Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with CATCF, but if I did, I would have so have ran a LONG way away by now and gone insane... Or sold it to Sian (my friend) for the price of 5000 packets of chicken noodles... Errrr yeah...
Right, this is a surprise story I've started to write for the above mentioned Sian. (Who is currently enjoying a few days of torture with her mum & dad in Wales.) She was talking a few days about how Tom is writing a her/Draco fic, Lar is writing a her/Rimmer fic, yet there are no her/Mike fics. So basically I written this because I was bored and I wanted to get used to writing a character similar to her as I'm using a lot of her character aspects in an independant book I'm writing.
Anyway, if anyone wants to read and give me feedback on how I can inprove in the next few chapters - Fine by me, though if there are any plot holes or errors or anything, please bear in mind that I'm not that much of a CATCF fan, and that I have only seen the remake movie once - At 3am when Sian made me...
Back To School
Mike lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling, his legs were hanging off the end of his bed and ironically he felt like a freak. The doctor had said he should revert back to his normal size hopefully in just a few more weeks, and that the fact he already had dropped a couple of inches in height and spread out a little meant he was showing signs of improvement. But Mike still thought he'd probably be the first person in the world to have all body stretch marks.
He knew the spring term was staring tomorrow and though he did want to go so he could show off his knowledge and all the new things he had read and watched, for the first time in his life he felt afraid of being bullied – He had called the oompa lumpas little freaks, but if they were freaks for being a species that happened to be tiny and slightly David Dickinson like, what did that make him? He had been stretched on a TAFFY PULLER for God's sake!
He wondered about how the girls would react to him – Not that he had paid them much attention before he went to the factory, but now he was a kind of celebrity, and he knew of a few girls who used to think he was cute, but he guessed it didn't matter – not now he looked like a piece of giant bloody paper.
It was a weird feeling, knowing his body was slowly reverting to its original size, but the doctors had warned it could stop at any time making the problem permanent, and for once there was nothing clever or sneaky Mike could do to help.
He closed his eyes, dreading the morning because even though everyone knew what happened to him, he didn't particularly want to visually prove it…
Sian yawned and batted wildly at her alarm clock till it turned off. She sat up and looked at the clock that read "7:40am". She pulled off the covers and shivered as she pulled on a dressing over her cat pyjamas and wandered over to her wardrobe, she took off the necklace round her neck and used the attached key to open the door. Then she crouched down and brought forward a medium sized cage hidden in bottom of her wardrobe at the back, which housed Draco – Her secret pet ferret. She whispered softly to him as she fed the hungry albino animal. After a few minutes she stood up, and began flicking through the various clothes on the racks, wondering what the hell she going to wear on the first day back to college. She eventually decided on a pair of jeans, a comfy black t-shirt and some knee length boots. It wasn't she had too many clothes to wear, it was mix and matching the 4 or 5 outfits that actually fit her puny frame so they looked decent.
She picked up the said clothes, relocked her wardrobe and walked out of her room in a daze to the bathroom for a shower. About 10 minutes later she remerged and dumped her night clothes on the bed, she picked up her school bag and hair dryer and dashed downstairs, picking some custard creams up in the kitchen on her way to the sitting room.
Bang on 8am she turned the TV to Channel 4 as the American sitcom 'Just Shoot Me' theme started, so she had 30 minutes to stare all gooey eyed at Dennis Finch (Played by David Spade) before having to deal with psycho mum…
Mike turned his hands over and over, thankful they were less stretched but wishing he could just be back to normal, he hadn't even played any video games or worked on his experiments since he came back from the factory a looser. But in some weird way he was now an experiment to the scientists, just like Violet who turned into a giant fruit and had had to be squeezed.
He picked up his school bag and walked out into the chilly January morning. He sighed as he took each step through the thin, crisp coating of snow, towards the bus that had just pulled up at the stop down the road. He tentatively walked up the steps and scowled as he heard the teasing from the others, the scowl then turned to an expression of pain as he hit his head on the roof of the bus. He growled and showed his bus pass to the driver before shuffling down the isle. He then sat down in the first available empty seat and crossed his arms sulkily. Something told him it wasn't going to be a good day…
"SIAN!" A woman bellowed loudly as she breezed down the stairs and swung her handbag dangerously.
"WHAT?" Sian yelled back, her eyes still transfixed at the screen.
"Let's GO!" Her mum said crossly as she stamped into the room, her arms folded decidedly.
"But my first lesson isn't till 10am." Sian protested meekly as her mum stepped in front of the TV, blocking the view of Dennis Finch flicking back his hair and being sarcastic.
"That may be but I'm dropping you off early as I'm meeting up with some friends to go shopping." Her mum replied haughtily as she pressed the off button on the TV and waited expectantly.
"I'll get the train!" Sian shouted frustratedly as she tried to turn the TV back on by aiming the remote round her mum.
"You will not, you might try and skip school for a day like you did last term!"
"Mother – I broke my wrist! I had to go to hospital!"
"Well it was your own fault!"
"That's IT! I'm walking!" Sian yelled as she grabbed her bag and stormed out of the house and down her drive.
"Well don't think I'll be cooking you any of your fancy vegetarian crap tonight!" Her mum hollered from the doorway as Sian disappeared round the corner.
"Like you would anyway!" Sian muttered as she saw the bus pull into a stop. There was no way she wanted to walk all the way there in this weather so she decided to blag a lift with the high schoolers, the bus drivers never minded anyway.
"Hey, mind if I hop on?" She said to the bus driver, smiling sweetly and blowing a piece of dark brown hair from her eyes.
"You got a bus pass?" The guy said, looking out sympathetically out the window at the cold landscape.
"Not anymore, you know that Chris! I may look like a 12 year old but I'm a COLLEGE student now… I just couldn't be bothered to break away from middle school!" Sian joked as she climbed in.
"Whatever Sian, I doubt many would notice the difference." Chris teased as he closed the doors after her.
Sian fiddled with the strap on her bag and looked round for a spare seat, all the children seemed to be yelling and laughing at something in the middle of the bus. She wasn't sure she wanted to get dragged into it, but there were no places left at the front so cautiously she made her way down the isle…
"Not so smug are you?" A boy laughed evilly as he poked Mike in the back of the neck with a pen while a blond girl turned round and looked deep into his eyes.
"I can't believe I used to think you were cute!" She hissed, before turning to the slightly spotty guy next to her and kissing him deeply.
Mike sighed grumpily. "And what do I care what you all think?" He asked, hopefully sounding more confident than he felt.
"Don't mumble boy!" The kids around him mocked excitedly as Mike just groaned and tried to slump as far down in his seat as he could without sliding onto the floor.
"Here's some paper! Your most suited date!" One of the more retarded members of his class shouted, throwing a paper ball at Mike which missed, hit the window and then bounced back onto his knee. Mike shifted his weight and watched as the ball fell to the ground, the various name calling and teasing carrying on around him.
"Excuse me, sorry." Came a soft, high pitched voice as a girl moved down the isle, her bag hitting into the shoulder of the retard who had thrown the paper ball as she passed.
"Sorry." She muttered, looking up and pushing some hair behind her ear. She stepped forward and froze at the sight of Mike; she paused for a second before sitting down next to him.
"Oooooooh! Paper boy has a GIRLFRIEND!" The children mocked happily.
"What do you want?" Mike snapped sulkily as he leaned his head against the cold glass of the window and stared out at the houses they passed.
"I only sat down." Sian responded meekly, she had tried to keep Mike out of her head once she'd heard what had happened in the factory, but looking at him now she knew one thing – She still fancied him… Which wasn't great considering she had just turned 17 a few days ago and that he wasn't quite 13.
"Hmmm." Mike growled scowling as the kid behind him jabbed him with a pen again.
"I'm Sian." She muttered softly, trying to keep a conversation going to help him ignore the bullying.
"Am I supposed to care?" Mike responded, crossly.
"Well that's up to you." Sian replied quietly, fiddling with the strap on her bag again while she thought about how much worse this was than the time she had asked out the wrong guy through a door.
"Well I don't." Mike scowled before yelping in pain as the boy japed him with the pen again.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" He yelled, finally cracking as he stood up quickly, groaning as he banged his head on the roof again.
"You're paper, so I was writing on you!" The boy replied grinning widely.
"You really are a prat you know that?" Sian hissed angrily.
"We all know he is hun even if he doesn't." The pen jabber quipped before yelping with pain himself as Sian swung her bag round and whacked him round the head.
"In future please try and understand when I'm talking to you – It might teach you to know when it's a good idea to duck.
The boy growled then launched himself at Mike. "Look at what your girlfriend did to me you FREAK!" He yelled, grabbing Mike by the hair.
By now Mike had completely lost the temper which he had been trying to keep subdued and screamed loudly as he tried to swing the child off him, which was quite difficult to do in the small space anyway, besides all he seemed to manage was to whack various parts of his body on chairs and walls. After a moment a brainwave hit him and he straightened up and slammed the boy into the ceiling, causing even more booing and item throwing from the other students.
"RIGHT YOU! – YES YOU! - The giant gnat! Off the bus! – I'm not having you causing trouble on MY route!" Chris yelled as he turned the engine off and stormed over. "You too Sian! – I'm surprised at you!" Chris added as he grabbed hold of the two of them and escorted them to the pavement.
"But!" Sian tried to say but was drowned out by the sea of voices cheering and stamping their feet.
"Thanks a lot SIAN – Now I'm gonna be late for school." Mike hissed as the bus drove off and he began to walk down the road quickly.
"Oh yes because I can REALLY tell you were looking forward to it!" She retorted, running a bit to catch up to him.
"Do you mind walking at least 10 paces behind me, then I can live under the delusion I have never met you?" Mike scowled as he strided on, wincing slightly.
"I can't believe you are acting like this! – I HELPED you!" Sian yelled, standing in front of Mike.
"I didn't ASK for your help now did I?" He shot back, looking down at her with folded arms.
"So I was supposed to do NOTHING was I?" Sian screamed, turning round in frustration and stamping her foot. "FINE! If this is all the gratitude I'm gonna get, I'll leave you alone." She hollered, her voice rising higher and higher in pitch, not noticing how much paler Mike had become, or how he was swaying slightly.
She stomped off, kicking the snow wildly as she did, but had only got a few paces when she heard Mike call her name, she smiled and looked round, expecting to see him apologise, but instead saw him faint and collapse with a thud in a heap in front of her...
