Chapter 1:

James suffered a largely sleepless night. The life he knew and was used to was about to be uprooted in week, and he didn’t quite know how to cope with that. Staring at his ceiling was all he could come up with so far. 

Nonetheless, it was time to get up. He threw his covers off, exposing his skinny body and sensitive skin to the cool air in his bedroom. Mom sure did love the AC. To fight off the cold, he grabbed his brown robe and wrapped it around himself. Before heading to the bathroom to take a hot shower, he glanced at the daily calendar above his desk. 

June 16, 2042.

He ripped the page off and discarded it in the wastebin. It was June 17 now, as much as he hated to admit it. Only a week until he graduated from high school. James’s relatives had told him that the graduations of decades past were occasions of celebration and fun. Current graduation ceremonies, however, had an immediately profound impact on students and society at large.

After his shower, James got dressed in his school uniform. A pressed, white button-down shirt, a red tie that signified his school’s colors, and long tan khaki pants. The one thing he wouldn’t miss in a week was putting on these constricting articles of clothing. 

Downstairs, James was met with the sight of his mom cooking breakfast. Knowing graduation was coming up and that her only son was quite stressed, she’d been making him hearty breakfasts for the past week. Yesterday, it was chocolate chip pancakes. James, despite being 18, still had a sweet tooth. Today, it was an omelet with ham, spinach, mushrooms, and bacon. But he just wasn’t feeling it.

“What’s my last meal going to be, Mom? I’m thinking turkey legs, you know, while I can still hold one in my hand.”

His mom winced at his foul mood. “Honey, you’re talking about graduation like it’s the end. It’s not. You still have a full life to live.”

“Yeah, that’s easy for you to say, as a woman. I’m leaving for school. I’ll see you later.”

“James! Your breakfast! At least have a few bites before you…”

He’d already stormed out the front door. Before he got on his electric scooter, he glanced at his mom’s car. A slender piece of machinery. It was a coupe. A seat for her and a seat for him. Well, at least for now. It was fully electric and emitted no carbon dioxide, as was stipulated by the federal government. What most would’ve seen as a wonder of modern technology was just a symbol of his oppression. And he would’ve been more OK with his oppression if he was allowed to even drive the car. Boys didn’t get driver’s licenses anymore. It was done away with two decades ago. The only thing that made him feel slightly better was that supposedly, engineers were just months away from devising the perfect self-driving car. Women would eventually be prohibited from driving as well. But for now, James had to make do with his electric scooter. It went plenty fast, topping out at 20 miles per hour, and he would be at school with time to spare. 

Upon arriving at the private academy he spent most of his waking life in, he parked his scooter in the 20 by 20 fenced-in area with all the rest of the boys, while all the girls drove their cars into the real parking lot. He didn’t have many male friends. He found them miserable and boring. Girls, beyond being the objects of his desire, were far peppier and more enjoyable to be around. So, he went into the girl’s parking lot to go find his friends. 

He saw Arlia pull in with her convertible. This black-haired, olive-skinned, statuesque friend of James’s was practically drowning in Mommy’s money. Was she a bit spoiled? Of course, she was. But her wealth and status thankfully didn’t make her too much of a diva. Beyond being a fun person, the perks of being friends of Arlia were obvious. He got invited to lavish pool parties, fancy dinners, and wonderful vacations. So, that was nice. And beyond that, James had a bit of a crush on her.

The busty and blonde Juliana, another one of his friends, was in the passenger seat. She didn’t have the riches of Arlia, but scored high in other areas, mainly in the realm of social capital. She was a cheerleader and a gossip. Her loud voice carried wherever she went, and she always made people reveal scandalous secrets. Why? She was a beautiful girl with golden hair and a smile that knocked boys dead.

Mia, his third friend, was in the backseat. Her talent was her likeability. Everyone liked her. She was cute, harmless, yet surprisingly ambitious. While Arlia served class president and Juliana was the head of the cheer squad, Mia had her own way of getting everyone to respect her. She made cookies on a weekly basis and handed them out to the downtrodden, forgotten kids. She relentlessly volunteered at charities, and of course, she gave random massages. Sounds weird, but nobody complained when Mia gave massages. She killed people with kindness. 

“Hey, Jamesy! What’s up!” Arlia said as she stepped out of the car. He cocked his head to properly meet her gaze. She towered over him at 6’4”. At a somewhat diminutive 5’6”, he never quite got used to the height difference. His eye level was several inches below her shoulder.

“You,” he said.

“You know, that joke wasn’t funny the first time you said it ten years ago, James,” Juliana said, walking around the car to join Arlia in towering over him. Juliana was 6’0”, a little less than a head taller than him. But her massive breasts were more than a little bit on display, inches from his nose.

Mia hopped out of the back of the car, her curly black hair bouncing with the impact of her feet landing on the pavement. She was the shortest at just 5’0”, which of course, wouldn’t matter for long. “And besides,” Mia said, “In a week, you’ll fit in the palm of our hand.”

He hung his head for a few moments. “Do you really need to remind me this early in the morning? And lest you forget, according to the 18% doctrine, I could end up about a foot tall.”

The 18% doctrine was passed in 2027. The law came out of a moderate administration that wanted to offer an olive branch to adult men, who in the years prior valiantly had themselves shrunk down to an average of three inches tall to avert the incoming climate change catastrophe. 

Just a year later, with around 40% of the entire American population made tiny, the country’s emissions went down enough to begin to reverse the worst of climate change. The 18% doctrine was meant as a middle ground, offering a more traditional life to boys who proved their worth in academics, sports, and giving back to the community through service. The idea was, if a 5’9” man (the average height of an untampered American male) were reduced to 18% of his height, he would be around a foot tall. Female lawmakers arbitrarily deemed a foot to be a height that would afford deserving men some dignity while also preserving the male sacrifice that saved the planet. 

Male critics at the time viewed the law as a double-edged sword. Yes, it gave men the opportunity to be bigger than the standard three inches, but before the 18% doctrine, there was no universal law mandating that males be shrunk when they turn 18 or graduate from high school. If passed, all American men would have to submit to shrinkage. 

Predictably, with nearly an all-female Congress and a female president, the 18% doctrine passed easily. From 2027 on, males were shrunk in their 18th year. 

But James’s friends were skeptical that the 18% number would apply to him.

“Keep dreamin’ buster. Only eagle scouts and star athletes keep 18% of their height. You’re neither. And pretending you don’t like it when we tease you about your size is silly. Because we all know you love it!” Juliana laughed, wrapping her arm affectionately around James’s neck, pressing his head into the side of her boob.

“Can you stop?! Jeez!” he said, trying to wriggle out of her shockingly tight hold.

“Shouldn’t a big, strong man like yourself be able to get out of a hold like that?” Arlia mocked, bending down and booping him on the nose. 

“Can you just let him go, for god’s sake?” Mia finally intervened. “He’s had enough.”

“Fine,” Juliana whined, releasing her grip on him. James’s face was red from the struggle. He had a hard time being nonchalant about it.

“You know what, I’ll be honest,” he said. “18% is probably out of reach for me. Maybe 13%?”

“We shall see,” Arlia said with a knowing look. Arlia, being the class president, had intimate knowledge of how small the boys at our school would end up. But it seemed that she was refusing to tell him how small he’d end up.

As James and his group of friends walked up to the school they’d called home since the sixth grade, they saw a protest being carried out by four of the shortest guys in the senior class. Their ringleader, a guy named Calvin, stood at just 4’10”. They held a banner that read “18% doctrine unfair to short men.” 

James certainly understood where these guys were coming from, though they had it a lot worse. None of the protesters were taller than 5’2”. And Calvin had the potential of ending up at around two inches tall if his grades weren’t up to par. 

Part of James wanted to go join Calvin and his merry band of dwarves to go shout down the unfair 18% doctrine. But that desire was quickly dashed when Principal Hannah Driscoll marched up to the already tiny men and tore their banner to pieces. 

“Clean this up and come to my office when you’re done. We have much to discuss,” she said with a smirk. If she was nothing else, Principal Driscoll was a black-haired, silver-tongued fox. If she marched up to you in her classic pencil skirt, four-inch heels and stood over you with her hands on her hips, it was fair to say that you were in deep shit. 

“Damn! Those morons are in for it!” Juliana squealed, “What do you think’ll happen to them? Oh my god, do you think the principal will make them all two inchers?!”

“Just for holding a sign? I hope not,” James said. 

“Honestly, what’s the difference between two inches and three inches? I know those boys. They don’t have a stellar GPA or do anything noteworthy. I heard guys like them usually get a 95% height reduction,” Arlia said.

He bristled at that comment, and Arlia immediately pounced. 

“Did that offend you, soon-to-be-little-one?” she asked. 

He punched her in the shoulder, though him having to reach upwards only emphasized how much taller she was. And how much taller she would soon be. How much taller all women would be.

“Ow!” Arlia yelped. “Why did you do that?!”

“You’re rubbing it in! Can you just chill?!”

“Listen, it’s all in good fun. Even though you’ll be small, you’re meant for big things too, James,” Mia said, rubbing his back and shoulders in an attempt to calm him down. He pulled away, knocking her hands off him. Her eyes welled up at the rejection of her touch, but he didn’t care. He was pissed off. 

“Yeah, it’s all in good fun for you three, because after graduation, nothing changes for you. You just get to go on living normal lives, while I get reduced to the size of an action figure, if I’m lucky. Buzz off, alright. I’ll see you at lunch. For now, I need a break from all of you.”

As he stormed away from his usually trusty gal pals, he heard Juliana say, “I think we might’ve pushed him too far.” 

Then Mia, who was amid crying, yelped, “You think?!”

He headed off to his first period class without a regard for his friends, not even Mia, who he caused to cry. It was history class. Luckily, Arlia, Juliana and Mia were not his class. Today’s lecture was about recent American history. Fitting, since it was almost the end of the year. Mrs. Kelly, his teacher, covered everything from the American Revolution, the Great Depression, and now she was just starting to get into the history of the 2020s. 

“So, Brian,” Mrs. Kelly called on one of the boys in the class, “List some people instrumental in the first wave of shrinking.”

Brian was generally a bit of a spaz. He didn’t pay much attention in class, which was exactly why he got called on. Predictably, he sputtered out an incoherent answer. And even more predictably, little miss class pet Victoria was raising her hand. James resisted the urge to bang his head on the desk. 

“Why don’t you raise both hands?” James muttered. 

A few guys chuckled at his comment, but it didn’t take Victoria long to rip his head off. 

“What did you say?” she turned around, her blonde hair whipping around her neck. 

“I didn’t say a word,” James responded, raising both his arms in a show of faux innocence. He kept eye contact too, which was getting harder and harder these days. 

“You know, you’re an idiot,” Victoria said, “You are literally going to be the size of my finger in a few days. It’s probably best that you don’t go antagonizing girls.”

He cleared his throat and put his hands down. Looking away from her, he picked up his pen and pretended to write some notes. 

“Oh, nothing to say now, huh? Little coward,” she said. 

“Victoria, enough,” Mrs. Kelly said half-heartedly, “Let’s get this class back on track. Do you happen to know the answer?” 

“Of course, Mrs. Kelly!” she yipped, breaking her evil eyes stare at James and facing front, “Climate activists and several members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus were the first to propose shrinking the human population. It was to reduce the carbon footprint and reverse climate change, and it worked!”

“Very good! See Brian, if you studied more, you could have given that answer just like Victoria. Carly, what created the male-only precedent when it came to shrinking?”

Brian sheepishly shifted down further into his seat, while Carly prepared to answer the next question. She was not as eager as Victoria, but she knew her stuff. Unlike Brian. 

Carly began, “Well, men were the first to shrink for one main reason. Dozens of studies concluded that shrunken female rats could not properly give birth. Every time, it was a stillbirth. But a shrunken male rat could impregnate a full-sized female rat, and 99% of the time, the baby was born completely fine. So, to maximize our effort to stop climate change, it was deemed vital that men be shrunk and vital that women stay full sized so humanity wouldn’t go extinct.”

Victoria was raising her hand again. It was clear she had something to add. James rolled his eyes. 

“Yes, Victoria?” Mrs. Kelly called on her prized pupil.

“And don’t forget the war in China! It’s a ground conflict that requires able bodies that can carry a rifle, something men stopped being able to do twenty years ago.”

“Yes, you’re correct to add that point. The war against China broke out for many reasons. Their theft of intellectual property, their expansion into the Middle East, and their human rights violations. And the war, which broke out after men began shrinking, necessitated fighters. Not just on the ground, but in the sky and in the water. Even jobs operating military machinery and tech became impossible for three-inch-tall men. The ongoing nature of the conflict has put an extra pressure on the government to keep women full-sized.”

James sat at his desk, desperately eyeing the clock. He was tired of listening to all these women justify why he had to shrink, and why they had to stay big. And it was only first period. In every subject, there were discussions about the place of men and women in society. 

In English, he and his classmates had a whole unit on post-Shrink fiction. The favorite of the English department was a novel called “Arranged,” where a shrunken man is betrothed to a girl he barely knows by his mother. This kind of thing was beginning to become more commonplace since men after graduation weren’t in the position to go pick up women at bars or go out on dates. They’d be crushed before they even got off the sidewalk. In his English class’s discussion of “Arranged,” James had to listen to the ramblings of girls extolling the virtue of the mother for setting the shrunken man up with the perfect girl. 

In science, there was a month-long unit studying the shrinking process. His teacher called it a “technological marvel.” The class even went down to the shrinking lab several times to see the machines that would eventually shrink all the boys in school. Those days were rife with girls teasing boys about how small they’d end up. Even Juliana poked fun at him while they were in the lab.

“Hey,” she’d said, tapping on his shoulder, “How small do you think you’ll be?”

“I don’t know, 10 inches?”

“What’s your GPA?”

“3.2,” he had whispered back.

“You’ll be six inches tall if you’re lucky,” she had said, rubbing my hair and leaning her arms on my shoulders.

In math, it was the word problems. Those damn word problems his teacher wrote on the board made all the girls giggle and the boys groan. A classic example was:

‘If a man who’s 5’10” and three quarters is shrunk by 88%, how tall is he?’

Another frequently used test question went something like this:

‘How many three-inch shrunken men would it take to equal the weight of the average woman?’

The answer for that one was burnt into James’s mind. The average three-inch-tall man weighed far less than a pound, which meant that a whopping 615 of them would equal the same weight as the average woman. The average woman now weighed 615 times the average man. 

But eventually, the bell rang, shaking James out of his painful reverie. And four more periods went by just as slowly as the first one before it was lunch time. Still not quite over his friends mocking him this morning, he lingered by his locker for a few minutes, pretending to be digging around for something. And just as he closed his locker door, Calvin, the guy who led the unsuccessful protest, was standing right behind it.

“What’s up, man?” James asked.

“What do you think?! The principal said that all of us are going to be two-inchers after graduation. And then when she said to us, ‘if you tell me who organized this abomination, I’ll let rest of you be four inches tall,’ my so-called friends immediately ratted on me. So now, because of the rats I used to call my friends, I’m going to be two inches tall, while the rest of them will be double my height!”

Unfortunately, the government gave schools, especially private schools, carte blanche to shrink male students however they saw fit. That meant boys were often on their best behavior. Except for Calvin and his now ex-friends. 

“Jeez, that’s so fucked up man. All for a little stunt that hurt nobody,” James scoffed. 

“Yeah, well, that’s the thing. I think it’s time to do a stunt that will hurt,” Calvin said, upping the ante.

James squinted and cocked his head. He wasn’t quite sure he liked what Calvin was insinuating. 

“Here’s my idea,” the shorter man said in a hushed voice, “We go into the shrinking lab at the school and destroy the machines.”

“You’re kidding! If the principal catches you, she’ll make you an incher. Maybe even smaller!”

“Who cares? What have I got to lose? I’m already going to be a two-incher. What’s another inch off my height, huh? And besides, I won’t get caught, because I’ll sneak in at night, and I’ll have the key to the shrinking lab.”

“Yeah? How? Only two people have that key,” James said.

“Exactly. The principal and your leggy friend Arlia.”

Calvin was right. Since Arlia was class president, she had a key to that room. It was policy that the class president operates the shrinking machines on the boys. 

“Don’t ask me what I think you’re going to ask me,” James said.

“You are friends with her somehow. Just swipe the key, give it to me and that’ll be the end of your involvement. Your pansy ass doesn’t actually have to take an axe to the machine.”

“Calvin, she wears the key around her neck. Even if I wanted to get it, it’d be impossible. And even if I somehow managed to get the key from her without her noticing, she’d eventually realize it was stolen. And it would immediately get traced back to me. So, no. Figure this out on your own.”

As James walked past Calvin and toward the lunchroom, Calvin said, “I have a feeling you’ll change your mind.”

“Why’s that?” James briefly turned back; his curiosity piqued after hearing this bold prediction.

“Just a hunch.”

James strolled into the lunchroom, trying to spot his friends. He was ready to reconcile with them. Before he found them, he noticed something that he had never noticed before. Boys and their girlfriends were discussing living arrangements after the shrinking. He saw girls showing boys pictures of dollhouses on their phones. 

“Just think about it, Victor!” he heard one girl say, “You can stay in this cute little house! My mom already gave me permission! Isn’t that great! You’d have your own space for the whole day, and then when I come from work, I could take you out and have fun with you. Doesn’t that sound great?!”

Victor nodded. That was all men could do nowadays. Nod away for the rest of their lives. 

Trying to shake what he heard and saw out of his mind, James sat down next to Mia. Arlia and Juliana were across from them. He went to open his mouth, but Arlia spoke first. 

“James, I’m sorry. I should be more sensitive around you. Clearly, I offended you, and I really just meant it as a joke.”

As far as apologies were concerned, Arlia’s was pretty crappy, but he was ready to forgive her anyway. How could she know what it was like to be a boy, a week away from getting shrunk? She couldn’t. 

“It’s alright,” he said. “We’re cool.”

Arlia reached out with one of her long arms and scrunched his cheek. She shot him a warm, genuine smile. Her touching him like this was a better apology than what she actually said. 

“OK, so changing the subject,” Juliana interjected, “I think it’s time to cut you in on a little opportunity, Jamesy.”

“Wait, Juliana, I don’t think—” Mia tried to say.

“Wanna bet on how small you’re gonna get?!” Juliana blurted out.

James, perplexed and angry, didn’t say anything. 

“Why? Why would you tell him about this?” Arlia asked Juliana.

“Because he’s shrinking anyway, so he might as well make some money on the way down to six inches! Or maybe three inches? I bet you were going to be four inches tall.”

As the girls bickered, he gathered the will to speak. It was time to ascertain how rotten to the core the girls of this school were. 

“Are you telling me that there’s an illegal gambling racket of girls betting on how small the guys end up? Is that what you’re telling me?”

Their eyes all widened, clearly not wanting to put the truth into words. But with their fearful expressions, they already told him everything he needed to know. Beyond this new revelation, he already knew that Arlia had concrete knowledge of how small most guys would end up. In the weeks leading up to graduation, boys had been going up to her asking how much they would be shrunk. Yet another perk of being class president.

“Arlia, please tell me you’re not feeding people insider information.”

“Listen, I’m only helping Juliana and Mia. They’re my best friends. And the reason I’m doing it is to raise money for your living quarters after you’re shrunk. I know we haven’t talked about it yet, but we need to. Those little houses cost a lot of money, especially when you add plumbing, electricity, and a thermostat.”

His mom wasn’t a rich woman, and he was only at this private academy on scholarship. His mom’s plans for his living situation once he was tiny was a shelf. Until she could afford one of the nicer tiny houses. So, he had to admit, what Arlia was suggesting was tempting. A nice house all to himself right after he shrunk; it was the best-case scenario.

But betting on shrinking men was illegal. And they knew that. They could go to prison for years, and he wasn’t willing to lose his three best friends over something this stupid. 

“You need to stop this, now,” he said. “If you get caught, it doesn’t matter how much money you make toward my tiny house. You’ll get hauled off in handcuffs. Besides, Arlia, you’re rich. If you really want to get me this amazing house, couldn’t you just—”

“Ask for the money?” she finished my statement. “Yeah, then you’d just see it as a handout from my rich family.”

“Better a legal handout than an illegal scheme to profit off of shrinking men!” he argued.

“We can’t stop now, dude,” Juliana said. “If we see this through, we’ll have more than enough to pay for your tiny house. We could even buy you some tiny electronics. A computer, a smartphone, everything you need.” 

“Holy shit, you don’t get it! If the whole school is betting on this, the principal will find out. Don’t you understand that? And it won’t take very long for it to be traced back to you. Give people back their money and scrap this plan entirely.”

“Since when do you give us orders, James?” Arlia leaned down close to me. 

He didn’t give any ground, and he wasn’t going to let this go. “Right around when you told me about the dumbest plan in the history of dumb plans.”

She slapped him right across the face. The sound was deafening, and it echoed all around the lunchroom. Before they knew it, everyone was looking at their table. James stood up, rubbed his cheek, and said, “If you don’t stop, I’ll make you stop.”

He walked out of the lunchroom, knowing everyone’s eyes were on him. They had to be wondering what he meant by what he said. 

He walked the halls, looking for someone. He found who he was looking for sitting on the stairs eating his packed lunch, alone.

“Calvin, I’ve reconsidered. Let’s wreak some havoc.”

“Wow, that was quick,” Calvin said, “Glad to have you on board. Meet me at my house tonight at 7. We’ll go over the plan there.”

Chapter 2:

James and Calvin walked home together after school. This was the first time they’d interacted outside of classes, but their shared circumstances had brought them together. The boys were headed to James’s house. His mother was out at work still, so they’d have the privacy to go over their plan. 

Once they were up in James’s room, Calvin began strategizing immediately. 

“You need to apologize to Arlia,” he said.

“What? No! I meant what I said!” James replied. 

“Hey idiot, you don’t have to mean it. This is just so she’ll agree to meet up with you after school tomorrow. That’s when you steal the key to shrinking lab.”

James sat down on his bed, while Calvin continued to pace throughout the room. He tried to imagine himself with Arlia. How would he manage to get the key off her neck?

“I still don’t know how I’m going to steal it,” James said, collapsing onto his mattress. 

Calvin scratched his chin for a few moments, saying nothing. He looked back at James with a blank stare. 

“So, it sounds like I’m going to have to improvise.”

“Yes,” Calvin said. 

“It kinda sounds like I’m doing all the hard work for this plan. What are you going to do?”

Calvin laughed and bellowed, “I’m gonna destroy every last single oppression-inducing machine in that room!”

James scoffed. “Yeah, my point still stands. I’m doing all the hard work. All you have to do is swing an axe.”

“Whatever, man. You said you were on board. Are you changing your mind?”

“No! No, I’ll talk to Arlia. I’ll have that key by tomorrow. And get a second axe, because I’m going with you, tomorrow night.”

“Damn, alright! Growing some balls, huh?!”

“Sure,” James said. 

Little did Calvin know, James wasn’t carrying out this whole scheme to prevent himself from getting shrunk. That was definitely why Calvin was doing it, but he was an idiot. James knew damn well that even if they destroyed the machines at their school, the boys would be taken to another school to get shrunk somewhere else. 

Then, he recognized a hole in his plan. If the principal simply bussed all the boys to where there were functioning shrinking machines, the bet would still be on. His friends would still be at risk for getting charged with illegal gambling. 

Calvin was about to leave when James told him to wait. 

“Let’s make this a whole lot bigger,” he suggested. “Let’s get all the schools within a fifty-mile radius on the same page. Why not, right?” 

“Dude, I love the way you think! OK, me and my boys have contact with dozens of other boys-rights groups from other schools. I’ll reach out tonight. You focus on getting that key from Arlia.”

“Aye, aye, captain,” James mocked the short man who was trying to give him orders. 

“Whatever, man. I’m heading out. I have a lot of work to do.”

Once his new confidant was gone, he thought intensely about how he’d move forward. Knowing his friends were on the line, it didn’t take him long to cobble together a plan of action. He didn’t know if his quickly formed plan would work, but he decided it had to be done. He gave Arlia a call. 

Sounding surprised to hear from him so soon, she answered, “James?”

“Hey, Arlia. I just want you to know that I’m sorry for what I said in the cafeteria,” he said, the contrition heavy in his voice. 

“Why are you sorry?” she asked. God, she was really going to make him spell it out.

“Because I questioned your judgment. I know you’re just trying to help me, and so I want to make it up to you. Ugh, how do I say this next part,” he said, pausing for a moment. “I don’t know if I’ve been too obvious with my feelings, but I’ve kinda had a crush on you for a while now. And I’ve kinda never been on an actual date before, so I was wondering if you’d wanna, you know, go out with me?”

There was silence on the other side of the line. He feared the worst. Did she not share his feelings? Was she offended by his proposal? As the possibility of rejection from Arlia swirled around in his head, he almost forgot the actual reason why he was doing this. To steal the key to the shrinking lab. 

“Arlia, are you there?”

“Yeah, James. I’m here. You just caught me a little off-guard. I mean, you were so harsh toward me today at lunch, and now you’re asking me out? It just seems—”

“Weird, I know,” James finished her sentence, “But trust me, I like you a lot Arlia, and I’ve only recently figured out truly how I feel about you. And not to sound desperate, but I’m going to fit in the palm of your hand in a week. I really want to have one chance at a retro-style relationship with a girl. You know, the kind of thing where you go out to dinner and hold hands and laugh and the guy is not an accessory to the girl’s jewelry.”

After a small bout of silence, she simply said “You know what, OK. I’ll pick you up at seven. You better have a plan for our date by the time I come over.” 

James hadn’t thought that far ahead yet and cursed himself for getting into this mess. He didn’t expect to be going out with her this soon. But he couldn’t deny how thrilling it was to actually have a date with Arlia. 

“You got it! See you at seven,” he responded. 

Knowing he only had a few hours, he scrolled through the internet looking for ways to impress a girl on a first date. The answer he arrived at was: flowers, chocolate, and a snappy outfit. He had one of the three already, he now just needed to go grab flowers and chocolate for Arlia. 

Luckily, he’d saved some money from his one-year party. A one-year party was traditionally thrown for 17-year-old boys a year before their graduation. Close relatives would come and celebrate their young family member and wish them good luck in their last remaining year of being full-sized. They’d also receive money, hear stories from relatives, and get advice on how to re-enter society at a fraction of their former size. 

At James’s party, his Uncle Perry (who was three inches tall) told him fantastical stories about what he used to do when he was full-sized. He was an avid rock-climber, a surfer, and an all-around exercise-aholic. He was also apparently a massive flirt, and soon enough, he met James’s Aunt Lydia. Lydia and Jerry spent five years together before he was forcibly shrunk by the government. 

James always liked Uncle Perry’s stories, and now he was getting a chance to be with a girl he liked as a full-sized man, just like his Uncle Perry. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t have five years like his uncle, but he’d just have to make the most of the time he had.

With cash in his pocket and determination in his heart, James hopped on his scooter and went into town. He got the chocolates first, then made his way over to the local flower shop. He picked out a bouquet that looked nice and put it on the counter. The woman working the cash register, who looked to be in her mid-twenties, rang him up.

“That’ll be 160 dollars, sir,” she said.

James’s jaw was practically on the floor. Stupidly, he hadn’t even looked at the price. He had no idea flowers costed that much.

“What? That much? Yikes, I can’t afford this. Is there anything cheaper?”

“I’m afraid not, honey. There’s an economic crisis in Colombia where the United States imports most of its flowers. Unfortunately, it’s forced me to charge a pretty steep price for them.” 

“Crap,” he said, “Well, is there anything you can do to help me out? Is there maybe another store I can go to to get a cheaper bouquet?”

“Who are the flowers for?” she asked, totally dodging his question. He didn’t know why she wanted to know who the flowers were for, but he went along with it. He hoped he could spin a yarn that would perhaps have her take mercy on him.

“They’re for a girl I like, and you know, I really wanna impress her. I’m going to be shrunk in about a week, and before that happens, I want her to know that I care about her.”

The woman clasped her hands together and beamed at the story he’d told her. “Aww, that is just so cute! Here, I can give you a discount now if you promise to come work a few shifts in the store after you’re shrunk.”

“Really?! Well, OK, I guess. What would you even have me do? Won’t I be pretty useless when I’m well…tiny?”

“You’ll be sweeping the floor and pulling flower petals out from crevices our giant hands can’t reach. Believe it or not, I offer this opportunity to boys who are about to shrink all the time. They come in panicked, kinda like you, trying to sweep a girl off her feet before they shrink. They rarely ever have enough money, but I’m all about helping young men who want to secure their future.”

“Well, fantastic! I only have ten dollars, is that OK?”

“A-OK, I’ll take whatever you have.”

He forked over the money, and he was allowed to take the bouquet. 

“What’s your name?” she asked before he turned around to leave. 

“I’m James, how about you?”

“I’m Scarlet, and I’ve owned this place for like a year. I just love working with flowers! Constantly surrounded with beautiful smells, and it does wonders for my wellbeing.”

“Oh, I bet,” James said. 

Scarlet then asked for his phone number and address, which James readily handed over. She appeared utterly harmless with her cute face and her frizzy golden blonde hair. Her features were more fitting for a young college co-ed than a shrewd businesswoman. Additionally, she was shorter than James by a several inches, making her his physical inferior. At least for now. 

They had some small talk before she veered the conversation back to his new temporary job.

“Now remember, James. You’re going to have to come in for a few shifts after you’ve been miniaturized. You gave me ten dollars. The bouquet you bought was 160 dollars, so depending on how small you become, I’d say the least you’d have to work is two weeks,” Scarlet said.

“Two weeks?! Um, isn’t that a little much? I thought you said only a few shifts.”

She wagged her finger at him in a condescending manner. “Honey, it’s all about the minimum wage laws for shrunken men. If you’re five inches tall, for instance, your labor is worth two dollars an hour. But let’s say you end up an inch tall, your labor is only worth 25 cents an hour. So, if you end up an inch tall, you’ll have to work for me for 15 weeks to pay back your debt. Eight-hour days, of course.”

“What?! That’s crazy for one bouquet of flowers! Give me my money back. I’ll get flowers some other way.”

“Sorry, sweetie. All sales are final,” she said, motioning at the sign on the counter that read ‘No returns.’

Realizing he’d been tricked into an indentured servitude scheme by this five foot nothing conwoman, he stormed out with his flowers, determined to make this date with Arlia a massive success. As he left, Scarlet called out to him, “Stay in touch! Or I will come find you!”

He didn’t doubt that. She had his address and phone number. She also had a record of a voluntary cash transaction between them. He just hoped he would end up big enough not to spend four months in a flower shop.

James returned home and relaxed for a few minutes, trying to get his mind off what Scarlet had done to him. He thought about what he could do with Arlia that would get her to take her necklace off. Then, he came up with it! He could take her to the beach! It was a hot day anyway and Arlia loved to swim. She certainly wouldn’t wear her necklace in the water. 

He texted Arlia, telling her to bring a bathing suit because they would be going to the beach. She responded with an excited emoji. Then he texted Calvin to alert him to his plan.

***

Here, a text message to James read. It was Arlia, and it was seven sharp. He was already ready to greet her at the door, wearing a white linen shirt with a pair of stylish swim trunks. He had a change of clothes in a small bag in case they decided to go somewhere else after their trip to the beach.

He bounded down the stairs with the flowers and chocolates he’d bought in hand and charged to the front door. James was just overflowing with positive energy and excitement.

“Don’t run, James! You’ll hurt yourself! The last thing you need are bruises right before you shrink!”

“Relax, Mom! I’m not a baby, OK!”

James flung open the door to find exactly what he was expecting. A striking young woman in a white, floral beach dress ready to drive across town for a romantic evening with him. He could hardly believe it and grinned uncontrollably.

“Gosh, you are so pretty,” he said, his voice cracking at the most inopportune time. Nonetheless, she let out a reserved laugh and blushed a little. Trying to make her forget that he almost certainly sounded like a pre-pubescent boy when he greeted her, he held up the bouquet and the box of chocolates. 

“For you,” he said in a purposefully deeper voice. 

“Oh my god, that is so sweet, James. Come here.”

She was wearing sandals with at least two-inch heels, making her even taller than usual. To properly thank him for his gift, she bent down, grabbed the sides of his face, and left a quick kiss on his forehead. If James was smiling before, his mouth was now hanging open in disbelief. But he couldn’t bask in this wonderful moment long. 

“Aww, you guys are so cute,” James’s mom interrupted, “Have fun! And don’t come back too late!”

The young, budding couple turned around to his mom and told her they’d be back at a reasonable hour. As soon as they shut the door behind them, they looked at each other and saw that both had their fingers crossed.

“You did it too!” she laughed.

“I have a week left. I intend to have a little fun,” he said, a sly smile forming on his face.

“OK, mister rebel. Let’s go, then!”

Once they were driving, Arlia cranked up the music. Music was yet another reminder of men’s place in this new world. Men didn’t play music anymore. Once they were shrunk, men’s voices didn’t have the same resonance or pitch or volume they had when they were full-sized. Not to mention, at a few inches tall, it was impossible for men to play instruments. 

Therefore, all the artists were female. A week away from shrinking, James was abnormally hyperaware of these inequalities. He pushed the thoughts out of his head and opened his phone to text Calvin that they were on their way.

“Who’re you texting?” Arlia asked while she drove.

“Oh, it’s nobody,” he said as he hit ‘send’. 

***

A scant thirty minutes later, James and Arlia were walking the sandy shores of their town. He delighted in the therapeutic feeling of the grains crunching beneath his toes. But the stroll wouldn’t have been nearly as delightful without a beautiful girl like Arlia by his side. He sipped in her glamour with nervous glances every few seconds, especially when their conversation lulled.

One glance revealed her dark hair fluttering all about in the wind. Another longer glance showed her well-tanned leg peeking out from the underside of her flowing dress. He marveled at how well-toned her thigh and calf were, and when he was done gawking, he looked down at his own legs. Skinny, white, and unimpressive. It was like comparing a noodle to a steel column.

Yet another furtive glimpse from James was directed at her breasts. They were a bit small, as she was a slender girl, but they were unmistakable. He imagined what they looked like and how they felt. Perky, but firm and round. He imagined putting his hands on them. Then his face in between them. Kissing them. Licking them. 

Then he realized his glimpse had turned into a seconds-long stare. Her chest was eye level with him because she was walking on a ridge slightly above him. Catching himself perving out, he averted his gaze and kept his eyes peeled forward. After a minute or so of silence, James regained the courage to look at her once more, only to find that she was already staring intently at him. 

Without even thinking, he asked, “What are you looking at?”

“Your hair,” she said, “It’s just so…thick and beautiful. Have you ever considered growing it longer?”

She was actually complimenting his appearance, and he didn’t quite know how to deal with it. Should he compliment her right back, or would that just seem like he was deflecting her compliment?

“No, I’ve never really thought about it,” he said, deciding not to flatter her just yet. “How long are you talking?”

“Like, super long. I’ve imagined you with a mane of luscious hair down to the middle of your back before,” she said as she ran a hand through his medium-length brown locks. 

“Really?!”

“Really.”

They went back to staring straight ahead, James especially not knowing how to carry the conversation forward. Until Arlia prompted him. 

“There must be something you like about me,” she said with her eyebrows raised.

“Well, yeah. I guess,” he said, immediately regretting his phrasing. 

“You guess? You guess? Don’t think I didn’t see you eying me up and down for the past ten minutes.”

James’s face went red. Unable to respond, he just looked down at his feet, thinking he’d ruined his chances. Arlia grabbed his shoulder, softly rubbing it with her huge hand. 

“Oh, Jamesy! Don’t be embarrassed! I think it’s cute that you find me attractive!”

“Cute? I’m cute?”

“OK, not cute. Manly? Is that better?” she asked, her hand shifting to rub the small of James’s back. “My point is, I like when you look at me with those wide eyes of yours. It makes me feel good about myself that someone else thinks I’m…something to look at.”

His face returned to a normal shade after hearing the way she described herself. “Something to look at.” Did she really lack that much self-esteem to minimize her looks that much?

“Arlia, you’re not just ‘something to look at.’ A rock is something to look at. But you…you’re gorgeous.”

He hopped up on the ridge of sand to equalize their height disparity as much as he could, then cranked his head upwards to meet her eyes. 

“And you’re not just gorgeous. You’re wicked smart. You’re fun to hang out with. You take shit from no one, and you’re forgiving when it counts.”

Arlia’s hand was over her mouth now, and her eyes were misty with tears. He hoped he didn’t drop too much on her during their first date. 

“I’m sorry, did I overwhelm you?” he asked, “I just really wanted to tell you all this before you have to shrink me down. It’s kinda hard to pour your heart out to a girl when her ankles are taller than you.”

Still choked up and fighting off hysterics, Arlia sputtered to him, “You’ll be taller…than my ankles.”

Realizing what she was getting at, he simply stayed silent, hoping she would elaborate. And elaborate, she did. 

“The plan is, you’ll be nine inches tall,” she was now smiling as she wiped away the wetness from her eyes. “Can you believe that!?”

James ran into her and wrapped his arms around her lower back, just above her butt. He hugged her tight and nestled his head into her chest. His voice muffled, he said, “You’re a miracle worker.”

Never in a million years did he actually think he would end up that tall. His grades were good, but he didn’t have many extracurriculars. He wasn’t some sort of upstanding volunteer trying to make the world a better place. That was what it took to keep 18% of your height. So, the fact that the principal was allowing him to be nine inches tall was truly a miracle to him. He’d be three times taller than his Uncle Perry. He’d be four and half times taller than his dad, who pretty much lived in his mom’s underwear drawer. His voice wouldn’t be super squeaky. He would be among the taller men. And women wouldn’t appear ridiculously gigantic. Gigantic, yes, but they wouldn’t be like skyscrapers.

As he was nose deep in Arlia’s taut, athletic chest, a thought came to mind. If it was ever proven that he helped Calvin in his plan to undermine the shrinking of boys, James wouldn’t end up nine inches tall. In fact, as punishment, he’d probably end up being even shorter than his uncle and his dad. 

Yet, the problem of Arlia, Juliana, and Mia running an illegal gambling operation persisted. If he didn’t stop them, they would be caught. He was certain. And upon being caught, they’d be hauled off to jail, and sure, he’d be nine inches tall, but with no friends left. 

He lifted his head up from Arlia’s body and saw her beaming down at him. Without warning, her hands slid under his armpits.

“Upsie daisy!”

With a swift motion, she lifted his 120 pounds off the sand like it was nothing. His flipflops dangled from his suspended toes. They were eye to eye, and she smirked, enjoying the fact that James was caught off-guard by her sudden forwardness. He quickly looked around to make sure no one was seeing this. 

“Who cares if people see you in the arms of a girl, huh? Boys are supposed to be stronger than girls before they shrink, but you’re a neat little exception, aren’t you?”

“Arlia!”

“Oh, stop whining. I lifted you for a reason, you know?”

“What possible reason do you have for—"

His insecure whimpering was interrupted by Arlia locking lips with him. He was still in the air, still being hoisted by her, and still mumbling nonsense as she tried to kiss him. 

“Stop talking and kiss me, you idiot.”

“Sorry,” he said genuinely. 

The two rejoined their lips in an explosion of longing for one another. The taste of her caramel lipstick left him reeling, and he immediately wanted more. But she was even more eager, she entered his mouth first. The crashing of the waves punctuated the swirling of their tongues, and the dark orange sun just barely hovering over the horizon made Arlia’s skin glow. Still, he wanted more. He swung his legs around her body and wrapped them around her butt like he was clinging to a tree. This brought him closer to her, allowing him to kiss her with more vigor. Still, he needed more. He draped his arms over her shoulders, and she transitioned into carrying him against her chest. Now her breasts pressed into his stomach, making him moan. 

Knowing what he wanted to do, she spoke directly into his open mouth, so as not to break the kiss and said, “Feel them. Please.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, James took one hand and gently grazed her left breast. Annoyed with his timidness, Arlia reached down and squeezed his butt while she rammed her tongue even deeper into his mouth. Getting the hint rather quickly, James escalated his strokes to gentle squeezes. When that didn’t satisfy her, he gripped her breasts with both hands and clamped down. She squealed, thrilled with his roughness, and in kind, she spanked him. Hard. Not hard enough to bruise, but hard enough to send a flash of pain all throughout his body. But despite it hurting, the spank was synonymous to a cowboy whipping his horse to make him go faster. 

It was only when a passerby whistled at them did Arlia break the kiss. She lowered him back to the ground slowly. He tried to pull her head down to meet his, but she was the one in complete control. Her face didn’t budge, and he sank lower and lower until his feet were back on the ground and once again, she was too tall to smooch. 

But her shoulder wasn’t too tall to smooch. So, he gave it a light peck. 

“James, stop it. We’re in public,” she said, suddenly concerned with how they appeared.

“Says the girl who told me to fondle her boobs in public,” he said.

“Hey, I got swept up in it. You did too, dork.”

“Yes, I did. You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that. Not quite how I thought my first kiss would go, but I’ll take it.”

She rubbed his head affectionately and told him to lay down a towel. James went through his bag, found a towel and put it down on the sand. Arlia tore off her dress in a hurried manner and threw it on the towel. All that was left to cover her body was a skimpy two-piece bikini that left little to the imagination. 

He’d seen Arlia in a bikini before, but after their steamy encounter where she’d utterly dominated him, it was different. She was bigger, taller. He knew she was, in actuality, the same size, but it didn’t change how he saw her. Before, she was somewhat of an equal peer. Now, she was a worthy protector. Of course, she wasn’t perfect. She was involved in an illegal gambling ring. But the way he saw it, if she protected him from physical threats once he was tiny, it was his responsibility to protect her from a prison sentence. 

As James had hoped, Arlia removed her necklace and placed it under her dress. 

“Remember where that key is. I cannot lose that,” she said. 

“No problem,” he said. Like clockwork, Calvin called. 

“Who’s that?” she asked. 

“It’s just my mom. Go test the water, I’ll be right there with you in a sec.”

And just as he’d planned, Arlia left him alone, allowing him to speak candidly with Calvin. Not wanting to be seen together, Calvin was set up about 100 feet up the beach from James and Arlia. 

“Calvin, the key is under Arlia’s dress. Take it to the locksmith on Forester Ave, get it copied, and bring it right back. I shouldn’t have too much trouble keeping her in the water for a long enough time. But when you come back, put the necklace in the same spot, alright?”

“Got it, ringleader.”

“Don’t call me that, alright. I’m not the ringleader. You are.”

He hung up, tossed his phone on the towel and went to go join the beautiful girl wading in the ocean. But as he made his way over to her, James couldn’t help but think that maybe he had morphed into the ringleader. It was he who suggested getting boys from other schools involved in the destruction of shrinking machines. And it was he who was giving orders to Calvin.

A shiver went down his spine. Not because his feet touched the cool water. But because being the mastermind behind an event that disrupted the status quo to this extent could destroy him. There was just one conclusion. 

He could not get caught.

Chapter 3:

James and Arlia didn’t remain at the beach for long after their make out session. They went in the water for a while, then lay on the sand. Both had an idea of what the other actually wanted, and eventually, they realized they were just delaying their desires. He, still too shy to openly stare at her, would sneak a glance every fifteen seconds or so. And every time he got a glimpse of her necklace, a pang of guilt struck his stomach. The copy to that very key on her necklace was in his pocket, and with the help of Calvin, he was deceiving her. 

She had no trouble disrupting his guilty conscience though. 

“Let’s get a hotel room,” she said as they were walking back to the car, leaning down to pepper his neck with short, but passionate kisses. 

James was stunned at how forward she was being with him. He couldn’t figure out why she was jumping into this thing with two feet. 

“You…want…a hotel room?” he asked in disbelief.

“Well, not if that’s not what you want,” Arlia backed off. “If you want to wait, it doesn’t matter to me. I just thought I’d, you know, put it out there.”

He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling his head into the crevice between her abs and the underside of her breast.

“I’m glad you put it out there. Because I want the same thing as you.”

Arlia stopped walking and maneuvered James in front of her so she could see him. Her face displayed relief and happiness, as if a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. 

“Wait, how long have you felt this way about me?” James asked, desperate to know if she was as crazy about him as he was for her. 

“How long have we been friends?” 

“Since freshman year. So, four years,” he said.

“OK. Then that’s how long,” Arlia said. 

His hands involuntarily clutched his temples. He couldn’t believe this. She had a crush on him for the entirety of high school, and he had absolutely no idea. 

“But, but, but,” he sputtered, unable to collect his thoughts.

“But, but, but shut up,” she giggled, covering his mouth with her hand. It easily covered more than half of his face. “We’ll talk about ‘us’ later. Right now, we have to stop at the convenience store.”

“For what?”

She smiled and said, “Condoms.”

***

After a brief stop at a Seven-Eleven, Arlia drove to the ritziest hotel in town. The revolving doors, the echoey lobby with reflective tile flooring, and the giant chandelier that hung above—all of it was stressing James out a bit. What first date, or whatever this was, ended at a place so fancy that there was caviar just sitting out on coffee tables? He honestly would have been more comfortable and felt less pressure if they’d chosen a drive-by motel.

But Arlia wanted this night to be special. She’d said so in the drive over. What she didn’t say was that this was likely the last time they would be able to indulge in each other’s bodies without the risk of James getting squashed by a stray breast or ass cheek. But it was understood.

Without a hint of nervousness on her face, she sauntered up to the front desk with her hand engulfing his. She slammed down her credit card and said, “Is the penthouse available?”

The lady behind the desk seemed to recognize Arlia and responded, “Of course! I’ll get you and your man up there right away!”

Minutes later, the pair were zooming up to the top floor in a private elevator. Upon arrival, there was a ding and the doors parted to what could only be described as a spectacular room. A furry white carpet spanned the entire living area. Surrounding a dark wooden coffee table were plush white couches, one with a chaise and one without.

James wasn’t really concerned with the couches or the coffee table. What piqued his interest far more was the shiny black grand piano that was sitting on an elevated platform behind the living area. He’d been learning how to play for close to two years. Part of him didn’t know why he continued to play when if he was lucky, he’d be the size of a single piano key. But part of him knew exactly why. For a moment like this. 

Without saying a word, he walked over to the piano and sat down in front of it.

“James, you play piano? I had no idea—”

He played a long B flat, the first note to Chopin’s Nocturne Opus 9, number 2. He hoped he remembered it. He didn’t have his trusty sheet music with him. But to his surprise, the over 200-year-old masterpiece poured out of him. She joined him, sliding in to sit on the piano bench with him. He hit every eighth note arpeggio and sixteenth note run. He had the most fun with the trill, looking up at her and smiling as alternated back and forth between two keys. She was still stunned by his proficiency and was unable to a muster a reaction to his gorgeous melodies.

“This, this is amazing,” she finally said as he continued with the piece. Not knowing what to do with herself since he was silently focused on the music, she stroked his wavy hair, slightly mussing it up in the back. Then she leaned her head on the top of his. Being a head taller than him sitting down, this was the most comfortable way to lean on him. This made it a bit difficult for James to focus, since her breasts were creeping into his peripheral vision. But he was determined to finish the song properly. 

And he did. He didn’t get distracted by her rubbing the back of his head and playing with his hair. He didn’t get distracted by her leaning on him. He didn’t even let her breasts deter him. 

He played the last note, letting it linger for a bit longer than normal. Arlia, sensing the song was over, lifted her head off his and went straight in for a kiss. 

“That was beautiful,” she briefly broke the kiss to say.

They made out a little longer before he paused to say, “I’m glad you liked it.”

She stood up and said, “I think we’re gonna have to get you one of those mini pianos. We can’t let your talent go to waste.”

“Oh please!” he said while playing an upbeat jazz riff to uplift the mood, “You just want me to be able to serenade you whenever you want!”

“Well, so what if that’s true? I could keep you in my purse and you could play me beautiful love songs on command. I could even pay you!”

Unable to restrain his growing smile, he said, “Oh, you are just diabolical.”

Not wanting to waste another second of their time together talking, the two locked lips and stumbled into the bedroom, not once stopping to take a breath or give their lips a rest. Once inside, Arlia pushed James onto the bed and retrieved a condom. Despite being inexperienced, he knew enough to take off his shirt. Before he could continue undressing himself, she ripped off his shorts, revealing he was naked underneath. Arlia raised her eyebrows in surprise. 

“I guess I thought I wouldn’t need underwear,” he muttered.

She kept her eyes locked on him while she disrobed, letting her white dress fall from her slender curves. 

“Good guess,” she said. He shivered at the provocative timber of her voice. She seemed so confident, so at ease. He immediately wondered whether this was her first time. It was certainly his.

Arlia joined him on their king bed. He was still on his back from when she pushed him. All James could do was watch as she slowly creeped toward him. Her sly little smile transformed his arms and legs into jelly. He’d never seen this side of her before, and it was giving him butterflies. That was until her hands touched his, reassuring him completely. She then raised his noodly arms above his head, pinning him like he was a scrawny middle school wrestler.

For a while, she just loomed over him and enjoyed his expression of pure wonderment. Her long black hair fell in front of her shoulders and grazed his chest. Sprawled out like this, his ribs were showing. She took a break from holding his arms down to graze one of his ribs with her finger.

“I know…I’m a little bit, well, skinny. Sorry” he said.

Her eyes widened. “Don’t you ever apologize for your body. I think it’s cute how wimpy you are compared to me.”

“Cute?” he said, taking umbrage with her word choice.

“Hot, I mean.”

Wasting no more time, she ceased poking fun at his boniness and re-pinned both of his arms. With James completely subdued and under her control, she lowered her body down onto his. The moment her nude skin combined with his, he squealed.

“You like it when I’m on top, don’t you?” she asked while gently kissing his neck and shoulders. 

He moaned in response. Now, the weight of her body was mashing him into the soft mattress. But she wasn’t crushing him, and he wasn’t scared of how immense she was compared to him. Instead, he was safe. Her tits pressing up against his abs brought on other, more visceral sensations. He wanted to touch them, but his arms were still pinned. Arlia seemed to enjoy holding him down and kissing him all over. He didn’t want to get in the way of her desires, but he had desires too. 

“Um, Arlia?”

“What?” she asked, clearly way more focused on kissing every inch of his neck. 

“Can I, um, touch your, um, you know?”

“My tits? Tits is not a swear word, in case you didn’t know,” she said, giggling at how timid he was. 

“Well, can I?”

“Of course, you can!”

She sat up, her ass resting right on his cock. Her soft butt cheeks grinding into his half hard cock quickly got it the rest of the way. And seconds later, when Arlia unfastened the back of her top and exposed her round, perky breasts, his cock was stabbing her in the butt. He was so hard now, it hurt a little. 

“Oh boy, you are really excited under there.” 

She leaned down, dangling her breasts directly above his face. He hesitated for a moment, but ultimately gave both a tender squeeze. Somehow, it felt different now that she nude. Her tits seemed bigger and firmer. His hands weren’t even big enough to cover half the area of her breasts, which only delighted him more. With every squeeze, she turned her head upwards and moaned. Not satisfied with merely fondling, he reached up and began sucking on her nipple.

Arlia was surprised by James’s sudden initiative, but she welcomed it. He quickly got the hang of it, and soon she was panting and squealing and yelping. She liked it. He could tell. So, he sucked harder. He watched as her eyes briefly rolled into the back of her head. 

“Oh my…GOD! Have you…oh yeah…done this before?”

He shook his head, his mouth never leaving her nipple. 

“OK, the other side needs some love. Switch!”

He hopped over to the left breast. As soon as he resumed sucking, she rolled over onto her back, flipping him above her in the process. Now that he was on top, her involuntary shows of pleasure only got louder and more exaggerated. Her moans were needier. Her yelps were more frequent. She couldn’t help but squirm underneath him. But little did he know, she was slowly shifting him and her breasts upward. And once she could finally reach, she gripped his cock and began pumping up and down. 

James stopped servicing her momentarily and laid his head on her breast, thoroughly enjoying her hand job. That was until she ordered him to resume. Well, she didn’t quite order him. Without saying a word, she took her free hand, grabbed his head, and forced his mouth back onto her nipple. He got the hint rather quickly. 

After some hard and fast pumps, Arlia took her hand off his cock to lick it. He glanced upwards to watch her lubricate her palm and her fingers. It was hard to believe that he would soon fit in the very hand she was using to jerk him off. The glimmer in her gorgeous hazel eyes suggested she was aware of and took pleasure in his disbelief. But his disbelief quickly morphed into bliss. He was getting very close to climax, and his body was responding accordingly. His eyes were rolling back into his head, even though he wanted to spend every second looking at the girl of his dreams. His breaths were short and uneven. A thin layer of sweat coated his skin. But all throughout her handjob, his mouth never left her nipple. She too, was panting and hot with passion. And as she got more aroused, her strokes became slower and more haphazard. 

“Arlia, I’m gonna. I’m gonna…”

She didn’t let him finish before she once again slammed his face into her breast. The combination of her stroking his cock and his head violently smushing into her wonderfully soft tit caused him to explode all over her belly. 

“Oh, GOD! Yes!” he said, muffled by Arlia’s boob.

“Don’t you dare stop again, or I swear, I’ll spank you,” she said.

Instantly, he was back on the beach when she spanked his ass after grabbing her tits. The outrageously painful sting of her hands colliding with his butt was presenting itself. He could feel it. And her threat worked because he began sucking with far more vigor. He worked on the right breast and squeezed the left one with his hand. 

Soon enough, she was once again writhing underneath him from sheer pleasure. In between moans, she whimpered his name.

“James, oh James. I love you, I love you, I love you, James. Mmmmm, fuck!”

He never knew that a girl could experience such intense gratification this way. But something in him knew that this wasn’t enough. He needed to go straight to the source. And he wanted to ask her permission to do what he wanted to do, but he was afraid she’d immediately spank him if his mouth left her nipple. So, he surprised her.

James took two fingers and snuck his free arm down the length of her body. He felt around for her pubic hair. The landing strip led him right to her pussy. Not wanting to throw her off too much, he gently steered his fingers inside.

“OH!” she yelped, instantly reacting to his fingers inside her pussy.

He gently explored her, sometimes going deep inside and other times rubbing her clitoris. She screamed every time he got near her clit, and finally, she cut to the chase and commanded him to go to the next step. 

“I want you inside me, James. You. In. Me.”

She was speaking in fragments now. He couldn’t believe how much he had riled her up just with his mouth and two fingers. While he continued his routine, Arlia stretched over toward the night table and grabbed a condom. 

“Put it. On!” she yelled, shoving it in his face. Not wanting her to get any more impatient, he popped up and slipped the condom onto his still erect (thankfully) cock. He took a deep breath as he shifted position and readied himself. This was it. Sex. He was about to do it. For the first time, and probably for the last. He had to make it count. 

He lowered his hips and wrapped his arms around her folded legs. He was literally shivering. With fear, excitement, or shock? He had no idea. And right before he was about to enter her, she said the exact thing he needed to hear in that moment.

“You can do this,” she breathed, “I love you, James.”

“I love you too, Arlia.”

He thrusted, and he watched his cock disappear inside of her. He’d watched pre-shrink porn of men doing this exact thing to women, but that didn’t make that moment any less novel or amazing. Both moaned simultaneously. 

“Please keep going, please,” she mumbled as she wiped away sweat from her forehead. 

He did as he was told and kept going. He looked her up and down as he fucked her. Her warm olive skin was glowing. Her dark hair was strewn all about across the bed in the hottest, messiest way possible. With every thrust into her, she beamed and closed her eyes. Her gorgeous white smile complimented her full red lips perfectly, and that alone was almost enough for James to cum again. But he resisted the ease of letting go once again. He wanted her to cum too. 

He slowed down his thrusts and soaked in the moment. He was having sex with the hottest girl in school, in the nicest hotel in town, in the penthouse apartment. And better yet, he was in love with her too. This moment was perfect. Almost too perfect. But he didn’t dwell on that. He accepted how perfect his life was in this moment. Arlia screamed his name and accepted the perfection too. She reached up and grabbed his chin so she could look at him when it happened. And sure enough, they came together while staring deeply into one another’s eyes. 

James collapsed into the warm embrace of his lover, and she hugged him tightly to her body. 

“You…were amazing,” she purred. This was several moments after their souls combined, and she was still recovering the ability to speak.

“No, you were,” he said.

The two laid side by side and just studied each other’s faces. All thoughts of shrinking and gambling and graduation all fell by the wayside. It was all about James and Arlia. All they’d focus on that night was each other. 

***

James’s night with Arlia was magical. She made him a man. And now, he felt like he could shrink with dignity. He wouldn’t be a nine-inch-tall virgin, and that was a comfort to him.

James’s mom wasn’t as pleased though. She specifically told him to come home at a reasonable time, and he didn’t even come home that night. She laid into him, screaming for approximately ten minutes. All he could do was sit there and take it on the chin. Even though it was unpleasant, he didn’t regret anything he did with Arlia.

Over the next few days, he and Arlia had several talks about their relationship. They decided it would be best to hold off on calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend until after he shrunk down to his final size. Her reasoning was that making a commitment before a huge life change like shrinking could mess up a relationship. James didn’t see it that way, but he respected her wishes. 

He was also juggling his plan to destroy as many shrinking machines as possible. Calvin frequently gave him updates on their plan. Each day, more boys from more schools hopped on board to destroy their shrinking machines. Three days before graduation, boys from almost 40 schools had acquired access to their shrinking machines. Two days before, there were 60 schools. 

“Can you believe it?!” Calvin said, pulling James aside in the hallway, “60 other schools!”

“I can’t, honestly. You pulled off something really amazing, Calvin,” James said, trying to keep his voice down.

Calvin quieted down abruptly, and then put his hand on James’s shoulder. “Hey man, do you think you could help me out with something?”

“Yeah, of course! Anything. Getting all those schools on board must have been a lot of work.”

“Ok, well, I know it’s late, but I’ve got a thing for your friend Mia. Could you introduce me?”

Just then, James saw Principal Driscoll approaching from the opposite direction. She was still about thirty feet away, but her distinct navy-blue pantsuit and neat, pulled back brown hair was unmistakable. There wasn’t a chance she overheard Calvin or James discussing their plans. Even still, her eyes narrowed at the two boys. She was suspicious. 

Once she was in range of her comparatively smaller pupils, she stopped them before they could turn a corner. James wasn’t sure, but Principal Driscoll looked taller than ever. She was approaching 6’8” in her heels, which meant the boys really had to crane their necks to meet her gaze. 

“Hello, boys. Funny seeing you two together. Did you just recently become friends?” she said in smooth, self-assured tone.

James cleared his throat and attempted to make up a lie. Calvin was of no help. He was paralyzed with fear. 

“Good afternoon, Principal Driscoll,” he began, “And yeah, Calvin and I did just kinda become friends. I actually saw his protest out in front of the school a few days ago, and that’s how we got closer.”

“Hmmm,” she purred while scratching her chin. This briefly threw James off.

“Um, uh, just to be clear Ms. Driscoll—”

“Principal. Principal Driscoll,” she said with a stern look.

“Yes, yes, I am so sorry! Principal Driscoll. To be clear, I don’t support what Calvin was doing at all. The 18% doctrine is necessary with the climate crisis still ongoing.”

Still confused, the principal then asked, “So then why are you choosing to associate with him? Need I remind you James that you’re a good boy? You’re close with Arlia, I’m sure she spilled the beans on how tall you’re going to be, right?”

She was so perceptive. It was like she was reading his mind. But James knew he couldn’t let her intimidate him. 

“Yes, she did tell me actually, but please, let me explain, I—”

Amid him stumbling over his words, the principal leaned down. She did so slowly, to emphasize that she wasn’t listening to his babble. Finally, when her mouth was inches from his ear, she whispered, “Nine inches is awfully tall for a guy like you. Wouldn’t want to screw that up, now, would we?”

James cleared his throat yet again and fussed with his collar. “No ma’am.”

“Fantastic! Now get to class, you two!” She popped back up to her full height and pushed her way through James and Calvin, nearly knocking Calvin over. 

The two boys shot each other a grave look. Calvin mouthed, “Does she know?”

James shushed him with a finger, then looked over his shoulder to make sure the principal was indeed gone and not listening to them from around a corner. 

“I’ll talk to you later,” he whispered. “Do not come up to me for the rest of the day.”

“What about Mia?” Calvin quickly asked. 

“I’ll introduce you two later! Now, go away!

James jogged away from his miscreant friend. By now the hallways were emptying. The period was about to start, and their altercation with Principal Driscoll had taken up quite a bit of the time they were supposed to use to get to class. 

Luckily, James arrived at his final class, “Home Etiquette,” right as the bell rang. Home Etiquette was often shortened to Home-Et, and it was one of the most important classes for young men and women. It taught females how to safely handle shrunken men. Every year, their teacher Mrs. Dempsey brought in her husband and her adult sons to pass around to the girls in the class. The girls would practice safely lifting the tiny men, while the boys in the class awkwardly watched, knowing they’d soon be in the shoes of the men getting lifted. 

To his surprise, everyone was in attendance, and on-time. It was the day before graduation, so he briefly tried to remember what could possibly be important enough for everyone to be present. 

“Nice of you to join us, James. Go sit down, we’re about to start,” said Mrs. Dempsey.

He was about to ask what was going on, until he glanced at the board. 

Final Exam TODAY! Pink exam booklets are for the girls. Blue exam booklets are for the boys.

He couldn’t believe he forgot about the Home-Et final exam. It was the most crucial test of his senior year, and his scheming with Calvin caused him to completely forget about it. 

As she passed out the test, Mrs. Dempsey reminded the class about some key things.

“I hope all you boys studied for this test because if you don’t pass, it means your shrinking will be delayed and depending on how many retries you need, that will affect how big you end up. With each retry, you lose an inch off your original shrunken height.”

“What happens to the girls if they don’t pass?” one boy asked. 

“It will negatively affect their final grade of course. But more profoundly, if a girl is unable to pass the test, it will mean that she’ll never be allowed to have a shrunken man in her care. Now, if there aren’t any more questions, you may start your test. You have until the end of the period.”

James leafed through the test booklet. There were 50 multiple choice questions and two essay questions. He really had to zoom through if he was going to finish on time. 

He flipped back to the first page and not surprisingly, the very first question offended him. Though it was quite easy to tell what answer Mrs. Dempsey was looking for. 

If your female guardian commands you to step into her palm, what do you do?

A. Willingly step into her palm.

B. Refuse her command.

C. Calmly explain why you’d rather not go into her palm.

D. Run away and hide.

After scoffing at the question, James begrudgingly circled ‘A’. The questions went on like that, most of them not getting much harder. A few posed some difficulty. For instance, one that had him scratching his head was whether it was better for a tiny man to be held around his chest or around his waist. It didn’t seem like much of a difference, and honestly, it was a stupid question because women pick up tiny men whichever way they want. He didn’t have control over whether they held him up by his chest or by his waist. He just picked ‘waist’ on a whim. 

As he was scribbling his answer to the second essay question, Mrs. Dempsey said, “Pencils down. Time to hand in your tests.”

Just in the nick of time, James finished the test. The last question asked how he, as a soon-to-be shrunken man, would go about choosing a female guardian. And after a four-year friendship with Arlia culminating in hot sex, he was fairly confident he’d answered the question satisfactorily. Of course, he left out that hot sex part. He talked more about his friendship with Arlia, and how they trusted each other. 

He handed in the test and was confident he’d done well enough to pass. As he walked out of the classroom, he texted Calvin to meet him out in front of the parking lot so he could introduce him to Mia. Several minutes later, James and Calvin were walking side by side toward his trio of female friends. They were standing by Arlia’s car and each of them had a different expression. Juliana was confused to see James with Calvin. Arlia appeared indifferent, almost as if she didn’t even see Calvin and was focused completely on her new boy toy. Mia was smiling, as she often did. Better yet, she was smiling at Calvin. 

“Hey, James! You brought a friend! Calvin?” Mia guessed his name as they approached.

“Yup, that’s me!” he responded. 

“I felt so bad when the principal tore up your signs the other day. Did she punish you guys?”

Calvin rehashed his story, telling Mia he was going to end up a two incher because his so-called friends ratted on him. 

“Oh, no! That’s terrible!” she said. “Arlia, you should really plead his case in front of the principal. I mean, how tall was he going to end up before?”

Arlia sighed. “I’m really not supposed to tell people their post-shrink heights, Mia.”

“Come on! I’m sure he’s dying to know! Aren’t ya?” Mia lightly punched Calvin in the shoulder, making him stagger back into James. 

Suddenly, Arlia looked at James, seemingly asking his opinion with her eyes. He nodded, saying it was alright to tell Calvin what his height would have been.

“Well, I guess I can make an exception.”

She pulled up a spreadsheet on her phone with the names, heights, and post-shrink heights of every single boy in school. The group tried to sneak a glance at her phone, but she hid it with her hand.

“Calvin, you were going to be made three inches tall. So, honestly the fact that you only lost one inch with the stunt you pulled is a miracle.”

“Arlia,” James started, “Losing an inch off three inches is a third of his height. That’s a lot. Can’t you talk to the principal about this?”

Looking at the ground, she finally muttered, “Fine.”

Realizing that the conversation had gotten way off track, James tried to veer it back to Calvin’s crush on Mia. 

“OK, so Mia. The reason he’s with me is because he has something to ask you. Don’t you, Calvin?”

“Yes, I do,” he said, clearing his throat. “Mia, I know we haven’t really talked before, but I’d like to get to know you before I…”

“Shrink?” Mia finished his sentence.

“Yeah,” Calvin said. “I think you’re cute, and I’d like to take you out. Plus you’re the only girl who doesn’t tower over me. Well, not yet anyway. Am I way out of line, here?”

She stroked her chin and looked off to the side, contemplating Calvin’s offer. A guy she’d definitely given cookies to at some point, but a guy who was practically invisible to her until just a few days ago. James caught on that she wasn’t sold yet, so he jumped in.

“Calvin’s the real deal. I’ve been hanging out with him for the past couple of days, and I wish we were friends a lot earlier.”

After another few moments of hemming and hawing, Mia finally came to a decision.

“OK, why not? I’ll pick you up tonight, and we’ll hang out for a while. I feel bad that we haven’t even talked once. I try to be as friendly as I can be!”

“Oh my god, really? Wow, that’s great!”

“Hehe, don’t get too excited!? We’re just hanging out this time, OK?”

Calvin flushed red, knowing he’d shown a little too much enthusiasm. He nodded, showing he understood that he wasn’t getting anything tonight. He also exchanged numbers with Mia. 

“See you tonight!” Calvin said as he walked away. 

Juliana, who was conspicuously quiet during Calvin’s visit, finally piped up.

“Quite the matchmaker, huh James?”

“What? He’s my friend. He’s helping me out with something, so I’m doing him a favor. And Mia, if you don’t like him like that, it’s fine. I honestly think he just wants attention from a female before he shrinks forever.”

“Don’t worry,” Mia said, “Honestly, I think he’s kinda cute too. We’ll see how our date goes.”

James couldn’t believe how well everything was going. His plan to destroy every shrink machine in the tri-state area was succeeding beyond his wildest dreams, he successfully set up two of his friends on a date, and he was basically dating the most popular girl in school. 

He and the girls got in Arlia’s car, and on the way out of school, they gabbed about Calvin. The girls wanted to know everything about him before Mia went on a date with him. James struggled to answer their questions because all they did together was plan a multi-school conspiracy. How would he know what Calvin’s favorite color was or what his favorite TV show was?

Either way, James tried to enjoy what little time he had left with his friends as a full-sized person. It wasn’t certain that his plans would succeed. Hundreds of people had to execute this perfectly. If even one of them failed, the whole plan could be derailed. 

The one thing that gave him solace was that he was doing the absolute best he could to save his friends. He would lay his head on his pillow that night and sleep soundly.

Chapter 4:

It was the dead of night. James and Calvin were camped outside the school in the bushes. They watched every staff member leave slowly but surely. Even Principal Driscoll eventually left at the shocking hour of 11 p.m. The boys wondered why she had to stay that late, but it didn’t matter. Once they were sure everyone was gone, even the cleaning staff, they put on their ski masks and entered the building through a classroom window they’d purposely left unlocked earlier in the day. Once they were inside, they walked through the school with baseball bats in hand. They were headed toward the shrinking machines.  

“Thank you Arlia,” Calvin said as James jiggled the key inside the door. 

“I still feel guilty about this,” James whispered, “I just hope she doesn’t get in trouble for what we do in there.”

Their conversation ceased when the door swung open. Motion sensor lights went on immediately, and the boys panicked. 

“Shit! Is there a light switch?” James asked. 

“Relax, dude. No one’s here,” he said as he flipped the light off once again. 

“Well, now it’s gonna be super obvious who destroyed the machines! There are a million cameras in here!” James yelled in a hushed tone.

“We have masks on. You need to relax. Now, let’s get to smashing!”

There were ten shrinking machines in the room, arranged in two lines against each wall. Every machine had a protective chamber that the student would step inside to protect bystanders from radiation leakage. But it was the ray inside the chamber that would need to get destroyed if the shrinking machines were to be incapacitated. 

Calvin and James started at the end of the room and stepped inside their respective shrinking machines. 

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” James said. 

“Me neither,” Calvin said, chuckling as he took the first swing at the shrink ray. He cracked the entire piece with a single swing, and he was not that strong. The machine was built delicately it seemed. This gave James hope. They could take five swings each and quickly get out of there.

The boys moved down the line of machines, whacking each shrink ray inside to pieces. Once they were on the second to last row, James swore he heard heels clacking. 

“Calvin,” he whispered, “You hear that?”

“No.”

He proceeded to take a super slugger swing at the shrink ray before, seemingly without a care in the world. 

“Calvin!”

Calvin quieted down so they could listen. The sound of high heeled footsteps was closer. The slams of the heels against the hard tile floor outside was getting louder by the second. James was certain who those footsteps belonged to.

“Driscoll!”

Knowing she was on their tail, the boys rushed into the last shrinking machines left to smash them to bits. As they made it inside the chamber, Principal Driscoll let herself in the door. James and Calvin looked through the eye holes in the ski mask at her. Her teeth were clenched, and her face was red with anger. To his dismay, she sprinted toward James, but that didn’t stop him from winding up and connecting his bat with the shrink ray. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t completely destroy the ray because as he went to take his next swing, the chamber lit up green all around him. 

“Run!” Calvin screamed. 

Driscoll had turned on the shrinking machine with James was inside. His second blow to the shrink ray destroyed it, which slightly blunted its effects. With the ray activated for only a few moments, James shrunk down enough to be looking right at the principal’s knees. Before, he was just shy of her shoulder. 

James saw Calvin run out of the room and out of view. He was getting out of dodge because the principal had already made him a two incher. If she caught him here, she’d make him an inch tall or smaller. Part of James was furious at him for abandoning him, but even in the moment, he understood why he was fleeing. 

Driscoll ripped open the door to the chamber he was inside and yanked James out by his tiny arm. She held him up to her face and examined him closely. It was as if she was trying to guess who he was before she inevitably took of his mask. 

“I knew one of you boys had some evil plan in mind. You’ve made a horrific choice,” she snarled before grabbing the top of his mask and revealing his face. 

“James?! I saw you hanging out with Calvin, but I didn’t think he rubbed off on you this much! Was that him? Who ran out? Was that Calvin? Tell me!”

Driscoll still had James by a single arm. Her hand was wrapped completely around his forearm, and it was beginning to hurt. But more than that superficial pain, he was terrified of what consequences he’d surely face now. He had to know how he got caught.

“Didn’t you,” he paused and swallowed his nerves, “Didn’t you leave the school, like an hour ago?”

“Yes, I did. But I came back because I forgot my phone. Good thing I returned, or else I wouldn’t have been here to catch you in this brazen act of vandalism. What happened to you, James? You were such a good boy. Arlia just took you under her wing, and for what? To make a mockery of your duty to shrink to save this planet?! You’re coming to my office. This needs to be resolved now!”

Driscoll slung the toddler-sized vandal over her shoulder and stamped back to her office just down the hall. Once inside, she slammed the door shut and plopped him on a chair across from her desk. His feet didn’t even reach the end of the seat, and his head clear the back of the chair either. If he felt this tiny and inadequate at this size, he couldn’t imagine how he’d feel when he was dozens of times smaller.

Sitting just feet across from him, Driscoll loomed over her now tiny student in harsh judgment. Her face was twisted into a nasty expression. After a minute of simply staring daggers at him, she took a deep breath and calmed herself down. 

When she finally spoke, her tone was that of an understanding, yet disappointed authority figure. It was something James didn’t anticipate. He expected anger all the way through.

“Clearly, you didn’t act alone. There was another boy with you, who I believe was Calvin. I refuse to believe that this was your idea. I’ve read your essays on the virtues of shrinking all males for your English class last year. I know you support universal male shrinkage. There must be another reason why you did this. Please tell me why you destroyed those shrinking machines, and trust me, I can and will put in a good word for you with Judge Cassidy.”

“Judge Cassidy? What are you—?"

“Sweetheart, I’d love nothing more than to lay you over my knees and spank the crap out of you and have that be your punishment. I think it’d teach you a damn lesson, and it would be justice enough for me. But what you did is a Class D felony. I have to report this to the police.”

“Will I, will I go to jail?”

“No, you won’t go to jail. It’s senseless for you to go to jail. Now that you’re two feet tall. That’s right, I checked. Now that you’re that height, you won’t be going to jail. You’re harmless. Once you’ve selected your female guardian, you’ll be remanded into her custody until your trial date. I estimate you’ll be expected in court a week from now at most.”

James’s head was spinning, and it wasn’t even because a judge he didn’t even know would be sentencing him next week. His head was spinning thinking about how his mom would react, how his friends would react. But most of all, he couldn’t bear to imagine how Arlia would react to what he did. Would she even want to be his guardian after destroying the machines in the room he conned his way into? Would she even stay his friend? His whole life as he knew it seemed over. 

“Is there a way to keep my friends out of this? So, they don’t know what I did?”

She answered bluntly. 

“No. But there is a way to make your punishment less severe. If you admit to me or the police that you had an accomplice, whoever he may be, that will go over well with the judge.”

James thought about it in real time. It would be so easy to just say Calvin was the mastermind and leave it at that. But he knew what was in store for Calvin if he ratted on him. He’d most likely end up under an inch tall and have a lonely, lonely life. If he didn’t rat on him, he could perhaps strike up a relationship with Mia and maybe get her to be his guardian. In a perfect world, Arlia would own James, and Mia would own Calvin. They’d get to hang out all the time. 

“I can’t do that,” James said.

Driscoll walked around her desk and kneeled in front of his chair. Even with her on her knees and him sitting up in a chair, all he could see was her belly and her breasts. Realizing this, Driscoll got down even further until his eye level was at least above her breasts. 

“You’re making a huge mistake, little man. Now that you’ll be classified a felon, your maximum height for the rest of your life will be an inch tall. You’re going to need to accept that. But can you accept being three quarters of an inch tall? A half inch? A quarter inch? Because I’ve seen Judge Cassidy make male graffiti artists a quarter inch tall for five years. Graffiti isn’t nearly as serious as what you and your partner in crime did. I implore you to tell me who helped you in this plot. Because if you don’t tell me, I can’t vouch for your character.”

James sat still, not sure how to carry himself in front of his now hulking principal. She practically filled up his entire field of vision. Her hands were on the arms of the chair and she was leaning over him, surrounding him completely. He was about to open his mouth, but then she added the cherry on top that would get him to spill.

“Besides,” she said with an elongated sigh, “If you don’t tell me, the authorities will search your phone. I’m guessing they’ll find everything they need to know. Am I right?”

Her eyebrow was raised at him, daring him to defy her. All of it was too much. The size disparity between him and her, the way she was invading his personal space, and the slow, deliberate cadence of her words. If she wanted to, she could coax him to tell her any secret of his she wanted to hear. 

“Fine! It was Calvin! I worked with Calvin!”

She put a hand to her chest and fell backward a fair bit, letting him reclaim his personal space. She no longer needed to put the pressure on him.

With a relieved sigh, she said, “I knew you were a good boy, Jamesy. Your mother must be worried sick, so I’ll drive you home now.”

His heart went up into his throat. He had no idea how he was going to explain everything to his mom. But he knew it would have to be done. 

***

“James Curtis Ford, I hereby sentence you to 18 months of labor in Scarlet’s Bouquets. The jury also recommended the defendant ought to serve his sentence at a further reduced height than one inch. I believe that the jury’s recommendation, while harsh, is fair, especially considering the defendant’s county-wide conspiracy to destroy shrinking machines. So concurrently with his 18-month sentence, I’ve deemed it necessary to shrink the defendant down to a half an inch tall. The owner of Scarlet’s Bouquets assured me it would not affect his work in the slightest.”

It took all of James’s willpower not to let his head hit the table in front of him. His lawyer, who was a ten-inch-tall man, told him it was crucial that he not get emotional when the verdict was read or when he being was sentenced. James was still two feet tall, as shrinking machines all around the area were still in the process of getting repaired. But earlier in the trial he was informed that there was a shrinking machine in the courthouse which would be used on him at the conclusion of all court proceedings. 

James swung his head around to look at the gallery. The first person he laid eyes on was the despicable Scarlet from the flower shop. He didn’t know whether to thank her and hate her because originally, the judge was going to shrink him down for four years. Scarlet intervened and said he had a debt to pay to her. Therefore, a compromise sentence was reached. Scarlet waved at him and wore a mocking grin. 

His mom was tearing up and his dad was in the palm of her hand caressing her forefinger. His friends Mia and Julia were there too, eyes wide, unable to believe what had just happened to James. But Arlia’s presence was the most heart wrenching of all. She wasn’t even looking at him. Just staring down at the ground. He had no idea how she felt about all this, and that was the hardest part of all. 

“Bailiff, take the defendant to the shrinking machine so that he may be reduced to a half an inch tall for the next year and a half of his life,” Judge Helen Cassidy said. 

“With pleasure, your honor,” the tall female bailiff said as she approached James from behind and slapped a pair of pink toy handcuffs on his wrists. James looked up at her in confusion.

“These are my two-year-old daughter’s. We had nothing smaller,” the bailiff said.

“Do you really need to restrain me? I’m not going to run away or anything.”

“It’s a formality, Mr. Ford. Now, come with me and be quiet.”

She lifted James up onto her hip and to his surprise, the bailiff also took his lawyer into her left hand. His lawyer gave me a look that suggested that this bailiff grabbing him with a single hand was a common occurrence. Clearly, James still had a lot to learn about the dynamics between shrunken men and giantess women. School never teaches you everything. 

After going down a long corridor and down two flights of stairs into the basement of the courthouse, the bailiff arrived at the shrinking room. James caught a glimpse of the shrinking chamber at the center of the room and his stomach twisted itself into knots. Then he noticed a long mirror behind him as the bailiff put his lawyer down on the only table in the room. 

“What’s that mirror for,” he asked. 

“That’s not a mirror, sweetie. It’s one-way glass.”

“What? Does that mean everyone from the courtroom is watching?”

“Yes.”

His heart sank. He knew even if his graduation had gone off without a hitch, everyone would have watched him shrink anyway. But the plan was he was going to be nine inches tall, not a half an inch. Nobody would be able to interact with him unless they had an earpiece. He’d be smaller than a penny. And even after all of this was over, after he’d served his time, he’d only be grown back to an inch tall for the rest of his life. An inch!

“Remember bailiff, James has the right to address his audience before he shrinks,” his lawyer shouted from the table. 

“That is correct. Do you wish to address your audience, James?”

He thought about it for a moment. This was likely the last real chance he’d have to tell the people he cared about most the truth before he was minimized into an afterthought for the rest of his life. His choice was obvious.

“Yes, I’ll address them.”

And just like that, the glass slowly defogged until he could see everyone in the gallery. He cleared his throat several times as his gaze jumped from person to person. He settled on his mom first.

“Mom, I’d just like to say that I’m sorry I acted out these last few weeks. You know I’m a good kid, and I did what I did for a good reason. I’ll explain everything the first chance I get. 

He shifted his attention to his friends.

“Mia and Julia, you are the two best friends a guy could ask for, and I hope we can remain that way. You’ve always had my back in school, and you’ve always been there through the tough times. 

Now, on to his lover.

“Arlia, I know you must hate me right now. You said you wanted to wait to talk about ‘us’ until after I shrunk, and I understand that. But somewhere inside of me, I knew that you and I would eventually end up together. Now, I’m not so sure, and that breaks my heart because, well, I’m in love with you. Just know that I destroyed those shrinking machines for you. It probably makes no sense to you, but I’ll explain it in time. I can’t make you promise to not move on from me, but if you still care about me, please promise that you’ll at least hear me out when I finish out my sentence.”

He stared intently at Arlia. At first, she gave no sign that she acknowledged anything he said. But with each passing second his eyes remained glued on her, the façade slowly faded. Her expression softened, and she mouthed the words, I promise.

James breathed a sigh of relief as the bailiff placed him underneath the shrink ray. He stood tall, with his shoulders back and his chest out. As long as there was a chance Arlia would forgive him after this, that was enough to get him through the next year. 

The bailiff stepped off to the side and called someone on the phone. A minute later, a blonde woman with a white lab coat walked through the door. She walked right up to the glass of the shrinking machine and introduced herself to him. He guessed her to be in her mid-thirties. 

“I’ll be your lab technician and physician, should anything go wrong. Are you ready?” she asked. 

To see the world from an ant’s perspective? To be shorter than a fingernail? To work in a nasty, manipulative woman’s flower shop for no money for a year and a half? Of course, he wasn’t. 

“Yes,” he nodded. 

With the press of a single button, a hot, white light blinded him, and he fell to his knees. When he was sure the shrink rays were done pulsing through his body, he was still reluctant to open his eyes. It was too scary. Everything was going to look different. He wasn’t ready for that. 

“James, honey? Are you OK? You can speak, the microphones in the chamber will pick up your voice,” the lab technician said. 

“I’m fine. Just scared,” he said, his voice quivering. 

“There’s no need to be scared. No one is going to hurt you. Additionally, if you’re afraid of going into Scarlet’s custody, you need not be. She aced her Home-Et exam in high school and has a great track record of taking care of little convicts.”

Deep down, James knew things wouldn’t change. Even if he kept his eyes shut for the rest of his life. He was a half-inch tall, and he’d be like that for a year and a half, until the court grew him back to an inch tall. His permanent height. 

He cracked his eyes open and saw his new world through slits. Even from his limited point of view, James could see how much bigger the world had gotten. He couldn’t even see the gallery anymore. All that was in view was the bailiff and the lab tech. And only their shoes and lower legs. 

With his eyes a little more open, James realized he couldn’t even see the end of the room. It was too far away. It was almost like there was a horizon. That’s how freaking small he was now. 

With his eyes fully open, he flitted his head about and took in his surroundings. The shrinking chamber had the same volume as a professional sports stadium, when before, he felt like a mouse inside a zoo enclosure. Things had gotten a lot bigger, and he wasn’t used to it yet. 

The lab tech opened the enclosure and reached inside to grab James. He didn’t run, even though the impulse was strong. However fast he could run, her hand was literally the size of a basketball court to him now. He could never outrun that. Soon enough, fingers the length of school buses clawed him until he was firmly between them. Then he was whooshed out of the enclosure and up to the face of the lab tech within seconds. James’s head was spinning from motion sickness. 

As he tried to not throw up, something was haphazardly shoved into his ear. He tried to swat it away instinctively, but before he could, he heard a voice through it. 

“James, can you hear me? I’m whispering so you don’t hear me talking right in front of you and on your new earpiece.”

Earpiece. So that’s what was in his ear. 

“Yeah, I can hear you,” he said, not sure she’d be able to hear him. But her gigantic eyes, easily double the size of James’s entire body, widened even further when he spoke. A low rumble shook below him and in his earpiece. He shifted his head downwards as far as it could go. He saw the lab tech baring her teeth and her chest vibrating. 

It took few seconds to put it together because at her enormous size, normal human reactions didn’t look normal anymore. But it became clear that she was laughing at him. And each laugh was creating shockwaves that ran through her fingers. Seismic booms caused him to quake as his whole body was smushed in between this woman’s incomprehensibly large finger pads. So for him, her giggles less an auditory experience and more a tactile one.

Once she stopped cracking herself up, she explained what she was laughing at. 

“I’m sorry sweetie. It’s just that shrunken men’s voices are three octaves above a normal human voice. It never fails to amuse me.”

He didn’t speak, not wanting another earthquake to come via her fingers. But now that she was holding him steady, he could truly take in the sight before him. Her face. To him, it was more akin to a ten-story building than just a human face. Larger even than the heads on Mount Rushmore. 

But the size of her face wasn’t the only alarming thing to James. It was how huge all her facial features were compared to him as well. Her lips were almost certainly as wide as he was tall. And not both lips combined. Her bottom lip was even more thick than the top one, definitely making it taller than him. 

Her nose jutted out so far, he felt like he could touch it if he reached far enough. And he didn’t think this woman even had a large nose before he shrank. But now, it seemed disproportionately huge compared to her other features. He chalked it up to his new, reduced perspective. 

But even weirder than her nose seemingly getting way bigger, James could see every imperfection on her face. She was a white woman with fair skin and freckles dotted her cheeks, but especially around her eyes. But they weren’t big freckles. He tried to remember if he’d noticed them prior to shrinking. He couldn’t remember. All he knew was that now, they were unmistakable. 

And her eyes were the most intimidating thing about her at his reduced size. She blinked every two seconds or so, and he wasn’t sure, but he could swear he could feel the wind being created by the rapid shutting of her eye lids. It was slight gust but given that he was only several inches away from her eyes, he didn’t deny the possibility that her eyes were so huge compared to him that they were able to create a breeze strong enough for him to feel it.

As a whole, her face resembled being up close and personal with a gigantic billboard or watching something on a jumbo screen in Times Square. Having size difference this stark between humans seemed impossible, even as he was living it. 

“OK, James. I’m going to ask you several questions,” the lab tech said, while he remained in between in her fingers, “They’re all about your health. We want to make sure there are no side effects with the shrinking. Are you ready?”

Dreading her reaction, he answered, “Yes.”

And as he predicted, she had to stifle a giggle. The same shockwaves rumbled through her fingers and made his stomach flip upside down and sent his heart into his throat. Thankfully, this time, she didn’t burst out laughing and was able to get herself under control relatively quickly. 

“Are you able to see clearly.”

“Yes.”

“Can you feel? Do you still have your sense of touch?”

“Yes, I do.”

The questions went on like this for a minute or two. Then she brought him even closer to her eye—probably only an inch away—so she could get a closer look at him. She deftly flipped his whole body around in her fingers so she could see his backside. Now, that he was facing away from the lab tech, he could see that Scarlet was right in front of him. 

He just couldn’t believe how huge she looked now. She was a head shorter than him a few weeks ago and now she was a literal skyscraper to him. And despite her mammoth proportions, James happened to be the exact right distance away from her to make out her smirk. She could barely see him in between the lab tech’s fingers, but she knew he was there. He, on the other hand, couldn’t ignore her presence. 

As the lab tech grazed her finger across his back and butt for some unknown reason, Scarlet shot James a quick, flirty wave and a wink. Hot rage boiled in his gut upon remembering that this flat-chested waif would be his warden for the next year and a half. Just two weeks ago, James would have been able to strangle her. Now, she could throw him in her mouth as if he was a single sprinkle on an ice cream cone. She could smash him into a bloody spot with a finger. He was a bug to her now. 

“Fuck,” he breathed absentmindedly. 

“What was that?” the lab tech asked through his earpiece. 

“Sorry, I was just talking to myself.”

The lab tech flipped him back around with her fingers, sparing him from looking at Scarlet. Now he was facing her once again. 

“You appear to be healthy. I will get you ready for transport now, OK?”

“Sure?” James was confused by what she meant, but he wasn’t about to question her. The lab tech began walking to a small table in the middle of the room. Out of the corner of his eye, he Scarlet’s short black hair bobbing. She was following. 

“OK, Scarlet,” the lab tech said. “This is how you will carry James safely in public.”

As she lowered him down to the table, he could see there was a necklace on the table with something made of a shiny metal at the end of it. Once he was closer, he could see exactly what it was. It was a cage. For him. And to add insult to injury, there would certainly be room to spare inside. 

Once he was lowered into his neck-wear prison, he found that there were four chains. The lab tech had Scarlet restrain him with the chains so she could practice handling him, who was so tiny, with her comparatively gigantic hands. He had to admit, Scarlet’s hands were quite soft: softer than the lab tech’s. 

Scarlet gripped James by the chest and back with her thumb and pointer finger, while her other hand grabbed the chains. Amazingly, once she brought the chains close enough to his hand, a retractable piece of stainless steel came out and clamped around his wrist. She did this three more times until he was suspended up off the floor of the cage by his arms and legs. 

“Nice job,” the lab tech said to Scarlet. “I see you have experience handling tinies.”

“More than you know. James will be in very good hands.”

The lab tech explained to him that she was going to be handing off the companion earpiece to Scarlet so she could communicate with him and vice versa. Scarlet lifted the necklace, and James, off the table and put it around her neck. He hung on the outside her oversized white shirt, gritting his teeth at the injustice of all this. Part of him wanted to cry, but he wouldn’t give Scarlet the satisfaction. She knew she aching to see him break down in tears. Once his damn earpiece was out, then he could release his emotions. He just didn’t know when that would be. 

“Hello, James?”

It was Scarlet. He could tell because her voice was a touch deeper than the lab tech’s. Sultry. Her voice certainly didn’t match her exterior. But as gigantic as she was to him, it was more fitting now. By this point, she’d begun walking out of the room. 

“Yes, I’m here,” he said, trying to sound blasé as he stared forward through the bars of his tiny cage. 

“Good, I’m glad you can hear me. As we walk through the city back to the flower shop, I’m going to make a few proposals to you.”

“OK,” he responded curtly.

Scarlet pushed the doors to the courthouse open and James could feel the warm, summer air on his nude body. It felt good, even if he couldn’t move a muscle and was inside a cage that was bouncing with every step his giant owner made. 

“I’m a fair woman. Even if you think I’m not,” she said. “The judge may have sentenced you to 18 months of labor at my shop, but we can cut that by half or more if you choose to.”

He couldn’t believe it. Was she actually letting him off easy?

“Of course, I choose that!” James shouted. “I don’t deserve 18 months, it’s crazy!”

“Not so fast, Jamesy-boy. I think you’ll wanna hear what I have to say before you make any rash decisions,” she said, finishing with a condescending snicker. 

He remembered back to shop where Scarlet had manipulated him. He was intent on not letting that happen again. 

“Like I said before, I’m a fair woman. And the judge’s sentence was based on the fact that at your size, your labor is worth 5 cents an hour. That will take you a year and half almost exactly to pay off your $150 debt to me. That is, if you work a traditional 40-hour work week. The judge never said you couldn’t work more.”

Now, James picked up on the catch. If he wanted to get off early, he’d have to work harder for longer. 

“If you work seven days a week for 12 hours a day, you’ll be free of Lil’ Miss Scarlet in oh, just under 9 months.”

He couldn’t see her; only the sidewalk and other, full-sized passersby. But he could imagine the pure delight on her face as she delivered this supposedly “fair” offer to him. 

“Up that to 16 hours a day every day, you’re looking at getting out of the cage in six-and-a-half months from now. Maybe that’ll be just short enough to win your little girlfriend back. But a year and a half, you really don’t think she’ll meet some other strapping nine-inch-tall guy?”

That was it, he lost it. 

“Shut the fuck up, you evil cunt! Where do you get off, torturing me like this? I will burn your stupid store to the ground when I’m free! FUCK YOU!”

Just then, he heard a click on his earpiece. Could she hear him?

“Scarlet! SCARLET!”

“I cut your mic, so, best not to waste your breath. If I were you, I’d listen and I’d listen good. You don’t truly comprehend the power I hold over you. I still have the receipt that says you owe me $150. I could easily alter that receipt and add an extra $300 for even more flowers. Who knows, maybe you were buying them for your mom and your girlfriend. What a good boy treating the women in your life. But, the more important point is, with that extra $300 or whatever number I decide to put on that receipt, I could keep you even longer as you try to work off your pathetic debt. Five years. Ten years. Forever if I wanted to. You think that judge will care? She views you as a rotten anti-shrinking terrorist. So, do you understand now? You do not want to fuck with me, James.”

She paused, as if she was thinking something over, then continued. 

“That little outburst of yours, while disgusting and unacceptable, will be forgiven this time. But every time you disobey me or curse at me or disrespect me, I’ll add more time onto your sentence. My advice for you? Keep your head down, work hard, and zip those little lips. Maybe then, you’ll have a slim chance to reunite with that gangly bitch Arlia.”

James wasn’t angry anymore. He wasn’t outraged at the lack of justice he was receiving. No. Fear was all his mind could make room for. He never thought he could be this terrified of any one person as much as he was currently afraid of Scarlet. She’d made it clear that she could keep him as her slave until the day he died. She held his life in her hands, or more accurately, around her neck. 

Right there and then, James decided that he would work his balls off for Scarlet. Even if she was lying about the whole “getting off early” thing, he couldn’t risk getting on her bad side. So, he’d be an obedient slave for however long it took for him to get free of this psychopath.