Sammy walked through the hallway to Miss Boras’ class.  Sammy reached the chemistry class to find it empty and no sign of Miss. Boras.  Taking her seat Sammy propped up her head up in her hands as she looked around the room passing time.  That’s when something caught her eye.  Below Miss. Boras’ desk there was an object sitting under her desk.  Curious Sammy got up and walked over to the object and picked it up.  Eyes wide she let a gasp out.  She was holding the case to Charlie’s ring to Miss. Boras.

Wait, why was it here?  Did Charlie lose the ring and went looking for it?  Or worse did something happen to him?  Sammy felt bad for not figuring it out sooner.  Charlie must be feeling sick right now looking for this.  Sammy thought about what to say to Miss Boras.  Then it hit her… what if this was Charlie’s elaborate plane to propose?  He could be planning on making her look under her desk and BOOM surprise! 

That was it; there was no way Charlie would lose this ring.  Besides Sammy said she wouldn’t say anything and might as well stay out of it.  Bending over Sammy placed the ring back where she found it.  Right before she set it down she saw something move near it.  Picking up the small object she brought it to her face.  Sammy nearly dropped it… in her hand was a tiny Charlie.

“C-C-Charlie?!”

“FOR THE LOVE OF GOD THANK YOU!”  Charlie shouted for joy.

Sammy looked at the tiny almost speck of a person in her hand.  “How… how did this happen?”

Sammy brought Charlie up to her ear as she listen to his response…

Charlie explained everything up to the part where he was stuck in the toilet.  He wouldn’t explain what happen to anyone… it was too degrading and horrifying.  The event still lay bare in his mind as he mentally recalled what happened.

3 Days ago…

Charlie was just hit by the sludge produced by his girlfriend forcing him to get submerged in the liquid.  Unable to move he tumbled down and down until he thought he would never be able to reach the surface again for some air; then he broke the current and swam to the surface.  Breaking through the water Charlie took in the foul air into his lungs as he coughed up whatever he swallowed making him gag.  He could still hear Jessica grunting as she continued to relieve herself on the toilet.

Charlie swam to the side of the bowel and got out of the water as he noticed that the water fall was slowing down.  When it stopped Jessica quickly whipped her butt with the toilet paper and dropped it into the bowel.  Closing his eyes Charlie felt a tear fall down his cheek as he waited for the deafening sound of the toilet flushing.

It never came.  Charlie opened his eyes to see Jessica leaving.  What he saw was also a sign from God.  There on the rim of the seat was part of the toilet paper still stuck to the seat and trailed all the way down into the water.  Not letting a moment get wasted Charlie quickly swam through the muck and grabbed the paper and started to climb.  The lights were turned off the moment he grabbed the paper, but he didn’t need the lights to climb.  It took a while but he reached the rim of the toilet and let out a bitter laugh at his victory.  The moment he stepped off the toilet paper it fell into the water. 

Quickly he headed to the back of the toilet to see if there was a way to jump down without getting hurt.  The moment he made it to the back of the toilet the lights turned on.  There was the sound of disgust.

“Oh… my…God.” 

Looking from his hiding spot he saw Tiffany walk up to the toilet and flush it.  The sound of the rushing water blocked out all other sounds as the toilet drained then filled with water.  Thanking God that he wasn’t in there when Tiffany flushed; Charlie started to look for a way to escape… there was none.

Stuck in another situation he would have to wait for an opportunity to arise for him to get away.

Charlie had to wait until morning when Jessica went to the bathroom.  Charlie was deciding on how to approach this when he noticed that the toilet paper roll was unraveled all the way to the floor.  The moment he saw this he heard Jessica let out a groan and say, “My head…”

There was the sound of water hitting water, as she was emptying her bladder.  Charlie only had a few minutes to jump on the toilet paper and slide down to the ground.  To say he barely made it would be an understatement.  Jessica was already picking up the toilet paper when Charlie jumped off and on the ground.

Now that he was ground level Charlie was about to approach Jessica when she got off the toilet, flushed, and walked away.

Letting out a shout of disappointment Charlie was forced to follow her.  By the time he made it to the kitchen, where Jessica was eating it was lunch time.  Charlie had to eat something and quickly noticed there were some crumbs on the floor.  Disgusted at what he was about to do, he ran over and started to eat the crumbs of food. 

While he ate he heard Jessica try calling you only to get an answer machine.  Charlie debated whether to climb her leg and try to get her attention or not.  Before he got the chance she got up and left the table.  Not wanting to run around chasing Jessica around the house Charlie stayed put.

Charlie never really got a chance to get Jessica’s attention that day or the next.  She wouldn’t stay put long enough.  Finally it was Monday and Charlie had to make a move or he would sooner or later die from Jessica accidently stepping on him, or worse.  While she was eating breakfast Charlie climbed up her sock to the top and just as she finished her meal and started to walk.  Holding on to his dear life he was carried around as she put her shoes on and got into her car and drove off to work. 

It was a hardship he had to endure as he almost fell off three times.  When Jessica reached her classroom Charlie decided to start his climb.  Only problem was that Jessica bumped her knee up against the desk causing him to tumble down and fall of her shoe.  The instant he hit the ground Jessica got up and walked away from her desk.

Frustrated Charlie was about to give up when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.  There was a giant box… not just any box, the ring.  This could be his salvation.  Charlie decided to stay near the ring, because he had a better chance of being seen if someone was looking at an object near him.

Charlie woke up to a bell ringing and some students leaving.  Not knowing how long he had been asleep he found out that no one found the ring yet.  Still sticking with his plane he stayed near the ring.  That was when Sammy walked in the classroom and she finally found him.

“Wow…” Sammy said as she heard the tale that Charlie told.

“So, please, for the love of God, get Jessica or someone to help me!”

Sammy stood there for a moment when a smiled crept over her face… “You know what… I have a better idea…”

Jessica walked into her class room feeling extremely depressed.  She has been trying to contact Charlie all weekend but to no avail.  He hasn’t contacted her yet.  Fearing the worse she was going to head over to his house and see what was up.  That was when she noticed Sammy sitting at her desk with her hands folded, smiling.

“Someone is in a good mood again.”

“Yeah, you could say I found something amazing today,” she said smiling.

“Yeah, like what,” Jessica asked as she was searching through some papers that were on her desk.

“Oh, nothing big… just something really small,” she said with a hint of laughter.

“Well that’s good.”

Sammy got up out of her seat and walked over to Miss Boars’ desk and leaned over it.  “Do you want to see it?”

“Huh, yeah sure….”  Jessica said as she didn’t look up as she kept looking through the papers on the desk.  Then a small black box was shoved into her view. 

“What is that?”  Jessica asked confused.

“Why don’t you look and see…” Sammy said with a devilish tone.

Jessica was completely perplexed as she slowly opened the small box.  What was inside shocked her completely.  Inside was a small ring with a diamond on it which made Jessica gasp.  The only thing more surprising was the tiny man standing near the ring shouting, “WILL YOU MARRY ME!!!!”

Jessica quickly closed the box and stared at the closed box.  Very slowly she opened the box and peeked inside to see Charlie still there tiny as he was before, and the ring.

“…What?” Jessica said speechless.

“WILL YOU MARRY ME!!!!” 

“I… I can’t…” Jessica said.

“What?!” both Charlie and Sammy said.

“I can’t, not like that.  You’re less than an inch tall.  You have to be … at least three times bigger.”

Sammy giggled at the joke, and Jessica smiled slightly yet still looked worried.  “How did this happen?”

Sammy explained what happened.  Jessica stood there eyes watering, “I…I… oh God, and you still want to marry me after all that?”

“Jessica, there isn’t anything that would make me not want to marry the women of my dreams…”

“But I…I-”

The school bell rang signaling that the next class was about to start.

“Ummm… what do we do?  Class is about to start.”

“Charlie just uh… stay put for a little while and we’ll continue this really soon.”

Charlie agreed and Jessica slowly closed the box keeping Charlie safe.  Soon students started to file into class as Jessica started the class.  Soon the class was over and Jessica opened the box to see Charlie was still there. 

“Charlie?”  She asked almost afraid he would disappear.

“Yeah?”

“Just making sure you’re real and I’m not imagining… OH MY GOD!”

“WHAT?!?” Charlie said frightful that something happen.

“Was… was that you… ?  Friday night where were you exactly?”

“…”

Jessica burst into tears, “I knew it!  You were there in the bathroom and… oh God!”

“JESSEICA,” Charlie tried to say to get her attention but her crying covered any noise he made.

“You must hate me, or think I’m disgusting… and you were with me at the club too…” Her cheeks turned crimson red.  “You can’t marry me… I’m the worse girlfriend ever.  You must think I’m a disgusting cheating …Bitch!” she practically fell apart there crying.

 Jessica kept crying while Charlie tried to say something.  Jessica started to cry silently as she knew there was no way that Charlie would ever forgiver her.

“JESSICA, LOOK AT ME!!!! I JUST ASKED YOU TO MARRY ME AFTER EVERYTHING I WENT THROUGH!!!!  IT WAS THE ONLY THING THAT KEPT ME GOING!!!!  IF I DIDN’T LOVE YOU, THEN WHY AM I STILL PROPOSING TO YOU!!!!”

“I…I don’t know.”

“IT’S BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!!!!  NOW STOP YOUR CRYING AND GIVE ME A SMILE!!!!”

Jessica gave a half smile.

“That’s good enough.  Look you have one more class left and then we can fix this mess.”

“But I don’t know how to fix it.  Whatever chemicals you inhaled could have been a combination of anything the only way to fix it would to have … the … students …repeat… I GOT!  The students from that lab group are coming by after school to make up the lab.  I could have them repeat the same procedure they did from last time!”

“So you can fix it?”

Jessica wore a frown on her face, “I might… it’s a long shot but I think I can.”

“I KNEW YOU COULD!” Charlie shouted with joy.

Then some students started to walk in.  “Ok, I’ll be done really quickly and then Sammy can look after you while I get the results after school.”  With everything planed out, all Charlie had to do was wait… which is what he was growing accustomed to.

Jessica waited for the group of student to walk through the door.  “Ok, some of you wanted to know why I failed you on the experiment.  It was due to not following the rules, and mixing chemicals that shouldn’t have been mixed.  I was going to make you follow the producer word for word and see if you can do that but thought better of it.”

A couple of the students looked questioningly at her wondering what they would have to do now.

“When you all mixed the chemicals together you made a certain chemical compound.  I want you to retrace your steps and make the same compound.  If you can reproduce the same produce I will give you an A for the lab, if not then you all get an F.”

The students looked at each other and smiled, “Easiest A ever…”

Jessica made note on how they mixed the solutions together.  There didn’t seem to be an order to it but they apparently knew something because they measured the amount they put in, it was just  a different amount from the original experiment.  Then finally they finished.

“Is that it?”

One of the students grinned.  “Almost,” he said smugly as he pulled out a piece of gum.  He unwrapped the gum and dropped it into the beaker.

“What was that?”  Jessica asked.

“Cinnamon apple flavored gum, how else did you think we got the smell.”

Jessica was completely caught off guard and furious.  If Charlie’s life didn’t depend on these hooligans she would have them expelled.  Instead she had them leave and told them she would test the compound to see if it was the same results.

Sammy came into the classroom with Charlie in her hand as Jessica held the beaker away from her and said, “Well… how do we test this?”

Before anyone could say anything Sammy took a big whiff of it and said, “Smells like cinnamon apple.”

“Sammy!  That was dangerous; you don’t know what might happen.”

“Well someone had to, and if does work and you smelled it, then who would fix it?  I can’t.”

Jessica, Sammy, and Charlie waited for the chemical to take effect.  It took a while and they thought it was a dud.  Then out of nowhere Sammy said she felt tired and then fell asleep in her desk.  Then she started to shrink at a slow pace.  The pace increased and sped up until she was as small as Charlie.

“It worked,” Jessica said with a sound of disbelief.  It worked.  Those student’s did a good job retracing their steps completely, in fact they might have potential being great chemist, that is if they can follow directions.

Jessica rounded up Sammy and waited until she woke up.

“O… wow…” was all she could muster as she felt the pure fear of being smaller than an inch.

“I know how it feels,” Charlie said as he stood near Sammy.

“So what now?”  Sammy asked.

“Now I have to find a way to reverse the reaction.  Luckily I have the amount and steps they took in making this solution.”

Jessica spent 3 hours creating the cure to the shrinking formula.  When she finished she had a liquid that looked as clear as water.  “This… this should be the cure… I think.”

“Well who goes first?” Sammy asked.

“I will.  If this doesn’t work or makes it worse, I want to be the one who bears the consequences.” 

“No Charlie you can’t,” Sammy said.

“I have to,” Charlie walked forward and had Jessica dripped a droplet of the liquid on him.  Instantly Charlie felt his body start to heat up and his head spin.  Quickly he fell unconscious and started to grow. 

Charlie slowly woke up and took a look around.  Everything was back to normal.

“You did it!”  Charlie said hugging Jessica and giving her a kiss.

“It worked!” she said as she gave Charlie a long kiss as he embraced him.  They stayed like that for a couple of minutes as they let each other comfort one another.  This was broken up by the sound of Sammy.

“HEY AREN’T YOU FORGETING SOMETHING!”

“Oh right,” Jessica said as she gave a drop to Sammy.

After they all were return to normal Charlie picked up Jessica and swung her around in a spin kissing her as she let out a gleeful laugh.  Putting her back down on her feet, Charlie said, “You know you never answered me.”  Getting on his knees he picked up the ring and said, “Jessica Boras, will you marry me?”

Tears formed in her eyes, “Of course I will.”

Feeling relieved that this mess was finally over and he made it through it he gave Jessica a big kiss that lasted a life time.

“Ok, ok, get a room you two.”

Charlie gave Sammy a grin, “Is someone jealous?”

“As if, I just want to get out of here,” she said.

“Yeah we should get going, it’s getting late.  Just let me dispose of this.  This can be very dangerous and we don’t need a repeat of what happened.”  Charlie gave a nod as he walked out of the room with Sammy.  Jessica quickly disposed of the chemicals and then tossed the formula sheet out.

Jessica held onto Charlie as they walked down the hallway with Sammy next to them.  Jessica wasn’t going to let go of Charlie for a long time. 

“Oh I forgot my book!  I’ll be right back,” Sammy said.

Sammy ran back to the class room and grabbed her book that she left.  She was about to leave the class room when she saw a piece of paper in the trash can.  Unable to resist she picked up the piece of paper and looked it over.

“This might come in handy later…”

Quickly she put the sheet into her pocket and ran out of the room to catch up with Mrs. and Mr. Boras.