My little friend

"My little friend"

by Sonicfan287


Chapter 1: A "Fairy" tale



I was disgusted after yet another day at work, as I took off my grimy Staples shirt and left it on my shelf in the closet, to gather even more dust.

I sat down on my bed and turned on the TV, all the while thinking of how I should quit Staples: the office stupidstore, and try something else.

I pondered these things and then I began to hear the faint sound of my cell phone vibrating from under the mess I had kept in my drawer. I yanked it out from under the various GameBoy Advance games I had accumulated and saw the called ID read "Kim". Frustrated, I put the phone down and let it keep ringing.

Kim was my ex-girlfriend and once a good friend of mine, but we were no longer on talking terms, even if she still tried to talk to me now and then. I had no reason to talk to her, and saw no reason to ever see her again.

By now, you're undoubtedly wondering just who I am. Well, my name is Bobby Gaines, and there's nothing really different about me than from any other 19 year old guy. I go to college, and at a very nice campus called Avery Point in Groton. The view of the ocean can sometimes take my mind off my stress.

I don't have a girlfriend anymore, but what I do have is a crappy job and a lot of stress. Luckily, I have enough good friends to take my mind off those things sometimes.

Anyway, enough synopsis about myself. My real adventure began the next day, on Monday, when I drove into school.

My class started in an hour, so as usual, I'd spend that hour responsibly studying and thinking about my physics class ahead... or not.

I went to the student center and played foosball with my good friend, John.

"Hey, Sarah asked me if you want to go to lunch with us today" John said, while in the heated game of foosball.

"Really? What time?" I asked.

"12:00" John said, defending his goal as I took a fierce shot.

"12? I can't do that, I have an 11:30 class, remember?" I asked.

"Oh right, sorry" John said. "Maybe next time"

Yeah, maybe next time was something I was so used to hearing. Even though I didn't work or have class any more often than anyone else, it seemed that my schedule always found a way to conflict and that's why I never got to do anything fun, unless you call Staples fun.

I look up at the clock and realize it's already 11:35, so I head off to class, quickly ending my foosball game with a 4-2 lead. I run up the stairs to my class, all the while thinking of what could have been. Sarah was a good friend of ours who I didn't get to see enough of these days. I'd figure out something we could do another time, I suppose.

I walk into my physics class when I realize there's noone in there. Geez, class must've been cancelled, and here I was walking in late anyway. Guess I should check my student email more often.

Knowing that class is canceled, I quickly scampered down the many stairs and headed back into the student center, which was also fairly empty at this point. The only people left in there were 3 people playing a game of 8 ball.

"Hey, have any of you seen John?" I asked.

"I think he just left with that girl" one of the guys said. I put my head down and frustration and walked into the other room, taking out my cell phone so that I could possibly get in touch with him before he left for Burger King, his favorite restaurant. Upon dialing his number, however, the message popped up on my phone, "OUT OF MINUTES...RECHARGE SOON!"

"You gotta be kidding me..." I said, through gritted teeth. That's when I realized I was down to my last half minute on my phone and Kim's stupid text message used that up. I can't believe my phone charges me to RECIEVE text messages. Like I'd ever want another text from her again. Okay, so maybe I am a little harsh on her, but still....

I walk to the library and use their computers to go on virgin mobile's website to add more minutes to my phone. As I watch the money dwindle from my bank acount, I wonder if the transaction is even worth it, but decide it couldn't hurt. Even if I was too late to hang out with John and Sarah, I could contact some other friends of mine...if only most of them didn't go to school in Storrs or out of state.

I call John anyway but he doesn't pick up. Of course this failed phone call still costs me a minute, and so I skulk over to the Avery Point bookstore, where I pick up some raemen soup and one of those freeze-dried burgers. What could I say, I was really hungry.

I went down to the water with my food after picking it up and sat down on my usual bench, looking out at the coastline to see New London from across the way. It looked so small from here, and yet I had lived there for 10 years before moving to Montville, where is where I lived now.

I realized that I had to calm down, as I was letting too much get to me. I take a bite of the nasty burger, the cheese kind of oozing out of the back of it whenever I take a bite. It wasn't even worth the dollar I paid for it. Why hadn't I just gone to McDonalds? I had left my bag on the grass, and inside was my candy bar. I told myself that would be the best part of this meal.

I'm about to reach for the candy bar when I notice my bag is seemingly rustling, as if there's something in it. A little paranoid I take my fist and pound it towards the ground, on the outer edge of the bag, hoping to scare off whatever stupid bug or something that had crawled in there. My bag stops rustling but I can still tell there's something in there, because I see a little lump in the bag.

"C'mon, get out of there, stupid fly!" I said, slamming my fist down in anger. This time I heard something I didn't expect. The sound was of a feeble scream that was hard to make out through the plastic bag, but I realized it wasn't a fly I was swatting at. I frowned and looked down at the bag more closely "Uh... I'm sorry for trying to hit you..."

I sat there for a few seconds, staring awkrardly down at the bag, before feeling like an idiot. I decided still to see what was in there.

"Um... do you want to come out?" I asked.

I heard an incomprehensible voice answer back. It sounded like a girl's voice but I couldn't tell what she was saying. The lump in the bag slowly moved towards the handles, to where I could see this figure. That's when I saw her. This tiny, 3 inch tall brown haired girl looked up at the bench in shock and I stared down at her in the same way.

I couldn't believe this was actually happening. I got down on my hands and knees to try to get a closer look at her but she quickly scampered into the grass, running and screaming.

"wAIT!" I shouted, knowing she could still hear me "I WON'T HURT YOU!!"

She suddenly stopped running and turned back. She walked very slowly and cautiously back towards me and got close enough so I could hear her as she said "you won't hurt me? you promise?"

"I promise" I said, and put my hand down on the ground. She looked up at me cautiously, her mouth contorted into this frown of confusion and her eyes looking like she was about to cry. Finally she put her first foot onto my head and clumsily pulled herself onto my palm. I felt her shaking as she first tried to stand straight up but lost her balance so decided to lay down instead. Very slowly I rose to my feet and she looked down at the ground, tears swelling in her eyes as I took us back to the bench to sit down.

She stared at me for several seconds and I stared back at her as she looked in every direction, seemingly dazed. Now I felt really bad for swatting at her earlier. She looked just like any other girl I had gone to school with, except she was so small. She had brown eyes and chestnut hair, and sort of a rosy cheek complexion but not really.

She finally spoke to me in her soft voice, but I could still hear her as she said "Uh...hi" and chuckled nervously. Apparently, she had gotten over her fear for now because she knows if I would've done something to her I would've done it already.

"Hi..." I said softly, trying not to scare her "I'm really sorry I tried to hurt you"

"Heh... it's okay" she said, her tiny voice faltering. She seemed so delicate and yet I could tell that through it all, she was probably a really cool girl that was just freaked out for the moment. "I'm uh... kinda used to it."

"I'm so sorry" I sighed, "I've just been so frustrated lately and... well you probably don't want to hear about that... I mean you're...yeah... and I just don't know..."

"It's okay" the girl said "I'm quite used to this... trust me... I've been small for a long long time..."

I paused for a few moments before finally asking what was burning on my mind now, "How'd you get so small?"

"You wouldn't even believe this but..." the girl started and paused before saying, "I'm a fairy..."

"A fairy?"I asked with a skeptical look on my face, "but don't fairies have wings?"

"I uh... don't want to talk about my wings right now" the girl sighed, and I decided to stop making her feel so uncomfortable. "I'm a fairy... and I've been wandering this campus for years, it's where my family lives... and the only place I've ever known...people never know how to react when they see me... they're not used to seeing something this small"

"What do they do to you when they see you?" I asked.

"Some of them ask me where I'm from, but I usually run away... I'm too afraid of you bigger people... no offense" she said.

"It's fine" I said "I'd probably be afraid too... my name's Bobby by the way"

"I'm Jen" she said, "thanks for being so understanding..."

"Not a problem" I said, still fascinated by her and how trusting she was of me now. She was about half the size of my palm. "So what are you going to do now?"

"Well, I'm quite a ways from my home" Jen sighed, "but I like the walking anyway..."

"So you're going to walk all that way back, it must feel like miles to you" I said. The campus wasn't too big but for a fairy, I could only imagine.

"It's no big deal" Jen said "I can handle the walking... in fact, if you could just put me back down in the grass, I could start walking back... I like to walk in the grass because it keeps me more hidden so I don't get picked on by bigger people... oh and sorry for trying to eat your candy bar"

She chuckled a bit when she said that. She seemed like a really cool girl, and I feared that when I let her go, I may never see her again. She might get stepped on or just hide in some underground hole and never come out again. I didn't exactly make a great first impression.

"Hey uh Jen" I said, and she craned her neck upward to see me. "How about if I took you back to your home, yknow save you some walking"

"Uh sure" she said, cracking a slight smile. So I slowly got up again, and this time Jen seemed more confident that I wouldn't drop her.

"It's this way" she said, pointing to the old Branford house, a cathedral like building that I always loved to go in.

"You live in the Branford house?" I asked her.

"Well, not exactly, I live in that little courtyard in front of the branford house" Jen said.

So I took her around the front entrance towards the courtyard and left her under a stone statue like she said.

"Are you sure you're not mad at me for trying to hit you?" I asked.

"No, it's fine..." she said and started to walk away.

"Hey Jen?"I asked, kind of nervously.

"Yeah?" she asked, still maintaining her smile.

"Is it okay if I see you again sometime? Y'know... if you don't mind..." I asked.

"Um yeah... sure... I guess" she said "Yknow where to find me"

"Actually I dont" I sighed "you're so small and this campus is so big in comparison that..."

"703-9402" Jen said, quickly cutting me off.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"703-9402... that's my cell phone number" Jen said, taking out her tiny cell phone.

"Fairies have cell phones?" I asked.

Jen laughed and continued walking away "Just call me sometime, okay?" she said, and then she was gone.

Wow, I couldn't believe it... the impossible had happened... I GOT A GIRL'S PHONE NUMBER!!!

I walked back into the student center and saw John and Sarah.

"Hey, sorry about that" John said, "I heard your class was cancelled... hopefully you weren't too bored"

"No, I found something to do..." I smiled.

Chapter 2: Getting to know her

The words in class seemed to just bounce off my head that morning. Maybe it was the fact that I had only gotten a few hours of sleep, but more than likely, I was thinking of her again.

She was really all I could think about, as my teacher rambled on about the art of poetry, and writing. When was I ever going to use this stuff? As my teacher spoke on, my pen was moving on the page, but I didn't really write anything coherent, just faded streaks of ink here and there, and finally the frustration ended.

My class was over, and I was free to go and I really hoped that Jen was still at the courtyard in front of the Branford House. I was contemplating whether I'd call her first or just kind of show up.

Well, my contemplating didn't last long, because Sarah quickly stopped me the second I walked outside of the academic center.

"Hey, Bobby" she said, in a cheerful way, that made it impossible to ignore her.

"Oh, hi Sarah" I said, turning towards her with a sense of reluctance, while still being somewhat happy to see her.

"Whatcha up to?" she asked.

I open my mouth to answer when I remember that "I'm off to see my friend who's 3 inches tall, and a fairy" usually doesn't qualify as a sane response, so I just utter "uh...nothing really"

"Cool," Sarah said, "So ya wanna play pool then?"

"Well you know I don't really play pool, I'm more of a foosball guy, and even that's starting to get old and..."

As I rambled on, I noticed Sarah's facial expressions indicating mock sadness and decided to give in. I walked into the student center with her without saying another word, all the while looking out into the distance, wondering where my friend was.

"It's your shot!" Sarah said.

"Huh?" I asked, in a haze of bewilderment as she handed me a pool cue "Oh yeah, the pool game"

I lined up a poor shot on the 8 ball and it bounces off a knick in the table, sending it off in an outlandish direction.

"Uh Bobby, you know that if you make the 8 ball in, you lose, right?"Sarah asked, as some spectators watching me had started chuckling.

"Oh yeah... you're right..." I mumbled, as I handed her the pool cue back, gazing outdoors, wondering where she was.

I wondered what she did all day, and if she enjoyed being outside all the time. Sure, Avery Point was a fun place to be, and for her, it must've been infinitely larger to explore, but how much could one really do there all the time? And what did she on windy days, or rainy days? Well then again, she's been small her whole life, so I guess she had to have some kind of plan for those situations. Still, I can't help but think of her situation further and feel this inevitable sense of guilt, even though I hadn't done anything wrong, except try to hit her, of course.

"Bobby!" Sarah said, handing me the pool cue again. At this point I had almost lost the game anyway. Sarah was a pretty good pool player and I sucked even on normal days. A good pool player offered to sub in for me and I took his offer, handing off my pool cue.

I started to head for the double doors and the exit when John cut me off, simply pointing at the foosball table, which was our usual signal for "Game on", but this time I really didn't feel like playing. Again, I remember though, that I can't tell anyone about Jen, unless of course, she wanted me to, but she didn't seem too fond of us "bigger people".

"So what's up?" John asks, after moments of silent foosball.

"Oh y'know..." I sighed, fighting off all of his foosball shots with relative ease, "Just a little stressed out"

"yeah I know what you mean" he said, not focused in the game, just like me, "Can you believe my teacher wants ANOTHER 7 page paper?"

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Well I told you how my american studies class has this big, final paper that's 7 pages long?" John asked, not waiting for me to answer before he kept speaking, "well now I heard we have 2 7 page papers due and one of them is due next week... I gotta get on that...y'know... now"

"Then why are we playing foosball?" I asked.

"We ALWAYS play foosball" he exclaimed, in a fashion consistent with his personality.

"Fine, fine, you're right" I said, cracking a smile. Even though I loved the game known as foosball, I realized that Jen was more important at this point. I had to think of a legitamite excuse to get out, but I could only think of a vague one.

"Hey uh... I'm gonna go" I said suddenly, stepping away from the foosball table mid-game.

"Where do you have to go?" John scoffed, "you don't have class for 2 hours"

"I know, but I kind of... need a walk" I said.

"Oh, are you going to that dumb hideout again?" John laughed.

"Uh yes! That's where I'm going!" I said, my eyes lighting up with excitement that I just might escape, "So you probably wouldn't want to come..."

"That's not true... I love the hideout" John said, "remember the time we almost got arrested there?"

"Which time?" I chuckled. "I mean... maybe I'm not going to the hideout"

"Fine. Fine." John groaned, "Go where you gotta go... I'll find SOMETHING to do..."

Of course, I didn't hear much more from him, because I left mid-way through his sentence. He didn't think I'd actually leave but I had, and I walk outside to the Branford House.

The scene is quiet, as the only noise in the environment are some sprinters running on the brick path, but they were far from the Branford House, which is where I'd go to search for my friend.

I didn't want to be seen by any bystanders passing by talking to the air, so I whispered "Jen" several times as I paced the outside of the branford house.

The outside was actually really gorgeous with old-styled mosaic stone tiles, and pillars about 10 feet high. I walked slowly into the stone garden, being careful not to step on her. God, wouldn't that be awful.... I don't think I could live with myself if I ever killed someone, especially like that, that's beyond horrible.

I decide to pick up my cell phone and call her. I dial 4 digits on my phone when I feel a curious tap on the back of my sneaker. Too scared to move, I simply aim my vision downward and see her, waving to me from down below, her hand gripped on the back of my sneaker.

"Heh, you mind letting go?" I asked, too scared to move too fast and throw her away. She backed up so I had room to kneel down now.

"Hey" she said, with a strange smile on her face. It was only strange because I'm not used to seeing girls so happy to see me. "I didn't think you'd come back"

"Well why wouldn't I?" I said, and I slowly put my hand down in front of her. She stepped onto it and laid down like before. "It's not everyday I meet someone so..."

"Small?" she laughed.

"Well that too, but I was going to say awesome" I chuckled.

"You don't have to flatter me" she said.

"I'm not... I'm just saying" I said, feeling really weird inside all of a sudden. Not so much that I was holding a girl in the palm of my hand, although that was certainly surreal in itself, but just this weird feeling like everything was perfect, which isn't usually the case.

"Hey, let's sit somewhere with a better view" Jen said, as we had been in the middle of the stone garden, with me still knelt down. "How about down more by the water?"

"Okay" I said, slowly getting up with her balanced in my palm, "hang on"

"Yeah yeah, I know the drill" Jen said. She tried to be cool about it but something in her eyes told me she was still a bit uneasy about me holding her. That's why when we sit on a stone bench down by the shore, I put her down next to me, so she has the entire bench to navigate.

"Bobby..." she said, after a few moments of silently looking out at the water, "...I haven't known you long, but you seem different..."

"Different?" I asked, "well I could say the same about you"

"Y'know what I mean" she chuckled, "you seem a lot different than most people I've encountered... being in this area so long I've been able to observe a lot of people from afar and you seem more keen to details... I don't know... I mean, I like it... I really do..."

"You like me?"

"Well yeah..." she said, sounding very confused in general, as she kept switching her focus between myself and the ocean. "I don't know what I'm trying to say... it's just really nice, I haven't had any friends since... well..."

"Since what?" I asked.

"Nothing. It's nothing" Jen sighed.

"You can tell me" I said.

"I said it's NOTHING!!" Jen said, her voice raising to a level louder than I had ever heard.

"Okay, I'm sorry" I said.

"No, I'm sorry" Jen said. "I shouldn't snap at you, it's not your fault... none of this is your fault..."

"I suppose..." I said, and suddenly cut my speech off. For the first time in the day, I had no clue what to say next and it scared me.

"Hey, whats that noise?" Jen asked, backing away from me now. I looked down and noticed my phone was vibrating in my pocket.

"Oh, my phone" I said, and picked it up really quickly, not wanting to divert my attention from Jen at all. "Oh geez, it's Kim"

"Kim?" she asked.

"My ex-girlfriend" I sighed, "she's a bit of a...well, I won't say it, but you know"

"Why don't you talk to her anymore?" Jen asked, as I put my phone away.

"It's a long story..." I sighed.

"Yeah, I understand" Jen said, and kind of choked up when she said "I had problems... with my ex too..."

"Are you okay?" I asked, looking down at her with concern.

"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine" she said, and regained her composure. "Y'know there is something I want to ask you"

"Sure" I said.

"Being this small..." Jen said, "it gets kind of tiresome to walk long distances... so I was wondering if you could show me around campus... maybe...?"

"Sure" I said, kind of excited by the opportunity. "Let's uh..."

Before I could finish my sentence, I got another phone call, this time from John.

"Is that Kim again?" Jen asked.

"No, it's my friend, John" I sighed, "hold on... I gotta take this, or else he'll keep calling"

I pick up my cell phone and say "Hello?"

"Hey, you're not in the hideout" John said.

"I told you I wouldn't be in the hideout!" I sighed with frustration. John could be so stubborn sometimes.

"Then where are you?" he asked.

"Where am I?" I asked again out loud "I'm just outside with..."

I looked down at Jen really quick to see her shaking her head and making hand motions signaling "don't tell him anything", so I interuppted myself.

"You're where?" John asked.

"Uh... I'm not on campus... I left, for Wal-Mart" I said, "I needed... tea-bags"

"Tea-bags?" John asked, "You're weird..."

"I'm weird?" I asked, "you're the one standing around the hideout alone"

"Hey, you do it too!" John said.

"Yeah I do..." I replied. "Can I go now? This call is costing me valuable minutes"

"FINE" John said, and we ended our call.

"Hey Bobby" Jen said, "What's... the hideout?"

"Oh, it's stupid" I said, "You wouldn't want to go"

"No, c'mon.... show me..." Jen said.

"You serious?" I asked.

"Yeah, c'mon... take me there" she said again, and stepped into my hand.

"Well the hideout is just this place..." I started to explain.

"Don't TELL me, SHOW me!" she said, and so I kept walking onward, without saying another word.

Chapter 3: Avery Point Adventure

I slowly cracked open the door on the third floor, making sure to be as quiet as possible, as I kept Jen cupped in my left hand.

"What is this place?" she said, in a hushed tone, trying not to blow our cover as I stepped out into the stretching hallway.

The place was dull looking to say the least, but I had grown quite accustomed to it's quaint charms. It was basically a restricted area on campus (hence our prior arrests) that used to be used for office buildings. Some of the offices were suspiciously left unlocked, and were filled with old copiers, dust and peeling wallpaper, while most other doors were locked but always offered me a sense of mystery, that maybe one day, some of those locked doors would open.

I don't even remember how I found this place, but probably the same way I found every other place... through poking around where I didn't belong, but I didn't do it to cause michief, I only did it to explore, and I loved exploring.

"Well Jen..." I said, keeping my voice hushed, as the hallway could produce a loud echo, "This is my hideout, it's where I come to think... you may not think of it as much but..."

"Bobby, you're talking to a girl who's been mostly living in a courtyard for months now" Jen said, "Any change of scenery is fine, and this place isn't too bad actually"

I looked down and observed Jen looking around, over the edges of my hand to observe the place around her, not that there was much to observe.

"Well then, allow me to give you the grand tour" I said, slowly walking with her, still resting in my hand. "This room I'm about to show you is one that actually IS unlocked"

Just then, I heard a voice from around the corner and Jen instantly began to panic.

"Hide me!!" she said out loud, looking up at me and waving her arms frantically.

"Hide you? Hide you where?!" I asked, as a shadow appeared from around the corner.

"I don't care!!" Jen said, still in an urgent tone, "put me in your pocket!"

"Okay okay" I said, and gently slipped Jen into my left pants pocket. Unfortunately for her, it was pretty crowded with my wallet and iPod. I felt her squirm between them, trying to get comfortable it seemed.

"Bobby? Is that you?" I heard the voice say. Predictably enough, John came out from the other room. Apparently, he had stayed in the hideout anyway.

"Uh, hey John" I said, trying to let my panic fade into casualness (which may or may not be a word). "Uh... whats up?"

"I knew you weren't getting tea-bags!" John scoffed, and paced around me, as if he was interogating me. "So what are you doing here?"

"Uh, just checking the ol' place out, yknow" I said nervously, "Wanted to make sure everything was still here"

Just then I felt Jen squirming some more and she tickled my thigh somewhat. I kind of gave off an awkrard chuckle.

"what's so funny?" John asked.

"Uh, nothing, nothing" I sighed, feeling really bad about cramming my fairy friend into my pocket like that. "Say, don't you have that 7 page paper to start?"

"Eh, I could do that anytime" John shrugged, "seems like you're avoiding me though"

"I'm not avoiding you" I said, feeling very nervous about this whole thing. I really wish I could just tell him aboUT Jen, about what I was really doind, it would do me a lot of good right now and it would do Jen a lot of good, because she wouldn't be as uncomfortable as she was.

"Well then... how about we..." John started, but then was interuppted by his cell phone. As he answered it, I thought to myself about just how many times people kept getting interuppted by cell phones, myself included. This time, it kind of helped me out.

"That was Sarah" John said, "She wants to go to burger king"

"Didn't you just go there yesterday?" I asked.

"Yeah, whats your point?" John asked. "You coming?"

"Uh... no... I can't" I said abruptly, without even thinking about it.

"Let me guess, you got more TEA-BAGS to get" John sighed in frustration.

"I guess you could say that" I said, realizing I was ticking him off for real this time.

"Fine, whatever" John said, and went out the door, and back down the steps. As soon as I was sure he gone, I slowly pulled Jen out of my pocket, feeling terrible about putting her in there.

Her hair was slightly ruffled, but otherwise she looked fine, and seemed fine too, even though she had to stretch a little in my hand before she said it was okay to keep walking.

"Y'know Bobby" Jen said, as I took the long way out of the hideout, just so I wouldn't run into anyone else I know, "You didn't have to say no to him, you could've gone to Burger King... I feel kinda bad"

"Why do you feel bad?" I asked.

"I don't know... because I'm sort of a burden..." she said, with a frown, "if you didn't have to hide me, you could've..."

"No, please stop" I groaned, stopping now to look her straight in the eye, or as best I could "I could've gone with them, but I didn't want to... I wanted to be with you"

We tried to avoid the mushy "Aw..." moment and move on, although the silence following that line wasn't much better than the mushiness. Jen did smile a little though, so I know that she felt appreciated, which is how I wanted her to feel, because my life felt so much more exciting with her in my life... or hand, in this case.

"Well then" Jen said, "why don't we go on an adventure?"

"Now you're speaking my language" I said with excitement, as I pulled open the door for us and walked back outside. I made sure to take fairly deserted routes so noone would see me talking to my hand as I walked. "What did you have in mind, Jen?"

"I don't know, how about the marine science building?" Jen asked, and pointed to the massive gray building with the steel green roof. I, of course knew this building all too well, as it was the site of yet another of my famous "Arrests".

The Marine science building is where I filmed a series of youtube videos called "Marine Mayhem" which became hated by the police, who considered them a mockery to the building. So when I tried to make the fifth movie in the series, I was finally caught. Not only was I told to get rid of the movies, but I wasn't allowed to return to the marine science building, since I wasn't a marine science major. All that history aside though, we all know what I said to Jen at that moment.

"The marine science building? Sure!" I said, and took her over to the forbidden zone. I brought us in through the side entrance, meaning we came out on the very first floor, the basement. I couldn't resist but to explore.

"Wow, this place is pretty cool" Jen said, her eyes lighting up, "Sorry if you think I'm a dork for enjoying this"

"You obviously don't know me Jen" I said, holding her snugly in my hand as we slowly took in the sights of this large basement. The hallway we were in made the "hideout" look like a closet, as it went on for quite a while before providing an elevator at the end. I wanted to try to stay away from the main parts of the building as much as possible, and I knew few avery point police meandered down in the basement, so this was a good place to conduct our exploring.

It's just too bad that the basement didn't have much to offer outside of the initial reaction one gets upon walking into it. Jen even seemed over the thrill of being in this massive place, so I decided to show her a place that was probably my favorite on campus, although one I was extremely banned from.

I stepped into the elevator and pressed "floor 3", the top floor of the building. Let me rephrase that -- the top floor accessible by elevator.

Anyway, Jen and I both kind of panicked when the elevator stopped at floor 2, signaling that someone else would be stepping in. Reluctantly, I slid her into my pants pocket again. A janitor stepped into the elevator, on his way to the third floor. I looked at him and gave him a casual nod as we rose to level 3 at last. Once the janitor and I had gone our seperate ways, I took Jen out of my pocket again.

"Maybe next time, you should put me in your OTHER pocket" Jen sighed, "the one with less stuff in it"

"You're right... sorry" I said, "it's just that I'm left-handed and..."

"It's fine, I'm just saying" Jen said, interuppting me, yet again. It seems I have a habit of talking too much. "So where are we going?"

"To the most awesome place there is" I said with a grin and Jen looked at me with a look of confusion.

I opened another door which revealed another staircase that went up a couple of flights. At the top of the stairs was a green door, marked "NO ADMITTANCE". I stepped into it and brought us into a small gray chamber of sorts. Without saying another word, I opened another door that led to the massive boiler room on the top. This was extremely off-limits, yet had no security so it wasn't that big a deal.


"Bobby, are you sure we're supposed to be here?" Jen asked, looking around, both dazzled and scared.

"Do you want the REAL answer, or the one you want to hear?" I asked, with a grin, taking a good look around.

"I guess not" Jen laughed.

I cracked open another door, and this one led to outside. Jen hastily interuppted me before I could finish opening it. She screamed "What are you doing?" but I looked down at her and said "Trust me"

I took us outside, onto the roof of the marine science building. From there, we could see everything there was to see... we could see the water, the sky, the trees, the branford house, and if you really looked you could still the coastline of new london in the distance, looking as small as ever. I sat down on the roof and placed Jen safely next to me. Some sharp winds blew in our face.

"Do you come up here often?" Jen asked, looking up at me.

"I used to"I sighed "it turns out I'm not actually allowed up here"

"Yeah, but it didn't seem to stop you" Jen said.

"I just wanted to show you" I said, "it's not fair that you're always cooped up down my the Branford house"

"Hey, I might live outside, for the most part, I do some exploring of my own" she said, "I sometimes walk inside the branford house and listen to people play the grand piano, and sometimes I even walk to the basement"

"You've been in that basement?" I asked, in glee "Me too!"

"Yeah, except I'm guessing you got caught" Jen smiled and winked at me.

"Yeah..." I sighed, "how'd you get away with it?"

"Uh hello? I'm the size of a mouse, silly!" Jen chuckled "It's pretty easy to hide... one of the advantage of being small"

A few awkrard moments wander by when I decide to ask her a question I had pondered for some time.

"What's it like?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"What's it like ... to be small?" I asked. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to..."

"Well..." Jen said, taking a deep pensive breath before answering, "it's not TOO much different from being 'big', I suppose... it's all relative, y'know? If you see a big castle or something, you feel small in comparison, right?"

"I guess"

"Well, just imagine the world is made up of big castles and things... that's pretty much my world" Jen said. "The difference for you though is there's not really any creature bigger than you, except dinosaurs that don't exist anymore..."

"Do you ever get scared?" I asked her.

"I used to... until I got used to it" Jen sighed. For some reason, her voice kind of drifted off into sadness a little bit.

"Jen, you alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." Jen said, with a smile. I couldn't tell if it was a real smile or not anymore. "Do you have any more questions about me?"

"I don't want you to think I'm examining you or anything..." I said, feeling guilty, "I just wanted to know..."

"I know, it's fine, really..." Jen said, smiling again, "I just like having someone to talk to, so please... ask away"

"Well you said you were a fairy" I said, "do you have any magic powers or anything"

Jen sighed and said "Unfortunately no... Bobby, I'm not really that much different from a human... except for my size... in fact there's nothing special about me at all, except for my size"

"Don't say that, you're wonderful" I said.

"How do you even know that?" Jen asked, "you just met me... you only like me because I'm unique... something different... but not in a good way..."

"You're different in a very good way" I said to her, "I'm intrigued by you... but not because of your size... because of you... you're mysterious and I'd like to get to know you better"

"Trust me, Bobby..." Jen sighed "you don't want to get to know me... at least not everything..."

"But I do" I said, starting to feel a bit pushy.

"Well... well, what about you?" Jen said, suddenly trying to change the subject.

"Huh? What about me?" I asked her.

"Well you know, you want to know so much about me..." Jen said, "maybe I want to know more about you..."

"Okay, like what?" I asked.

"Well, here's a random question" Jen said, with a smile, "what's with all the Maroon 5 on your ipod?"

"I love maroon 5" I said, then paused to look at her for a few seconds with an inquisitive stare, "how'd you know what was on my ipod..."

"I got bored in your pocket" Jen said.

"AH right..." I said, "sorry about that"

"I'm guessing you apologize a lot too" Jen said.

"Yeah, that's something I do a lot" I said, "mainly because I'm such a screw-up and everything... I have low self esteem..."

"You shouldn't..." Jen said, "You have a great group of friends, and you do a lot of weird things, that are cool"

"Thanks, Jen" I said, giving her a sincere smile. "Speaking of weird things, we should probably leave here... I could get in trouble because I filmed a youtube video here"

"You what?" Jen asked, as I picked her up.

"Just remember you said I was cool" I laughed, as we walked away.

I continue walking and talking with Jen as we're on the way back to the Branford house when she says, "hey didn't you have a class in 2 hours?"

"Oh yeah, you're right" I said, "do you mind if I leave you back in the courtyard?"

"Yeah, no problem" Jen said, "yknow, you didn't have to spend your whole break with me"

"Are you kidding me? It was great!" I exclaimed, "I can't wait to do it again"

"Heh, me too" Jen smiled. It seemed that neither of us wanted to let the other know just how excited we were about the other. "Oh, one more thing, before you leave me off"

"Yeah?"

"You have my phone number... I think it's only fair that I get yours" Jen said, taking out her cell phone.

"Ah right" I said, setting her down near the stone statues in the courtyard, "My number is... 712-7729"

"Thanks" Jen said, closing her phone, "hey, I'll see you later, okay?"

"But of course" I said, and walked away... feeling very satisfied, if not a little confused by the whole thing.