Wrong Department, by Megs

Chapter 3
Chapter Three – Loosing Face

Chapter Description: By Megs

Tina stumbled backwards, having gone to take a step and finding the canvas sneakers had become loose. She fell on her ass, her eyes still locked at the small, horizontal mirror on the top of the fashion jewelery stand. Freckles. An extra helping of childish baby fat, the glimmer of youth and vitality no honest woman wanted to see in such generous helpings. Tina’s mind raced for an explanation, and in a moment she suspected the cause of her latest unwelcome change.

Tina pulled the now well-fitting bracelet around so that she could read the tag attached. It was part of the "Tween Spirits" line, which was retail-speak for "cheap crap for girls too old to be girls and too young to be teens". Below it clearly said "ages 8 to 13". Her heart dropped into her socks, which seemed at the moment to be the only thing that still fit at all. Woolson hadn’t given her the bracelet, so she had to assume that either anything she put on made her adjust to an age that fit, or that she was somehow being punished for putting on the jewelery that didn’t belong to her. This was, however, the extent of the rational thinking Tina could pull off at the moment. What had begun as a day of hope and promise had become a day of catastrophe and terror. Her womanhood had been stripped from her with indifference. She had spent a morning waddling around like a pregnant hippo. She couldn’t decide if she was furious, disgusted or terrified.

As if she had donned the One Ring, Woolson seemed to melt out of the clothing racks nearby, his presence as cold and caustic as one of the Nine. He looked down at her and shook his head, rolling his eyes. "You stopped them from stealing Tina, but then you had to go and do something foolish like this."

Tina stood up, trying not to feel absurd. Woolson had always been a short man, no taller than Tina in the end, but now, with a start, Tina realized she was looking up at him. She had lost several inches of height with her dimunition of age it seemed. That shouldn’t have shocked her, but being confronted with the face of a middle schooler was one thing. Realizing you were shorter than you aught to be, that was another thing, even if the two were related. She shifted in place, her bra hanging loosely, the t-shirt feeling oversized and ridiculous. She felt the tights slip a little - the elastic prevented them from plummeting, but they certainly were too big for her now. Even the pink panties drooped a little. She wanted to say something, but her throat was as about as clear as her mind at the moment, and all she did was mutter incoherent phrases.

Woolson took her by the arm and dragged her further into the Tween section. "Since you’ve gone and decided the Tween-wear needs a better eye, you might as well keep an eye on it," Woolson commanded. He paused by a clothes rack and pulled down a dress; it was red, simple and functional. Then he grabbed a pair of flip flops and handed them to Tina. "Go put these on, and don’t worry about a bra - you don’t really need one, do you?"

Tina went beet red and grabbed the clothes from the increasingly worrisome manager. "Will I..." she paused, noting how her voice seemed to have slipped into a higher octave. "Will I turn back at the end of my shift?" She looked up at him earnestly. Her heart was racing.

Woolson looked at her with a dispassionate face. He took her by the arm and walked across the aisle into Children’s Wear and picked up a hat. It was a Barbie baseball cap. He brandished it at her as if it were a flaming torch. "Tonight, if you don’t start behaving, you go home with me. As it is you’re just old enough I think it’s safe to send you home on your own, so run along now and put those on."

Tina’s eyes widened. The threat was clear enough. She began her walk back to the break room, heart in her shoes. He wasn’t going to change her back at the end of her shift. She was going to remain like this, a veritable child, for as long a Woolson wished. As she walked she passed by the infant wear section and paused. There were racks of tiny clothing for small children and babies, maternity bras, rows and rows of diapers. Tina wondered if this clothing would do as what the other clothing she wore had clearly done. If Woolson wanted to, could he put Tina back into the cradle?

She had to do something, and fast. Already she was young enough that living on her own would be at the mercy of Woolson. As a teen she could have quit, walked out and found a way to get by. But now she was clearly underage, and no business in the world would hire someone who aught to be in school, never mind under adult supervision. Yet, for all his menaces, Woolson did seem honestly intent on Tina stopping loss prevention. Was it perhaps just his total lack of emotion that was making Tina’s day bad? Would she be in the lingerie department tomorrow, strutting around like a super-model? Would she, at the end of the day when getting her own clothes back, become herself? She resolved herself to keep faith, for now. At worst, she had discovered a secret about how she changed.

For the third time today, Tina visited the bathroom to change clothes. The teen clothes slipped off her skinny, barely developed body where they had (only a few hours ago) been too tight to wear. Tina elected to keep the underwear on; going without seemed wrong somehow. The bra came off; it was now far too big. Looking down at her chest she could see the remains of her breasts; puffy pink nipples with a small B cup underneath. Tina had been an early bloomer. With a shudder she thought what she might look like if she had been a late bloomer. She could basically pull her feet out of the shoes, and toed them aside. Pulling on the red dress, then the flip flops, Tina trudged out of the bathroom. The mirror showed her a nightmare. Herself, young and cute looking, appearing for all the world like the `tween she had become. She had been demoted alright. Demoted, deaged, deheighted...

A minute later Tina was wandering the Tween Wear section, keeping her eyes open for any other shoplifters. She was loosing some of her drive to do so as the minutes passed. Everything felt larger, more imposing in some subtle way. All she could think about as she walked from rack to rack was how, if this was permanent, Tina wouldn’t even be able to reach the peanut butter at home. She didn’t know why that was important, just that it was. It was as she was lost in this thought that she nearly ran into someone. With a start she backed off, apologizing and looking up.

At Kyle. He was much taller than her now, having been taller than her before, the loss of height seemed more prevalent. He looked down at her and seemed confused. "Tina?" he queried. Tina nearly croaked in alarm. He had recognized her despite the reduction in age! He was the first person (aside from Woolson) who had done so. She couldn’t decide if this was good or bad, so she just nodded.

Kyle rubbed his chin. "You look... different," he muttered. He took a step closer to her, and Tina drew away, suddenly very self-conscious of herself. Kyle was attractive for his age, and now that he was (currently) her senior in age, he seemed somehow even more alluring. "I mean, I didn’t think you were that young."

Tina blushed. "I’m not!" she protested. A sudden urge was bubbling up in her to tell him the truth, Woolson be damned. But before she could get another word in edgewise, Kyle pushed her up against the edge of a rack of clothes, reached down and pressed his palm over her left breast. She had to bite her tongue to avoid screaming. He squeezed, then shook his head. "Thought so; you must have been stuffing."

"I wasn’t!" she protested, annoyed at how high her voice sounded. Kyle laughed at her, a scornful, mocking kind of laugh that brought tears to her eyes. "Oh, sure, you just put on your magic shoes and got younger or something for an hour, right?"

Tina swallowed hard. He was joking of course. Trying to tell him how right he was would just make her sounds more childish. "Leave me alone!" she hissed at him, angry at him for being so cruel, and for copping the feel. What an asshole! Kyle laughed as he ran a hand down her side. "Oh, what, baby doesn’t want any attention now that I know she’s just a wittle giwl?"

Tina was furious, and going redder by the moment. "I’m more woman than you could handle!" she bit back, too angry to realize how silly she sounded. As angry as she was right now, the movement of Kyle’s finger on her sides felt good. She hadn’t been paid attention to in months, and now she was so close... if she could just become a teen again.

"Care to prove it?" Kyle retorted, thumbing to the nearby change rooms. Tina nodded without thinking, and the two of them proceeded to the change rooms. Once inside, Kyle began to lean over while Tina screamed at her own stupidity. She was about to french kiss Kyle, at her work, while Woolson had the secret to her entire life at his disposal. But right now she didn’t care. She felt young and pointless, and she was tired of being treated like a child. Children didn’t do things like this. Kyle’s lips were right before hers. Her hormone filled head felt dizzy, and before she could think better of it Tina was wrapping her tongue around his and began to please him as best she could.

Tina had french kissed her fair share of mens before. But now, younger and smaller, it somehow felt arduous. The tongue filled her mouth up more, and she didn’t feel like she was in control at all. She started to have serious seconds thoughts about whether she should do this or not, but Kyle seemed to be ready. As usual, people had left unwanted clothing they had tried on inside the change room, and Kyle had grabbed a shirt and looped it around her backside. As she tried to pull away, he pulled her back. "Oh, yeah," the teen groaned between two kiss, obviously finding this even more exciting now.

Tina tried to push away on his chest, but nothing was happening. The larger, taller and stronger Kyle was keeping Tina held in place with the shirt behind her back, and she reasoned pretty quickly that going with the flow would end this all sooner. She briefly thought of biting down on his tongue, but she was afraid. She didn’t want Woolson to find out about this, especially now. She had been titanically dumb to do this with Kyle! As she lowered her head to take a quick breath, hopefully before the last round, her eyes alighted on the tag of the shirt Kyle was pinning her with.

Maternity Wear.