“Now let’s see. How tall are you again Max?” The amazonian girl grinned at him, twirling one lock of strawberry hair behind her right ear. He knew that she thought this was cute, but Max had always found it a somewhat irritating mannerism. Funny how a sudden growth spurt could change your perspective.

“I’m almost exactly six feet even,” he reported.

Tara folded her hands beneath her chin, her smile growing wider. “Goodie! You’ll make a perfect measuring stick then! Come here, stand next to me.” She crossed the room to where Max was sitting on the couch, and took him by the hand. The girl looked down at him slyly for a moment, and then with a gentle tug she pulled him to his feet. Before he could move Tara stopped him with a touch on the elbow, and then she was standing with her beautiful face only inches from his.

“Um...Tara?” She was so close that he could smell her peach-flavored lip gloss, could feel the heat of her breath of his cheeks. “When people are comparing heights, don’t they traditionally stand...back-to-back?”

She giggled. “But then I wouldn’t be able to SEE if I was taller, silly. Let’s see...hmm....” She leaned forward, critically examining their relative statures. As she did, one of her large, firm breasts brushed innocently against his arm. Given the fact that Tara was a practically a Jedi master of flirting, he didn’t believe for a second that this was an accident. In any case, he wasn’t complaining.

“Just as I thought! I've got you beat by at least two inches!” Tara cried, smirking at him triumphantly. “So...important question, hun. How do you feel about girls that are taller than you? You don’t find me intimidating, do you Max-ie? Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, reading the scowl on him face. “I forgot, you don’t like that nick-name, do you? That’s okay, we’ll find you a new one. How about...Max-imum? The Max-er. God, that’s terrible.”

“Though appropriate,” Bill observed. “Apparently you’ve been doing a lot of max-imizing these last few days.”

“You’re an awful human being,” Max told him.

“How about a more traditional nick-name then?” Tara took another half-step forward, running one long finger along the rim of his collar. “Max sweetie? Max baby? My darling Max....” The six-foot-two enchantress leaned in closer still, her tongue tracing the edges of her lips seductively.

Melinda coughed. “Woah, seriously, PDA alert! Did you forget there are OTHER PEOPLE in the room?”

Tara shot her an evil glare. “Of course I didn’t FORGET. I’m just not going to let it stop me.”

“She’s got a point though,” Bill said. “I think we have more important things to do than watch Tara try to get into Max’s pants.”

“Actually, that was the first thing on my mind. No, not like that,” he told Tara, responding to the girl’s cheshire cat grin. “You see, when Lily took the drug she suddenly found me irresistible. And right now, you're acting almost exactly the way she did. Granted she was a lot more forceful about it, but her dose was something like three times as large as yours. So...why? Besides the obvious affects – the muscle, the size, the sexy – is this stuff some sort of...I don’t know...love potion?”

“You’re asking me if it suddenly made me want to jump your bones, apropos of nothing?” she asked, crossing her arms defensively.

Max nodded.

Tara laughed nervously. “No, it didn’t.” The girl stretched, rubbing the back of her neck self-consciously. “I can’t believe I’m about to tell you this. Umm...I’ve had a crush on you for like, a couple years now. Ever since our night together, remember? Summer of ’08?”

Of course Max remembered THAT. “I just assumed that was a one-time deal. I mean, everyone else was out of town. The moon was full. We were both so drunk....”

“...and you know my policy on monogamy. Free love, and all that garbage. So why would you think it anything other than random sex?”

Bill was rubbing his hands together manically. “Oooh, drama!” Melinda, meanwhile, was staring at the ceiling, apparently lost in thought.

“What I’m trying to say, in an incredibly round-about fashion, is that this drug ISN’T making me do anything I wouldn’t WANT to do. It DOES make me feel more...relaxed? Confident. Not so easily embarrassed.”

Max raised one eyebrow skeptically. “That’s all?”

Tara rolled her eyes, putting her hands behind her head. “What, you want me to come right out and SAY it? Fine. I’m horny as hell. Are you happy?”

He patted her cheek affectionately. “Quite.”

The taller girl responded by giving him a solid punch in the shoulder. It took all of his will not to cry out in pain – this new Tara really packed a wallop.

Melinda spoke up suddenly. “So, let’s start from the top with what we know about this drug.” She held up one finger. “First: this stuff is potent. A single dose is enough to give a person about nine to ten inches in height. And these doses are TINY.”

Max held up the glass vial containing the drug. “Very tiny. I’m carrying about a hundred thousand in this little test tube. Nine or ten inches might not be quite accurate – its affects are probably inversely proportional to body mass, and so you’d have to start taking larger and larger doses to get that same increase. Still, imagine what would happen if one person accidentally drank ALL of this.”

“So you better be pretty damn careful with it,” Bill said. “Don't leave it lying around.”

“Amen to THAT.”

Melinda continued. “Second: Max, the drug didn’t seem to work on you at all. Do you have any idea why that might be?”

Max scratched his chin. “Given that my dose came from the same source as Tara's...and we KNOW that worked...the only thing I can think of is gender. As improbable as it seems, maybe this stuff only works on females. One trial isn’t enough to make that kind of assumption, though. We need more data.”

They all turned to look at Bill. He grinned nervously. “Sorry – inner ear thing. Doctor says I’m not allowed to travel to high altitudes.”

“But we don’t even think it’ll work,” Melinda argued.

“And if it does, you’d end up looking like ME,” Tara added, folding her arms below her massive chest and blowing him a kiss.

“Tempting. I’ll pass for now, thanks.”

Melinda sighed. “We'll come back to that, I suppose. Anyway, we also know that, in addition to the height, this stuff is a mild mood enhancer, as well as an aphrodisiac.” She shot Tara a sidelong glance. “And a pretty powerful one at that.”

“You have NO idea,” Tara said, grinning blissfully.

“And another thing,” Max said. “The secondary affects seem to be variable.” He briefly explained to them how when Lily had taken the drug, it had caused her breasts to grow. Tara, on the other hand, had experienced an increase in muscle mass instead.

“Maybe it could tell that I didn’t need any help filling out a bra,” Tara said, cupping herself.

“...but since you were a total weakling, it decided to give you a hand in THAT department,” Melinda finished, smirking.

Tara stood up to her full height. “Watch what you say, girl.”

“Whatever, you don't scare me. I’m still stronger than you are. And I didn’t need, ah...supplements.” She pointed at the taller girl, and winked. “The way YOU did.”

Tara laughed scornfully. “You’re kidding, right? I mean, you’re pretty tough, by MORTAL standards. But things have changed, Mel. You’re going to have settle for being second-best.”

“Is that true?” Melinda asked, her voice thick with sarcasm. She walked over to stand before Tara, and smiled up at her wickedly. “Perhaps you’d like to put it to a test?”

Max moved to intervene, but stopped when he felt a hand grip his shoulder. Bill was there, grinning lecherously. He put one finger to his lips, and motioned with his eyes toward the two girls. Max thought for a moment, and then he returned the grin, nodding – it might be fun to sit back and see where this little tiff was going.

“A test? Sure, why not. What have you got in mind?”

Melinda turned, and made her way to the kitchen table. She sat down, beckoning Tara to do the same. With one arm she swept the table clean, piles of junk mail and empty beer bottles cascading onto the floor. “I thought we’d try something nice and simple. How about a little old-fashioned arm wrestling?”

“Sounds good to me.” She sat down across from Melinda, resting her elbow on the table and extending her hand to the other girl. “How do you feel about making it a bit more interesting? Say, with a friendly wager?”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Melinda answered, grinning. “How about, if I win, you have to start coming to the gym with me. I could use a good spotter.”

Tara’s eyes widened in horror. “But don’t you go at like, FIVE in the MORNING?”

“It’s not too late to back out, hun,” Melinda reminded her.

Tara considered it, and then she smiled. “Okay, you’ve got a deal. And...WHEN I win....” She paused, giving Max a significant look. “Melinda has to take a dose of the serum.”

“WOAH, are you serious?” Melinda gasped. “That stuff made you grow, what, ten inches taller? I’m WAY bigger than you were to start out with. I’d be, what, like six foot eight.”

“Less than that,” Max argued. “You’re heavier than Tara. Or I mean, you're heavier now than she was, before she grew. You could just tell people you had a growth spurt.”

Melinda looked at him incredulously. “A GROWTH SPURT? Come on, nobody would buy that. I can’t believe you’re actually going to let Tara make a bet with YOUR drug.”

Max didn’t respond. She had a point, but the honest answer was that he wasn’t entirely certain WHY he was allowing this to happen. Deep down, he supposed it was because he honestly wouldn’t mind seeing Melinda as a six and a half foot amazon. And there was just something about watching a girl grow...seeing her rip out of her clothes, becoming bigger, more powerful.

His friends were taking the drugs, but maybe he was the one who was addicted.

Tara was grinning at Melinda. “If you’ve finally figured out that you can’t win, feel free to slink away in shame,” she told her.

All pretense of humor had dropped from Melinda now. She held her arm behind her head for a moment, stretching, and dropped it onto the table with an audible ‘thud.’ “Bring it.”

Tara grasped the offered hand. “On the count of three, then.”

Bill was elbowing Max in the ribs. “This is gonna be good!”

The girls stared into each other’s eyes. “One....” Melinda began.

“THREE!” exclaimed Tara. Her muscles flexed, and Melinda’s arm shot backward a fraction of an inch. The shorter girl quickly recovered, and managed to push Tara back to a neutral position. “Good catch,” Tara said through clenched teeth. “But you’re only...nrgh...delaying....”

Melinda remained silent. Sweat was breaking out on the foreheads of both girls. A dark red flush crept down Tara’s neck; her arm trembled.

Melinda, on the other hand, looked to be relaxed, in complete control of herself. After another moment she had Tara on the defensive, forcing the giant girl to fight just to maintain her position. Now gravity was on Melinda’s side, and Tara’s size was a liability.

The longer they held this way, the more energy Tara was forced to expend. She was breathing hard, a frantic look in her eyes. Grimacing, she threw the last of her strength against Melinda, and briefly succeeded in taking the advantage. But soon her stamina was gone. Sensing her moment was at hand, Melinda pushed back, and Tara’s hand slapped hard against the table.

Melinda stood up from the table, and condescendingly patted Tara on the head. “We’ll leave for the gym at four thirty tomorrow morning,” she said, only the faintest bit out of breath. “You buy the protein drinks. Bring a towel, and make sure you wear loose clothing.”

“Where am I supposed to find loose clothing?” Tara complained, rubbing her bicep muscle. “I’m like, eight sizes too big for anything I own.”

“I still have some shirts from before I lost my freshman fifteen,” Bill said, heading toward his room. “We’ll see if anything fits.”

Max and his friends talked long into the night. They discussed what Max’s next move should be, and how they were ever going to explain Tara’s new stature. After hours of shameless flirting and wheedling by the girls, they finally convinced Bill to test the serum. Just as expected, it seemed to have no affect on men.

When Max finally got into his car to drive home it was well past one in the morning. His mind ached from trying to absorb all the new things he had learned – not least of which the news that Tara had been harboring a crush for him. He had always been attracted to the flighty little girl (not so little anymore, he reminded himself,) and his head was full of the possibilities that this situation could yield.

Yet he kept coming back to one moment in the evening. It was something Tara had said. She had told him that the drug made her more willing to act on the desires that she already had – not given her any new ones. It made him wonder exactly what Lily had been thinking when she tried to force herself on him. Maybe his lab partner secretly had feelings for him? An intriguing prospect, but it seemed unlikely after all the verbal abuse she had treated him to over the years. In any case, they had a study date scheduled for tomorrow night. Max decided he would talk to her about it.

Then again, talking might very well be the last thing on the seven foot girl’s mind.