The bell signaled the end of the first final, setting off a chorus of sighs and groans throughout the classroom. Maureen had completed her in-class Old Man and the Sea essay twenty minutes prior, and spent the remainder of the time checking her writing for errors. "I hope college is harder than this," she mumbled under her breath, slinging her bag onto her shoulder.

Leaving her essay on the teacher's desk, she headed out the door, checking her phone for messages. She hadn't heard from either Alex or Caitlin since Saturday evening when Caitlin had her psycho outburst and apparently found solace in a Chinese buffet. She had not known Caitlin to be a stress eater in the past, but the way she'd waddled out of the restaurant indicated she had found some comfort there. Maureen shuddered, unable to even contemplate the idea of gorging herself on food and what that would do to her figure. That said, Caitlin had been looking a bit fuller lately.

"Fuller" indeed! While Maureen didn't want to think she was going crazy, she could swear that Caitlin was having some kind of growth spurt. While such things weren't impossible, she knew for a fact that she had been two inches taller than Caitlin since the eighth grade, when a late growth spurt popped her up a couple inches to 5'6". Ever since the car accident, however, Caitlin seemed more statuesque than normal. Maureen tried questioning Caitlin about it, but Caitlin either didn't notice, didn't care, or both. Asking other girls on the soccer team also proved unhelpful since most had no idea how tall Caitlin was, and a few barely remembered her at all.

In addition, where Maureen had initially attributed them to Alexis' over-active imagination, Caitlin had definitely grown out as well as up. She recalled Alexis' constant chirping about Caitlin's boobs ever since the post-accident visit. Maureen gave Caitlin full marks for her ability to hide it, but Caitlin she sure as hell wasn't a 34B anymore. She was at least a C or possibly small D cup. A very well disguised C or D, but a C or D nonetheless. While Caitlin certainly downplayed her changes, somebody was bound to notice soon.

Then again, seemingly no one had, and Maureen considered she may be getting bent out of shape over nothing.Maybe I just need to relax. Maureen thought. I have been working pretty hard lately. She gave one last passing thought to the matter as she glanced down at her heels, which aided her denial of Caitlin's sudden lengthening. As if on cue, Jason Kline met her at her locker. There's what I need, a little stroking of my ego. Jason smiled as he saw her approaching, and Maureen played coy.

"Hey gorgeous. English final giving you some trouble?"

"Yeah, it was a real nail biter," Maureen replied, rolling her eyes. "I'm surprised to see you. I figured you'd be studying for Chem."

Jason smirked, "You kidding me? I got that in the bag. With what I got on the line for that one, you better be ready for a night to remember."

Maureen smiled, pleased with herself that she could act as academic muse to the varsity quarterback. He rambled on about his confidence, and she gave him a half smile. "You'd better hope so. I don't do dinner dates with idiot jocks."

Jason seemed undeterred by the comment. "We'll probably hit up that downtown restaurant. You know? The Japanese one. Not the one with the sushi or whatever. Like hell I'm eating raw shit. That one with the barbecue. That place sounds good cause they've got wings and…I…holy…sh…"

Maureen sensed a disturbance in the natural order: Jason had trailed off mid-sentence while talking about food. Something certainly wasn't right. The nervous, finals week energy dispersed as conversations all around them trailed off at the same time. "What?" Maureen said loudly, though she had not meant to audibly speak. Oddly enough, no one took notice of either her outburst, or even her. All eyes faced the opposite direction.

A girl she certainly did not recognize entered the halls through the side door and headed away from them toward the opposite end of the hall. Miffed that this mystery girl had torn Jason attention away, Maureen struggled to get a better look. The girl was quite tall, with rich dark black hair that fell to middle of her back. She wore a black t-shirt which showed some midriff, and form-fitting jeans which she recognized immediately as belonging to Alexis. In fact, she could almost mistake her shape for Alexis, though rather than emanating Alexis' unbridled energy, this girl walked with a familiar cantankerous swagger. The girl also wore two inch clog sandals which accentuated her already substantial height, and eliminated any chance that it was Alex. Actually, outside of the height, the body shape more closely resembled…

"No," Maureen muttered to herself. "It can't be. It couldn't possibly be…"

Caitlin?

She wanted to say the name out loud, but she feared that if it wasn't Caitlin, she'd be acknowledging an irrational fear, and if it was Caitlin, her life had just turned into a funhouse. No matter. This girl had captured the attention of every student in the hallway, and did not appear to not care at all. If anything, she looked slightly uneasy, glancing back. She quickened her pace and rounded the far end of the hall, with one of her spectators actually peeking around the corner to continue to watch her.

"Who the hell was that?" The voices in the hall vocalized Maureen's thoughts while Jason, also in a daze, stammered while trying to pick up where he had left off. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, Maureen whirled around and headed in the other direction, hoping to meet the mystery girl at the other end of the hallway. She figured she could at least put her mind at ease and head to Caitlin's locker, located–a chill went down Maureen's back–at the far end of the other hallway: exactly where the mystery girl headed.

Maureen shoved her way down the hall, and was relieved to find the girl standing not at Caitlin's locker. The girl faced away from her, talking to someone at a locker not her own. Maureen craned her neck to try to get a better view, and realized it was Steve Rubins' locker. What is she doing at that sleazeball Steve Rubins' locker?

As Maureen moved closer, she saw Steve holding a soccer ball under his arm and grinning like an idiot as he shamelessly ogled the girl's chest which, she could now see, was the primary cause of the generous midriff on display. The girl's wedge sandals propped up her already impressive height, allowing her to look down substantially at Steve. Maureen recalled that when she herself wore 2" heels, she was about as tall as the 5'8" Steve. The top of Steve's head came up just past the girl's nose, though he didn't seem to mind being closer to her chest. Marueen did not catch most of the conversation, but it ended abruptly with the girl offering the words "slimeball" and "go fuck yourself," as he she shoved him, rather roughly, into his locker.

The inflection of those words sounded familiar.

The girl abruptly whirled around to storm off, but Maureen, having unconsciously drawn close to the conversation, was unable to get out of the way in time. The two girls collided, sending Maureen ungracefully crashing to the floor. Dazed, Maureen, reached around to gather her items which had been strewn about, while the mystery girl remained relatively unfazed by the collision.

"Sorry about that, I was dealing with some unfinished…" her tone suddenly changed, "Maureen?"

Maureen froze. This isn't happening. She silently assured herself. I'm not on the floor in the hallway, my stuff is not actually scattered all over the place, and there is no way I am going to recognize the face when I look up, so I may as well not even look.

"I didn't even see you there," the familiar voice continued. "I must be in my own world." Manicured burgundy nails attached to long fingers assisted Maureen in retrieving her belongings, and another arm reaching under her hers to lift her to her feet.

"…jeez, you should have made a noise back there or something. You okay?"

Still dazed, Maureen looked up to reply. "Yeah, I think I'm…" she could barely breathe as she made eye contact, "fine?"

It's not Caitlin.

"Good. I'd hate to sideline the women's soccer team captain."

It's not Caitlin.

Maureen's mouth, at this point, just hung open, her eyes glazed. The girl in front of her shifted uncomfortably, pushing a lock of dark hair out of her face. "Yeah, new look. I had help, obviously." She tugged down at her mini-tee, causing the Abercrombie logo on her shirt to swell in response. Smiling slightly, her rich violet lipstick contrasted stood out against her teeth. She widened her shadowed eyes and peered expectantly at Maureen, restless for some sign of telepathy.

"Hey bitch! Throw me a fucking bone here!"

It is Caitlin, and she looks stunning.

Her hair, previously a light brown, was now a rich raven black. Bright blue eyes, formerly Caitlin's only prominent feature, now shone in piercing contrast with her dark hair and subtle makeup, which darkened her facial features as opposed to her usual pale china-doll look. The t-shirt, which Maureen had actually given Caitlin as a gift last year, flattered her new curves. Caitlin's smaller B's had fit her body well when she was 5'4", and now, six inches later, the her larger D's brought a kind of proportional balance to her height. At the same time, the shirt, being undersized for her frame, emphasized the length of her body and complimented her lean shape. Though Caitlin still didn't have the bombastic curves that Alexis had, the stretch jeans flattered her legs, which lacked the gangly look of most girls she knew following a growth spurt. Finally the sandals added at least two inches, putting her around six foot, and leaving Maureen, who wore flats that day, staring at Caitlin's neck.

A pause hung in the air as Maureen wasn't sure how to react and Caitlin wasn't sure what more she could say. The five-minute bell sounded, and Caitlin saw her opportunity to end the encounter before it got more excruciatingly awkward. She did however have a whimsical thought before turning to walk away. She stepped toward Maureen and crouched slightly to embrace her in a one armed hug, pressing her larger body against Maureen's comparatively smaller one. Maureen, still frozen in place, had barely the cognizance to return the embrace with anything more than a pat on the side.

"There's the bell. I've got a trig final. I'll see ya' later." Caitlin straightened up and strided away to her next class, tossing her backpack over one shoulder. Maureen couldn't remember whether or not she had another final, and if she did, what or where it was. She didn't even try. A sea of bodies shifted around her, but Maureen stayed still, watching a bobbing head of black hair–a head above many others–move away from her before rounding the corner and disappearing out of sight. Maureen stood in the hallway, overhearing someone say something about a U.S. History final, but she couldn't move if she wanted to. She remained planted in her spot until the bustle cleared, leaving her alone as the class bell echoed again through the empty hallway.