Chapter 2.

Joel had thought a lot about Lizzy and her condition. He wasn’t sure what to make of it. He had googled the name of her medication but came up only with a scientific article on neurotransmitters. It had some references, but payment was required to read the main articles. He wasn’t prepared to do that.

Whenever he logged into his facebook page, she seemed to be online, and started to chat with him. She tried to give her his cellphone number, and although he didn’t really see the point in her having it, he gave it anyway. He didn’t regard online chatting as the best way of communicating about a serious topic, but it was pretty much all they were talking about. Whenever they touched on the subject, he noticed that he was trying to make her stop taking the pills. He sometimes fantasized about how tall Lizzy would grow without them, his mind visualizing all kinds of unrealistic scenarios. His cousin, however, was worried about the consequences. She told him about the comments that had been said to her in class and Joel replied that that was a year ago, the kids were a little older and mature now; and that boys will comment on anything anyway, especially if they  want to impress, although they may not realize it. It was not until he told her how she would grow to be a beautiful tall woman that she seemed to open up to the idea. Still, it was just a chat.

On a Wednesday in the first week of January, Joel came home early from school. He had made a deal with his languages teacher, and because another teacher was sick, he was home by eleven thirty. His mom was on the phone.

“Oh here is Joel! Hang on, Ann.” She held the phone to her shoulder. “You are home early! What happened?”

“Sick teacher.” He threw his backpack on the floor, sat down on the couch and picked up the newspaper. Ann was his mom’s sister and Lizzy mother. His mom picked the phone back up and tried to finish the conversation.

“So I will be there 12:45” … “yes”… “I don’t know”… “I will have to ask him”… ”yes, he’s still here”… “ok”. She handed the phone to Joel. “Your aunt Ann wants to ask you something.”

Joel took the receiver. “Hello?”

“Hi Joel, it’s Ann here. Everything allright with you?”

“yes thanks, how are you?”

“Great. Your mom told me you’re home early? Do you have anything planned this afternoon?”

“Depends. What’s up?”

“Well as you know, we celebrate Lizzy’s birthday in January, so it won’t interfere with the holidays. It happens to be this afternoon! Your mom is coming over to help me out with the logistics and cleaning up, and when she said you came home, I thought, because Lizzy has been talking about you constantly since Christmas, well I thought, maybe you would like to come and help out as well! Little Mark is playing at a friend’s house.”

“What do you have planned?” Joel knew he was going to do it, but he needed more information.

“We will play some games and have sort of a high tea, you know, girlie stuff.”

“Do I have to decide now, or can I just show up with mom?”

“You don’t have to decide right now, but could you text me as soon you know?”

“O.k., I’ll put mom back on.”

“Thanks dear, and we would really appreciate it. I know Lizzy would love for you to be there.”

An hour later he was in the car with his mom behind the wheel. He was kind of nervous, maybe it would be weird for him to be there: eight young girls and then the eighteen year old cousin being there. He tried not to think about it, he was there to help out his aunt. He had let Ann know he was coming, and she was happy he was there. Lizzy was coming from her school with all her guests, and they had enough time to set up. They had a cup of coffee when everything was ready. In the car Joel had mentioned several times that Lizzy had grown so much. His mom remembered and brought it up.

“Ann, how tall is your Liz?”

“I know, she is quite tall for an eleven year old girl. Please don’t mention it, it is a difficult issue with her. We have her on medication to inhibit the growth.” Joel was paying close attention. He thought his cousin was twelve, but the eleven shaped birthday cake in the fridge, and his aunt saying eleven just now proved him wrong.

“You have to be careful with that. What is it called?” Joel’s mom was not a fan of pharmaceuticals, and thought she was on expert on the subject. Joel found her judgments mostly uninformed, but went along with it this time.

“I sure hope there are no nasty side effects.”

“Well she does get moody sometimes, and she sometimes says she feels.. unwell, she says she thinks she-“

The slamming of the backdoor interrupted Ann.  Excited voices came closer and closer and suddenly the room was full of shrieking and laughing girls. Lizzy stopped her giggling fit and ran to Joel.

“What are you doing here” She said beaming.

“It’s nice to see you to! Happy birthday.”

 “My birthday was a month ago! Didn’t you know that?!”

“I cannot believe you don’t remember me  congratulating you online, but your party is today! I was helping your mom and mine out with the set up and break down.” Joel said.

“Do you mean you’re not here for me?” She overacted disappointment. It worked on Joel, who was easily convinced anyway. He took a good look at her. She was wearing a white longsleeved shirt, and a jeans skirt. On her feel were the same sneakers. She was right about her medication not being completely effective, because she had grown at least an inch. The top of her head was just below his eyes.

The other girls had gathered around the birthday girl and her cousin, demanding an introduction to this interesting stranger. He shook their hands one by one. Suzy, Kayleigh, Joanne, Joanne B. (‘call her B.’), Sandra and Mina. He forgot most of their names instantly. Ann came in from the kitch with a tray, inviting them all to sit down and have a drink while she would explain the afternoon’s schedule. Joel stepped back and sat down on the opposite side of the room with his mom.  He could see that Lizzy towered over the gang, she was at least a head taller than most of them. Judging by their clothes, they were the popular gang of whatever grade they were in, or at least had upper-class parents. He didn’t remember girls wearing skinny jeans and shirts like that when he was their age, but fashion changes faster than the six years he was thinking back.

The tea time was planned for later on, Ann explained, and first they would play a game of hide and seek. This seemed pretty lame to Joel, but he was the only one, the idea was greeted with enthusiasm. The living room would be off limits, but the house had many rooms and was therefore perfect for this game. Joanne B. was the first to count (to a hundred), and Joel had to play. Ann seemed to be the greatest advocate of this, and he quickly complied. As soon as the blindfold was on B., most of the girls stormed up the stairs. Lizzy was leading them. She looked back to make sure her cousin was following, but his arm was taken by Suzy and she took him to the front door of the house, and sat down in front of it, almost in plain sight of B., but it just might work. Joel had assumed an anything goes attitude and was easily led by Suzy.

They had to stay low, because the glass in the door that separated them from B. started about two feet from the ground. Suzy was looking at him expectantly. They heard B. finishing and moving up the stairs. They had time to finish the game but remained in their place. Suzy asked him what he thought of Lizzy. The space they were in was small, but his cousin’s friend was closer to him than necessary. She was wearing white jeans. Joel told her he loved Liz because she was his cousin. Suzy regarded this as a very interesting fact.  He tried to convince her to tap the stairs and win the game, but she wasn’t moving.

“Don’t you want to win?”

“I want to stay here.”

“But this round is taking forever, she won’t find us here.”

“I want to stay here with you.” She put her head on his shoulder. He didn’t want to interfere with the game himself. “Don’t fall asleep.” He said. He had said it too loudly, he knew. He looked up and saw B. looking down on them through the glass, before she ran away to tag them. They joined the other girls.

The second round Joel had to do the seeking. He found all the girls and tagged them, although young Suzy had tried to convince him to join her in Ann’s walk-in closet. The girls were all over him, so when tea time was there, he sat with the adults.

That evening he had 7 new Facebook friends. Suzy had send him a message, wanting to meet up. Chatting with Lizzy, she seemed to know about Suzy’s interest. She started by thanking him for helping and playing, but the conversation soon turned to what she wanted to know.

“Where were you hiding the first round anyway?”

“Me and Suzy were near the front door.”

“Do you like her?”

Was she jealous? It didn’t matter, she was his niece. He chuckled and changed the subject.

“Are you still taking those medications?”

“Of course.  I take more now, it didn’t work perfectly.”

“I noticed you were taller at the party. I thought you looked great.” She had looked great. She had amazing legs and a very nice figure. Her breasts must have been a full B-cup. She had looked a lot older than she was, but there was no fat on her at all.

“I don’t feel great. I feel like a freak and I don’t feel right.” “Sometimes.” She added a second later.

“That is probably the Porvenural . I found some more documentation. There are some nasty side effects that they just learned about. They get worse with longer use.” The last part he made up.