Neal pulled the lateral bar down and watched the weights rise up, relishing the strain he felt in his deltoids.

Going to the gym had been an intimidating impossibility at first. But then it became a comfortable after-work routine, something to fill his evenings with. And then gradually, it had become something to look forward to because of times like this, when he was lifting more weight than he’d ever thought possible before.

Back when he was a fat kid, he never would have imagined that someday his body could look like it did now. If he’d even thought about venturing inside his high school’s weight room, they would have laughed him out before he could attempt a single pull-up.

Neal the Seal, they’d say.

That was his name, as far as the jocks and their cheerleaders and all the other cool kids were concerned, during those darkest days of his life.

But he wasn’t Neal the Seal anymore.

As he did his reps, his eyes drifted around the gym, lingering over the bouncing bubble butts in yoga pants, the sweaty cleavage squeezed into stretchy sports bras, the orgasmic looks on women’s faces as they carried out the sexual rhythms of their workouts.

How did guys ever find the motivation to go work out, before the fitness craze started bringing the ladies into the gyms? It certainly helped motivate him, seeing the kind of shapely bodies he was shaping up his own body for.

Over the past couple months, women at his office had started giving him compliments and that was encouraging, too. Wow, you’re looking good today, Neal! Have you been working out? Why yes, Nancy from Accounting, yes I have, so nice of you to notice. I’ll bet you’d never guess they called me “Neal the Seal” in high school, and that I spent prom night in my basement playing video games? You wouldn’t, huh?

By the way, Nancy from Accounting, how would you like to go in that empty conference room so I can fuck your tits before the 12pm meeting?

Of course, Neal was still far too shy to be that forward.

He was painfully aware that he was still a fat kid on the inside, never having had much experience flirting or picking up on the subtle clues women used to signal what they wanted, and when.

And if he did identify such signals from Nancy from Accounting, what then? The thought of leaning in for a kiss, if he wasn’t one-hundred-percent certain a woman wanted it, was so intimidating. It was intimidating to him even if he knew a woman wanted it.

There was also the matter of sexual harassment complaints to the Human Resources department, and maybe even lawsuits, if those signals were read incorrectly...

No, Neal was biding his time. Going to the gym as often as possible, eating right, sculpting himself into the kind of man who wouldn’t have to guess if a woman wanted him. He’d keep building up his body until the ladies were just drooling for it, and unable to keep their hands off his goodies.

That’s when he’d get back into the dating scene, make a few profiles on the dating sites and apps, and just let the pussy come running to him. Maybe he’d check out the local bars and clubs too, see what kind of hot pieces might approach him.

Hell, maybe it’d even happen here at the gym one night?

And about twenty minutes later, as Neal was doing his arm curls, that’s exactly what happened.

He was counting reps as he lifted the barbells to his chest, feeling the bulge of his biceps when he felt something else: slender fingers resting atop his pumped-up shoulder.

Neal looked up and in the wall-to-wall mirror’s reflection he saw a very attractive woman with a gym bag over her shoulder, smiling at him.

She was a typical gym babe, and then some. Light brown hair pulled back into a high ponytail. Powerful legs with buns of steel threatening to burst out from the split thighs of her athletic shorts. The words BOY HUNGRY were printed across the gray cotton of her thing, clingy tank top, cut low at the neckline for cleavage and high up at the midriff to show off her tight, toned body.

He wondered if he’d seen her around the gym already, because there was something very familiar about her cute face.

“Excuse me, sir, but your eyes were all over my ass” she said.

Neal froze. Her voice sounded raw and husky, like her throat had been burned up by a lot of whiskey and other hard liquors over the years. She was smiling, but he couldn’t help feeling like he was in trouble and needed to say something clever.

“You saw that?” he replied unthinkingly.

“Kinda hard not to, with all mirrors in here” she smirked. “It’s okay, though. I was checking out yours, too.”

He couldn’t believe it! Finally it was happening, before he’d even reached his training goals. The babes were coming, walking right up to him and complimenting his buff new bod. Today was the first day of the rest of his new life as fucking stud...

The only problem was, he still didn’t have a clue what to do or say next.

All the tips and tricks from “Pickup Artist” forums that he’d read online were failing him at the critical moment...

“Haven’t I seen you around here?” he asked.

It was one of the oldest and cheesiest flirtations in the book, but Neal really did want to know why she looked so familiar.

With her hand still on his shoulder, the woman threw her head back and laughed, her brunette ponytail swinging from side to side as she shook her head.

“Oh, wow. You really don’t remember me, do you!”

Half-smiling, Neal tried to place her face but still came up empty. He set his barbells down on the floor, enjoying the view of her sculpted calves and thighs along the way as he stood up again.

“I guess not” he said with a slight shrug, trying to play it cool.

She placed her other hand on Neal’s sweaty chest and smiled up at him, feeling his heart thumping hard.

It was so funny, that look of fear in his eyes from being so close to a pretty girl. Oh yeah, this was definitely the same guy. She was positive...

The brunette’s ponytail dangled as she tilted her head to one side she licked her lips, savoring the moment.

“Hmm. Well, ah ... Maybe this is my mistake, but, ummmmm ... Did you go to Donner High School... ?”

Donner High School. As soon as those words left her mouth, it all came flooding back.

Oh yes, Neal remembered her very well.

Morgan Montgomery. One of the hottest girls in school, and leader of Donner High’s hottest clique, the Maneaters.

It was bad enough for Neal, being the fat kid that no girl wanted to date. But girls like Morgan and the Maneaters were the ones who really made his life a living hell.

It was her and her pals who’d came up with his “Neal the Seal” nickname, in fact.

One day Morgan had sent her boyfriend and all his jock buddies from the football team chasing after him. They cornered him in the bathroom, stripped him naked, and threw his bare ass into the hallway.

The Maneaters were waiting out there with their cell phones, and took pictures from every angle as he scrambled to his feet, slipping and falling over several times as he ran for cover from the laughter of what felt like the entire school.

One of them - maybe Morgan, he couldn’t be sure - started a chant as he streaked his way down the hallways, crying and sobbing.

“Squeal, Neal, squeal!”

“Squeal, Neal, squeal!”

“Squeal, Neal, squeal!”

Within seconds, everyone but Neal had joined in.

And the very next day, the Maneaters were all over social media, sharing pictures of a real seal with Neal’s blubbering face edited onto it.

That had been years ago. But how could he ever forget?

And since then, even though he hadn’t moved very far away from his old hometown, he’d never expected to somehow run into...

With one hand still on his chest, Morgan moved her other hand from his shoulder onto her own healthy bustline, giving him a friendly little smile.

“Morgan Montgomery” she said.

“I remember now” he replied, feeling flustered.

“You do remember!” she laughed. “Okay, whew. I woulda been kinda insulted if you hadn’t, Neal!”

His mouth dropped open slightly. How many times had he acted out a scenario like this in his head, when Morgan Montgomery or one of her little pals would randomly run into him only to see that he wasn’t Neal the Seal anymore? The scenario where he’d get to leave one of those awful mean girls stupefied by the stud he’d become?

But Morgan had gotten the drop on him, and didn’t seem fazed in the least by his transformation.

As if reading his mind, Morgan raised her eyes and her expression became sympathetic.

“Hey, c’mon. I know you and I had our, like, differences, but we were both just kids then. I’ve changed a lot...”

Her hand ran down his chest to cop a feel of his abdominals, and Neal felt his manhood stirring within his workout shorts.

“ ... Just like you’ve changed a lot, Neal. Mmm, wow, that feels hard and firm. Guess you’re not ‘Neal the Seal’ anymore, are you?”

His ears got hot when he heard that dreaded nickname, the one he’d spent his entire adulthood trying to put behind him. But the arousal he was feeling from Morgan’s wandering hand was stronger than his old feelings of shame.

Wasn’t this what he’d wanted, all these years? To have no less than Morgan Montgomery, the top hottie every boy at Donner High School spent a thousand nights jacking off to, confirming that he was now in the same league as her?

A tent was beginning to poke out from his black workout shorts, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Morgan.

This is gonna be easier than I thought, she gloated inwardly.

“Morgan” he croaked, drawing her eyes back up to his, hardly able to believe he speaking to her.

“I, uh ... I can’t believe it’s you! You look ... great!”

What he really couldn’t believe was that holy-fucking-shit, he might have a shot at fucking Morgan Montgomery...

His face was softening from the initial shock of their reunion into a dopey grin as he babbled on.

“I sure ... I mean, uh ... Just, wow, y’know?”

Morgan kept an inviting smile fixed at her prey.

Oh, Neal. Still haven’t learned to talk to girls yet, have you? Looks like I found you at the perfect time to be harvested...

“So, uh, are you still with the Maneaters?” he blurted.

It sounded like an attempted joke, but Morgan could see real fear behind the question.

She laughed, then rolled her eyes and covered her face in a good imitation of embarrassment.

“Oh, jeez. The Maneaters. Now that takes me back. No, Neal. High school doesn’t go on forever, does it? We’re both grownups now. And honestly? I think I’ve changed just as much on the inside as you have on the outside. Uh, no offense!”

“None taken” replied Neal, straightening up his posture.

Why should he be offended? He was proud of his new body.

Morgan noted how he beamed at the compliment, and continued to tell him what she knew that he wanted to hear.

“Look, let’s keep it real, right? I feel soooooo bad for the way my friends used to treat you back then! But we’re totally not like that anymore. And, oh my gosh, I wish I could just take back, y’know, just like magically undo all those terrible things.”

Neal studied her carefully. She seemed sincere.

Did she even remember “all those terrible things”?

Did she remember that day when she and the others took their naked pictures of Neal the Seal?

“Are you and others still, uh, friends?”

“Mmm-hmm” she nodded. “And sometimes? When we get together we actually talk about how bad we still feel about that crap we did, not just to you but a lot of guys who were, y’know, in an awkward stage, who we were so immature towards, just ‘cause to because you hadn’t reached, ah, maturity yet.”

She emphasized the word maturity with another saucy look up and down Neal’s body, knowing he was loving it.

“Some of them are totally settled down now” she added. “Husbands, kids, a house in the suburbs, all that good stuff, right?”

Neal glanced at her left hand for a wedding ring, and didn’t find one.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong” she added. “They haven’t let themselves go. They’re a real bunch of MILFs.”

Morgan threw her arms thrown around his shoulders, girlfriend-style, and as her healthy body came closer to his, Neal suddenly felt what he’d been missing, throughout all those years of watching girls like her wrap themselves longingly around their big jock boyfriends.

Neal looked down into the deep canyon of cleavage created when Morgan’s strong upper arms pushed her boobs together, and knew he never wanted to go a day without this feeling again.

“Hey Neal, my eyes are up here!” she giggled.

Red-faced, Neal cleared his throat as he looked back up at her.

“Oh, s-sorry!” he stammered.

Morgan began to rock from side to side, daring him not to look at her rack as it swung like a hypnotizing pendulum.

“That’s okay, Neal. ‘Cause I was gonna say ... Even though I still stay in touch with those guys, and some of our lives have gone in different directions ... Some of us are still single and, ah, looking to mingle, ya know?”

Neal’s mouth felt dry. He still couldn’t believe that she was really coming onto him, and making it so easy. He still didn’t know what to do or say, but he had to say something.

“Yeah, so which one are you?” he grunted, trying to sound ambivalent.

“Wow, and I thought nerds liked to read” she snickered. “Didn’t you see my shirt? I’m boy hungry! Hey, wait!!”

Neal flinched at her outburst and Morgan released him from her arms, hopping back a step. Her eyes were wide open, as if she’d just been struck with inspiration.

“I just had an ah-mazing idea! You should come hang out with us!! We’re having a dinner party tonight, like a backyard barbecue kinda thing! This would be the perfect way for us to catch up, and for us to, y’know, smooth things over. And oh my gosh, Neal, all my old friends would love to see what a friggin’ hunk you’ve turned into. They won’t believe it!”

He liked the sound of that, she could tell.

“ ... Really?”

“Oh yeahhhh” she growled. “And like I said, some of those girls? They are always on the hunt for a good man to sink their teeth into. It is like a freaking buffet for single ladies at our little cookouts, and even some of the married ones. Can you imagine, like, Mary Harvey or Krystal Stein seeing you again after all these years?”

Mary Harvey? Krystal Stein?

These were names he hadn’t thought about at all since back in those dark days at the bottom of the social pecking order. But hearing them again brought back more memories. Sneering faces, scornful laughter, mocking comments whispered between cute teenage faces, or spat in his own chubby face if he dared to walk too close to their table in the school lunchroom...

“They’ll be, like, shocked to see what a hunk you’ve turned into” promised Morgan. “They’ll be amazed. That is, if you’re not busy tonight?“

“Well ... no!” he exclaimed.

It was a little scary how sudden the invitation was, not to mention the prospect of facing all those ghosts from his past at once. But it was also a chance to show them all at once what they’d been missing.

And with Morgan there to flirt with? What if more than one of them were hitting on him? What if they started competing with each other for the attention of the new Neal? Oh, man.

“I will warn you,” said Morgan, “Me and the Maneaters are still kinda the same in one major way. We all still tend to, ah, just see guys as meat, ya know? That definitely kept us from treating the smarter kids like you with the respect you deserved, but we know that now.”

“And I know you probably get all kinds of action these days, Neal, now that you’re all buff n’ stuff, but you still gotta throw the old Maneaters crew a bone tonight. Come show off what a stud you’ve turned into, since the last time they saw you!”

“You really think so?” said Neal, trembling with joy.

Morgan took a half-step forward to close the gap between them, brushing her athletic frame against his.

“Ooooh, yeah. And they get so horny when they’ve had a few drinks, too. It can get a little messy, whenever one of us brings a guy to the party ... By the way, you got a swimsuit?”

“A swimsuit?”

“Yeah” she smiled up at him. “‘Cause I forgot to mention, it’s a backyard beach party. Bikinis and other swimwear only, got it?”

Neal was surprised, but from his vigorous nodding and the swelling in his shorts, Morgan could tell that he got it, loud and clear.

She slung her little gym bag off her shoulder, unzipped it and searched inside for a little notepad and pen. She wrote down an address in hot pink, ripped out the page and handed it to him.

“Midnight” she instructed. “Don’t be late!”

As he took the paper and looked at her address, Morgan spun around on the heels of her white sneakers and walked away with a little extra sashay in the hips of her black lycra-clad booty.

“Wait... !”

“Sooorrrrry, gotta goooooo!” she sang.

Neal idly wondered if she played volleyball. How else could a woman keep an ass like that after high school? Then he imagined pushing himself into her from behind, feeling the crush of those incredible cheeks against his dick and balls.

She looked over her shoulder and gave him a cute little wave.

“Great running into you again, Neal! See you tomorroooow!”

After she departed, he stood lost in thought for a full minute before gradually gathering his wits again and hitting the showers. As he soaped up and washed himself off he replayed the whole encounter in his head and it just didn’t seem real.

Morgan Montgomery’s sudden reappearance out of the past? Her promise that he’d be begged for forgiveness by her old clique of fellow teen queens? Her abrupt exit after giving him an invitation to some sort of orgy with those same popular girls who’d helped to make his high school career a living hell?

It all seemed too good to be true, didn’t it?

But he badly wanted to believe there couldn’t be any strings attached. He needed to believe it. And so he did.

And by the time he was drying himself off and getting dressed in the gym’s locker room, Morgan had already relayed much of the news to her fellow former teen queens as she sped down the freeway...

“Yeah, bitch, I told you I could get him!” she said to her car’s hands free cellular speakerphone. “I mean, this is Neal the Seal we’re talking about! What... ? No! No, of course he doesn’t suspect anything...”

Neal got home as fast as he could and found his pair of swim trunks. He pulled a pair of blue jeans over them, and a sleeveless shirt completed the look. If Morgan thought he looked good in his workout shirt at the gym, just wait until she and the other girls saw him with his pants and shirt off!

When he looked up the address Morgan gave him, Neal saw that her house was in the next town over and in a pretty remote part, too. It was a big place, which didn’t surprise him. Everyone at Donner High knew that Montgomerys had money, and there were lots of rumors about the kind of debauchery her and the Maneaters got up to whenever Morgan’s parents were gone for the weekend.

Neal drove for almost an hour before arriving, right at midnight like he’d been told. The house was isolated deep in the country, and as he pulled into Morgan’s long driveway he couldn’t see any kind of pool in her backyard, although he supposed there didn’t have to be one for a “beach party” theme ... just beachwear.

A midnight beach party. Weird...

It was a warm summer night, but he still felt a little chilled in the silent stillness of the night surrounding him as he walked from his parked car to the silent, imposing house.

There was a note from Morgan taped to the front door, written in the same pink ink as the notepad page she’d given him, informing him the door was open and he should let himself inside. So he did.

Closed the door behind him, Neal looked around the empty living room for a moment before calling out.

“Hello? Morgan... ?”

Her reply came down the staircase opposite him.

“Hey Neal, I’m up here! You caught me changing!”

“Oh, sorry!”

“No prob! Go on into the kitchen and make yourself a drink, I’ll be right down!”

“Okay!”

“Hey, wait! Are you wearing shoes?”

Neal shouted back that he was.

“Take them off! Socks too! This is a beach party!”

After he removed his sneakers, Neal wandered in his bare feet down the short hallway to Morgan’s kitchen. There was a small table full of expensive liquor and some empty glasses. He took one, poured himself some rum and was about to check her refrigerator for cola to mix it with when he noticed some photos stuck to the fridge door with magnets.

They showed Morgan, of course, with family members in some pictures and girlfriends in others. There didn’t appear to be any boyfriends.

Some of the girls looked very familiar to Neal, as a matter of fact.

Some of them were Maneaters.

Even after all these years, there was no mistaking them. Shit, they still looked hot as ever, just like Morgan! How recent was this photo?

One group photo in particular caught his attention. It showed Morgan and some of the others at a nightclub, all dressed to kill and making their pouty duck faces for the camera. She was in the center, of course, the leader of the pack. It must’ve been taken recently, because aside from her makeup, she looked just as he’d seen her in the gym.

Neal leaned in for a closer look, and their smug expressions conjured up a dark cloud of unhappy memories ... He could even remember some of them by name...

There was Krystal Stein, who Morgan had mentioned, with her legs as long as a show pony and that mane of wavy brown hair that still went all the way down to her ass. Her tall height, thin frame and graceful stride turned every school hallway into a fashion runway for her expensive clothes.

He also recognized Nina Sandoval, the shortest and most stacked latina at Donner High. There weren’t many hispanics in his hometown back then, making her olive skin and thick curves seem extra exotic. Her hair was black and curly and her thick lips always seemed to be pouting, like that old cartoon character Betty Bloop or whatever her name was.

There were others girls in the picture whom he either didn’t know, or who were former Maneaters whose names escaped him. Despite some crow’s feet at the edges of their eyes, overall they looked better than ever, going from cute high schoolers to gorgeous women who were full-figured in all the right places.

“Hey Neal!”

Neal turned around to the voice behind him and nearly dropped his drink.

She was wearing a skimpy blue bikini, and twirled around to give him the full view with her ponytail flying out behind her.

Neal was sure her tits and ass would pop right out of those tiny patches of fabric any second. Her pussy was also barely covered, and probably completely shaved, judging by what he could see.

As Morgan completed her spin and faced him again, Neal heard clicking on the floor and saw that she was wearing stiletto heels. Not exactly typical beach attire, he thought, as she struck a sexy pose with one hand on her hip and the other behind her head.

“You like?”

“Yeah, it’s really...”

“Hey wait a minute, what gives? Where’s your swimsuit, Neal?”

Neal took a nervous swig of the drink he’d meant to put some cola into first, or at least some ice. It hurt his throat and made his eyes water a little.

“Oh, uh, that’s just ... It’s under my jeans, I gotta get dressed” he coughed.

Morgan stepped closer, heels clicking atop the floor tiles, and leaned past him to reach for the kitchen counter. Neal’s eyes were too busy running laps around her exposed skin to notice what she was taking out of the drawer next to him.

He was thinking about how the blue triangle of Morgan’s bikini bottom disappeared into her perfect ass, when suddenly he felt a strange sensation running down his back, like a pointy tree branch scraping against him.

Carefully balanced on her heels, Morgan dropped a squat and smiled up at Neal. As he smiled back, his eyes darted from the whites of her teeth to the glint of something shiny in her right hand.

Just as he realized what she was holding, Neal felt that same peculiar tingle shooting down his left pants leg. Then it ran down his right leg, and as his blue jeans peeled open like a banana he felt his sleeveless shirt opening up from the back and falling down his torso.

Morgan stayed squatting at the pile of ruined clothing around his feet, waving her knife back and forth with a mischievous grin.

“Shit!” he shouted. “You ... You cut off my clothes! You sliced them right off me... !”

“Uh oh, are you mad, Neal?” she teased.

He couldn’t believe what had just happened. How did she cut off his shirt and jeans in just a few quick motions, without even drawing blood? That knife must have been incredibly sharp, and how’d a girl like her become an expert with knives, anyway?

Before he could ask, she rose up and set the blade on the countertop. With her hands freed, she threw her arms over Neal’s muscular shoulders and clasped her fingers behind his head.

Back in the gym, it had been difficult for Neal to keep his cool with Morgan Montgomery, veteran babe of Donner High, pressed up close to him. But now they were touching skin, her soft tummy against his six-pack and her bikini-clad boobs squashed against his broad chest.

“Sorry about that” she said, kicking his clothes aside. “Guess I just couldn’t wait to unwrap all this beefcake you had hiding under there. Cute swim trunks, by the way. Did you mom pick those out for you?”

Even if this night was to be their peacemaking party, Neal didn’t like being teased by her now, even mildly. The hurt she’d caused back when they were kids still stung...

Even if he was starting to get hard now, as she cozied up to him...

“Nah, you know she didn’t” he huffed, still trying to be a good sport. “Come on!”

Morgan closed her eyes and continued to writhe against his body.

“I love having a man in the kitchen” she whispered. “Your body is so beautiful, Neal. You’ve really turned yourself into something delicious.”

“Thanks.”

“Oh, ‘thanks’? Is that all you have to say, when your fucking dick is poking into my leg, Neal?”

Before he could reply, Morgan detached herself from him and ran away to the living room as fast as her heels would allow.

“Hold on, I’ll be right back!”

He stood there in confusion for a moment, before returning his attention to her fridge, where he found a giant liter of soda pop for his drink. By the time he’d poured it into the glass, ignoring his own boner tenting own stupidly in front of him, she’d reappeared in the kitchen doorway holding up her cell phone.

“Oh, wait, no!” Neal protested, putting down his drink. “No, come on Morgan. Don’t take my picture!”

Morgan lowered her phone and leaned back on one heel.

“Aww, come on! No one’s gonna see these except for me, and the other Maneaters. I just wanna send ‘em a few pictures, give ‘em a little taste of the new and improved Neal they’ll be meeting soon.”

Neal considered the idea and kind of liked it, except for one detail.

“Well that’s cool, I guess, but ... You gave me an erection, Morgan. You’re not gonna take a picture of that, are you?”

“Why not?” she countered, holding up her phone again. “Now, smile!”

Neal did what she said, and heard her phone make its digital snapshot sound as it took the picture.

“Oh come on, you can do better than that!” she insisted. “Gimme a big smile, and show them your guns, bro!”

Hoping the tent in his beach shorts wasn’t too visible, Neal turned from side to side and flexed into his best poses. It did feel good to show off the spoils from all his months of lifting.

“Oooh, that’s hot, Neal!” cheered Morgan. “Show ‘em your stuff!”

The snapshot noises from her phone continued as she documented his physique. Neal was starting not to care if his hard-on was visible or not as he went through several more poses. He flexed his biceps, tightened his abs, faced away from the camera to show off his shoulders and neck muscles.