Back to School: Chapter Two

Back to School: Chapter Two

"You've got to be kidding me," Shawn muttered to herself when she and Junior stood in the doorway of their first classroom.  It wasn't a big room, but it was certainly big enough to hold around ten giants, each giant desk holding a human sized desk on top of it.  There didn't seem to be a teacher in the room yet, but Shawn noticed that the giants were standing on one side of the room, and the humans were on the other.  No one was interacting yet and several students looked surprised as they came in the room together.  Shawn hated the attention.  "Uh...maybe it's best that you put me down," she said to Junior.
Carson nodded as he stepped into the class room. "Eh, right..." He made his way to one of the many unoccupied desks, setting her down next to her's and sitting in his own desk. He couldn't shake that awkward feeling, like he'd done something wrong by offering her a hand.
Shawn looked around, staring at the small group of five humans that were clustered around a human desk a few tables over before looking back at Carson.  "Listen Junior, at least we don't have assigned seating.  If I have to sit next to a giant, I'm totally sitting next to you...but maybe you should try talking to them?"  She waved across the room where another group of giants were talking amongst themselves.
"Yeah, I guess." He went to stand up before looking back down at her. "Oh, want me to set you with the humans?" He asked, holding a hand out to her. It occurred to him most of the humans looked like they'd be stranded on their desks without a giant's help.
"Oh no...it's okay...look," she walked to the corner of the desk and pointed at a small ladder that was leaning against it.  "It looks that they actually made some accommodations for us."  She saluted Junior with a smile, after setting down her backpack and going towards one of the ladders.  "So you'll...you will sit next to me when class starts, right?"
"Heh, of course.," he said, pulling his hand back and standing up fully. He gave her the same salute and smile before heading off to chat it up with the few giants.
Once on the floor, Shawn felt her heart flutter for a moment watching all the giants standing there, chatting.  They were normal enough, but from down here, it was a pretty imposing sight.  Shaking her head, she climbed up the ladder to where all the humans were standing around and walked over to the group.  "Uh...hey," she said, feeling herself growing shy for some reason.  "My name's Shawn."  She tried to give the group a smile and walked over to them.  There weren't many humans, only five including her, but this was the first year of the 'immersion' process in schools.
One of the girls approached her, eyes wide as she whispered. "Are you alright? Did he force you to walk with him or something?"
Shawn looked a little surprised.  "Force me?" She repeated.  "No, he didn't force me.  I mean he asked, but I agreed."
The girl standing with her nodded. "Seriously, these giants think they're such hot stuff."
Shawn looked at the other girl.  "You...you don't like the giants?" She asked her, frowning because she kind of felt the same way, other than around Carson.
"Please, what's to like?" The first one asked incredulously. "They're big, bumbling, and they think they're so much better than us," she said, crossing her arms.
"They don't seem... that bad," said one of the male humans, sounding nervous and making the two girls look at him with an incredulous look.
Shawn wasn't exactly sure where she stood on this point anymore.  The girls were right, in her mind; the giants did seem to think that they were better than most humans.  But...she looked over at Carson, watching him interact, somewhat put off for some reason.  
"I'm sure that they're not all bad," she said in a quiet voice, looking at the guy who had spoken, "Have you talked to any of them yet?" she asked him, hopefully.
"W-Well... um..." He shuffles uncomfortably for a moment.
"His step mom's a giant." The second one answers, looking annoyed that they're even talking to him.
Shawn's eyes widened.  "Step mom?" She repeated.  "You mean that your dad is a human and he married a giant?"  She knew that things were changing, but she certainly didn't expect to find out that one of her classmates had a giant as a parent.  "Wow...that's crazy."  
She lifted up her head to see one of the giants finally approaching the table, shoved by another one.
As she sauntered over, Shawn noticed the two nervous girls backing away.  
"Uh hey," the giant girl said in a small voice, standing over them.  "M-my name's Kimi.  It's nice to meet you all."
"H-hey," Shawn answered in a quiet voice, watching her come over and sit down.  The two girls pulled even further away on the desk.
The boy blushed, not moving but not getting any closer. He instead turned away, pretending to be busy on his phone so he wouldn't have to face their direction.
Shawn frowned at the display put on by all of them.  Normally, she would have been a little shy as well, but looking up at Kimi, and how none of the other humans were talking to her, she tried to put on a smile.  "Uh, hey Kimi," she said.  "Nice to meet you."  She started to walk towards her but the girl immediately jumped out of seat and went back to the small group of giants.
"See," Kimi said.  "I did it, it's not so bad," she said to the other giantesses in the room, who were all staring at them warily.  "They're all scared of us though."
Shawn frowned, about to say something when the door opened again and she saw a teacher-ish looking giant walk through door.  
Great, even the teacher was going to be a giant.
"Everyone take your seats," she called out to the room.
"Well, good luck girl." Said one of the girls, climbing down the ladder with the other one following.
The boy moves to get down from the desk, waving to Shawn with a smile. As he does, he slips while not paying attention. He's caught out of the air by a different girl giant, her moving to a free desk and setting him down with her.
Carson walks over and sits in front of her as the other humans clear off. "Hey."
"H-hey," Shawn muttered, as the teacher got her things ready.  "How did it go?"
"It was... interesting," he said, scratching the back of his head. "Some of these giants, they don't think too fondly of humans.  Well, that girl there. Trish. She does, but I don't think she'd ever come forward about it."
"I know what you mean," Shawn said.  "I think some of the girls thought that you like...tricked me into allowing you to carry me."  She sniffed openly.  "I mean, really?" She pulled her notebook out of her backpack and set it on the tiny desk.  "I guess ignorance can't be helped.  We're kind of all being thrown into this."
"True enough..." He felt sickened at the idea of tricking or forcing her to be carried, like she was a pet or something. Was that really the mentality of some humans?  Or some giants for that matter? "What about your group though?" Carson tried.  "Any of em think of giants kindly?"
"Heh," she kept looking at her notebook as though it was the most interesting thing in the world.  "The one guy has a step mother who's a giant, but I still can't tell how he feels about them.  I think he's okay.  But the girls..." she trailed off looking at the two girls who were more 'talkative' about how they felt about giants, frozen in their chairs, sitting on the edge of their giant's desks.  
Shawn frowned.  "Well I'm sure that you can tell how they feel."
He glanced over at them, sighing. "Geez, they look terrified. What do they think's gonna happen? We're just big people, nothing to it," he said, slightly annoyed. He looked back at the boy she was talking about, smirking when he saw both him and the giant behind him were blushing very lightly. She looked almost as scared as him. "Guess everyone's not so biased though."
"Maybe," Shawn said.  "Maybe it's just not a good idea for our kinds to mix..." she trailed off, not wanting to offend her new friend.  Luckily, the teacher chose that exact time to ask the class to pay attention.  Relieved, she turned slightly away from Carson, focusing on the teacher's words.
He sighed, focusing on his notes so as not to think about what she'd said. He was hoping they could be friends, him being at least half as nervous about this whole thing as her... guess that wasn't happening though. As the teacher droned on, no longer talking about school work, he decided to doodle a bit in his notes.

***

"Well, I think that's it for today," the teacher's clear voice rang out; stacking her papers on the desk after what was an incredibly long 90 minute period.  Darn block scheduling.  "But yes, remember students, some of us may look different physically, but we are all at this school together so we should all try our rest to remain friends.  You now have an hour break before your next class.  Please check your schedules."  
With that, the teacher left the room and students started to prepare to leave.
Shawn rolled her eyes.  "That was the longest class I've ever taken," she grumbled at Carson.  She tried to smile at him, hoping that he wasn't mad about what she said earlier.  "What'd you think Junior?  I saw your eyes drooping."
"Hm?" He looked up from his doodling which had evolved into full on sketching and drawing, not even aware the class had ended. He shut his notebook, probably a bit too quickly.
Shawn jumped up at his quick movements.  "Heh, sorry...didn't mean to interrupt you there."
"Sorry... just kinda tired."  He stood up from his desk, about to offer her a hand before thinking better of it. "So um... what's your next class?"
She stood up from her desk and crouched down over her backpack, pulling out her schedule.  "Well I have to say...I don't mind the scheduling too much here.  One class, one hour break...and then..." she trailed off as her eyes fell on the words.  "Oh damn...anything but that!"  She crumpled her paper in her hands, looking up at Carson with dread in her eyes.
Why in the hell was this class on her schedule?
"What, what is it?" He asked, curious about what had her in such a mood all of a sudden. "Chemistry? Algebra? Composition?  Calculus?"
"Theater Arts," she muttered, shoving her paper back into her bag.  "I mean, I know we only have four classes a day, but Theater?  Why do I have to take theater?"
"You kidding?"  He asked, excited. "I've got theater next too, and I'm excited! The chance to be someone else... sounds pretty fantastic actually." He continued, watching as the humans and giants filed out of separate doors.
"Ugh...theater..." she muttered.  "I c-can't..." she trailed off, not wanting to talk about it.  Just thinking about theater made her nervous.  She too watched a few students leaving the room, most of the humans sticking together and most of the giants sticking together.  "You might want to go catch up to them," she said, waving to a small group of them.  "I'm just gonna head to the park during our hour break."
"Um..." He was about to ask if her could join her before her earlier words echoed in his head, like they were mocking him. He smiled and started to walk away. "Yeah... I'll catch you next class. Ok?"
Shawn looked a little surprised but waved stupidly.  "Oh...uh...yeah," she said, trying to shake it off.  
She was sure that he would have asked to follow her, and...and that honestly wouldn't have been that bad...she sighed deeply and climbed down her ladder to the floor, and slung her backpack over her shoulder.  There were only a few people left, that giantess called Trish and the human with the giant stepmother.  
She tilted her head, smiling at the pair talking quietly and started to head out of the building.
"Hey! Girl, wait up!" The two human girls from before ran up to her in the hall, each walking on either side of her. "So was that like, THE scariest thing ever?
"I know! I swear, that giant behind me was eying me like a meal," she said, acting overdramatic.
"It...it wasn't that bad," Shawn said, walking down the halls, just trying to get outside.  She needed some fresh air.  With school, and theater class coming up and these girls and Carson...she suddenly felt as though she couldn't breathe.  "It couldn't have been as bad as all that?"  She asked them, trying to be polite as she quickened her pace.
"Wow... you're either dense or brave," said the first one, not with malice or spite but with a genuine chuckle. Like it was just teasing between friends. "I'm Megan. What about you? I'm tired of calling you girl."
She stopped at the doorway right outside the school.  "It's S-Shawn," she said.  "Nice to meet you Megan."  She turned towards the other girl, eyeing up the outside as a few giants were out enjoying the crisp fall air.  "And your name?" She asked her.
"Tina," she said, grinning.
"Shawn? Hah, ain't that a dude's name?" Asked the first one, laughing. She froze up as a giant walked out of the school by stepping over them. "Geezus... guy tried to kill us."
"My dad said he wanted a boy," Shawn said, feeling her anxiety getting the best of her.  "Look, I'm going to the park," she tried, hoping they would catch the hint.  "I'll see you guys after lunch?"
"Sure thing! Catch you later Shawn!" She waved to her, Tina following close by.
The human boy from before walked up to her, waving as Tina walked away from the school. "Later, Tina! See you at lunch!"
"Bye, Edward!"  She turned and gave him a little wave before heading off for her break.
Shawn watched the girls leave only to find another person standing next to her.  "Oh hey..." she said, a little relieved.  "Edward right?  The one with the giant for a stepmother?"
"Um, yeah... Nice to meet you," he said, seeming more calm now that he was away from the giants... or was it those girls that made him nervous? Either way, he seemed much friendlier now. "Shawn, was it?"
She nodded.  "Yeah...nice to meet you.  I saw you talking to the girl...I think Junior said that her name is Trish?  Are you guys friends or something...from before coming here I mean?" She started walking off the school property, seeing if Edward would follow her.  She still wanted some time in the park.
He followed behind, shaking his head.  "Nope, just met today... And is Junior the giant you were sitting with?"  He asked curiously.
She covered her mouth, growing a bit pink.  "Hah...his actual name is Carson but I started calling him Junior."  She smiled at him.  "You guys just met today, though huh?  You guys seemed pretty chummy to me," she said with a soft smirk.
This time he blushed, looking away for a moment. "W-Well... she's really nice is all.  J-Just a big person after all," he said with a sheepish smile. "Besides, I could say the same about you and Ju-... Carson."
"He's an idiot," she said, smiling to herself.  She didn't say it in a mean way, and she hoped that it didn't come across that way.  "But no...He's nice and all...but," she trailed off as the two walked down the sidewalk.  "Where you heading anyways?" She asked Edward.  "If didn't know better, I'd say you were following me now."
"Well, generally you have to be near a person to have a conversation." He said with a smile. "But I'm just headed to the park. I like to relax there when I'm stressed."
She laughed.  "I'm just kidding you know," she smiled at him, as they approached the opening gates of the park when she froze, staring ahead.
Edward gulped, freezing as well. "Yeah... giants tend to make me a bit nervous too... especially the kids," he said, noticing a couple of giant children wrestling.
"Uh...no...that's not it," she said but noted the children with a shudder.  She pointed towards a large tree, large enough for a giant to lean against and saw Carson reading a book to himself.  "I didn't think that he'd be here," she said, and started looking around the rest of the park.  "Do you see Trish anywhere?" She asked hopefully.
Edward glanced around, seeing her off in one of the larger trees as she sat on a branch to get away from most of the noise. "Uh, yeah. Just over there... Why?"
Carson glanced up, noting the two humans. Of course his mind was already fast at work telling him that she'd prefer to relax with someone her own size... That maybe they shouldn't be mixing. Deciding to let her come to him, he turned his gaze back on his book.
Shawn's face reddened when she caught Carson's attention on her and started to pull Edward in a different direction where Trish was.  "C-come on," she said, trying to smile and play it cool.  "I...I want to meet you friend.  Don't you want to talk to her?" She tried, smiling.

"Oh, um sure..." He walked up to the tree, jumping and waving to get her attention. "Trish! Trish, down here!"
She glanced down, taking her ear buds out and pocketing them when she saw the little human. "Oh, Ed!  Hey!"  She jumped down from the tree, landing gracefully in front of them and crouching down.
Carson sighed quietly, seeing her walk off with the human out of the corner of his eye. Not even walk off, more like she was trying to avoid him. Well he wouldn't get in her way.  He folded the corner of his page and snapped the book shut, stood up and started to head out of the park.  Coming to the park was a bad idea, if she didn't want to go with him to the park, what had made him possibly think that she would approach him there if she saw him?
Shawn looked over her shoulder, watching Carson start to leave.  Looking up at Trish, she smiled, holding up one finger.  "Uh...hold on," she said to them.  "I'll be right back...I'm so sorry, I think I saw someone that I know," she lamely explained, starting to run towards Carson.  "J-Junior wait!" She shouted out to him, nearly giving herself a concussion when she bumped into something hard.  
"Ouch, damn it," she grumbled, rubbing her forehead and then looked up...and up to see the surprised face a young giant.  He couldn't have been more than 12, but he still looked a little upset.
"Watch it," he said in a grumpy voice, taking her up in one hand, making Shawn even more dizzy.  "Even humans gotta watch where they're going."
Shawn felt her face grow red.  To be scolded by a child.  She narrowed her eyes.  "Sorry, I didn't see you."
The giant smiled.  "How can you not see me?" He asked, smiling triumphantly at the tiny human.  "You should say sorry again!" He laughed at the human in his hand, overcome with childlike-power, as a few of his friends watched the scene.
Carson glanced back hearing his nickname. His eyes widened seeing the child holding Shawn, quickly striding over to them and standing over the kid. "Put her down... carefully," he said, making sure to sound firm.
The young giant narrowed his eyes, but set her down, letting her sloppily crash into the grass.  "Calm down," he said, surprisingly snarky for a young boy.  "I wasn't gonna hurt her.  I know that the humans got rights.  My dad and brother told me that.  She just ran into me.  She had to apologize."
Shawn backed up, smacking right into Edward who had run over, with Trish following closely behind.
"She did say sorry from what I heard," said Trish, kneeling down to her. "You ok?"
"I-I'm fine," Shawn said, still rubbing her forehead.  "Just s-surprised is all."  She looked up at Trish, surprised that the girl was so interested to make sure that she was okay.  
"Well where is your dad?  Shouldn't he be watching you?" Carson asked, miffed that this little brat didn't have someone watching him.
Shawn also glared at the boy.
"Eh shove off," the young giant said.  "I don't have school today, home schooled remember?  Unlike you guys," he said with a triumphant grin.  He ran back to join his friends, laughing loudly about the human that he almost made cry.
Shawn muttered.  "Stupid brat."
Carson crouched down beside her, gently stroking her arm in a comforting motion. "You alright, Shawn?  That brat didn't hurt you, right?"
"Nothing but my dignity," she said, trying to smile.  "That was pretty humiliating...to say the least."  She looked around and saw a couple giants staring at her.  Were they actually expecting her to cry about such a thing?  "I-It's fine," she said.  "No worries...thanks for coming over by the way."
He looked around, frowning at the few giants watching her. Didn't people have anything better to do than stare?  He offered his hand to her. "Hey, you hungry? I missed breakfast, and we've still got a good 40 minutes before our next class. We could grab a bite to eat."
"Oh, that sounds good actually!" Said Trish, offering her hand to Edward. "Think we could join you?"
"Sure," Shawn said, smiling again.  
Trish and Edward seemed pretty nice to her, and they seemed opened minded like she was...well since she had met Carson.  She stepped into his hand.  
"Sorry for all the drama," she said sheepishly and then frowned.  "You must be getting pretty tired of people staring at you," she grumbled, making sure that she was secure in Carson's hand and wouldn't tumble out.
He lifted her back up, eliciting a few more odd looks from the surrounding crowd as they left. "I just ignore em," he said simply, starting down the side walk.  "You should too."
Shawn tried to smile up at him, but he seemed to be focused on keeping his hand steady.  He still wasn't very used to carrying around humans, that much was obvious to her.  She heard the giant behind them start to speak.
"So... I'm Trish. You guys friends of Ed's?" She asked, following behind with Ed sitting in her cupped hand.
"I just met him this morning," Shawn said, trying to look back at her.  "Same with Junior here..." she smirked at him.  "I mean Carson."
"Junior?" Trish asked, smiling. "What's up with the nickname?"
"It's just cause I'm a junior, grade wise," he sighed, but still smiled.
"Ah, then I guess you're Junior to me too," she said with a smirk walking up beside them.
Shawn tried not to laugh.  "Hah, you better watch out, or that's going to be your name here, Junior," she said to him, already feeling better.  She noticed a few passerby's, staring at the four of them strangely, but she did her best not to let it bother her.  She felt surprisingly safe with Junior.  'Just ignore em' she said to herself.
"So where are you from?" Shawn called over to Edward, who was silent, looking around as Trish walked.
"Hm?" He turned to face her, having been distracted before. He found it so... fascinating being up here like this.  "Oh, Illinois. Not too much interesting goes on, so that's kind of why I agreed to come here."
"So you actually wanted to come?" Shawn guessed, trying not to sound as surprised as she felt.
"Well... yeah. I knew it'd be a bit different." He admitted.  "Well, a lot different. But I thought it might be fun!"
"Oh..." Shawn said, lowering her head.  She was surprised that there was someone that would actually volunteer for this.  She wanted to speak on it more, but the place that they were going to eat was right in front of them.  "They...they don't mind us here do they?" She asked Carson, noting that like most places made for giants, only had giants at them.
"Don't see why they wouldn't," he said with a shrug, walking inside and taking a table. He set her down on it, Trish sitting across from him and doing the same. "So, breakfast or lunch? This place'll serve either around this time."
"It's around lunch time...so I'm thinking breakfast," said Trish, smiling.
"Breakfast sounds good to me also!" She said, trying not to hide her excitement.  "Looks like they even have the menus already here," she pointed behind a large napkin dispenser.  "Mind if I take a look?" She asked Carson.
"Knock yourself out," he said, handing Trish a menu and opening his on the table so they could both see. "If they don't make human portions here, you want to just split something?" Though as he looked over the menu, he wasn't seeing anything human sized.
"Are you okay with that?"  She asked, frowning.  "Honestly, I just packed something.  I didn't even bring any money...so you just get what you want."  
She smiled over at Trish and Edward who were looking at the menu together.
"Well, hey I wouldn't mind splitting something," he said before giving her a little nudge with his finger, hoping that he wasn't pushing his boundaries too much. "Besides, I think you need a little something after that stupid brat."
"Seriously. Hate to see what he grows into," said Edward, shuddering.
Shawn's eyes widened.  "No freaking way," she said under her breath, sure that only Ed had heard her.  "Isn't that him?"  She narrowed her eyes.  "And isn't that guy in our class?"  Her eyes fell on the strange pair, the boy from the park and his older brother.  Shawn was positive that he had seen him from earlier.
"That's her," the boy said, pointing out Shawn.
The older giant came over, and stood at the table.  "My brother said you were giving him trouble at the park?" He asked, his face looking confused as he stared down at the human.  This was what he dragged him out of school for?
"I didn't give him any trouble," Shawn muttered.  "He actually picked me up without asking," she said, feeling a little brave with her friends around her.
Edward shrunk away from the obviously irritated and confused giant, not speaking.
The older giant looked a little surprised, looking at his little brother.  "That's not the way you told it," he said to him and the younger one looked a little miffed.  "Why don't you go back outside and enjoy time with your friends."
"But Jason..." the younger giant grumbled but the he was already being pushed towards the doors.
"Just go," he said, his voice growing firm and finally the giant left the restaurant and the older giant looked at the group.  "I'm sorry about my brother," he said.  "He doesn't interact with humans too much...kinda dangerous as you can see."  He looked down at Shawn.  "That idiot didn't actually hurt you, did he?"
"N-no," she answered him, surprised that he was handling this so well.  
The older giant smiled, reaching down to roughly tousle her hair.  She jerked forward from the impact and he looked a bit surprised.  "I guess he's not the only one who needs some work hanging out with humans," he chuckled.  "Well...sorry to interrupt your meal."  And with that, he turned and left.
"What the hell?" Shawn said, nearly choking with surprise.  "Seriously, what the hell just happened?"
"I-I think... we just got off pretty lucky," said Edward, sitting down with a sigh of relief.
"No kidding... He didn't hurt you did he?" Asked Carson, concerned for her after that rough tousling.
"Well it certainly didn't feel great after bumping my forehead into that kid's leg," she said, starting to straighten her hair.
"Well, you won't have to deal with that stuff much hopefully." Carson said, leaning back in his seat.
The waitress came by, a cheery expression on her face. "Morning folks, what can I get for you...?" She eyed Carson a little her smile changing. "Today?"
He didn't seem to notice, looking down at Shawn. "Hey, did you want something then?" He asked her, still planning on getting her something to split.
Shawn tilted her head, staring at the waitress.  Was she...was...she shook her head, trying to smile up at Carson.  "Uh yeah...do you like pancakes?" She asked carefully.
"Love pancakes!" He said before looking back up at the waitress "Just a plate of pancakes for us, please. And an orange juice."
"And uh... I think we'll go for the Belgium waffle," said Trish. "No drink for me."
She hardly acknowledged Trish, writing down the orders. "Alright, I'll be right out with your drink... sir." She gave Shawn a bit of a look before turning around to place their orders.
Shawn felt like she had been shot with that look, wincing openly.  She turned to Trish, assuming that Carson was clueless.  "You saw that, right?" She asked her.
She nodded, looking a little surprised but remaining silent on the matter.
"So what classes do you guys have next?" Asked Edward, curious.
Shawn, still a little stung, groaned openly.  "Theater," she answered shortly.
"Dang, we've got Geometry," he said, snapping his fingers. "Well, maybe we could-"
"Your juice, sir," said the waitress. She set the glass down and slid it forward enough to splash Shawn, drenching her in orange juice. "Oops! I'm sorry, let me get some napkins." She hardly sounded apologetic as she headed off.
"Sh-she...she did that on purpose!" Shawn blurted out, starting to feel a bit humiliated.  "I c-can't...I can't take much more of this."
"She did?"  He asked, still not catching on to the waitress. "Shoot... we'll talk to management when we leave..." He said, giving the waitress an annoyed look as she walked away.  He pulled a few napkins out of the blatantly obvious napkin holder, handing them to her. "Want a hand?"
She sniffed.  "No...I want...I want to go home," she said.  "Tell the teachers that I got sick...please just lower me to the ground and I'll just walk home."
He sighed, holding out a hand for her. "Let me walk you home at least," he tried, hoping to make it up to her. "It's the least I can do, it being my idea to come here."
She sniffed again, trying to hold back her tears.  No one had said that it would be like this!  Blinking, she backed away from his hand.  "That waitress..." she muttered, walking towards Trish.  "Why don't you walk her home?" She said, trying not to try.  "Trish, can you just lower me to the ground?"
He pulled his hand away, surprised and a bit hurt. "...What?"
"Gods, you're dense," said Trish, looking incredulous. How could guys not pick up on that sort of stuff?  She gently lifted her up, standing up. "Think you can get back to class ok, Ed?"
"…Yeah, sure." He said, nodding.
Trish nodded back, with that heading out of the diner.
"You don't have to walk me out," Shawn said.  "I'll get your hand all sticky," she muttered, not meeting anyone's eyes, covered with juice still.  Her clothes were probably ruined and Carson was completely clueless.
"I don't mind, that's what hand soap's for," She said simply, smiling. "Now...about what happened back there," she started. "I know that guys are dense...him especially apparently. But I think he does care about you a bit."
"Yeah right," she said "He doesn't care...I...I see the way that Ed looks at you," she said, putting her on the spot.   "It's completely different."
She blushes, clearing her throat. "W-Well, that's just Ed. Look he's a guy, so he's gonna be a little stupid," she said, trying to comfort her. "I understand he was... a bit more dense back there. But give him another chance. I'm good at reading people and he's crushing big time."
"It's just different, I guess," she said, starting to squeeze the juice from her clothes.  "Seriously though, I can't go back to class like this.  I'm gross, and really sticky.  So unless you just happen to carry human sized clothing around with you, I really do have to go back home and change, or at least find a store that sells something I can wear."
"Hmmm... Well, nothing on me now. Left my spare human set of clothes in my other pocket," she said with a chuckle. "And there aren't too many stores around here that accommodate human clothes. I'll drop you off at your place, and just tell Junior to let teach know you're not feeling well."
"C-can't you just tell him?" Shawn asked hopefully.  "I...I don't know if I want to talk to him right now.  This day really hasn't gone the way that I expected it to.  I'm...I'm kind of embarrassed about the whole thing to be perfectly honest."
"Oh, no!" She waved her free hand. "I meant I'd tell Junior to tell your teacher! No way I'd make you go back there after what all you'd been through." She stepped over the gate into the human districts, waving nervously at a few of the gaping humans. "So um... where do you live?"
"Oh..." Shawn blushed and just pointed to the ground.  "You can just set me down here.  I can walk back to my room."  
Honestly what she needed was a good cry and a fresh change of clothing.  One more moment around these giants then she wasn't sure what she was going to do.  She was humiliated, and she felt like a child when they were around.  Trying to put on her bravest face she looked at Trish.  "Just set me down here please."
"Alright...we'll see you in class tomorrow at least, right?" She asked, smiling hopefully as she set her down.
Shawn frowned as Trish set her down on the ground, relieved to be standing on steady floor.  "Uh yeah...probably," she said, looking a bit doubtful.  "I'll talk you later," she muttered, turning away and heading back to her apartment.  
This had been officially the worst day of her life and once she saw Trish stand up and start to walk back towards the school, she let the tears come, making a quick dash to get to her room.  She needed to call her parents.