“Now, sexual dimorphism occurs in almost all dioecious species,” Mr. Kirby was saying, turning to write the unfamiliar word on the board. “Can anyone tell me what “dioecious” means?”

The class was silent, with no one volunteering the answer. A few people shifted in their chairs, but for the most part the room was completely still. Mr. Kirby sighed and turned around. It was typical for a second-semester senior class to be a little checked-out at this point, but he had expected at least someone to know the answer.

“Really, guys?” he asked, disappointed. “No one read the chapter?”

“Caroline, come on!” whispered Tiffany to her friend sitting next to her. “You know the answer, spit it out!” Tiffany was under no illusions – Caroline always knew the answer. It was just that sometimes, she was a little hesitant to raise her hand. Despite being by far the tallest (and the biggest) girl in the school, Caroline had always been careful not to take up too much space. It wasn’t that she was self-conscious about her size – she had gotten over that in 6th grade, when she had passed 6 feet tall. Instead, she always tried to make a conscious effort to hold herself back because of how much she LOVED being as big as she was. And, having freshly turned 18, her family’s primary care provider had predicted that she wasn’t done yet. It was the least Caroline could do to not dominate every space she entered; even though she had grown to embrace her size, she tried to hang back as much as possible in class, just to give everyone else a chance. This was why Caroline was now silently shooing away Tiffany’s entreaties.

“Ah, Tiffany!” Mr. Kirby called out, “You can define the term for us, yes?”

“Uhhh…no,” Tiffany replied, brightening quickly as she pointed at her friend. “But Caroline can!”

Caroline opened her mouth in a silent protest, but Tiffany just turned back to her and gave a naughty little grin. The damage had been done.

“Anyone besides Caroline?” asked Mr. Kirby, who was more than accustomed to falling back on his best student. “No? Well all right then Caroline…the floor is yours.”

Caroline scowled at Tiffany for a couple seconds before sitting up a little straighter in her chair (which creaked with her every movement) and responding in her innocent yet authoritative voice:

“So…uh, “dioecious” just describes species that have, you know…unisex individuals. Like, so the male and female members of the species are different.”

“Exactly right,” Mr. Kirby nodded, turning back to the board. “Very good, Caroline. Now can someone else please give me an example of a dioecious species?”

“Oooo! Ooooo!” Tiffany called out, raising her hand, causing Caroline and a few others to laugh. “I know! Us!”

“Wouldn’t you know it,” Mr. Kirby responded dryly, causing more laughs. “You’ve got it right, Tiffany.” He wrote “Humans” under “Sexual
Dimorphism” on the board and drew a line under it. “So some characteristics of sexual dimorphism in humans would include…?”

“Men are bigger than women!” came a quick response from Sheldon in the front row.

“Mhm, yes,” nodded Mr. Kirby, beginning to write on the board.

“Woah, woah, hold up there!” Tiffany protested, gesturing to Caroline. “How do you explain HER then!? She’s over 6’8! Like a head taller than everyone else in school!”

“Well, yes, Caroline is certainly an exception,” Mr. Kirby acknowledged. “But that doesn’t mean that the general…uhm…wait…did you say she was over 6’8?”

“Yeah!” Tiffany nodded enthusiastically, earning another silent reprimand from Caroline, who was trying to get her bubbly friend to quit.

Mr. Kirby was generally quite laid-back, but sometimes Caroline made him feel self-conscious, and even emasculated. Not only was she brilliant, but her size…well…Mr. Kirby made a point not to stand too close to her, because he wasn’t sure he could handle it. In most ways he was quite well-adjusted, but something about the idea of this high schooler being over a foot taller than him was a little too much to handle.

“Eh…well, I don’t know about OVER 6’8,” he chuckled, “But yes, suffice it to say Caroline is a definite outlier to the whole sexual dimorph–”

“But I am over 6’8,” Caroline interrupted. Everyone turned to look at her, aware of how unique this moment was. Tiffany’s mouth dropped open. Caroline herself was almost surprised that the words had come out like they had – she was usually one to let these kinds of things slide, but…something in the casual, almost cavalier way that Mr. Kirby had just skirted over her size…it hadn’t exactly irritated her. But she had felt compelled to speak up.

“Oh. Uhhm…I…well then…” Mr. Kirby stammered. He hadn’t expected Caroline to speak up like that, especially about her own size. For a few seconds, he had no idea how to respond. And that was all the rest of the class needed.

“Look, get that measuring stick next to the board!” Tiffany called out, pointing to it. “Let’s measure her to find out!” She turned to Caroline, expecting to enjoy the exasperation, but she was even more delighted to find her friend nodding in agreement. Something was happening in Caroline’s mind – it seemed to her, quite suddenly, that something had broken, letting loose a tidal wave. And it felt relieving…cathartic…incredible. An unfamiliar warmth was beginning to spread throughout her body. She already loved her size, but maybe, just maybe…it was okay to enjoy it and play it up a little bit in front of everyone else.

“Yeah!” called one of the male students in the back. “Let’s do it! Measure! Measure!”

A chant quickly broke out among most of the class, and Mr. Kirby was putting his hands up, trying to quell the outburst. He looked to Caroline helplessly and her eyebrows went up as she shrugged her shoulders.

‘He got himself into this,’ she thought to herself, savoring this new power she felt. ‘Only one way out for him now.’

“Okay…a-all..aaaaall right everyone!” Mr. Kirby called out. “Fine, fine! We’ll do it.”

Everyone cheered, and Caroline stood up, eliciting a couple of humorous whistles from the girls and boys alike. She truly was astoundingly big, and recently she had grown her hair way out, and had taken to wearing her uniform top unbuttoned down past her cleavage. She fit right in with the “screw it” mentality of a lot of the other senior girls, but being as huge as she was, her outfit really stood out. She was hot…and finally, a few months previously, Caroline had begun to truly embrace the idea.

Mr. Kirby was getting the measuring stick, and when he turned back around, he was startled to be staring straight into the bottom of her long neck. Never before had he been this close to her.

“Sorry Mr. Kirby,” chuckled Caroline genuinely. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” The rest of the class were whispering and laughing amongst themselves, eating it up.

“Okay, well let’s…let’s get this over with, then,” Mr. Kirby managed to say with a crooked smile, mounting the measuring stick on the floor and holding it up straight. Caroline silently walked around behind him, so that the rest of the class could see the measurement.

“What’s it say!?” a few people asked eagerly, and Tiffany and two others had gotten out of their desks and were looking carefully at the measuring stick.

“So…Mr. Kirby is 68 inches…” Tiffany said. “Aaaand…haha, yep! Caroline is over 82 inches! Daaaaamn, so with her shoes she’s…OVER 6’10!”

The class ooh-d and aah-d in wonder, and Mr. Kirby swallowed nervously and ventured a glance up at the measuring stick, trying not to focus on Caroline’s body. But she was very difficult to ignore, particularly as he was staring way up at the underside of her chin. He privately told himself never, ever to make this mistake again.

Caroline stood tall behind him, not slouching one bit, reveling in how much she towered over her teacher. She had expected to enjoy this little digression, but…she hadn’t expected to enjoy it this much. That initial warmth had spread all throughout her body, nearly compelling her to sigh out in pleasure. She could feel her heart quickening, and her full lips parted. She LOVED this feeling…the feeling of dwarfing this man who held ostensible authority over her…this man who hadn’t quite been able to handle the truth. Well, the truth was standing in front of him now. Not only was she so much taller than him, but every aspect of her body was bigger. She was thicker, wider; her shoulders were soooo much broader.

She felt huge. And, as she stood there, with all the whooping and cheering in the background, Caroline felt a rosy blush creeping into her cheeks…not an embarrassed blush…a proud blush. She closed her eyes, drinking in the moment. With a silent thrill, she understood that she was aroused.