For most seniors in high school, the bell that rang at the end of the day was the best sound in the world. Not for Finn. For him, it meant he had to make a desperate run to his car. 

He quickly packed up his bag and speed walked out of the classroom, joining the hundreds of other students pushing to be the first ones out the door. Once he reached the front doors, he paused to brush the light brown hair away from his face. Glancing up at the sky, he saw no sign of any giant hands waiting to snatch him off the sidewalk. That didn’t mean Katelyn wasn’t lurking around somewhere. Regardless, he couldn’t wait forever. He took a deep breath and began making the walk to his car, desperately trying to not draw attention to himself. 

Katelyn was an absolute bully. She was the popular girl; with her long, flowing, blonde hair and emerald green eyes, and her fair skin without a single imperfection. Ever since she moved to Ridgefield in fourth grade, she picked on her peers. In eighth grade, she found a new favorite target to torment in the form of Finn. She was relentless in her name calling, insults, flat out harassing, and overall bringing down his day. This continued almost daily until…the incident in January of their senior year. 

Katelyn apparently had a gene that somehow activated and caused her to grow to over a hundred feet tall. Rather than feel happy at her misfortune, seeing it as karma, it only served to fill Finn with more dread. Her five foot seven self was problematic enough. Now, she could crush him under foot or fold his spine in half like she was snapping a pencil (stealing his pencil and then snapping it was one of her favorite things to do). Finn dreaded the day when she inevitably came back to school in April to try and get her education finished. He’d desperately avoided her since then. Only twenty or so more days until he was finally free from her torment and he never needed to see her again. 

“Of all the people that could’ve grown, why did it have to be her?” Finn muttered to himself, “It’s so unfair. That asshole is now an even bigger asshole.” 

Finn hadn’t spoken to her since she grew, but he knew enough about her from the last nearly five years of his life to know that she’d be quick to abuse her newfound size and strength with him paying the price. With Katelyn no longer roaming the hallways in search of a victim to bully, or sitting in his class to bother him, he was free. If he was completely honest with himself, Finn hadn’t felt this happy about school in years. 

All of that went out the window when classes ended, and he had to make the one hundred yard walk to the parking lot as fast as possible. He glanced back and saw Katelyn was searching the crowd. She did that most days, always perched by the football bleachers, watching the front doors. She was definitely searching for someone. Finn was pretty sure he was that someone. He slowed to a stop, silently observing her. She was wearing a white tank top and a pair of black shorts. She looked pretty attractive, but he’d never admit to anyone he thought that. Suddenly, Katelyn swung her head towards the parking lot and their eyes appeared to lock. Finn’s heart skipped a beat and he felt frozen in place. 

Katelyn, however, was no T-Rex and she saw him. She got up and carefully began walking towards him. Her footsteps got the attention of everyone, who promptly began to make a path for her. Finn cursed under his breath and began walking as fast as he could, blending into the crowd of students walking to their cars. He fumbled for his keys and unlocked the door on his red car and jumped in, starting it up as quick as he could. Looking back out the driver side window, he saw Katelyn had stopped just before the parking lot. Students walked around her feet, glancing up at the titanic woman and wondering what she wanted. Katelyn stared at Finn, and Finn knew he wasn’t free from her. Even worse, she knew his car now. Pulling out from his spot and joining the other students on their way home, he nervously thought about what tomorrow had in store. 

After quickly completing his homework, Finn spent the night at his house trying to think of a way to get to his car the next day without Katelyn knowing. He spent hours anxiously thinking up plans and, more alarming, the consequences if it didn’t work. She could pick his car up like it wasn’t anything more than a toy. She could turn it into a pancake in the street. If he wasn’t fast enough getting to his car, she could pluck his tiny self off of the sidewalk and do who knows what with him. 

Once he’d decided his plan, he decided to watch a movie to calm himself down. Opening his streaming service, he scrolled through the “Classics” tab for something to watch. In a hilarious twist of irony, he saw “Attack of the 50-Foot Woman” listed. 

“Screw it.” Finn muttered, clicking on the black and white movie.

Instead of expecting a cheesy fifties movie to brighten up his mood, it only did the opposite. As the credits rolled, Finn switched off the TV and crawled into his bed, thankful that Katelyn didn’t know his address and therefore wouldn’t smash her fist through his window and drag him out. 

——

The next day, the bell rang and Finn jumped out of his seat, grabbing his backpack and booking it towards the side entrance, desperately hoping his plan would work. 

It was an ingenious plan, he had to admit. When he pulled into the school that morning, he knew Katelyn was watching. So, after she’d seen him park, he went and moved his car again. He chose to park his car in the lot the furthest away from the door. It was a crazy decision, but he knew Katelyn wouldn’t have thought he’d try it. It made the most sense to try and park as close to the school as possible, which is why he chose not to. As he walked out into the warm afternoon heat, he spotted the parking lot and blended in with a small group of other students also walking out to the far lot. He didn’t dare look back to see where Katelyn was. All he had to do was get to his car and he was home free for the weekend. 

Finn frowned upon reaching the rows of cars and realizing that he couldn’t remember where his car was located. He checked the row he thought he’d parked in, but it wasn’t there. After walking around aimlessly, he decided to bite the bullet and push the panic button on his key fob. He heard the horn blare and tried to see which direction it was coming from. But he couldn’t see it. A chill ran through his spine as he realized that the sound was coming from right above him. 

Finn gulped in fear and turned around, looking up to see Katelyn standing there, holding his car in her hand. For a girl who rivaled the Statue of Liberty in scale, she was apparently a quiet walker when she wanted to be. 

“Found you.” Her voice boomed. 

Finn’s fight or flight instinct kicked in, and since there was no way in hell he was fighting a being so big that she could probably give the military a run for their money, the decision was made quite easily. He ditched his backpack in the road and ran for the trees at the edge of the school. He didn’t get far before a massive bare foot crashed down only feet ahead. In addition to being as strong as a tank, Katelyn could also cover the distance of a football field in a few steps. He had too much momentum to stop and bounced against the soft skin. Finn was knocked on his ass and stared up at Katelyn, who cast a massive shadow over him. 

Finn anxiously waited for the insult that was soon to come. Maybe she’d tell him to sarcastically watch where he was going. Maybe ask him how his “trip” was. Perhaps she’d call him a foot perv. 

“You okay?” Katelyn asked. 

The question caught Finn off guard. Since when did Katelyn ask him if he was okay?

“I-I guess.” 

Katelyn carefully sat in the now empty parking lot and set Finn’s car down within arm’s reach. At least, arm’s reach to her. 

“I’m sorry about stealing your car. I promise I didn’t damage it. I was as careful as possible.” She said. 

“Uh, thank you, I guess?” Finn replied, glancing at his car only a quick sprint away, “Can I go?” 

“No.” Katelyn said firmly, “Don’t try making a run for it either.” 

Finn grabbed his phone from his pocket and waved it up at Katelyn. 

“I’ll call…” Finn trailed off, not sure who to call when being held against your will by a giant woman. 

“Who? Your mommy? Tell her that you’re scared to talk to a girl?” Katelyn mocked. 

Finn put the phone back in his pocket. Even if he did try calling someone like the National Guard, he’d be a smear on the ground before they arrived. He looked back up at Katelyn to find she was now staring solemnly down at him. 

“Look, Finn, the real reason why I’m doing this is not because I’m going to mess with you. Far from that. I want to apologize for the last five years.” 

Finn went silent. Was he hearing that right? Katelyn wanted to apologize?

“When I moved here back in fourth grade, I had a big ego. I thought I could run the school. And in eighth grade you were in my sights as a way to prove that. Then in high school I got popular and I wanted to keep up that image, so I got worse towards you. When…” Katelyn paused, “When I…changed in January, I guess I grew into my ego. But then I quickly realized that my ego wasn’t as big as I thought. It’s…hard being this big. Everything sucks. Eating sucks, washing sucks, going to the bathroom sucks, but what sucks most of all is how everyone views me. They think of me as a monster. Granted, you probably thought that of me before.” 

Katelyn paused, wiping…a tear? from her eye.

“It made me really rethink about my relationship with everyone. I realized that I was a huge asshole towards you. I know that this apology doesn’t come close to making up for the last five years, but I don’t want you to live in fear of me anymore. From now on, think of me as…just another friendly face. Does that work?” 

Finn was silent, still trying to process what he’d just heard. Katelyn felt bad for her bullying? It just didn’t sound real. Was it the lead up to her announcing a new campaign of torment on him? 

“Oh, I should probably apologize for that comment about you calling your mother. Old habits die hard.” 

“Uh…thank you…for apologizing. I guess it’s nice to know a hundred foot girl isn’t going to kill me.”

“One fifty.” Katelyn corrected, “And I assure you that even if I was going to bully you still, I would never intentionally hurt you.” 

An awkward silence fell upon both of them, neither sure what to say next. After a few moments, Katelyn spoke up again

“I don’t know what you have going on later, but…maybe we could catch up?” She offered, “I know that must sound insane coming from me.”

Finn’s first instinct was to lie and say he was busy, to say anything to get away from her. But she sounded so genuine. He wasn’t sure if it was still partially out of fear from saying no, but he decided that hanging out with his former bully was better than a weekend alone.

“Tomorrow I’m free all day.” He replied, much to the delight of Katelyn. 

“Great! Go to 176 Sundance Street.” She said, standing up to her full height. 

“Will do! How does noon sound?” 

“Perfect! See you then!” 

Katelyn quickly stepped over Finn, making sure her feet were nowhere near him as she walked away, disappearing as trees blocked his view. 

“176 Sundance. Noon.” Finn repeated to himself as he walked over to his car and grabbed his bag. 

True to Katelyn’s word, the car wasn’t even scratched. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how carefully she’d picked it up. Starting the engine, he began thinking about what exactly tomorrow would have in store for him. 

At dinner, Finn considered if he should tell his parents about his talk with Katelyn. They knew about how she’d bullied him, but he spared them from most of the details so they wouldn’t worry about him. Suddenly telling them that he was hanging out with her was outlandish under normal circumstances. Given that she was now gigantic, it was even more insane. 

He’d gone for a simple lie that he would be hanging out with friends until dinner time. That gave him a good few hours to talk with Katelyn and be back. He could make up a story about what he did during the day and his parents would be none the wiser. That night, he settled in for bed, feeling a little bit better than he did the night prior.