For a couple moments the party went strangely quiet. The bass-heavy dance beats continued thudding through the kitchen, but the steady roar and growl of many chattering voices had suddenly stopped. Everyone had turned to look at the newly-arrived duo, and aside from a few stifled gasps, no one said a word. The whole room was taking in the new information, and it was obvious to both Katherine and Raymond, from the ubiquity of wide eyes and open mouths, that their size difference was the object of everyone’s bewilderment. 

Raymond felt surprisingly hot anger in his stomach at Wes — why did he have to “announce” them like that to the whole party? Couldn’t he have just let them come into the party gradually, talking and catching up with different people one by one? Why did he have to make that grand announcement and bring everyone’s attention to the immediate fact that the former high school couple had shown up, except that now Katherine stood 14 inches taller than Raymond and weighed a good 60 pounds heavier? Raymond could feel his face burning from the innumerable pairs of eyes that were now trained on them, and he immediately registered their looks as condescending as they travelled over his thin body and then moved to Katherine’s, and then back again to his. 

Even more intense than his anger at Wes and his embarrassment at the sudden attention, though, was Raymond’s panicked realization that everyone in the kitchen seemed…huge. His eyes were immediately attracted to Hailey Winthrow, a girl who had been good-looking in high school, with a fairly solid build to go with her 5’10 frame. She had been a soccer player, so her thighs and calves had always been impressively developed, to say nothing of her sizable hips and large ass. But now…Raymond couldn’t believe it. Not only was she still super cute — she looked gigantic. She didn’t quite have Katherine’s muscular tone and definition, but what she lacked in muscles she more than made up for in increased thickness and bulk. She was wearing a short, form-fitting yellow dress, showing off the full extent of her legs. Her thighs looked enormous…they were as solid as ever, but a year’s time appeared to have thickened them immensely. Her calves looked even wider than they had before…and her hips and ass all looked like they had swelled considerably in size. Even her breasts, which had not been that big before, looked like they had gone up a size or two. All of this general thickening in Hailey’s body was compounded by the fact that she looked taller as well…Raymond quickly saw that she was wearing platform heels…maybe that explained it…? And yet somewhere in his subconscious he knew that it wasn’t so — Hailey had grown taller too. What on earth was going on!? Had everyone just started eating three times as much when they went off to college?? As he registered all these aspects of Hailey’s body in a second or two, Raymond felt his breath seize behind his chest in panic. 

She wasn’t the only one who had gotten noticeably bigger. Raymond’s eyes quickly scanned over the guys Hailey had been talking to: Gavin and Steve. Gavin had been around Raymond’s height of 5’8 towards the end of their senior year, but he had embarked on a growth spurt right around graduation; apparently the spurt had continued. Gavin looked only a couple inches shorter than Wes’s 6’3 now, and even though he was still skinny and wiry, his limbs had seemed to gain that adult thickness that Raymond’s utterly lacked. He realized with a gulp that, in her platforms, Hailey was just about as tall as Gavin…did that mean she was actually around 6’0 tall?? His eyes quickly and desperately shifted to look Steve over…thankfully, Steve still looked as short as ever, around 5’6…but he seemed to have gained a fair amount of weight. He looked pretty squat…even a little fat. 

Raymond continued to look around the kitchen, unable to hone in on anyone else distinctly in those couple moments of tense awkward silence. Even though he wasn’t registering anyone else directly, he could not help but notice an overwhelmingly uniform truth: everyone in that room looked so…adult. So big. There was the vague shape of someone absolutely enormous standing in the midst of a sea of friends…a girl…but he chose not to look to see who it was. Even as he turned his eyes away, his eyes darted elsewhere and caught sight of Allison Jordan’s hips…was that her!? Yes it was really her…thankfully still shorter than him by a few inches…but thick, with womanly hips, a big ass, and thighs that completely filled her expanded jeans. What was going on!? Allison had been a skinny little thing in high school! Everywhere Raymond turned, he saw size — meaty thighs, ballooned asses, more substantial arms…he couldn’t fathom it all. 

But he didn’t have time to ping his eyes around for more than a few seconds, because a voice suddenly spoke up. A strong, loud, obnoxious voice that was piercingly self-confident. 

“Oh. My. God. Katherine Lloyd??” The owner of the voice stepped forward. It was Ella Anderson, the tallest girl in their high school class. Or at least, she used to be. Raymond’s eyes popped as he saw her step out of her crowd of friends and approach, like a queen emerging from her ladies in waiting. Ella had always been glamorous, the secret envy of every girl in school, even the girls who hated her for her arrogance and emotional vacuity. There was just no getting around her allure as a human being. At 6’2, olive-skinned, with long jet-black hair, striking green eyes, delicious legs, and a curvy, hourglass figure to match, Ella made an impression wherever she went. More than anything else, it was the overly-confident and conceited way she carried herself that made others feel intimidated. Her knockout body was one thing, but when paired with her abounding vanity, it was very difficult to answer. 

But Katherine had found an answer. She grinned at Ella as she approached, and made sure to stand up to her full height in her heels. She quickly saw that Ella was also wearing heels, true to form, and Katherine was a little disappointed to discover that it actually looked like Ella matched her in height. Apparently, in the space of a year, Ella had grown a couple inches as well, and even though this was not nearly as much as Katherine had grown, Katherine felt herself sink a bit internally, if just for a moment. She had been looking forward to gently lording her height over Ella’s and teasing her. Maybe she had Ella by half an inch or so…maybe…but she shook all this off in an instant.

“Yep, it’s me, Ella!” said Katherine brightly. Everyone in the kitchen was watching the exchange, and no one else was talking. Ella kept approaching until she stood just a few feet away from Katherine and Raymond. She also drew herself up to her full height; Raymond saw that she was wearing her old tan platform sandals, with cork heels. Ella was used to holding the attention of an entire room like this, and she paused very deliberately, looking Katherine up and down, like she was trying to find a flaw. Katherine felt a momentary flash of embarrassed heat that she was able to almost-instantly transform into playful aggression. 

“I promise, Ella, I’m not an impostor,” laughed Katherine, putting her hands on her hips. “You can check my ID if you really need to.” A few nervous chuckles rippled through the room. Everyone was holding their breath. Raymond noticed Hailey shifting on her feet uncomfortably in the background. 

“Have you been taking hormones?” asked Ella blatantly, ignoring Katherine’s comment. 

“No way, Ella!” said Katherine, pushing down her anger as she disguised her energy with a musical laugh, “this is au naturale.”

Ella continued to bore into Katherine with her gaze, her green eyes narrowed in suspicion and disbelief. Unbeknownst to Ella, her mouth was partially open as she scanned Katherine up and down, which made it clear just how shocked she was. Ella’s self-confidence generally served her well, enabling her to freely air her thoughts, emotions, and impulses without regard for their effect on others. However, in these rare moments of shock and surprise, Ella’s habit of brandishing her internal feelings came back to haunt her, and she was utterly unable to hide her own consternation. 

“Looks like Lloyd’s got you beat, Ella!” laughed Wes, cutting the tension as he looked up from girl to girl, standing on his tiptoes as he pretended to measure their heights. 

“Oh what the fuck do you know, Wes?” spat Ella as she swerved down to face him, her eyes flashing dangerously. “You’re staring into my shoulders right now — how the fuck are you gonna see who’s taller?”

“I’m…I’m pretty much as tall as you, Ella,” said Wes, backtracking a little as Ella’s eyes stabbed into him, “I mean…with your heels and all — ”

“Pretty much, huh?” said Ella, cutting in. “I’ve grown taller Wes…and I’m positive I’m at least an inch taller than you now.”

“Let’s see, Ella!” laughed Gavin, coming over. “Come on, take those heels off and let’s see who’s taller!”

“No way am I taking my heels off unless Katherine does too,” said Ella, shaking her head. 

“Oh my god, seriously, Ella?” laughed Gavin, shaking his head. “Are you really that insecure?”

“No — I just don’t like looking up at people is all,” answered Ella quickly, putting her hands on her hips as she looked down at Gavin. “I’m not used to it. I feel out of my element.” 

“Well come on now, Katherine!” said Gavin animatedly, turning to her. “Take your heels off! Let’s get to the bottom of this!” 

“Maybe later Gavin,” chuckled Katherine, brushing past them. “I wanna catch up with everyone before we all start measuring each other, ok? And you’re all a few drinks in — I gotta catch up!” Without any more talk she strode past Ella without looking at her, and made her way to the punch bowl. Ella gawked at her as she passed by — it wasn’t immediately clear who was taller. But everyone was watching Katherine, and was astounded by how much she had grown; they were also impressed with her poise. She hadn’t taken Ella’s bait, and Raymond could feel Ella fuming. He quickly made to follow Katherine, but Ella quickly rebounded from her shock, and redirected her honing gaze down onto Raymond as she shifted to block his path. 

“Woah woah — Raymond!? Is that actually you?” she asked. Raymond stopped dead, looking straight into Ella’s C-cup breasts. He badly wanted to get past her, but he didn’t want to make a big deal out of it all. He noticed uncomfortably that Wes had broken away from the group and had joined Katherine at the punch bowl, chatting her up. He also noticed that Gavin was staring down at him awkwardly. 

“Uh…y-yeah, it’s…it’s me, Ella,” he mumbled, his voice hardly audible over the music. 

“Jesus god you’re tiny!” said Ella loudly, taking a step back so she could more easily look Raymond in the eye. “Are you anorexic now!?”

“Uh…no. No, I just…no I’m just…normal.”

“Uh, no. You’re not,” said Ella emphatically, shaking her head. She suddenly bent down and grabbed Raymond’s upper arm with a large strong hand. Her fingers easily went all the way around it. “Yeah, that’s not normal,” said Ella, shaking his entire arm for emphasis. “I think you should eat more, Raymond, otherwise your ex-girlfriend might just decide to have you for a snack one day.” She laughed derisively, and Steve joined in with her halfheartedly. Raymond looked up at Gavin, who gave him an awkward kind of half-wave. 

“What’s up dude?” said Gavin mechanically, indicating that he didn’t really expect a response. Raymond noticed that he was joining Ella in looking his body up and down. The heat in his face increased — was it really that bad? Did he really look that small? 

“Oh, uh, you know…not much. School, chillin’, you know…uh, not too exciting,” said Raymond, feeling the feebleness of his own words. Ella had turned to look over her shoulder at Katherine.

“Cool, cool…same,” said Gavin, nodding. He gave Raymond one last awkward glance and then looked up at the rest of the party, making it evident that he wanted no further part in the exchange. Raymond just stood there stupidly. He felt rooted to the spot as long as Ella stood looming there in front of him. She turned back around and caught Gavin looking at her. 

“What?” she asked aggressively.

“Nothing!” he said quickly, but a smile was creeping onto his face. “Surprised about Katherine, huh?”

“What, and you’re not?” Ella countered, turning on Gavin. 

“No, I sure did not expect her to…to look like that,” said Gavin slowly, pretending to choose his words carefully. Truly, though, he knew that he was twisting the knife into Ella. “And, well, I gotta say, I’m not complaining.” 

“Typical male response,” shot back Ella, “lusting after what they’ll never be able to get. Kinda reminds me of the way you look at me.” 

“I…I don’t wanna get with you Ella!” laughed Gavin unconvincingly. 

“Oh really?” She turned fully to face him and took a step closer, so that, even though he was just about 6’3, he was looking straight into the olive-toned pillar of her lower neck. “What if I told you that I wanted to get drunk and fuck tonight? Hmm? Would you turn me down Gavin?”

“Uhh…uh…let’s get drunk and find out!” he managed to say. The answer was obvious. Without any further words, Ella reached out and grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him away to get more drinks. Raymond was left standing there alone, feeling totally abandoned. He looked up to see Katherine still talking to Wes, surrounded by four or five other people, both guys and girls, who were admiring her new size and hanging on her every word. Raymond’s heart leapt up lightly like a little puppy as he saw her look past the other people to catch his eye. She beckoned him over, smiling, as if to say, ‘Quit standing around like an idiot and get a drink!’ He obligingly walked over and helped himself to a full red solo cup of the pinkish punch. He took a sip — it sure tasted strong. For a moment Raymond paused. Was this really a good idea? He didn’t really have much of an alcohol tolerance; he mainly just smoked a lot of weed. He was already regretting coming to the party anyway…but he turned and looked at Katherine, who had just taken a deep drink from her own solo cup and was laughing and cutting up with old friends. She sure looked good…ravishing, actually. 

‘Oh what the hell, why not?’ thought Raymond. ‘Have a few drinks…relax and have some fun!’ He tipped the cup back and took several deep draughts. The fruit juice didn’t quite mask the taste of the alcohol, and he could feel the slight burn of the everclear at the back of his throat. He wasn’t admitting it to himself, but the reality was squatting in the shadows in his brain: as long as he could hang out with Katherine, he’d go just about anywhere. 

“There you go Raymond! Taste good?” came Katherine’s encouraging voice after he had taken a few gulps. Wes had been blabbering on about some kind of spectacular play he had made in ultimate frisbee a couple months ago, and Katherine had seamlessly interrupted him in order to bring Raymond into the circle. Everyone had suddenly turned to look at Raymond because of Katherine’s choice to address him: Wes, Steve, Hailey, and a couple other people Raymond couldn’t remember. Except for the 5’6 Steve, they were all at least a couple inches taller than Raymond, and all of them were undoubtedly bigger than him…by far. He suddenly felt like a small child, with all their eyes on him. 

“Uh, y-yeah, yeah it’s pretty good!” said Raymond, giving a thumb’s up. 

“Raymond!” said Hailey in her lovely silver voice, “how are you!? What have you been up to?” 

“Oh, you know, all the normal college stuff,” said Raymond, feeling the alcohol creep through his stomach. 

“You’re going to the community college here, right?” asked Hailey, smiling down at him. Raymond had forgotten all about Hailey — she had always been so quiet and sweet. Her natural good looks had almost seemed to contrast with her shyness and modesty in high school, and this was never more true than it seemed now. Her body was strikingly voluptuous, and yet, evinced the kindness in her eyes, the way she held herself hadn’t seemed to have changed.

“Uh, yeah…yep! Going there,” said Raymond, trying to keep himself composed. “And…where are you going again?”

“Virginia,” she said, her eyes sparkling. “Or, you know “UVA” in college lingo, haha!”

“Oh, right, right!” nodded Raymond, pretending to have possessed that information at one point. “Are you…uh, what are you studying there?”

“What else but English literature!” she laughed. It was all coming back to Raymond — he remembered how Hailey had won all the writing awards back in high school. “So, you know, I’m well on my way to making the big bucks,” she laughed. 

“Oh yeah! Yeah, I guess professors make a lot of money,” said Raymond, nodding again. 

“No they don’t!” laughed Hailey, shaking her head. “I was just joking — there’s no money in what I’m doing. But I don’t care, cause I love it. But how about you? What are you studying?”

Raymond was making a real effort to keep from staring at Hailey’s expansive hips and thick thighs, but when he tried to look away all he could see was Katherine. He felt surrounded by tall, strong, shapely women…he once again thanked the stars that he had thought to wear baggy shorts, because from the tightening against his boxers, he could tell he was definitely hardening again. 

“Uh…I mean, well, I’m not sure, exactly,” he stammered. “I’ve been, uh…you know…trying out different things. Different subjects. Not really sure, uh, what I…want to really focus on, you know?”

“Oh I totally get it,” chuckled Hailey. Raymond stared helplessly at her body as it jiggled with her laughter. How had she gotten so big!? She looked like…she was…a full blown woman! Raymond looked down at his own pale skinny arms, and at his little legs that poked comically down like twigs out of his huge shorts. It was like life was playing a practical joke on him. He was stunted and everyone else had simply grown beyond him. He realized that he was just standing there, and he looked up, meeting Hailey’s eyes as she glanced down at him. There was kindness in her light blue eyes, yes…but also something like concern. Raymond could tell that she was feeling the reality of their size difference, but that she was too nice to say anything about it. But he couldn’t bear that muted concern in her expression; it made him feel even more childish than he already did. As the alcohol began working its fingers through his brain, he decided to just throw it all out in the open. 

“Gosh, I feel so small here!” he laughed, trying to sound lighthearted. He indicated around to everyone — to Katherine, Wes, and the remaining gaggle of friends, to Ella, Gavin, and others who stood talking and gossiping in a different group, and to others he hadn’t met yet. “I mean…gosh, it seems like everyone’s just…uh, just grown up!” 

“Yeah,” said Hailey with a soft smile, “I had noticed that you looked…um, a little smaller than I remembered.”

“You noticed?” asked Raymond a little too quickly. Not knowing why, he felt his dick push harder into his boxers. 

“Well…I mean, yeah, Raymond,” said Hailey gently, in an apologetic tone. Even though she was speaking softly, Raymond could hear every word clearly over the driving bass music. 

“Does it look bad?” he blurted out, throwing out any hint of his self-respecting veneer. “Was Ella right? Do I look…like…anorexic or something?”

“Ella can be a real bitch — you know that,” said Hailey, shaking her head. She surprised Raymond with her strong words. “You don’t look…like…uh, that anorexic or anything,” she added. But Raymond noticed that her words lost steam as she spoke them. It was like she was looking over him and realizing that yes, in fact, he looked unhealthily skinny. 

“Just…just a little too skinny, then?” persisted Raymond. 

“I mean,” said Hailey, shifting her weight a little as her hips and ass wobbled gently, “you do look pretty small, Raymond. Like…like if I’m being honest, yeah — I was kinda surprised to see you so…um, so skinny.” She waved her hand in the air, as if brushing it all aside. “But, like, if you’re healthy otherwise, don’t worry about it, Raymond. I mean, who cares, right? It’s just nice to see you.” 

“It’s…it’s nice to see you too,” said Raymond. He was caught off-guard by how much he wanted to keep probing and prodding Hailey about his size. But right then they both turned toward Katherine and the two of them were re-absorbed into the larger circle. 

“How much you got left in your cup, Raymond?” asked Katherine playfully. She showed him her empty cup.

“Uh, I’ve…I’ve got a ways to go,” he said. 

“Well come on then!” she chided him, reaching out a long finger to poke him in the ribs. “I’m designating you as my drinking buddy tonight — we gotta keep pace with each other.” 

“Umm, just how exactly is he supposed to keep pace with you?” laughed Wes. “You’re like twice his size Katherine.” 

“Oh hush!” she giggled, shoving him in the shoulder. “Raymond and I can look after ourselves, thank you very much.” She turned and looked down at Raymond, giving him a flirtatious smile as she twirled around her empty cup. Those first few drinks were all she needed to decide — they were definitely gonna get into something tonight…her and Raymond. The latent feelings of attraction and arousal, the ones that focused on their incredible size difference, the ones that had been swirling around inside her head for days, were now quickly pushing themselves to the forefront of her mind. 

‘God just look at his little face,’ she thought to herself lustily, and she found herself imagining how hot it would be if she shoved his scared little shocked face directly into her pussy. How hot it would be if she just held it there as his weak little arms flailed and beat against her meaty thighs. But she had to remember to control herself, to take it easy at first. There’d be plenty of time for fooling around a bit later on in the night. Right now she was feeling completely in control of everything — she was getting tipsy, and she already felt drunk off of everyone’s reactions to her new size and stature. It was just…so much fun, to exert such power over everyone…simply by standing there. And it was icing on the cake that she had sent Ella reeling back. 

About half an hour later, they had all migrated to the living room, and they were sitting around in a big group, telling stories and laughing. It was still pretty dark in the room, with the only direct light coming from the red siren in one corner and the strobe light in another.
Everyone was at least tipsy, and a few people, including Ella, were getting noticeably drunk. Raymond had been sitting next to Katherine, trying to focus on not being too obviously hard through his pants, when he felt a strong pair of large hands suddenly grip him under his shoulders and lift him up off the ground. 

“Wha…what!?” he said in alarm. He looked over at Katherine, who was deep in a conversation with Hailey and hadn’t seemed to notice. He looked down and saw the forearms of the person who was lifting him. Olive skin…firm solid shape…Ella. He felt his insides go cold, even as his heart quickened. What was she doing?? 

“I’ve gotta get a few things straight, twiggy,” she breathed into his ear. Even though he was tipsy himself, he smelled the strong alcohol on her breath. Had she been doing shots? His feet were dangling about a foot off the floor as Ella brought him over to a big armchair in the corner of the living room, and she parked herself in it, sitting down Raymond on her big thigh. Everyone else just kept talking away, engrossed in their conversations -- Ella had been sneaky. Even as Raymond sat this way, facing her striking face, he could see that he was still shorter than her by a few inches. She steadied him on her leg, wrapping her large hand around his shoulder and holding him fast. 

“So,” she said, her green eyes narrowing at him, “what’s going on between you and Katherine?”