The distinctive hiss of air brakes filled the bus, drowning out the chatter of some two dozen students for a few seconds. Alex watched as the occupants of the back rows scooted down the aisle, backpacks bumping haphazardly against every available surface. A jolt coursed through the hand Alex stood on, her arms extending out to balance herself form the organic earthquake.

“Careful,” Lily muttered under her breath, not quite loud enough for the oblivious student to hear, but audible to Alex. The tiny teen braced herself as Lily stood up, resting a tiny hand against one of the curled fingers surrounding her. Each footfall from Lily sent a small jolt through Alex’s body as they exited the bus. The atmosphere changed suddenly as they stepped out onto the asphalt. Crisp, cool air replaced the stuffy aura of the bus’ interior, and Alex felt a slight tingle on her exposed skin. While the afternoons were still warm for the summer, the mornings in Pennsylvania had lately been rather brisk, the goosebumps forming along her arms evidence of the cool morning breeze.

Lily quickened her pace towards the school entrance as light danced through the trees dotted around the landscape. The distant sounds of the school quickly became louder, reaching a level of annoyance by the time Lily reached the final step of the walkway. The double doors were swung wide open, allowing hundreds of students roaming the halls a glimpse of the outside world before the first period of the year began. Trotting down the main corridor of the school, Lily finally reached a set of lockers near the entrance to the gymnasium. She shifted her hand up to her shoulder, allowing Alex to step out onto the polyester surface of her jacket. Her hands now free of passengers, Lily began to fiddle with the combination lock on her locker.

Alex turned to face the hallway, watching as hundreds of students milled about before class. Most of the students didn’t even notice Lily, much less Alex, but a few passing by caught a glimpse of the tiny teen. Those that actually noticed Alex did a double take, not expecting to see someone so small. Sure, almost everyone had heard of “shrinkies”, as they had been nicknamed, but the condition was rare enough that not many people interacted with someone of Alex’s size on a regular basis. Alex smiled and waved towards a few of the students, once their initial surprise wore off. Some were friendly enough to return the gesture, before hustling off to their classrooms.

The first period bell sounded with a deafening clang, startling Lily and Alex. The jolt of surprise rippled through Lily’s body, threatening to displace Alex with the sudden movement. The crowd of students turned into a stampede as everyone wrapped up whatever they were doing, and headed for their classes. Lily snapped the metallic door shut, and a barely audible could be heard by Alex as the combination lock was engaged once more. Lily reached her hand up to her shoulder, her fingers extended like a catwalk for Alex to climb aboard.

“What the hell is this?” Someone called out behind Lily, who jerked her head to see the source of the voice. She turned just in time to see a claw of pink fingernails wrap around Alex, yanking the tiny girl from her perch on Lily’s shoulder.

“Hey!” Lily shouted, lunging for the retracting hand, but she was quickly stopped by another manicured hand, palm outstretched in anticipation of her reaction. Lily’s forward momentum was sapped as she lurched right into the outstretched arm, her forehead colliding with the waiting palm. Her hand swiped in the air, narrowly missing the fist that held Alex from her. “Give her back!”

The girl was easily six inches taller than Lily, with golden blonde hair stretching to just past her shoulders. While Lily wasn’t out of shape, the girl standing before her was certainly athletic, given the toned body and visible four pack on her midriff. The school mascot was emblazoned across the girl’s chest, the image slightly distorted by a pair of sizable breasts.

“Or what?” The girl taunted, the muscles in her arm tensing as Lily tried to step forward. She took a step back as Lily swatted at her hand, once again missing by mere inches. “She’s a shrinkie, not a person, geez!” The girl opened her hand, inspecting an annoyed looking Alex in her palm.

Alex stood up in the girl’s palm, brushing off her shirt to straighten the fabric. “I am too a person, asshole,” she said firmly. “Now, if you don’t mind, hand me back to Lily, now.”

The girl smirked, and poked Alex from behind with her other hand. “You’re one to give orders, runt.” She turned her gaze to Lily, a cold smile forming on her face. “What are you gonna do about it anyway, huh?” She taunted.

Lily stood a step away from the girl, glaring her down, but unsure how to intervene without possibly hurting Alex. She was about to try and lunge for her once more, when a deep voice echoed down the hallway.

“Students! Class has started, or have you gone deaf and missed the bell?” An older man walked briskly towards them, a dark grey suit jacket that was a size too small for his frame fluttering slightly at his pace. His cheeks were flushed, either from the exertion of walking too fast, or from a tinge of the cool air outside. Lily peeked around the taller girl to see him marching down the hallway like he was on the warpath.

“Oh, Mr. Hannover, I was just introducing the new...”

“Shut it, Kelsey,” the man barked, “just get to class, you should know better.”

“Ugh, whatever,” the girl mumbled, turning back to Lily. “Here, catch.”

Lily returned her focus to Kelsey just in time to see her toss Alex towards her. Her eyes widened as she reached for the flying tiny, fumbling a few times before finally clasping both hands together around Alex. Glancing up, she was that Kelsey was already ten paces down the hallway, turning into one of the classrooms on the left.

“Young lady, did you forget where your class is?” The man asked firmly between breaths. The short trek from his office has winded him, but it didn’t reduce the stern tone in his voice.

“Well, no, but you see...” Lily stammered, trying not to draw too much attention to Alex as she kept her hands together in front of her.

The man sighed and shook his head slightly. “Just get to class, please.”

Lily quickly walked down the hall, her face hanging low as she felt the man’s gaze on the back of her head. She opened her hands slightly as she walked, cupping Alex between them.

“Are you okay?” She whispered, glancing up at the classroom door.

Alex was sprawled out across Lily’s intertwined fingers, but grunted and gave a thumbs up to Lily.

“Let’s just get to class,” Alex said as she shifted her minuscule weight around, pulling herself up into a sitting position atop Lily’s thumb. Lily nodded, and pushed the classroom door open. The two girls could feel almost thirty pairs of eyes lock onto them, following them as Lily moved towards an empty desk in the rear of the class. She quickly pulled the chair out, wincing slightly at the short screech of the metal legs dragging against the linoleum floor. Her hand lowered to the desk, allowing Alex to scoot off her thumb and stand on the expanse of the desktop.

“Welcome, miss...” the teacher addressed Lily, her voice trailing off as she awaited a response.

Lily quietly shuffled through her bag, pausing after a few seconds, her brain catching the hint from the silence. “Oh, I’m Lily,” she replied hastily. She plopped a binder and book on her desk, and gestured towards the corner occupied by her tiny counterpart. “And this is Alex!”

Alex waved timidly at the crowd of students staring at her. Based on the looks, most of them had never seen someone her size before. Even the teacher seemed a bit surprised, though Alex hoped her teachers had at least been given a heads up that she would be in their classes. 

“Well, Lily and Alex, my name is Elizabeth Manning, and welcome to Biology Basics!” the teacher’s excited tone contrasted with the somewhat dreary mood of the students, their first day of the final year just beginning a moment before. Ms. Manning turned around to face the whiteboard, and began to scribble out class information in the top left corner. Lily jotted down some notes, glancing here and there at Alex as she listened to the teacher read over the class syllabus.

Alex was paying attention to the teacher with her ears only. She pulled a tiny tablet from her backpack, the miniature display flickering to life as it booted up. She tapped a few times on the screen, and began to take notes. After a few minutes of listening to Ms. Manning drone on about the class, Alex let her eyes wander about the room, scanning over the students around her. Some of the students were taking notes like she was, but at least half of them were stealing glances in her direction, or outright staring at her. Alex shrugged, used to the extra attention she got in new situations like this. She didn’t strive to be in the spotlight, but her size usually made her the centerpiece of things, whether she wanted it or not.

Ms. Manning turned her back to the whiteboard, and cleared her throat.

“Class, I understand that one of our students is quite unique, but it is impolite to stare.” She gently scolded the class, and most of the students’ gaze quickly returned to the front of the room. All of the students in fact, except one. Alex felt like someone was still watching her, and glanced over her shoulder. In the back row was the girl from the hallway earlier. Kelsey, if she remembered correct. The scowl on the blonde cheerleader’s face was subtle, but made no attempt to hide Kelsey’s automatic dislike for the tiny girl. Alex turned back to face the teacher, and resumed tapping notes into her tablet. The feeling of being watched didn’t go away, but Alex tried to tune it out like she had learned to do so many times before.

The class wrapped up just as the bell began to ring, and the students rushed from their desks in a whirlwind of backpacks and jackets. Alex nearly toppled from the desk as more than one student carelessly bumped against it, eager to get to the next class. Lily waited in her seat for a moment, allowing the crowd to thin before standing up herself. She reached her palm down to the desk, extending her fingers towards Alex.

“C’mon, Alex, I’ll give you a lift to your next class!” Lily still sounded a bit too cheerful for the first day of school, her voice containing a tinge of excitement. “I think your math is on the way to my English class, so I’ll drop you off on the way.”

Alex slipped her tablet into the bag, and hoisted the strap over her shoulder. She had one foot on the pad of Lily’s finger when a shadow crept over the edge of the wooden desk. Alex froze as another face appeared behind and slightly to the side of Lily, a sinister grin spread across red lips. 

“Here, let me take her to class,” Kelsey startled Lily, causing her hand to jump and nearly dump Alex onto her back. Lily turned her head towards the encroaching girl, her voice changing from giddy to annoyed in a single syllable.

“I’m in the same class as her,” Kelsey smirked, “might as well save you a trip.”

Lily clenched her teeth, remembering the events just before class. “Thanks, but I think I’ll take her over.” The two girls towered over Alex, glaring each other down for a moment. The staring contest was broken by Ms. Manning, her heels clicking against the floor as she walked over.

“Do you girls need anything?” She asked sweetly, oblivious to the silent standoff she had interrupted. “You two... er, three, really should be getting to your next classes.”

Lily opened her mouth to speak, but Kelsey quickly interjected, “I was just offering to give our little friend a lift to our next class, we’re both in Math together.”

Before Lily could offer an rebuttal, Ms Manning’s smile broadened as she spoke. “Oh, that’s so sweet of you Kelsey! I’m sure Alex would appreciate that. Now, all of you, off to class before the next bell!” She made a shooing motion with her hands, turning around to erase the gibberish on the whiteboard before the next round of students came in.

Kelsey quickly scooped up Alex in her fist, and strutted out the door. “Don’t worry,” she snickered to Lily, “you can pick her up after Math if you want. I just need a minute to talk to our little friend here.” Lily was too shocked to say much, only stammering a few short syllables as Kelsey sauntered down the hall towards her next class. As she rounded the corner, Kelsey opened her fist and looked down at Alex.

“Yeah, we need to get a few things straight, runt.”