Pulling into the school car park, Billy immediately spotted his sister. She was stood chatting with a couple other girls, one of them who was also still dressed in a football kit after practice — orange accented with blue, just like the school colours, but in reverse. The third girl was the odd-one-out and looked to have hastily changed back into uniform whilst waiting to be picked up.

When he pulled over at the side of the road near April, he expected her to rush over, but instead she opted to continue her conversation. He sighed, giving her the better part of a minute before getting annoyed.

HONK

A press of his car’s horn got her attention. A glare to be precise, to which he shrugged and beckoned her over. The other girls giggled at the exchange. April mouthed, “One minute.”

“It had better be,” Billy grumbled.

Before letting himself get angry at his sister’s lack of care for his time, he thought back to the end of the conversation with his mom, moments after he’d agreed to pick April up.

“Thank you, that makes things much easier for me. But, I don’t want to hear about any trouble between you two. You especially. AND I want you to apologise for last night’s disagreement.”

“Me? I have to say sorry?” he’d asked, incredulously. “That’s not fair! She started it.”

“I don’t want to hear it, Billy. You’re the older one, you should know better. It’s your responsibility to be mature here. When I next speak to April, I’ll be asking if there was any arguments and if you apologised, so don’t think you can lie your way out of this.”

“Of course you’re taking her side.”

“I’m not taking anyone’s side! All I want is to have some piece and quiet at home. Please, sweetie, just be nice to your sister.”

“Okay. Fine. I’ll say sorry.”

“And?”

“And we won’t argue.”

“I do appreciate it, really. Right, I gotta get back to work. Love you.”

“Love you too, Mom.”

Shaking his head free of the memory, Billy noticed that April seemed to finally be finishing up, smiling and laughing with her friends as she backed away from them, towards the car. After a wave goodbye she turned and walked over. The studs on her football boots klacked against the concrete with each step. Her dark brown hair was pulled into a tight ponytail, keeping it off her lightly-tanned face. Several strands of hair had gotten loose and were either matted to her sweaty flushed forehead, or twitching in the gentle breeze.

“Hey,” she said, opening the door.

“Hi April. How was practice?”

She tossed her backpack and a bulging drawstring bag — likely containing her school uniform and shoes — in the passenger-side footwell. Rather than sitting down normally, she sat with her back facing Billy, placing her booted feet on the bottom of the door frame. An earthy and sour mix of body odour reached his nose. Unpleasant, but expected and tolerable.

“Wasn’t bad. Frickin‘ tiring, though. Coach wants to push us extra hard since there’s some big league games coming up against other schools. Those other schools are gonna be, like, soooo cooked when they play against us.”

“Remind me, what does that mean?”

“That they’re gonna lose. Duh!” April giggled. “Thanks for picking me up.”

“No worries, I was free,” Billy said, leaving out the fact that this was a favour for Mom.

April leaned down, grabbed her feet and made strained sounds. She grunted, and a moment later a muddy football boot joined her bags in the footwell.

Might as well get this over with, Billy thought. “Before I forget, I just wanted to apolo—”

A hot, pungent popcorn-like stench blanketed the car’s interior, causing him to choke on the rest of his words.

“You good, bro?” April asked.

The second football boot was tossed down next to its twin. She swivelled to sit properly in the seat, closing the door in the process, and placed her socked feet into the footwell.

“April, Jesus Christ your feet reek! Put your football boots back on!”

“No way! My feet are low-key killing me. They’re, like, super sore.” She shuffled back in the seat and lifted her feet up onto the dashboard. “Mom always lets me take my football boots off in the car.”

Her socked feet flexed. The windscreen near them started to steam up. Seeing the state they were in, their awful stink wasn’t surprising. They looked ragged, and from the ankle down damp, the orange-coloured cotton darkened with absorbed sweat. The bottoms clung to the shape of her soles and toes underneath. Her big toe protruded from a hole at the front of the right sock.

“Mom’s not here, and this is my car. Please, I’m begging you, put them back on.”

April giggled. “Yikes. Well I guess I could do that. I know! Let’s make a deal. If you let me put my music on for the ride home, I’ll put my boots back on. Oh! Wait, wait, wait. Actually I wanna be DJ whenever you give me a ride. Your music is pretty mid. No take-backsies.”

This stupid brat, Billy thought. But, he recalled his mom’s request and didn’t lash out. It’s not like I plan on giving her many rides, anyway.

“Whatever, fine. Deal. Play your stupid music if that’s what you want.”

“Sweet! Nice doing business with ya, bro,” April said, an infuriating smugness to her tone.

Thankfully, she did cram her feet back into the football boots. Some smell still lingered in the air, so Billy made sure to roll down the windows before setting off. April wasted no time tapping away at the centre console to connect her phone up with Bluetooth and played the most obnoxious song she could have chosen, making things worse by turning it up.

“Does it have to be so loud?” Billy asked as they stopped at the first of likely many red lights.

“Erm, yeah! This is my fave song at the moment.”

As his sister started singing along, he cringed and sunk back in his seat, desperately avoiding eye contact with anyone glancing over at the noise. He thought about rolling the windows back up, however the smell of feet was still noticeable and he wanted that gone as soon as possible.

“April, before I forget, I wanted to say sorry for yesterday. I… I shouldn’t have shoved you.”

“Jeez, you’re acting kinda sus. Has someone got a gun to your head or something? You’re not being a total dweeb for once!” April laughed.

Billy grimaced and forced a laugh, imagining his mom in the back seat spinning a revolver.

“No problem, bro. Obviously I knew I was in the right, but I guess this double confirms it.”

Wringing the steering wheel, he remained silent. This is much harder than I thought it’d be.

“Oh, did you see that shooting star last night? I managed to get a vid of it and got over ten thousand views on TikTok. How crazy it that? Wanna see it?”

“Sure, show me when we get home,” Billy said dismissively, suppressing a groan.

* * *

“So? That shooting star was poggers, right?”

“Yeah, very… um, poggers, April.”

Billy held the door open for his sister and closed it once she was inside. Her two bags were unceremoniously dropped on the floor, and she went to pry off her football boots.

“Nope. Go take those stinky things off outside and leave them there to air out,” he said.

“Seriously? You are such are drama queen, bro.”

“I’m going to stay down here before getting on with the chores that Mom left for us, and the last thing I want is to have to deal with is having to smell your football boots.”

“Okay. Ask nicely and I’ll do it.” April smirked. “Maybe.”

“Please, take your—”

“Pretty please.”

Billy sighed. “Pretty please, take your boots off outside.”

“Okie dokie. See, all you had to do was ask nicely. Since I’m doing you a favour now, how about you do me one? Get me a lemonade — with ice — and leave it on the side in the kitchen. I’ll grab it when I come back in. Thank youuuuuu!”

Not bothering to wait for agreement, April went through to the kitchen, the klacks of studs on hardwood quietened as she moved onto the linoleum, then became inaudible when she stepped out into the back garden, closing the door behind her.

Billy exhaled, grateful for a brief respite from his bratty sister. At least she’s not acting as insufferable as usual, he thought.

“Might as well keep her happy,” he muttered, taking off his own shoes.

Emptying out his pockets, Billy put his phone, wallet, keys and a pack of gum onto the coffee table’s lower shelf. However, after taking a step towards the kitchen, a sudden wave of dizziness caused him to freeze. He grabbed the couch for support and closed his eyes, hoping it would pass.

What the fuck?

It felt as if he was sinking into the floor.

Oh god, what’s wrong with me?

His skin tingled as if electrified. The dizziness passed, though something still felt wrong. Something was definitely wrong and he couldn’t tell what. Not until he opened his eyes.

Everything was massive. Gigantic. The world around him, the living room, it had grown.

Wait, no. That’s not right. Everything hasn’t grown.

Billy fell to his knees, hyperventilating.

I’ve shrunk.