Dan had never been a very confident kid. Growing up, he had always avoided crowds and never much liked to draw attention to himself. This was especially true when it came to women. Dan was always very self conscious of his persoanal appearance and how others percieved him, so he tended to avoid people to prevent judgement upon himself, especially from the other high school girls. Then, after all the men shrunk, he regretted not interacting with the women when he had the chance.

Dan was a relatively handsome guy, with a boyish charm. He was 5'9 (before he shrunk to 4 inches), had brown, unkempt hair and bright green eyes, although people never saw much of those with him looking at his feet all the time. He was a very polite kid, but he had trouble conveying this image to others due to his reluctance to speak. After the shrinking occcured, him and his dad (he was an only child) moved into one of the many establishments that were specifically built to house many shrunken people.

These establishments did not hold much privacy, which forced Dan into circumstances where he had to "come out of his shell". Being so close with people, and without fearing the scrutiny of people, Dan was able to become much more confident, making many friends. However, like all the other men, he longed to experience life with the other gender again. Finally, an oppurtunity presented itself.

Rumors had been going around talking about Rosewaters, an all girls boarding school, wishing to end the segregation by inviting one select student to attend their school. These rumors were confirmed by the settlements mayor, and were accompanied by a lottery in which Dan, the lucky 10th grader, was selected to participate in this program. Now we jump to the day before the first day of school.

Dan lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling of his room, deeply lost in thought. He was filled with a mixture of excitment for the next day as well as fear. His newfound confidence did not affect him in any way in regards to women, especially those who would tower above him, and so he feared his shyness would consume him once more. Finally, tired of allowing his thoughts to dwell on matters best not dwelt on, he decided to get busy to distract himself.

He read over his packing list once more, changed his opinion on the outfits he should pack and then packed them again after changing his mind back. Then Dan went to the bathroom, and combed his hair, yet again. Afterwords, he went to lay in bed again, failing to find any work to entertain him.

"So this is it," he thought to himself. "The point of no return. Come tomorrow, i will be the first man to interact with those girls in two years. I will be there sole reference on what men are like after all this time. All of their attention will be on me. How could i handle all that pressure?"

Dan once again decided not to dwell on those thoughts, so he started to read about what the school had done to accomodate him. Apparently, every hallway now had a catwalk that was wide enough for three shrunken men to walk side by side, even though Dan was the only one it needed to accomodate. Also, Balconies had been built in each classroom he would be in, with a TV monitor projecting the image of the board that was much too far away for him too read. And the Last part was the most interesting. One girls dorm had had a section of their wall demoslished, replaced with a home specifically tailored for Dan. It included showers, plumbing, electricity and all the comfort he could need. It even had a balcony into the room he would be sharing with the girls.

That was what Dan was most apprehensive about. He had no female friends from the time before the shrinking, so he would be rooming with complete strangers who would tower over him. As his eyes began to close, and his thoughts began to slow, the last thing in his head was the question of who he would be rooming with.