"Dude, what's your problem?" Devon said, feeling more annoyed at the crying Cody than pity. "We help you start to man up and you're just upset about it?"
"You don't understand, guys," Cody said, his eyes red from tears, hoping he could trigger sympathy from Simon or Devon. "I was fine like I was, can't you turn me back?"
Simon laughed. "What don't you like?"
Cody just looked at the ground. "You know what," he mumbled to the floor, ashamed to even talk about it. "I don't want to have hairy armpits. It's so embarrassing."
Simon sighed heavily. "Cody, Cody, what's wrong with you. Here, put this on," he said, picking up a navy blue Seattle Seahawks hat that was on the table next to him. He slapped the hat on Cody's head and spun it around so it was backwards."
"Ow, Simon," Cody said, looking up. "You know I think sports hats are stupid."
"Yeah but haven't you ever wanted to be a jock?"
"No!" Cody said. There was no way he'd ever want to be a jock. Just thinking about how gross his pits were now made him want to cry, and he could even feel the damp hair there where his arm met his lats. It was so gross to have this sudden dampness in his pits, and he realized he was probably stuck with it for life. He wondered if it would be like he'd seen in the movies and on tv, like if he'd sweat more from his pits if he were nervous or doing yard work. That seemed really embarrassing.
"Cody, lift up your arms" Devon teased.
"Oh my god Devon, why??" Cody said, definitely not willing to do that.
"Just do it, you little twerp," Devon said, planting himself in front of Cody's face and putting on an expression of anger. "You love being hairy."
"No I don't!" Cody said, trying to imagine how anybody could possibly love being hairy. Cody definitely did not want to lift up his pits, but he didn't feel like he had any choice in the matter with Devon right in front of him. So he shamefully lifted them up, embarrassed that all the hair and sweat and scent were probably so visible.
"Ugh!" Cody said, standing up. "There man, see? Can I put my arms down now?" Cody said, feeling an itch in his left pit and trying to resist the urge to scratch it.
"Nah man," Simon said, why don't you get comfortable with it?
"How could I get comfortable with this??" Cody said, thinking he'd sound panicky but sounding more level than he thought, reaching over to scratch his pit anyway since they were still forcing him to stand here like this. "I never wanted to be hairy, guys."
"Yeah but you are," Devon said. "Freak."
"I'm not a freak, man," Cody answered.
"So you're not a freak with those hairy, sweaty pits even?"
"Not if you forced them on me," Cody responded.
"Yeah so why you showing them off to us?"
"Because you made me, Devon! I would never choose this! You think I look like a freak, ok fine, I'm a freak. I love my hairy fucking armpits. See? Look at all this hair," Cody said, trying to be facetious and sounding a little pissed.
"Yeah you like that hair?" Devon said sarcastically.
"Yeah I just fucking love it, Devon," Cody said, sick of taking this shit. He could play that game too, better than a dumb jock like Devon. "Oh yeah bros, look at this," Cody said, flexing his right arm as best as he could. "Hairy fucking armpit, I love it like all jocks do. So glad I got hairy, bro."
"Yeah? You're hairy, man? You think you're hairy?"
"So hairy, bro," Cody shot back. He lifted up both his arms in a double biceps flex, a little nervous but not about to back down. "You like all this hair don't ya? Yeah, you made me all hairy and I fucking love it." Cody was starting to feel like he had nothing to loose, and he loved that he had Devon unable to beat him at this game.
"Come on man," Cody said, feeling even more brave and taking a step forward. "Look at these pits. Oh yeah, more hair than you I bet. Fuck yeah." Cody just had to feel his pit suddenly, it wasn't that it itched but that he was curious. "Yeah man, hairy, moist armpits on this bro. You don't have pits this good, do you? Yeah, you're jealous, I'll bet."
Devon said, "Ok Cody, we get it."
"No bro, I don't think you do get it," Cody said, grinning that he had beat the dumb jock. "Yeah, guys, I love this hair. Every bit of it. Fucking love jock shit and you can't handle how great it looks on me. Fuck, I gotta go out and throw the football around. Yeah! You guys want to go out and play some? Skins against skins? I'm not afraid of this shit. You'll just be looking at my pits probably wishing you had this hair, boys."
"Wow," Simon said. "Want to take him up on that, Devon?"
Cody's mind was racing. Maybe the hair wasn't so bad if he could use it against these guys. And actually, it was kind of cool that he could even flex now, he never would have had the guts to do that before. Maybe he could learn to live with the hair? It wasn't so bad to have hairy pits actually. It was natural for guys to get eventually. It could be like his own secret and the rest of his body would catch up eventually. Maybe hairy pits could be a learning experience since he'd just have to grow up into a man anyway. Cody looked down at his right pit. It really wasn't so bad. Yeah, hairy like an animal, but that was just nature. There were probably all sorts of things he hadn't thought about before.