The Return of Scrunch Girl III

Danny gulped, over-exaggerating the gesture in order make light of it. Without her wings Ann was fully revealed. Tall and still slightly ungainly, the wide hips she had always had were now matched by a set of broad shoulders, strongly built like those of a swimmer. For a second, he considered making another joke of the fact his eyes kept straying to her small round breasts, but instead chose to fix his gaze on Ann’s face.

Danny coughed. ‘You seem to be in very good condition. Do you make yourself that way with your powers?’

Ann shook her head. ‘Good Sport lives up to her name. She’s organised a separate fitness programme for each team member. This is the real me these days. Do you like it?’

Inadvertently, Danny took a step backward.

‘Ann,’ he began, ‘how long have we known each other?’

Ann took a step closer. ‘We know the story, Dan. The playground. The ball in the face. The nosebleed.’

‘Yes, well, what I might not have mentioned is that, well, actually, it was me that kicked the ball in the first place.’

Ann stopped stock still. Danny gritted his teeth. He’d been uncertain how to see this situation through, whether to give in to the infatuation that had haunted him his entire adult life, to risk spoiling his oldest and most cherished friendship, or to bottle up all those feelings yet again, safe in the knowledge that the status quo would be maintained. But now had he ruined everything? He’d never had the courage to admit responsibility for the small mishap that had set their relationship in motion and after so long that withheld truth seemed graver than the actual incident itself. The moment teetered on the brink of disaster.

But Ann simply sighed. ‘That’d be about right, wouldn’t it? Is that where this all comes from, Danny? All the help you’ve given me over the years. Is it all down to guilt from one silly little playground bust-up?’

‘I don’t know. I only know that you’re one of my best friends. That I’ve fancied you rotten since the age of fifteen, something I’m sure you’ve noticed. That almost every other day I’ve wondered what it’d be like to be with you, but I’ve never dared to say. Because of our friendship, because of what you can do. I know if we were ever more than friends, things would change. It’s that I don’t want them to change for the worse.’

A decision was about to be made. Ann took hold of Danny’s hand.

‘Those are the same worries that have passed through my mind, Dan. All this time that we’ve done nothing, afraid of the consequences. It’s scary, isn’t it, all the things that could go wrong. Dan, you were the one who told me that if you wanted something it wasn’t enough just to imagine it. You had to do it. Well, do you know there’s all sorts of stuff that I can do, that we can do. It’ll just take more than imagining.’

‘Let me watch you change, Ann,’ asked Danny, his voice quiet as he dared to suggest his dream become real. ‘That’s all I ask.’

Ann smiled. ‘Don’t be shy, Danny. I can be any woman you want. I have the power to do that and for once I want to use it. Ask me what you’d like me to be.’

Danny took a deep breath. He’d never been so honest in his life.

‘When you first told me about your abilities you said you made your eyes blue. I’ve often wondered what that must have been like. I’d love to see you with blue eyes.’

‘A nice easy one to start with,’ announced Ann. She tilted her head down toward Danny’s, halting with her nose a couple of inches away from his. ‘Watch closely,’ she commanded.

Danny noticed Ann had stopped breathing as she concentrated. Slowly, gradually, like oils on an artist’s palette shifting hue as they mixed, her chestnut brown eyes brightened into the most vivid blue, one after the other.

Ann tilted her head as if to say ‘what next?’

‘Can you make your hair jet black? And longer, a bob like Louise Brooks?’

Danny only got to see those incredible eyes for another second before Ann swiftly closed them. The corner of her mouth twitched as if she was deep in thought and in response her hair started to thicken and grow, creeping over her ears and neck. Now, it was almost as long as that of her teenage self. A change of facial expression and the hair began to neaten, shorten slightly, the strands rearranging themselves into a tidy fringe. When the bob was complete, Ann slowly opened her eyes again, her hair darkening at the same measured pace as the lifting of her eyelids, becoming pitch black when they were fully open.

‘I thought you’d have gone for blonde,’ said Ann.

‘Is that what you’d prefer?’ asked Danny.

‘No, no,’ she replied, testing the bounce of her new style in a pastiche of a hair care advertisement. ‘Only when you suggested the blue eyes, I wasn’t expecting so large a contrast.’

Danny considered. ‘I think that’s part of the reason I’ve fantasized about this so often. You can be unlike anyone else on the planet. I’m not sure who it is I can see through my mind’s eye, but it’s amazing seeing her come to life before me.’

‘I honestly didn’t think you’d want to go into so much detail. My money was on you going straight to my breasts. “Bigger breasts”, I was pretty sure that was going to be first on the list.’

‘I like the ones you’ve got,’ said Danny shyly, as Ann arched her back, daring him to alter the part of her body she knew he’d been avoiding.

‘Okay, but don’t say I didn’t offer. Where shall we go next?’

‘How pale can you make your skin?’ asked Danny. ‘Let’s go with the silent movie star look: skin like porcelain.’

Trying to appear disappointed, Ann quickly turned away, hiding her ‘rejected’ chest from Danny. Then, almost as an afterthought, she glanced over her shoulder as looking for something on her back. Danny followed her line of sight to the base of her spine where, like a pool of milk slowly spreading out, the colour was fading from her flesh. The paleness sank across her buttocks and down her legs and, more slowly as if the upward effort was greater, rose up to her shoulders. As it crested them Ann turned back revealing her chest again as the warmth vanished from her breasts. Soon, as the pallor from top and bottom met, all that was left was a pink circle about her belly button. Ann sucked in her tummy and it vanished.

‘Hmm, I think that’s a bit too much,’ said Ann. ‘I’m going to add a little more life if that’s all right with you?’

Danny nodded in agreement. ‘I feel like I’m on one of those home improvement shows where they get the designers in. It’s always better to defer to the expert.’

This time Ann gave her arms a brisk rub, looking like someone trying to stave off the cold. In response, the barest hint of a blush returned to her skin. Completing the impression of someone trying to stimulate her circulation she stamped her feet. In a moment the same delicate hue had enveloped her body completely.

‘Better?’

‘Better. Now I wonder if you’d like to put some weight on. I’ve always had a thing for the fuller figure.’

‘Oh it’s all coming out now, isn’t it?’ teased Ann. ‘I think we’ve opened the flood gates.’

‘Come on, I hardly think that’s a revelation,’ retorted Danny. ‘You know I used to have a thing for Charlotte Wynne. She wasn’t exactly wasting away.’

‘”Reubenesque” is the word I think you’re struggling for, Daniel,’ said Ann.

‘Yes, I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like,’ he replied.

‘Something like Charlotte Wynne it is, then.’ Ann planted her feet firmly a little further apart than they already were. She placed her hands on her hips and might have been ready to begin an exercise routine.

This was no series of twists and stretches, though. She seemed to be using her hands to push down at the waist and Danny realised that she was slowly losing height. Her hips widened in sympathy and her thighs and backside plumped. Her stomach lost some of its definition, becoming a pleasant, slight bulge. Arms and neck filled out although her breasts, perhaps deliberately, merely kept their proportion. Finally, Ann’s face became rounder, making her look less severe and, curiously, younger. She was at least five inches shorter than when she had begun her latest transformation and was completely unrecognisable from her original form. There was nothing to say they were the same person.

‘That must almost be it,’ said Ann.

‘It is. Just a few small adjustments.’

In the next few minutes, under Danny’s direction, Ann adjusted her cheekbones to take advantage of her fleshier face. She broadened her nose slightly, giving it a more Greek or Mediterranean appearance and widened her eyes just enough to suggest laughter. Ann completed the changes with her own idea: wine red lips in contrast to her light, light skin.

But even then, it was clear that Danny wanted something else.

‘Ann, I don’t suppose you could make your breasts ever so slightly larger, could you?’

Ann gave a triumphant laugh.

‘I knew it! You haven’t had your eyes off them all night. God, men. You’re all so predictable.’

‘You were the one who kept mentioning them! Don’t blame me if I’ve eventually given in to my baser instincts. What was I supposed to do?’

‘Okay, okay. Don’t make a fuss. Here we go then.’ She gave them both a quick squeeze to prepare them. ‘Say “when”.’

Before Danny could come to terms with what was happening it began. Slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, Ann’s breasts started growing bigger and bigger. They hadn’t got far before Danny, stunned by the bizarreness of situation, managed to force himself to call ‘when’.

‘Are we done?’ asked Ann.

‘Yes,’ said Danny, simply.

‘What now?’

Danny prepared himself, as if he had rehearsed this moment and was now hesitating before he followed it through.

‘Tonight has been amazing. There can’t be many people who get to see their dreams come to life before their eyes. I’ve fantasized about you changing so many times, thought about what I’d ask you to become if I ever got the opportunity. You look incredible.’ Ann curtseyed her approval. ‘I’m not sure where all those ideas came from. I don’t think any of them occurred to me before tonight. Funny how different things are when you’re on the spot.

‘But you’ve mentioned another fantasy coming true tonight. You’ve spoken about the possibility of us being, how does it go, “more than friends”. That’s something quite different to watching you practice your powers. It’s something I’ve wanted more than anything. I never thought I’d be brave enough to admit that, so let me test my courage a little further and ask something else of you.’

Ann frowned. ‘What?’

‘Change back,’ said Danny. ‘I’ve seen what I wanted to, marvelled at the impossibility of your powers. I couldn’t explain to you how I feel now if I wanted to. As foreplay goes, changing your entire appearance is pretty unbeatable. But if it’s going to be the real thing then I want the real you. I love you, Ann, and it’s you I want to be with tonight.’

‘Why, you old romantic,’ said the new Ann. ‘Give us a kiss first so I know it hasn’t been a complete waste of time.’

They embraced, and then kissed. A first kiss, nervous, not too long for fear of overplaying a long sought-after moment and underscored with the simple joy of something new. Then they parted.

‘I suppose you want to watch?’ said Ann. Danny didn’t reply, assuming it was a rhetorical question. ‘Here, let me borrow that.’

Ann placed her hands on Danny’s chest and began unbuttoning his shirt, working from top to bottom. When it was undone, she slid it off both his arms simultaneously, his exposed chest brushing hers as she moved closer to retrieve it. When it was free from his body, she pulled it out from behind him. Stepping back, she put it on, recalling a scene from another bedroom meeting sixteen years ago.

The bright yellow silk of the shirt shone against her pallid complexion, its tails hanging long and taut about her full figure. Ann let out a gasp and the shirt began to rise up her thighs, its fit loosening as she started the process that would return her to her original form. The changes ran in parallel this time, colour returning to her skin as her legs lengthened, eyes darkening as the features surrounding them rearranged. In moments she had undone the evening’s work.

‘Okay,’ said Ann. ‘Let’s give this another try.’

Danny moved in close to Ann and was about to kiss her again when a thought popped into his head.

‘Actually, I don’t suppose you could do one last thing for me?’ he asked.

‘It’s not more watching, is it Danny? I’m kind of in the mood for doing now.’

‘No, it’s more of a practical request.’ He gazed up at Ann’s exasperated face. ‘Could you lose a

couple of inches, come down here a bit. I’m worried I might get a crick in my neck with you being so tall. Sorry.’

Ann stood on her tiptoes, raising her hands above her head like a ballerina emphasising how much taller than Danny she was. Then, with a wry smile on her face, she began to shrink, her backbone and thighs contracting until gradually, little-by-little, she came eye to eye with Danny. The last inch was achieved by her coming down off her toes. She let her arms fall about Danny’s shoulders, linking her hands behind his neck.

‘Satisfied?’ she asked.

‘Not yet,’ he replied.

The End