Chapter 3 - The First Few Inches

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Anthony asked his younger sibling Sarah. He was always supportive of her decisions in life and protective, but he never imagined her doing something as working out to stay in shape. At least, not so suddenly. “I mean, your frame is nice enough for any guy to practically come crawling to you.”
 
Anthony was right. Sarah’s body was lithe, but her breasts were sadly far from appealing. Her buttocks were rounded, and her legs were somewhat toned.
 
But despite all that, why was it she wasn't ever noticed by guys, even those who weren't so fortunate in regards to being physically appealing?
 
“Why aren't they doing that, then?” Sarah whined. She watched as Anthony pulled a pair of dumbbells free from the rack. “I mean, I know I'm not ugly: I check myself out in the mirror every morning before I head off to college to make sure I look presentable.” Anthony extended his arms out to hand the dumbbells over to her, his forearm muscles bunching up in the process.
 
Anthony was a big guy. Taking after his father Harry, he loved to train heavy. Doing so was a bit of a necessity, however, because he worked as a construction worker for his father’s construction company.
 
“Anyway, that's beside the point,” Sarah remarked. She took the dumbbells from Anthony and was pleased to know they weren't too heavy. They were just right. “I'm not doing this to get attention from guys or anything like that.”
 
“You're doing it just to get fit?” Anthony asked. He watched his younger sibling walk across the gym floor to the mirror wall, where she watched her posture as she curled. Sarah hadn't done much weight training over the years, but still knew how to perform the proper motions and techniques from watching Anthony over the years.
 
“Something like that,” she responded, beginning her curls in slow and steady motions, just like she was used to seeing Anthony do them. She wanted to tell him the real reason behind her actions, but wasn't sure how he'd react. Would he react as badly as her father was likely to if she told him, or would he embrace her decision? Regardless, it wasn't time yet to tell him.
 
“Okay” Anthony responded. He wasn't entirely convinced by his younger sister’s words, but still trusted her and was going to stick by her regardless. After all, she needed somebody to stick by her in the family. “I just don't know how Dad’s going to react,” he admitted, his voice trembling somewhat. “What with you wanting to get fit and all.”
 
A grunt of exertion escaped from Sarah’s lips as she finished another rep. The blood in her body was consistently being pumped to her arms now, and she could, as Anthony often said, ‘feel the burn.’
 
“I wouldn't worry about that right away,” Sarah stated with assurance. “It'll be a bit of a while before he actually starts seeing the physical changes.”
 
Anthony heard another grunt. He was beginning to question his being in the gym was necessary or otherwise, since Sarah appeared to be doing so well without his help. Her posture was perfect and actions were slow and steady. “That's true, we can't stop him from coming in here and finding out what you're doing though, can we?”
 
“God, this feels sssoooo good.” Sarah laughed, pulling her arm up again for another rep. She was clearly enjoying the workout. In fact, it was clear she enjoyed working out more than Anthony anticipated. Her pupils dilated. She was literally getting a rush from the workout, and enjoyed it.
 
He noticed her arms bulged out slightly, their individual fibres somewhat pronounced, bulging. Good. At least she's getting a pump. It will be a quick workout otherwise.
 
The blood pumped to Sarah's arms seemingly faster now, making them appear larger. “I didn't realise working out was so damn…” She grunted again, but the curling motion seemed faster. It was as if she deliberately made it look difficult even though it felt easier, like she was teasing. “….good.”
 
Sarah dropped the dumbbells to the floor with a thud, and flexed her biceps in the mirror. Anthony chuckled. If only Sarah knew muscle growth didn't occur as quickly as she thought…
 
“It doesn't work that way I'm afraid,” he pointed out. “As much as we'd all like it to, muscle growth just doesn't happen that fast.”
 
 He knew if he told Sarah about the need to stick to a good, clean, and consistent diet regimen in order to truly get ‘gains’ so soon, she'd likely call it quits. But he was so sure she was adamant, willing to stick with the program if given one.
 
"Meh. I'd beg to differ,” Sarah smiled. She still held the pose, so that meant Anthony was able to look at his younger sibling’s feeble-sized biceps to scrutinise them as her trainer. He knew there was no growth there, but still wanted to humour Sarah.
 
But he was taken aback then, when he did look. He knew what he saw wasn't the result of a good pump, but rather the effect of his sister being referred to as an easy gainer. Her biceps flexed, and the peak was sharp, which wasn’t visible 5 minutes ago.
 
“Wow, instant growth!” Sarah cheered. She caressed her left bicep and smiled. It was harder than before for sure, and looked to be larger, like it wasn't just the result of a good pump.
 
Anthony watched as Sarah flexed both her arms simultaneously, resulting in their respective muscles to dance almost erotically, there individual fibres hidden underneath her smooth skin grinding together. He was flabbergasted. How was it possible?
 
Sarah moved onto the leg press next, Anthony watching close by, still surprised. She racked the weight up to a little over 400 pounds. She thought it was a reasonable weight.
 
“NNNNGGHHH!” A single rep was enough to get Sarah's legs going, pumping with blood. “NNNNGGHH!” Anthony looked on, blinking. He swore he saw his sister’s quads grow ever so slightly before his eyes after just a few reps, audibly so. She grunted, he blinked, and she grunted again.
 
The definition, while not crystal-clear, was beginning to show in Sarah’s legs now. She stopped pressing for a moment, and tantalisingly flexed her quads in front of Anthony whilst still seated. Her right quad was tensed, bringing its muscular crevices into full-view, raw and pumped profusely with blood.
 
Anthony couldn't deny he felt a tinge of jealousy towards his sister’s supernatural muscle growth. After all, compared to her single 10-minute workout, he'd spent the better half of 5 years to build the body he had. However, despite the jealousy, he was proud of his younger sister. Not to mention all a bit creeped out.
 
He observed her figure in the reflection of the mirror as she stood in front of it, her hands on her hips, bringing her body into a full lat spread. “You must have the physique of a fitness competitor from that one workout alone,” he said.
 
Sarah laughed. She found her brother’s words rather hard to believe at first, but after examining herself further in the mirror, she realised Anthony was right. After only one workout, Sarah possessed the body of a fitness competitor.
 
“Time to get even bigger” she rejoiced, brushing past Anthony to grab a heavier pair of dumbbells. She was adamant to continue, to grow. She had her reasons. But Anthony cut on to speak sense into her.
 
“Woah! Not so fast.” He took the dumbbells from Sarah and placed them back on the rack. He was keen to see his sister grow into the fit young woman she aspired to be. Just… not that fast. “Think about what you're doing.”
 
Sarah paused to think, to look at herself. Her muscles were already beginning to show, their respective bulges slightly visible. Sure, she wanted to get as big as possible, to get Claire’s undivided attention, but maybe doing it as quickly as she'd planned wasn't the best idea. Especially considering what her father might say.
 
“You're right.” She looked at Anthony, who was glad he's managed to talk some sense into her. “I should probably pace myself.”
 
“Yeah, that's probably wise” Anthony chuckled. “”And be sure to replenish your blood sugar levels while you’re at it. Let me get you a protein shake too.”
 
///
 
The next few days went by swiftly for Sarah, and over that time she realised Anthony was right about pacing herself. Sarah imagined she'd be a living, breathing hulkette by now, if she stuck to her original plan in working out constantly – maybe even bigger!
 
But there would've been little to no fun in it for her, if the other students saw her. They'd probably consider her an even bigger weirdo then she already was - literally bigger.
 
Knowing her physical growth would've been seen by the naked eye by now, Sarah decided to show off. Albeit, only slightly.
 
She took an early morning jog, one day during the weekend. Jogging was something she never done in the past, yet given the circumstances of the last few days, developing a liking to run was by far the least surprising thing to happen to her.
 
The clothes Sarah wore for her jog were tight, to purposely accentuate her budding muscles, even if they weren't big enough for them to burst through. A pair of headphones wrapped around her neck too, given to her graciously by Anthony, a dubstep mix blaring in her ears.
 
It was as if Sarah’s recent incident in the home’s basement gym had affected the girl’s personality somewhat. Not that she complained or anything. In fact, she quite liked the new, better, bigger Sarah. She was more freeing, independent. She, now, was the way she was supposed to be from the very beginning.
 
The hot summer air swept her hair graciously as she came to a halt just a few feet from Anthony. “Eight minutes and thirty-five seconds” he announced cheerily, looking at his wristwatch. “An eight-second improvement.”
 
Sarah could tell Anthony urged her to do the trail again, this time to improve on it again. He had that look about him again, as he always did.
 
“Do it again,” he commanded.
 
Sweat trickled down Sarah’s back and brows, testament to the last few hours she'd spent running the trail. Despite that, she was eager to do it again. Eager to show how confident she was in eventually being able to beat Anthony’s own Personal Best on the trail, to show that eventually she’d eclipse Anthony in everything.
 
She smiled. "Alright. I’ll beat your PB yet."
 
///
 
A few days had past, and while she had neither beat nor met Anthony’s Personal Best for running, Sarah still racked up on achievements. Her abs were beginning to show now more defined than ever, and her biceps were, while only just so, bigger too. Her body as a whole began to resemble that of the countless fitness competitors she followed on Instagram, and she was pleased. She stalked those women, checking her Instagram every day on an hourly basis when she was awake during the day, searching for more pics they might have shared, showing off their own progress.
 
She then went into a double bicep pose and smiled at the result. After only a mere week of working out, paying no heed to any diet or gruelling workout plan, her body had grown. It was no question, she was some freak of nature, but she didn't mind. She got what she wanted, after all: the means to an end.
 
Despite the fact her body was changing, Sarah still felt the need to cover it up. Not because she was fearful of what people would think – because she honestly didn't care about what they had to say about her by that point. The new Sarah was the better Sarah. The one that should've been but wasn't, until now. Rather, Sarah hid her new body because she knew the other students weren't ready for her. In time…
 
They always made comments about her, even before she started working out. But now, they talked about how she looked different, about the fact she covered herself up more than often, wrapping herself up like it was the winter months even though summer had just arrived.
 
But like Sarah had said to herself over the last week: in time…
 
///
 
Again, it was a few days later, and Harry was surprised to see Sarah eating far more than she used to at dinnertime. For once, she was the first between the three of them to finish her meal, before going for a second serving. Given the circumstances he'd witnessed only an hour or so earlier, Anthony wasn't as surprised as Harry was.
 
“You're eating a lot more than you used, Sarah,” Harry observed, watching her slap another chicken wing onto her plate. “Just be sure to leave the majority for the men of the house, will you?” He looked at Anthony afterward, who looked back less than impressed.
 
“She's a growing kid, dad. She's got to eat,” he responded in between hearing his sister’s ravenous bites into the chicken wing, tearing it violently from the bone with her teeth.
 
“No to mention clean the plates afterward; do the washing and ironing like a woman ought to.” Harry burped loudly and patted his muscular gut.
 
“Yes, father” Sarah responded sheepishly. There was no point in arguing.
 
Anthony looked at his sister in shock. If the workout she'd just finished had given her growth, surely it would've boosted her confidence a bit?
 
“I'll help you,” he offered.
 
Harry looked on. Being a firm believer of the old ways, he always expected Sarah to do the housework and cooking. But never had he expected Anthony to help.
 
Just as he and Sarah left their seats, Harry spoke. “Say, Sarah. You look… different.”
 
Oh god, the muscle us noticeable already? Sarah turned to face Harry. “Do I? In what way?”
 
She was hoping Harry wouldn't notice the fact she'd been working out so soon. If he did, her plan to woo Claire with her weird rapidly growing mass would be left squandered.
 
“Yeah, like… like you've been working out” Harry finished.
 
Fuck. There was no point in going back now Sarah knew, and if she lied, the outcome would be far worse than if she didn't. “Yeah, I've been working out. Do you like it?”
 
She desperately wanted to flex the newfound hillock of muscle on her arms right in her father's face. But not yet. She knew she would get a rush from flexing them if they were bigger than his were.
 
“Of course I don't” Harry snapped. “You don’t want to look like a man, do you? I didn't raise you to be one, either!”
 
“Well, you didn't exactly do a good job in raising me in general, did you?” Sarah barked back. “I mean, you spent most of your time in the gym and at work before Mum left.”
 
“Don't bring her into this!” Harry bellowed.
 
Sarah could feel her confidence swell. Fighting back against her father gave her such a rush. And Anthony was impressed.
 
"No wonder she left, what with you being misogynistic and all” she shot back.
 
“Young lady…” Harry started, his anger filling him to the brim. “… I have had just about enough…” He stopped himself, taking a moment for a breather. “Just… who is it who's training you? Gale across the street? It has to be her. I've seen those calves of hers.”
 
Anthony gulped nervously. It was loud enough for Harry to hear, and made him realise the situation was worse than he thought.
 
“You? You're training her?” He hissed, his finger pointing to Anthony.
 
“Well… technically, yeah” Anthony responded. He knew he was in as much deep shit as Sarah now. Happy times.
 
“How long’s it been going on for?” Harry demanded.
 
Anthony stammered. If he told Harry the truth, his daughter had only worked out just once for a little over 25 minutes to get as fit looking as she was, he'd likely lose his mind.
 
“Oh, I don't believe this.” Harry tilted his head back and groaned.
 
He contemplated for a moment. He knew he wasn't happy of Sarah’s decision, but also knew stopping her wasn't going to be easy. It was just a phase she was going through, right?
 
“Oh, go ahead” Harry conceded, taking a sigh of defeat.
 
“Really?” Sarah smiled. Was her father really telling the truth, or just teasing her?
 
“Oh yeah. I mean, it could be worse.” Harry rose from the chair. “Next, you could be telling me you're dating a girl or something.”
 
Sarah’s heart sank, and somehow Anthony could almost feel it. Not yet, Sarah, she said inwardly. One step at a time.