Matt's day had not been as tough as he feared, but also not nearly as fun as he had hoped. 5'5" was short for his grade... but still about the height of the freshmen boys, so he wasn't a freak. At first it was a little cool to look up at the big people -- the teachers, the athletes, even some of his friends. But the novelty quickly wore off... and nobody showed any more interest in him today than they had before he laid hands on the wand.
Lunch was long since over, and he was coming down to the last classes of the day. Math was next, a class that Matt did well in. He had a crush on the tough-guy teacher, Sean Martin. It seemed incongruous to have such a stud teaching a nerdy subject like math. Mr. Martin played that up for all it was worth, telling the jocks that they didn't have to be "big and dumb" no matter how many times they saw that stereotype on TV.
All these images flashed quickly through Matt's mind as he stood in front of his open locker. The hall was emptying as kids rushed to their next class. If he was going to do something, he needed to do it quickly.
Leaning in close, as if he was searching for his book, he closed his hand around the smooth, cool skin of the wand. Almost whispering, he said, "I wish people who got small because of this wand were suddenly very attractive to everyone around them." An image of Matt being treated like a pretty picture came to mind, so he added, "And I mean an intense, sexy, dick-hard kind of attractive." Matt leaned back to let go of the wand, but realized he might have to make a few more wishes before this was all over, each one shortening him. He didn't want to make any more wishes than absolutely necessary, so this one really needed to count. He finally added, "The smaller, the more intense."
With that, he let go of the wand, slammed his locker shut and rushed to class. For a moment, he felt light headed as he raced down the hallway. Everything seemed to wobble and stretch, and he almost tripped. The gap to Mr. Martin's classroom was widening. There was a pop in his ears, as Matt realized the wand wasn't waiting a few hours before shrinking him this time.
Almost stumbling, Matt crossed the threshold of the classroom just as the bell rang. Travis Thompson, one of the track athletes, was pulling the door closed just as Matt made it across the finish line, winded and a little disoriented. Travis closed the door behind Matt and mussed Matt's hair as he walked by without pausing. He added, "Relax, little dude. You just made it," with a smile and then was back in his seat.
People were looking at him... but not in an annoyed way, or like he was the class clown. They were pleasant, friendly looks, even a little furtive in some cases. Mr. Martin was smiling as Matt took his seat. Matt wondered why he hadn't wished to be popular a lot sooner.