By the time school was out, Jack was feeling a peculiar tug toward the gym just down the road from the school. He'd gotten done with school reasonably well enough, trying his hardest to ignore the chafing feeling of his shirt against his body. Was this some kind of growth spurt? Did those kinds of things really happen? Well, if so, he was sure as hell experiencing one - at least that was how he rationalized the effects the Principal was having on him. He remembered throughout the rest of the day that his friends thought something was pretty weird with him. For some reason they thought his hair looked...different.
Like he had styled it in a more mature or military look. Jack for his part just listened to his friends and laughed off what they were saying. He didn't buy it at all. Him? Wear some sort of crew cut or flat top haircut? The idea was laughable. Perhaps out of some sort of filter of his perception, he didn't even notice that his hair was indeed different - and though he could notice his physical fitness, what he didn't notice just as well was what else was happening to him.
Jack was stretching taller, about two inches more than what he usually stood at. Usually small and boyish, using that sort of charm for the benefit of his interactions around school, Jack now stood closer to 6 feet tall. The only thing he registered of that was how it seemed things, toward the end of the school day, seemed to be slightly further away than usual. That his legs seemed...longer? He just chalked it up to the theory he had about a growth spurt.
What Jack could not so easily chalk up to a growth spurt was his growing curiosity and need to go to that gym. He'd never gone inside the 20 Fitness located over there, and yet, something was telling him it was a part of his routine. An integral behavior to be done before he went home and enjoyed himself a bit before bed. He figured it'd help him get a better few hours of sleep considering he usually restlessly tossed and turned in bed, and so Jack went ahead and headed home.
He heard his mother shouting for him, "You heading down to the gym...? Can you take the grocery list with you?"
Jack tilted his head. He never knew that his mom would ask him of all people to handle something like that. He considered asking her why she didn't drive down there...but then he remembered the principal. He was on his way up to his room when her words almost seemed to reverberate through him. A ghostly whisper that both made him perk up a bit and bite his lip. "A more mature Jack Caldwell..." A more mature...yeah, yeah, maybe that could be part of it.
A smirk showed on his face. Maybe he could show how mature he was by helping out like that. "Sure thing, mom!" He shouted. He had no idea how he was gonna handle that, but he figured there'd be something.
"You can take my credit card with you, just don't lose it at the gym!" She replied. Ah, that explained it.
Thus as Jack moved into his bedroom, he didn't even see the crew cut hair starting to look even better on him as his facial features began to shift. The boyish and soft features that belied Jack's more cunning nature began to harden, a more conventionally handsome look beginning to show through. Though it was far from done, the influence was enough to push Jack into a different kind of appealing look.
As he pulled off his shirt, he found himself examining his body.
Jack's midsection had never been exactly toned or what someone might call muscular, but more of a tight, compact look. But now, Jack could see the outline of a six pack on his stomach, his obliques showing at the edges, very little of his babyfat remaining on his frame. He flexed a bicep and cupped a shoulder, feeling the strength in his arm and the wider, broader features that gave him a notably different impression. "Wow...I never noticed I was growing this kinda muscle..."
Even his chest pushed out more than he remembered - not exactly enormous, but enough that when he went to try and flex it, Jack was outright shocked by the way it reacted to the flex. "Wow...wow! I gotta wear something a little more showy." He went ahead to his closet, and found himself wondering when he was given quite so many stringer shirts. He knew big, muscled guys wore shirts like this...but until today it seemed he was never really the type for it. He also chuckled a little at the gym shorts. It was like he was outfitted for what was to come in advance!
As Jack dressed himself in his new clothes, he felt a surge of energy rush through him all at once. His eyes widened, and he found himself feeling even more eager than before to hit the gym. "Ahh hahaha...wow, I've never felt like this before!" He murmured to himself, feeling his chest briefly, not even noting it very slightly pumping itself up a little more.
Grabbing up his mother's credit card and putting it in his pocket with his wallet - which felt a bit thicker, made with better material than it was prior - Jack headed out to the gym. Settling to walk there, get in more exercise that way. He found himself really settling into it as he walked, noting that people walking by were checking him out. Man, he hoped he got more growth spurts like that if they were making more people interested in him.
He ran a hand through his hair briefly, wondering when he applied gel to it today...and then just as quickly figured he probably did it that morning and just didn't remember. He continued on to the gym. The growing man beaming as he started coming up on the front door. There was his handsome mug, and the surprisingly well toned and lightly muscled build he liked so much. He didn't know growth spurts came with such precision - but he wasn't gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.
And even if there was something somehow changing him actively, did he really even have anything to complain about? Just entertaining the idea, Jack figured if it was something, it made him thus far buffer, taller and good looking. What the hell did he have to complain about in that?
Though when Jack walked in, the receptionist proceeded to greet him in a way he was not expecting; "Ah, Mr. Caldwell! Good to see you this evening. Here to pump some iron?" Man, what a cutie that babe behind the desk was! Jack almost found himself blushing, though something kept him from quite expressing himself that way.
"Yeah," Jack said beaming, not even questioning it right now why she seemed to know him - and why he was "Mr. Caldwell" to her, "Thanks. I'll uh...I'll see you later."
She winked at him as he walked off, and Jack almost swooned. He knew now something was weird about all of this. He never even knew that woman before today, yet he was "Mr. Caldwell" to her. Mr. Caldwell... just thinking that respectful little line almost made him get hard. Jack gulped, and fought down his erection - he knew that it would be awful inconvenient if he had to deal with something like that in the middle of his cardio warm up.
As soon as he got himself situated, Jack hopped on the treadmill, set it for five minutes, and hooked up his phone and earbuds to some songs. He just focused on getting in that cardio before his workout - registering as he started that he was really enjoying the feeling of clearing his throat and stretching himself out before a workout. He sure didn't workout often, or so he thought, but this was really feeling like something to make him come back more than occasionally.
The workout was just getting started and Jack could feel something in his legs and---and ooh, his ass!
He just focused on the cardio, not even noticing when he went on far past five minutes on his clock. His eyes closed, he didn't see his body beginning to tone up. Forearms starting - etching tighter, growing slightly bigger, hands becoming rougher and more experienced with lifting. His shoulders grew more toned - front, lateral and rear delts starting to show on their own. His biceps etching more clearly even through a more reasonable shirt's sleeves. Muscles in his chest tickling and making him scratch there - not that he realized his pecs were wider, puffed out more, and his nipples pushed to the sides.
Jack grunted as he felt his abs tighten a little bit more, but he just figured it was his core reacting to the workout. By the time he opened his eyes again, he saw his clock registering 12:34 minutes elapsed. "Hooooly fuck..." Jack gasped and a few swats at the button shut off the cardio machine. He didn't even realize he'd offhandedly upped the level and incline quite a bit from the initial levels he came in with. Nor did he notice his face had become more angular, strong featured, and his jawline stronger.
"Fuck fuck fuck..." Jack wiped his forehead and cleaned himself up a bit with some paper towels. He'd gone over how much he planned on doing on cardio...but he figured there was abundant time in the night for weight training. So he really had nothing to worry about. Grinning and moving on into the free weights room, Jack looked forward to really testing how his body could handle this.