“Who do you think they got to replace Mr. Rhys?” Hannah asked, shifting her art supplies to her other arm. “He’s been out for like awhile now.”
“Hopefully someone who doesn’t think grading is supposed to be psychological warfare,” Dayton replied, rolling her eyes. “Mr. Rhys took points off for breathing too loud during silent reading.”
Hayden raised an eyebrow as they approached the familiar classroom door. “I haven’t heard anything about a new teacher being brought in though. And you know how fast gossip travels in this place.”
The door stood open, afternoon sunlight streaming through the tall windows that looked out onto the courtyard where the lacrosse team was running drills. But instead of finding a substitute teacher or an empty classroom, they discovered something that made all three girls stop dead in their tracks.
Standing on top of the teacher’s desk, not sitting, not cowering, but standing with perfect posture, was someone who couldn’t have been more than four inches tall.
A Little. Male. Dressed in a miniature button down shirt and slacks that looked like they’d been pressed by a doll sized dry cleaner. His hair was perfectly combed, his posture confident despite being dwarfed by a simple pencil holder.
“Is that…our teacher?” Hannah whispered, her voice caught between wonder and disbelief.
“No way,” Dayton said immediately, her mind racing through the logical possibilities. “That’s not possible. He’s a Little. Probably someone’s companion. Maybe he belongs to the actual substitute.”
Hayden scanned the room with detectives like precision, cataloging details. No purse, no coffee mug, no towering adult figure anywhere in sight. “I think that actually is the teacher,” she said slowly.
But Dayton was already moving, her curiosity overriding her caution. She strode directly to the desk, peering down with the kind of intense focus she usually reserved for particularly challenging math problems.
“Are you lost?” she asked, as if that were the only logical explanation for a Little standing unattended on a teacher’s desk.
The Little looked up without flinching, meeting her gaze with startling directness. When he spoke, his voice was high pitched but clear, amplified through the classroom’s sound system. “I don’t believe so. This is still my classroom, correct?”
“Yeah…” Dayton answered slowly, her brain struggling to process what she was seeing. The little kind of looked like Mr. Rhys.
“Then if you’d kindly take your seat, the seating chart hasn’t changed just because I have.”
Dayton blinked once. Twice. The words hung in the air like a challenge.
“This is cute,” she said with a tight smile, looking back at her friends with the kind of expression that suggested she was dealing with a particularly slow child. “He thinks he’s still our teacher.”
“Come on, Day,” Hannah said gently, tugging at her sleeve with paint stained fingers. “Let’s just—”
“Seriously,” Hayden added, stepping in to guide her by the shoulder. “Let it go.”
They moved to their usual cluster of seats in the back corner, where Nicole’s empty desk sat waiting like a question mark. Dayton settled into her chair but kept her eyes fixed on the diminutive figure at the front of the room.
“What even is this?” she whispered, leaning toward her friends. “He’s a Little now. Someone needs to explain the new reality to him.”
Hannah leaned forward, lowering her voice. “Day, you’re shaking. Breathe.”
“I’m fine,” Dayton muttered, though her hands were pressed so tight together that her knuckles were white. “I just, he’s standing there like nothing happened. Like we’re the weird ones.”
Hayden tilted her chair back, chewing absently on a pen cap. “You think he shrunk and just, what, kept lesson planning like normal?”
“Exactly!” Dayton hissed. “He’s supposed to have a Guardian by now. He’s not even collared. That’s… illegal, right?”
“Technically, yeah,” Hannah said. “But maybe he’s got one assigned offsite or something? Like a foster setup?”
Dayton rolled her eyes. “Foster? He’s teaching. He’s acting like he’s still…” she gestured sharply toward the front of the room “…one of us. He’s not.”
“Still feels messed up,” Hayden said, leaning closer. “Like, what’s he supposed to do? Retire to a dollhouse? Dude’s been teaching forever he’s like 30 or something.”
“Then he should’ve accepted it,” Dayton said. “People shrink every day. They adapt. They know their place.”
“Spoken like the poster child for Guardian training,” Hayden teased, but her smirk faded when Dayton didn’t laugh.
“I worked for this,” Dayton said, voice tight. “All summer. Exams. Handling drills. Everyone else in the program practically already has their own Little. And now Mr. Rhys, Mr. Rhys, gets to stand up there like he’s above the system? That’s not fair. No one is above the system.”
Hannah exchanged a quick glance with Hayden, uncertain. “He’s just trying to keep his job.”
“He’s pretending,” Dayton snapped. “And everyone’s letting him. Look at them, they’re all just sitting there, pretending this is normal.”
“Maybe they don’t know what to do,” Hannah said gently. “You don’t train for… this.”
Dayton’s jaw tightened. “Then maybe someone should remind him how things work now.”
Hayden sighed. “Day, don’t start a crusade in homeroom. Please.”
“I’m not starting anything,” Dayton said, though her gaze never left the front of the room. “I’m just saying…if he wants to act like nothing changed, maybe it’s time someone helped him see reality.”
Hannah nudged her knee under the desk. “Reality can wait until after attendance.”
Dayton didn’t answer. Her eyes stayed locked on Mr. Rhys, watching him straighten a stack of papers half his own height.
And then,
Before either girl could respond, the speaker system crackled to life with surprising clarity.
“Good afternoon, class,” the voice began, professional and articulate despite its higher pitch. “As you can see, Smallara has taken hold of me. However, I will still be your literature teacher.”
A ripple of nervous laughter broke across the room like a wave hitting shore.
“Yes, I’m a Little,” Mr. Rhys continued without a trace of shame or hesitation. “I was previously your full sized teacher, as you all know. I contracted the Smallara virus and have been learning to live with it through the States Teacher Program, I have been able to continue serving in my professional capacity. I understand there may be questions. I welcome curiosity, but I ask for respect.”
Dayton folded her arms across her chest, the gesture sharp and deliberate. “What does that even mean? He doesn’t even have a Guardian that I can see. This has to be illegal? What even is the state teacher program?”
“Maybe he’s still transitioning to a guardian,” Hayden whispered, her voice barely audible but curiosity clear in her voice.
“Then he shouldn’t be teaching,” Dayton snapped, her whisper carrying more edge than intended.
Up front, Mr. Rhys clicked a laser pointer that looked comically oversized in his tiny hands, activating the projector with practiced ease. “I need to distribute the updated syllabus. I’ll need one of you to help. Dayton, would you be willing to pass these out?”
She froze.
Willing?
Was he mocking her? Testing her? The question hung in the air like a trap she couldn’t quite identify.
She rose slowly, moving toward the front of the room with measured steps. When she reached for the stack of papers, she grabbed them with just a little too much force, creating a gust of wind that knocked Mr. Rhys slightly off balance.
“I’m a certified Guardian,” she said coolly, her voice carrying across the silent classroom. “You can call me Ms. Harris.”
“Well, that’s an impressive achievement,” Mr. Rhys replied, steadying himself with dignity intact. “But in this classroom, you’re still a student. I’m still your teacher, that hasn’t changed. So, I’ll be referring to you as Dayton. If that’s a problem, I’d be happy to provide a hall pass to the principal.”
The classroom fell dead silent. Even the usual rustle of papers and whispered conversations stopped completely.
Dayton could feel every pair of eyes turning toward her. The air in the room suddenly felt thick, like everyone was waiting to see if she’d melt or explode.
He’s doing this on purpose, she thought. He wants to make me look small. Like I’m just some kid mouthing off.
Her chest tightened. The way he’d said her name, Dayton, not “Miss Harris,” not even “Ms. Harris,” just Dayton, wasn’t neutral. It was a choice. A deliberate, surgical cut that told everyone who was really in charge.
He’s four inches tall, and he’s still trying to pull rank. Still talking down to me like he’s standing at the front of the room behind a desk instead of standing on it.
Her nails dug lightly into her palm. She’d trained for months to earn that certification, passed every test, every ethics module, learned how to care for Littles with structure and respect, and now he was acting like none of it mattered. That he was above the law, above the process, above the legal rights of a little.
It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right.
She could feel heat crawling up her neck, not just from embarrassment but from something deeper, older, a kind of fury that came from being dismissed. He was supposed to respect Guardians. To respect her.
Instead, he’d turned her achievement, her goal into a punchline.
“No… whatever,” Dayton said, flipping her hair as she turned away, but her face burned with something she couldn’t quite name.
He embarrassed me. In front of everyone.
And yet, as she moved through the rows passing out syllabi, a different kind of heat began building behind her eyes. Not just anger. Not just resentment.
Something that felt almost like… opportunity.
Because if Mr. Rhys wanted to pretend he was still their teacher, if he wanted to maintain this fiction that nothing had changed, then maybe it was time someone showed him exactly what his new reality looked like.
OH SHIT WE DEAD ASS!!!! A teacher little ?!!!
Let’s fucking go we little rising has begun
We already had that in the birthday shipment.
Wait what? Are things shifting? This is… A very new turn of events. I like this and I can’t wait to see where this goes! Lethal is gonna die laughing seeing Dayton get put in her place and bent outta shape by a little.
I did like that.
(1) Oh, another shrunken teacher. I wonder if Mr. Rhys’s situation is similar to Bryce’s, where they do have a guardian who allows him to keep his job despite being a little.
(2) Dayton has to be careful here since Mr. Rhys is still considered an employee by the school if she does anything harmful to him. It could result in a suspension or even expulsion.
I don’t think it’ll be harmful since that probably breaks the law and removes her from being a guardian, but she’s definitely going to be outright disruptive to prove a point, and i’m hoping it backfires. it’d be crazy if she was given disciplinary actions for it and then her mother had to come in and yell at people and turn it into a publicity stunt.
I think Dayton knows that, though, and will do it very carefully so that she doesn’t get in trouble.
1) Canonically Mr. Rhys catches smallara before Bryce. As the birthday shipment takes place in 2024, and we are currently only in 2021.
Also you have new york laws and politics versus california laws and politics which aren’t equal at play.
2) That is true if she actually physically harmed him.
wild turn of events. i wonder if dayton pushes the subject if she’ll get in trouble and have to be talked to by not just the school admin but also the teaching association Mr. Rys is a part of.
hell it’d be hilarious if Chloe was pushing this and had to talk to her.
It’d be funny if Mrs Harris gets called in for a parent-teacher conference, and she also gets schooled on why Littles need respect. Getting told to either get over it or take her daughter to a public school.
It’d be interesting to see Chloe get involved; it’d also be interesting if this forever ruined Chloe’s (and maybe Sara’s) opinion of Dayton.
Dayton is currently going to a public school in this series.
Also in american education system Parents have alot of authority and say within the system. Especially things like the PTA (parent teachers association). Many districts will often side with the parents over the teachers.
It creates situations where teachers are afraid to teach or say certain things in the classroom.
I feel Dayton would probably deal with the principal, and the principal would be the go-between for the school and the teachers’ union/association, and potentially Dayton’s parents.
This episode is the same of story,
just like A Good Day for Detention,
I think in the end she take him or step on him in last page .
the step was just to prove he was a little
1) “Mr. Rhys took points off for breathing too loud during silent reading.” It’s called SILENT reading, dumbass, lol
2) “That’s not possible. He’s a Little. Probably someone’s companion. Maybe he belongs to the actual substitute.” Littles can be teachers, just ask Mia Lawson
3) “The Little looked up without flinching, meeting her gaze with startling directness” I do love a bold Little
4) “What even is this? He’s a Little now. Someone needs to explain the new reality to him.” I think you’re the one needing a reality check, Dayton.
5) “Foster? He’s teaching. He’s acting like he’s still… one of us. He’s not.” Dayton’s bigotry really can’t handle this reality, can it, lol
6) “He’s not even collared. That’s… illegal, right?” How is he getting away with that?
7) “Then he should’ve accepted it, People shrink every day. They adapt. They know their place.” It seems like he has adapted; you’re the one struggling to keep up.
8) “Then maybe someone should remind him how things work now.” I hope Dayton does something, then gets the book thrown at her.
9) “He doesn’t even have a Guardian that I can see” Well you know Littles aren’t glued to their guardians; his guardian could be teaching another class, the principal, or his spouse hat home who’ll come pick him up at the end of the day.
10) “Dayton, would you be willing to pass these out?” Yes dude, make Dayton follow a Little’s instructions
11) “I’m a certified Guardian. You can call me Ms. Harris.” Someone’s been listening to Cindy Wesson (or Mal)
12) “But in this classroom, you’re still a student. I’m still your teacher, that hasn’t changed. So, I’ll be referring to you as Dayton. If that’s a problem, I’d be happy to provide a hall pass to the principal.” Ha, get fucked, Dayton.
13) “He’s doing this on purpose, she thought. He wants to make me look small. Like I’m just some kid mouthing off.” No, you are a kid mouthing off.
14.1) “not “Miss Harris,” not even “Ms. Harris,” what would be the difference between those two.
14.3) “just Dayton, wasn’t neutral. It was a choice. A deliberate, surgical cut that told everyone who was really in charge” or it’s what he’s always called her and what he’ll continue to call her.
15) “learned how to care for Littles with structure and respect” I highly doubt she was conna use respect in her care.
16) “He was supposed to respect Guardians. To respect her.” respect, (or at least the kind of respect she’s wanting) is earned, not a right.
17) “He embarrassed me. In front of everyone.” and it was glorious
18) “Because if Mr. Rhys wanted to pretend he was still their teacher, if he wanted to maintain this fiction that nothing had changed, then maybe it was time someone showed him exactly what his new reality looked like.” I hope this whole series is just Dayton being embarrassed by Littles like this episode has been, and her schemes and ego continue to backfire.
18) agreed. a guardian, especially dayton, getting humbled would be heavy storm of fresh air
1) thats probably what Mr. Rhys is thinking. Loud breathing is disturbing the zen nature of silent reading.
2) Each state is different. You have to be certified to teach in a given state in the united states and the certificaiton requirements can and do differ from state to state. So just becuse Bryce can teach as a little in one state doesnt mean he would in another. Also timeline wise this is still significantly earlier when we see bryce teaching. Laws, rules, and regulation may no be consistent due to differing federal or state laws.
3) As long as its not to the detriment of the little there is nothing wrong with a little boldness.
4) Although there aren’t many littles in a role like this. So it would be a understandable reaction to a degree for someone to have. Especially when it society and the government doesn’t present this as a possibility or with any kind of normalcy.
5) I dont think she views it as bigotry though. Even if others would as from her point of view. She believes he is not qualified to teach becuase of his current status from a legal standpoint . Shes also questioning the appropriateness of having a little who is a incapacited indvidual teaching human students. As allowing it is a bit talking out of both sides of your mouth from a federal and state legal standpoint.
6) Only time will tell.
7) Well who adapted would be based on your view of the situaiton as either you see it as Dayton hasn’t adapted as she is not accepting a little as teacher regardless of legal, ethical, or moral arguments. The otherside would be Mr. Rhys hasn’t adapted as he is holding onto everything he was and not wanting to accept that he isn’t the same person that he was prior. So I woudl say its more a perspective argument then a who has or hasnt adapted.
8) That is a understandable reaction. As ibelieve you would enjoy that based on your views on Dayton as a character.
9) While that is true. I feel like her questioning of it is understandable as just seeing a little in the middle of classroom creates a few logistical questions as to how things would work.
10) I feel like this may episode may be the kind of thing youve dreamt about happening to Dayton.
11) Of those two options it would probably be Mallory for Dayton. But its not a unreasonable request to request a show of respect based on your earned accomplishments.
12) i picture you giving a standing ovation.
13) I wouldn’t quite go that far while some of her requests were reaching. I don’t think that of everything based on the rules of this world/unvierse.
14) They are considered honorifics in america denoting a degree of respect to a indvidual based on senority, age, or accomplishment. Similar to how spanish you have senor and senora to denote respect.
14.2) Well it is what he called her before but they are positionally different one could argue. But overall he is being a bit of jerk here as I personally believe you should address someone how they want to be addressed. It doesn’t cost you anything to be kind and show a bit of respect even when its not given as that shows true character. Especially when you are supposed to be the teacher in this room. You should show and demonstrate and model what you want to see and in this moment Mr. Rhys faiiled. As instead of being the example to his students he showed them to answer back hate, unkindness or unfairness with hate, unkindness or unfairness.
15) Well the reader hasn’t seen seen Dayton post training to be able to say that though. Untrained dayton wouldn’t but its not unreasonable that with training and education she could respond differently.
16) That goes both ways though. As what he has done to earn hers then? He’s expecting the same respect she is asking of him without having earned it either. So you can’t say that about dayton without equally applying it to Mr. Rhys. Otherwise, its just a double standard.
17) also probably not appopriate for a teacher to do.
18) That may get a bit redundant if every episode was just that.
11) i think having a little in a middle school class room is irresponsible. Kids are going to be kids and play with him.- Dayton and her friends act like adults but that’s not normal for middle school and the kids especially the boys are not going to understand what could happen. if Dayton didn’t protect him, how long till a boy puts him down his pants and farts on him like kids do. gross but middle school humor
14.2) It sounds like he was a bit of jerk before, so since he is still the “teacher” of this class, why would anything change? I don’t think he espousing hate nor did he fail, he is simply an authoritarian and that is the way he conducts his classroom.
Just because someone insists on being addressed in a particular manner does not guarantee compliance. It is obvious that in this class, students are called by first name. Again, Rhys is trying for consistency and he is trying to establish that he has the same authority he had before. He chose Dayton because he knows this would send a clear message to the rest of the class. (And it seems like it did).
Of course this all just sets him up for one heck of a downfall later. We’ll have to see if that is his fate or not. I could also see things NOT going Dayton’s way and maybe she learns or becomes a better person (yeah, right… 😝)
14.2) I think it’s also worth noting that we only know Dayton and her friends think he’s a jerk, potentially the other students could think he’s a great teacher.
“But why would Dayton think he’s a herk if other students don’t?” I’m assuming you’ll ask.
Because he’d likely know Dayton’s opinions about Littles, and as a pre-shrunk I could see him taking issues with outright hatred directed at him and people like him and feel the need to retaliate. (although this would make Rhys wildly unprofessional )
2) Fair, I’m not gonna pretend to know American state laws.
4) Fair.
5) To me, Dayton’s reaction is no better or worse than if Mr Rhys had been in a wheelchair and Dayton thought “Cripples can’t teach us able bodied people”
Government hypocrisy is nothing new.
6) figured
7) He’s adapted, he’s likely had to redo some certifications as well as get used to his new setup. He seems confident even as a Little, adaptation can often mean a return to normality, I don’t think that’s the same as a refusal to move on.
10) it is
11) True, but that’s not an official way for a Little to address a guardian, most humans seem cool with Littles using their first names, it’s just a few ego fuelled anomaly’s that don’t like it.
12) not far off.
13) Dayton could also be looking too far into it.
14.2) This kindness definitely would have cost him. Dayton isn’t just asking for the hell of it, she’s trying to undermine him, usurp the control he has of the situation. If he’d complied, he’d have validated Dayton looking down on him, not just to Dayton, but to everyone in the classroom, potentially setting himself up to be further disrespected and looked down on by other students. He likely knows Day’s views on littles and her influence over the school. He has probably prepared for this encounter.
It’s not a failure of his to remind her that their relationship is that of Teacher and student, regardless of size. He’sn’t even using “hate, unkindness or unfairness” to do it, He acknowledged her achievement, called it impressive, then explained that it wasn’t changing anything between them.
15) Maybe, we’ll see.
16) Mr Rhys is only asking for the professional respect a teacher should have from his students, which he earned by getting his teaching degree and hired by the school (arguably more so that he’s kept his job post reduction), the same way that in the army people need to respect the ranks higher than them. Dayton was asking for the respect a guardian should get from their ward, which is more personal and needing to be earned.
17) Maybe, but she needed to be put in her place, “she was getting too big for her britches” to paraphrase Dayton herself
18) It’d get old, I agree.
I think the teacher being a non collared little without a guardian tag is open season for Dayton to gently claim him and take him to the principal with her claim. this would be so Dayton having a teacher little on her shoulder hanging on to her hair lol, she is also making the poor teacher look at her chest, the opposite of what a teacher try’s to do. talk about trying to intimidate him.