Fuming about how quickly he lost this verbal exchange with his sister, Justin tried to go to sleep. "Every time we get into a fight, she gains the upper hand. It's some embarrassing. I am the bigger brother after all", he thought to himself. Letting his thoughts drift further, he remembered a spell he had just read about.
Justin jolted upright and grabbed the old tome. Hastily opening the book he began flipping through “Summing food? No. Altering your wardrobe? Ha, sounds like something Alex would use! Increasing your presence? Yes, that’s the one”, Justin triumphed in his mind. “This should give the presence I need to stand up to Alex. No more running over me.”
The chapter on the spell had a lengthy text but having read-or rather skimmed-it earlier, he grabbed his wand. The spell itself was written in big letters and cast just as quickly. “Let’s see to it that Alex is respecting her big brother like she should”, he thought. After pausing for a moment, he smirked, “I might just pick a fight with her just to see her lose”
Putting the spell book on his night stand, he went to bed and closed his eyes. Lying down peacefully knowing that things were going to change soon, he tried to go to sleep. A gurgling sound pulled him away before he could drift off to sleep. “I should have had dinner”, he scolded himself. “But doing that extra credit work for biology was really important to keep my straight A.”
Justin got up carefully not awake his family. Mid-way through sneaking to the fridge, he realized that actually he does not need to be quiet. “Well if I wake up mom and dad, I will blame it on Alex again and this time I am not going to be caught in my lie”, he thought to himself. Opening the fridge, his stomach gurgled again reminding him of why he came to the kitchen at this late hour.
Seeing a large pile of sandwiches Theresa prepared earlier, he grabbed a pastrami one and started chewing. Within seconds, he finished it. “I really must have been hungry”, he told himself just when his body reminded him that one sandwich is not enough to compensate for a whole missed meal.
Rubbing his distended belly after the late night gorge, Justin went back to bed, “Let’s hope no one cares that I ate all the sandwiches. Or let’s my parents see it in the morning and they suspect Alex. Maybe I could put a few breadcrumbs in front of her door?” He quickly abandoned the his hastily devised plan after he looked at his nightstand clock and realized just how late is has gotten. Justin pulled up his blanket, quickly massaged his bloated abdomen and drifted off to sleep.
The next morning the shrill sound of his alarm clock awakened him. Groggily he got up and went to the bathroom. “What a night. Way too short for sure”, he thought back to earlier events. Still to tired the humiliation of being caught in his lie and the embarrassment of his late night binge crossed his mind. Justin stepped in front of the sink as his belly touched its cold shiny surface. He looked down to see small gut where just his flat abdomen used to be. Staggered at this change he poked a finger into his gut. He felt an inch of soft, squishy fat and not the hard bloat after stuffing his belly with a family-sized portion of sandwiches.
“Are you still getting ready, big sister? Busy doing your make-up?” Alex’ mocking voice was pulling Justin back to reality. Annoyed he turned around and replied, “Just a minute!”
“Just hurry up or do you need your nail polish still to dry?”, she retorted.
“Wait, why am I not pushing back more?”, he thought to himself. Trying to clap back he shouted confidently: “Ha, no but you will need to take some time for your nail polish!”
Alex’ laughter was booming through the door. “With a face like yours you actually need to take some time to pretty yourself up”, she shouted. Justin’s cheeks turned red as he gathered his things and hurried out of the bathroom.
Back in his room, Justin wondered, “Why is spell not working?” A brief flash of memory crossed his mind “I think it one of these spells that are gradual and take effect over time! So much for a change in dynamic between Alex and me. But maybe I can cast it again for more results. There is no thing as too much presence. Or I can use the instant accelerator spell, dad taught us about a few months ago.”
Pondering if he should cast another spell, his stomach growled again. Touching the new and foreign mass on his body, Justin made a decision.
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