Taller - Ch 3

Later on, sitting on the school bus, Lori struggled to get comfortable again. This time she had ample space for her legs. However, she was unsure of what to do with them. If she tried to sit normally with her legs bent over the edge of the seat, then her butt would be far from the back of the seat, making her have to sit precariously upright without anything to lean back against while her feet dangled above the floor. If she sat with her back leaned against the back of the seat, then her legs would be sticking out straight in front of her, her tiny feet standing up. This was more stable, but she felt kind of silly and childish. Not wanting to fall and climb back up onto the seat again, she settled for the safer option, even if it was a bit embarrassing. As difficult as simply sitting was, it was nothing compared to the near impossible challenge of climbing up the stairs onto the bus, but she wanted to put that ordeal out of her mind until she needed to descend them later. All of these difficulties with just the bus made her fear how badly the rest of the day could go.

“Morning, Lori,” said Hannah, taking a seat right beside her. “How did things go with the doctors yesterday?”

Hannah’s relatively gigantic body intimidated Lori into silence. She must have been more than twice the size of Lori now.

Noticing her friend’s discomfort, Hannah asked, “What’s the matter?”

Lori took a breath and asked, “Do you notice anything different about me today?”

Hannah gave her a long look. “Did you get a haircut?”

“I got an everything-cut,” Lori said. “Do you remember why I was going to the doctors yesterday?”

Hannah stared off into the distance, trying to remember. “Something about your height… I think. Weird… Why can’t I remember?”

“Look at me,” Lori said. “Really look.”

Hannah stared at Lori. After a few seconds, her eyes went wide as the realization of what she was seeing sunk in. “You’re short!” she declared. “You were so tall yesterday! What? Why didn’t I notice that right away?”

The bus stopped and more students got on. “Hey there,” said Valerie as she took a seat across the aisle from them. “What’s up?”

“Lori shrunk!” Hannah declared. “Look at her.”

Valerie gave Lori a close look, and she had her own moment of realization. “What the hell?” she asked. “What’s going on?”

“I figured out why I was getting taller,” Lori explained, “but when I tried to fix it, something went wrong, and I ended up like this.”

“Well,” Hannah said. “What was it? What did this to you?”

“I’m sorry,” Lori said. “I wish I could tell you, but I promised that I wouldn’t say anything about what is doing this to me. It’s kinda complicated.”

“You can’t tell us anything?” Valerie asked.

“No,” Lori said. “I’m really sorry. Basically, people won’t notice how I’ve changed unless they really pay attention to me. I’m hoping to get back to normal soon. I just need to make it through the day.”

Valerie and Hannah were silent for a few seconds.

“Well,” Hannah said. “If you can’t talk about it, then I won’t press you. This is all so… amazing. Don’t worry. I’ll be there to help.”

“We’ll both be there to help,” Valerie said, “whatever is going on.”

Lori smiled, feeling that her day might not go as badly as she had feared.

***

Getting off the bus was almost as much of a challenge as getting on it. However, gravity and a firm grip on the railing helped her down safely. Hannah and Valerie were there to assist, but they gave Lori space to descend on her own, in order to preserve what she had left of her dignity. Lori appreciated it. Though, after that, the three of them needed to part ways to go to their first classes.

“You’ll be okay,” Hannah said. “We’ll see you later. You can do it.”

Valerie nodded.

Then, they separated in the crowd of students flowing into the hallways. It was somewhat terrifying for Lori to be lost in that forest of legs and butts and crotches. She was too short for most people to notice her, which made the experience all the more perilous. Repeatedly, she just barely avoided being hip checked, tripped, or stepped on. When she finally made it to her first class, she was relieved to have survived the trip. She barely even minded how annoying it was to climb up to sit at her desk or how useless the desktop was to her at her current height, barely being able to see over the top of it.

Fortunately, George’s glamor spell worked well on everyone, so Lori was able to go unnoticed for most of the day. She was able to sneak a ride on the elevators, despite them being reserved for students who could not climb the stairs. Seeing as she was one of those students now, she saw no problem with using them although she did need to ask for help to press the buttons. The only other problems she had, besides navigating the building and oversized furniture, involved teachers inquiring why she had brought no bag or classwork with her. Lori lost some points, but she couldn't care less. All that mattered was making it through the day and going home to see George.

***

Gym class was even more annoying than it had been yesterday. They were playing volleyball, and Lori found it impossible to participate at all. Valerie had kindly picked her for her team and kept close to Lori to protect her from the ball whenever it flew their way. When it was Lori’s turn to serve, she gave the ball a half-hearted bump and moved on.

“Come on,” said Brandy, who was on the opposing team again. “If shorty is not even going to try, why did she even put her uniform on in the first place?”

“Why do you care?” Lori asked, only now realizing that her temper had been building all day. Furious words came spilling out. “Just mind your own damn business, you big stupid jerk. God, you’re annoying. Do you really believe that anybody wants to hear what you think? It’s gym class. Who cares?”

Brandy appeared too shocked by Lori’s outburst to even respond.

“Nice one,” Valerie said, giving Lori a smile.

They finished up the game. While Brandy’s team managed to win, it was clear that she still bore a grudge against Lori for her outburst.

***

The day went on. Lori took relief in the realization that being small had the advantage rendering her practically invisible to most people. It was a nice change of pace from being the center of attention as an improbably tall girl. By the time Lori met Hannah in the cafeteria for lunch, she was convinced that the rest of the day would likely pass by problem free.

“So,” Hannah said. “I know you can’t tell me everything, but can you at least say if you might be turning back to normal again soon?”

“I hope so,” Lori said. “Maybe even today.”

Lori’s phone buzzed. She took it out and was relieved to see that George had texted her.

“What are you smiling about?” Hannah asked. “Is that your boyfriend texting you?”

Lori felt her face flush. “No,” she said, truthfully, although she found herself wishing it was a lie.

However, before Lori could even read George’s message, her phone was snatched from her stubby fingers.

“Hey!” Lori cried and turned to see that gym-class jerk, Brandy, lifting Lori’s phone high out of her reach. “Give it back!” Lori demanded.

Brandy was flanked by two girls who looked like a pair of chuckling bodyguards.

“What are you doing?” Hannah asked, standing up.

“Little Lori called me a ‘big stupid jerk’ earlier,” Brandy said, taking a step back while holding the phone above her head. “I want her to apologize.”

Lori sighed and got down from her seat to chase her phone. “Give me back my phone.” She reached up for it, but her short arms had no chance of grabbing it. Her desperate hopping and swiping only drew laughs from Brandy and her goonish girlfriends.

“What’s the matter?” Brandy asked, taunting. “Are your arms too short?” She laughed, and her friends joined in laughing with her.

Lori felt an eruption of fury, as if a volcano had let loose within her. The pent up frustration of being stuck at the wrong size for too long burst forth. Squealing, she gave Brandy’s hips a shove, forcing the taller girl back a step, but not bothering her enough to stop her laughing.

Lori looked at her phone, wishing that it would slip from Brandy’s hand, and noticed something strange happening. The phone seemed to be lowering down, but Brandy’s arm had not moved. Lori realized that Brandy’s arms were actually getting shorter, steadily losing length without getting any thinner. Her hands stayed the same size and looked increasingly silly at the end of such stubby limbs.

“Brandy!” said one of her friends, pointing at Brandy’s arms.

Brandy finally noticed what was happening when her arms had shrunk to less than a foot long. She made a sound, like something between a gasp and a yelp, dropping Lori’s phone into Lori’s hands. Brandy held up her hands and watched them be pulled closer to her, until her arms disappeared altogether, leaving her normal hands strangely attached to her shoulders.

Unsurprisingly, Brandy shrieked in horror and ran off, screaming and crying, flapping her hands like useless dodo wings.

Hannah and Lori exchanged a stunned look.

Lori was too shocked by what had just happened to even think of how to respond.

“Let’s get out of here,” Hannah said, taking charge. She grabbed her bag and then dragged Lori by the wrist out of the lunchroom.

It was only after they reached the back door that was propped open for gym classes to use that Lori finally managed to say something, “W-was that because of me?”

Hannah did not respond. They left the building and ducked into some nearby bushes. Lori stood there, staring at her stubby hands as Hannah texted Valerie to come join them in their escape.

***

Hannah and Valerie took turns letting Lori ride piggyback on them while the other one carried their bags. They kept off the main roads, walking through parks and backyards where they could. Hannah filled Valerie in on what had happened to Brandy’s arms.

“I almost wish I had been there to see it,” Valerie said. “Not that she deserved that, but she was due some kind of payback.”

Lori did not say a word. She just rode her friends, worrying if she were somehow contagious. Could she be accidentally passing on her curse to other people? Should she be letting her friends touch her right now?

Nothing seemed to be happening to them, which made Lori doubt she was dangerous, but she was left confused. Desperately, she wanted to see George and ask him what was going on.

“We’re here,” Hannah declared as they pushed through the bushes into Lori’s backyard. They walked around to the front door and set Lori down.

Valerie and Hannah stood there, sweaty and panting, smiling at her.

“We did it,” Valerie said. “You want us to come in, or do you need to do secret stuff now?

“Secret stuff,” Lori said. “Sorry.”

“No problem,” Hannah said and turned to Valerie. “Let’s go hang out at my house. We can eat junk food and do something stupid.”

“Sounds like a great way to play hooky,” Valerie replied.

The two of them gave Lori a wave and walked off.

“Good luck!” Hannah said. “Let us know if you get back to normal. Okay?”

“Okay,” Lori shouted back and watched her friends walk off, feeling terribly lucky to have them in her life.

Then, Lori turned to the front door, opened it, and entered the house. She sat down on the first step of the stairs and texted George, begging him to come home now.

***

“Her arms shrank!?” George replied later on when he heard what had happened to Brandy.

Lori nodded. She was seated on his bed again, watching him as he gathered arcane tools to cast a new spell. “It was awful. As bad as she was bullying me, she didn’t deserve that. I mean, how’s she supposed to even wipe her butt now?”

George shrugged. “We’ll set her right, soon. Don’t worry.”

“First, you’ll need to fix me,” Lori said. “Your text said you had a theory about my shrinking.”

“It was just a theory, but what you told me about Brandy confirms it’s true,” George said.

“Well, what is it? Something bad?”

George smiled. “Something good,” he said. “Let me undo my spell first. Then, I’ll explain. No waiting for the morning this time. I’m forcing this one to happen right away.”

He finished his preparations while Lori waited, wondering what the “good” thing might be.

“Here we go,” he said, casting a spell her way.

Lori felt energy rush into her, filling her up, forcing her body to grow. Her stubby limbs stretched longer and longer. Her feet extended lower to touch the floor as her head rose up higher. Despite all of the extra height she gained, her clothes continued to fit. She reached her original height and kept growing, sprouting all the way up to seven feet tall again, her bare midriff returning. When the growing stopped, Lori felt a bit dizzy, and her body felt scarily stretched out again.

“I don’t know if this is better or worse,” she said in a deeper voice.

“There,” George said. “I’ve undone all the magic I cast on you.”

Lori looked down at her super tall body and asked, “What are you talking about? Your growth spell is still on me.”

He shook his head. “It’s not my spell.”

“Then, whose is it?” she asked. “Mine?”

He nodded.

“What?”

“You cast that spell on yourself the first time we met,” he said.

“I…” Lori was at a loss for words. “I can’t cast spells.”

“You were holding a powerful crystal when you made a wish,” he explained. “You wished to be taller. Your spell made your wish come true.”

Again, Lori stared at her tall body, struggling to believe that she could have done this to herself.

“You see,” he continued, “the spell I cast on you yesterday was supposed to counteract another spell I had cast, but that first spell wasn’t my spell. It was yours. So, instead of reducing your overall height by two feet, it made you two feet shorter than your normal height. It kind of overrode the spell you cast on yourself.”

“But,” she said. “Magic is a hereditary thing, right? My mom doesn’t have magic powers.”

“What about your dad?”

Lori frowned. “He… passed away… when I was very young.”

“I’m sorry,” George said.

“It’s alright,” she said. “But, you think he might have been… like you?”

George nodded. “We live in secret. Maybe your mother never knew.”

After a moment of quiet, Lori said, “I can do magic?”

George nodded again.

“Oh no!” she said, having realized something bad. “So, what happened to Brandy in the cafeteria? I did that?”

“You did,” George said. “When we first discover how to use our magic, strong emotions can trigger accidental spellcasting.”

Remembering Brandy’s tears, Lori said, “I feel a little sick.”

“Don’t worry about it,” George said. “My special talent is glamor spells and other mind altering spells. I can make her forget about your spell after you undo it.”

“So,” Lori said. “Is my special talent making things longer and shorter?”

“Maybe,” he said. “Or, maybe it's just that you can alter people’s bodies.”

Knowing that Brandy could be turned back to normal again, Lori began feeling kind of thrilled at the possibilities. First, though, she would need to turn herself back to normal. “What do I do to fix myself?” she asked.

He handed her a crystal, the same one she had been holding when she had accidentally cast her first spell. “Focus your emotions on making yourself your normal height,” he suggested.

Lori nodded and shut her eyes, clutching the crystal in her hands. She pictured her body back at her regular height, feeling the right size again would make her so happy. She wanted to feel that way right now.

“It’s working!” George said.

Lori looked down to see the crystal glowing orange. Her body was shrinking. All of her absurdly lanky features were shortening back to a more average length. Her limbs, her neck, her abs, everything reduced back to its regular size. Then, when she noticed her hands and feet become the right shape again, the light of the crystal dimmed. Once more, her body was back at five feet tall.

“It worked!” she cried. “I’m normal again.”

“You’re better than normal,” he said. “You’ve begun to unlock your magic.”

Lori leapt to her feet and threw her arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug. “Thank you!” she cried. “Thank you so much.”

George awkwardly hugged her back, and Lori felt how strange it was for him to be taller than her again after having been shorter only a moment ago. She realized that she might have actually preferred him being at least a little shorter than her.

Again, Lori felt some magic flowing through her, having become much more attuned to the sensation of it.

“Lori?” George said. “What are you doing?” His voice cracked up slightly.

They let go of each other, and Lori watched in amazement as her body grew taller and his body shrank shorter. They became the same height for a moment, then Lori rose above him. When their changes slowed to a stop, Lori had risen close to six feet tall and George had fallen to just barely more than five feet. Making him look a little too young for high school.

“Oh no!” he squeaked, his voice sounding distinctly childish now. “You shrank me!”

“S-sorry,” Lori said, trying to hide her amusement at how immature he seemed now. “It was an accident. I swear.”

“Turn me back,” he demanded.

“Whoa,” she said, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s not be too hasty. I’m still learning how all of this works. I might only make it worse if I’m not careful.”

George looked worried, but also there was a hint of wonder on his face, leading Lori to suspect that he might be actually enjoying their new relative sizes.

“Besides,” she added. “You’re kind of cute like this.”

George replied with a nervous half-smile.

Lori smiled back, satisfied at how powerful she felt all of a sudden. For the first time in weeks, she had regained some control of her life. She was a good height at last: taller, but not too tall. Who knows? Maybe George would come to like being short. Stranger things had happened, and Lori was excited to see where this strangeness would lead them next.

The End