frank's chair and sat down next to him, looking over his shoulder as they both viewed Zack's previous art. He flipped to a more current page that was computer rendered, rather than hand drawn.

"What are these?" she asked.

"Zack's newwer works... well, both of us actually" Frank explained, and showed her some logos for local companies, including trucking companies, a local grocery store and a special logo for the girls scout lodge. The logos weren't terrible but they lacked the same creative freedom. "I did most of the work on the girls scout logo, and they've been using it since '98. I'm friends with the scout leader over there, Rodney as you know. He's been begging me for years to have Zack work on something new... he always loved Zack's crazy designs"

"Yeah, well I'm sure Zack would do it, have you brought it up?" Diana asked.

"A couple times, but between everything else we've been doing, there just hasn't been time... I mean, look at these other logos though, they're mostly Zack's doing and they're just... I... don't know" Frank stammered, frowning as he paused to point to every logo on the page.

"They're boring" Diana chuckled, "let's face it... a red sqaure that says 'Meyer's Deli'? Not exactly cutting edge"

"Right" Frank said, smiling, "Still, they seemed to like the work, but that's just it. I don't want people to just like our work, I want them to LOVE it. I want Austin Graphics to really take off so that Zack can comandeer it when he's older"

"True, but I mean... maybe that's not what he wants" Diana said, throwing her eyebrows up in sympathy, "he's just a bit stressed right now"

"I'd believe you, except he's been so non chalant lately" Frank said, "That's why I don't know why we still have him seeing Nancy... he seems fine. I mean, relatively speaking"

"He seems fine, but you know Zack" his mom reminded, "he comes off as a 'silent' soldier ... he never lets anyone see or know his pain"

Both parents remained quiet in the dining room to reflect on the somber statement, as Frank turned the page to Zack's designs from the prior Fall festival. There were many prototype drawings of the girl with autumn hair before he came up with the simplified design for the fall festival logo. Almost instantly, Diana's eyebrow raised.

"Hey, Frank..." she said, "You ever think Zack had an inspiration for this logo...?"

They both paused and glanced over at a picture on the piano, then revisited Zack's drawing.

"Heh... what? No, that's nonsense" Frank said. "I mean... yeah, maybe, but hey... every artist needs inspiration, I'm sure it's just..."

"But maybe it's more than that" Diana said, sounding stern in her approach, stoping Frank from exiting the table. "I think you need to talk to him, Frank. I'm serious. You 2 used to be a lot closer and I think he needs his dad now more than ever"

"Diana..." Frank groaned, "I agree that some father and son time may be in order, but does it really help if I dredge up the past?"

His wife sat tensively, biting her lip and unable to answer.

In the meantime, the picture on the piano still stood, a small 4X6 in a dusty frame. Taken a couple Christmases ago, it was Zack with a goofy smile, his arm wrapped around a younger girl with messed up auburn hair. At the point in time where the picture was taken, one of her eyes was closed, while the other remained open and her teeth showed as she was in mid-smile, looking up at Zack, surrounded by Christmas decorations and a large Christmas tree. The girl in the picture had unforgettable blue eyes and autumn hair.

"Shrinking Under Pressure"

by Sonicfan287

Chapter 5: Girl Talk

It wasn't too far from the Western wing of UCONN's Jacobson dorm building that scattered female giggling could be heard, making its way up the stairs and around the corner.

"Okay, and then what?" Alicia asked, her hair bobbing with each step as she pressed Ashley for more details.

"Oh my god it was no big deal" Ashley sighed, avoiding eye contact with her friend.

"So, does he have a girlfriend?" Alicia finally asked. Ashley scoffed jokingly.

"I don't know, I didn't ask that" Ashley replied, "We were just... y'know talking"

"Uh huh..." Alicia said excitedly "...so I assume you swapped phone numbers"

Ashley only smiled to acknowledge her answer, causing Alicia to squeal with excitement.

"Oh my god." Alicia tsked, "that's awesome! I mean, I was here for a whole year before I met anyone but you've found someone on your first week here! I mean, how lucky is that?"

"Hey, roll it back there, girl" Ashley said, "I never said I agreed to anything... he asked me out sometime but I said I'd..."

"You said what?" Alicia asked, "what'd you say?"

"Let me finish!" Ashley laughed, and they finally got to her dorm room, where she fumbled through her belongings for the keys. On her shoulder hung a large pink bag with floral patterns. The bag was deep but also made it easy to lose things. She moved her hands through a sea of materials ranging from school supplies, to her checkbook and passed over her keys a few times before finally seizing them in her fingers. All during this, Alicia remained pinned to her side with curiousity.

"Well?" Alicia asked.

"Well what?" Ashley asked, appearing uncomfortable. "I don't know... he asked if I wanted to hang out sometime, and I just said I didn't know if I was ready..."

"You didn't know if you were... you didn't know..." Alicia sighed, mockingly throwing her hands up in the air, but still showing real frustration as she paced around briefly, repeating Ashley's words. "What do you mean? You don't have to be ready for nothing... he ain't asking you to jump into bed with him"

"Ha, nor would I" Ashley replied, "But y'know what I mean... I'm just not... ready..."

Alicia sighed, and her smile became a more mournful expression. She gave Ashley a sympathetic gaze and just uttered one word. "Zack?"

Ashley didn't answer, only bit her lower lip and focused her gaze on the floor, a checkerboard white and blue. She cracked the lock to get in by finally turning the key and slid herself into the room.

"Here, you can come in and talk for a bit..." Ashley said, and started to walk in before noticing the room was shrowded in darkness, and only a small flickering provided any sign of life. "Uh... hello?"

"C-C-Can you come back in like... 5 minutes?" Caroline asked.

"5 minutes, what are you...?" Ashley asked, trying to take a quick peek but there wasn't much to see in so much darkness.

"Just come back" Caroline snapped, "I didn't think you'd be home this early..."

Ashley just stood there, unable to respond for a moment, before looking back at Alicia who only shrugged.

"Okay.." Ashley said, almost chuckling at the randomness of it all. She took Alicia with her out the door and closed it behind her.

"Wh-What do you think she's doing in there?" Alicia asked, her voice kept to a hushed whisper.

"I don't know, but I almost don't wanna..." Ashley started but coudln't overcome the inevitable giddiness of her long time pal.

"I kinda want to know..." Alicia chuckled and pressed her ear to the door. "Oh my god!"

Ashley chuckled and said, "What?"

"I... I think she's masturbating in there" Alicia laughed, trying to stifle her mouth.

"Nuh uh!" Ashley chuckled.

"Yeah... I definitely think that's what it is" Alicia commented, "I thought she had a boyfriend?"

"Caroline? No... though she definitely has... friends" Ashley replied, raising her hands into quotes on the word friends.

"Sleeps around?" Alicia asked.

"Pretty much" Ashley replied. "But how do you know she's masturbating?"

"Do you really wanna hear what I'm hearing right now?" Alicia asked in a semi-serious tone. Ashley chuckled and shook her head quickly 'No'.

"Wow" Ashley said, rolling her eyes as they walked far from the dorm room. "Awkward..."

"I know, right?" Alicia said, "Well we've got some time to kill... wanna hit the mall?"

"She said she'd be done in 5 minutes" Ashley said. They both stared at each other for several seconds, before realizing what that meant. They simply continued walking away without further thought. Ashley then muttered, "Yeah, good point."

"That's what I thought" Alicia sighed, "C'mon I'll drive, East Brook mall is right down the road from here ... maybe I can get you in with my friend Cindy"

"The hairdresser?" Ashley frowned, "I don't need my hair done at the moment"

"Psh, okay girlfriend, whatever you say" Alicia joked and began to pick up her speed, knowing that Ashley would get angry at her statement.

"Ugh, what's that supposed to mean?" she asked, her voice briefly raising to a squeakier tone as she jokingly pursued her friend, taking a thick book from her bag and thwacking her friend in the butt.

"Hey!" Alicia laughed, "Not fair!"

"Oh lighten up" Ashley chuckled, throwing her arm around her friend, becoming entangled in Alicia's unruly frizzy hair which spread down her back to almost her waist. While her hand was within reach, Alicia seized the book and slapped Ashley in the ass, provoking an even louder sound. The 2 got quite a few stares as they proceeded towards the main atrium of the student center on their way out but neither of them cared as they took turns chasing one another until they reached the door out of breath.

Alicia sighed and handed Ashley her book back. Ashley took the book and slid it back into her bag. Alicia couldn't help but notice a glimmering pattern from the book.

"What book was that anyway?" Alicia asked, a large smile still plastered on her face.

"Huh? Oh just one of my notebooks, pretty cool, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah, actually, where'd you get it?" Alicia inquired.

"Y'know... at the store" Ashley answered.

The 2 made their way towards Alicia's car, making playful banter as they went.

In a window not too far from them was a science experiment in progress at a neighboring building.

It was 6 pm at the time and Eddy was the only one left in the science lab. Even Professor Castino was packing up and leaving for the day, while Eddy was working on something. Feeling his cell phone vibrate, he slowly raised it to his ear, putting down his work for a moment.

"Yea?" he asked, in a subdued tone.

"Is it ready?" the voice on the other end demanded.

"Almost... I keep telling you, this takes a while to refine, there's a 6 step process..." Eddy sighed, his voice peppered with frustration.

"Right...right...sorry" the voice chuckled, "I just... you know, really need it.. I'd really appreciate it if you could have it to me as soon as possible.. okay?"

"I'll see what I can do..." Eddy sighed, quickly hanging up the phone.

"Shrinking Under Pressure"

Chapter 6: Awkward run-ins

Shapes everywhere were in danger of extinction. Dr. Architype was threatening the citizens of Slantsville yet again with his massive Geometron and there was only one jagged hero who could save the day.

Like clockwork, Polyman ascended onto the scene, surrounded by his trademark circle of poorly drawn stars, each one slightly different than the others ; like snowflakes. It wasn't always pretty, but Polyman always found a way to get the job done.

"...kinda like me..." Zack muttered, his voice trailing off as he finished the last frame of his 2 page comic. He suddenly heard rustling getting closer to his room, a room which he had neglected to close the door on. Sensing a human presence closing in, he shuffled the papers, like so many others, into his nearby drawer, which had been stuffed with crumpled notebook paper.

Just in the nick of time, Jack entered the room.

"Haven't you heard of knocking?" Zack scoffed, only half joking. He had requested a room at High Rise dorms at Eastern because there generally weren't many tenants on the upper floors where he stayed. He had been lucky enough to land a single room and usually didn't have to deal with loud noise or intrusions, which is why he didn't bother to close his door.

"What's the big deal, man?" Jack chuckled, shrugging his friend off as he tried to maintain his confident demeanor. "Anyway... the party's tonight... I am definitely going, and I think you should too"

"I don't know, man, I wasn't even invited" Zack said.

"Psh, so?" Jack laughed, "it's a COLLEGE party... I'm only going because I know someone who knows someone who's friends with Sandra's cousin and..."

"No, you're going so you can bang Sandra" Zack scoffed.

"Nah, you were right" Jack sighed, putting his arm around Zack as if it were a "father-son" moment. Zack shot him an uncomfortable glare, but Jack persisted, going into his fake 'theatrical' sounding voice. "Sandra is too far out of our leagues... she's an angel in disguise and we... we are here to worship her in..."

"Okay okay, cmon!" Zack laughed, finally mustering the strength to throw Jack's arm off himself, "I know you don't believe THAT either, I was just trying to keep your expectations realistic"

"Hey, my expectations are fine where they are" Jack insisted, "but you... you need more confidence, man. You need some charisma..."

"I need a fucking vacation is what I need..." Zack said, picking up his phone briefly again before putting it back down on the dresser. It continued to vibrate a few more times before going to voicemail.

"Your dad again?" Jack asked.

"Yeah," Zack sighed, referring to the 6 missed phone calls that were on the screen. "He's been trying to reach me all day, he swears it isn't for work but he doesn't tell me what he needs... or what he wants. I'm sure it's some kind of project he forgot to tell me about..."

"Maybe you should pick it up?" Jack frowned, trying to give his friend some sincere advice.

"Since when are you about being responsible?" Zack asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm just saying man... you don't know..." Jack said.

"You know what, you're right..." Zack said, feeling a strong burst of confidence for whatever reason. Maybe his mind was just too bogged down by other things to care, or maybe his judgement had finally failed him once and for all but this party was starting to seem like a better and better idea. "I don't know, and you won't know and I won't know... what can happen unless we get to this PARTY!!"

With that, his friend Jack jumped up in surprise and exclaimed "YES!! That's what I'm talking about, man"

"Yeah, so let's go!" Zack said, taking a swift step towards the door before doing a double take, and grabbing his phone. Just in case Jack was right, he decided it was a good idea to keep the phone on him, just in case.

"Oh, there is one thing" Jack chuckled.

"What?" Zack asked.

"We kinda need to make a stop..." Jack said, "I need some new cologne"

"You can't be serious" Zack groaned, disgusted by such shallow things.

"C'mon man, it'll be quick, I swear, we got time to kill anyway" Jack said. "We'll just stop by the mall, they got a sale going on and I've got a gift card. I need some new threads too"

"I thought you said you just needed cologne!" Zack snapped, beginning to have second thoughts. He was just looking to forget about life for a couple hours, he didn't plan on putting this much importance on it. "Maybe I should grab a LEISURE SUIT while I'm there!"

"Yknow, you may be able to..." Jack said, giving his friend a look over.

"Okay, this ends here!" Zack said, throwing a hand in his face.

"Oh c'mon!" Jack laughed, "I was kidding. Now c'mon, I'll drive..."

"No, we should take seperate cars" Zack quickly answered, "I know how you get when you go shopping... I don't want to miss the whole fucking party"

They both laughed as they left Zack's room, the door characteristically left open yet again.

Elsewhere, Zack's father Frank returned to the living room to sit beside his wife as she watched a movie.

"Still no answer?" Diana frowned.

"Nothing" Frank said, "I think I'm giving up for tonight... if I call him too much, he'll just be more disillusioned"

"Well, I give you credit for trying" Diana smiled, giving her husband an encouraging pat on the shoulder.

"I just wonder where he could be..." Frank pondered, "he usually at least answers his phone once..."

"I wouldn't worry about it, dear" Diana said, "he's probably just having a busy day or maybe his phone died..."

"Yeah... yeah, maybe" Frank Austin muttered, left to his own thoughts.

Back at the mall, it was Alicia who was deep in thought, admiring several cute skirts on the shelf at Express. Ashley stood behind her, mockingly looking at her wrist and the watch she didn't have on it.

"Yes, they're all so adorable..." Ashley chuckled, her voice trailing off into a sarcastic ramble, "how can you possibly pick just one?"

"Ugh, I know, right?" Alicia chuckled, before realizing what was happening, "You're being sarcastic again, aren't you?"

"A little" Ashley smiled, still clutching her 3 bags from the other stops the girls had made. She also was the recipient of a new hairstyle, and had her highlights put back in. Her autumn hair was now streaked with a couple vibrant strips of flourescent blonde.

"Well I'm sorry we can't ALL look fabulous without some help!" Alicia said, referring to her friend Ashley's reinvigorated appearance. Even Ashley, despite her humble nature had to admit that her friend was right. Things had been going a bit better for her in the past couple days, and somehow she even got talked into attending that big college party by both her roommate Caroline and her best friend Alicia. Why she had agreed to let Alicia drive though was anyone's guess.

Chance would have it, that within this same mall was another duo of friends, two males who were just finishing up a little shopping venture of their own.

"This collar is too tight" Zack protested, pulling lightly on the dark grey collar as it constricted his neck. Somehow, Jack had talked him into getting a nice dress shirt. Besides that, he would make no further attempt at improving his fashion, still wearing his usual beat up jeans, although he had thrown some gel through his hair as well.

"It looks fine to me" Jack shrugged. "All I know is, we are looking good and ready to get with the ladies!"

"Really, man?" Zack sighed, "You talk like someone out of a bad 50's movie..."

Zack then slipped into his bad impression of 'the fonz' as he assumed a pose and said 'Ey... let's get some chicks'

While his voice hadn't resonated to another part of the mall, his appearance was effecting somebody at the moment. From across the way, Ashley briefly made eye contact with her ex boyfriend, unsure if it was him in the dark dress shirt but she definitely recognized Jack.

Her strolling slowed to a near stop, causing Alicia to turn around and shoot her a look.

"What? Oh." Alicia said, realizing what she had seen. "That's... that's Zack, isn't it?"

"Y-Yeah..." Ashley sighed, her mind suddenly drifting. Almost by instinct she felt her feet taking her towards him before a forceful arm grabbed her back.

"H-Hey, what are you doing?" Alicia asked.

"I... I don't know, I figure I could say hi" Ashley said, her voice suddenly wavering.

"Yeah, okay... not!" Alicia said, suddenly changing her usually bubbly tone. "We are NOT saying hi to your ex boyfriend"

As Jack tried to brush off Zack's childish antics, he couldn't help but notice the 2 girls staring their way, if only briefly.

"Hey... hey man," Jack said, causing Zack to stop moving momentarily, "Is that... Ashley?"

"You fucking with me, man?" Zack said, his voice suddenly becoming quiet and disturbed.

"No, man, I'm serious" Jack said, "Hey... Hey Ashley!"

"Shut up, man!" Zack nearly shouted, pushing his friend behind a fake plant. "What the fuck are you doing?"

Ashley and Alicia reluctantly made their way over, trying to be polite in response to Jack's loud greeting.

"Um, hey... Jack" Ashley said, tilting her head curiously to figure out why he was on the ground. She then glanced over at his attacker. "Zack. Um... how's it going?"

Zack nodded. "It's going... it's going well, how are you.. and how's it going, Alicia?"

"It's going... we were actually just leaving" Alicia said, trying to contain her frustration at the current turn of events.

"...um, yeah, yeah we were" Ashley said, smiling and nodding. "We're uh... going to a party tonight and..."

"Oh. Oh yeah" Zack said, a bit surprised by her answer but he nodded as well, trying to act as casual as possible as Jack remained nearby, all too ready to break into their mediocre conversation.

"Z and I are on our way to something too" Jack said, nodding his head and smiling. "It should be a blast"

"Oh ... yeah?" Ashley asked, faking a smile. "Well, that's uh cool"

"Yea... it's uh... yknow, what it is" Zack said, trying to downplay Jack's behavior.

"Yeah... yeah I bet it is" Ashley said, unaware of the fact that her mouth was hanging open in indecisiveness. By the time she realized this, she felt rather silly and closed it, resuming her wide smile. "You boys gonna uh... 'pick up some chicks'?"

She had momentarily assumed Zack's false fonzarelli voice when making her reference, causing everyone else in the group to give her a peculiar look.

"Heh, I'm sorry, I just... I overheard you... a little bit and..." Ashley stuttered.

"Oh!" Zack exclaimed, "Oh that, y'know... I was just... heh, Jack here, being all ... ladies man and everything"

Alicia acted swiftly to break up the quickly deteriorating situation.

"Okay, well we gotta go" Alicia retorted rather rudely, "I've uh got an appointment, and so do you, Ashley..."

"I do?" Ashley asked, absent minded.

"Yes! We're getting our nails done, so c'mon! We'll see you boys later!" Alicia said, quickly pulling on her friends harm as she helplessly walked away.

"Um ok... but I thought we already did our nails..." Ashley stammered as the 2 girls fled out of sight. Ashley turned a bright red in the face, relieved that her friend had pulled her out when she did. That was really all she needed. Her mind had finally settled down and she no longer had those knots in her stomach.... until now. She thought seeing Zack would be a somewhat pleasant experience but it was anything but. She gazed down at the floor for several moments.

Meanwhile, Jack and Zack headed out a seperate exit, retreating to their vehicles as Zack remained silent.

"What?" Jack said, continuing to pry at his friends' privacy as he continually walked away. "What? How was I supposed to know you didn't want to see her?"

"How were you supposed to know?!" Zack asked, yelling and practically throwing Jack against his car. "The fuck you were supposed to know! I shouldn't have to tell you I don't want to see her, why's that so hard to understand?"

"okay, okay man, I'm sorry" Jack said, "I didn't know..."

"You didn't know... you didn't know... of course you didn't know... NOBODY KNOWS!" Zack shrieked.

"Okay, chill out man" Jack said, trying to return the conversation to a friendly tone. Like pouring gasoline on a burning fire, he soon realized what a mistake that was.

"I will not fucking chill out!" Zack said, his face turning bright red with rage. "It's one thing that you got me going to this convoluted party and then you try to..."

"Hey, you wanted to go this party!" Jack said, "I've been asking you all week and you finally agreed to go, so let's go and have a good..."

"No, you go! I'm fucking done! I'm done with all this bullshit!" Zack said, ripping the top button from his dress shirt, releasing his neck from the warm grasp of the collar. "You go, and you fuck your chicks and drink your booze and tell me all about it on FACEBOOK tomorrow"

"You're never on Facebook anymore..." Jack answered.

"Gee, I wonder why!" Zack sarcastically responded, "maybe because I don't need an open window to see how fake everybody's being... nobody's as happy as they appear on facebook!"

"No, you're just never happy!" Jack yelled, "You hold in all this shit from 2 years ago and..."

"Fucking go to hell, man!" Zack shouted and stepped away from the confrontation, going to his car instead.

"No, you know what? I'm going to the party" Jack said, "and I'm going to have a great time, you can do what you want!"

As Jack drove off, Zack slowly slumped into his vehicle and again sat motionless, staring at his keys. It was closing time at the mall and the party was fast approaching. In fact, several people were probably there now and while he couldn't garuntee it would be any fun, it would be better than returning to his small dorm room for the night.

His thoughts slowing down and his pulse finally returning to normal, Zack was able to think more clearly. As he set sights on his next destination, he had only one thing on his mind.

"Since when is Ashley Tremorton a party girl?"

"Shrinking Under Pressure"

by Sonicfan287

Chapter 7: Party Time

"Since when is Zack Austin a party boy?"

The thought resonated in poor Ashley's head the entire ride. The background sounds of her friend Alisha, the top 40 music blaring on the radio and the passing cars seemed to disintegrate around her as she felt the echoes of the past thunder through her mind. Finally, some reality broke through.

"Ashley... girl" Alicia said, in a concerned tone, "are you okay? You haven't seemed yourself since we left the mall"

"Yeah... yeah I'm fine" Ashley chuckled uneasily, trying to hide her face from her friend by continuing to obsess on the dashboard. After several moments, her demanor grew darker. She was dreading the party more and more, without even knowing if he'd be there. Even if he wasn't, she had already felt the life get sucked out of her just thinking about it. Maybe he had changed. Zack was always a little seclusive, and while Ashley didn't appreciate being ignored and pushed away, she at least expected some of this. This latest development was something she never expected.

"So, I'm thinking we drive around a bit more" Alisha interjected, "y'know, to be fashionably late and then we can..."

"I don't wanna go..." Ashley mumbled.

"What'd you say?" Alicia asked.

"I don't wanna go..." Ashley groaned, much louder this time.

"Tell me this isn't because of Zack..." Alisha sighed.

"It's not because of Zack!!" Ashley cried, becoming noticeably upset. "Please! Just take me back to the dorm, it's on your way anyway... please... you go. Have fun... I just ... I'm not in the mood"

"Not in the ... you're never in the mood" Alicia exclaimed, "I've known you for a while and I get it. You're a quiet girl and that's cool and I've always respected that but this is more than being a little socially awkward... you wanted to go to this party, I know you did"

"I don't know..." Ashley sighed, turning away in disgust, "Maybe, but I really don't... I... I'm not going to have any fun and I'm just gonna drag the mood down. Please just take me back. I've got some homework to work on anyway"

"You've got the whole weekend, Ashley" Alicia replied.

There were several moments of awkward silence before Alicia realized the inevitability of what was going to take place.

Elsewhere, Zack Austin sat in his car, feeling a similiar sense of inevitability.

"I really don't wanna go to this stupid thing..." Zack sighed to himself, thinking so loud he could practically hear the disgust in his voice as he sat in his parked car, watching people shuffle towards the central location of UCONN's Jacoby Hall ; a well known party dorm. He could already predict the scene at the ensuing party.

General darkness, aside from a flashing rave light would be the scene, with drunken students running amuck and other such chaos. Zack was beginning to question more and more why he ever sought out this party in the first place. Was he really becoming like Jack? Chasing a desire with no substance just to stay 'relevant'?

He couldn't help but wonder what Ashley thought of all this and what her reasoning would be for coming... did he really want to risk running into her? He looked down at his phone, tempted to text her. Even if it was just to say something quick, it would be a nice gesture. He didn't hate his ex girlfriend and secretly wouldn't mind meeting up with her at some point, as his counselor had suggested, but now was neither the time or place.

Zack began to type the characters onto his phone, spelling out a short message for Ashley.

Before he could finish, he heard a light tapping on his window pane. Damn, who else knew he was here?

"Hey!" came the female voice, barely audible through the window. Zack opened the door and greeted her, putting his phone back into his pocket without finishing the text message.

"Hey Julie..." Zack said, faking a tone of happiness as he gave her a hug. As he backed away slowly, he remembered some of Jacks words from the gym the other day. 'Damn, she is cute' Zack thought to himself as they slowly began walking together.

"I'm surprised you showed up" Julie smiled, her hair fluttered in the breeze as she walked. Zack could also faintly smell a lightly scented strawberry perfume on her. She was cute anyway but she seemed to have put in a lot of extra effort for the occasion. As a result, Zack felt increasingly embarassed for showing up in a "makeshift" outfit.

"Heh, you know..." Zack said, sputtering for a few seconds before ending his sentence "....you know?"

"I know?" Julie chuckled.

"You know..." Zack shrugged, "It's something to do"

"It is something to do" Julie nodded, smiling politely as she walked a bit ahead of him. Zack did his best to walk alongside her but as the crowd around them gathered, it became harder and harder to do so.

"So, you coming with anyone? Jason?" Zack asked.

"Fuck no" she laughed, "but he'll probaby be here... speaking of which, where's Jack? I figured if anyone was going to convince you to get out here, it'd be him"

"Psh, I don't need Jack to convince me of anything" Zack chuckled, "I wanted to come out anyway, y'know... I'm sure he's here somewhere though"

"Probably inside already" Julie replied. "Well, hey I'll see you inside, right?"

"Um, yeah, definitely" Zack said, trying to keep his conflicting emotions in check.

"Ok cool, see you Zack" Julie said, drifting off into the crowd to meet up with a friend of hers.

Zack decided to just suck it up and go to the party at that point. How bad could it be?

Back at UCONN, a very glum Ashley sat up in her bed. With Alicia and Caroline both gone for the party, she could finally be alone, but is that what she really wanted? As she contemplated this, she was also making another questionable decision. She was typing a text message to Zack. She wanted to at least leave the doors open for communication, even if she wasn't particular interested in hearing about his new partying lifestyle.

In retrospect, she thought aloud, I shouldn't be surprised. He used to be good friends with Jack who could be a bit rowdy and maybe college had drawn them closer together again. As she shifted her focus from her phone to the crumpled up piece of paper in her purse, she let out a great sigh and closed her phone, letting it remain in her purse after tossing it inside. She zipped up the bag, casting darkness on both the phone and the scrap of paper, a doodle of the one and only Polyman.

"We Can't Stop....We Won't Stop...."

"Oh please stop..." Zack groaned to himself as the Miley Cyrus music persisted.

To make matters worse, it wasn't just Miley Cyrus. It was the super extended Skrillex cut.

Then again, nobody was really paying attention. The relatively large dorm room seemed to be just managed enough for it to not be chaotic while still maintaining that sense of irresponsiblity that most people expected from college parties. You had a few people trying to dance, while spilling their drinks. You had others who were just mingling. Then in the spare bedrooms, you had something of a purely sexual nature occuring, while in another room, you could distinctly smell the marijuana trailing out of the room.

As Zack scanned the room over, sitting in a couch next to a couple of others who didn't speak much, he caught a shocking sight. Coming out of a room, from which he could hear giggling girls inside was Eddy. The same Eddy from science class who had mocked him before. Zack found himself suddenly empowered to speak to him.

"Hey... Hey dork-ass" Zack chuckled, approaching his science rival.

"Zack Austin... the fuck are you doing here?" Eddy said, sounding both curious and angry to see the one who nearly fought with him. "You don't know anyone here"

"Oh and you do?" Zack laughed, "C'mon dude, these chicks are all out of your league, or are you just coming to get some pointers?"

As a few attractive women left the room behind Eddy, some still putting their clothes back on, Eddy let out a cocky chuckle, as Zack stared on in disbelief. Either Eddy was on some strong Viagra or there was something in the drinks. Maybe he had bumped his head on the way to the party and was actually in an alternate universe.

"You were saying?" Eddy smiled.

"Look, I came here to have a good time, like everyone else" Zack sighed, "Let's just... drop it, okay?"

"You're the one who started it" Eddy mocked, "and if anything, you're not on the guest list"

"There is no guest list" Zack replied, "it's a college party... and besides, if there was, you wouldn't be on it either"

"You wanna bet?" Eddy laughed, "I just had the time of my life with that girl over there..."

Eddy pointed to a girl with black hair, laughing out loud with a few of her female friends. The girl was absolutely gorgeous, her only flaw being the apparent stoned look in her eyes.

"Really?" Zack asked skeptically.

"Yep, her name's Caroline" Eddy said, "and since you're not so good at math, I'll spell it out for you, she's a perfect 10 and pretty soon, she's going to be all mine... if I want her to be, that is... to be honest, she's a bit vapid but damn... she's something else"

"Yeah okay..." Zack said, "You landed a chick like that? Maybe there is such a thing as the impossibility theorum"

"If you don't believe me, go talk to her yourself..." Eddy shrugged.

"You know what? I will" Zack said, leaving the awkward confrontation.

Elsewhere on campus, Ashley found herself at the food court, a good distance away from the rowdy party that Sandra was having. Thinking about it more, Ashley realized there were several such parties going on and some of them weren't even on UCONN campus, since Eastern was so close by. The odds of Zack actually being at the party she was thinking of going to were pretty slim. She was almost tempted to text Alicia again before she was approaching by another distraction.

"Hey"

"Oh... oh hey" Ashley said, turning around to notice Jake sitting down next to her.

"Is this seat taken?" Jake asked curiously, only half sitting down.

"Huh? Yeah. I mean no" Ashley chuckled, "Sorry, I'm a bit... out of it tonight"

"I hear ya..." Jake said, having a seat. "You have any plans for the weekend?"

"Me...? No, not really... I mean, maybe" Ashley said, stuttering again. She honestly didn't mean to but everything had been happening so quickly between being going to the party, then not going, and seeing Zack and now seeing Jake. Ashley had honestly looked forward to the academic side of school as a way to distract her mind and maybe actually learn something but not even 2 weeks into the semester she was being tempted by these other distractions.

"Yeah?" Jake asked, "Well, I mean hypothetically... what do you like to do for fun?"

"Hypothetically?" Ashley asked with a smile, "You're a science guy, aren't you? You want me to give you a hypothesis?"

"Hypothesis?" Jake asked, smiling. "Sure, what's your hypothesis?"

"Well, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you're trying to ask me out on a date" Ashley replied, even surprising herself at the amount of confidence she had shown.

"Hmm, now who's the science major?" Jake replied, causing them both to laugh.

"I'm surprised you're not out yourself" Ashley quiped, "it's a Friday night... party night..."

"Eh, I never really got into partying, yknow?" Jake shrugged.

"Yeah... yeah I know what you mean" Ashley said, involuntarily blushing.

Zack sheepishly approached the attractive Caroline with a bit more hesitance than he thought he'd have at first. Zack wasn't exactly a ladies man but on certain occasions, he could be confident. In particular, he thought the fact that the 3 girls he was about to speak with were somewhat intoxicated would improve his chances, but he grew ever more anxious as he approached them, leaving no doubt that he intended to talk to them.

Caroline momentarily diverted her attention from her two female friends to look at Zack.

"Hey" Zack said, trying to keep his words short, so as not to embarass himself.

"Hey... you... do I know you?" Caroline said, raising an eyebrow but still smiling. Even though she didn't seem disinterested, Zack instanty felt the nerves sink in as her other 2 friends also drilled into him with their eyes.

"Um... me? No... no, probaby not... but uh... yeah, this is some party, huh?" Zack asked.

The girls tried to hold back their laughter but Zack was super focused on their facial expressions, noticing even the slightest of smiles cracking.

"Y'know what? Never mind" Zack sighed, switching to his darker tone of voice now that he was no longer interested in impressing the bimboes, or showing up Eddy for that matter. In a blatant attempt to seem cool, he left by saying "Hope you bitches have a good time tonight"

"Did he just call us bitches?" one of the girls gasped.

"What a fucking tool..." another girl added.

Caroline just stood and smiled, watching Zack slink away.

"He's kinda cute though..." she shrugged.

As Zack walked away, Caroline watched him intently as he was caught up in a conversation with Eddy. Whatever was said provoked Zack to shove him lightly before heading back to his seat on the couch.

"Hmm... hey Eddy" Caroline asked,approaching Eddy from behind.

"Yeah..." he replied.

"Do you know that guy?" she asked.

"Oh him?" he scoffed, "yeah, that's Zack Austin... he's a total douche"

Caroline nodded.

"Yeah... yeah..." she said, not paying much attention to Eddy as her gaze focused solely on Zack in the corner.

'Zack Austin, huh?' she thought to herself. Caroline always fancied a good challenge.

"Shrinking Under Pressure"

by Sonicfan287

Chapter 8: Tempted by the fruit of another

Zack found himself disgusted by the entire scenario, as the world seemed to slow down around him. As his eyes darted around the room, at all the obscure faces, he came to realize what he already knew. He didn't know a single soul here other than his science rival, Eddy and Jack and Julie, neither of whom he had even identified.

As he let himself get immersed in deep thought, he did chuckle to himself about how delighted Jack would be to see all these hot women at the party. He couldn't help but wonder where his friend was... or Ashley for that matter. Something about the thought of seeing Ashley in this mass of people bothered him. He felt his hand tremble slightly, delicately curling around the phone in his pocket.

He had to resist the thought of calling or texting her. He had only seen her briefly but so many memories were rushing through his head. Why am I here?? Zack kept thinking aloud, pounding this message into his head with great emphasis. WHY AM I HERE? WHERE THE FUCK AM I HERE?!

"Hey, so what brings you here?" came the voice, this time a softer, sultry voice.

Am I going nuts? Zack thought to himself, before realizing the dark haired girl from before was now sitting next to him, handing him a drink. In fact, she pretty much had put the drink in his hand without him realizing it.

"Uh... hi" Zack said, feeling even more awkward than he had on their initial encounter.

The girl sitting not even a foot from him wasn't quite as attractive close up as she had been from across the room. Her face was somewhat flush red, and her body dripped with sweat and reeked of alcohol and weed. Still,she had an attractive figure. Not quite hourglass but she had nice curvaceous hips and didn't seem to mind showing a liberal amount of skin.

"Care for a drink?" she asked, giving him an innocent looking smile. Zack should've known better but he was too apathetic to care. He shrugged and took a sip, downing nearly half the glass in one take.

"Bottoms up, I guess..." Zack shrugged.

The girl mindlessly giggled beside him as he drank. He shot her back a confused look but continued to drink and looked back at her, giving her a smile back.

"Well, um... thanks... what was your name again?" Zack asked.

"Caroline... but you can call me Caro...LINE..." she said, slurring her speech as she spoke and bringing her body closer to his. She scooted up the couch until her thighs were pretty much leaning on Zack's lap and she stood up to her full height, allowing her breasts to dangle just level with Zack's eyes from where he was sitting.

"C-Caro...line?" he asked, confused.

"No...you're not saying it right" she giggled, putting a finger to his mouth slowly. "It's Caro...LION... like grrr..."

She laughed and brought her face closer to his, giving him a gentle kiss on the lips. Zack would've resisted more if he didn't feel such a sense of disgust and drained energy from the party. At the very least, he thought to himself, I may as well do something enjoyable.

Caroline lowered herself onto Zack, straddling him and giving him small kisses along his neck. He finally snapped to for a moment and gently pushed her back.

"W-Wait, what are you doing anyway?" he asked, half smiling. "You don't even know me..."

"Well, why don't we do something about that..." Caroline purred, getting up slowly and grabbing hold of Zack's hand.

He was at first reluctant to stand up, but eventually willed himself off the couch, being pulled along by her childlike running as she headed down the hall, still holding Zack's hand firmly. He would've done more to stop this from getting out of hand if it weren't for the fact that Eddy was watching most of their exchange and Zack took advantage to shoot him a cocky look as Caroline dragged him into the bedroom.

The room was shockingly empty and Caroline slammed the door loud behind him and locked the door. Zack shot the girl a weird look.

"Okay...okay..." Zack said, half chuckling, while wiping some of the lip gloss off his face. "I'll admit, you're something else... Caroline..., right?"

"No, silly..." she laughed again, "It's CARO-LION..."

"Okay... c-can I not call you that?" Zack asked, half serious.

"Babe..." she uttered, drawing herself back into his arms. Zack was almost frightened she was going to collapse as her legs seem to be like jello and her body felt limp as it fell into his. "....you can call me whatever you like..."

"Are you okay?" Zack asked, perking up momentarily. As lethargic as he had just felt, his senses were suddenly in a state of shocking awareness as he paid attention to nearly every detail around him, not the least being the intoxicated girl in his arms as she kept fighting her way towards Zack's face without actually using her feet which seemed to hang uselessly under her legs.

"I'm fine," Caroline said, slowly getting herself together. She stood up with a bit more posture and presented herself to Zack. "I guess I'm kinda... kinda... embarassing myself... huh?"

"Wh-What? What do you mean?" Zack asked curiously, surprised to see Caroline even walking on her own in the state she had just been in. She turned to him with a look of sympathy.

"I don't know... it's just...ugh, you're such a cute guy and I'm just... ugh, throwing myself at you..." Caroline drawled, sounding like a drunken valley girl. At this point, she pretty much was.

"You... you think I'm cute?" Zack asked curiously.

"Well... yeah..." Caroline gasped playfully, and walked slowly towards Zack again, showing that she wasn't quite over her intoxication. Her steps were halted and jerky but she still made her way towards him in the relatively small space. The fact that she had locked the door behind them signaled to Zack that she intended to spend a decent amount of time with him. "But I mean... I could understand if a guy like you wouldn't WANT a girl like me..."

Zack was so confused at this point.

"Are you serious right now?" Zack asked, drawing himself slightly back from Caroline before being drawn back into her grip as she threw herself against him into an involuntary hug.

"Mmmhmmm..." she cooed, reaching her hands around his back and gently grabbing his ass, causing him to yelp. "I want you bad..."

"You what?" Zack asked. "Look, I don't know if..."

"What's not to know?" Caroline laughed, already starting to take off her shirt ; a plaid buttoned number that was barely serving its purpose as it was, since it was so moistened by sweat and alcohol that it had nearly been transparent. Underneath the plaid shirt was a tight black tank top which she now used to show off her stunning body to Zack.

"I just.. I just ... really don't think you're in the right frame of mind right now..." Zack said, backing away from Caroline but now it was him with the faulty reflexes as he found himself slumping down, saving himself by grabbing the bed. Before he could successfully scramble to his feet, Caroline had started to wrap herself around him.

"Ugh...please get off..." Zack groaned, as he had enough trouble getting to his feet. Her resulting weight upon him caused him to stumble back onto the bed with her still on top of him. She giggled as she sat up, now straddling him in the bed and pulled her tank top off over her head, now wearing just a lacy black bra and the short skirt from earlier.

"I'll get off, alright... and so will you" Caroline laughed, leaning down and giving Zack kisses on his torso, causing
him to tense up and moan involuntarily.

"No. Caroline... seriously. Caroline... Carolion, whatever the fuck you are, please!" Zack protested, scooting back as far as he could, but he'd soon meet the head board of the bed.

"Aw, what's the matter? Do you not want me?" Caroline cooed playfully.

"N-No... I mean, it's not that... it's just... it's ugh..." Zack stuttered, feeling his heart beat race.

As Caroline continued to both literally press him with her body and press him with questions, he felt the helplessness in his own voice overtake him and was becoming lost in the situation. The added pressure of his family job, the people around him and his own regret of letting Ashley go were leaving him feeling uncharacteristically vulnerable.

The more Zack thought about it, the more he realized how vulnerable he had always been. He was always trying to act like a "tough" guy, like he didn't need anyone's help but that was how he got into this mess. As these things constricted him, he felt his vision blurring and the sounds around him fading away. He could also hear Caroline's shrill voice as she broke into another giggle.

"CAROLINE COULD YOU PLEASE!!" Zack shouted -- or at least he thought he had shouted. His voice was barely audible, he thought to himself, noticing that the world around him seemed to swallow him up. In fact as he stood before Caroline he realized that the world around him was literally growing larger. How was this possible?

Caroline continued to giggle.

"Aw Zacky... what's happening to you?" Caroline cooed, leaning back a bit to give Zack his space.

What's happening to me? Zack thought to himself, his mouth frozen in helpless immobility. What's happening to you? He thought watching Caroline grow larger and larger. She was turning herself into some kind of beast. The area around him continued to shake as Caroline grew, becoming the focus of his world. The rest of the room shrunk back as she grew into a tall amazon.

"Caroline?" he asked, his voice finally working again. He stumbled back and looked down in shock. She wasn't big at all. The sheets were still under him, and they were giant too. The patterns on the sheets appeared bigger but they weren't growing at all, and neither was she. As Zack observed this mosaic of horror unfolding underneath him on the bedsheets, it wasn't long before his mind figured out where he was and what was going on.

"Caroline..." he gasped, his voice dead serious as he spoke to the giant woman towering over him. He had become so small that just one of her breasts dwarfed him in height. "What's going on?"

"I thought you would've realized by now..." Caroline chuckled, in her seductive voice. "I'm still the same height I always was... I just shrunk you"

"Shrunk me?" Zack gasped, "What? How? Why?"

"I'm actually surprised..." Caroline frowned, reaching her hand down towards the shrunken Zack Austin. Luckily, her reflexes were slow as shit and he managed to dodge her massive grasp. "...it usually doesn't take this long for my little cocktail to take effect..."

"What?" Zack asked. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"I shrunk you silly... you're no more than 4 inches high..." she repeated, giggling even more wildly, "and I did it using a chemical I put in your drink... pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah.. pretty cool, NOT!" Zack scoffed, still maintaining his sense of sarcasm for now. He would've been much more afraid of the girl if she had her sense of awareness back.

"Aw, what's the matter? Don't want to be my little pet?" Caroline asked, reaching her hand for him once again.

Zack knew he had to act fast and luckily, he had maintained his sense of alertness from before because he thought of an idea to escape her grasp. It was risky, but he dove onto the bedsheets right towards the edge of the bed and slowly spilled off the side of the bed. He looked down nervously noticing it was a long way down but as he spotted Caroline's giant smiling face, he knew he may not have a choice. He closed his eyes and let himself drop down to the floor, landing on the softness of Caroline's discarded clothes. He fought his way through the mess and ran towards the door, now small enough to slide and fit under the crack in the door.

He realized as he was running that he was continuing to shrink, and was only an inch tall at most. He would've screamed or cried but pure adrenaline was taking his body away. Caroline came stomping out of the room, with her tank top half on as she scrambled after the tiny boy but nobody was even aware of anything going on. Zack found himself relegated to scampering along the wall like a mouse, avoiding the footsteps and chaos around him. The noise was deafening but Zack had to escape. He told himself if he could just get to a quieter place, he'd be alright and then he could figure out exactly what had happened.

"Jack...Julie... anybody!!" he screamed out but the world appeared too massive to hear him or care. "ANYBODY...PLEASE HELP ME!!"

Zack continued to run, only having run a few feet but Caroline had mistakenly overshot him. The only advantage to being this small, Zack thought out loud is that it's the perfect hiding spot. In some strange way, he had escaped him just by hiding in plain sight. His body stopped shrinking and he finally got his bearings back enough to remember where there was a closet. He slid under the door of the side facing closet and sighed with relief, not tall enough to even see through the slats of the door which hung some several feet above him. In other words, he couldn't see what was on the other side of the door but also nobody had entered the closet either. Even if they had, he doubted they'd notice him in the darkness at his new size.

He finally laid in the darkness, and was able to revel in his escape. As he sat, he swore he was able to see through the slats of the door a bit better now but how could that be, unless the door was shrinking too? His body and mind were exhausted as he lay, only being able to perceive a fraction of the chaos going on around him on the other side of the door.

"Please... make it stop..." Zack muttered aloud, finally unafraid to speak since his voice was so quiet, it only seemed to echo within the darkness of his mind. "Why am I here? Why am I fucking here?"

"Shrinking Under Pressure"

by Sonicfan287

Chapter 9: The Morning After

"So why are we here?" a smug Zack Austin asked the auburn haired girl on the back of her uncle's pickup truck.

"Oh stop, you..." she laughed, flinging a small portion of orange pumpkin gunk at the young boy who laughed as he blocked it with his hand, still causing errant goop to fly in his face.

"I'm joking, Ash, chill" Zack laughed, handing his girlfriend another oversized pumpkin which she helped load onto the back of the truck.

"Well, we're going to need a few more than this..." Ashley frowned, looking at an adjacent pile of pumpkins that came up to her ankles. Some of them were fine specimen indeed, but still more of them were dented or rotting ; certainly not the kind of sample one would try and attain for Aunt Betsy's pumpkin pie recipe.

"Hmmm..." Zack said, scouring the pumpkin patch. Ashley jumped off the back of the truck from behind him and joined as the 2 honed in on the remaining pumpkins. "I suppose you're right... geez, your uncle really let this place go this year"

"Yeah..." Ashley sighed, "well he had his legs operated on not too long ago and couldn't really be out here as much as he wanted. Betsy tried to help but she's not in great shape either and..."

"I know..." Zack muttered, momentarily interuppting her, "I know I said I'd be here more often to help but it's just school's been ugh..."

"Oh my gosh, I know, Zack!" Ashley sighed, "I was never saying you had to..."

"I know, but I said I would..." Zack frowned, "and I don't like to go back on my promises..."

"You haven't, okay?" Ashley said, in a reassuring tone as Zack turned away, fixated on more pumpkins. She came up from behind her boyfriend and turned his face towards her, holding it in her soft hands. "Okay? You promise me you won't make a big deal of this?"

Zack smiled and playfully gave her a kiss.

"That's a promise I think I can keep" Zack replied.

"Good" Ashley said, slowly letting him go.

Just then, everything turned to darkness.

"Of course..." Zack grumbled, deep in thought. "Another lousy dream..."

As Zack stirred,he was startled by some noise. He was draped in darkness and yet he could sense somebody was on the other side of the closet door. Was it Caroline? He instantly felt startled by the possibility of that psychotic bitch awaiting him. His memory was foggy as to what had happened the night before but he was pretty sure that she drugged him.

The door dragged open in front of Zack and to his surprise, a towering male stood over him. He wasn't towering because he was a giant though, simply because Zack was slouched into the corner of the closet.

"Oh, sorry man... I see you already claimed this spot" the gruff male voice responded, casually sliding the door shut. Zack briefly gazed up in disbelief and then stood on his feet, able to reach the doorknob. In fact, it appeared he was completely normal in every way. Then again, why wouldn't he be?

He opened the door to see a dormant scene around him. Many of the people from earlier were gone but about a dozen had stayed behind. Some of them were collapsed on the couch (some on top of one another) whereas others were still awake but very intoxicated as they stumbled about.

"Go big or go home" Zack chuckled to himself, in a satirical way as he watched the post party massacre around him.

He smelled his shirt briefly which reeked of perfume and alcohol and remembered more about his encounter with the slut from last night. "What the fuck did she do to me?" Zack thought to himself, vaguely able to remember their sexual encounter. She must've given me some mushrooms or something, holy crap...

Zack stepped out of the closet, feeling relatively okay and crept to the door. There wasn't even a sign of Caroline and he decided he liked it that way, so he continued leaving, retreating from the party that was. He quietly closed the door behind him, not wanting to be spotted and descended the staircase.

From ahead, he thought he recognized Jack but he almost didn't want to say anything to him. There was really nothing to say and Zack had his own concerns ... such as, could he drive and had he been drugged by a psychotic bitch? The answer to both questions would hinge on his escape from UCONN if he had hoped to get any sleep and maybe see his dad the next day.

He slipped out of the dorm lobby unseen and headed towards his car. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be lucky enough to completely evade Jack. Some things were just meant to be.

"Hey, Z" he heard from behind. He considered ignoring the voice but he had already stopped long enough to acknowledge that he was hearing Jack call to him. He turned around slowly to see Jack, relatively unscathed approaching him.

"Dude, that party was righteous!" Jack laughed, forcing Zack into a high five. "You smell like you got laid, dude"

"Um... yeah... I think so..." Zack stuttered, not really sure what had happened the night before.

"Righteous!" Jack laughed, his speech slurred but only a little. By Zack's standards, he considered Jack somewhat sober.

"So uh... you have a good time?" Zack asked, humoring Jack.

"Dude,... well yeah, but actually kinda not" Jack said, hesitantly. "I mean, I met this guy who's kind of a total nut and that was pretty funny"

"Oh yeah?" Zack asked, wondering exactly how much interest he would have to fake before Jack left him alone entirely.

"Yeah, his name's Andy or Andrew, or some shit, geez, I don't even fucking remember..." Jack said.

"Sounds like you two really hit it off..." Zack said sarcastically.

"Dude, I'm telling you, this guy was fucking nuts but it was hilarious... he kept babbling on about dark magic and shit..." Jack laughed.

"What?" Zack asked.

"Yeah, he was showing us some card tricks and dude was insane... I have to admit, he's been practicing but he's totally messed up in the head... talking about dark spirits and spells and shit..." Jack explained.

"I see..." Zack said, feeling more and more tired as the conversation carried on. "You mind if we catch up some other time, man? I gotta get back to the dorm and try and get some sleep, I'm supposed to be working with my dad early tomorrow... well today"

"Oh yeah, man... take it easy" Jack said, "I think I'm just gonna crash here tonight, I am SMASHED!"

"You sure are..." Zack smirked, getting into his car. He turned it on and drove away slowly, still not sure how sober he was himself. He didn't feel impaired and actually felt a strange sense of alertness. As he thought about the party and everything which ensued, he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty and stupid for going.

For one thing, he had to meet his dad at 11 and he was barely going to get any sleep. It was already 4 am and while he could drive himself, he felt like something still wasn't right in his body. He felt a warm feeling overcome him as he clutched the wheel tightly. He only had a short distance to go but worry and doubt set in as Zack thought of the dreadful fallout from the party.

What if he had gotten so intoxicated that he started hitting on Ashley again or did something else to make a fool of himself in front of her? He couldn't remember her being there but then again, he couldn't remember much past his interaction with Caroline. As he felt his heartbeat racing again, he told himself to breathe and relax.

He desperately tried to recall the advice he was given from Nancy, to calm down and relax.

Then again, Zack thought glumly, Nancy also said seeing Ashley would be good for me and all it did was make me feel worse.

As Zack tried to shake it off, he realized he was basically back at Eastern. All he had to do was get out of his car and walk back up to his room. He took the keys from the car and slid out of his seat but he realized something shocking. He had had some trouble reaching the door handle and when he finally did open and close his door, he came up to the windows. He was about the height of a 12 year old. He looked around to notice nobody was around to see him (thankfully) but this worried him tremendously. He took another deep breath and sighed.

"Something is seriously wrong right now" Zack thought.

"Shrinking Under Pressure"

by Sonicfan287

Chapter 10: The after effects

Zack felt exhausted after traversing the steps up to his dorm. He couldn't even perceive or understand what was going on. He may have passed a few people on the way up but he couldn't even remember. The only thing to his benefit was the fact that the people who stared back at him were most likely as out of it as he was.

"If that's even possible..." Zack groaned to himself as he re-entered his room.

In all of his excitement last night, he had forgotten to lock the door. He felt like such an idiot as he briefly scavenged the room to ensure everything was still there. Then again, he thought, it's not like there was much here to steal. He flopped onto his bed (having to climb up a bit, a result of his lessened stature) and sat up a bit so that he could see himself in the mirror. He could swear that he saw himself growing a bit when he looked at his confused image in the mirror.

"How is this happening?" Zack thought to himself,looking down at his own body and all around the room. He could feel himself slowly getting taller as he felt more and more tired. He stretched the covers over himself, hoping to somehow hide from the outside world. "This is fucking ridiculous..."

The next few hours seemed to go by in literally the blink of an eye. Within seconds, Zack could swear he was hearing the blare of his alarm clock. He woke up to his dismay and realized that was exactly what had been going on. He stood up and mumbled incoherently, turning off the accursed clock and focusing his attention on the mirror again. He appeared to be his regular height now. He leaned in close to the mirror and examined himself. He even backed up a bit to see as much of himself as he could. After a few seconds, he realized how absurd this was and went to his cell phone which sat on the dresser beside his bed.

Before he even opened it, he could tell from the screen that he had missed another call from his dad.

"Geez, dad..." Zack thought to himself, feeling a small amount of rage trickle through him. He didn't mean to be mad at his dad and was generally just mad at the situation. He hadn't even gotten drunk (well not very drunk) and felt like he had an irresponsible night and he may have been right, but wasn't he entitled. He contemplated not calling his dad right away,just to make him sweat a little but decided to go through with it. He paced around as the phone rang.

With only a moments' hesitation, his dad answered on the other end, sounding noticeably upset.

"Zack, geez... where were you last night?" his dad challenged.

Zack was somewhat taken aback by his swift question and shrugged it off.

"What do you mean?" Zack asked, feeling an anxiety grip him again. He had been somewhat familiar with panic before but these attacks were more severe than anything he'd ever had. Maybe the alcohol had effected him more than he realized.

"I tried calling you 5 times last night..." his father, Frank said in a concerned tone.

"Only 5?" Zack sighed, knowing that it had actually been at least 7 or 8.

"Zack, I'm serious" his dad said, "I really need you right now... this company needs you and the Fall Festival needs you. After that, maybe you can take a few months off. I realize I've been kind of harsh lately and I just think you should focus on your schoolwork. But right now, this project needs to be a part of your life"

"Oh yeah, dad, of course!" Zack blurted out, feeling the panic burn off of him as he spoke "My life is just schoolwork, your projects and whatever else it needs to be, huh?"

Zack instantly gulped as soon as he finished his sentence. He couldn't believe his eyes.

"Zack, I'm sorry" Frank said, "I didn't mean it like that... I've just been kinda wound up lately..."

Zack had his own problems on his hands. As he clutched the phone in immobile helplessness, he was faced with a thick wall that stood taller than him. It was his bathroom dresser and he had shrunk easily half of his height away in that last rant against his father. He felt the sweat set in as his dad continued talking.

"Zack, you still there?" Frank asked.

"Um... yeah, I'm here..." Zack said, feeling the nerves tense up. His mind was telling his body to move but other than his hands which tensed up around the phone, his arms and legs remained still. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. "...I um... I am onboard for the project but..."

"But what?" his dad asked.

"Well um... actually, I was wondering if I could maybe... work from home today?" Zack asked nervously, watching the dresser slowly sink under him again. He was growing, but it was happening very slowly.

"Work from home?" Frank asked. "Zack, we don't work that way, you know that... all of the source files exist on the home computer. We're not just some kind of intranet where I can..."

"I...I know, but I just think it'd be best if I stayed in today..." Zack stuttered, watching his height plateau at about 4 foot 5. "...I'll still work on the graphic, I promise but..."

His dad let out a great sigh.

"What?" Zack asked.

"I tried to tell you last night but the town council wants an appointment with me... with us... today" Frank replied.

"What?! You kidding me?" Zack said, startled. He closed his eyes, trying to hold back the tears. Why was this effecting him so much? Maybe because he knew what was going to happen next.

"No, Zack and frankly, I wish you'd take my calls more seriously or even pick up your damn phone!" Frank erupted. "I left you several voicemails last night telling you about this. It just came up a couple days ago but I guess you couldn't be bothered to answer. I've been scrambling at the last minute trying to make updates on your design and trying to get enough things together for this meeting but apparently it's all about you and your work load, huh?"

"Ok ok... dad... please ... stop" Zack said, holding back his crying with every fiber of his being. It was already no use. He had shrunk down to 6 inches high now and stood unbelievably puny in the face of his dresser. He looked up at the unfathomable height, his heart beat never slowing down.

"I'm just fed up, Zack" Frank said, "you know I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't a big deal. I'm sure you have classwork to do too but this won't take long, I promise. I just need you to meet me down here now. We can work on the designs and maybe grab some lunch, just talk, y'know? I'm still your dad and I care about you"

Zack sighed.

"Yeah... yeah, I know dad..." Zack said, a single tear trickling from his eye as he sat in front of his now massive cell phone. "I gotta go... I'll be there as soon as I can"

"Okay, goodbye, son" Frank said, still sounding upset.

Zack sighed and laid his entire weight on the "call end" button. He finally burst out crying, feeling his muscles relax a little. He rolled off of his cell phone and onto the floor. It had been so long since he actually cried, it was almost relieving to let it all out. The pain over losing Ashley and then seeing her again -- picturing her with some other guy at that fucked up party. All of his nerves over Caroline and her coming onto him and now this shit.

He clenched his fists and laid and cried for several minutes. At some points, it felt like the tears would never stop. He finally allowed himself to lay in complete silence, his eyes closed tightly. He felt something bump up against him and open his eyes quickly. His feet had run into his dresser and he scooted back to notice he had already grown larger. He stood up again and noticed his head now cleared his dresser.

"The fuck is going on...?" Zack whispered, before it finally clicked. "I think I understand..."

Elsewhere, somebody else's morning was getting off to a better start. Ashley Tremorton was intently doing her hair and getting ready to see Jake. He had planned to take her to Mansfield Hollow, a local park to go apple picking. They had a wonderful apple orchid that she had always heard about but she had never been. She hummed happily to herself as she sprayed ona tiny amount of perfume and headed for the door. As she opened the door, somebody else came stumbling in. It was Caroline and she looked completely hung over.

"You okay?" Ashley asked, looking at her debilitated roommate.

"Ah yeah, yeah" Caroline clumsily nodded, "I'm fine... I uh... yeah..."

"Alrighty then, I'll see you later..." Ashley said, almost laughing as she left the room. Caroline proceeded to collapse in a corner of the room. Ashley shut the door and walked away,leaving Caroline to her own devices.

Caroline chuckled to herself and made sure the coast was clear before pulling open her dresser drawer. Inside, under neath some zip lock bags and underwear was a woven cell phone pouch. Her sleek iPhone laid in her pocket so she of course didn't need this old fashioned cell phone case. She instead pulled the cell phone case from the mess, watching in delight as it wiggled in her hand.

"You're excited today, aren't you?" Caroline chuckled, a wide smile spreading across her face. "Well you should be..."

The tiny voice didn't even respond, but the kicking continued. Caroline opened the cell phone case, revealing the tiny man inside. The man stumbled into her hand in fear.

"I wasn't able to find you a little friend, dear, hope you don't mind..." Caroline said with a mocking smile. "But don't worry, we'll still have plenty of fun together..."

The tiny man started screaming but Caroline was able to easily muffle him, chuckling to herself as he struggled.