The Penn Friends Series Books 1-4: Penn Friends Boxset

by T H Paul

  Sitting there in her bedroom––a faded poster of One Direction hung a little torn and now shabby looking above the headboard of her bed––Penny had lined up her mum’s plants on the desk that stood next to the wall. Her mum was out so that she wouldn’t miss the plants for a while. Penny couldn’t bring herself to test something on an actual person until she’d managed to perfect it on something else––today it was a potted lemon tree that her mother had cultivated from a seed three years back. They’d got their first proper batch of lemons the previous year––three in total––and the plant had flowered once already this year, with what looked like another eight or so lemons beginning to show themselves.

  They were small and underripe, of course, though that was the point. Penny wanted to see if she could vastly increase the size of one lemon. Any change today would be deemed a great success, and Penny was delighted to be testing something meaningful again, her mind fixed on the outworking of her plan, even while the trial was yet to start. It took Penny a while this time to get into the state she needed to be, as she’d calmed a lot and had to focus quietly until that familiar feeling returned, and Penny could then engage her brain. Grow, she thought, though initially nothing appeared to be happening, as far as she could tell. Then, ever so gradually, it started to swell before her eyes. She couldn't believe it. The lemon she had been looking at grew until it was full size. Yellow and plump, it looked completely out of place beside the strawberry sized still green fruits that were otherwise growing naturally.

  She’d done it. She’d been able to make a living thing grow by thought power alone. She was going to have some fun with this new found aspect of her gift. Flat chested Kelly was about to have a huge surprise.

  Penny knew she couldn’t do it during the school day––it’d bring too much attention to the situation, and while that was what she ultimately wanted, she didn’t want eyes looking her way. She had to remain completely undetected. And besides, breasts don’t grow huge overnight. She’d space it out over a week, focusing in the early hours of the day before school started, and working it up over the coming seven days. By that same time the following week, Penny would make Kelly have the largest bust in the class, all just for fun, as well as revenge. Of course, some would say Penny would be doing Kelly a huge favour, but a girl like that, going through such a sudden change as she was about to, won’t see it that way. Penny knew that for certain. It would put Kelly in a very awkward situation, yet she would not be able to hide the change for long.

  Over the following seven days, including the weekend, which fell on days five and six of Penny’s experiment, she would set the alarm for half past six––she assumed Kelly would still be sleeping at that time. On the first day, Penny was so excited by the prospect of what was about to happen that it took her no time to get into the correct state. She focused her thoughts onto Kelly’s bust, which seemed a little odd at first, though was very abstract at best, done over such a distance. She did this in much the same way she’d done for the lemon tree, though this time she would at least allow both breasts to grow at the same rate. The thought had crossed her mind of doing just the one side. That would have taught her. Penny then showered and went down for breakfast. For once, she was looking forward to her day at school.

  Later that day, if Kelly had noticed anything different, she wasn’t otherwise letting on, and while not obvious to anyone else yet, Penny could tell. There was a definite change. By the Thursday––day three of the experiment––it was evident to all. The teasing had started now as well––it was quickly assumed Kelly was stuffing her top with socks or something. No one believed her breasts were real. It was soon not uncommon to hear catcalls during the breaks, as the boys were quickly catching up with what the girls were pointing out.

  Over the weekend, Penny increased the growth, so that by the Sunday, Kelly had the bust size of a grown woman. At least her mum might be able to lend her a bra; Penny amused herself with as she ate breakfast that morning. She had one final day to go, one last burst on Monday morning, and the transformation would be complete. The change from Friday to Monday would be telling; there would be no denying that.

  On Monday, Kelly came into school with what looked like two balloons stuffed into her now bulging white blouse––it was a poor excuse at that, too––and Penny laughed as she spotted much older boys stopping in their tracks as the big busted year nine girl made her way to class.

  A few boys had grabbed Kelly’s breasts, assuming they’d find something soft and fluffy, only for each to receive a slap. After the third such incident that Monday––the teacher had walked into the classroom moments before––strong action was taken. It was clear to the staff that a significant physical change had taken place––most assumed she’d had implants, which, while only fourteen, wasn’t unheard of––but still the actions of her classmates had crossed the line. A letter was sent home asking Kelly’s parents to come in and explain the situation. They were, however, at a loss themselves to understand what was happening. Her mother had assumed Kelly had been stuffing her top with socks, too, until she had come asking about borrowing a bra.

  Overnight, it seemed, Kelly had become the centre of attention. It was incredible for Penny to watch what an increased bust size could do around a group of pubescent boys. For Kelly, who’d gone from one extreme to the very other, suddenly the overly positive attention was equally as horrible as the teasing had been. She felt like an object. Even during gym class, as she got dressed into her sports clothes in the changing rooms, she felt the eyes of her peers watching her, as if in total unbelief that any of it could be real. She kept her bra firmly on––she would be going sports bra shopping with her mother the following weekend.

  Penny couldn’t help but snigger to herself in secret. She’d done this to Kelly, though wouldn’t be admitting that, nor would anyone have believed her, anyway. Penny told herself that Kelly had brought this on herself, by targeting her in the first place, with that stupid heart drawn onto a girls’ toilet door. Kelly had been the one who had taken something that was meant to be secret and had broadcast it around to give others a laugh. Even if those feelings had once been there, that Penny had once liked Jack––it had been nothing more than a twelve-year-old’s crush on a sweet looking blonde boy––she certainly didn’t feel anything for him now; which made it all the more ridiculous.

  As the P.E. lesson continued––thankfully for Kelly, it was volleyball, and while still not ideal for her new body, she was thankful they had already completed swimming sessions the previous term––the boys would snigger amongst themselves anytime Kelly jumped for the ball. There was a noticeable wobbling in her chest for a second or two after she landed. Even Jack was taking a look, much to Abbey’s growing annoyance, though Abbey never said anything. She just hit the ball as hard as she could, once catching Jack in the face, shrugging her shoulders as if to say I was just winning the point for my team.

  It wasn’t Penny who reconstructed the nickname for Kelly before the week was out––who, it was now obvious to all, could clearly no longer be teased as being flat chested anymore––Penny would have been proud of it if she had. Just seven days after Penny first went to work on Kelly, Penny heard the name used about Kelly––Kelly Implants. The name spread like wildfire through a dry forest, the girls spreading it mainly through jealousy, the boys primarily through admiration. No one believed they were in any way natural, though how such a poor girl from a low-life family––though that wasn’t accurate––could afford such a procedure, was a mystery to all. Some assumed it was state-funded, those children from middle-class families mocking a government who could just hand out their parents’ tax money to someone like that. An equal mystery was why any doctor would operate on a girl who was as yet not fully grown––which started a wave of fresh and wild speculation. Maybe Kelly wasn’t able to grow breasts, some said, the operation taken to correct some fundamental physical error in the girls internal wiring? They speculated what other body parts she mi
ght be missing. Some even joked that maybe she wasn’t born a girl at all––how the name Kelly could go both ways, so maybe that was what had happened?

  Kelly was more the outcast with huge breasts as she had been with none. What was clear is that no one was making fun of Penny anymore. The Jack incident was long forgotten––there was a fresh subject to victimise––and for that, Penny was happy.

  Though, for Penny herself, Jack still needed to be taught a lesson. For all she’d just learnt herself with the change she forced onto Kelly, it gave her some fresh ideas about how to cause Jack trouble.

  9

  Some things you can’t take back, as I was to learn properly that summer. When I’d first grown that lemon, it was impressive. I could farm whatever I wanted, though that was the last thing on my mind. I now had a way of really getting to people. But the lemon looked bizarre, and mum would have noticed for sure. Except, as hard as I tried, it wouldn’t go back to its previous size, because now it had all that extra peel. As with Abbey, one change set off a whole bunch of other changes. It did shrink, but the peel was flabby and saggy––I had to cut it off the tree altogether. I knew, therefore, I couldn’t just undo the breast job I’d given Kelly. I had the ability, but they would never be the same again and, besides, I was enjoying the reaction that Kelly was getting too much from everyone and not just those in our year, but by the second the entire school. I think even the teachers were wondering what was happening. I listened in on one of my male teacher's thoughts one lesson––the dirty little pervert he was. Kelly had got his attention.

  Science lessons that May gave Penny her next idea. They were doing biology, and there was mention of a link made between testosterone levels in men and their actions. Too much, for example in a sporting context, and it led to aggression, it limited the performance on the pitch and therefore affected the results of the team.

  No one could deem Jack an aggressive boy––what he might have lacked in that area, he compensated for in his actions and attitudes towards those deemed less than him, which was pretty much the entire year group. What if Penny was to increase his testosterone levels, though, to that of a fully grown man––and a beast at that? What then of calm, sweet, charming Jack?

  Penny decided to take a slow approach once more as she had done with Kelly and those boobs so that she would build it up over a week. It helped greatly that the next school football match for year nine was a couple of days after the week’s experiment was up, and there was also then a party arranged for the following weekend. Penny would get to watch Jack in two arenas, both of which he thought himself a player––the football field and the dance floor.

  Penny set her alarm clock for half past six each morning as she had for Kelly’s experiment, going through her now much practised and nearly perfected routine to get into the state she required before seven most mornings. She then focused in on Jack, giving him the ability of significantly increased hormone levels, meaning his body would create more and more testosterone over the next seven days. She could only laugh at the thought of what she was about to witness.

  Unlike growing breasts, which were not easy to hide, especially after day three, Jack’s new gift was a little less obvious to spot, though Penny had an idea for what to look. He was acting more competitive, at least at first, though his attitude changed massively as the week went on. Penny was fascinated at what might be going on inside Jack and looked up on the internet the effects of high testosterone levels, giggling to herself as she read through the results. It listed depression, aggressiveness, impulsivity, anger, mood swings, shrinking testicles and a lower sperm count as the biggest problems. She would have no way of knowing about the final two––though humoured herself at the thought––but the others listed all made sense with what she was seeing before her. Jack was one day the class clown, the next silent and sulky. Penny witnessed him through various faces, though only his eyes gave a hint of his now inner turmoil.

  When it was the day of the match, Jack seemed even more agitated than ever. She would make sure she was at the game later––she didn’t have much interest in football and had never stayed late before to catch a game––but this was different. She was less watching twenty-two players chase around a ball of leather than watching just the one––Jack, a pent up ball of testosterone waiting to explode.

  And he didn’t disappoint.

  He’d never once been sent off the field in his three years for the school team, but that was what happened midway through the first half when yet another challenge came in, and he just snapped, kicking out at his opponent and then receiving an immediate red card from the otherwise shocked referee. The team went on to lose the game two-zero. The coach was furious with Jack, though Jack himself had cleared off before the match was over, much to everyone’s annoyance.

  Penny just smiled from the sidelines. It was the first time she’d ever found a football game remotely interesting.

  When it was time to go, Penny spotted Abbey looking for Jack, it clear she too wasn’t impressed with his performance and subsequent disappearance. Penny followed Abbey at a distance. Abbey was on her phone as she walked, presumably in contact with Jack finally and now on her way to meet him and soon, just around the corner from school, in fact, Abbey caught up with her boyfriend. Jack had been crying, and Penny watched as he just stood there in front of Abbey, head on her shoulder, weeping. She held him tightly. Before long, however, his hands were running all over Abbey’s backside, pulling her tighter into him. Abbey shoved his hands away, though he grabbed her again.

  She slapped him. He stood there, motionless for a moment, his face red and raging, no doubt his blood boiling. Penny sensed it could have gone one of two ways, and at the point where she was wondering if it would all go spectacularly wrong, he broke down in tears once more and could be heard through loud wailing saying how sorry he was. Abbey kept him at arm's length but said she forgave him.

  Penny left them to it––she didn’t want Abbey to see her watching them––and instead made her way home. It was Friday; the weekend was ahead of them all, the Spring Ball was just a day away.

  10

  So it appears certain things don’t mix. Petrol and fire, oil and water, and a teenage boy with a man-sized level of testosterone. How was fourteen-year-old me to know to what it would lead? Half the adult life on this planet is a male species with testosterone running through their veins. They aren’t all rapists and bullies, depressed or happy-go-lucky weirdos. They all seem to keep things in check. How was I to know it would be anything different with Jack? How was I to know I had created a monster?

  It seemed summer had come early that Saturday morning, the day after the football match where Jack saw red, as each of the students in Penny's year woke up. Their thoughts soon shifted to that evening’s Spring Ball. The blue skies and warm temperatures were a welcome arrival, though as each person got ready––the boys in mostly hired suits, the girls in glamorous ball gowns––they started to curse the heat. Why couldn't it have held off another day, at least?

  Those who could afford it arrived that evening to school in hired limos or a parent’s flash car. Penny had no such option, nor did that thought bother her for too long. She arrived early instead, partly to avoid being seen walking to school––alone and dateless––but mostly so that she wouldn't miss anything. Tonight was not a night for tardiness.

  As the Spring Ball was a school event on school premises, teachers were present, if only to marshal the building a little. Alcohol was strictly forbidden, and the students were all underage anyway, not that this fact would usually hinder teenagers during the binge-drinking era of British history. A full range of soft drinks, however, as well as hot beverages, were purchasable in the canteen, which sat facing the entrance to the hall. It would be sure to make a roaring trade that night. The building felt as hot and stuffy as the streets outside.

  Penny had been one of the first to the hall. She had her spot picked, giving her a good view of everyone as they turn
ed up. She spoke to no one. By seven, all her class had arrived, the boys hanging around in small groups with each other, talking as they scoured the room. Caught at that awkward age, torn between wanting to get involved and being aware of their peers around them. Most would not dance with a girl that night.

  Jack was not in that group and came in boldly with Abbey on his arm as only an alpha male could. If anything, he was more pumped up than ever, and yet looked as handsome as Penny had ever seen him. She bit back that thought. She wasn't here to dote over Jack anymore. It was payback. She was here to witness the show. If he could have blown up so easily on the football field, what was possible tonight? What might happen over the next few hours?

  Even Penny couldn't have imagined how nightmarish it would all unfold.

  The Spring Ball was reserved exclusively for the oldest three years in secondary––as year nines, this was their first time they were allowed to come, and it was for this reason that Penny's year made such a big deal out of it. While there were students from the older years, it wasn't as well attended by either age group.

  By nine o’clock, most had danced themselves to tiredness. Only a handful of couples remained, and in the middle of them all swayed Jack and Abbey. Over the last half hour, the slower songs had given way to faster, more intense tracks, and Penny had witnessed an increased intensity to Jack. Anyone watching could have been mistaken to assume he was on some form of drug––maybe he was––but Penny knew what was also going on inside. And Jack had no way of knowing it himself, no way of understanding what was happening. No chance of stopping what she'd begun.