In early May, we were rehearsing for the spring musical, so we were having a lot of after-school rehearsals. JP had just gotten the third trumpet part only five days before this particular rehearsal, so he was in the orchestra pit before we started practicing. The music was very jazz-oriented and he was having a tough time. I had been playing the first part, so I figured as section leader, I'd go over to help him. I told him that he wasn't being aggressive enough. "Come on!" I urged him. "Use some of that muscle you think you have." With him being a freshman, I didn't want him to think that I was intimidated by him. He put down his trumpet. "You don't think I have muscle?" he said. I had just been kidding, but he must've thought I was serious. "You don't think I have muscle?" he repeated. "Well, check this out!" Once again, he lifted up his shirt sleeve and flexed his bicep for me to see. I looked like it was bigger than the last time I saw it and it was even more impressive. "Tell me this isn't muscle!" "That's not too bad." I said modestly. "Touch it!" he ordered me almost menacingly. After a bit of hesitation, I reached out and gave his round bicep a little squeeze. I was surprised to find that it hardly dented at all and that it was quite hard. Still not wanting him to think I was intimidated, I said, "That's mostly baby fat." Seeing that I hadn't had enough, JP answered, "That's not baby fat, that's pure muscle. I don't have baby fat anymore. Feel my stomach! I have a six-pack, you know." I could tell that he was flexing his stomach as he lowered his arm. I reached out again, this time, pressing in on his stomach. It was extremely firm, like a thick piece of plastic. He didn't lift up his shirt this time so I couldn't tell if he had a six-pack yet, but I could definitely feel the beginnings of an amazing set of ab muscles. "I'm going to work out hard all summer," he said. "And I'm going to be huge by band camp in August." I didn't doubt his predictions much anymore.

For the rest of the year, JP never really showed his muscles much, but I knew they were growing bigger and stronger all the time. I imagined him bench pressing and curling more and more weight every month or so. I couldn't wait until after the summer to see if he really bulked up. He had told me that he was in the 103-pound weight class in wrestling. It was the lowest weight class available, but he assured me that he'd move up. Apparently, he was pretty good, defeating wrestlers bigger than he was. For a freshman, he told me, he had a good record. I think it was 9 and 7, which was impressive for a beginner. One of the things a lot of people noticed was his threshold of pain. It was huge, which definitely helped in wrestling. Being that I was in a higher grade than he, I beat up on him all the time. Well, really, I just would give a punch or a shove in the hall. The only thing was that he would brace himself so quickly, that he would barely move by the time I hit him or he would block with his hands so hard, that it would almost knock me over. One time, he didn't block me and I accidentally gave him a smart, but hard punch in the chest. It was like hitting a hard piece of wood. I turned around, but he just kept walking away as if nothing had happened. Later, I apologized for hitting him that hard. I told him that I thought he was going to block me. JP looked up at me and lower his eyebrows. "I didn't feeling anything. I didn't know you hit me." What ever, I thought, and walked away. Another time, he punched me lightly in the stomach and it startled me a bit, but it didn't hurt much. The next time I passed him, I punched him in the stomach, but quite a bit harder than he had punched me. He must have really fast reflexes because all I hit was hard muscle. It almost hurt my hand! JP turned around to look at me and smiled. "I didn't fell a thing," he said. His muscles were getting harder with every month and that was making him more and more immune to surface pain. He was a nice guy and we got to know each other pretty well by the end of the year.

Finally, the end of the year had came. Finals were over and everyone was getting ready for summer break. Unfortunately, the seniors would be leaving us. Their graduation was held at the arena of the local university. Of course, the band had to play Pomp and Circumstance a hundred million times and I almost fell asleep when the 600 names were read off. Afterwards, we had to go back to the dressing rooms to change from our concert clothes into our street clothes. All the guys were crammed into this one little room. JP happened to be right next to me. I reached over and gave him a smart punch on the shoulder and said, "Sophomore." He glared at me. "Don't think just because you're no longer a freshman I won't taunt you anymore," I said. He put up his dukes and I put up mine. Earlier in the year, I had confessed to him and other people that JP could probably beat me up. I mean, the fact that he was on the wrestling team alone would give him an edge. Plus, pound for pound, he was definitely stronger than I was. Add to that, even though wrestling season had been over for a few months, JP continued getting bigger. He no longer was the little JP back in September. "I surrender." I told him, as I put my hands in truce. "Wimp!" he taunted me and smirked. Now, remember when I told you about when JP showed everyone his six-pack (or lack thereof) last November. Well, in the last seven months, he had changed a lot. He began unbuttoning the top buttons of his shirt. There was a definite crease between his chest muscles. They weren't too big, but they weren't there a few months ago. His pecs were beginning to grow and one could tell that they were ready to explode with muscle and power. As he unbuttoned his shirt more and wiped it off his body, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. JP had gotten washboard abs. There were six perfect round sections held tightly together. They tightened and loosened with every breath he took. I tried not to gawk in case the other guys would see me, but they were impressive. Apparently, he had been working out quite a lot since last fall and he was starting to transform from a freshman wimp into a sophomore stud. I thought to myself, just wait the three months of summer. How big will he be by then? •