At the end of the class, Ben keeps his head down and just waits, hoping by now the girls have forgotten about him and they’ll just leave the class without interacting with him. He hears them talking to each other through the noise as everyone packs up.

“Yeah like, I know, right? Soooo cute.”

“Yeah but, like, he just like, does whatever you tell him.”

“Um, so? Isn’t that like, a good thing?”

“I dunno, I like it when they’re really pissed off. I want to get a pet who like, totally hates me, so I can just like break his little spirit.”

“You are so bad!”

Their laughter fades as they walk out of the room. “Did you hear Britney has two now? I’m like, so jealous…”

Still keeping his head down but fairly sure that they’ve all left, Ben starts to pack away his things to head to the cafeteria.

Suddenly he feels something on his head. It’s wet, and… it’s moving!

He freaks out and brushes it frantically onto the desk, where it lands on a sheet of paper. It takes him a second to register what it is.

“Mark?!”

Ben’s stomach flips as he realizes the reason Mark was wet must be from Ashley’s panties. Mark barely manages to stand up before Ashley skips over from behind Ben. She tugs on the sheet of paper, causing Mark to fall onto his back, and before he can get out of the way she hoists herself up onto the desk and sits on him.

“What the fuck!” says Ben.

Ashley giggles. “What?” she says with mock innocence.

“Is he… okay?”

She laughs. “You’re so cute! Don’t worry, I wouldn’t break my own toy. I can feel his little body squirming under my butt cheek. Mmm.” She wiggles her butt, and bites her lip like she did earlier when Mark was in her panties.

“You can’t just… Jesus....”

“Actually I’m pretty sure I can, cutie. He belongs to me.”

“Stop calling me that!”

“What, ‘cutie?’ But you’re just like, so adorable!” She giggles and touches his nose with her finger. “And you’ll be even more adorable later, when I’m putting you in my pocket!”

“What… that’s not… I…” He can’t believe she has him so flustered, it’s humiliating.

“Well like, I don’t actually have pockets in my uniform. It’s just a figure of speech. But don’t worry, I’ll find… somewhere else to keep you.” She winks. He shudders.

“What… what makes you think...”

She giggles. “The shrinking virus is contagious, cutie! You’re gonna be all mine by the end of the day.”

Of course he had considered the possibility that it was contagious, everyone had. But as far as he knew, no proof had been uncovered.

“What makes you so sure?”

She leans in conspiratorially and beckons for him to do the same. He obeys without thinking and immediately regrets the show of submission.

“Well, you know how Brian shrank a couple weeks ago?”

“Yeah.”

“And then Andy found him first, right? So Andy picks him up and tries to save him, carries him around all day. But then, just after last period when he’s about to go home, he shrinks too! Right outside the girls’ bathroom by the gym.”

Shit. She has a point.

“And then Britney comes out of the bathroom, and she gets to scoop them both up. And I am like, so jealous. She said having two little toys is like, soooo much more fun than having just one.”

She leans back again and starts twirling her hair.

“So anyway, I want a second one too, and that’s where you come in. You’re gonna make such a cute little pet! Are you excited?”

He scoffs. “Even if I do get the virus, what makes you think you’ll be around to find me?”

“Oh, don’t worry cutie. I’m gonna make sure mine is the first face you see smiling down at you. And anyway, I called dibs. Everybody knows you’re mine.”

She stands up, calmly smiling down at him, and starts walking back to her own desk to get her bag.

He looks at his desk and is surprised to see that Mark is gone. Where did he go?

“See you around, cutie!” she calls over her shoulder.

He looks at her as she walks away and his jaw drops. Mark is stuck to Ashley’s ass cheek like an old receipt; Ben can just make out his tiny legs poking out under her skirt. She didn’t even look for him on the desk; this must be something she does to him all the time.  

She might be right about the virus being contagious, but it doesn’t mean she has to be the one to catch him. If he can just get through the day and keep avoiding her, maybe he can make it home.

He keeps packing his books away, his hands shaking. She sits on another desk and watches him, giggling, as he finishes putting his stuff away and gets up. He’s so nervous he knocks the chair over behind him. He blushes.

He bursts through the classroom door and all the fucking cheerleaders are there, waiting for Ashley. They all burst into laughter at his flustered expression. He tries to push through them but there are too many and they refuse to move out of his way, penning him in like a trapped animal.

“It’s okay girls, you can let him go.” It’s Ashley, coming out of the classroom behind him. Like magic, a gap opens in the crowd of girls and he darts through it.