Katie and Bobby continued on along the beach, invigorated by the results of their first test of the ring. With increased enthusiasm they searched for a new subject in need of assistance, and soon found one. Up ahead, a black girl who looked to be around ten years old stood watching a 14 or 15-year-old boy work out on a bench provided for weight training. He was doing some presses while she gazed at him longingly. He didn't seem to notice she was there; at least not at first. After a while, though, he stopped to take a breather and said, rather half-heartedly, "What is it, Terri?"
"I just wanted to thank you for letting me stay here with you while Frank went to get us some hot dogs, Shaun!", Terri said dreamily. She was too excited about his deigning to speak to her to realize his lack of enthusiasm. "Is your brother on his way back yet?", Shaun asked, looking hopefully around the beach. "He's been gone awhile already."
"Oh, I don't think he'll be back very soon, the line's really long!", Terri said happily. She grinned sheepishly, digging her toe in the sand as she spoke. Shaun groaned to himself and said, "Well, I don't mind watching you Terri, but it's weird when you stare at me like that. Why don't you build a sandcastle or something?" He went back to his bench presses.
Katie looked at Bobby and smiled. "I think I know who we should use the ring on next." Bobby nodded in agreement. Katie approached Terri and gently said, "Excuse me, Terri, is it?" Terri turned in surprise and said, "Yeah, who are you?"
"My name's Katie and I'm sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing you talking to Shaun over there, and I think I can help you. You have a crush on him, don't you?"
"Yeah...," Terri said with a shy smile. "He's my brother Frank's friend and he's so cute, but I don't think he likes me 'cause I'm just a little kid."
"Hmmm, I see. What if I told you that I can definitely help you with your problem? I bet I can make Shaun like you a lot!" Katie said with a broad smile.
"Sure, I'd really like that!" Terri said. She wrinkled her nose and said, "But how? He's in high school already and the girls there are so pretty. Most of the time he doesn't even know I'm around."
Katie knelt down, put her hand on Terri's shoulder and said, "Wellllll, I have a feeling that pretty soon you won't have to worry about those high school girls anymore, okay? Trust me."
"Um, okay..." Terri's nose was still scrunched up. She couldn't quite figure out what this strange lady was talking about, let alone how she could help her with Shaun.
"Like I said, don't worry, Terri." Katie stood up and waved at Terri over her shoulder as she walked back to where Bobby was waiting.
The ten-year-old stood there in her powder blue one-piece swimsuit thinking about the weird conversation that had just taken place when Shaun's voice brought her back to the present. "Terri! Are you even listening? Stay over here, ok? Frank'll get mad if you walk off somewhere and get lost, and I don't wanna get in trouble. I knew I shoulda told him to take you with him!"
"Sorry, Shaun, I'll stay here. Don't get mad, okay?" Terri hung her head in embarrassment. She got so caught up talking to the strange lady that she'd forgotten about Shaun having to watch her, and now he was mad at her. She felt awful. So much for not worrying about making him like her. Now he hated her! The slight tingle that had started where Katie had touched her shoulder was beginning to spread, but she was so upset about Shaun getting mad at her that she paid it no mind. After a moment she looked back up at Shaun who had resumed his workout. The longer she watched him, the better she felt. He was a very good-looking boy; almost a man, really. She could see his muscles bulge as he flexed. The tingling now suffused her entire body with a pleasant warmth, and soon she had forgotten what she was so upset about and the smile returned to her face.
Her swimsuit felt a bit tight and she ran her fingers around the leg openings to stretch them out. Her legs responded by stretching, forcing her upward. Being eleven, some chubbiness still clung to Terri's legs but it slowly melted away as they lengthened. She started shifting her weight from one foot to the other, never taking her eyes off of Shaun. She reached up and tugged the increasingly snug shoulder straps as her torso and arms elongated. When the straps snapped back into place, her suit darkened to sky blue. The sound made Shaun glance in twelve-year-old Terri's direction. He thought something was different about her, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. Deciding it was nothing, he continued to lift his weights. Katie and Bobby certainly noticed a difference, though. Terri was already a few inches taller and was looking quite spindly with her slender arms and bony legs. Her short bouncy ponytail had extended to just below her shoulder blades.
Terri held her hand out in front of her and examined her newly blue-polished nails. Her mom finally let her start painting her finger(and toe!)nails just a few days ago. She was the last girl in her class to start wearing nail polish. 'I don't care if those other girls' mothers want their daughters looking like tramps in eighth grade, you'll start doing your nails when I say you can start!', was always what her mother said. After weeks of pleading she finally gave in after Terri's thirteenth birthday. 'I guess that's part of being a teenager now', she had told Terri. 'Just don't hold your breath if you want to start wearing makeup!'
Terri was feeling more and more confident as she continued watching Shaun. When he set the weights down again she called out to him. "Looking good, Shaun!" She giggled when he turned to her, and when he said, "You too, Terri!" and smiled, her heart melted. As for Shaun, he did think Terri was looking good, although she was a bit young for him.
She pulled the neckline of her swimsuit away from her chest which was feeling somewhat constrained and let it go so that it settled back atop her small breasts. At the same time the suit darkened again to a medium blue and took on a less childish style with a higher leg cut showing a little more of Terri's hips and thighs. The bolder blue color was starting to contrast nicely with her dark skin and Shaun definitely took notice of it. Terri's hips were now pleasantly curved and gave her fourteen-year-old body a nice slim hourglass shape. "Why did you stop working out? See something you like?" Terri laughed, a smooth, velvety laugh. Her voice was getting lower as she matured. And her feelings toward Shaun had changed from puppy love infatuation to something else. Her legs, torso and arms grew even longer bringing her height up to over five feet, not too much shorter than Shaun. The rubber hair tie holding her ponytail disappeared and her hair fell down sweeping across her back as it grew another inch or two. It also fell down across the sides of her face, obscuring the new studs in her earlobes.
Shaun, who a few moments ago had been eager for Terri's brother Frank to return so she wouldn't be as much of a bother, now didn't mind if Frank never came back. His girlfriend was here alone with him and he couldn't be happier. They were both the same age, having just turned fifteen, and were crazy about each other. 'She's so pretty, I don't know how I got so lucky', he thought as he studied her face. She smiled at Shaun, her full lips coated in clear gloss(was she wearing that before?) and a light touch of mascara on her long lashes(or that?) and put her arms around his neck, bringing him in for a peck on the lips that became a longer, softer kiss. He could feel her breasts brush against his chest and oddly enough as the kiss continued he could feel them pressing harder, as if they were...growing? He drove that thought from his mind, however, when it seemed Terri was getting more aggressive. What at first was a gentle closed mouth kiss had graduated to open lips, and now Terri was starting to probe Shaun's mouth with her tongue. Not that Shaun would mind a good French kiss, but something was off. Terri wasn't usually that forward. He pulled back and looked at the sixteen-year-old beauty embracing him. No matter how often he saw her he never tired of seeing that beautiful face.
"Don't stop now! We're just getting started!" Terri teased with a sly smile. She swept her thick straight hair back from her face and pouted coyly, pursing her lips. She was disappointed that Shaun had broken off the kiss, but she didn't want to force things along too much and scare him off. After all, he wasn't used to being with older girls, even if the age difference was only one year. She stood back for a moment to adjust her swimsuit, with an even higher leg cut than before. It exposed a generous amount of her widening hips and swelling thighs as well as her newly expanded and still growing butt. The neckline was considerably lower than before as well and exposed her increasing cleavage, of which she was very proud. She caught the guys at school staring at her chest all the time, since she was one of the larger girls in her class, but didn't mind too much, as long as they didn't get obnoxious about it.
Seventeen-year-old Terri stepped back up to Shaun and ran her fingers with their long, light blue acrylic nails down his arms and across his chest. "Looks like your workouts are paying off, Shaun. Impressive muscle tone, at least for a fifteen-year-old."
"Um, thanks." Shaun winced at Terri's last words. He was very self-conscious about his body, but he knew she was just messing with him. She'd always been like that when he was around, and he hoped it was her way of showing she liked him and that he might have a chance with her someday. She then surprised him by suddenly stepping behind him and goosed him, laughing as he jumped. "Terri, come on, don't do that!"
"Why Shaun," Terri said as she finally caught her breath. "I just wanted to check out that cute butt, that's all." She smacked it playfully, admiring how solid it was.
Since she was eighteen and in college, Terri didn't see Shaun during the school year much, so she wanted to take the opportunity while they were here at the beach to hang out for a while. He'd always been around since he and Frank were little kids, and now that he was getting older, she found him to be quite attractive, although she knew he was too young for her. That didn't mean they couldn't have a little fun, though. She licked her lips as her clear lip gloss changed to dark purple glossy lipstick. Large hoop earrings replaced her studs, blue eyeshadow and long false lashes appeared on her eyelids. Her hair reached her lower back, and her once-modest child's swimsuit had become a very revealing electric blue spandex suit with plunging neckline and very high-cut legs showcasing her amazing curves. She had grown another few inches taller and was now 5' 6", even taller than Shaun. Shaun had always had a crush on Terri since he was ten, but seeing her wearing this spectacular suit was almost too much for him. He had to know if she would ever be his girlfriend. "Um, T-Terri?" he asked nervously.
"What, Shaun?"
"Do you think we could ever, you know, um..." he trailed off, losing his nerve mid-sentence.
"We could ever...what?"
"Um, you know, like, well..."
"C'mon, it's just me. We've known each other for years. You can ask me anything." Terri was starting to clue in from Shaun's timidity what was going on, and couldn't help but grin slightly at Shaun's predicament.
"Yeah, heh," Shaun said with an uncomfortable laugh. "I guess so. Well," he paused to clear his throat. "What I wanna ask is, um..." Terri couldn't keep her grin from widening as she watched Shaun struggle to gather enough courage,
but since he was a good kid she didn't want to prolong his agony.
"Are you asking me out?"
"Um, well, yeah, if it's ok." He looked up at her sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Oh, Shaun, you are so cute, I could just eat you up!" Terri beamed and pulled Shaun into a tight hug, her large breasts almost in his face because of the height difference.
"Thank you so much for asking, but I think I'm a little old for you. Maybe in a couple more years, ok?"
Shaun was clearly disappointed but not enough to break Terri's hug too soon.
Katie and Bobby, having watched the whole scene play out, walked past the hugging couple and knew it was time to find someone else to try the ring on. Who would it be?