Ty and Kent walked to school instead of taking the bus that morning. They were rather early, the sun was out, and the weather was absolutely beautiful. It was only ten minutes away, and Ty figured it would give him enough time to hang out with Kent, the geeky high school student, whom Ty secretly adopted as his “little brother” because of his timidity.
While walking across the street, they passed the large park, which was only a few blocks away from the school. The two students took a shortcut, taking them right by the famous basketball court, where Ty and Dustin had played basketball so many times before. Dustin met Peter here, and Ty and Peter had met and transformed Ryan there as well.
This time, a new muscle kid was walking across the basketball court. It was Kent, one of the smartest kids in school. He was only 5 foot 6 inches tall, with short black hair and glasses. But Ty buffed him up a little bit, and he made him so that he wasn’t too big, like a bodybuilder. In fact, Kent looked a little more like a gymnast, which was still a dramatic improvement, for a kid who used to be skinny and had absolutely no muscles at all.
“What don’t you get more involved in sports, Kent?” Ty wondered, as he grabbed a rock. He laid the rock on the floor and made a silent wish. Instantly, the small grey rock started to change its unusual form and transformed into a small sphere. The hard shell of the rock then changed texture and color, while the sphere continued to grow. Within seconds, the grey color had changed to bright orange, and the sphere continued to expand. Rock turned to leather, and the inside was now filled with air. Finally, the rock had transformed in a full-size, NBA-regulation basketball!
Ty walked over and picked up the ball. He dribbled it a few times, before looking up at the hoop, which was fastened to the wooden backboard. He tossed the ball with one hand, but it came down after it bounced off the rim.
“I’m not good at any sports… In fact, I HATE sports! I would much rather be sitting behind my computer, or spend the day in the library or the bookstore…” Kent said quietly, as if he was feeling a little ashamed about this.
Ty chased of the ball and turned towards Kent, as soon as he was holding the ball with both hands.
“Heads up, Kent!” Ty shouted, as he tossed the ball to the boy. Kent barely caught the ball, but it slipped through his hands, before bouncing on the court. I just hit the edge of Kent’s tennis shoe, and continued to roll towards the other side of the court. Kent started to run after the ball, swinging his arms in a clumsy way. When he finally caught up to the ball, he picked it up and walked back towards Ty.
“Oh Kent, sports are fun! You just need a little help, that’s all!” Ty chuckled.
When Kent finally made it back to where Ty was standing, Ty made a silent wish, and froze Kent’s body in time. Ty walked up to him and stood right before him, placing both hands on the shoulders of the frozen, geeky boy.
“You should participate in sports more often, little bro. Let’s just start with one sport for now, okay? I want you to have enough skill to play a simple game of street basketball. You’ll know how to pass, shoot, and dribble…” Ty wished out loud. Then Ty wished for Kent to unfreeze.
Kent passed the ball to Ty, using both hands. It was a perfect pass, holding the ball straight in front of him and passing it using both hands. Ty passed it right back to him. Only this time, Kent turned towards the hoop, and made his first shot. The ball went straight through the hoop, without touching either the rim or the backboard!
“Wow… I’ve never shot a basketball before, much less even made the ball go through the hoop!” Kent cheered.
Ty just folded his arms, as he continued to stare at the geek while showing a wide grin on his face.
“I bet you’ve never dunked a basketball either, huh?”
“Dunk? Me? Of course not! I’m too short! I can never dunk a basketball…” Kent replied.
“Never say never, Kent!” Ty chuckled. Immediately Ty had frozen Kent’s legs. He couldn’t move at all.
“Hey! What are you doing to me, Ty?”
Suddenly, Kent felt a tingling feeling in both of his legs! Strangely enough, Ty appeared to be shrinking for a few moments. But when Kent looked down at the court, he realized that he was in fact growing taller! Ty only allowed his legs to grow longer, and the 5 foot 6 inches tall geek was now exactly 7 feet tall!
“Whoa! I’m much taller than you!” Kent exclaimed, as he looked down at Ty, who was standing right in front of him.
“Go ahead, Kent. Dunk your first basketball!”
Kent dribbled a few times, before he started to dash towards the hoop, coming right at it at an angle, from the far right side of the hoop. When he was close enough, he used his long legs to propel his body in the air, sending him soaring in front of the hoop. Using just his right hand to hold on to the ball, he then slammed the ball straight through the hoop, before coming right down on both legs, on the other side of the hoop.
“Wow… I had no idea what it’s like to dunk a basketball…” Kent chuckled, as he walked up to Ty, who was just staring at him with his arms folded in front of his chest. “Thanks for making me taller, Ty!”
Kent just stood before Ty, looking straight down at him. Ty was about 18 inches shorter than Kent!
“This feels so weird… To be this tall! And I’m afraid of heights!” Kent chuckled, while he continued to look down at Ty.
“You know what? Besides being a little more buff, why don’t you just remain this tall for the rest of the day?” Ty wondered.
“Whatever you say, Ty! You’re the boss! You can do whatever you want…” Kent replied with a smile. Kent understood quite well what Ty was capable of, and he knew that Ty could change him into anything at anytime, and it didn’t bother him at all.
“Come on, big little bro! We’d better get going; otherwise we’ll be late for school!” Ty chuckled, as he grabbed his backpack off the floor.
“You lead the way, Ty!” the tall basketball player said. It felt strange to Kent, to be a 7-foot tall geek! But as long as Ty wanted him to stay that way, he was fine with it.
Kent and Ty slowly walked past the entrance to the park as they made their way towards the gate of the school. Only this time, Kent was the only one who could rest his long arm on Ty’s shoulder, because he was so much taller than him. That didn’t bother Ty, who had once again managed to give Kent the opportunity to try something new, which would otherwise had never happened. Ty treasured the opportunity to change Kent in some form or the other every day. And Kent always appreciated that!