“Have you decided what college you’re going to next year?”

It was surreal. I’ve been going to Clarksville Prep since Middle School. It’s still hard for me to believe I'm a senior, the time has flown by so quickly. We were both eighteen, but it felt like yesterday we were practically in diapers (well, not quite).

“Nathan, earth to Nathan” she said with a smirk.

I snapped out of my little episode of nostalgia to meet eyes with Sarah. Me and Sarah are what you might call 'tight'. We've been best friends since the eighth grade. We have always really cared about each other.

“Yeah I heard you… I have no clue, to be honest” I shrugged. She was shocked “Nathan! You haven’t prepared for next year at all?” I didn't know what the big deal was.

“You and me, the library, today, we’re going to figure this out!” She said intently. I rolled my eyes and peered into my locker. 

“Nathan!” She slapped me on the shoulder. “Nathan!” 

“Fine!” I said, begrudgingly. 

A smile came across her face “Great! See you at 4:00!” As she sauntered down the hallway to the chemistry classroom, I imprinted on how beautiful she had become. She had matured a lot in the last couple years. I kind of felt guilty staring at her.

I have always wanted a ….deeper relationship, with Sarah. It’s not like she’s ever rejected me or anything, I’ve just never had the balls to ask her out. Sarah is what you might call ‘out of my league’.

I’m tall, yes, at 6’2, but with height comes lankiness, and I’m pretty clumsy at times. I don’t have a lot of muscle, and I’m not particularly attractive.

On the other hand, Sarah is strikingly beautiful. She’s 5’8 with shoulder-length dark blonde hair, smooth, toned legs, C cup breasts and gorgeous turquoise eyes. I care about her for more than her looks, obviously. I trust her more than anyone I know. But damn, she was hot, there was no way around it.

I stood there, standing in front of my locker, regrets swirling through my head, staring at the most beautiful girl that I’ve ever known in my life, wondering why the hell I didn’t ask her out before senior year.

________

I met with Sarah in the library yesterday. We looked over several colleges, and we both agreed that Bard College in New York was the best fit. I think I might actually have a shot at admission.

I still haven’t worked up the courage to ask her out.

I closed my locker and walked across the hallway, perplexed by how dark it was.

As I looked outside, I noticed an approaching storm. The thunder sounded very close. The sky was gray as far as the eye could see.

Mr. Winters, my English teacher, a normally very calm and composed man, ran down the hallway in a rush. 

“What’s going on?”

He was panting “Get in a classroom right now, Nathan, this is a big one!”

I peeked outside again, it was pouring rain. The wind gust had to be thirty or forty miles an hour.

“Nathan, what are you doing? Go!” I ran to the nearest classroom, Geometry. 

Locked. 

That’s right, Mrs. Redford was out sick today.

I ran to a classroom I knew would be open, Chemistry. I turned the knob and rushed inside. This storm sounded really severe. 

“Their saying it’s a hurricane, Nathan” 

It seemed I wasn’t alone. I looked around, but didn’t see anyone. Who was that?

“Hello?” I looked across the room again, seeing nothing. 

“BOO!”

I jumped, turning around with my hand on my chest. “That’s not funny, Sarah!”

“Actually, I think it’s pretty funny.” She punched me on the shoulder, laughing. 

I looked at her, smiling and shaking my head. 

We both paused, looking at each other for a moment as the rain got more and more severe.

“Sarah, there’s something I need to tell you.” She rolled her eyes “Oh god, is this one of your weird stories about your dog humping your furniture?”

“No, no - I swear. It’s important.” That seemed to pique her interest. "Go ahead, shoot.” She sat down on the floor next to the teacher’s desk, and beckoned me with a smile.

“Well, this is really difficult for me to say. I’ve felt this way for a long time. No matter how much I try to bottle it up, these ...emotions always comes back.”

She smiled back at me, knowingly. “No need to preface it. I know you want a more serious relationship, Nathan. I’ve known it for a long time.”

I was shocked I didn’t think it had been obvious at all. Then again, she tends to be far more perceptive than me. I guess that’s the nature of the game with women. 

“Well… how do you feel about that?”

She glanced down, still smiling. "You’ve waited so long to say anything. I was waiting for this, and I’m glad it’s finally come, but you should have said something so much sooner.”

She leaned in and stroked my hair. I was in shock. “You’re not alone in your desire, Nathan. I really care about you.”

I looked down, knowing what was about to come.

“I know what you’re going to say. ‘I care about you as a FRIEND, but not as a -”

“ - No, Nathan. I meant what I said. I want you too.”

“What was that?!” We both looked out the window to see a storm so massive that it had uprooted almost all the foliage in the lawn of the school.

“That can’t be good.” Sarah turned on her phone and called her mom. It was surprising we still had reception.

“Mom, are you there?” “Yes, everything’s fine mom, I’m with Nathan.” “Yes, I’ll call you if anything happens. Stay safe. I love you”

She hung up the phone and looked up at me. “This storm is crazy! What’s going on?”

I looked down at her legs for a moment, noticing something odd. They looked, I’m not sure, longer? Her skirt was riding up much higher than usual. “Sarah, what’s going on with your skirt?”

“What do you mea-” Sarah stood up and looked at her skirt, which looked like it was still - wait, that couldn’t be right. 

“Nathan, what the fuck?” She was freaking out.

It looked like she was pulling her skirt up, but her hands were to her sides. Her legs looked more toned, and even more beautiful than they normally were. What was she doing? 

As her skirt inched up from her knee to her calves, looking more like a mini skirt by the second, I realized she wasn't doing anything. Was she... growing?!

“This isn’t real, this has to be some kind of trick.” It wasn’t just her skirt anymore, her sleeves were slowly inching up her arm, and the buttons on her shirt looked more and more strained.

I started to realize that where I used to be looking at her knee, sitting down, I was now looking straight ahead into her shin. “Come on, what are you doing? Get up and help me!” She was, justifiably, flustered.

The storm outside was raging, but I was too transfixed on Sarah to care. I tentatively got up, and was met with a face much closer to my own.

“Wait, Sarah, are you standing on something?”

I looked down, she was totally barefoot. She had taken her shoes off before we sat down. Her feet somehow looked bigger, too. 

“Wait, if we’re both standing on the same level, you’re in shoes, I’m barefoot, why do you look so much shorter than you used to be?”

“Sarah, I haven't gotten shorter, you’ve gotten taller!”

“How could that even happen? Have you ever heard of something like that?” I shook my head “Only fictionally.”

I looked down at her legs again, and God, had they grown. They looked longer than mine now. They were one of her best features, made even better by her growth. Her breasts also looked larger, and fuller. Not like I was complaining, but WOW would they be a handful.

I looked back up at her. It seems like any growth had subsided. 

“Stand up straight for me.” I watched as she straightened to look at me right above the tip of my nose. She was only a couple of inches shorter than me! 

“Sarah, you’re like 6 foot tall!”

“You don’t think I can see that I’ve grown like fucking five inches?” She was shaking her head in disbelief. “Sorry, I’m just in shock.”

Outside, the storm had been slowly subsiding. Peculiarly, it had seemed most intense when Sarah growth was at it’s peak, and seemed to calm down when Sarah’s growth did. 

“Sarah, do you think it could have something to do with the storm?” She looked confused, “I don't know, why would it?”

“You don’t see a hurricane of this magnitude every day, and you certainly don’t see growth like this very often!” She nodded “Good point.”

I couldn’t believe how much taller she had gotten. Her legs were already longer than mine, and if she were in shoes, we might be eye to eye.

“Take off your shoes, Nathan.” I was taken aback “Why?” She was adamant. “Just do it.”

I obliged. As I was taking them off, I realized something. I had boots on today, not my regular sneakers. I had just gotten these at the mall, and they added at least and inch or two to my already (formally) imposing height.

I stood up. 

Jesus Christ. We were eye to eye, she might have even had a fraction of an inch advantage. 

“Oh my god, we’re the same height.” Her mouth was agape. We were both at a loss for words. 

“You’re 6’2, right?" I just nodded.

Suddenly, the door swung open, and we were greeted by Ms. Rider, the eighth grade history teacher. She had developed a reputation for being stern and crabby, and let’s say... not particularly pleasant to look at.

“Kids, it’s time to go, the hurricane is over, school is out the next couple days.”

We both stared at her, and then back at each other. What were we supposed to do? 

“Let’s go!”

Ms. Rider hadn’t yet imprinted on the situation. I could see the moment it hit her. “Sarah? Nathan? Wait, you're not the same height. Is this some kind of trick?”

“Taylor!” (that was Ms. Rider’s first name) “What is it?” She turned around to face what sounded like the groundskeeper of the school, Garrett.

“Something going around the school about all these kids getting taller, what the hell are they talking about?”

“The town of Clarksville is a tight-knit community, a resilient community, and I know that if we band together, we will overcome any challenges we face.”

Ralph Gardner, the mayor of Clarksville, did his best to look resolute. If he failed at that task, he could hardly be blamed. Gardner wasn’t a career politician, or a power-hungry climber. He was a father, a former schoolteacher, a community member.

So “Mayor Ralph”, as the locals called him, could be forgiven for his rumpled suit, his shaky voice, and the bead of sweat forming on his furrowed brow. A plump, pleasant looking man of about fifty years old, he wasn’t built for a crisis.

“I - I know this is a difficult time, for all of us in Clarksville, but we - we have to stay strong.”

The mayor cleared his throat, as if to continue, but as he looked up from the speech sitting on his podium, it became clear he had nothing else to say.

“I guess it’s time for questions” he said with an awkward laugh.

A young woman sitting in the second row shot her hand up before he had finished his sentence.

“Julia, go ahead-“

“Mayor Gardner, what do you make of the sudden “growth spurts” that took place during yesterday’s hurricane?”

Julia White was the Clarksville County Tribunes shiny new field reporter. Fresh out of college and eager to prove herself, she was Ralph Gardner’s worst nightmare.

“Well, Julia, first off, call me Ralph.”

The press pool was in no mood.

The mayor cleared his throat once again. He looked down at his podium, as if searching for an answer in the speech he had already delivered.

“Look, Julia, how long have our families known each other? You went to school with my boys. You’re a sharp reporter, Julia, but I’m not in the position to confirm or deny these claims of - ”

“Mr. Gardner, how tall is your wife?” Julia White wasn’t messing around. The room was agape.

“Excuse me?”

“It’s a simple question. How tall is your wife?”

“That’s a silly - ”

“Are you going to answer the question?”

The mayor cowed. “Oh, I don’t know — around 5’4 I would wager. I haven’t measured -“

“You were right Mr. Gardner, I did go to school with your boys. Your wife used to drive me home from school. In fact, I think I have her phone number. Should I give her a call and ask her how tall she stands today? Maybe she is in the position to ‘confirm or deny these claims’.”

The mayor’s voice rose “Ms. White, that will not be necessary - ”

“Better yet,” the young reporter stood up “How tall am I, Mr. Gardner?”

“Julia -”

The scene unfolded on television for the whole town to see.

The room was dead quiet. Julia looked around at the press pool, then back at the mayor.

“I have been 5’2 my entire life. I now stand at 5’8. Are you going to tell me that I shouldn’t believe my own eyes? Are you going to tell the people of Clarksville that they shouldn’t believe their own eyes?”

The mayor opened his mouth to speak, then thought better of it. What was the point? His days behind that podium were numbered.

________

I watched the news conference, like everyone else. I only knew Julia White as an upperclassmen and Clarksville Prep alumni, but I’d heard from my folks she was quite the spitfire. Now I believed it.

I felt bad for the mayor - it wasn’t his fault Clarksville was the epicenter of some f***ed up cosmic experiment.

I didn’t know how to make sense of the recent events - no one did. All I knew was that Sarah Avery Loughlin was head over heels for me.

“Nathan, come on! Catch up!”

“Coming!” I ran to catch up with Sarah. We had made it to the summit of Mount Troy, a hike Sarah had made many times. I can’t say I’m much of an outdoorsman.

It had been a week since the "weather event", as they're calling it. It was an event, that's for sure. Every woman in town grew exactly 6 inches during the storm. No more, no less. Sarah, who measured at 5'8, grew to my height, at 6'2. I heard one girl on the volleyball team had grown to a whopping 7 foot 1 inches tall - I'm sure coach Carlton was thrilled. I couldn't help notice the women had gained more than height - Sarah certainly had filled out, and was all the better for it.

“Come on you slow poke! I told you I wanted to get a picture of us up here before the sun goes down.”

I looked at her dumbly.

“I take this hike with my parents every year, and we always snap a photo. I wanted to take one with you, remember?”

“Give me a second to catch my breath.” I smiled, still winded.

Sarah looked radiant, standing at the top of that mountain. Wearing a crop top that exposed her midriff, and yoga pants that left little to the imagination, her figure was on full display. Standing at 6’2, with legs longer than my own, and her blond hair blowing in the wind, she looked like a Greek Goddess.

“Come here, you!” Sarah yelled out. She was really set on this photo, wasn’t she?

But Sarah had different intentions. As I reached her, she pulled me in. We were at the perfect height for kissing now, and Sarah loved taking advantage of that. Sarah isn’t strong, per se, but she’s definitely fit, so she sometimes manages to catch me off guard.

I can’t say I minded the sudden show of affection. I certainly didn't mind her breasts pushed up against me, ones that had only gotten larger. I slid my hands down from her waist to her hips. God, her skin was soft. I slowly started to slip my hand down her yoga pants. Sarah didn’t mind either.

Sarah broke off our kiss in reverie.

“Oh god, Nathan….” She was definitely enjoying this hike.

“Nathan!” Sarah laughed, “Nathan! Stop it!”

I pulled away. “What’s wrong? I thought -“

“It’s almost sunset!”

Sarah straightened her hair, fixed her pants, cleaned a smudge of dirt off her top, and pulled out her phone in about 30 seconds.

This girl could flip on a dime, that’s for sure.

*Click*