I slid into my chair in the back of the room just as the bell rang. In front of me, Sydney bent down to pick something up. I tried not to stare at her perfect butt, shown off by tight jeans. She was undeniably cute, with long chocolate brown hair, soft brown eyes, and the best smile.  I liked the freckles which were smattered her tan skin. In addition, Sydney was both smart and funny. She wasn't popular, but she wasn't a straight-up nerd either. Sydney was the type that could fit in on both sides, one minute being very social, the next minute reading a book by herself.

Sydney pulled down her shirt and sat down. Mrs. Walker began her lesson at the front of the classroom, but I was not really listening. I could not help but imagine what it would be like her hold Sydney's hand. I thought it was soft and warm. I also wondered what it would be like to kiss her. I bet her lips taste like sugar. As I got lost in thought about Sydney giving me a hickey, I became aware that somebody was staring at me. I looked up to see Mrs. Walker looking at me. "What?" I said stupidly.

"If you were paying attention," she sighed in a perturbed way. "You would know that I am assigning partners for the assignment. I said that you are going to be working with Sydney."

"Oh right," I said, cheeks going red. Sydney turned around and smiled at me, which only made me go redder. I fidgeted with my watch while Mrs. Walker continued to assign groups. I could not believe my luck. I got to be partnered with Sydney. I just hoped that I would not make a fool of myself in front of her. While Sydney and I had been going to school together since junior high, I only casually interacted before, mainly through classes or our mutual friends.

"Okay," Mrs. Walker cleared her throat. "Each group will be working together on a research project." Several people groaned. "Don't worry; this should be a fun project. Each of you will pick a science fiction or fantasy topic to cover. It can be a person, place, or object. I want to collect as much information as you can from various sources if possible. You will write a short essay and then prepare a presentation for the class. Try to be creative, so avoid just doing a PowerPoint. The rest of the period is yours to begin brainstorming. Feel free to get out the laptops if you want to begin research."

There is a scraping of chairs as everyone moves around to be by their partner. I turned to face Sydney. She smiled at me again, and I could feel my cheeks getting red. "Sooo..ummm," I stuttered, "Any ideas for our project?"

"Well, there are lots of possibilities," Sydney started," But one of the first things that came to mind was a shrinking. I have always been fascinated with the topic. We could cover the different methods of shrinking, including shrink rays, potions, and spells. Additionally, there are lots of movies about tiny people, such as the Borrowers. There should be plenty of references in books, movies, and TV shows."

"Okay," I said, willing to agree with anything she suggested. "That sounds like a great topic."

"Perfect, I will go tell Mrs. Walker that is what we are doing." I watched as she walked up to the front of the class, unable to stop myself from starring. When she turned around, I quickly made myself busy with straitening the objects on my desk. "We are good to go. Have you ever seen a movie with shrinking?"

"I've seen Honey We Shrunk the Kids and Honey We Shrunk Ourselves, as well as the Ant Bully. What others have I missed?"

"Well, Downsizing recently came out. It's got Matt Damon in it and is pretty good. There are some really old ones like The Incredible Shrinking Man and Attack of the Puppet People. There is also a foreign movie I like called Help, I Shrunk My Teacher. Those are just some of the ones that are out there."

Sydney and I spent the next 30 minutes Googling movies, books, and TV shows with shrinking. She made a pretty table in her notebook with columns for shrink ray, shrinking potion, shrinking spell, and miniature people. Additionally, Sydney put rows for books, movies, and TV shows. I liked her handwriting. It was neat and flowery. Occasionally she would add a doodle by the text. There was no shortage of media with references to shrinking. I could not believe how many TV shows had an episode with it. I even remembered seeing some like those in Jimmy Neutron and Phineas and Ferb. By the time class was over, we had a pretty good list.

Sydney jotted her phone number and handed it to me. "Here's my number. If you are free tonight, maybe we could meet up to finish the list and start brainstorming for the paper and presentation."

I typically was always free, but I thought about it for a minute so it would not seem like I was too eager. "Sure...umm...that would be perfect...I mean great." Why did I have to get so flustered? Just two seconds ago, I was fine.

"Great, we could go to my place if you want. I live within walking distance. Just meet me at the northwest entrance at me end of the day." Sydney began to collect her belongings.

"It is a date." I immediately regretted the words the second they left my mouth. My cheeks went bright red, but Sydney just smiled and waved as she walked to her next class. I still could not believe my luck. Not only had I been partnered with Sydney, but she had invited me to her house. When I was sure no one was looking, I did a fist pump into the air to celebrate.