Paul couldn't believe how hungry he was for lunch. The breakfast he had could almost always tide him over until then, but today he felt like he hadn't eaten anything. He grabbed at his stomach each time it growled during 5th period. The other students would chuckle quietly whenever there was a break in noise, followed by his hands rubbing at his belly trying to quiet his stomach down. The bell rang and the teacher dismissed everyone to lunch.
"You sure are hungry today," Suzy hung off his thick arm while they walked down to the cafeteria. It was the best way to show all the other girls in the school that he was taken. "You must still be growing, big boy."
Paul let out an uncomfortable smile as she poked at his stomach. Though, for a second he almost felt like there wasn't as much flab as there usually was. "I guess... My shoes felt really tight this morning," he added. Instead of his tennis shoes, he was wearing sandals that just wrapped around the front of his foot. It wasn't a whole lot better, but at least his feet didn't feel like they were crammed into something so small. But it was kind of the same with his shirt. It hugged him differently. It seemed to pull more at his shoulders than his stomach. But he couldn't exactly go without one of those.
"Cause you're still growing," Suzy poked at him again. "You've got all that testosterone flowing through you and making you big and strong!" She hung more of her weight onto him. One of her hands went up to his face. "And look at that beard. Growing in nice and full."
"Huh?" Paul felt her hand run through the hair under his chin. Her fingers parsed through the thick bush. "Is it?" was all he could say, because he didn't remember any of that being there that morning. He'd always been pretty particular about being clean shaven, even with his slightly rounded face.
Suzy squeezed his arm. "It is." The seductive lilt in her voice made it all the more apparent just how much she liked it.
Paul tried to ignore his hormones as they continued their walk down into the cafeteria. He ordered his lunch. Which the cafeteria lady gave him a far larger helping that everyone else around. Adding, 'You're a growing boy,' when she scooped it onto his plate. He smiled awkwardly, thanking her and then paying for his and Suzy's meal. They went and sat down. But Jeff quickly interrupted.
"Dude," Jeff dropped his tray onto to table. "Are the football players doing some kind of joke?"
"Uhh..? No?" Paul said. "Not that I know of..."
"You sure?" But seeing Paul shake his head, Jeff continued. "Probably wouldn't tell you anyways. Fuck man. Those guys are fucking annoying."
"Why?"
Jeff grimaced at the thought. "It's nothing."
"Really? Cause it doesn't sound like nothing."
"It's..." Jeff took a breath. "It's just the guys keep acting really fucking weird around me. I don't know what's going on. Like this morning on the bus, Nate was saying he wanted to fuck me. Dude. Like what the fuck? I know the guys like to grab ass from time to time, but that's usually all." He took a bite of his food then continued. "And then there was Dave and Riley. They were really into that today. They just kept grabbing for my ass. I told them to stop. Cause it... It just felt different. You know?" He paused thinking about it. "Never mind. I don't know. I bet their just doing some kind of joke."
"Yeah. Some kind of joke." Paul repeated back. He didn't know what feeling was welling up inside him. It was almost like anger. But not quite. His body just seemed to want to punch the other guys in the face. Or something worse. He could feel his blood pressure rising but didn't understand what it meant. But didn't know why.
"Oh yeah! And Nate was acting like we fuck. Like really? It's gotta be some kind of joke going around," Jeff said. "That's what it has to be."
A different feeling rushed through Paul after the statement, completely quelling his anger. The confusion was even stronger as why his emotional state just changed so rapidly. He almost felt sad as he heard Jeff say it. But Suzy's laughter brought him out of it. "Really?! Those guys are crazy. It's probably just a senior prank or something. They're just messing with you two."
"Yeah, that's what's going on," Paul added. Though a pit in his stomach seemed to be sticking around. He couldn't quite place it, but leaned closer to his girlfriend, trying to ignore it.