...a pair of size 14 football cleats.
“Um, I said size 7,” Jacob complained.
“I know,” said the store employee. “But our shoes are guaranteed to always fit, no matter what. Go ahead, try them!”
Jacob reluctantly slipped on the shoes, and to his shock, they fit perfectly. He hurriedly took them off, but his feet looked like the same size. What was going on?
As Jacob and his dad left, he couldn’t stop thinking about this. And: Football cleats? His dad wanted him to play football? He was 5’6” and 120 pounds, he’d get killed out there. Maybe literally!
When Jacob got home, he plopped down on the couch to play video games. He was there for a couple hours, and after a while he decided to go for a run, a thought which gave him pause. Since when did he go on runs?
But he went to his room and changed into shorts and a tank top. As he went to put on his regular shoes, though, he saw his feet had grown! They looked like boats next to his shoes.
Frightened, he grabbed the football cleats, figuring it couldn’t hurt to run in them instead. Jacob looked at his hands: they too were bigger, thicker, and quite callused and tough.
Jacob was really scared now. But he went on the run anyway. When he got back, he was sweating like a pig, so he hopped in the shower.
When he climbed out, he noticed the hairs that he had shed in the tub while he was showering. Their presence wasn’t unusual, but they weren’t brown. They were blond.
Jacob looked in the mirror, eyes wide. His dark brown hair had turned golden blonde. He looked at his arms and legs, and saw they were hairier than before. He looked at the doorframe, where his height was measured. His eye level was well above the last pencil mark; he had to be 5’10” at least!
Glancing in the mirror and noticing that he now had a bit of a chest and hints of abs, and that his arms looked a little thicker, he guessed he’d gained at least 10 or 15 pounds.
Suddenly, a strange thought came to his mind: Maybe I’ll make the cut on the team this year!
That was it. He ran out into the living room, wrapped in a towel, and said to his parents, “Something is wrong here. I’ve grown 4 inches in a day, gained 10 pounds, my feet and hands are now huge, and my hair is turning blonde. What is happening to me?” Tears were in his eyes as he finished.
His mother looked at him sweetly. “Oh, honey, it’s ok. It’s just how puberty goes sometimes, that’s all. You’re finally growing into yourself.”
Jacob looked at her, jaw hung open. He dashed back to his room and lay on his bed crying. What was happening to him?
He realized that the first day of his junior year was in a week, and football tryouts were 2 days before that.