Chapter #4A Life-Changing Encounter by: matthias   (Chapter originally written by PhoenixStriker)
"Ah, wait!" Mari exclaimed, excitedly jabbing her finger at the photo album.
The picture depicted a twelve-year-old Mari standing on the front steps of your own house. She had a soft, somewhat amused smile on her face, and had both hands held together and thrust out towards the camera. Sitting in those hands, and blushing as red as a beet, was twelve-year-old you, just under an inch in height and with a dopey expression on your face. The picture was of the first day you'd ever met Mari, a cherished memory that still made you happy to think about...even if it hadn't been wholly pleasant.
*FLASHBACK BEGINS*
You sat on the edge of the desk, aimlessly kicking your legs. You'd never liked math classes all too much, and the Pre-Algebra class you were in was the roughest so far. Sure, you had some inspirations of one day being an Engineer, or something along those lines, to try and help your fellow affected people out. But, as far as your twelve-year-old mind was currently concerned, math class was boring and gave out way too much homework.
Before you could dwell any longer on that, your eye was naturally drawn to the classroom door swinging open.
From the moment you'd started tangling with puberties thrall, girls had started becoming something to be in awe over, and not be disgusted by 'cooties' and the like. Even still, calling an intense feeling in your chest 'love at first sight' felt corny...and yet that was exactly how you would've described the pounding in your heart and the faint burning in your cheeks as you beheld this girl strolling so confidently into the classroom.
You first noticed the girl's attractive, deeply tanned complexion and long, wavy, chocolate-brown hair. You next noticed the girl's fairly stunning physique. She was a good two or three inches taller than anyone else in the class, having clearly started her own growth spurt ahead of the curve. This girl was obviously the most attractive girl in your class, and you felt a strong crush brewing before you could even finish processing the sight of her.
No...more than a crush. You felt almost...destined to be with this girl.
Your math professor cleared her throat and stood up. "Class, allow me to introduce Miss Marisol Fuertes. Her and her mother just moved to the Oakland area, but her old school prepared her to slip right into our current curriculum. Please welcome her kindly."
Mari nodded to the teacher and then flashed a thumbs-up towards everyone else. "What's up? You can just call me 'Mari'!" The girl effortlessly exuded confident charm, and her easy-going greeting elicited a few rounds of reassuring laughter.
Mari then turned to talk to the teacher for a bit, and you just kept staring, your homework long forgotten. In fact, you were so hopelessly lovestruck that you even let out a cliched sigh.
However, no sooner had you done that then a harsh tsk-ing sound shattered your concentration from behind you. Gulping, you turned around to stare up into the scowling face of your worst nightmare.
"Did you just sigh, bug?" Penelope Graham sneered, eyeing you like you were a rotten corpse. "That's disgusting."
The pale, platinum-haired girl brushed a strand of her long hair out of her eyes before sneering again. Reaching out a hand, Penelope flicked you in the head, knocking you backwards. The gust of wind from her flick was also enough to cause your homework to flutter away to the floor. You watched as the paper fluttered down to Penelope's open-toed heels, and you could only watch as the girl snagged the homework with her big toe and dragged it under her sweaty foot.
You winced. "I'm...sorry...Penelope."
Penelope scoffed. "Excuse me? Wanna try that again, bug?"
Almost lazily, Penelope slammed her finger into your back, squeezing your lower body into a flat blob. You let out a groan as the cruel girl's sharp fingernail dug into your skin.
"I-I-I...I'm s-sorry...my q-queen." You stuttered between breaths.
Penelope's eyes glinted, and she leaned back in her seat, apparently satisfied. "That's better, Mite." The girl laughed softly, using her demeaning nickname for you. "You're lucky you get to be my seatmate and my servant. It's more than people like you deserve."
Penelope Graham, also twelve-years-old, was the bane of your existence. After your relatively incident-free and enjoyable time in elementary school, you'd found middle school to be hell on earth. From day one, Penelope had stumbled upon you (quite literally, trampling you underfoot for a whole day before one of her friends pointed you out to her). She'd latched onto you instantly, and you'd discovered the young girl to be filled with more sadism than you thought possible in someone so young. Hardly a day passed without her trying to torment you in some way. And it wasn't like you could escape her at home, because Jenna was hardly better.
You eventually found out that Penelope was mercilessly bullied by her own older sisters (unaffected twins named Georgia and Scarlet, and an affected tiny named Persephone), and that Penelope used to be a loner outcast who never socialized and often visited the guidance counselor's office in elementary school. However, apparently the girl had attended a private school with no affected students in elementary school, and once entering a conjoined middle school, the girl found her confidence (and violent stress relief) in terrorizing the tiny population. It was plain old bad luck that she'd chosen you as her target...but you'd always felt your luck in life was awful.
Reforming your crunched stomach, you started to sulk, when a tingling, heartfelt laughter took your breath away. Apparently, the teacher had said something funny, and Mari had laughed. Her laugh was like that of an angel's, and you went right back to staring at her.
After a minute, Penelope's voice was dripping with frustration. "Eyes. On. Me. Bug!" The malevolent girl whispered as harshly as she could. "Unless you wanna be my insole for another week, Mite!"
For the first time in your life, Penelope's threats filled you with anger instead of fear. Who was this girl to dictate your life, when a gorgeous and friendly looking girl you desperately wanted to know better was right in front of you? Who was Penelope to try and instill a fear of women into you, to try and force you to believe that tinies like you were only good for being beaten down and humiliated? You were sick and tired of it!
Rolling your eyes at Penelope, you spoke up. "You can't boss me around anymore."
Penelope looked shocked, but recovered quickly. "That right, Mite? Yeah, okay. Let's see about that."
As no one around was looking, Penelope swept you up into her palm and crushed you into a fine paste in seconds. She then leaned over to the empty seat beside her, and used her thumb to smear you onto the hard plastic chair. Sitting back up, she then raised her hand.
"Excuse me!" She called out. "Marisol can sit beside me!"
The professor smiled. "A wonderful idea, Penelope. Thank you."
"Yeah, thanks!" Mari exclaimed as she strolled back to the rear of the class. Eyes firmly trained on Penelope, Mari grinned and shook the platinum-blonde's hand. "Penelope, right?"
Penelope smiled, masking her insidiousness perfectly. "Yep, but you can call me 'Penny' instead. My best friends do!"
Mari raised a coy eyebrow as she dropped her backpack and grabbed the back of the chair. "Is that a best friend invitation, Penny?"
Penny winked and smiled, her grin only widened as she watched the oblivious new girl plop into the chair, pathetic little Mite disappearing under the new girl's plump backside. "Best friends...yeah..."
*FLASHBACK ENDS*
You shuddered, finishing your mental recollection of the encounter.
Of course, it had ended positively...eventually. Mari, not knowing you were there, hadn't held back. You'd been properly smeared onto the girl's leggings by the end of class, and then spent the rest of the day glued in place on her butt. It was only upon reaching her house that Rio spotted the discoloration on her daughter's pants and pointed you out. Mari had freed you quickly, and apologized furiously after realizing she'd been sitting on a tiny all day. Her apology had been sincere and heartfelt, which was touching on its own, but you would've forgive her no matter what just by the way she held you and smiled at you.
She'd then taken you to your house, which is where your mom had insisted on snapping the photo, thrilled you'd made a new friend. Thus, your friendship with Mari had begun, with dating coming about a year later. Of course, falling into Penelope's trap, Mari became friends with her too, unable to realize the girl's cruel nature. Painfully shy and awkward in middle school, you never spoke up about it, which began a sort of cycle of Penelope doing something terrible to you, and Mari eventually finding and freeing you. Those (often intimate) encounters with Mari, and her desire to always help you, only pushed you to love her more.
Thankfully, Mari split from Penelope in high school after a particularly awful prank revealed the girl's true nature, but Penelope still kept hounding you through all of high school. It was only after graduation that Penelope moved away with other friends to a school in Virginia, last you'd heard. You'd never seen her since...and could only hope she'd never show her face in your life again.
Everyone around you 'oohed' and 'aahed' at the picture, Mari gave you a quick kiss and a wink, and then everyone returned to looking for more fun photo memories.
1) It's a picture of Mari relaxing on the couch, with you nestled in her cleavage. While relatively basic in theory, you vividly remember this day, because it's right after Mari rescued you from that aforementioned horrible prank that finally ousted Penelope. How did that all go down again?
2) *Writer's Choice*
3) *Writer's Choice*   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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