Downsizing

Tricia

===

Steve woke up to his daughter dropping Kamila off onto the couch in his living area. He was getting out of bed when he saw his daughter crawling under the bed with the nurse she had kidnapped. Tricia looked tired, with bags under her eyes.

“What happened?” Steve asked Kamila, hobbling over to her on his crutch.

Kamila told him she slept with Tricia last night—not by choice. Steve nodded and understood. He guessed his daughter had moved onto sleeping with Kamila instead of him. That could only mean that Tricia was taking a shine to Kamila.

“She ate them,” Kamila said, with tears running down her cheek.

Steve shook his head. “What?”

Kamila explained everything, unable to maintain her composure while remembering Cynthia’s cries as she slid down Tricia’s throat. Steve shook his head and told Kamila that was not possible—his daughter wouldn’t eat downsizers. Frustrated, Kamila reminded him she witnessed Tricia swallowing an unlucky man when the bus got hijacked. And then, because Tricia didn’t want to take care of the other two, she simply swallowed them.

“Your daughter likes eating downsizers,” Kamila said. “She was so happy when she ate Cynthia.” Kamila covered her mouth and cried.

Steve, again, shook his head. “Can’t be. That’s not Tricia.”

Tricia wore white sneakers, jean shorts, and a shirt. Her hair flowed freely behind her shoulders, freshly blow dried and combed over a hundred times. She gave her dad and Kamila breakfast: eggs, bacon, and a piece of toast.

“Take care of my daddy while I’m gone, Kamila.” She stroked the frightened Polish woman’s back with an index finger.

Before Tricia turned to leave the underside of her bed, Steve spoke up and asked, “Tricia? What happened to the other downsizers that were in your closet?” He tried putting on his most fatherly tone, but it came out as mousey squeaks.

Tricia turned to Kamila, who shook her head in fear. Tricia rolled her eyes. “I guess she told you. Well, I don’t give a fuck if you know. I ate them, daddy. Swallowed them whole and alive, just for fun. You’d be surprised how long they were alive in my stomach.”

Steve was stunned into silence. “Princess … You’re lying.”

“Nope!”

“Well … umm, Tricia, you’re not a murderer! You couldn’t have—”

“You’re right, I’m not a murderer.” Tricia scoffed with squinted eyes. “Do you call a bug exterminator a murderer? They were just lousy, unregistered downsizers. No one cares about worthless downsizers with no friends or family. At least by eating them, they served a purpose: a midnight snack for me. That’s all they had going for them, anyway.”

“Tricia—you spit them out right now!”

“A little late for that.” She smirked. “Tell you what, daddy, I’ll let them out when I go take a dump later.”

“Tricia!”

“What?”

“I did not raise you to kill—”

“Shut. The. Fuck. Up. Right now, or I’ll make you a snack. I’ll eat both of you right now. I don’t give a fuck. Accept that they’re dead and are nothing more than calories. Fuck!”

Kamila shook her head and even got on her knees to beg for mercy.

“She gets it,” Tricia said. She then swiped her finger under her dad’s leg and crutch, sending him tumbling to the floor. “That’s for talking mean to me.”

Steve groaned and held his one leg in pain. His hip got bruised horribly. “Why?”

“Why what?” Tricia rolled her eyes. “Kamila, talk some sense into daddy, because I don’t have time for this. Shape up before I come home today, or else …”

Tricia got out from under the bed and grabbed her book bag. She headed out the door and said her goodbyes to her mom and stepdad. They seemed more preoccupied with something on the news that Tricia couldn’t bother listening to.

Beth & Mateo

===

“Leggings or shorts?”

“Shorts.”

“Khakis or jeans.”

“Khakis.”

“Shirt or tank top.”

“Tank-top, duh.”

“Black or white.”

“Black. I like how your black tank-top rides up and shows off your tummy.”

“You little hound dog. I didn’t think you paid that close attention to me,” Beth said with a smile as she went through her wardrobe in her closet. Mateo sat on the edge of her bed and was telling her what he preferred she wore for the day. She was in nothing more than her underwear as she piled her shorts and tank-top on the bed beside her friend. “Lemme guess, want me to wear sandals instead of shoes.”

“Flip flops, please!” Mateo perked up like a puppy dog.

Mateo was back in Beth’s downsized home she had in the room's corner. While getting ready, he called his mom on his phone and gave her a quick update. He said he had a great night with Beth, and that she’s been treating him well.

“Remember, I said no hanky-panky. Don’t let her touch you, you-know-what.”

“Ugh. I know, I know.”

Mateo was still sore with his mother, but he overlooked it, since spending time with Beth had been a dream. He slipped on shorts and a shirt and raced out of the house where Beth was waiting for him.

Beth was his dream girl come to life, standing before him, dressed skimpily just for him. Her long legs drove him insane. Fleshly pillars, more magnificent than a skyscraper, stood above him in a V shape. Like the Colossus at Rhodes standing over the bay, she looked like a goddess lording over him.

“Can I worship you?” he asked.

Beth giggled. “On your hands and knees. Crawl up to my toe.” She didn’t think he’d do it, but Mateo dropped to the ground and was mumbling something as he obeyed her. A new feeling unlocked for Beth. It was exhilarating to see a downsizer literally worship her at her feet—but it was uncomfortable seeing Mateo groveling at her feet. “Mateo, you really don’t have to do this …”

“I want to. You deserve it, Beth. Especially after saving my life twice! Like a guardian angel.”

Beth bent down and plucked him from her toe and brought him up to her face. “You might think that—but I only did what any friend would’ve done.”

They kissed before gathering their bookbags. Beth stuffed Mateo’s backpack in her pocket and carried her bag over her shoulders. They went to the kitchen, where Beth prepared a heavy protein oat breakfast. She put Mateo’s portion in a tiny bowl just for him.

Mateo looked around the dark apartment, noting how empty and lifeless it was. They ate and made small talk about school. Beth told Mateo she tricked the school into thinking that both she and Hazel had escort-rights over him. This way, Beth could keep him on her person during their mixed-size classes.

Out of the blue, Mateo asked, “Beth, where are your parents?”

“Not here.” She took a mouthful of oats into her mouth and swallowed.

“Umm, what do you mean?”

“They are not—” She looked at him with a stern face. “—here.”

“You live here alone?”

“Does it fucking look like I’m here alone, genius?” Beth shouted.

Mateo tensed up and ran behind her bowl.

“Fuck.” Beth sighed and took two deep breaths. “Mateo, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you.”

Mateo poked his head around the bowl.

“Let’s just—not talk about that. ‘kay?”

Mateo nodded. They finished eating their breakfast in silence. Beth stood up and tossed the bowl in the sink and slung her backpack over her shoulder.

“So, where do you want to ride? Boobs? Back pocket?”

“In your hand, please.”

Amber

===

Amber Atwood’s school day began before the sun crested the horizon. At 0500, she was already taking a shower while half-asleep. By 0530, she was eating a bowl of cereal from her box of Cheerios that was composed of two human-sized Cheerios, smashed up into small bits for downsizers. After breakfast, she took her meds, grabbed her bookbag, and was out the door, walking to the bus stop around the corner of her quant suburban neighborhood.

Lilliputian Lake designers constructed each home as the idealized ‘American Dream’ house. They were two stories, with attached garages, trimmed with white accents and colored sidings and red brick foundations. Each lawn used moss as an alternative to grass. Some of the larger green areas around town, like parks, used the same type of grass as golf course greens, but for tiny lawns, moss was more manageable. As for trees, bonsai trees matched the downsize scale perfectly.

The yellow school bus took Amber and the neighborhood kids towards the downtown train station. Amber’s trip to school was only half over. She walked up escalators and overpasses until she came to her platform. The train to school was sitting there with its doors open, the lighting from the station and the train cutting through the purple darkness of dawn. Though the sun may have crested the horizon by then, because Lilliputian Lakes was in a stadium-like structure, the town itself wouldn’t get proper sunlight until 0900.

Amber dropped her heavy backpack with 3 textbooks on an empty seat and dropped her body beside it. This was the part where she could rest and catch up on sleep that was robbed from her early that morning. It was 0625, and the train would depart in five minutes. Amber allowed her heavy eyes to close while her ears kept aware of her surroundings.

Because this was a train heading to the high school, that meant it was full of rowdy students. The various cliques and groups settled into their ‘normal’ seats and talked about mundane teen topics that Amber couldn’t care to listen to.

The hyper-train made 3 total stops in Lilliputian Lakes, before jetting off to the public school in the big world. It wasn’t ideal to transport the young from a downsized community to the big world for school, but the original designers of the downsized community neglected to construct public schools. Downsize companies advertised downsizing to working adults to retire early in life. But as time passed, most saw downsizing as the only means to survive in a world where everything became incessantly expensive. The communities were not designed with growing families in mind.

Amber’s parents downsized long before she was born. Her whole life was spent in Lilliputian Lakes, and it was a relatively normal life. Elementary and Junior High were in Lilliputian Lakes, but starting with High School, she had to travel to a public school in the big world.

Her freshman year was not fun. Too many things to adjust to. Like the gawking stares of freshman humans who had never seen a downsizer before.

A shiver went down Amber’s spine as she thought back to those days. Downsized students were like zoo animals stuck inside a terrarium with ugly, pimply human kids tapping on the glass. Teachers did their best to control the freshman humans, but they couldn’t be around all the time. The novelty of looking at 1 ½ to 2-inch students was too tantalizing. The human students tried communicating with the downsizers, but the tiny students weren’t having any of it. Humans were too awful to bother giving them attention. It got better as the school year went on. Most human students lost interest in them. Except for …

Bethany Palmetto.

Whereas other students would tap the glass, make faces, joke about them being bug-sized, and other awful insults—Beth would just stare. Stare at them from high above without saying a word. She would have an expression of wonderment and curiosity, watching the tiny students go about their day.

“Get away, freak,” a downsized student would shout.

“Fuck off.”

“Tall loser, bitch.”

“Loner.”

“Not even other humans like you.”

Beth couldn’t hear their insults, but she understood their gestures like flipping her the middle finger. This didn’t deter Beth. She would just stand there and watch them with her enormous eyes, like the wonder of a child looking through the window of a toy shop during Christmas.

Amber and the others got used to Beth. She was one oddity out of many dozens at school. So what if she likes to stare? It was harmless, and the downsized students were safe behind their protective glass.

Amber looked outside the train windows and saw the desert landscape zip by in a blur. They traveled at hundreds of miles per hour, relative to their size, gliding on the rails as if they were clouds. The train sped through the landscape within a clear acrylic tube that safeguarded them from the hazards of the big world. Desert turned to city; sometimes the train traveled underground in tunnels, and then other times it was high-above, traveling along telephone poles. Eventually, they made it to the school, stopping at a platform at the school’s station.

Amber didn’t feel the need to rush out like the other students. She sighed and waited for everyone to clear out before she headed out. It was a ritual for her. The others were far too wild compared to her demure disposition. There were also … other reasons why she preferred being the last one off the train.

She rose from her seat and looked up and down the train car to ensure she was the last one off the train. She hefted her book bag and slung it over her shoulder, while walking down the aisle and off the train. Just as she stepped off, two boys ran up behind her from the train, one of them grabbing her bag from the zipper, pulling it down so that the larger pocket opened. Her textbooks and binder came flying out, spilling to the floor one at a time. As she turned to look at her books, the boys took off running towards the school, both laughing and calling her names.

“Assholes!” she cried out, looking angry but demoralized. She kneeled over her stuff and gathered them up back to her backpack. As she did so, she heard a loud tapping on the glass enclosure. She looked over and saw Bethany Palmetto kneeling over with a look of concern on her face.

Amber spun her head back to ignore the enormous giantess, regretting giving her a second of her time. Another pounding on the glass caused Amber’s bones to jump. She powered through and stuffed her books in her bag and threw the pack on her back. She ignored Beth’s incessant tapping on the glass and took the elevator to the upper level, where she could board an electric cart.

Against her better judgment, she took one last glance over at Beth, who hadn’t moved from the glass wall. That’s when she saw the fresh downsizer boy waving to her from the palm of Beth’s hand.

Mateo

===

For English class, Mateo had to separate himself from Beth and go to his downsize-only class. “You better fucking call me when you’re done,” Beth said with a stern smile. She didn’t want to part with him, but those were the rules.

No matter, Mateo would make best use of the time. He took an electric cart to the class and rushed in before the bell rang. He sat at the table with Amber.

“Okay, a couple of questions,” Amber said, lifting a finger while adjusting her seat. “Where the heck were you last week? And two, did I just see you with Bethany Palmetto?”

It was strange how some people called Beth by her full name like that. Almost as if the name itself was notorious. “Family emergency. And yes.” Mateo pulled out his notebook and textbook and set them on the table.

Amber coughed a few times while also preparing for the class. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through social media during the free time they had.

“Hey, Beth and I were wondering,” Mateo said, turning in his seat towards her. “If you want to avoid taking the train and dealing with the other jerks in school knocking your books off your hands, you can give your CoH to Beth, that way she could hand-carry you to class.”

The preposterous idea was so bad, Amber nearly fell out of her seat. “Excuse me?”

“Yeah. Think about it. Our bags can get so heavy and stuff, wouldn’t it be nice to have a human carry it for you? She can carry us to all our classes while we sit back in her hand. Beth really wants to help you and she feels so bad that you’re struggling—”

“I will never give my consent to that bitch.”

Mateo winced. “Kinda harsh, no?”

“She’s one of those humans obsessed with downsizers. She sees us as toys—playthings. Why would I ever want to be treated like that? Wait, are you into that kind of thing? Is that why you gave her consent?”

“Beth is my best friend. I don’t understand why everyone hates her so much. What has she done to you?”

Amber turned away to listen to the teacher’s lecture. She scribbled some notes with her wooden pencil made from glue and sawdust.

“Amber?”

She rolled her eyes. “What?”

“Do you have something against humans?”

She didn’t answer. Her phone vibrated, giving her a notification from her social media account. She looked at it and looked crestfallen. She coughed again and threw her phone in her bag.

“Anything the matter, Amber?”

“Dude, can you back off? Holy shit.” She got into a coughing fit that distracted the entire class. She popped another cough drop. Once settled, the class turned back to the teacher, who continued with the lecture. “You don’t know me or what I’m dealing with right now. And even if I told you my problems, why’d you care, anyway?”

Mateo pretended to pay attention to the lecture for a few minutes before coming back to Amber. “We’ve only met once, so, you’re right, I don’t know much about you.” He turned to face her. “But I can tell something is wrong, and I can’t sit here knowing you’re silently suffering when maybe I can help. Wanna talk?”

“Why would you want to help me?”

“It’s what I do.”

Amber sighed and rolled her eyes. She cleared her throat before she felt a coughing fit brewing. It was true. She was suffering with something that no one, her parents included, seemed to care about. She had a small circle of downsized friends, but no one had asked if anything was wrong, let alone what she did over the weekend. What a strange boy Mateo was … He genuinely seemed to care.

“I’m sick.” She coughed on cue. “I have a nurse—she’s also my friend—that’s been taking care of me for years and knows exactly how to treat my unique illness. She works at the hospital, but my parents pay her on the side to make house calls. Anyway, she’s been gone for the last few days and won’t answer her phone or messages.”

The hair on the back of his neck stood up. It sounded like Mateo’s predicament last week.

Amber continued, “What worries me is that my nurse is undocumented—unregistered downsizer is what they call it.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means, as far as the government is concerned, she doesn’t exist. I can’t file a missing person report, and the hospital doesn’t even admit she exists. Bastards.” She fiddled with her fingers as she thought back to all the phone calls she and her parents made. The hospital kept gaslighting them by saying they didn’t know who Kamila was. “But that’s why I haven’t been all that … cheerful. I think something’s happened to her.”

“I’ll find her for you.”

Amber laughed, which turned into a cough. “Okay Scooby Doo.”

“I mean it. Give me everything you have on your nurse, and I bet you me and Beth will find her before the end of the week.”

Amber rolled her eyes. “Kamila fears humans. She would have a heart attack if she knew I gave her name to someone like Bethany Palmetto.”

“C’mon, Amber. What’s there to lose? She’s missing and probably in danger. You—and the rest of the school—don’t know Beth like I do. If I tell her there’s a downsizer missing and probably in danger, she won’t sleep until she’s found. What do you say?”

Amber had her mouth opened as she played with the cough drop with her tongue and teeth. It was true what Mateo said: there wasn’t a lot to lose. So, what if Bethany knew about Kamila? Could there be harm in that?

“Fine. I’ll send you everything. But if Kamila is okay, and just hiding out or something, leave her alone. If you guys find her and I get my nurse, I mean my friend, back safely, I’ll … I don’t know. I’ll think of something I can give you.”

“What about your CoH to Beth?”

Amber nearly choked on her cough drop. Her eyes bulged as she swallowed the smooth candy whole. “What?”

“Just for a day!” Mateo smiled and reassured her. “If you reward Beth with one day of CoH, I swear she’ll turn every stone on Earth looking for your friend Kamila.”

Amber smiled for the first time that day. “Fine. Deal. But I’ll give my CoH only if I trust her. Plus, she has to stop acting so damn weird around us, downsizers.”

“Hundred percent. Look at me! I can’t wait for class to be over, so I can be back in her hands.”

Amber lifted a brow at that. Her mind still had trouble parsing that bit of information. A downsizer eager to get back to Bethany? Amber emailed everything she had on Kamila. Her social media profiles, cell number, her contact card at the hospital, and a picture of Amber hugging Kamila during a house call.

“One last thing,” Amber said. “Kamila isn’t allowed to live in Lilliputian Lakes. So she and a bunch of unregistered downsizers live outside the walls. I don’t know where, but I know she takes a bus to get home.”

“You mean there’s a place where a bunch of unregistered downsizers live outside the protection of Lilliputian Lakes?” Mateo flipped through his phone and looked over the documents Amber sent him. “I wonder how Beth would react to that information.”

Beth

===

“Let’s go,” Beth said, heading towards the school exit in a brisk walk with Mateo in her hand.

“Beth, stop! Where are you going?”

She stopped and pulled Mateo close to her face. “You’re telling me there’s a community of downsizers out in the wild, and you expect me to not visit them?”

“But you don’t even know where they’re at.”

“Damn. You’re right.” Beth turned to head to their math class. “Let’s see … If we figure out where Kamila lived, this community outside the walls, we can question her neighbors and see what they know about her. We can also look for clues in her home. After that’s done, I’ll collect some downsizers.”

“Huh?”

“Only if I get their consent!”

“Hey, I thought I was the only downsizer for you.” Mateo punched Beth’s palm.

Beth giggled. “Jealous, Mateo?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“You're so cute!” She gave him a kiss, causing some looks from humans and downsizers alike walking down the hallways. Beth gave them a look—a dare for them to say something so she could light them up. Nobody said a word to the tall, intimidating girl. Beth turned back to Mateo. “You know you’re my special downsizer. But if there’s a downsizer that needs my help, you can bet your ass I’m going to help them.”

“Great. But let’s focus on Kamila first. How do we even figure out where she lived?”

“Emma knows a lot. I bet she knows where the unregistered downsizers live. There’s also that dude your mom is living with. He’s DPS and probably knows a lot.”

“Let’s ask Emma first.”

Mateo sat at a downsizer desk, on top of Beth’s desk. On the side wall of the classroom was a glass box menagerie containing 30 downsized students in a classroom scaled for them. There were rumors and gossip swirling around as they watched Beth—Beth!—of all people with a downsizer. It was so peculiar and unfathomable to see her with a downsizer that willingly gave her consent. It was that new kid. Well, new downsizer at least. They wondered if it was some weird human thing that could explain why he was with her.

But even the other human students shot looks and whispered amongst each other upon seeing Beth with a tiny friend. They felt sorry for Mateo, thinking that Beth must’ve strong armed him into giving up his consent. They pitied Mateo and momentarily thought about helping him. But Beth could be so brash and confrontational; it was simply not worth it. Therefore, Mateo was on his own.

While everyone had their opinions on the mixed-size couple, their thoughts meant nothing to Mateo and Beth. Mateo was scribbling some equations in his notebook while Beth placed her elbow on the desktop, resting her chin on the heel of her hand. She looked down at Mateo and marveled at his tiny hand and fingers, gripping his pencil, which was smaller than a grain of rice; while making notes so microscopic, she’d need a magnifying glass to read them.

Beth didn’t listen to the lecture. All her attention was on Mateo. Her arms surrounded him, and her upper body loomed over him. Like a momma bird looking after her chicks. Mateo hadn’t a worry in the world. He was safe. Beth was a giant among humans, and the ultimate protector anyone could ask for. She was Mateo’s guardian and would call a rain of fire against anyone who even showed an ounce of disrespect to him. Like a battle-hardened lioness protecting her cub, everyone just knew not to mess with her or her downsizer.

Beth felt her nipples getting hard and her womanhood kindling with budding flame. The little two-inch boy she liked—liked her back! He was with her. He trusted her. And there was nothing in the world that could change that. Beth had to pinch herself a few times to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. This was exactly what she wanted, and it was turning out better than she could imagine.

“Beth?” he asked at a volume that only she could hear.

She lifted both her eyebrows and asked, “Whatsup?”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Her answer was a slow shrug with a bright smile and a slight shake of the head.

“I’ve been wanting to pick my nose for the last 30 minutes, but you keep staring!”

Oh, how much she liked Mateo! She wanted to snatch him up and make dirty love to him in front of the entire class. He was so adorable and talked to her like the friend she never had. Her panties became wet as she stared at him more intently. They needed to elevate their relationship to the next level. It was time.

“Where’s my dinner, fucker?” she asked.

“Since my mom is making us have dinner with her tomorrow, maybe we should have our private date today. Tonight?”

“Let’s do it.”

Lunch

===

“Do you think she drugged Mateo? Tricked him into fucking her?” Emma asked.

“I don’t think Mateo needs tricking to fuck Beth,” Hazel said. “He really likes her.”

“We should’ve been there for him! He’s probably getting tortured or something. She probably has a collar around his neck and is forcing him to do her homework. Or worse … maybe she’s making him do her workouts with him. Think about it. She’s doing sit-ups while he’s taped against her abs. She’s all sweating, her muscles flexing and getting pumped to twice their size. While he’s struggling to free himself from her hard bod. Getting tortured by that hot Amazon. He’s probably scared out of his mind!”

Hazel swallowed the excess saliva in her mouth. “That doesn’t sound like torture to me.”

“Slut.”

Lunch had just started, and Hazel came to the cafeteria with her girlfriend on her shoulder. The other students started trickling in, and both Hazel and Emma kept a lookout for Beth. They were eager to see Mateo again and confirm with their own eyes and ears that he was doing well.

They sat at their usual table, Emma standing on the table, when Jack came by and sat down with his tray of food.

“I’m back!” he said.

“What, what do you mean?” Emma asked.

“I’m back from my vacation,” he said with a smile as he grabbed his fork.

“You were on a vacation?” Hazel asked.

“Uh, yeah, I was on vacation,” Jack said, almost sounding offended.

Emma and Hazel looked at each other.

“Oh, yeah,” Emma said.

“That’s right,” Hazel said.

“You didn’t know I was on a vacation?”

“No, no, we did. Uh, um, where did you go?” Hazel asked.

“Are you kidding me? You didn’t know I was on a vacation?” He set his fork down and was clearly offended now.

“No, we did,” Hazel said. “We missed you.”

“Guys, I’ve been gone for a week.”

“A week?” Emma nearly shouted.

“You didn’t know.”

“No, we did. How are you?” Emma asked.

Jack’s eyes became narrow as he looked at his friends.

“Sorry, Jack.” Hazel shifted in her seat. “It’s been … hectic around here.”

From there, both Hazel and Emma caught Jack up to speed with everything. They left out the details with Tricia, since the principal had issued a gag-order on that topic. The fewer people that knew, the better.

Jack slammed his fork on the table. “You let Mateo go with Beth? Beth!”

They reassured Jack that Beth’s intentions were not only pure, but she’s helped Mateo many times since he downsized. Jack didn’t seem fully convinced and was just as eager as the girls to see his friend again.

Beth arrived and sat at the side of the table next to Hazel, across from Jack. She wore a content face as she plucked Mateo from her shoulder and placed him on the table next to Emma. The two little downsizers immediately hugged, with Emma doing most of the squeezing.

“What the fuck happened to you?” Emma asked.

“It’s a long story.”

“Hazel. Jack.” Beth said, sitting tall with her chin up. “Am I allowed to sit here now? Am I part of your little crew?”

Jack didn’t answer. He opted to bite his tongue.

Hazel patted Beth’s thigh, feeling her bare skin and taut muscles. “Of course you are, Beth.” Hazel’s hand lasted a moment too long on Beth’s leg.

“You should move your hand, unless you want your little girlfriend to be mad at you.”

Hazel, embarrassed, removed her hand.

“Or you know what?” Beth asked. “You can downsize for me. I’ll let you play on my body all day long if you’d like.”

“Ugh,” Jack groaned loudly.

Beth snapped her neck and looked at him square in the eyes. “You got something to say, short stuff?”

“Yeah, I do.” Jack tried to look unintimidated. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Jack, it’s fine,” Hazel said to him.

“I’m part of your crew, asshole,” Beth said.

Jack looked at Hazel, who kind of shrugged and accepted what Beth said. Then he looked down at the table at Mateo and Emma, who just finished hugging and stared back up at him, their hands still holding each other. Mateo gave him a look that told him to accept Beth.

The cafeteria was bustling now. The background noise was a haze of sound stemming from utensils and food trays getting slammed on tabletops. Students talked, gossiped, laughed, and called each other names. The downsized cafeteria in their massive terrarium in the center created no noise, as their soundproofed eating area shielded them from the troubles of the big world. Stale pizza and the smell of over-boiled mushy peas filled the noses of everyone there. Everyone was part of a social clique for the most part. They avoided and ignored the matters of the tables beside them, including the peculiar group that comprised mixed-sized students, plus Beth.

“You’re not part of our crew. You’re a manipulative bitch that tricked my friends into liking you.”

“Jack, stop!” Mateo yelled. “Don’t call my girlfriend names.”

Beth’s heart fluttered. Girlfriend?

“Bro, have you been drinking the Kool Aid or something?” Jack asked. “Hey, if you’re in danger, just blink three times fast.”

“Opposite of danger,” Beth said. “Mateo and I were made for each other.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Don’t be jealous of what we got.” Beth said.

“No.” Jack remembered when he asked Mateo if he could find him a downsized girl that was into humans. He wondered if that card was still in the deck.

Mateo said, “Bro, please don’t fight. Beth is legit. Ain’t that right Emma?”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Please, don’t make me say it,” she whined.

“C’mon. Jack needs to hear it from you, too.”

“Fine! Yes. Beth is strangely a good person—when she wants to be.”

Mateo elbowed Emma.

“I mean, she’s the reason I’m not dead. I kinda owe my life to her.”

Beth placed her hand down on the table next to Emma. She cringed but climbed aboard onto the massive palm. Thankfully, the A/C was running cold and Beth wasn’t sweating. Otherwise, her sweaty pheromones would’ve lowered Emma’s sexual inhibitions. Beth lifted Emma to her lips, and while giving Jack the side-eye, she kissed Emma—who kissed back.

“Proof enough, bitch?” Beth said.

Jack took a deep breath. “I should’ve stayed on vacation.”

Mateo caught everyone up with what happened, trapped with his mother. He went over the abuse … the spankings, the groundings. He even told them about the milk.

“You didn’t tell me that,” Beth said with concern. “She fucking hit you? How the hell can a human spank a downsizer?”

Hazel said, “It’s real easy, actually. You put them over your index finger, so their ass is up in the air, and then you whack it, like you're tapping a button quickly at the arcade.” Hazel thought for a moment while looking at Emma. “I probably shouldn’t have said that out loud.”

“I should fucking spank your mom with my fist,” Beth said to Mateo. “Let’s see how much she likes it when someone bigger hits her. God, that fucking pisses me off. How could she do that to someone so vulnerable and small? And to her own son? What the fuck is wrong with humans and their treatment of downsizers?”

Jack sat silently and noted the rage built up in Beth when learning about Mateo’s abuse.

“Why’d she spank you?” Emma asked.

“I wanted my phone so I could call Beth. I felt awful about missing our date. But my mom wouldn’t let up. She wanted me to stop talking about Beth, but I didn’t stop. I kinda did it to myself.”

“Fuck that, that’s not your fault,” Emma said.

“Wait,” Beth said. “You knew you’d get hit asking for your phone, but you did anyway? Just so I’d know, you didn’t ditch me?”

“Yeah. And my mom wasn’t kidding. I couldn’t sit for the whole day after she was through with me.”

“Oh god.” Beth swooped up Mateo in her hand and showered him in kisses.

Hazel and Emma let out awws as they watched the mixed-size couple embrace. Jack was also coming around to Beth. At least for Mateo’s sake.

“Did you know breast milk had pheromones?” Hazel asked Emma.

“Uh, yeah. I think. No one really talks about it because … I don’t know.”

“That’s so messed up,” Jack said. “I’d be so pissed if my mom—ya know, I don’t even want to finish that sentence.”

Beth said, “Mateo asked me to breastfeed him.” She grabbed her boobs and jiggled them. “I won’t be able to produce as much as his mom’s huge honkers, but I’ll make enough. Emma, would you like some? How about you, Jack? Well, you’ll have to downsize first.”

Jack said nothing and went back to eating his lunch.

Hazel said, “If Em’s drinking anyone’s milk, it’s gonna be mine.”

Beth rolled her eyes. “Have you seen my diet? It’s nutritious as fuck. I bet downsizers would get swole as hell if they drank my milk.”

Jack nearly spat out the water he was drinking when she said that.

On the way to their next class, Beth was talking to Mateo while he sat on her palm, his book bag beside him. Jack came running up to them and asked Beth for a moment.

“Hey, I just wanna say, I should’ve listened to the others sooner. If Hazel, Emma, and Mateo—you know, everyone—says you’re part of the crew, then I guess you’re part of the crew. Sorry for calling you names earlier.”

Beth was looking down at Jack with a slight grin. “Thank you for saying that. I hope we can be friends.”

“Me, too.”

It was hard paying attention in chemistry class. Mateo was becoming more enamored with Beth as the day wore on. Her black tank-top rode up her midriff and her smooth legs were begging to be explored and caressed. During a long lecture, Mateo slipped away from his desk and surprised Beth when jumped off the ledge of the desk and grabbed hold of her shirt. He scaled down the shirt and slid down her stomach and onto her lap.

Beth breathed hard through her nose as she felt her little boyfriend walking off her shorts and onto her bare thigh. She gripped her pen so tight that she nearly snapped it in two. Beth’s eyes carefully looked around and didn’t see anyone looking her way.

Mateo wasn’t one to break the rules, but he couldn’t resist not touching Beth for another second. And what was the harm? Boring lecture anyway. He got on his belly and crawled onto Beth’s kneecap. He looked down at her long shin, which looked like a ride at an amusement park. Beth was fiddling with her toes in her flip-flops, giving him one goal in mine.

It was your standard messy science classroom with fluorescent lighting that hummed and drowned out shadows. Under Beth’s desk, however, he was in the shadows. Not completely obscured, but it gave him the freedom to play with his girl’s impossibly long legs without being spotted.

He rotated so his feet pointed down the slide. While giving her leg a bear hug, he pushed himself over the precipice of her kneecap and slid down Beth’s leg. Her legs were creamy, his body glided down her silky leg that was packing impressive calve muscles.

Halfway down her shin, Mateo had an epiphany about Emma and Hazel. Those two horn-dogs had so much sex throughout the day, he thought it was just their nature. Just two deeply in love partners that were literally insatiable, so they had to have sex or do something sexually gratifying every hour. Now that he was Beth, he got it. His little cock grew as he slid and finally landed at Beth’s ankle. Was this normal for a mixed-sized couple? His hormones were on fire. Beth was sticky honey, and he was the fly trapped in it, unable and unwilling to escape.

God, she’s so big, he thought to himself. Unlike last night, he didn’t have to scale her feet because now they were level with the floor. He jogged across the top of her foot and made it to her toes. As he crawled under them, she lifted them up, allowing him to slide under. Once under her toes, she scrunched them up, wrapping his body in her embrace.

Her foot was warm, and so was the foamy flip-flop she was wearing. His little fingers massaged the underside of her toes, feeling their prints and microscopic detail that only a downsizer could experience. He gave her toes an awkward hug. Beth played with his body by making a wave with her toes and pressing down on his body from pinky to big toe. The pressure was unique. Yes, it compressed his body and threatened to squeeze the air out of his lungs, but it was like that protective pressure. Like a mama bear holding her baby bear tightly.

Mateo wondered about the danger he was in. The things Beth destroyed underfoot … Or, theoretically, how many downsizers could fall victim from just one step? Beth was so large, she could crush him like a brittle toothpick. But she would never do that.

His mind was conflicted. He was in danger of being crushed by a human 30 times his size with no effort on her part. But the gentle embrace of her peds made him feel safe as ever. His mind went into a spiral, unsure of what to make of the situation. But Mateo trusted and liked Beth with all his heart.

He thrusted his hips into the air, his crotch coming into contact with the underside of her toe. In no time, he was having sex with her foot. He continued humping her until he climaxed.

P.E.

===

“I’m skipping volleyball practice,” Beth said. They were walking down the hallway, heading towards the women's locker room. “I’m going to make it a gym day. That way, I can keep your ass close to me.”

“I didn’t bring gym clothes,” Mateo said.

“That’s fine. I’ll give you a good workout tonight.”

“Before or after our date?”

Beth gave him an impish grin. “After.”

“I can’t go into the girl’s locker room. It’s against the rules.”

“You can’t jack off to your girlfriend’s feet during class either, but here we are.” Beth stopped at the side of the hallway and ensured the coast was clear. “I’ll have to hide you for a bit.” With that, she stuffed Mateo into the pocket of her shorts and walked in.

It was a standard human-only locker room. It was on the dingy side, with inadequate lighting. The smell of mold and humid hot shower filled the air. The lockers were painted blue and were the kind that had two lockers stacked on each other. Beth had the top locker, which meant the bottom of the locker was about hip height. Between the rows of the lockers was a wooden bench, and the flooring composed of gray tiles. Just a standard, boring locker room that could be found in any public school.

Mateo hung out in her locker as Beth dressed into her gym clothes. It was a marvelous sight; like watching a personal striptease. He sat on the ground and watched Beth change into her tight shorts and school uniform shirt, which was speckled gray with a blue outline of an eagle on it. From Mateo’s vantage point, he couldn’t see any other girls, but he could hear them in other rows.

“I’m saving myself, Mateo. I can’t have you playing with my front-side just yet. So, that means ass for you. Not like you’d mind. Right?”

He shook his head. “I actually don’t.”

Beth plucked him and dropped him inside her underwear, right between her ass cheeks. There were many—many MHIP and downsizer protection laws busted in those few brief moments. Enough violations to revoke Beth’s license for a lifetime. But feeling her little boyfriend wriggle in her ass made it worth the risk.

Mateo recalled the first time he had human interaction with Hazel. How impressively large and surreal she appeared, like a living, breathing skyscraper. The amount of hesitation and mistrust he had in her before stepping on her hand. He remembered how smooth and delicate her movements were. How safe he felt within her embrace, and the way her fingers curled around him.

Then there was the much rougher touch of his mother. Fingers the size of trees, smacking his ass. Lifting him in the air and moving between rooms without care to whiplash, GeForces, or disorientation. Her handheld moments were the worst. Like going on a ride in a broken-down amusement park in a third-world country.

Then there were Beth’s handheld moments. They were rough, compared to Hazel, but heaven-sent compared to his mom. He could tell she tried her best. The many hours she practiced getting her MHIP showed in her handling. The extreme acceleration and deceleration were scary at first, but he’s grown accustomed to her unique handling.

But nothing prepared him for human locomotion that wasn’t the palm of the hand. According to MHIP regulations, they recommended against transporting downsizers in pockets. Because of the confined space and the movement of legs, a downsizer could be easily squeezed or crushed under unintentional pressures. Breast pockets were only recommended if the human had installed downsizer restraints. Like a seatbelt system, but sewn into the pocket. This way, the downsizer doesn’t risk falling out.

Transportation via the ass …

Well, the regulation authors never considered such a preposterous mode of travel. The catch-all rule disallowed such modes of transport. It stated: carry in hand or in a movement apparatus device approved for downsizer transport.

Beth’s ass—didn’t quite cut it.

But Mateo was okay with this. Hardly a downsizer for a week and a half, and he’d already experienced so much human interaction that the average downsizer just didn’t. Was traveling between two massive mountains that made up Beth’s muscular ass cheeks uncomfortable? Compared to Hazel’s gentle hands, sure. Compared to his mother? Hell no.

Mateo closed his eyes and allowed his body to succumb to Beth’s billowy flesh. A combination of fat and muscle making up her godly glutes, hugging and embracing him like two mountain ranges collapsing into a valley. It was a squeeze, and he had to take small whiffs of breath through his nose, but he survived in comfort. Anyone paying close attention to Beth’s ass would see a figure where her crack was. Mateo plastered against the material like Han Solo in Carbonite, except he was sporting a massive erection.

Beth quickly warmed up her arms and made it to the lat pull-down machine. She reached in her shorts and pulled out an exhausted, yet elated Mateo out.

“Wanna watch me workout?”

Mateo nodded with a thumbs up, still lying across her palm.

Beth sat on the machine and placed Mateo in her lap. She set the pin on the weight stack and began pulling down on the bar. Her upper back muscles engaged and became engorged with blood as she worked out. Soon her back looked like an upside-down triangle. On the next set, she placed the pin lower on the stack of weights, significantly increasing the resistance.

“What do you think?”

Mateo didn’t know if that was a lot of weight for Beth. Anything from his perspective looked like a tremendous amount of weight. It was like ten large black plates that she lifted to the sky every time she pulled down on the bar. The single pulley at the top strained as the cable attached from the bar to plates slid across. Her breathing was hard, and her chest rose and lowered with each gulp of air she took in—enough to inflate a downsized hot-air balloon.

Mateo got on his feet. “Holy shit, Beth. I knew you were strong, but you’re like—you’re like superhero strong.”

Beth smirked. Newfound motivation flooded her. She grabbed the bar and pulled it all the way down until it touched the top of her chest. She did it ten more times with perfect form. Her muscles felt stronger than ever. She wanted Mateo to know she was strong. She wanted to prove it! Beth grunted and pulled so hard on the bar, there was momentum as the weight shot up into the air, providing slack in the cable. She caught the weight and reset the bar.

She snarled as she breathed hard, her back flaring out. “How was that?” she asked him. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead.

“Great! But that’s not it, right? You got more in you. I bet you could go two plates heavier.”

Two more plates? That was heavy, even for Beth. She set the pin lower and grabbed the bar. She looked at Mateo on her lap, who cheered her on with a clap and fist pump. Her body surged with adrenaline. She won’t disappoint her two-inch boyfriend. Beth grunted and pulled the bar with all her might. The first 4 reps were easy, but it became hard, fast.

“You got this, Beth!”

She sounded like a tiger as she heaved the bar back down to her chest. Her knuckles turning white. Her upper back flared out so much, she thought she could fly if it were possible to flap them like wings. Nine. Ten. Beth slammed the weight down and let out a long breath before inhaling rapidly.

“Holy fucking shit,” she said.

Beth grabbed Mateo and sat him on the seat as she got up. Like a bodybuilder in front of judges, Beth showed off her back and flexed for Mateo.

“You make it look so easy!” he said.

Beth stopped flexing and looked at her hands. She just set a personal record, all thanks to Mateo. That little devil, she thought.

“Mateo, can you do that again?”

“Do what?”

“Motivate me.”

“Sure. But I did nothing really. That was all you, Beth. You’re just so strong and big, I bet you can lift the roof off the gym.”

Those words … Those delightful words! Nobody—nobody spoke to Beth like that. Words of encouragement and admiration. It might’ve been because the blood was pumping hard, or maybe it was Mateo’s words. She felt like she was going to faint.

Beth moaned as new self-confidence surged. “Fuck yeah.”

[Cue 80s montage, feat. Hearts on Fire from Rocky IV.]

Push day? Pull day? Legs? It was a full-body day. Beth went to the bench, pumped out sets, while Mateo cheered from between her breasts. He ducked as he watched the bar with weights, heavier than half-a-dozen downsize homes put together, get thrusted into the air like it was nothing.

Beth worked out her biceps by doing hammer curls at the weight rack, where Mateo shouted at her that the weights were too low. She grunted and yelled as she threw each weight up, her biceps becoming rock hard and pumping to twice their size.

Then it was off to squats. Mateo stood between her feet and marveled at her legs and thighs flexing and relaxing as she hefted the bar on her back. Beth was sweating more profusely now. When she was down with a set, she racked the weight and scooped up Mateo in her palm.

“Whaddya think?”

“Pretty good, I think. But you’d work out your glutes better with a wider stance and holding the bar lower.”

Beth growled. She placed him in the back pocket of her shorts and prepared for another set. She grabbed the bar and hefted it off the rack. Beth took Mateo’s advice and performed the exercise with a wider stance. She felt her ass fill up her shorts and stretch the fabric, compressing Mateo between her shorts and ass cheeks. She pancaked him, but he was safe, as she performed each rep. When she was done, she pulled him out and asked him how her form was.

Again, he was lying on her palm on his back, out of breath and a little sore. He only had the energy to lift a thumbs up.

Beth did three sets on the row machine with Mateo kept safely between her monstrous thighs. He cheered her on the entire time.

Mateo stood on the clamp that attached the cable to the rope. Beth was doing tricep pull-downs with the rope, while Mateo rode it like a ride. Like a coach shouting at football players on a sled during drills, so did Mateo shout words of encouragement to Beth. Up and down he went, as Beth’s triceps engaged and pulled the rope down.

Mateo was on his back, looking up at the ceiling while Beth did pushups, her boobs coming dangerously close to his body.

“I believe in you, Beth! You got this!” Under his breath he said, “I hope.”

Beth finished her workout with abs. She got on her knees and held the rope behind her neck. She performed a crunch, pulling the rope down behind her, as her abs did all the work. Mateo was on the floor between her knees as her shirt became stained with her sweat.

“Just fifty more!” he shouted.

Beth was doing far more weight and reps than she was accustomed to. But there was no room for disappointing Mateo. She had to do this! Beth heaved and grunted through all fifty reps. On the last one, she wasn’t sure she’d make it until she saw Mateo jumping up and down, cheering her on the entire time. She performed the crunch and let go of the rope, letting the weight slam.

“Holy fucking shit, I did it.” She lifted her shirt, showing off her cut abs to Mateo. Both she and Mateo collapsed on the ground to catch their breaths.

“Don’t get too close.” Beth wiped her sweat off with a towel. “As much as I want to see you turn into a poon hound, lapping up my sweat like a thirsty camel in the desert, this is not the place or time for that.” She tossed the towel in the bin and pumped hand sanitizer on her palm and wiped her hands clean before picking up Mateo.

She snuck him back into the girl’s locker room when no one was looking. Beth placed him in her locker while she grabbed a fresh towel and shower shoes. She stripped naked, eliciting a whoa from Mateo, seeing her in all her nude glory after a hard workout. Her veins were popping, sweat glistening against her tan body, and her muscles engorged and defined. Beth wasn’t a bodybuilder at a Miss Olympia competition big. She was packing muscle, sure, but her creamy skin and curvy lines exuded powerful femininity. She looked closer to a volleyball player and third-year CrossFit-er.

“You’re goddamn right, whoa.” She wrapped the towel around her body and shut the locker closed. “Don’t go anywhere,” she said through the closed locker door. “I’m gonna shower and be right back.”

Mateo sat on a tube of half-used hand cream, a little miffed that Beth didn’t take him with her to the shower. He guessed the risk wasn’t worth it. They got away with a lot of things already, that it was probably best not to push their luck further.

The locker door had grills on the top and bottom that allowed air to circulate within the locker. It also provided Mateo with some light from the dim locker room lights. What a wild day-and-a-half it has been. Pheromones. What a cruel joke the world played on downsizers. I mean, Hazel’s pheromones were trippy and fun, he thought. I wonder if Beth’s pheromones would be the same.

Funny thing about his mother’s pheromones was that it didn’t make him into a hyper-sexed downsizer. It made him subservient and revert to a young person magnetized to his mother. He hated his mom for that. But that was so … it was so her. He actually didn’t expect her to act differently.

He pulled out his phone and called her.

“M’hijo? M’hijo, are you okay?” Sofia asked, her voice crackling over the speaker of the miniature plastic phone. She was panicky and blurted her words on top of each other. “Is that girl treating mi chicito ángel bien? Probrecito. You should be here with me and not with some giant girl! She could crush you if she’s not careful!”

“Mom, mom, I’m okay.” He let out his breath and shook his head. “Beth has been so awesome. We’ve been having so much fun together at school.” He paused as emotions came flooding in. It made his nose feel tingly, and his eyes water a little. “You know, for the first time, I’m kinda glad I downsized. Almost makes me wish I did this earlier if I knew it could be this much fun.”

“Ay dios.” The Spanish really came out when she was upset. “Mateo, please tell me you’re not doing anything naughty. I said no hanky-pankie.”

That made him so uncomfortable, he shifted in his seat. “What does that mean?”

“You’re too young for that! I knew you shouldn’t have gone with that girl.”

Mateo could hear Liam in the background, talking in Mateo’s defense. He couldn’t exactly interpret what he was saying, but it seemed to assuage his mother.

“Okay,” she said. “Okay, okay. I get it. You’re going to do it no matter what I say. But please, m’hijo, please use protection.”

“Oh c’mon. We’re not doing anything like that.”

“Condom, Mateo!”

“What? Like a human one?” Mateo shook his head. “What the heck am I saying? I won’t talk sex with you, mom.”

“Ugh. Okay, but is she nice to you? She’s not making you do things against your will, is she? Is she respecting you, even though you’re small?”

Hypocrite, he thought. “Mom, I told you. Beth is like a dream. I think … I think I’m falling for her.”

There was silence on the other end.

“Mom?”

“No, I’m just—that’s nice, m’hijo.”

“Mom?”

“Yes.”

“I know this is hard for you. But thank you. Thanks for letting me go with Beth. I was stupidly angry about downsizing and—well, everything. But I feel like it’s been worth it. Now that I’m with her, it was definitely worth it.”

Sofia sniffled.

The heartfelt moment was shattered when Mateo heard a commotion coming from two other girls in the locker room. They were chatting and laughing loudly. What was more alarming was that they were walking down the aisle he was in.

“Hey, mom, I gotta go.”

“Why, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing. School is almost over and we’re about to leave.” His voice became a whisper towards the end of his sentence.

“M’hijo, is something wrong? Why are you talking like that?”

He looked out the slit of the locker door and saw the massive figures of two girls walk in front of the locker. His heartbeat became rapid, and skin dotted with goosebumps when he recognized the voices. It sounded like—

“Trish, you’re such a bitch!”

There was giggling and some playful punches being thrown. Mateo's eyes bulged when he saw it was Lin and Tricia outside of the locker he was in. This was not good. He was getting flashbacks from the bathroom incident. He couldn’t let Tricia find him here—she’ll just assume he was peeping on her again.

“I can’t let the teacher catch me on the phone,” Mateo lied.

“Alright then, call me as soon as you get home!”

“Love you, bye.” He hung up before his mom could say her goodbyes.

Mateo slipped his phone into his pocket and moved his head to look out the slit in the door. Tricia and her friend were stripping, using the lockers opposite from Beth.

“I only have one left,” Lin said. “God. They’re so useless! If they think they can live in our world, draining our economy and resources for free, they’re wrong. They gotta pay. You’d think they’d be at least useful as little sex toys. But those fuckers can’t even do that! My pussy destroyed them!”

“If that’s true, why do you have one left?” Tricia asked, unhooking her bra. Within the locker, Mateo leaned in. “Why keep a useless one around?”

“He’s … he’s special. Handsome, same age as me. Brown, buzz cut hair and built like a truck. He was also a lot taller than the other ones we got.”

Tricia blew air out of her nose while smiling. “You getting weak on me, Lin? Sympathizing with the enemy, are we?”

“Say whatever the fuck you want. He’s useful as a pussy pet. I’m keeping him.”

“Where’s he now?”

“I tied him up to my dildo with my shoelace. I then duct taped that to the bottom of my underwear drawer.”

Tricia raised a brow. “You don’t think he’ll escape?” She then pulled down her shorts, leaving herself in her underwear.

Lin was completely naked and wrapping a towel around her body. For a petite Asian girl, she had above average breasts that made Tricia jealous to look at. “Not the way I tied him up. He ain’t going nowhere. So, what about your share? How’s that nurse with the fatty tits you wanted so badly?”

Mateo perked up. Nurse? He wasn’t entirely following their conversation, but the mention of a nurse perked up his ears. That couldn’t be a coincidence … could it?

“All gone.” Tricia took off her underwear and grabbed a towel.

It was the first time Mateo saw Tricia naked. And again, he felt guilty for breaking her privacy. He looked away after a second, but felt immensely guilty.

“Gone? I guess that’s not surprising. How’d you do it?”

Tricia looked around the locker room and listened to see if anyone was nearby. Instead of being direct with her words, she danced around the details. “I was hungry.”

“Again?” Lin almost yelled. “Wait, to all of them?”

Tricia grinned and nodded. “What can I say? I was starving.”

“What the fuck, Trish?”

A beeping sound caused both girls to snap their necks towards the locker Mateo was in.

“What was that?” Lin asked.

“I don’t … know.” Tricia raised a brow as she stepped over the bench and looked at the row of lockers.

Inside, Mateo was fumbling with his phone, trying to mute it. His mother texted him, yelling at him not to hang up the phone on her, and that she wanted to say she loves him, blah, blah, blah. Though it was a well-intentioned text, it may have cost him his life.

“Fuck!” Lin said under her breath. “Do you think someone was recording us?”

“Shut up,” Tricia said. They said nothing that could be held up in court. It was too vague. Right? Either way, they needed to tighten their lips and not say anything more incriminating.

Tricia guessed where she heard the beeping sound and decided on a locker. She grabbed the handle and swung it open. She gasped. A pair of moldy white socks. She slammed the locker door and pinched her nose, looking over her shoulder and sharing a disgusted look with Lin. Girls could be so nasty.

Unbeknownst to them, Tricia opened the locker next to the one Mateo was in. He stood frozen and looked in the dimly lit compartment for somewhere to hide. Beth’s clean clothes were hanging by hooks and out of reach for hiding. Her sweaty clothes were in a pile on the floor of the locker room. She was adamant about keeping her sweaty things away from Mateo.

There was Beth’s cell phone lying flat on the ground. But that wouldn’t hide Mateo at all, unless he propped it up. The tube of cream—that was the only thing that could obscure his body. He jumped behind it just as Tricia slammed the adjacent locker shut. His body rattled from the shockwave of the locker door slam, his ears ringing. Still, he fought past the sensory overload and lay next to the tube, shielding himself as best he could.

Tricia moved to the next locker. The one Mateo was hiding in and positioned her finger on the clasp. She then moved it up, ready to swing the door open, but the clasp didn’t budge.

“There’s a lock on it, Trish.”

Tricia looked up and saw a combo lock and cursed to herself. Undeterred, she lowered her head and aligned her eyes to look through the slit of the locker door. She squinted and allowed her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She spotted a phone and hoped to God it wasn’t recording audio. But why would it be? No normal person would leave a phone to record open air. The beeping must’ve come from the phone and just rattled their nerves.

“Well, look who it is.”

Tricia sprang up from the locker and held her towel tightly in front of her chest. She winced and let out a low groan as she saw the source of the voice.

“Trying to take a sniff of my underwear or something?” Beth asked, dripping wet from her recent shower. The tall girl was smirking and exuded confidence while wearing a towel that strained to cover her long nude body. “Y’know, you could’ve just asked, Tricia. I’d be glad to shove my panties up your stupidly large nose.”

“Fuck off, She-Hulk.” Tricia didn’t exactly come off confident. She was a full foot shorter than Beth and standing in her shadows. Lin didn’t bother getting involved and took a step back until her back was against the row of lockers.

“The fuck were you trying to do, anyway?”

“I heard a sound, okay?” Tricia almost yelled. “I thought someone was trying to record us.”

Beth laughed. “Are you fucking kidding me? That’s what you’re going with? You think I’m stupid enough to think anyone would wanna see you two naked?”

Tricia didn’t have a retort for that. She held her hand up dismissively and groaned under her breath. “C’mon, Lin.” She grabbed Lin’s hand and guided her past the tall Amazonian. “Let’s go before she steps on us.”

Beth giggled, having won the verbal exchange. Tricia had nothing on her. Once the girls were gone and in the shower room, Beth felt safe to unlock her locker and open it. She saw Mateo peeking from behind her tube of cream.

“Are they gone?” he whispered.

“I need a pet name for you,” Beth said, ignoring his question. “‘Babe’ and ‘Honey’ sound too old-fashioned. Maybe something like ‘little king’ or ‘little boo.’”

“I thought Tricia was going to catch me.” He dug his face into his palms as he felt his heart trying to return to a normal pace.

“Boo bear? Or just boo?”

“Thank God you locked the door. My mom texted me, and that’s why Tricia was trying to open the locker. I don’t think she thought it was me, but she was really curious.”

“Of course I locked it, boo. Hmm, that might work. Anyway, did you really think I was careless enough to leave you by yourself without locking you in? I gotta keep my little boyfriend safe from the big, bad world.”

“Thank you, Beth.”

“Boo.”

“Thank you, boo.”

“You’re safe with me, remember that. I won’t let anyone take you away.”

Someone clearing their throat caused Beth to whip around, water from her wet hair splattering outwards in a line. Beth looked down to see the blonde, Principal Sullivan, looking up at her. She didn’t look happy. Well, she never looked happy. She always appeared stoic, playing chess in her head by strategizing three moves ahead.

Today, Principal Sullivan was wearing a gray skirt that was a hair above the knees. White buttoned blouse and a matching gray jacket. Her legs were hidden behind dark nylons, feet clad in black heels. Her clothes didn’t have a single wrinkle, and she presented herself impeccably. Despite her incredibly professional appearance, she went with an uncharacteristic hairdo, choosing to let her hair down. Her golden hair shimmering in the scant lighting.

She tapped something on her phone and slipped it into her pocket. “Good afternoon, Miss Palmetto. I think you know why I’m here?”

Beth was in her shower shoes, creating a puddle where she stood from her recent shower. Her towel barely covered her nipples and strained to cover her crotch. Quite the opposite appearance from the professional principal. Though Principal Sullivan was wearing heels, Beth still towered over her. Beth shrugged and said, “I don’t know.”

She sighed. “I’ll be taking Mr. Rodriguez now.” She presented her hand, palm faced up.

“I … uh …”

“No use trying to hide him. I know everything that goes on in my school. Including the location of all downsizers. So, as you might’ve guessed, I was a little alarmed when I saw a male downsizer in the girl’s locker room.” She made a tsk, tsk smacking sound with her tongue. “First the girl’s bathroom and then the girl’s locker room. Mr. Rodriguez didn’t waste time, did he?”

“It’s not his fault! I brought him here so I can keep a close eye on him.”

“Miss Palmetto, I’ll make this easy. One hour detention with me, right now. You can collect him afterwards. Hand him over now. Trust me. It’s better than the alternative.”

That ominous threat could mean anything. Beth and the rest of the school knew not to push Principal Sullivan. “Alright fine,” Beth said, scooping up Mateo and turning to Miss Sullivan. “It’ll be okay,” she said to Mateo. “I’ll pick you right up after your detention.” She tilted her hand so that he gently slid onto the principal’s much daintier hand.

Mateo looked back at Beth, frightened and hopeless. He heard the deal, or should he say threat? Mateo knew making Miss Sullivan happy was their only way not to escalate the punishment, which could mean revoking Beth’s right to carry Mateo in school. Beth made the right call, as much as it pained to separate herself from her Mateo.

Principal Sullivan nodded, turned, and walked out of the locker room without saying another word.

Downsizing by MXP