Chapter 4: Teenager

"How is it going, shrimp?" yelled Jerry. Alex waved at him halfheartedly while rushing to his next class. Since Alex learned to sit still most of the time, his old nickname of "Spaz" had thankfully fallen into disuse. His new nickname was not entirely to Alex's liking. It was mostly used in good humor, and Alex learned to accept it without animosity. Alas, it was justified. Alex was short and thin. He was, in fact, the second shortest boy in eighth grade, and to add insult to injury, most girls were taller than him, too.

Why, Alex wondered, was thirteen years of age a mystical boundary between childhood and adolescence? Since his birthday two months earlier, was he supposed to fall into moods, rebel against his parents, grow to his father's size, and develop uncontrollable sexual urges? He didn't think he was any more moody, but as he was somewhat moody to begin with, perhaps the effect was masked? It was probably better to ask an outside observer; he doubted self-observation of the frequency and intensity of moods was reliable. His arguments with his parents had been polite disputations for years, usually ending with concessions from his parents. Alex doubted that his rebellious tendencies were going to gain much outlet.

To his chagrin, he exhibited no signs of a growth spurt. He was never particularly large, but in earlier grades he was fairly close to average. However, lately, with the mystical onset of teenagedom, the size variance among his classmates had gone through the roof. A few ― very few ― remained child-sized. Like Alex. Most others grew, from a couple of inches to over six feet. It was downright embarrassing to look up so far at somebody who was close to his own height a year earlier. Alex worked hard not to let the embarrassment turn into intimidation.

One aspect that seemed true to expectation was the hormones. Almost overnight, the girls became fascinating and intimidating. Alex became hard at a drop of a hat. Not that he normally wore a hat, but his cock could become hard before a hypothetical hat could hit the ground. It was intensely embarrassing, and intensely uncomfortable. Anything could cause it: a glance at a girl's hair, a glimpse of a teacher's legs, an errant thought. Every phrase became suggestive to his over-revved "sex filter". At least, he understood in gory detail the process of puberty and the development of the endocrine system, which protected him from blushes and sniggers that afflicted his fellow teenage boys.

The physiology background didn't prevent erections, however. He realized that teachers were intentionally ignoring the lumps that sprouted in the boys' pants, and their awkward attempts to reposition and hide them. Alex was grateful for the teachers' courtesy, but it was still damn uncomfortable.

Alex normally hung around with the "nerds". Most of his friends were good students, fascinated by math, or space travel, or electricity, and so on. They didn't mind being called nerds, even being a bit proud of the sobriquet.

Jenny didn't fit their group, but her parents were friends of Alex's parents. They had known each other for years, and often talked at school. Jenny was a typical student — not struggling, but not particularly interested learning anything that wasn't required for class. She usually got, and was happy with, B's in her classes. She occasionally got help from Alex with tricky homework, and even more occasionally supplied him with some of the juicy gossip to which he was normally oblivious.

Jenny was about four months younger and a grade behind Alex. At the end of sixth grade, Little Jenny "grew up". She was now almost the same height as Alex, but not even close in shape. Whenever Alex thought of Jenny now, the word "lush" sprang into his mind. Whenever Alex actually looked at Jenny, his cock sprang erect, and his mind was too preoccupied with trying to hide it, while fighting off the images of Jenny under the tight outfits she wore.

Jenny was a little plump, but not fat. Her breasts and hips belonged to somebody much older than almost-thirteen, and when she walked Alex wanted to moan while watching her hips shift. From behind, her buttocks shifted left and right, and from the front, her marvelous, generous breasts bounced with every step.

"Little Jenny" was very conscious of the effect she had on boys around her, and she liked it. When in a group, Alex kept the conversation with this "friend of the family" innocent, or at least as innocent as a bunch of thirteen-year-olds overdosed on hormones can be. There were a fair amount of sniggers as his fellow nerds discovered, and sometimes forced, a double-entendre into nearly every topic. One-on-one, however, Alex and Jenny's conversations quickly descended into flirting and innuendo. Alex avoided the sniggers, and had a much richer array of banter. He fine-tuned it based on Jenny's reactions, abandoning jokes that went over her head, and keeping ones that made her giggle or blush.

Eventually, Jenny pushed things. She invited Alex into a broom closet with a broken lock, and with very little ado took his virginity. Jenny enjoyed it. It wasn't her first time, and she liked it for many reasons, including the risk of getting caught, and the fact that she was doing it with her older friend, Alex. She was definitely the teacher in this tryst, however.

Alex was completely blown away. Despite his extensive theoretical knowledge and vague musings on "the right way to do it", he completely forgot protection, or foreplay. Luckily, Jenny didn't need any, she was nearly as quick to spin-up as the boys she tried, and of course Alex was lucky he didn't go off as soon as he touched Jenny's moist opening.

Alex later found out that Jenny was on the pill, and with considerably more bother, that he didn't pick up STDs. They had one more encounter, at Jenny's house while her parents were at the movies.

Jenny, who genuinely liked sex, found other lovers. Not at the same time — Jenny tried hard to be serially monogamous. Her boyfriends were usually older, more handsome, and of course, taller than Alex. Alex wasn't quite crushed, but it was painful. He knew it wasn't love, but having sex with a girl created a great deal of fondness, especially when she was his first. Plus, Alex was horny. Jenny was friendly, but clearly into other, more enjoyable relationships. Perhaps she would make an exception for her old friend if he begged, but Alex's pride won over his horniness. It was a close call.

Alex flirted with a few girls in his classes. It was nice, but didn't go very far. The more adventurous girls had already paired up with the best-looking and popular boys; the rest were not ready to move past flirting. At least that was Alex's conclusion. His right hand got a lot of exercise.

Their suburban school was fairly small, and not particularly violent. Still, his classmates, even his friends — mostly nerds — often punched his upper arm, or patted his back with enough strength to stagger, or knocked his shoulder in passing. Alex knew this shoving game was not a challenge — merely excess energy, adrenaline and sheer testosterone that demanded an outlet. Alex had been feeling this type of energy for years and found ways to channel it. Alex grinned to himself: any need to shove — and be shoved — Alex satisfied on the floor of Mr. Kellogg's Dojo. Any energy left over was channeled into running. Alex was not likely to win any sprint competitions, but he was getting to be a pretty tough competitor on anything over 800m, despite his short legs. The track & field coach was getting very interested. Alex had been running almost every single morning since he was eight.