Jake loved how much his brother admired him. With every pathetic squeeze, Jake grew in confidence. "Who else would like this?" he thought to himself. Then he had an idea.
“You know who would love this?”
“Who?”
“Scott!”
Tom continued to stare at and grip Jake’s arm, and Jake kept on flexing. Jake enjoyed the admiration of his brother a lot more than his fear. “The tall, blonde kid?”
“Yeah! And being huge will more than make up for the fact that he is two years older than me!”
“I always wondered why he was so much taller than you. But, of course, I never asked.”
Tom finally released Jake’s arm and Jake let it hang back at his side. “But maybe we should do something first?” Tom politely mentioned.
“What?”
Tom took a breath. “Your clothes.”
Up until this moment, neither of them had really thought about the fact that Jake was naked. His growth had been far more than mere eight year old clothes could contain. “You’re right!” Jake chimed in suddenly becoming self conscious. “And what would mom say?”
Tom sighed. “She wouldn’t say anything. Remember, you rule the school and the house in this reality.”
Jake widened his grin, suddenly becoming un-self conscious. “Really? I—RULE—the school?”
Tom nodded. “Who would dare oppose you? Anything you say pretty much happens, or so you have told me.”
“But Scott is still my best friend?”
“Well, yeah. You two have been close for over a year now. All I know is that you defended him from some bullies once and then you were best friends. A second grader befriending a fourth grader would have been weird if it hadn’t been you. And now, with him in the fifth grade, about to go to middle school… well, you haven’t been very happy about that.”
“That is so strange. The way I remember it, it was the other way around. Scott defended ME from some bullies and from then on, we were best friends.”
Tom stared incredulously at Jake. “Scott defended YOU?”
“Is that so hard to believe?”
Tom scanned Jake’s rippling body with his eyes. He gulped. “You must have been a lot smaller before.”
Jake nodded. “I was.”
“I still find that very hard to believe.”
“Well, believe it Tom. I was half your size before the wand. I actually remember thinking about how bad I wanted to be just as big as you are now before this all happened.”
Tom dropped his jaw. “No way!”
“Yeah! I couldn’t believe how tight your chest was and prayed to have a body half as good as yours when I got older.”
Tom smiled. “Really? You—YOU—were actually jealous of me?”
“Heck yeah I was! But let’s get Scott over here. If everyone is like you say, I am sure no one will mind.” Testing the waters, Jake added, “Even if I don’t ask mom?”
Tom nodded.
Jake was ecstatic! “Really! Man, I could get used to this!”
*****************
After a thorough search, Tom was able to find some clothes that barely fit Jake. He ripped the first three shirts before he finally got the last one on. It seemed, much to Tom’s disbelief, that none of Jake’s clothes were the right size. They were all sized for someone much smaller than Jake. “Maybe the wand only affects people’s minds, not stuff.”
Jake called Scott and he was more than happy to come over. What else would Scott rather do on a Saturday in May than hang out with Jake?
KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.
Jake was still not used to walking around with his incredible size. He found it very difficult to keep his legs from scraping together. Also, he had trouble not plowing his feet into the floor with every step he took. When he gripped the door handle, Jake felt the metal crumple under his grip. “I’m going to have to be more careful.”
Opening the door, he revealed his best friend Scott on the other side. Standing about 6 inches taller than Jake at 5’2” he was an unusually tall fifth grader, but was still shorter than the 5’6” fourteen year old Tom.
“Hey Jake!”
“Scott!”
Jake threw his hand out for the handshake-hug and was very careful not to hurt Scott as he did so. Scott was obviously used to this and bended around Jake easily.
“So, what’s up Jake?” Scott asked, running his fingers back through his thick, blonde hair.
“Well, I’ve got something to show you.”
Jake led Scott to Tom’s bedroom, where Tom was waiting with the wand. “Hi, Tom. How are you?”
“Fine. Thanks Scott.”
Tom had always kept a cordial distance from Scott since he was Jake’s friend. “So what did you want to show me Jake?”
Jake gently griped Scott’s hand and Tom’s free hand. Looking up at his friend, Jake said, “Hang on tight. Tom has a theory.”
“What---?”
Before Scott could think of do anything else, Tom circled closer to Scott and flicked the wand directly at him at point blank range. Within seconds, Scott could feel a most curious tingling sensation rushing all over his muscles. Jake could feel Scott’s grip tighten some as the growth began to take effect. Scott had been incredibly thin and was now starting to quickly bulk up. In a matter of seconds, he had easily gained 20 pounds of muscle, giving him the look of a light weight wrestler.
Scott looked through his shaggy blonde hair and saw a miraculous transformation. “I’m ripped!”
“Well, sort of,” Jake grinned.
Jake didn’t let go, nor did Scott want to. “But how?”
Tom merely held the wand up. “You mean that?!” Scott said with amazement.
“Yeah. And better yet, we found a way for all of us to remember,” Jake smiled.
“What do you mean?” Scott asked.
“Long story short,” Tom chimed in, “We will want to be holding hands before we use the wand again.”
“I just can’t believe it. I mean, look at me! I have even more muscle than you Tom!”
“But no one compares to me,” Jake added going up on his tippy toes. This forced his calves to tighten even harder and grow even larger than they were at rest.
Scott did not need the reminder and was actually a little annoyed by it. “No one has ever compared to you.”
“Well, not exactly,” Jake added, standing flat footed again.
“What do you mean?”
Jake and Tom explained all of the events up to this point from their two perspectives. Scott was captivated and grew even more excited with the more he heard. “So that is how you have always been so big! I mean, so far as I can remember,” Scott concluded.
“And that is also why we have to hold hands when we use the wand,” Tom continued, “Only the wand user keeps a constant reality. That is extended to anyone touching the wand user at the time it’s used, it seems. Otherwise, your mind would have changed when you did and you would have never known what we did.”
Scott had just found jackpot. Tom found solace in the wand. Scott saw a potential for power. “Imagine all the possibilities. No more being pushed around. No more being unnoticed. No more being the little guy. I love you to death Jake, but I would love to be able to defend myself so much more. Go one and hit me with another bolt!”
“Are you sure?” Tom said, “ I mean, we don’t know how far this thing goes. For instance, we haven’t even found a shrinking switch yet. I can’t imagine what would happen if you were to grow uncontrollably.”
“I’ll take my chances!”
“Hold on a sec Scott. I know you’re excited. We all are.” Jake reaffirmed his grip on Scott. “But maybe we should listen to my brother. We should let him think more on this. I still have a Halo 3 game with my name on it. We could go play some while he figures out how to work the wand.”
Scott could not be swayed. He found his ticket to dominance. But obviously reasoning with Jake and Tom wasn’t going to work, so he tried a new strategy. “Fine.”
Jake released Scott and began walking for the door when he heard rustling behind him. Tom and Scott were struggling for the wand.
“Scott! What are you doing!?”
“Ending my life in mediocrity!”
Jake took one step closer but was too late. Somehow the wand was activated while they both struggled for it. Who had activated it and who was it going to hit? An incredible streak of light leapt from the tip of the wand and struck…
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