For the remainder of his time in gym class, Phil was having a blast. Going through all the exercises he used to hate doing to test how strong he was now was simply exhilarating. He was careful to pace himself this time, lest he ends up needing another cup of BCAA. Although, even with pacing himself, he was still drawing quite a bit of attention, and Phil was relishing every minute of it. He'd caught Jackson staring at him more than once too, but every time Jackson looked away, pretending he wasn't staring. Phil was going to have to tease him about that later. All too soon, however, Gym class was done, and Phil was exhausted but feeling good after a hard workout.
"Excellent work today, Philipe," Mallory said as he approached Phil. "You thinking of joining any sports teams? Tryouts are coming up soon, and off the top of my head, the football team could use some new recruits. Although if you just want to lift, we do have a weightlifting team too."
"I'll think about it, coach. I'm going to disappoint the teams I don't join after all," Phil replied, making Mr. Mallory laugh. Although, right now, Phil didn't care about joining any sports teams yet. He was more interested in using that magic jacket again. As soon as he was out of Mr. Mallory's site, Phil practically sprinted to the locker room. He was about to put on the jacket again when a certain nagging voice in his head started yelling at him to not use things without knowing exactly what they do.
"Damn it, Clark, why do you have to be right even when I'm imagining you?" Either way, he should tell his friends about the jacket. At least he should inform them of what's happening before he uses the jacket again, right? Reluctantly, Phil put the jacket into his backpack and texted his friends to meet him in the usual place behind the school.
----
Phil arrived at the meeting place early and decided to kill some time by checking out his new bod. Pulling out his phone, Phil flexed his other arm and took a picture for posterity's sake. Then, he lifted his shirt up to find some shredded abs instead of the flabby stomach he was used to seeing.
"Nice! Move over David, because I'm a sculpted piece of art now." Perhaps that joke could use a bit of refining. Though, before he can do that, his friends had arrived and quickly became shocked at what he had become. Although, Phil's friend Jax got over the shock quite quickly.
"Ooooh! Now I see why people were saying you were going crazy during gym class." Jax Stanford was a chill dude, but a bit lackadaisical and odd. He was the artistic type who either dress goth or punk. Phil, couldn't tell but Jax liked wearing black. To those who didn't know him well, or don't know what actual stoners were like, might have thought he was a stoner, but that wasn't the case surprisingly. It was just his personality. In fact, one of Phil's go-to jokes was, "Imagine what he would be like if he was actually stoned."
"How can you remain so calm, Jax?" Phil's other friend, Clark, asked. Clark Bishop may look like a nerd, but he certainly didn't have the personality of one. He didn't take anyone's shit, using his intellect to get people to back off. One might be confused about why Clark and Phil became friends considering that they were so different. However, it was because they were different from each other that they were friends, as balanced each out. "Phil, please explain what's going on."
One explanation from Phil later, Clark was still skeptical. "I see... a magic jacket that makes your muscles grow? And you found it on a bench in the middle of the park? Why is it that my first question seems more likely to be true in this situation than the second?"
"Hey, I didn't steal it!" Phil responded, "How would I be able to steal this jacket if it could make the owner's muscles grow?!" There were plenty of ways actually, but that explanation seemed to satisfy Clark.
"Mind if I see it?" Jax requested, which Phil complied with by handing over the jacket to Jax so he can examine it. "Nice craftsmanship, but there isn't a tag or label to tell us what company made this jacket. Can't tell if this jacket is magic or science either". The two other boys couldn't help but give Jax a look for that comment.
"Yeah, most people can't Jax," Clark snarked. "Anyway, I'll go ahead and research this jacket. There has to be something on the internet about it. In the meantime, why don't we use Jax to test if the effects of the jacket are consistent? We probably should take pictures of him to compare his progress and..."
"Huh? Hold on," Jax objected. "While I don't mind putting on some muscle. I'm all about aesthetics, after all. Especially if I end up looking like Phil, but what about your dream Clark? I'm pretty good with computers too, so I can do the research for you."
"That's..." Clark looked down, conflicted. He always had a dream of following in his father's footsteps and joining the military. Unfortunately, passing the fitness test wasn't going to be a possibility for him.
"I guess I have to be the one to make a decision, huh?" Phil took a moment to think it over before coming to a decision.