Looking down into the box, he saw the end of a red, white, and blue ribbon curling up above the rest of the bits of nostalgia. Pulling the ribbon free from the rest of the items, he found a long forgotten cardboard "medal" he'd won all the way back in his freshman year of high school. "Most Improved Runner." That actually produced a smile.
Just before high school, his mother had taken him to the doctor, and the doctor had lectured Max and his mom that he really needed to get more exercise, so she'd made him go out for cross country. He had started out pathetic, but, between an growth spurt which had left him about six inches taller and, if anything, weighing less that when he'd started, and Sara-- a cute blond on the girl's team who seemed to really like him and kept urging him to push himself-- he'd gone from j.v. to varsity by the end of the season. Even though the "medal" was a piece of homemade junk the coach had put together, it had been one of his proudest achievements.
At that moment a wave of strangeness swept over Max. Dropping the award, he half collapsed, half sat on the floor. Shutting his eyes, he found himself sweating and panting, feeling dizzy and as if he were somehow collapsing in on himself. He leaned back, taking deep breathes, and waited for what seemed like an eternity-- in reality a few minutes-- until the feelings passed.
As suddenly as the feelings started, they were over. He felt better-- and more energetic-- than he could remember feeling in a long, long time. He stood up.
His pants fell down.
'What the hell?' If anything, they had been a bit tight. Like most guys, he did not want to admit when he went up a size, and wanted to pretend he would be going back down any day now.
Bending down, he grabbed the pants and straightened, feeling a bit dizzy as he stood. A head rush-- he hadn't had one of those since his last growth spurt all the way back in...!
Holding his pants up he hurried to the mirror in his bathroom.
"No WAY!" he exclaimed, looking at the young, teen aged face staring, wide eyed, back at him in the glass. No whiskers on the smooth skin, a pimple on the forehead where his now long hair hung over his forehead. His shirt barely clung to his rail-thin body. He felt a powerful, urgent erection surging up in his now far too big pants.
"I'm a freshman kid again!" he exclaimed, now noticing his voice sounded young, too.
This was both exciting and terrifying. He couldn't figure out what had happened..., but it did open up some possibilities.