Sighing, he went to dinner. His mom noticed that he was a little down, because he didn't eat anything except a few peas. "What's wrong, honey?" she asked.

"I just can't seem to gain any muscle, mom," Darren answered frankly, "I don't know that exercise is all it's cracked up to be."

"Don't worry, honey," she replied, "I'm sure you'll have something to show for it in a few weeks." She always said that. At least she didn't think that it was weird that he wanted to gain muscle. After all, he was still a young man. Hormones raging and all that. Of course, she had no clue how much he really wanted to look huge. Through all of high school, he had never succeeded in getting dates - for long - or even made it onto a sports team. It was depressing.

After dinner, Darren brushed his teeth and went upstairs to do some homework. He had Spanish and a History paper. He was working late into the night, long after everyone went to bed. His desklamp was the only light in the whole house. After a few hours, he was done. He got undressed and reached over to turn off his light.

Nothing happened. "What the hell?" he thought. After a few flips of the switch, it was apparent it wasn't going to turn off. "Guess I'll just unplug it," he thought. So he got down under his desk and pulled the plug.

ZZZAAAPP!!! A huge electric bolt hit him, and he flew backwards. It was like when he was about 8 and stuck a copper wire into an outlet to see what it would do. He was knocked unconcious.

In what seemed like a minute, he was back up with a groan. His body still tingled. "That was bad," he said aloud, "and it hurt too." He looked at his clock out of curiousity, feeling a little funny and noticing some light coming in the window. It was 5 AM. "Damn! Did I really do that much homework?" He was surprised. The last time he had checked the clock, it was only 1 in the morning, a decent bed time for a high school student.

"Oh, well. Time for my workout." Darren stood up, and immediately felt off balance. He was... heavier. For some reason, he really really wanted to pump some iron too. He felt like he could take on the world, or at least lift it. So he went downstairs to his father's gym. His father was a very large guy. He had to be - he was an actor. Too bad very few of his good looks had rubbed off on Darren.

As he entered the room, he looked himself in the mirror wall. That's when he noticed that he WAS larger. His muscles had grown all over. His pecs had a bit of a cleft between them, and there was a bit of definition in his abs. He looked good. "Wow!" was all he could say. Apparently, the shock had somehow made him grow. Then the urge to workout grew even stronger. It was an electric buzz in his body, in all his muscles.

So he went at it. It was the best workout of his life. Every exercise that he did required twice as much weight, and his energy was relentless. Finally, he finished, and went to look in the mirror.

He had grown again! Not much, but the changes were more than obvious now. He had arms - real arms. Not the twigs that had been there last night. He not only had a 6-pack, but he almost had an 8-pack. It was awesome.

His stomach rumbled. "Don't worry, buddy," Darren said to his now athletic stomach, "We'll get you some good breakfast." He always cooked his own food in the morning, since he was up before everyone else. This time, he was starving. He made himself about 10 pancakes, had 5 pieces of toast smothered in jam, and there was a heap of scrambled eggs on the side. He gulped down 3 large glasses of orange juice to wash it down.

"Good to see that you're feeling better," his drowsy mom said coming down the stairs, "Just don't feel so good you don't go to school." Darren checked the microwave clock only to see that there was 15 minutes left until class. He quickly threw on some baggy clothes, grabbed his bag, stole some more food to eat on the way, and ran out the door with a quick "Bye mom!"

The tingling, electric sensation stayed with him throughout the day. All of his friends were amazed at the amount of food that he ate. He had about 5 lunches, even ditching Physics to get one from the Mexican restaurant down the street. By the end of the day, he didn't even feel full. He just wanted to work out - badly.

As soon as he got home, he went to the gym, took off his shirt, and started pumping. It was amazing! Darren had at least tripled the amount he could bench in just a day. All of the other numbers went up accordingly. After another vigourous workour, he got hungry again. His parents were still at work, so he was forced to fend for himself. His snacks were huge! But then, he felt like his body needed it now.

Every movement felt stronger and larger to him. He just didn't want to look in the mirror yet - it would make the surprise even better. Finally, he was satisfied, and he went to look at himself in the bathroom.

"Wow!" a deep voice said, "This I like. Maybe mom was right about the effects starting to show eventually." He snickered. There was no one he knew who had this kind of size. He didn't know what that electric shock had done to him, but he liked it a lot. There wasn't much time to ponder it, though. He had homework to do. As he wandered up to his room, Darren wondered to himself if there would be any food left in the house for him to eat before a late night workout... he was starving. •