His next door neighbors had three kids. There was a girl who was Adam’s age named Sarah, another girl two years younger named Lisa, and a boy who was four years younger named Cory. Their dad was a fireman and their mom worked in a factory. Adam used to play a lot with Sarah and sometimes even played with Lisa. But Cory, being four years younger, was just an annoying pest to Adam. Adam called him “Brat,” because he was always getting into trouble and bothering Adam and Sarah. Cory was one of those kids who was always on the move, zooming around the neighborhood on his skateboard or BMX bike, throwing rocks, making a slingshot and using it to try to hit birds, climbing trees and breaking things. One time he actually killed a bird with his slingshot. He proudly brought the dead bird home and waived it in front of his horrified sisters, chasing them around the house with the bloody bird carcass held in his little fingers. After he finished terrorizing his sisters with the bird, he put it on the ground and stomped on its little body with his foot. He loved the sight of blood squirting all over when his foot smashed the bird to smithereens.

Cory’s sisters called him the “Wild Child” because he was out of control most of the time and his parents didn’t seem to be able to do anything about it. He was always coming home with scrapes and bruises from having crashed his BMX bike after a daredevil trick or falling off a high ledge after daring one of his friends that he could cross it. Cory seemed to have a very high threshold of pain, because he never cried when he got hurt. He actually wore his scrapes and bruises like badges of honor — badges that proved he was out there challenging himself physically every day. Cory didn’t play any organized sports. He tried soccer and baseball once, but he got kicked off both teams because he wouldn’t follow the coaches’ instructions. Cory did what he wanted. He didn’t take orders from any fucking coach.

Sometimes when Adam was playing with Sarah, Cory would come into Sarah’s room and make a pest of himself. He’d jump on Adam and try to wrestle with the older boy. Adam would have to pick up the obnoxious little kid and toss him away. Cory would always be kicking and punching as Adam picked him up and threw him away. Cory’s little kicks and punches really annoyed Adam. The kid was a total pest. After Adam had thrown him aside and told him to get lost, the little kid would attack Adam again, trying to wrestle with the older, bigger boy. Adam got tired of this real quick, but Cory just kept at it. He had tons of energy. Finally Adam would push Cory out the door to Sarah’s bedroom and lock it. That was the only way he could stop Cory’s annoying attacks.

One time when Cory was about seven years old, Adam got really fed up with Cory coming in and trying to wrestle with him. He picked up the little brat and gave him a big bear hug, squeezing the little kid’s chest as hard as he could. Cory tensed all his muscles as Adam was doing this and Adam noticed Cory’s little muscles flexing under his tan skin. Cory’s little muscles looked pretty solid. Adam really didn’t care and kept pouring on the power to squeeze the kid’s chest so hard that it would teach him a lesson. Cory just looked at Adam with his bright blue eyes and smiled. He didn’t seem to be affected at all by Adam’s strenuous crushing. Finally, Adam got tired and let the boy drop to the floor. Cory looked up at the 11 year old, smiled, and said, “Fuck, that was fun! Let me do that to you.” Adam was amazed that Cory thought having his chest crushed was fun. But he didn’t want to act like a wimp in front of Sarah, so he said, “OK, you little brat, go ahead and try to crush me. A little brat like you ain’t shit compared to me.” So Cory wrapped his little arms around Adam’s chest and squeezed. Adam was shocked at the amount of force the little seven-year old was able to apply. The muscles in Cory’s little arms sort of bulged and Adam could see the fibers of muscle in Cory’s shoulders straining under his skin. Adam was actually having a hard time breathing as the little kid squeezed harder and harder. “How’s that feel, big guy?” said Cory. “Are my muscles strong? Doncha think they’re fuckin’ strong for a kid my age?” Adam had to admit that Cory’s squeezing power was much more than he was expecting, but he sure wasn’t going to admit it to the little brat. “Fuck, I don’t know,” he said. “You’re just a little brat to me so I don’t even care.” At that, Adam grabbed Cory’s arms and pushed him away. It was really hard for him to break Cory’s grip, but he did it. Then he pushed Cory out of Sarah’s room and locked the door. He didn’t want to have to deal with that little pest any more.

Aside from these encounters, Adam didn’t pay much attention to Cory and Cory didn’t pay much attention to Adam. To Adam, Cory was just this little kid who was a complete brat. To Cory, Adam was just this big kid who was a friend of his sister’s who he could pester once in awhile. After Adam turned 12 years old, he didn’t play with Sarah much any more, so he didn’t have any more close encounters with Cory. He saw Cory zooming around the neighborhood on his skateboard or his BMX bike and occasionally saw him playing at the local playground, but he never paid much attention to the little brat.

When Adam was 15-1/2 years old, he asked his parents to buy him a weight set for Christmas. Some of the kids in Adam’s class at school were lifting weights, and a few of them were really getting muscular. They all said that it was the weights that were turning their boy bodies into the bodies of muscular young men. They told Adam that all he needed to do was lift weights and he could get muscles just like they had. Adam was really excited. At last, he thought. At last he had found the key to getting bigger and stronger and muscular, just like he always wanted to be. At last he would be able to stand up to the schoolyard bullies who continued to pick on him every day.

Adam went out and bought a lot of muscle magazines and read through all of them to get a good beginner’s workout. When Christmas arrived, he was ready to start lifting and transform his body from that of a skinny weakling to the body of a muscular young jock. On Christmas Day, he awoke to find a big set of weights and equipment all set up by his dad in his garage. He had several barbells, dumbbells, lots of weights, plus a bench with rack, chinning bar and a squat rack. His dad also had bought him some protein and energy supplements. “This is the best Christmas I’ve ever had,” Adam told his parents. “I’m going to get big and strong.” Adam’s parents looked at him proudly.

So on Christmas Day, Adam went out to the garage to start his first workout. He opened the garage door to let in some fresh air and sunlight. Lucky that he lived in Southern California. Even on Christmas Day it was 75 degrees outside. Adam brought down a big mirror from his bedroom and put it at the side of the garage. He brought down the bathroom scale so he could keep track of his growing weight. He stripped off his shirt and looked at himself in the mirror. A pretty sad excuse for a teenage boy, he said to himself, but that’s all going to change now. He picked up a measuring tape that he borrowed from his mother’s sewing box and started measuring his body. He had seen “before and after” stories in the Muscle Mags and he wanted to record his “before” measurements so he could track his progress. He was 5’ 10” tall, pretty tall for a 15-1/2 year old, but he only weighed 135 pounds. And his body was covered with a layer of fat, so even that weight wasn’t muscle by a long shot. His shoulders were hardly any wider than his waist. His arms looked like little straws. He flexed his arm and wrapped the tape around his spongy little biceps — 11-1/2 inches. He took a deep breath, flexed his chest and measured its girth — 35 inches. That was expanded. When he measured his relaxed chest it only measured 33 inches. His waist measured 30 inches and his thighs 17. Boy, he thought to himself. I’m about as “before” as you can get.

Adam started lifting his new weights, using the beginners routine from one of the muscle magazines. The magazine said that he should work out three times a week and he should only do one warm-up set and one work set of each exercise for several weeks. Then he could do three work sets. After three months he should be so improved that he could move to the “intermediate” routine, doing more exercises and sets for each muscle group. Adam started with the bench press. He did a warm up of ten reps with 25 pounds. Then, feeling confident, he loaded the bar with 60 pounds and tried to lift it off the rack. He couldn’t do it. The bar was too heavy. So he lowered the weight to 40 pounds and managed to press the bar up and down two times. That was his maximum. After he found his maximum, he took some weight off the bar and cranked out 10 reps. He tested his strength with the military press and managed to press 30 pounds for three reps. He could curl only 20 pounds for five reps and his squat was a measly 50 pounds. Even though he was doing only a few sets of each exercise, his muscles felt really sore.

As he did his squats, he stared at the mirror looking for bulges of muscle on his thighs that just weren’t there. Suddenly he heard a loud noise coming from the street that startled him. He quickly put the barbell back on the squat rack and turned to see Cory zooming into the garage on his skateboard. Cory jumped off his board and stood facing Adam. As usual, Cory wasn’t wearing a shirt — just shorts and tennis shoes with no socks. Adam took a good look at the kid from next door.

Cory had sky blue eyes and blond hair, which he wore in a spikey cut where the top of his hair stood straight up about two inches and the sides were cut short. His face was very good looking. He had high, wide cheekbones and a strong jaw. Because he was only 11-1/2 years old, he was a lot shorter than Adam, about 5’ 2” tall, and he still looked very much like a little kid, weighing only 85 pounds. However, he had absolutely no fat on his body so every one of his kid muscles stood out in bold relief under his tan skin. His muscles weren’t big, but they looked buff and strong. Adam had to admit that the brat looked strong and tough for an 11 year old kid. Cory’s skin was very tan since he hardly ever wore a shirt, even in wintertime. Even when it was cold to most people, Cory went outside to play without a shirt on. He was so active that his body produced a tremendous amount of natural heat that kept him warm.

Cory looked at Adam’s new weight set and then looked at Adam’s body. Cory hadn’t paid much attention to Adam’s body before and hadn’t noticed just how skinny and weak he looked for a 15 year old. Cory said, “So ya got a weight set for Christmas, huh Adam? Gonna put some muscle on that wimpy body, big guy? Boy, you could really use it, dude. You could use some beef on those bones.” Cory’s voice hadn’t changed yet and he still sounded like the boy that he was.

“Shut up, Brat,” said Adam. “You should talk. Look at your skinny little body. I could whip you easy.” Cory said, “Oh yeah? I may be little but I’m tough. Fucking tougher than you, you big dweeb.” At that Cory jumped at Adam, tackling him right at the waist and pushing him to the floor. Cory’s aggressiveness caught Adam by surprise. He hadn’t expected the younger boy to attack him like that. The two kids wrestled on the floor. Adam outweighed Cory by 50 pounds and was eight inches taller. His big height and weight advantage enabled Adam to pin Cory’s arms to the floor, but Adam was surprised at the fight the little kid was able to put up. Cory twisted and squirmed as Adam tried to pin him and several times he was able to escape from Adam’s grip. Immediately he jumped on Adam again like a little lion cub attacking a hyena. Adam finally pinned Cory’s arms to the floor above his head, and said “I win, Brat, just like I always have.” Cory just smiled and said “That was fun, dude.”

Adam released Cory and the two boys stood up. Cory’s tan skin was glistening with sweat. He had really wrestled hard in trying to beat the older boy. The two boys looked at each other’s bodies in the mirror. Adam got a little lump in his throat as he looked at Cory’s buff little muscles, little muscles that were now pumped up from having worked hard in fighting Adam’s bigger but softer body. Adam’s eyes were immediately drawn to Cory’s abs. Cory had a true eight pack — four rows, each row packed with two solidly defined ab muscles. The abs started right under Cory’s chest and ended well below his belly button. Cory wore his shorts really low, and Adam could see Cory’s two cut oblique muscles slashing up from his crotch and out toward the top of his hips. He had narrow hips, which made his abs look tight and hard and his butt very athletic. Cory’s butt pushed out the back of his shorts. It was really round and firm. Since Cory was wearing his shorts so low, Adam could see the tops of Cory’s butt muscles and the top of his ass crack. The tops of his ass muscles were really buff and tan from all the running and jumping Cory did and from being in the sun so much. Cory’s legs weren’t bulky but they were muscular and athletic looking. Cory flexed his quads and watched the cords of muscle ripple through his legs.

Cory looked at himself in the mirror and then looked over at Adam’s reflection. He smiled in kind of a confident way. Adam knew why he was smiling. Cory had muscles and Adam didn’t and Cory knew it. Cory’s shoulders were much wider than his waist and they already were capped with little heads of delt muscle. The muscle fibers in his shoulders twitched and flexed as Cory moved his arms. Adam, on the other hand, had nothing but bone in his narrow shoulders. They were barely wider than his waist. Cory slowly flexed his lats and abs. His little kid lats flared out under his shoulders and made a terrific V-shape as they tapered down to his narrow waist. His flexed abs looked like a washboard of muscle. Adam had never seen so much muscular definition on a kid. Adam tried to flex his lats but nothing happened. Adam didn’t have any lats. Then Cory sucked in his abs and flexed his chest. His waist seemed to disappear into his body and his pecs sprang to life with striated muscle. They were small, but they were solid and muscular. Adam tried to suck in his waist, but it just stayed the same. He had no ab muscles to suck in and his chest didn’t have any muscle in it to flex either. Adam marveled at Cory’s amazing definition and muscle control. The kid might only be 11-1/2 years old, but he had muscle!

Suddenly Cory flexed his arms. His little biceps jumped up under his thin skin, forming a small ball of muscle. Cory smiled approvingly and looked at Adam. “You flex too, Adam. Let’s see what ya got,” said Cory. Sheepishly, Adam flexed his biceps in the mirror. His arms were bigger than Cory’s, but his biceps didn’t really flex at all. There was no peak, no ball of muscle, nothing. Just mushy flesh.

“What’s that over there, a measuring tape?” asked Cory. “Were you measuring your muscles, Adam? Seeing how big they are? Hey, why don’t you measure mine. Let’s see how they compare.” Adam was a little embarrassed but he picked up the measuring tape and wrapped it around Cory’s flexed right arm. “Ten inches,” said Adam. “Mine are 11-1/2, so I’ve got you beat, you little twerp.” Adam showed Cory the measurements he had just taken. Cory stared at Adam with a look of sheer arrogance. “I’ve got 10 inches of solid muscle and you’ve got 11-1/2 inches of total flab. I’ll take my arm any day, you big slob. Go ahead and measure the rest of my muscles. They may be little, but they’re really hard.” Adam measured Cory’s flexed muscular chest and called out “thirty-one inches.” Cory’s narrow waist measured only 24 inches and his thigh was 15 inches. Cory seemed pleased with his measurements. Cory jumped on the scale and saw the needle register 85 pounds. “Eighty-five pounds of solid muscle, dude,” said Cory confidently. “And I know that these fucking muscles are going to get really big and strong. I’m already the strongest kid in my class. Just think, Adam. I’m only 11-1/2 years old and my chest is only four inches smaller than yours. My arms are only 1-1/2 inches smaller. And my thighs are only two inches smaller. And I’m only five foot two. Do you have any idea how big and strong I’m going to be when I’m your age? But I won’t have to wait that long. I’m going to be able to fuck you up real soon.” Adam gulped.

“Lets compare our muscles right now, Adam, you muscleboy wannabe. Feel my muscle and then I’ll feel yours,” said Cory as he flexed his right bicep into a ball of muscle, with fibers and veins showing through his thin skin. Adam reached over and wrapped his fingers around Cory’s flexed bicep. Adam was shocked. The muscle felt hard, much harder than any of Adam’s muscles had ever felt. Cory curled his arm up and down several times and each time he flexed, the bicep muscle seemed to get a little bigger and a little harder under Adam’s fingers. Adam squeezed his fingers into Cory’s flexed bicep, but he could only make a small dent. Adam squeezed harder, but this only made Cory flex harder, and Cory’s 11-year old kid biceps resisted Adam’s squeezing fingers like a steel ball.

Cory smiled at Adam. “Pretty hard, huh? My biceps get really pumped and hard when I do pull-ups. I can do 25 pull-ups easy and when I’m finished these mothers are like rocks.” Adam gulped. He couldn’t do any pull-ups at all, and here this little kid was bragging that he could do 25 easy. “Here, watch this,” said Cory as he jumped up and grabbed the chinning bar. He was facing Adam and Adam couldn’t believe how much Cory’s lats flared out under his armpits. Cory then started to pull up his body and his lats and arms bulged and flexed as they obeyed the command of their young master to pull his 80 pounds of bone and muscle up to the bar. He easily pulled himself up so that his chin was over the bar and then he lowered himself back down. Then he did more reps, each one just as easy as the first one. Adam couldn’t believe how striated his biceps were as they stretched and then contracted into hard balls of muscle. Veins crisscrossed his biceps. The fibers of his lats looked like cords of steel as they easily pulled Cory’s body up and down. After about 10 reps they started getting really red from all the blood being pumped into them by Cory’s athletic heart. Cory pumped out 25 reps of pull-ups, and he made it look really easy, just like he said.

After the 25th rep, Cory jumped easily off the bar. Then he flexed his right arm in front of Adam and said, “OK, wimp-boy. Feel it and weep.” Adam could smell Cory’s sweat evaporating from his hairless armpits and his hot muscles. That sweat really smelled good. It smelled really masculine, like a real man’s sweat. Adam looked at Cory’s flexed arm, reached his fingers around the bulging little bicep and squeezed hard. Cory’s bicep felt like a rock, a warm, throbbing, bulging rock. “Fucking-A,” said Adam. “That’s really hard.” Cory’s pumped bicep was the hardest piece of human flesh Adam had ever felt in his life. It was so much harder than any of Adam’s muscles that it wasn’t even funny. Adam started feeling weak in the knees. “See, I told ya they got real hard,” said Cory, sort of bragging. “They always get real hard when I do pull-ups. That’s why I like to do pull-ups so much. I can do a million of ’em. OK, dude, my turn. Flex those big biceps for little Cory here,” ordered Cory. Adam flexed his right arm as hard as he could.

Cory reached up and wrapped his little fingers around the top part of Adam’s upper arm, where his bicep should have been bulging but wasn’t. Then Cory started squeezing his fingers. Cory’s little fingers started digging relentlessly into Adam’s flesh and they didn’t stop digging even as Adam tried to flex harder and harder. Cory’s striated forearm muscles tensed and bulged as he applied more and more power to his fingers. He said, “Jesus, Adam, what a wimp! That feels like mush! Just a bunch of babyfat. Look how easy it is for my strong fingers to dig into your flabby muscle. My forearm and fingers are stronger than your whole fucking arm! Look what they can do to your pathetic, weak little muscle.” Cory squeezed harder and his strong fingers penetrated even further into Adam’s bicep. Adam started crying out in pain. Cory just smiled and started wiggling his fingers deeper and deeper into Adam’s arm, kind of enjoying seeing Adam’s pain. “Does that hurt, big guy? Is little Cory hurting big Adam’s soft, flabby arm? I guess I don’t know how that feels ’cause I’ve never had such mushy muscles that some kid could dig his fingers into my arm like this. My muscles have always been hard, so they never feel any pain. They don’t feel pain. They give out pain. I think this feels really cool — my strong fingers making mush out of your flabby bicep. I get a rush when my muscles give out pain to someone else. It makes me feel strong.” Adam looked into Cory’s blue eyes as he was saying this and felt a twinge of awe shoot up his spine. Cory looked back at Adam with a look of total superiority.

Finally Cory let go of Adam’s arm. Adam rubbed his bicep, trying to massage away the pain that the little neighbor kid had just inflicted on it. Cory rubbed his hands across his pumped chest and abs, feeling the muscles flex under his fingers. He checked out his body in the mirror and smiled. Then he turned to Adam and said, “Well, I gotta go. You better start working out as hard as you can, ’cause I’m going to catch up with you real fast and I’m going to kick your fat ass.” At that, Cory walked over to a barbell that weighed 30 pounds, the maximum that Adam could press overhead for three reps. Cory picked up the barbell, hoisted it easily to his shoulders, and cranked out 10 easy reps of overhead military presses. Adam’s eyes practically fell out of his head. When he had finished, Cory let the bar drop to the floor with a big crash. “Piece of cake,” said Cory. He walked over to Adam, raised his right arm and flexed his delt muscles right in Adam’s face. Adam couldn’t believe all the fibers of muscle that were flexing in Cory’s shoulder. “See ya, Muscles,” said Cory, as he jumped onto his skateboard and zoomed out of the garage. Adam stood there stunned.

He looked into the mirror and flexed his puny muscles. “Wow,” he thought to himself, “that little brat Cory is already stronger than I am! If it wasn’t for my extra height and weight, that fucking little 11 year old would have been able to beat me in wrestling too. I’ve got to work out really hard and build some muscle so that I can put that little brat back in his place.” He looked at his body and thought about Cory’s buffed little muscles flexing in the mirror. A twinge went up his spine. He really felt weak and inferior to the muscular little kid. But he was determined to use his new weights to make his muscles so big and strong that he would soon be able to crush that arrogant kid with his huge arms. “Just you wait, Brat,” thought Adam to himself. “I’m going to kick your tan little ass clear across this garage.”

So Adam worked out incredibly hard three times a week, using the absolute maximum amount of weight he could lift for 6 to 8 reps, just like the muscle magazine said. He immediately started doing three sets of each exercise. He ate as much food as he could, eating mostly protein and carbohydrates. He also took protein supplements. He literally force-fed his puny body with food, hoping to pack on the muscle with his eating and lifting. But to his extreme disappointment, in his first month of lifting he only gained three pounds and he thought most of that was fat. As he flexed in the mirror, he really couldn’t see any more muscle than when he had started. And when he measured his muscles with the measuring tape, he found that he had gained only 1/2 inch on his chest and 1/4 inch in his biceps. He could bench press 10 more pounds than when he started and his military press and curl went up by 5 pounds, but this was much less progress than he had been expecting. Those kids at school had told Adam that the weights would add lots of muscle to his body, but it sure wasn’t happening to him. Those kids were liars, thought Adam

Meanwhile, during this month Cory was making a regular habit of showing up in Adam’s garage while he was working out. He would zoom in on his skateboard or BMX bike about twice a week. Almost two weeks after Adam started lifting, when he was still hopeful of adding some real muscle to his body, Adam heard the familiar sound of Cory’s skateboard roaring up the driveway. He turned to see Cory, wearing only a pair of shorts as usual, holding a basketball. “Heads up,” yelled Cory, and he threw the basketball really hard right at Adam. Adam tried to catch the ball, but his reflexes were too slow and the ball hit his chest hard and bounced off. The ball really hurt Adam and made a big red mark on his chest where it had hit him. “You’re out,” said Cory as he picked up the ball and laughed. Adam rubbed his sore chest.

“That reminds me of playing Dodgeball in gym class at school,” said Cory. “I love gym class. I love to get out of the fucking classroom and get some exercise and play some fun games. I’m the best athlete in the whole 6th grade so I usually win all the time. Its really fun.” Adam thought about his experiences in gym class. He hated gym class. He was always the last one picked for any team and he always lost at everything he tried. And here was this brat Cory bragging about how good he was at everything. He was just the opposite of Adam.

“I love playing Dodgeball,” said Cory. “Do you like to play Dodgeball?” Adam remembered that Dodgeball was that game where kids stood in two rows facing each other about 25-30 feet apart. A kid in one row would throw a big rubber ball at a kid in the other row. The kid in the other row either had to dodge out of the way or catch the ball. If he dodged out of the way, he was safe. If he caught the ball, the thrower was out. If he got hit by the ball but didn’t catch it, he was out. Adam remembered getting hit many times and always going out right away. “Uh no,” said Adam. “I guess I don’t like Dodgeball that much.”

“Fuck, its really cool,” said Cory. “I love to throw the ball really hard and just pick off kids one by one, like hitting cans with my slingshot. I can throw the ball so hard that nobody can catch it, just like you couldn’t catch the basketball. I just fire away and blast the kid on the other side. Lots of times I’ve thrown the ball so hard that a kid started crying after I hit him and a big red spot was on his body where the ball hit him, just like that big red spot on your chest. Some kids just bend over and cringe when they see me aiming the ball at them. That’s so cool. I just wind up and smash it into them. They’re such little pussies. They’re just toast when I want to pick ’em off. Sometimes I even point to a kid, giving him fair warning that he’s next. Usually they get a look of fear in their eyes when I do that. Its really cool. But even with that warning the poor slob can’t get out of the way of my hard throw and the ball blasts into his body like a rocket, and the kid’s outathere. Of course, none of those kids can get me out. I can either dodge out of the way or catch the ball. I’m really good at catching things. None of those other kids can throw hard enough to get me out. So I always win. It’s really fun. I love Dodgeball.”

Adam kind of gulped as he listened to Cory’s matter-of-fact description of how he picked off all the other kids in his class with a ball that he threw so hard that he could make them cry. Cory picked up the basketball, put it in his right hand and cocked his arm back just like he was getting ready to throw the ball again real hard at Adam. Instinctively, Adam bent over and cringed. Cory laughed at the cringing teenager who was afraid of an 11-year-old’s muscular arm that could throw real hard. “Geez, Adam, I guess you’re a pussy too,” said Cory. But instead of throwing the ball hard at Adam, he gently lobbed the ball at Adam’s arm where it harmlessly bounced off. Adam stood up, relieved.

But Adam’s relief was short-lived. Suddenly Cory ran at Adam and tackled him, pushing him to the floor. Cory wanted to wrestle again. And when Cory wanted to wrestle, he just did it. Every time Cory had come to Adam’s garage in the last two weeks, he had attacked Adam and wrestled with the older, taller and heavier boy. At first, Adam was able to pin Cory’s arms to the floor fairly easily because of his eight inch height advantage and his 50 pounds of extra weight. Cory put up a good fight, squirming and twisting, but eventually Adam won. But as the days went on, Adam noticed that it seemed to be harder and harder for him to pin the 11-year old kid. Amazingly, Cory seemed to be getting stronger and stronger with every wrestling match, while Adam was essentially staying at the same strength. “This isn’t right,” Adam thought to himself. “I’m the one whose supposed to be getting stronger because I’m the one lifting the weights. All Cory does is wrestle with me a couple times a week and do a few sets of presses or curls just for fun. Oh yeah, and he does all those push-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups. But I’m the one lifting the weights and I’m supposed to be the one getting stronger, not that little brat. Besides, a 135 pound 15-year old can always beat an 85-pound 11-year old brat.” Adam tried to convince himself that what was happening to Cory wasn’t really happening, but deep down he knew the truth. Cory was getting stronger every day from the wrestling, from the little amount of lifting he did just for fun when he visited Adam, and from all those pushups, pull-ups and sit-ups he liked to do every day. And Adam wasn’t getting stronger at all, even though he was busting his ass lifting weights. Cory was naturally strong and he was getting stronger. Adam was naturally weak and he was staying weak. The strong get stronger. And the strong like to pick on the weak.

Cory didn’t give Adam any time to think about all this as he attacked him with all the fury of a young tiger. Adam fought extra hard, trying to maintain his superiority as a 15 year old, but Cory fought even harder. And Cory was a lot stronger than he had been just two weeks ago. Adam tried to pin Cory’s arms to the floor, but every time Adam got on top and tried to hold his arms, the kid was able to twist his muscular little body free. One time Adam pinned Cory’s arms and thought he had put Cory away. However, Cory looked Adam in the eye with a look of sheer determination, gritted his teeth and started raising Adam’s hands off the floor with just the pure strength of his chest and arms. Adam was shocked at the kid’s strength. Cory lifted Adam’s arms a full six inches off the floor and then immediately squirmed out of Adam’s grip and reversed the hold, pinning Adam’s arms to the floor. Adam was completely exhausted but Cory seemed fresh and energized. Cory held Adam’s wrists to the floor and smiled at the older boy. “Try to get up, fuckhead,” said Cory arrogantly. Adam squirmed and pushed but he was too weak to get out of Cory’s hold or to push Cory off. “I win, fuckhead,” said Cory. “I’ve gotten too strong for you to beat in wrestling. I’ve been getting stronger every day and I’m not even the one lifting weights. You’re just a big wuss.” At that, Cory let go of Adam’s wrists, sat up on Adam’s stomach and flexed his arms right in Adam’s face. Adam looked up at Cory’s bulging biceps with a feeling of awe. Here was this 11 year old kid who was already stronger than he was and the kid didn’t even have to lift weights to get strong. Adam reached up and felt Cory’s rock-hard biceps with his fingers. “Yeah, feel those hard muscles, Adam,” said Cory. “Feel those fucking muscles that are going to fucking rule you from now on. I’m your boss now, Adam. I’m the boss and you’re just my wimp-boy slave.” Adam looked up at Cory’s sky blue eyes, spikey blond hair and drop-dead handsome face. He nodded his head, acknowledging the truth of what Cory had just said.

Cory jumped up and flexed his muscles in the mirror. “Fuck, I feel strong,” he said. He walked over to the scale and stood on it. “Wow, look at this Adam,” said Cory. “I’ve gained five pounds in the last two weeks.” Cory now weighed 90 pounds. “No wonder I’m stronger. I’ve gained five pounds of fucking muscle! Hey, measure my muscles, Adam.” Cory ran over and grabbed the measuring tape. He handed the tape to Adam and flexed his arm right in Adam’s face. “Measure that mother, Adam. Measure that bulging bicep.” Adam wrapped the tape around Cory’s arm and announced, “Jesus Christ. It’s 10-1/2 inches. You’ve gained a half-inch on your arm in the last two weeks. I can’t believe it.” Adam looked at Cory’s flexed arm with admiration and awe. Cory looked at the hard, round bicep and smiled at Adam. “OK, wimp-boy, measure the rest of me. I bet all my muscles have grown.” Adam measured Cory’s chest, his waist and his thigh. Cory had gained an inch of muscle on his chest and a half inch on his thigh. His waist was the same — 24 inches. Adam measured his own muscles and they were virtually the same size as they were two weeks before. “Fuck, I’m a stud, ain’t I, slave-boy?” said Cory as he pushed his muscular chest right into Adam’s little chicken chest. Cory pushed right into Adam and forced the older boy to back up. “Ya know what I want to do, slave-boy? I want to arm wrestle you. I want to see if my fucking muscular arm here can crush your piece of flab.” Cory grabbed Adam’s wrist and flexed his arm, twisting Adam’s arm back and forth as if he were arm wrestling with him. Adam knew that he couldn’t say no to Cory. So the two boys kneeled down on either side of the bench and put their elbows on the bench. Cory’s arm was several inches shorter than Adam’s, so Cory grabbed a thick book that was stacked in the garage, put it on the bench and put his elbow on the book. The boys locked grips. Cory squeezed Adam’s hand real hard. His flexed forearm writhed with shredded muscle. Adam winced as he felt the power of Cory’s muscles.

“Say go when you’re ready, wimp,” said Cory, looking at Adam right in the eye with fierce intensity. Adam took a deep breath. “Go,” he said. Adam pressed his arm down as hard as he could. Remarkably, he was able to slowly force Cory’s arm a few inches to the side. Adam had a size and leverage advantage over Cory, since he was so much taller and heavier and his arm was so much longer. Adam thought for a moment that this advantage might actually give him a chance to win. He kept pushing and Cory’s arm kept going down very slowly. Then, when Cory’s arm was only about an inch from the bench, the forward motion of Adam’s arm came to an abrupt halt. It was like all of a sudden his arm had hit a brick wall and could go no further. Adam looked down at Cory’s bicep and saw the muscle bulge. The fibers of muscle looked like steel cords. Cory smiled at Adam. “Was that fun, wimp? Did you really think you could beat me? Get real!” At that, Cory started twisting his arm away from the bench. Adam was helpless to stop the relentless force of Cory’s muscles. His biceps, delts and pecs were rippling as they flexed and powered his arm up higher and higher. Finally, Cory’s arm was at the upright position and he stopped for a moment. “Feel the power, wimp,” he said. Suddenly he pushed on Adam’s arm with an incredible a surge of strength and Adam’s poor arm went crashing to the bench. It was almost like he was putting up almost no resistance at all to Cory’s muscles, even though he was pressing as hard as he could. Cory held Adam’s arm to the bench for a moment, looking at the muscles of his arm that had just conquered his 15 year old neighbor. “How’s that feel getting your arm smashed to the bench by an 11-year old?” said Cory. “Feels pretty bad, I bet. I bet you feel like a real wimp. Well, you are a wimp, slave-boy, and I’m your fucking master. You feel really bad and I feel really good. You don’t know how it feels to be strong, do you wimp-boy? You’ve never been strong like me. Well, let me tell you it feels absolutely great. It feels fantastic to have strong muscles and be able to crush your pathetic body. It gives me a real rush.”

Cory laughed and then stood up and stretched his muscles. Then he grabbed the 50 pound barbell off the rack that Adam had been using for bench presses and did 10 quick military presses with the weight. “Too light,” he said. Then he changed grips and did 10 curls with the same weight. “That’s better,” he said as he forced out the last rep. He flexed his biceps in the mirror and said “nice pump.” His biceps were bulging from the 10 reps of heavy, intense curls. They would grow more from that one set of curls than Adam’s biceps would grow from a full week’s worth of exercises for his arms. Cory’s muscles were hard-wired for growth. Then Cory grabbed his basketball and hopped on his skateboard. “Gotta go play some hoops with the big kids. See ya later, slave-boy.” At that Cory zoomed out of the garage and Adam was left to look at his wimpy body in the mirror and try even harder to lift weights and get strong. It would be a losing proposition.

Well, Adam kept working out three times a week and Cory continued his visits during almost every workout. Cory would zoom in on his skateboard or BMX bike. Then he would attack Adam and wrestle him to the ground. Cory was now so much stronger than Adam that he could easily pin the older boy. He twisted Adam’s arms up his back and pushed up with the muscular force of his arms until Adam started to cry out in pain. “Who’s your master, slave-boy?” yelled Cory. “You are, Cory, sir,” said Adam in reply. Cory would smile and twist just a little harder, just to show Adam how strong he was and who was boss. Sometimes he would wrap his muscular young arm around Adam’s neck and flex his hard, round bicep right into Adam’s windpipe. He would flex and unflex his bicep, and each time he flexed, the muscle would bulge like a steel ball and ram itself further into Adam’s neck. Adam felt like a rock was pounding into his neck each time Cory flexed his bicep as the hard muscle contracted again and again into a solid ball that smashed into his neck. Cory liked to watch his bicep as it got bigger, harder and more peaked when he flexed it over and over again. Adam’s windpipe crackled as it succumbed to the unrelenting battering ram force of Cory’s flexing bicep. “This feels really cool,” said Cory as he looked at his big, bulging bicep as it crushed Adam’s scrawny neck. “I like the way it feels when my muscle bashes into your windpipe.” Cory said this very matter-of-factly, like he was observing his muscle smashing a grapefruit rather than the neck of a human being. Adam couldn’t reply. He was gagging and choking and gasping in awe at the power this 11 year old kid possessed in his arm.

Sometimes Cory would wrap his muscular legs around Adam’s chest in a scissors hold and start squeezing. His quad muscles would bulge as his powerful legs crushed the air out of Adam’s lungs. Cory liked to watch Adam’s face as it got redder and redder from lack of oxygen as Cory’s python-like legs prevented Adam from breathing at all. “How’s that feel, slave-boy?” said Cory. “How’s it feel to have my muscular legs crushing the life out of your pathetic excuse for a body?” “It hurts,” gasped Adam. “I can’t breathe.” “Good,” said Cory, and he turned up the power on his legs even more. Adam grimaced in pain and looked over at Cory. All the muscles in Cory’s body were rippling with power. Adam felt so weak and helpless compared to the physical superiority of this muscular 11 year old kid. “Do you give?” asked Cory. “Do you give to your master?” Adam nodded his head, as he didn’t have any more breath in his lungs to talk. Cory immediately relaxed his hold, sat on Adam’s stomach, smiled, and flexed his arms in triumph. He looked like a young Viking warrior — blue eyes, blond hair standing straight up like spikes, sparkling white teeth, incredibly handsome face, and muscles bulging and rippling on his 11 year old body. Adam reached up and touched Cory’s muscles. He ran his fingers over his biceps, his delts, his pecs, his lats and his corrugated abs. This was Adam’s reward. He wanted to be a good slave because Cory let him feel his muscles after he had thrashed him. “Yeah, feel those muscles, you miserable little punk,” said Cory. “Feel those muscles that just totally pulverized your weak little body. Feel how hard and strong they are. Feel their power, slave, the power to totally crush you any time I feel like it.” Cory squeezed his legs against Adam’s chest. Adam reached over and felt the hard quads of Cory’s legs as they crushed against his body. “Yes, master, I feel the power,” said Adam. “You are a fucking stud, Cory, sir.” “You got that right, wimp,” said Cory and he suddenly dropped down onto Adam’s body, smashing into Adam’s skinny chest with his muscular pecs. His sweaty skin slid over Adam’s body as Cory moved his body back and forth on top of Adam in a movement of pure domination. Adam could smell Cory’s jock-boy sweat that evaporated from his glistening, tan skin. Cory put his right armpit right on top of Adam’s nose so that Adam would be forced to breathe in the strong, heady sweat. “Smell that sweat, wimp-boy,” said Cory. “My sweat smells different than yours, Adam. My sweat smells like the sweat of a real jock, a real man. Your sweat doesn’t have much of a smell at all. It smells kinda wimpy, just like you.” Cory smiled and rubbed his armpit into Adam’s face. “Get a good whiff, slave, of your master’s smell. You like your master’s smell, don’t you, slave?” Adam nodded his head as Cory kept rubbing his armpit in his face. He really did like the smell of Cory’s armpit. Finally, Cory sat up and let Adam take a breath of clean air.

Adam really looked forward to Cory’s visits. He knew that he was going to be completely dominated by the arrogant kid, but he couldn’t help himself. He was totally turned on by his muscular young neighbor. About a month after Adam started lifting weights, Cory zoomed into the garage on his skateboard holding a football and wearing a gold-colored medal around his neck. He threw the football at Adam. As usual, Adam was too slow to either catch it or get out of the way and the ball hit him on the shoulder. The force of Cory’s throw made the ball feel like a mortar shell as it hit Adam’s flabby body. “Incomplete forward pass,” said Cory. “The wuss couldn’t handle the ball that was perfectly thrown by Cory, the star quarterback.” Adam rubbed his hurting shoulder. Cory laughed and walked up to Adam, puffing out his muscular chest to show off the gold medal that was hanging on a ribbon between the bulges of his pecs. “Check this out, Adam,” said Cory. Adam looked at the medal. It was about two inches in diameter and showed the torso of a very muscular young man holding a rifle. Around the edge of the medal at the top were the initials “USMC” and at the bottom “1st PLACE FITNESS.”

“It’s the Marine Corps’ first place medal for their physical fitness contest. We had the contest at school today and I won it easy. Two Marines came to our school to give the test. They really looked cool in their uniforms. One of the Marines was really big and muscular. I’ll bet he was about 6’ 3” and must have weighed 250 pounds. I could see the muscles bulging under his uniform. He really looked buff. We had to do push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups and a one mile run. When I stripped off my shirt to do the pushups, the two Marines kinda gasped when they looked at my body. I thought that was cool — two Marines thinking I was a stud. Of course I am and they knew it. Anyway, I did 180 pushups. The Marines couldn’t believe it. The big Marine told me that he had never seen a kid do that many pushups. The next best kid could only do 30. Most of the kids could only do five or 10. Some of the little nerds couldn’t do even one pushup. Jesus, what fucking weaklings! Can you believe a kid couldn’t do one fucking pushup when I could do 180. I felt like such a stud standing next to those little losers. Well, anyway, when I finished the pushups, my pecs were really hot and pumped. You know how they get, Adam. You’ve certainly felt them enough. They get all pumped and shredded. Well, some of the girls in my class came over and started feeling my pecs and oohing and ahhing about my muscles. I flexed ’em really hard for them and they said that my pecs felt like rocks. That was totally cool.”

Adam was fascinated by Cory’s description of how he won the Marine Corps pushup contest. Adam himself would have been one of those 11 year old kids who couldn’t do even one pushup. He would have been one of those fucking weaklings. Adam couldn’t imagine what it must feel like to be able to do 180 pushups.

“The next test was pull-ups,” said Cory. “You know how much I like to do pullups. They’re my favorite exercise ’cause they make my biceps get so big and hard. Anyway I pumped out 55 pull-ups. The next best kid could only do 12. Most of the kids could only do a couple and lots of kids couldn’t do any. Total weaklings, just like you, Adam. They’re just disgusting. Little pussy weaklings, just begging to get beaten up. The Marines looked shocked at the number of pull-ups I did. They told me that most Marines could only do 20 or 25 pull-ups. Hardly any could do as many as I did. The big, muscular Marine came over to me and flexed his arm right in front of my face. ‘Feel that, kid,’ he said. I felt his arm and I tell you Adam it was huge. It was about as big as that football there and the bicep was really solid and peaked. His bicep was peaked just like mine but it was huge. And really hard, totally hard, just like my biceps get when they’re pumped. ‘Feel that muscle, kid,’ the Marine said. ‘I think you could have an arm like this some day, kid. You’ve got the genetics for it. I kinda looked like you when I was your age and look at me now. You’re a stud, kid.’ He flexed again and I felt the huge muscle bulge under his uniform. He was really built! He said that I was an exceptional young man, real Marine material when I grow up. I don’t think I want to be a Marine, though. Too much following orders. You know, slave-boy, I like to give the orders. I don’t take orders from nobody.”

“Anyway, after I finished the pull-ups, I flexed my arms for the girls and they all ran up and started feeling my biceps. They were like big, round, solid rocks after all those pull-ups and the girls couldn’t believe how big and hard they were. My lats were really pumped too and I spread ’em out like wings so the girls could feel those slabs of muscle.” Cory flexed his lats to show Adam what he meant. Adam instinctively reached over and felt Cory’s lats. “Yeah, feel those motherfuckers, wimp-boy. They’re fucking solid muscle, tons more muscle than you got. Well, they were totally pumped while the girls were feeling them and those girls got really turned on by my muscles. One of the dweeb boys came over too and felt my biceps. I could tell he was really jealous as he looked at that big muscle bulging in my arm. Then he looked at my face. He was staring at my eyes. The guy was a total loser — a pathetic, weak little body and an ugly face too. I felt like such a total stud next to him. I looked over at him and said, ‘Feel the power, wimp. Feel the power of real muscle.’ He kinda gulped as he looked at my bicep and then looked me in the eyes. He knew I was a stud, and a fucking good-looking stud to boot. Hey, I gotta face the facts, Adam. I got a killer body and killer looks too. I’m a total stud, ain’t I slave-boy?.” Cory looked at Adam with his beautiful blue eyes and flexed his arms. Adam nodded in agreement. “You are a fucking stud, Cory,” said Adam. “You have the coolest blue eyes and blond hair. Your face is drop-dead gorgeous. Your body is totally buff. You are a total stud.” Cory smiled and bumped his muscular chest into Adam. “You got that right, wimp,” he said.

“Well, back to the story. The next test was sit-ups,” said Cory. “I just cranked ’em out. I can do a ton of sit-ups. The Marines made me stop at 500. That was the most they would let me do. I could have done a lot more, but even at 500 I was way ahead of the other kids. The next best kid did 85. Believe it or not, Adam, there were some kids who couldn’t do even one sit-up. Their guts must be made of Jell-O. I can’t believe a kid would be so weak that he couldn’t do even one sit-up. Those kids are total losers. They’re just shit compared to me. I’d like to take my fist and pound it into one of those kid’s pussy guts just to see how it feels to smash through his soft belly. It would be like a piledriver hitting a puddle of mud. It would feel so cool, my hard fist just pulverizing that weak, flabby flesh that can’t even do one fucking sit-up. That kind of weakling gut deserves to be bashed by my strong muscles. But if I did that, the kid would probably end up in the hospital and I’d get in trouble. But hey, I can do that to you, can’t I Adam, you little wuss. You’re my slave and I can do anything I want to your pathetic body! I’m going to pound your fucking gut right now.” Cory wound up his right arm as if he were about ready to throw a devastating punch right into Adam’s soft gut. Adam reacted in horror as the muscles of Cory’s shoulder, chest and arm twitched and flexed, getting ready to release tremendous power at the will of their 11 year old master. Adam had to think fast. “Wait Cory,” he said. “Don’t hit me now. Finish your story first. I want to hear all about the rest of the physical fitness contest.” Cory looked at his clenched fist and then looked at Adam. “OK,” he said. “We’ll do this later.” He dropped his fist and continued his story. “Well, after I finished the sit-ups, I stood up and flexed my abs for all the kids to see. These babies were totally ripped and shredded.” Cory flexed his abs and started running his hands up and down the corrugated muscle. “Ya know, my waist is just totally different from the flabby guts of those other kids. Those kids just have no idea what it’s like to have shredded abs. They don’t know how it feels to have a wall of solid muscle from your chest to your crotch. Well, it feels great.” Cory smacked his abs with his fists. The brick wall of muscle didn’t budge at all as Cory pounded on his abs as hard as he could. “Feel that fucking muscle, Adam. Feel how hard it is.”

Cory flexed his abs and Adam ran his hands over the corrugated iron washboard that was Cory’s muscular waist. Cory’s tan skin was extremely thin and there was absolutely no fat between his skin and those rippling ab muscles. Adam squeezed and poked at the solid muscles with his fingers. He loved feeling Cory’s buff muscles. “Go ahead, Adam, punch me as hard as you can. Lets see if a big 15 year old can hurt this little 11-year-old’s abs.” Cory flexed his abs and stood there, waiting for Adam to hit him. Adam hesitated for a moment. “Do it, slave-boy!” ordered Cory. “Do it now or I’ll punch you in the gut!” Cory pulled back his muscular arm as if he was getting ready to throw a devastating punch at Adam’s soft belly. Adam knew that the power of Cory’s punch would pulverize his intestines. So Adam wound up his right arm and punched Cory in the gut as hard as he could. There was a loud smacking sound as Adam’s fist bounced off Cory’s abs like it had hit a brick wall. Adam grabbed his wrist, which was shooting with pain from the jolt of hitting Cory’s abs. Cory smiled. “Jesus, you dweeb. I could hardly feel that. Now, try it again, and it better be a lot harder than that sissy punch.” Adam’s right hand was in too much pain to punch again, so he made a fist with his left hand, pulled back his arm and hit Cory as hard as he possibly could right in his belly button. This time Adam really hurt his hand as it crashed into Cory’s rock-solid abs and bounced off. Cory laughed. “Fuck you’re weak. Your puny little punch bounced off these solid motherfuckers like it was thrown by my sister. You ain’t shit compared to me, you miserable punk. You’re just a total wimp. You deserve to be my slave. You’re lucky I don’t fuck you up real bad right now just for being such a total wuss.” Cory pulled back his muscular arm like he was getting ready to punch Adam really hard in his flabby gut. Adam looked at Cory and said, “Please, sir, don’t hurt me Cory, sir. Please tell me about the rest of the Marine Corps physical fitness test. I want to hear all about how you blasted all those other kids away. I want to hear all about how all the girls wanted your body. I want to hear all about it, Cory.”

Cory looked at the miserable little wimp and said, “OK, I’ll finish the story. I can fuck you up any time I want. Well, after I finished those 500 sit-ups my abs were really pumped and ripped and I was really sweaty so there was a layer of sweat all over them. The girls rushed up again and started running their hands all over my abs. They said my stomach felt like a brick wall. They moved their fingers across all the ripples. That really felt cool. They said it felt like corrugated iron. Some of the girls moved their hands around behind and felt my ass. I flexed my butt muscles for them. You know how round and hard my ass is. Well, those girls just about fainted when they felt that muscle bulge in their hands. When one of the girls was feeling my abs, she went down really low with her fingers. When nobody was looking, she stuck her hand under my shorts all the way into my crotch. She looked at me right in the eyes and squeezed. I kinda jumped when she squeezed. It really felt good. She whispered in my ear that I was the hottest stud in the whole school. Then all of a sudden she kissed me really hard and stuck her tongue way inside my mouth. I was really getting hot. Finally one of the Marines came over and said it was time to start the mile run. I pushed the girl away and said, ‘see ya later.’ That was really cool.”

“So for the mile run we had to run four times around our school’s track. There were about 200 guys all trying to run at the same time so we all bunched up around the starting line. I was in the middle of the pack. Well, when the gun went off, I blasted away and I immediately ran over about 20 guys who were in front of me. I just ran forward and knocked ’em over, sometimes two at a time. They were a lot slower than me and I’m a lot stronger than they are so I could just run through ’em like they weren’t even there. My muscular shoulders bumped against their little bodies and just knocked ’em down. It was kinda fun just running straight ahead and knocking over all the kids who were in my way. One kid wouldn’t move over when I yelled at him to get out of the way so I just crashed into his back and ran right over him. He probably thought a truck hit him.” Cory laughed. “Look at these fucking legs, Adam. Look at how much muscle I got. I got all this muscle just from running and jumping and playing basketball and football. These fucking legs are really strong. They powered my body right through all those other kids and knocked ’em over like they were little sticks.” Cory flexed his quads. Striated slabs of muscle bounced to life under his thin skin. “Feel ’em, Adam, feel those mothers.” Adam reached down and felt Cory’s flexed quads. The muscle was thick, especially for an 11-year old, and it was hard, very hard. Adam looked further down Cory’s legs to his calves. “Jesus, Cory,” said Adam. “Look at your calves. They’re totally muscular too.” Cory flexed his calves and Adam ran his hands over their diamond-shaped muscular hardness. Cory’s calves bulged like the calves of a little bodybuilder. “Yeah,” said Cory. “I’ve always had big calves. I’ve always had a lot of muscle in my calves, even when I was little. Look at those mothers, Adam. They look about twice as big as yours.” Adam compared his own twig-like calves to Cory’s bulging, rock-hard calves. Cory was right. His calves were way bigger than Adam’s.

“Your calves are totally buff,” said Adam as he ran his fingers over the bulging muscles. “Those mothers are fucking strong! Your legs are like powerful pistons. Tell me about the rest of the race.” Adam stood up and Cory continued his story. “Well, after I blasted through those kids, I was in first place and I never looked back. I’m a really good runner and I wanted to show those Marines how fast I am. After two laps I was starting to lap some of the other kids. Some of those kids were slowing down to almost a walk. They were so out of shape that they couldn’t even run a mile! I just ran by them like they were standing still. Sometimes just for fun I bumped them with my shoulder as I was running by and they staggered to the side. A couple of the kids even fell down after I bumped ’em like that. They are just such total wimps. Such total losers. By the end of the race I must have lapped about 2/3 of the kids and I was way out in front. When I crossed the finish line the Marines came up and congratulated me and said that I was faster than most Marines. All the girls came up to me again and started feeling my muscles. All the kids looked at me like I was the biggest stud in the whole school. I flexed my muscles a couple of times for them just to prove that they were right! After the race the Marines gave me this cool medal for winning the physical fitness contest. They said they had never seen a kid dominate the other kids in all the tests as much as I did. They knew I was a stud.”

“Wow,” said Adam, “that was fantastic. You are so buff and fit, Cory. You are a total stud.” Cory smiled. He liked the admiration. He knew he deserved it. He stood in front of the mirror with his gold medal hanging from his neck. He flexed his abs and spread his lats. He looked like a young Olympic Gold Medal winner, proudly standing on the awards platform, the champion of all the athletes. Cory said “I feel fucking strong. I bet I’ve put on even more muscle in the last two weeks.” He walked over to the scale and hopped on. “Fucking-A,” he yelled. “I weigh 95 pounds! I’ve gained another five pounds of fucking muscle. Something’s really happening to my body, Adam. I’m getting stronger every day and I don’t even have to lift weights like you, except just for fun to show you how much stronger I am than you are, you miserable little punk. I’m putting on major muscle just from all the pushups, pull-ups and sit-ups I do, from all the sports I play, and from wrestling with you and crushing your pathetic body. Yeah, and once in awhile I crank out a set of presses or curls with way more weight than you’re using. And I almost forgot. I’ve gained an inch in height in the last month. I’m now 5’3” tall. My dad says I’m going through a big growth spurt. He says hormones are starting to rage through my body. He says I’m in the early stages of puberty. Hey, look at this, Adam.” Cory pulled down his shorts, exposing his crotch. Adam was amazed. Cory was as big or maybe even bigger than Adam, and he was only 11-1/2 years old. Cory wasn’t paying attention to that. He pointed to the hair growing in his crotch. “See,” said Cory. “I’m starting to grow some pubic hair.” Adam could see that Cory was growing a small patch of blond pubic hair in his crotch. “My dad says that I’m starting to enter puberty. He says that’s probably why I’ve been getting taller and putting on so much muscle in the last month. I’m starting puberty and I haven’t even turned 12 yet. I’m a fucking stud.” Adam hadn’t entered puberty until he was 14. In some ways he still looked like a boy, with a layer of babyfat on his body and no muscles at all. Here was this neighbor kid who at 11-1/2 was already strong and muscular and was now entering puberty which would only make him bigger, stronger and more muscular. Life just wasn’t fair. •