James walked downstairs, the alchemy book tucked under his arm. He easily dodged his family, since his mother was in the kitchen reading a newspaper and his dad was passed out in front of the TV. Again. He quietly made his way to the front door and slipped outside.
As he walked down the street towards "Dante's Rare Book Emporium," James couldn't help but notice all the stares he was getting. Girls his age and even women older, in their twenties and thirties, were gawking at him.
"Is that James?" one teenager from his school asked, pointing at the muscular 14 year old as he walked by. James just smiled, his confidence improving thanks to his massive body.
He soon reached the bookstore and walked in. "Hello?" he asked, his voice a little lower now. "Is anyone here?"
"Just a moment," he heard a familiar voice shout out. Alison soon appeared and James took a few deep breaths upon seeing her again.
"How may I help you?" she said, her smile beaming. James tried hard not to lose his composure, his nervousness and shy nature returning.
"Um, hi, Alison," he said, bashfully rubbing the back of his neck and staring down at the floor on numerous occasions.
Alison squinted hard at the large man standing before her, before she recognized him. "Oh, my God. James! What happened to you?"
"It turns out the experiments in the book work. At least the one I tried out." He looked at her, blushing as he did so.
"I'll say!" she said, walking over to him. James placed the book on the counter in front of him. The two were roughly the same height now.
"Do you like this?" James asked, shyly looking his body up and down, slightly flexing one of his arms as he did so. God, why was this woman turning him into such a dufus?
"This is amazing, James," she said, marvelling at his massive body. "You look spectacular!" Alison picked the book up. "Do you know what this means? It means this book actually works! That all the experiments in this book actually work!"
James just stood there, not saying a word, too entranced by Alison's beauty. He slightly nodded his head at one point, but that was about it.
"Come on," she said, grabbing James by the hand and leading him into the back of the store. "I want to see what else this book can do..."
The two teenagers sat at a large table in a separate room, glancing at the various experiments they could conduct.
"Oh, look," Alison said, pointing at a page. "This one says you can make any person do your bidding. That sounds cool."
James sat there, staring at her chest. Alison looked up. She smiled.
"You know, I've made out with guys your size," she said nonchalantly, amused at James' reaction. He laughed nervously, not knowing what to say.
"You're really shy aren't you, James?" He nodded his head. "I find that cute. Most guys your size are jerks who only want to get inside my pants, but you're...different, it seems. It's refreshing."
She kissed him on the cheek, before giggling and returning to the book on the table.
After a few more minutes, Alison found something of interest. "Oh, hey, look at this." James brought his head head closer to the book, as Alison read.
"'Perform this experiment and you can both grow the muscles and the height of any person you want. Be sure to use the exact amount of ingredients, however, because using too much or too little can result in the wrong result.'"
Alison looked up at James, a wicked smile on her face.
"So, what do you want to do?" James asked, perplexed. "You want to make me even bigger or something?"