HinaYui)S-N-A-A-A-P!!
Hannah jumped up in her seat as her bra strap had been ruthlessly snapped from behind. She spun around, her lunch flying out of her hands and falling to the floor, only to see a laughing Gavin.
"GAVIN!", she exclaimed in frustration. She tried to reach for the giggling scoundrel. She really didn't know what she'd do if she caught him, but given that Hannah was one of the biggest freshmen in the school and Gavin was one of the smallest barely coming up to her shoulders, she knew she'd figure something out. Except what Gavin lacked in height, he made up for in speed. Gavin was too fast, easily slipping away from her grasp as he mocked her with his laughs. "What is wrong with you?" Hannah exclaimed out of frustration.
Gavin smiled from safely out of her reach. "Hey, I just like watching those big boobies bounce!" He made obscene gestures towards poor Hannah's breasts. Hannah immediately blushed and self-consciously crossed her arms over her well-endowed chest, but the damage was done as most of the lunch room laughed. Hannah was overwhelmed with embarrassment as she returned to her seat, head down and on the edge of tears. Luckily, Hannah's best friend Rachel suddenly arrived.
"You little beast!", Rachel cried as she also tried to get her hands on the diminutive Gavin, but he easily backpedaled out of her reach. With a mocking grin, he quickly made his exit, taking off down the hallway. Rachel took a step or two in pursuit, but realized she'd never catch up. So she turned back to her friend. Rachel was dismayed to see Hannah on the edge of tears, staring at the floor. "Oh Hannah. He's just a creep. Don't let him bother you." Rachel noticed her friend's lunch, partially spilled on the floor. She knelt down to clean things up and see if anything was salvageable. Most of it was ruined.
'Don't let him bother you.' The words echoed in her mind. Hannah wished it could be so easy. She knew she shouldn't let Gavin upset her so much. But there was a lot more going on. Hannah looked down at her chest ruefully. She'd grown up a tomboy. Her mother had passed away when she was little, so she'd grown up hanging out in her dads metal fabrication shop. She'd learned all the tricks of the trade by hanging out and watching her dad's employees. She'd learned how to cast, to forge, to weld... And all the guys in the shop had treated her like one of the boys, acting as her teachers and mentors. It had been her favorite place in the whole world. Now, thanks to her body, it wasn't the same.
Hannah had been a late developer. So when puberty hit, it was like a freight train. Womanly curves appeared almost overnight. And her swollen, very sensitive chest had emerged in a way that couldn't be hidden no matter how many layers she tried to cover up with. Suddenly she was getting a lot of unwanted attention from boys. Far worse, the guys were different when she went into her dad's shop. The men she'd respected and looked up to kept staring at her chest when she was talking to them. They started to treat her differently too, like she was some delicate airhead. They wouldn't let her use certain tools, or they'd tell her things were too dangerous or difficult for her even though she'd done them before. She felt so self-conscious, she had stopped going there during the day. Luckily, it being her dads shop, she could take the keys and go in after hours when everyone else had gone home. She had been working on a sculpture out of some of the scrap metal the shop produced, so she was still building and creating. It was still something she really enjoyed, but it just wasn't quite the same.
Thank goodness for Rachel. Rachel had been one of the few people who was there to help her through. Rachel had been her best friend for a while now. Both girls were very tall, the tallest in their class and they'd been drawn to each other over that shared characteristic. Otherwise the two girls were very different, Hannah being a tomboy and Rachel being a girly girl. They'd also connected over their shared creative natures. Rachel's mom was a seamstress, so Rachel had been sewing and crafting since she was little. They might work in different materials, cloth and steel, but both girls loved to create and were forever bonding over the shared details of their new projects. It was Rachel who had come to the rescue, helping Hannah deal with her womanly changes. Giving her tips on how to dress to minimize her curves, passing information from her mother that Hannah's father just couldn't help his daughter with. That's why Rachel knew exactly how much Gavin's taunting was distressing her friend.
One of the other girls in the lunch room came over. At first glance, the blue-eyed blonde looked like she was a grade or two below Hannah and Rachel. It wasn't because of her size. She wasn't as tall as Rachel or Hannah, but she was still taller than Gavin. It was that her clothing was more appropriate to a younger girl combined with a wide-eyed curiosity and sunny personality more typical to someone younger. Looks would be deceiving. Cadence was the same age and in the same grade as the other girls. Cadence had just moved to the school recently. No one really knew why, but the rumors were that she'd been kicked out of a rich, private school for some reason which forced her to transfer mid-year. The speculation was that the reason she dressed a bit young was that her old school had uniforms, so Cadence was a bit behind with her style. At the moment, her normal upbeat, happy nature that contributed to making people think she was younger wasn't there. Instead she seemed quite irate.
"It's no use", Hannah replied in a dejected tone. "It wouldn't work anyway. He'll never understand."
"He doesn't need to understand. He just needs to be punished so he doesn't do it again!", Rachel snapped back. Cadence eagerly nodded agreement but Hannah only sighed in response. Looking ruefully at the empty space in front of Hannah, her lunch now mostly in the garbage after having been spilled all over the floor, Rachel and Cadence both took parts of their lunch and offered it to Hannah. Hannah gratefully accepted. The three girls enjoyed a moment of camaraderie as they ate their shared lunch in thoughtful silence.
Clockwise from upper left, Cadence, Hannah, Rachel and the scoundrel Gavin!
(Picture courtesy HinaYui)
After lunch was Creative Arts class. While obviously Hannah and Rachel loved the class, knowing that Gavin was in their class made them like it a bit less. Gavin was a joker, a class clown... But his humor often came by victimizing his classmates. Despite his lack of size and being the shortest kid in the class, he was undeniably a bully. His charisma, along with his good looks and winning smile, combined with his appearance to make him always look the little innocent. If anyone got angry with Gavin, the teachers would come down like a ton of bricks for 'bullying the little guy'. If he got caught doing something, the teachers would always cut Gavin slack. He'd tell them how he was just a poor little kid and, because he looked the part, the teachers would let him get away with it. "Boys will be boys" they'd say. Then he'd turn around with some cutting remark or some prank to get his revenge. As a result, most people just kept out of Gavin's way. Something that Hannah and Rachel had done successfully until recently. Now, Gavin seemed to be guided to Hannah, taking every opportunity to tease and taunt her, particularly by snapping her bra.
As a result, Hannah was always on guard in Creative Arts class, constantly watching behind her. So she was a bit distracted as the new project was outlined. "Blah blah blah toy for children blah blah blah teams of three" Hannah missed most of what was being said. Rachel would have to fill her in on the details later. As the teacher finished and the students formed into groups, Hannah and Rachel found themselves without a third team member. It was too bad Cadence wasn't in this class, both girls thought. The teacher was quick to notice the duo. "Just you two girls? All right... Who doesn't have a team..." The teacher's eyes scanned the room, finally noticing someone sitting alone. "Gavin, you join the girls." Both girls were instantly alarmed and tried to protest.
Gavin snorted. "I don't want to be on a team with big Boobs McGee" he exclaimed, causing Hannah to blush and most of the kids to laugh. Hannah wanted to disappear as she noticed even the teacher smiled a little.
"Looks like the other teams are set, so sorry Gavin but you three are a team", the teacher pointed out, simply happy to have the issue sorted out.
Hannah wanted to scream in frustration! She had to work on a project with Gavin! That evil little pipsqueak had been the bane of her existence for the last little while, and now she had to work with him?! The groups all broke up into their teams of three, heading to different corners so they could work on their projects privately. There was an awkward silence as the three team members stared at each other resentfully.
"We could..." Hannah began softly.
"Well, what would you like us to make?" she snapped. Gavin was thoughtful for minute.
"Robots are cool", he finally said. The three sat silently for a moment absorbing that information. Then suddenly, like a light being switched on, Rachel's face lit up. Hannah had seen it before, the giddiness Rachel got when she'd had a really, really good idea. And she had one now.
"We'll make you the toy!", she said to Gavin. He just looked at her confused. The confusion was echoed on Hannah's face as well.
"We could make you a toy costume! Hannah can do some really neat things with metals, I can sew and we'll make you into our toy project!" Gavin just continued to look confused. Rachel tried her best to get her vision across. "Think about it! The other teams will be making little toys." She motioned something a few inches tall. "We'll be making a life-size toy!" She turned to Gavin. "You're good with people! You'll be able to play with the kids and be way more fun than anything the other teams make!" Hannah had to admit Gavin was charming when he wasn't being a little nit. The wheels seemed to turn in Gavin's head.
"I don't know, it seems like a lot of work", he said it haltingly, but both girls could see he was interested. Something that would make Gavin the center of attention? That was exactly what he wanted! He just was too lazy to commit to anything he had to work hard at.
"You won't have to do any work except wear the costume", Rachel said, excitedly. "Hannah and I will do all the fabrication. Your part of the project will just be to wear the outfit and play with the kids. You just have to put the costume on, play the part and we'll tell the teacher you did your full share of the work."
That was just what Gavin wanted to hear. He was a big fan of cosplay, so wearing a costume appealed to him. Center of attention, full marks and he barely had to do anything? Gavin looked up at both girls, then suddenly started dancing like a robot. Even though the girls were not happy with Gavin, they couldn't help themselves from being amused by his actions. He really was a charming boy when he turned it on. Gavin smiled right alongside the girls. Gavin was fully on board. And that's when Rachel lowered her voice so that only they could hear. "As long as you leave Hannah alone."
Gavin looked at Rachel as he processed what she had said. He then slowly turned to look at Hannah. Hannah blushed as his blatant stare continued for longer than was socially acceptable. It was clear the little twerp enjoyed teasing her enough that he actually had to think about it! But it was also obvious that he liked the idea of easy marks and little work. He turned back to Rachel. "Deal.. As long as it's awesome looking. Like, if it looks cheap or crappy, you'll regret it", Gavin said with an air of menace. Hannah felt a chill at his words.
"I guarantee kids will be lining up to play with you." Rachel replied, with a certainty that Hannah didn't feel. Gavin accepted her assurance and they shook hands. Rachel quickly pulled out her sewing tape measure and began reading out Gavin's measurements to Hannah, which she dutifully scribbled down. They soon had the exact measurements of every part of Gavin. By now, the class was over and the students began heading out. Gavin left with the rest, leaving the two girls alone in the room. Things had happened so quickly, Hannah's head was still spinning. They'd entered the class as enemies of Gavin, and now they were his allies? Now they were going to reward him for being a twerp?!
"I... How are we going to make a robot?" Hannah asked. Rachel just smiled.
"I didn't say we were making a robot. He said that and I didn't correct him. I said we were making a toy. Remember when earlier we agreed Gavin needed some punishment?" Hannah watched Rachel's smile turn into an evil grin. "Let me tell you what I have in mind..." Rachel began quickly sketching. At first Hannah couldn't follow. "We'll need a really big spring..." But then as Hannah realized what Rachel was sketching, she began to smile. She even thought of a little addition she could make that was going to be really, really fun. As the two girls plotted out their project, giggles and laughter could be heard aplenty.