"Ugh, they're staring at us again."
Henry looked up from his lunch to see the two janitors staring at the students, and scribbling furiously into their notebooks. He shrugged.
"Just ignore them, Matt."
Matt, who had made the initial observation frowned deeply. "I say we report them to the principal. I mean, those two guys have always been super weird. I swear I saw them putting up hidden cameras in the boys' locker room."
Henry rolled his eyes and continued to eat his square pizza. Usually the school lunch grossed him out, but over the past week he'd been really hungry and pushed past his previous reservations. "Yeah? Well, I haven't seen any."
Matt gulped down the last of his school milk. "That's because they're hidden! What do you think 'hidden' means?" He glanced down at his empty tray. "I'm going to see if they give out seconds."
Henry watched Matt go. Both of them were just shy of sixteen. They'd been friends since third grade. Matt was a little shorter and somewhat tubby. Henry wasn't much taller, but was of a much slimmer build. Ever since the new janitors had appeared, Matt was convinced that they were up to no good. Henry just wanted to pass through the other end of high school alive.
Henry caught site of the football quarterback, Justin. Usually he'd be wearing his football jersey, as the team did when a game was coming up. However, he was wearing a baggy hoody, with the hood pulled up and over. The only reason Henry had recognized him was his square jaw poking out from under the hood, and the fact his girlfriend was sitting next to him. Funny, somehow Henry thought Justin's jaw looked even squarer than usual. And, oddly, from this angle it looked like he had a five o'clock shadow across his chin. Justin's facial hair wasn't thick enough yet to have a shadow by noon time.
Henry scratched at an itch on his own face as he looked down at his empty tray. Maybe Matt had the right idea. About seconds, that was. He was sure the janitors were harmless, if a little quirky. But he was still hungry.
-----
Dr. Morpheus grinned as he took notes. "Yes, yes. Excellent!"
Clemence frowned. "I don't notice any difference, sir."
The doctor merely chuckled. "Subtle differences, my boy. The human body simply doesn't change overnight! After a week, you can see little things here and there. The Morpheus Solution should be accelerating their masculine growth rates. It's going to take several days before the effects become truly noticeable. But you can catch a glimpse here and there."
Clemence slowly nodded. "I see. I mean, I don't see, but I get what you're saying. Does this mean the experiment's a success."
The doctor shook his head, closing his notebook. "Patience, my dear boy. The experiment has only started. We need to see this through to the end. After all, one should never leave anything half finished!"