Gym class was much like other days, Tom's team won the dodgeball game though his enthusiasm wasn't there. It was lacking his "devour the weak" alpha male, "domination or death." attitude which made the game more fun for everyone else. It was interesting watching him. After a while he did still seem to "get into" the game but he wasn't immediately psyched for it like he usually would be and he didn't go so far overboard.
John was out half way through the game and watched with fascination as Tom dodged and weaved at the last possible second. It fascinated him how deeply three little rules could define someone so completely.
By the end of class Coach had called Tom over for a pep talk and Tom seemed even more off his game. He must be realizing that he dislikes exercise and probably has no idea how to handle it. John could barely contain his giddy exuberance.
Due to Tom's existing muscular 190lb physique and metabolism, it will be hard to see any changes less than 30 lbs overnight, John reasoned. To help get an idea of what's going on, John loaded his own profile and set it up so that for every lb of fat gained or lb of muscle lost by Tom, John would gain half a pound of muscle mass... as though he was working out. He put this into the emitter like a text message and zapped himself.
He felt a tingle which disappeared as quickly as it came. He put the emitter back in his bag and raced to the bus...
A week had passed and John had gained three lbs. There wasn't anything noticeably different about Tom but there were whispers that he was dropping his extracurricular sports. Supposedly Tom had had a meltdown at practice.
A week and a half later John had gained another 5 lbs. This brought him to 159 but he was still lean and average looking. Tom had probably gained 15 lbs but his body hid it well, he had been a muscular athlete and that doesn't just disappear overnight. Tom did have obvious changes in other ways though, He had stopped shaving about a week ago and was not cleaning up the nape of his neck like he had been.
At lunch, John noticed Tom was no longer sitting at the jock table. Tom pulled out a yogurt cup from his sack lunch and dove into it greedily, then he pulled out another, and another but John noticed that the foil lids weren't adhered to the cups, simply pressed into place... "No way" John exclaimed in disbelief barely keeping his voice low enough to not draw attention. John suspected Tom had hid his comfort food in old yogurt containers.
This is after eating whatever else he brought and one of the school lunches. Granted, the school lunch is barely enough to fill John up but if Tom keeps this up, John will look like part of the football team soon.
Tom had been too busy to be a jerk. After all, he had a lot going on and the idea of pushing people around sounded too much like work.