Chapter 2

Flying above the scene I quickly took stock of the situation. Two young men, almost still boys, probably still in their late teens, dressed alike in sleeveless white shirts and faded blue jeans and red bandannas around their heads, were beating up a businessman wearing a dark blue suit in a darkened alley. He was trying valiantly to defend himself, but he didn't stand a chance. He was armed only with his briefcase, while the two attackers had a tire iron and a baseball bat.

This time, before I rushed in, I checked for other weapons. They each were carrying a switchblade hidden in a jeans pocket. That should be no problem. Neither of them was carrying a gun; too bad, I would just have to make do with what weapons they were carrying.

The businessman was down on his knees, trying to shield his head with his briefcase. I quickly dashed in, deflecting the tire iron with my arm as the first guy swung it at the businessman's head. The iron bounced off my arm, the impact knocking it out of his hand. It clanged loudly as it dropped to the ground and bounced around a few times.

Without any hesitation his partner swung the baseball bat at my head. My other hand went up to catch it. The bat came to a stop as the hard wood met my harder hand. A quick flick of my wrist ripped the bat out of his grip, his male two-handed grip no match for one female hand. Another flick of my wrist and the bat handle hit him across the temple just below his bandanna, sending him sprawling sideways across the alley.

The first guy had retrieved his tire iron. He swung it at my head. Instead of ducking I merely braced myself. My head didn't move an inch as the iron hit, the impact again jarring the iron out of his hand to go clanging on the ground. He slowly backed away, shaking his hands from the pain and staring wide-eyed in amazement. Another flick of my wrist and the bat caught him in the ribs, sending him sprawling across the alley to fall atop his buddy. Neither of them moved.

Tossing the bat away onto the two bodies, I knelt besides the businessman. He had a bump on his head, but it didn't seem too bad. He wasn't bleeding. He'd have a nasty headache for a while, but he should be okay after he gets some sleep.

He struggled to get up. I helped him up to his feet, supporting him while he shook his head a few times to clear it.

"What? Who are you? What happened to those two thugs?"

"Don't worry about me. And you don't have to worry about those two, either. They won't be bothering you again, I took care of 'em."

"You took care of 'em? How?" He blinked his eyes a few times. "Who are you?" This was getting to be old hat. Typical reactions, typical questions.

"Don't worry about it. Are you going to be okay? Can you get home okay? Can I call you a cab? Or an ambulance?"

He reached a hand up to his head. "Ooh, I have a headache."

"You've got a nasty bump there. But there's no bleeding. And nothing's broken." I didn't tell him how I knew that nothing was broken; he wouldn't have believed me anyway. "You should probably go see a doctor tomorrow, anyway. Should I get you a cab?"

"No, I think I can make it. I only have two more blocks to go." He looked around and saw the bodies of his two assailants. He finally took a good look at me. He saw a golden-haired girl wearing a blue halter and blue denim cut-offs. He shook his head. "YOU took care of them? Both of 'em? How? Who are you?" More of the typical reactions and the typical questions. I supposed I couldn't blame his incredulity. If I had been in his place, I probably wouldn't have believed me, either.

I didn't bother to answer his questions. Instead I took his arm and led him out of the alley. "Which way?" I asked him when we reached the street. He turned to the right. I walked with him for half a block, still not answering his questions, instead telling him to be sure to see a doctor in the morning. When I was sure he could make it under his own power I let him go on by himself.

I quickly returned to the alley. The two men were just getting their limbs untangled. As I approached, the first one saw me, picked up his tire iron, and rushed at me. As the iron hit me in the side it again bounced off and out of his hands.

This time I reached out and caught the tire iron before it could hit the ground. "Here, you seem to have trouble hanging on to this. Let me help you get a better grip on it." I quickly twisted the hard steel bar, twisting it about his left wrist. He was too surprised to do anything more than just stare as I wrapped his arm all the way from his wrist to his elbow with the tire iron.

Just as I was done the other one hit me in the back with the baseball bat. I pushed the first guy down and turned to face the second one. He had a better grip; the bat was still in his hands. He swung it again, catching me in the chest, almost knocking my large breasts completely out of my halter. As he prepared for another swing, I shook my chest a bit, finishing the job; my breasts were now free of the confining halter. He didn't complete the swing; his male mind was completely distracted by my large bouncing female breasts. Men!

I reached out with my right hand and easily twisted the bat out of his hands. "Here, is this what you were trying for?" I asked him as I slipped the bat between my large breasts; it disappeared into my deep cleavage. Putting my hands on the ends of the bat, I smiled sweetly at him. Then I pushed and pulled to the left. My left breast gave a little as the bat pressed against it. Then there was no more give in my breast as it was now the bat's turn to give. The hard wood started to crack and splinter, before then shattering as it broke completely in half. I dropped the two end pieces, shaking my chest to free the remaining splinters from my cleavage. His eyes widened even further but they never left my bouncing breasts.

The first one had recovered enough to pull out his knife. He came up on me from behind, slashing up at my ribs. His knife slid across my skin, before catching and then cutting the strap around my neck. Pushing the batsman down, I turned to face him as the return swing sent the tip of his knife blade into the top of my right breast. The blade dimpled my breast in about an inch before it bent and then snapped off, the hard steel having more than met its match against my softest flesh.

The other man sprang up, thrusting his knife under my left breast, going for the heart. The hard steel blade lifted my full breast about two inches. Mmm, that felt good! The pleasure didn't last very long, though, as this hard steel blade also bent and then snapped as it too succumbed to my softest flesh.

"So, do you boys like playing with my breasts?" I asked them, smiling sweetly and shaking my chest to make my breasts jiggle a little more. They didn't even seem to notice my smile; they were too occupied with noticing something else. Something, or rather two somethings, quite a bit bigger than my smile, and bouncing around quite a bit more as well. Two pairs of eyes bounced between my bouncing mounds and their broken knives. The knives that were broken by the bouncing breasts their eyes kept returning to. "Do you want to play with them some more?"

They slowly started to back away, not taking their eyes off my bouncing breasts, their broken knives falling forgotten to the ground at their feet.

"Oh, c'mon boys. Play with them some more. It's okay, I'll let you, I want you to." I quickly stepped forward, grabbing a head with each hand as they were much too slow to evade me. I pulled their heads to my chest. They struggled to get free, pushing and hitting me as hard as they could. Ignoring their feeble male efforts, I slid their male faces over my very female breasts, rubbing my breasts before getting their mouths over my nipples. Even as they continued to feebly struggle, they began to suckle, their masculine bodies responding to my overpowering femininity.

Their hands on my breasts were almost interesting. Their mouths on my nipples almost made me tingle. Even then, I knew that their male bodies couldn't fully pleasure me, they were far too weak, far too soft for me.

Tiring of their pathetic feeble attempts to pleasure me, I tightened my embrace. Their heads pressed harder against my breasts, their attempted screams muffled against my soft flesh, until their struggles ceased. I released them, letting their unconscious bodies fall to the ground. I used their belts to tie their wrists behind their backs. I carried the two bodies across the alley to the trash dumpster and threw them in. I ripped off the remains of my slashed halter and tossed it in the dumpster with the two bodies.

Looking around the alley once to make sure that there were no witnesses, I flexed my long legs and leaped high into the night sky. A few blocks away I found a pay phone on a dark street corner. I dropped down and called the police. I told them about the beating and mugging, gave them the location, and told them to send a patrol car. When the woman on the other end asked for my name, I told her to just send the car and then I hung up the phone. I then leaped back up into the sky, heading for home.

As I flew home, I regretted that I hadn't arrived on the scene a little earlier. Two minutes earlier and I would have been able to keep that businessman from getting hurt. I also wondered if I did the right thing, showing the two thugs mercy; I had thought about simply killing them. But what kind of 'mercy' had they been showing their victim? Was that lone businessman any match for the two of them, armed as they were?

I again used Mom's connections to get the police report. An anonymous female caller had told them about a beating and mugging, and given the location. A male caller had also reported the same incident.

When a patrol car had arrived at the scene, they had found two black teens, members of a local gang. They were unconscious, tied up, and lying in a trash dumpster. One of them had a tire iron wrapped completely around his left arm; it had required over an hour to cut it off without taking his arm off. There was a broken baseball bat, snapped in half. They also had found two knives, the blades broken off, no traces of blood on the broken blades. To add to the mystery, there had been a slashed and ripped woman's halter lying on top of the two bodies in the dumpster. No blood on the halter, either. There were no traces of blood anywhere.

When the male caller had come in to the police station in the morning he had identified the two men. He had told them that a young girl had somehow saved him. When questioned further about his rescuer, he had said just that it was a young blonde girl, apparently no older than his own teenage daughter. The police hadn't really believed his story, having believed him to have been so dazed from the blow to his head. Instead, they had suspected a rival street gang. The two men had refused to say anything.

As I reread the part about the businessman and the reference to his daughter, I thought back to the time when another man had been surprised by his teenage daughter. Though it had been a stepdaughter in this case.

It was a Saturday morning. This was SO cool! Oh boy, do we have a surprise for Steve! He was due back from spending three weeks back at his old school, helping out his old football team during their spring training. Mom and I were waiting, dressed in matching Broncos tee shirts and running shorts in anticipation of his homecoming, and of our little 'surprise'. This was going to be SO cool! The girl welcoming him home won't be the same little girl he left behind just three short weeks ago. No, I definitely was not the same little girl I had been three weeks ago!

Mom and I had a little surprise party all planned out for him. Though of course Mom won't let me overdo our little surprise party. It was still going to be SO cool!

Finally, the cab pulled into the driveway. Steve, all six-three and two hundred fifty pounds of solid muscle, dressed in a casual shirt and a pair of slacks, got out. He got his suitcase out and paid off the driver. The cabby gave Mom an appreciative once-over before driving off, probably thinking that the jocks get all the babes. If he only knew!

I approached Steve and he lifted me up by my waist so that I could give him a quick welcome-home kiss. Cool! Just wait until he finds out that I can lift him up easier than he can lift me up! He set me down and I stepped back so that Mom could give him a proper welcome-home kiss. I tried not to stare too much, opening the front door and going on in ahead of them. In a few moments Steve followed, with his suitcase in one hand and Mom in the other. As she closed the door, she took the suitcase from him and said to him, "Why don't the two of you go on ahead? I think Julie has something special that she wants to show you." As Steve turned to look at me questioningly, Mom gave me a big wink.

"Okay, what have the two of you cooked up for me this time?" he asked me, walking over to me and towering over me as I stood in the foyer. He knew that we usually would have one of his favorite dishes ready for him when he came home from a long trip. Mom sure knew her husband well, those were almost exactly the words she had said that he would use.

Well, this special may be appetizing, but he wasn't going to eat anything yet! Not until after the show. And maybe quite a bit later, if I read Mom correctly. She had told me quite a bit about Arions. I sure hoped that Steve wasn't too tired for her.

"You must be tired from your flight," I said, smiling up at him. "Here, let me help you." With that, I bent down and got an arm around his big muscular legs. Straightening up, I picked him up in my arms and carried him into the living room, depositing him gently in his easy chair. I had no trouble with his weight; he only weighs about twice what I do.

"Wh-what the...? Are you...? Is she now...?" he stammered out, looking at Mom as she followed us in, balancing his suitcase on the tip of one finger.

"Yes, our little Julie is definitely her mother's daughter." Mom had told me that Steve already knew that she wasn't really my mother. "She's a year ahead of schedule. Already she's almost as strong as your own superwoman."

"If you're not TOO tired, why don't you change and join us downstairs in the gym," I suggested with an inviting smile.

"You bet!" He jumped up out of his chair and practically flew across the living room and up the stairs towards the master bedroom. I guessed that he wasn't too tired from his flight. I was also glad that Mom had told me to stand on this side of his chair. Otherwise Steve might have gotten flattened when he ran into me and bounced off.

Mom put down the suitcase and took my arm. Giggling at Steve's reactions, we walked at a more sedate ladylike pace downstairs to the gym to wait for him. We were still giggling when he came flying down the stairs and entered the gym, wearing only his workout shorts. As he skidded to a stop, Mom and I both whistled at him. After all, a pro linebacker has a pretty good bod, even if his Terran muscles couldn't match our star-born ones for strength.

"Steve, why don't you show us how you do it? Start with the bench press, why don't you?" Mom suggested, immediately taking command of the situation as he blushed at our whistles.

Steve obliged her. He got on the bench, slid into position, and after taking a few deep breaths, started pressing, the large muscles on his arms and chest growing even larger as he pressed the four hundred plus pounds.

After five reps, Mom said, "Now Julie, why don't you show us how the women of this family do it?"

"Sure thing, Mom," I replied, walking over to the head of the bench. Steve racked the bar and scooted off the bench. I reached out and grasped the bar in the middle with my right hand. Taking one deep breath and leaning back for balance, I smoothly curled the four hundred plus pound weight up to my chest. I did five quick repetitions before transferring the bar to my left hand and repeating the five reps. I then tossed the bar back to my right hand and lifted it up over my head. I pressed it overhead five times with each hand before placing the weight back on the rack and smiling at Steve. He was doing some more lifting of his own; he was just picking his jaw up off of the floor.

'Now the machine, Julie."

"Okay, Mom." I walked over to a weight machine and squatted down, partially inside the chrome-steel frame. My legs exploded with muscles as I straightened them, lifting the entire machine up off the floor. As I set the machine down, Steve's mouth was wide open again.

He tried to say something, but nothing came out. His mouth opened and closed a few times. It kind of reminded me of the little goldfish we had years ago.

"I'm glad you liked our little show. It went just like Julie and I rehearsed it," Mom managed to get out through her laughter.

"I'd love to show you more, but the girls and I are going to the movies. And I'm sure the two of you have some, uh, talking to do, after so long," I smiled at them. "And don't worry, it's a double-feature, so I won't be back until almost dinner time." I gave each of them a quick kiss and ran up the stairs. I had noticed the shape of Steve's shorts. Mom had been right, strong women definitely turn Steve on. This is SO cool! Now I'll have to go find a guy of my own. Someone just like Steve, maybe.

Steve couldn't believe his eyes. Usually when he came home from an extended trip his wife and stepdaughter would have a little surprise cooked up for him. And usually, 'cooked up' was the correct term, either one of his favorite dishes or a new exotic dish. Sometimes after dinner, when they were alone his beautiful alien wife would model some new lingerie for him, before throwing him onto the bed and giving him a proper welcome home.

But today the stage had belonged to his blonde ponytailed teenage stepdaughter. First she had carried him into the living room, seemingly expending about as much effort as he would have expended carrying in the morning paper. Then she had lifted his heaviest weight with one slender arm. Well, the arm had been slender until she flexed, making those muscles explode onto that arm. While those muscles weren't as big as his wife's were, they still were certainly impressive. And then she had lifted the entire weight machine. He was familiar with his wife doing all of those things; he had seen them all many times. And while he had known that her daughter, really her foster daughter, would eventually be much more powerful, it was still a shock to actually see it with his own eyes. It was hard to believe that this was the same girl as that shy and skinny thirteen-year old girl that she had been when they had first met.

As she kissed him and went off to see some movies with her friends, he hoped that she hadn't noticed his reaction. His wife had noticed, however.

"I sure hope that that's for me," she said as she pulled him to her with her powerful arms. One quick yank of her strong hands ripped his shorts apart. She then tossed him down on the mat and leaped on top of him. Her long deep kiss told him how much she had missed him. When he started struggling for air she let up.

"All this in three weeks? I thought nothing was going to happen until she turned sixteen," he managed to get out, when he had recovered some of his breath.

"That was just an educated guess, darling. She's already more than half my strength," she told him, getting up to a kneeling position, her long shapely legs outside his finely chiseled torso. With a wicked grin on her face, she continued, "She's over twenty times as strong as you are, so if you had ever thought about molesting your little stepdaughter, you can forget about that now, big boy."

"I never! You'd kill me. Besides, you never leave me with enough energy to do anything like that. Not after you get through molesting me."

"That's for sure! And I'm going to molest you some more right now, big boy!" To emphasize her point she ripped her shirt apart and leaned forward. All thoughts about the girl left his mind as two very large and full breasts all but smothered him. As he was fondling and suckling, her strong hands ripped off her own shorts. She then raised herself up and backed up, lowering herself onto his throbbing tool.

Not for the first time, he found himself wishing that he had even a tenth of the strength that his beautiful wife possessed. Hell, he'd settle for even a twentieth! If only he could toss around opposing running backs as easily as she could toss him around. Pro Bowl every year, Hall of Fame after retirement. Of course he wouldn't toss around running backs in quite the same way as she tossed him around.

But he knew that it was only a pipe dream, a selfish wish. She had already done everything possible for him. His strength had increased about ten percent, and his body was much tougher, much more injury-resistant, than ever before. In fact, he hadn't had an injury, on or off the field, since the one that had brought the two of them together in the first place. It was the second-best gift he had ever received. No, make that the third best. The second best was the teenage daughter who had just started to manifest her own alien powers. Of course, the best gift he had ever received had been when this black-haired beauty who was currently 'molesting' him had answered in the affirmative to a certain question he had asked her. A certain question that had gone with the ring now around her finger.

His hands, even with their enhanced strength unable to make the slightest dent in those muscles--God they're huge when she flexes, he thought yet again--found a part of her body that they could dent. Two parts. His hands tried to surround those large full breasts, squeezing as hard as he could. His efforts elicited some low moans from her as she continued pumping her long strong legs.

After two fantastic orgasms each, she got up off of his exhausted body. "Oh, poor darling! You need some rest," she told him as she reached down and picked him up. She tossed him over her shoulder and started climbing up the stairs. "Jane carry Tarzan to bed," she teased him. He loved playing Tarzan to her Jane, though they usually did it slightly differently than always depicted in the movies. Perhaps more than just slightly different.

When they reached the master bedroom, she laid him down gently on the bed. "Jane hope Tarzan got some rest. Jane going to use Tarzan," she said, thumping her chest with her fists. And what a chest, he thought, not for the first time. From the way her breasts were bouncing, he knew that she was hitting them hard, much harder than he could, probably hard enough to crush an ordinary Terran's ribcage. Yet the only effect they had on her was to make her large breasts bounce. And what breasts! He realized that he was responding to her display, she always knew how to get him to rise to the occasion. He knew she had also noticed, for she came at him again. And again. Julie's little exhibition had really inspired him, he managed to keep going for a full three hours. Even her enhanced Arion libido was sated. For the time being.

She eventually managed to rouse herself. Leaving him napping, she quickly showered and headed downstairs to start preparing dinner. She knew that she would need some more energy for tonight. She hoped that a good meal would provide enough energy for his 'frail' Terran constitution to keep up with her tonight.

Rats! I should have stayed out with my friends just a little longer. I came home just in time to help Mom with dinner.

Dinner that evening was a quiet meal, at least if you didn't count me. Both Mom and Steve quietly ate a lot, while looking and smiling at each other a lot more. He looked a little more tired than he did when he had come home that morning. Well, maybe more than a little tired. Even Mom looked a little tired. I didn't have to guess at what they must have been doing while I had been at the movies. Steve asked a few questions about the recent developments. With some prompting from Mom, I managed to describe the recent events and the physical training I was doing with Mom.

"Julie, would you mind cleaning up by yourself tonight?" Mom asked as we finished eating.

"No, not at all, if you two have something better to do," I smiled, giving them a wink. Steve flushed a little red.

"Thank you, Julie. And as for you, big boy, I don't want you wasting any energy." Now that she didn't have to hide her Arion strength from me, she picked Steve up in her arms and carried him up the stairs to their bedroom.

Mmm, that looks like fun. I can't wait to try that with a boy of my own. That would be so cool!

Who that boy would be, I really didn't have the slightest clue. But whoever it might be, it would be so cool!

That Monday I came straight home from school again. Steve was downstairs, working out in the gym. I quickly changed and went downstairs. He had just finished some bench presses when I entered the gym. I walked over and joined him at the bench. "Are you done with this for now? Can I borrow it for a while?" I smiled and reached out and grasped the bar, ripping off some fast one-arm curls.

"No, no! Not like that," Steve told me after he picked his jaw up off the floor. He walked over to the weight rack and selected a smaller weight, one that he himself could curl one-handed. "Even though I can't come close to matching you or your mother for strength, I think that I can still help you on your technique." With that, he started showing me the proper techniques for using the weight equipment, instead of just relying on brute force alone, as Mom had taught me. Not just with the free weights, but with the machines as well.

"I thought that I'd find the two of you down here." Mom had come downstairs, still in her business suit. "Let me get changed and I'll join you. Oh, and Julie, here." She opened her briefcase and took out a small package, which she tossed to me. "Go in the steam room and try it on. But don't come out until I give you the word."

I went into the steam room and opened the package. It was a tiny bikini. Not quite as skimpy as Mom's, but of a similar design and of the same color. Cool! My first bikini! Until now I've always worn one-piece suits, I really didn't have the kind of body that would look good in a bikini. Though with what Mom had told me, that would change soon. But it couldn't be soon enough for me.

Smiling at what I thought that Mom was planning, I quickly changed. I then put on one of the dressing robes we kept in here. Opening the door slightly, I peeked out.

In just moments Mom was back, wearing her bathrobe. She strode out to the middle of the wrestling mat. Looking towards me, she saw me peeking through the doorway and gave me a wink. Turning to face Steve, she slipped out of her robe, revealing that skimpy bikini. She then began posing and flexing, making her muscles explode onto her sexy body. Steve crawled across the mat and began kissing her legs. She pushed him away after a bit, saying "Now, now, Steve. Our little daughter is watching." Raising her voice a bit, she called out to me, "Okay, Julie, you can c'mon out of there now."

I stepped out of the steam room and walked over to stand next to Mom. Imitating her as best I could, I slipped out of my robe. I heard Steve's gasp and saw Mom's smile. Since it was my first bikini, of course he'd never seen me in one. Or two, as the case may be. Anyway, there wasn't much to see. Not much bikini, that is. It left a lot of ME to be seen. Almost too much. Continuing to imitate Mom, I posed and flexed, making my new muscles explode onto my body. Mom smiled and hugged me.

Then I felt Steve. He was still down on the mat, his arms around both our legs, caressing and kissing them. "Sorta like a stray puppy, don't you think?" Mom said, giving me a wink. She then reached down a hand and lifted him up to his feet. "Okay, you big hunk. Your turn!" She hugged him and pulled his lips down to hers.

Through the rest of the spring and into the summer Steve continued to coach me, both at weight training and at wrestling. It was obvious where Mom had learned her wrestling; Steve had wrestled competitively in addition to playing football through school, and was still among the best wrestlers on the Broncos. Mom joined us when her schedule allowed.

My strength continued to grow. By early summer I was starting to beat Mom at arm wrestling about a third of the time. But she was still stronger and much more experienced; I couldn't beat her at wrestling.

One week while Mom was away on one of her business trips Steve started showing me a new move. "I never taught your mother this one. I've kept it back and I try it out on her now and then. But she's so much stronger than I am, she doesn't really pay attention to what I do, she just overpowers me and does what she wants to do. But you're getting up to her level. This may just let you give her a little surprise when she gets back," he told me with a conspiratorial wink and smile.

Without using too much of my strength I wrestled with Steve. He took me down several times, explaining what he was doing, move by move. He then had me try it. Very gently I tried to copy his moves. He pointed out my mistakes and corrected them.

By the end of the week Steve was confident that with this new move I could beat Mom, despite her greater strength and experience. I couldn't wait to try it out on her.

The day after Mom came home we had another training session. I hoped that Steve hadn't given it away last night, after Mom carried him up the stairs saying that she wanted him to catch her up on everything that we had been doing while she was gone.

Mom and I were wearing our workout bikinis, as usual. As Steve backed away, preparing to referee, he gave me a wink. We started wrestling. I tried the usual moves, she countered them. Then I tried the new move and it worked! She went down onto her back. I quickly pinned her shoulder blades to the mat. Cool! It was my first victory!

"What? I don't know that move," she said, getting up to her feet. She saw me striking a double biceps pose for Steve, and also saw Steve grinning back at me. "Okay, my little one, you caught me off guard with that little trick. Think you can do it again?" she challenged me.

This was not so cool! A total bummer! I was completely humiliated. She pinned me in less than thirty seconds. Three times in a row. "Who's the champ here?" she asked, releasing me the third time and smiling down at me.

You are, Mom," I told her, still red-faced after having been beaten so easily.

"And don't you forget it," she told me, before giving me a big wink. "But it was all a matter of technique. Soon, with your growing strength and with Steve's coaching, you'll be beating me just as easily. Even more so," she continued. "Hmm, I wonder where she could have picked up that little trick?" Turning to Steve, she smiled at him. "How about you, big boy? You wanna go a few rounds with the champ?"

He knew that he stood absolutely no chance against her, but he eagerly stepped into the circle. I backed out to referee. I could see that she was holding back, not using anywhere near the strength she had used on me, not wanting to hurt him, but it didn't take her long to pin him. His technique was much better, but his 'frail' Terran body just couldn't compete against her Arion strength and quickness. Taking advantage of her pinned opponent she kissed him before getting up off of him and lifting him up to his feet.

The second round went pretty much like the first round, including the victory kiss at the end.

The third round went differently, it lasted quite a bit longer. She wasn't going for the pin. Instead, she toyed with him. Two hundred fifty pounds of world-class athlete, completely helpless against a beautiful woman half his size. She would let him get her into a hold, and then effortlessly break out. She picked him up and lifted him over her head while walking around the mat. She squeezed him between her legs. She squeezed him in her arms. She used various one-armed holds on him. She jammed his face against her large full breasts. Through it all, he was really resisting, trying to break free of her holds. Well, maybe not that last one. Then she finally pinned him, using just one hand to hold him down.

The victory kiss, like the round, lasted quite a bit longer. I didn't see exactly how long, because I didn't see the end of it. When her hands moved down to his hips and began tearing his shorts apart, I realized it was time for me to shower and start preparing for dinner.

Several times Steve invited some of his Broncos teammates over for informal wrestling 'tournaments'. Of course on those occasions Mom and I didn't wrestle. It wouldn't be right for a player's wife and teenage daughter to clean up on the men's 'championships'. Instead we made sure there were enough sports drinks and ice water for them and cheered them on from the sidelines, sipping our own iced teas or lemonades.

Of course we were dressed in something a little more substantial than our workout bikinis, we didn't want to distract the men. Not too much. We endured a little good-natured ribbing from the men, who wanted to see us, wrestling each other. Mom and I always acted very 'ladylike' and declined. It was our little secret, that either of us 'ladies' could have whipped all of them, without even working up a sweat.

According to Mom, when I'm fully mature I should be able to take on the entire NFL. I really couldn't imagine doing anything like that, but it would be SO cool to be that strong!

Mom continued to work on my other Velorian abilities as well. My hearing had developed first. I could now hear conversations a block away. She worked on my discrimination, so that I could focus in on one conversation in a crowded mall, tuning out all the others. School was bad enough as it was, without hearing half of the lectures going on in the building at the same time.

This summer morning Mom taped up an eye chart on the wall at one end of the gym. She made me stand at the far end of the steam room, where I could see the chart through the open door. "Read this row," she prompted, pointing at the middle of the chart.

I read it.

"Not from memory, Julie! READ it!"

"But I did, Mom! I really can read it from here."

"Okay then, this row," pointing down a row.

I read that row. I read all the way down to the bottom of the chart. I even read the name and address of the printing company, printed in the corner in even smaller letters. I didn't think that I was going to need glasses for a good long while.

She began dimming the lights. "Let me know when you can't read it any more."

"No problem. I can still read it fine. Keep going." Being in the basement, and with no windows, it got pretty dark in here. "Keep going." She continued to dim the lights. Eventually, the only light was coming from the tiny night light in the corner. "I can still read it."

"Steve, could you unplug that night light?"

"So that's why you had me sit here in the corner all by myself. I thought that I had done something wrong." He reached over and unplugged it. Now the room was as dark as it was ever going to get.

"I can still read it."

Mom squatted down and started searching for something on the floor. "Where's that newspaper?" she muttered to herself, under her breath.

"To your left, about six inches," I called out.

"What? Oh, thanks, Julie." I could see her smile. She opened the newspaper at random and stuck her finger on it. "Okay, read."

"You've got it upside down, and your finger's on a picture. But it's of the Colorado Symphony concert at Macky Auditorium on the CU campus last night."

Mom turned up the lights back up, reversed the paper, and read for a few seconds. "Steve, you can plug that back in now." She picked up a blank sheet of paper and held it over a portion of the eye chart. Putting her hand behind the paper, she said, "Okay, read this row."

"Mom! I can't even see your hand. I can't see which row you're pointing at."

"Try harder!" she commanded.

I tried harder. I opened my eyes as wide as I could. I squinted. I focused. I unfocused. I tried one eye at a time. I even crossed my eyes. Nada. Zip. Nothing. "No good, Mom. I just can't see it."

"Okay, you can come on out of there now. There's only one more test, for today." She reached into a pocket and came up with a wooden kitchen match. Holding it out at arm's length, she told me to light it.

"Huh? How?"

She explained how a Velorian's heat vision works.

I tried, but I couldn't get anything to come out of my eyes, except for a few tears as I squinted hard. They only seemed to work one-way, input-only.

"Okay." She put the match away. "Good acuity, good darkness, but no penetration, and no heat." She made the entries into her logbook.

After lunch the three of us strolled down to the park and walked around the lake. I told Mom and Steve about some of the other conversations going on around us. I told them which of the girlwatchers rated me above Mom and vice versa. Of course, in our large baggy tee shirts, they didn't have much to go on besides our legs and faces. My golden hair almost made up for my skinny legs. I even told them how the menwatchers rated Steve, and which young woman thought that he was too fat. "I'm sure that if you took off your shirt she would change her opinion in a hurry," I teased him.

"No way! I already have all the women I can handle right now. And certainly all the superwomen." The sweet hunk put an arm around each of us as we continued to walk around the lake.

On the way home we stopped at an ice cream cart for some cones. Steve must still have been thinking about being called fat, for he passed on his own cone. Instead, he contented himself with just a lick of Mom's. And a lick of mine. And another lick of Mom's. It's a good thing that Mom and I both ordered double-scoops. But then, unlike Steve, we didn't have to worry about getting fat. Our Supremis bodies would use what they needed and discard the rest, instead of storing it as fat. Our bodies had a different method for storing energy. Mom had plenty of energy stored away, my body was still working on it. Mom and I would have to really work at getting fat. And who wanted to work that hard?

All too soon summer was over and fall was upon us. Another Broncos season for Steve and another year of school for me. As a sophomore, I wasn't one of the new kids in school.

Though I was still a long ways from my full potential, my powers were growing. I was now just about a match for Mom's strength, at about fifty Terrans. I could hear conversations half a mile away. I could read a newspaper at that distance. I was starting to see through things. But only thin stuff so far, like paper and cloth.

That was a major distraction at school. I didn't have to imagine what a boy looked like undressed, I could actually see him. And I could see their reactions to me. Since my manifestation had started, I'd added two inches to my height, seemingly all in my legs. Not only were my legs longer, but they were also much shapelier, as the muscles on my thighs and calves were much better defined. I had also added a few more inches, well, somewhere else, between my neck and my waist. I tried to keep my pheromones in check, but I couldn't completely stop them. What Mom had told me about the boys sniffing after me was definitely true. Even if the boys didn't know what was happening, it was flattering. Very flattering, and cool, but still very distracting.

But it was too much fun to stop. I checked out almost all of the boys. After all, the boys were checking the girls out. They just didn't know that one girl was checking them out much more thoroughly than they could imagine. Anyone that looked even remotely interesting got checked out. Of course some of those weren't interesting at all after I checked them out. But how was I to know until I checked them out? And others made up for the disappointing ones.

I still couldn't fly though. Mom had driven us up into the mountains almost every week during the summer, where we could try to get away from the people. We would run and lift. She kept working on my flying, but every time that I jumped up into the air I would come back down. Normally, with gravity unimpeded. At least I was getting better at landing so that I wasn't falling flat on my face all of the time. Smashing rocks with my face was cool the first few times, but it got old fast.

At least I wasn't getting hurt. My skin had toughened up, to the point where a knife couldn't cut me. Even a surgical scalpel couldn't cut my skin. A hammer blow would just bounce off. Mom even had made Steve get out his old boxing gloves and use them on me a couple of times. He could knock me down, since I didn't have my flight powers, but he couldn't hurt me. It just tingled a little. He could pin me against a wall and pound away with everything he had. This was SO cool!

It was a good thing that our neighbors never saw the big pro football player pounding away with his boxing gloves on his teenage stepdaughter; it would be kind of difficult to explain to the police that it was hurting his hands more than it was hurting me.

It wasn't that I couldn't feel it, my skin was just as sensitive as it had always been, maybe even more so. It just didn't hurt, my threshold of pain had moved up so high. Oh, I could still feel pain, when something hit me hard enough. Fortunately, the only thing around that could hit me hard enough to hurt was Mom, and she only hit me when we were sparring, working on our Arion and Velorian martial arts.

I guessed that I'd never get my ears pierced now. Or any other part of me. And I wasn't sure how I would go about shaving my legs. Though Mom told me that Velorians usually don't have hairy legs.

Somewhat paradoxically, as my body got harder and tougher, Mom started working with me on making myself softer. "When you're grown, your body's going to be harder than a marble statue," she told me. "I don't think that too many of your boyfriends are going to enjoy holding and kissing a marble statue. Or, uh, making love to one. Unless you get yourself a Velorian boyfriend, or maybe an Arion Prime."

"Mom! I don't even have a Terran boyfriend. And no one's even tried to kiss me yet. Except for you and Steve," I smiled.

"How long do you think that that's going to last? Especially as you continue to, uh, mature? Anyway, you're still going to have to shake hands with people. And you'll be bumping into people in the halls at school, or they'll be bumping into you. And believe me, boys will be trying to feel, uh, certain softer parts of you."

"Mom!" But I knew that she was right; my soft chest was already just about as hard as Steve's muscular chest was, and I was going to get a lot harder in the next year or two. And I could see how a boy might get turned off if he couldn't even make the slightest dent in my 'soft' breasts. Especially if my breasts kept on growing like they had been recently.

With Mom's help I learned how to 'soften' myself. It was amazing, even when I was being 'soft' I retained my toughness, I still couldn't be hurt. I couldn't quite make myself as soft as an ordinary Terran girl, I had to be content to be remarkably fit and firm.

Not all of my changes were physical. My Velorian libido was definitely beginning to kick in. Over one of our many hot chocolate sessions, Mom had told me that Velorians don't wear much clothes, just barely enough for modesty, since we don't need them for protection. As a result, Velorians tend to be a bit exhibitionistic, proud of their bodies. I had to admit that there were times when I had wanted to wear more revealing clothes to school, to show off a bit more. I refrained because that's not the Julie my friends knew. And I didn't think that they were ready for the 'New and Improved' Julie. I kept wearing my usual large tee shirts and not-too-tight jeans. Even then the boys were beginning to notice me, the same boys that had been ignoring me just the previous year.

It was tough, not showing off my new body, and my new strength. I had to resist the urge to excel in gym class, holding myself down to only normal Terran levels. I knew I was easily the best athlete in school, male or female.

But it was different at night, when I was alone in my own room in my own bed. In my fantasies I wanted to show off, to let the boys see that their muscles were no match for mine. With the emphasis on 'see'.

I strolled into the weight room while the football team worked out, dressed only in my tiny bikini. I walked about, checking out their bods, spreading my pheromones, and letting them see the muscles rippling on my body as I walked.. Making sure that every eye was glued to my almost naked body, I approached the boy using the heaviest weight and asked him if I could borrow it for a minute. I proceeded to do some quick one-arm curls with it before twirling it over my head like a baton. I twisted the bar into a pretzel before giving it back to him. I worked out with one of the weight machines, lifting the entire machine up over my head and pressing it a few times with each hand. On my way out I felt up any boy I wanted to. If any of them tried to feel me up however, I simply picked him up and tossed him across the room, or else I handcuffed him by twisting a barbell around his wrists.

The next day I walked onto the practice field, again dressed only in my bikini. I first walked by the cheerleaders, letting them, and the boys who came to watch them, compare our bodies. I then pushed our all-conference middle linebacker out of the defensive huddle. "Let's do it," I told them. Whatever the play was, I made the tackle. It didn't matter how many blockers tried to stop me; I went through them like they weren't there. I made tackles with one arm. I made tackles by picking up the ball carrier and dropping him onto the ground. Nobody could avoid me; I was fast enough to chase down the fastest boys, and strong enough to tackle the strongest ball carrier.

I then switched sides, pushing the fullback out of the offensive huddle. "Fullback up the middle, on two," I told them. I got the ball and ran into the line, right up the middle. I went right through the entire defense, scattering them like bowling pins, for an easy touchdown. The next play I simply walked up into the line. Even walking they couldn't stop me. I carried and dragged the defenders as I casually strolled into the end zone. Shaking them off, I turned and gave the ball a little kick, sending it through the uprights at the other end of the field. The next time, I ran around end, putting on a little burst of speed that left them all in the dust. Nobody could tackle me, not even the entire team together could bring me down.

As we started the new year my strength had continued to increase. I was now almost twice as strong as Mom was, at nearly a hundred Terrans. I could lift Steve's heaviest weight with just my fingers, twirling the bar over my head like a baton.

On my sixteenth birthday, after dinner and the cake Mom and Steve gave me a small package. I opened it to reveal a choker necklace inside. "It's beautiful! But it looks like gold. You told me what gold does to us." The intoxicating and weakening effect gold has on a Supremis.

"Yes, it's gold. With this on, your strength would be greatly reduced, much less than mine."

"Are you afraid that I'm getting too strong? That you won't be able to control me?" I started to get up, beginning to feel a little angry.

"No, no, my little one," Mom laughed, putting her hand on my arm. I sat back down, my anger defused. "We still want you to reach your full Velorian potential. But you're getting so strong that I can't give you a good workout anymore. With this on, I can still make you work some. You'll only have to wear it in the gym."

"You're so strong that I can't really coach you anymore," Steve said. "Your strength covers up your mistakes in technique. And we certainly can't get enough weights to make you do it right. With this on, even I might be able to make you work to pin me. Your mother wore some gold when I was teaching her how to wrestle."

The next day Mom and Steve started having me work out wearing the gold. First, she made me sit down in the middle of the wrestling mat and put on the necklace. As I fastened the clasp the entire room spun around me and then went dark.

From a long ways away I heard somebody calling me. "Julie! Don't try to move." I didn't. I wasn't sure if I could. "Take a deep breath." I did. "Take another." I did. "Now open your eyes." I opened my eyes to see Mom kneeling over me. Steve was right behind her. "That's a normal reaction," Mom told me. "You'll get used to it, after a while you won't feel the dizziness. Now, slowly stand up." I started to stand as she held her hands out to support me. Whew, that took some effort. I felt like I weighed a ton. "Now walk around a bit. Get used to your 'new' strength," she said, letting go of me. My legs felt like lead, I walked around like I was wearing cement shoes.

I didn't do any weights that day, it was hard enough just getting used to wearing the gold. Some walking, a few sit-ups and some calisthenics, just trying to get back my normal coordination. I finished with a short session on the stationary bike, set at Steve's normal speed.

"Okay, let's call it a day," Mom said as I finished my ride. "You can take that off. But first...."

I never heard what she was going to say. As I reached behind my neck and unclasped the necklace, blue sparks shot out of my breasts as my strength and power came flooding back. Mom jumped in front of Steve, sheltering him. Even then, it was enough to send both of them reeling across the room. Mom managed to catch Steve just before he hit his head against the wall.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what happened." I was too afraid to approach them any closer to help.

They seemed unhurt, just a bit shaken. "You have to be careful, my little one. When you remove the gold the energy comes flooding back, often with some energy discharges as a side-effect."

"It looked more like a front-effect to me," Steve said with a grin. I had the decency to blush.

"Steve! Maybe I should have let you hit your head," Mom scolded him. "That might have knocked some manners into you."

By the end of the week I was working out with the same weights Steve used. I'd gotten 'accustomed' to wearing the gold. I only felt the dizziness for a moment when putting on the gold, and some tingling all over when removing it. I'd gotten my coordination back. I knew that I was probably still the strongest person in school, but I felt SO weak. Steve coached me, both on the weights and in wrestling. We were about evenly matched in strength, but he was so much bigger and so much more experienced. Of course, I didn't stand a chance wrestling with Mom.

It felt SO good at the end of a session when I took my necklace off and my strength came flooding back. What an adrenaline rush! Or an Orgone rush, as Mom had told me. The gold inhibits the Orgone energy, greatly reducing my powers. It also felt so good once again to be able to lift up the entire weight machine. Or to be able to lift Steve's heaviest weight with one hand, lifting it up over my head before twirling it around like a baton. That was SO cool!

The football season was over. We turned to wrestling and basketball. Ah, wrestling. Our school traditionally had strong wrestling teams. This year looked to be no different. Thus my own fantasies turned from football to wrestling.

I walked in on a practice session in the gym after school, wearing just my bikini. After spreading some pheromones around, I walked out to the center of the mat and challenged the lightest boy to wrestle. Of course he didn't refuse! Using only a fraction of my strength, I pinned him quickly. I rapidly worked my way through the entire lineup, and the coach. "Hmm, you boys weren't much of a challenge. Let's see if all of you together can take me down." They swarmed all over me. I shook them off. When they were too tired to continue, I left.

I went to sleep many nights fantasizing along those lines. I noticed that my fantasies were getting more and more sensual and sexual as I went along. At first I was content to merely show off my strength, letting them know how powerless their Terran male bodies were against my Velorian female body. I pinned a boy with one hand. I pinned two boys, one with each hand. I then started collecting victory kisses from each boy as I pinned him helpless below me. Then I started really feeling them up as I wrestled them, their feeble struggles unable to keep my hands from going where I wanted them to go. I started using my breasts to pin them. I even wondered what it would be like to take them all right there on the mat, one after another.

With spring came warmer weather, even in Colorado. My body had filled out considerably in the past year. It became increasingly harder for me to hide my body. And, I admit, I really didn't want to hide it any more. I guessed that that was just my Velorian genes acting up. I knew that I had one of the best figures in school, better developed even than most of the senior girls, and I wanted the boys to know it too.

Mom eventually surrendered to the inevitable. "My little one is growing up. I can still remember what I was like at your age, and Velorians are even worse," she winked. "You're already well over half your mother's strength, and your other powers are also almost fully there." She lowered her gaze a bit. "Uh, something else is also almost fully there. In fact, I'd be a bit worried if your libido wasn't keeping up with the rest of your growth."

"Did my mother have an overactive libido? For a Velorian, that is?"

"Ahem! I believe we were discussing someone else, and her clothes," she scolded. But she did blush a bit.

That week, for the first time I wore a short skirt to school. Not too short, it was only an inch above my knees. Mom wouldn't let me wear heels, though. And a nice blouse, not too tight, though it showed off my figure a bit better than the usual large tee shirt. Steve whistled at me when I come down for breakfast. He saw Mom's reaction and whistled at her too.

Mom wouldn't let me leave the house with the top button unbuttoned; it got unbuttoned as soon as I was around the corner.

But before I was around that corner Danny came running out of his house, his eyes wide open. He would often wait for me and walk part way with me, but he had never looked like this. I ignored him and kept on walking. He followed me until he had turn off to go to his school.

Wow! I hadn't realized that boys were that shallow! They were practically lining up to ogle me. By lunch time I had received more offers of dates than I usually got in a whole week. But none of them were from George, the boy I really wanted to have ask me out. Even though he wasn't my boyfriend, he was my steadiest study partner and the boy I was most comfortable being with. I'd noticed him looking at me out of the corners of his eyes; he seemed uncomfortable with all of the attention I'm getting. Oh well, he's got the whole week to work up his nerve to ask me out.

It was Friday afternoon. George still hadn't asked me out. And I wanted to go see this new movie this weekend. Finally another boy asked me if I would want to go see it with him tonight. I'd gone out with him a few times before, and since it didn't look like George was going to ask me out, I accepted.

I shouldn't have. He couldn't keep his hands off of me. When I asked him to stop, he seemed to think that I only meant for the next two seconds. He finally stopped only when I threatened to walk out on him right in the middle of the movie. When I had him take me straight home afterwards, I didn't even give him a good night kiss.

Over some hot chocolate that night, I discussed this new turn of events with Mom. "What do I do when a boy tries to feel me up? Or tries to undress me? I can't just pound him into next week, or toss him to Broomfield, can I?" I had thought that I was going to have to do just that to a big football player tonight.

"Is that what happened tonight?"

"Well, he just couldn't keep his hands off of me. I knew that I'd be drawing a lot of attention, dressing like this, but that doesn't mean I'm going to, uh...."

"Of course not, my little one. But you're a good-looking girl, and boys are naturally going to be interested. They're going to push things a bit, to see how far they can go."

"But what do I do? I mean, if he tries to go further than I want him to?"

"What did you do tonight? He brought you home, so I know you didn't 'pound him into next week'."

"I asked him to stop. That didn't work, so I threatened to walk out on him."

"That should work. Let him know that you don't want to go that far. Tell him. Firmly, but gently, Julie. Keep those Velorian muscles in reserve. Or better yet, use Steve's muscles."

I was shocked that she would even suggest something like that. "Mom! I don't want a chaperone!"

"No, no, not that. But they all know who your stepfather is, don't they?"

"Huh? Sure they do. Oh, I get it. You mean, 'Stop it, or I'll tell Steve and he'll pound the shit out of you'?" I had to laugh. I mean, I was only about a hundred times stronger than Steve was. I didn't really need his 'protection'.

Mom laughed with me. "Well, that probably would work better than telling him that you're going to pound the shit out of him. Or telling him that your mother will." She flexed an arm, showing an awesome bicep.

"Yeah, that won't work too well. A lot of the boys think that you're a real cutie."

She arched an eyebrow. "Oh, they told you that?"

"No, but I've heard some of the boys talking about our mothers, when they're in the locker room."

"The boys? In the locker room? Julie! Have you been listening? Using your...?" She couldn't continue; she broke up laughing. I joined in.

When we could control ourselves again, I continued. "Yeah. Sometimes the boys talk about our moms. You know, if you want to know what a girl's going to be like when she gets older, look to her mother." It wasn't generally known that Mom wasn't my real mother, even I hadn't known until just over a year ago. "Though some of them are beginning to wonder whether I'm a natural blonde, since you have black hair. I know that I'm not quite ready to prove THAT to them."

"Young lady! You had better not be!" she laughed.

"So what do I have to do? Go back to wearing baggy clothes? I don't want to do that, I'm enjoying the attention the 'new' Julie gets."

"No, we decided on that last week."

I thought about it a little more. "Hey, what if I got myself a regular boyfriend? A big, tough boy? That might keep the other boys in line."

"You have anybody in mind? And how are you going to keep HIM in line?"

I flexed my arm, my bicep wasn't as big as Mom's was, but it was still impressive. "I think that I can keep ONE boy in line." I thought about it. "But I don't know anybody like that. At least nobody that I really like."

"Well, you are pretty brainy, for a Terran. That turns off some jocks. But maybe not the brainy types. I think that if you had a steady boyfriend, that might be enough."

"Well, there's George. I think that he likes me. We hang out sometimes, but he's never asked me out. I think that he's too shy to get, uh, romantic with me."

"Do you like him? You should have someone you like, not just the first available boy."

"Is that why you took so long to find Steve?" I couldn't help teasing her. "I know that he wasn't the first available man."

"We were discussing your love life, not mine!" she retorts. "And there was nothing wrong with mine, before or after I caught Steve. Definitely not after."

"I do like George. We have fun studying together. And I think he likes me as a person. But I don't think that he really sees me as a girl. At least not until recently. But I think he likes athletic girls."

"Oh? And do you want to get more involved in athletics?"

"No, we already talked about that. It wouldn't be fair. Me, the state heavyweight wrestling champion? Or the star football player? I don't think so."

"How do you know he likes athletic girls?"

"Well, we never talk about US. He asks me which boys I like, and he tells me which girls he likes. I think he's got a crush on Lisa, the basketball player. But she wouldn't give him the time of day, she only hangs out with the jocks."

"Why don't you ask him out sometime? And if things start looking good, you might let him know just how, uh, athletic you can be. After all, you are the greatest 'athlete' on the planet, male or female."

"Mom! I can't ask a boy out!" Velorian libido or not, I just couldn't see myself doing that. Old habits die hard. I guessed that I still hadn't been a Velorian long enough. Or at least known that I was a Velorian.

"Why not? The last time I looked at a calendar, we were definitely in the nineties. You said that he's too scared to ask you out. A little aggression on your part just might turn him on. If he likes athletes, he might fantasize about a girl having her way with him. And you certainly can have your way with any boy you want. Asking him out would be a good start."

"Mom! How could you? You almost sound like you want me to just take him out back during lunch and rape him." I knew that I couldn't do something like that. But that was an intriguing thought, though.

"No, no, nothing like that. Just keep in mind that he might like an aggressive physical girl. And you don't have to be very aggressive. Just ask him out to a movie."

"But Steve would scare him off. George definitely isn't athletic, and the mere thought of asking Steve's permission would make him shit in his pants."

"Oh, Steve's a teddy bear!"

"Sure, with you he is. He has to be, or you'd 'punish' him," I winked at her. "But if someone tried to come on to his stepdaughter, even if she is his young supergirl...."

"But you'd be the one coming on to George," she smiled. "And you don't need Steve's permission. You don't need mine, either, my little one, for that matter."

As I refilled our mugs she continued, "But don't you want somebody bigger, who's more athletic?"

"I don't think that I'm going to find a boy who's athletic enough to make much of a difference, do you? I don't think that I would even notice the difference between George's strength and Steve's in, uh, anything athletic."

"Young lady! If you're even thinking about, uh, sampling Steve, you can forget about it."

"Of course not, Mom! He's yours. I just meant that a boy's strength wouldn't make any difference to me. Unless I can find a Velorian boy."

"I don't think that there's much chance of THAT!"

I looked at my empty mug. I reached for the pot. "This pot's empty. Should I start up another one?"

"No, I think we covered enough for tonight. Go ahead and go to bed. I'll clean up here. And think about asking George out."

"Okay I will. Good night, Mom."

"Good night, my little one."

I went to sleep thinking about what we had just talked about. It still took me the rest of the week to work up my nerve to ask a boy out on a date.

The Friday afternoon before finals week George and I were doing our math homework together, as usual. When we were almost done, and George had wound down talking about Lisa and her boyfriend of the week, I finally worked up my courage. "Hey, you wanna go see a movie after we finish up here?"

"Huh? You mean, like a date? Jule. did you just ask me out on a date?"

"No, Lisa begged me to ask you for her because she's too shy to ask you herself. Of course I did, you silly!" I gave him a little punch in the arm. A very very little punch. "I've been telling you every day that I'm not interested in any other boys, and you just got done telling me that Lisa's not available to you, at least for this week."

"But this is so sudden!"

"Oh, yeah, right! We've only been studying together for two years, and talking about the same stuff every day."

"B-b-but you're my friend, my study partner. I've never thought of you as my girlfriend."

"Oh, I'm a friend, but not a girl?"

"N-no, I didn't mean it like that. It's just that...."

"What's the matter? I'm not pretty enough for you?" I knew that he hadn't totally missed my 'development' since my manifestation.

"Of course not! No, no, I mean I think that you're very pretty. Even beautiful."

"Thank you. And I think you're cute. Especially when you're flustered," I smiled. "So, how about it? Tell you what, I'll buy the tickets."

"Okay, then. What did you get for problem number seventeen?" He changed the subject, almost like a woman.

"If I tell you, will you buy me dinner afterwards?" I had to let him know that I could change the subject too. Even if it was only back to the original subject.

"Huh, oh sure."

We had an enjoyable evening. At least I did. I thought that he was still too frightened to enjoy it fully. It may have been his first real date. I had to take his arm and put it around me. Three times. He kept taking it back, until I placed his arm around my shoulders and held it there until the end of the movie.

He pedaled home with me, I was careful not to go too fast. I thought about seeing him home, me being the Velorian supergirl and all, but I didn't think that he was quite ready for that. He was only about three inches taller than I was, so I didn't have to pull his head down very far to kiss him good night. He almost fainted. I had to all but hold him up to keep him from collapsing to the ground. I hoped that he had no trouble pedaling home with those shaky legs of his.

Going into finals week I didn't see George until Wednesday. I made a point of sitting down next to him in the cafeteria at lunch. We were in the nerd section, so we had the whole table to ourselves. "I had a good time Friday. Thank you, George."

"Huh? Oh yeah, me too. Thank you, Jule."

"You know, you're the only person who calls me that. Sometimes I think you're calling me a jewel. I like that," I gave him a big smile.

He turned red. "No, it's not like that. 'Julie' sounds so, um, feminine. 'Jule' can be either way. You know, like Jules Verne." He pronounced it the proper French way.

"After Friday you still don't think I'm feminine?"

He turned even redder. "No, no. Like I said Friday, I just think of you as a friend and study partner. I don't want our, um, genders to come between us?"

"You're so cute when you turn red." He practically turned infrared. "Besides, why can't our genders bring and keep us closer together?"

"Huh? You mean, like going out?"

"Something like that. After all, you're the only boy that calls me his Jewel," I winked at him.

"Is this a good time? I mean with school letting out this week we won't be seeing each other that much." Was he still trying to come up with excuses?

"C'mon, we only live a block apart. Are you afraid that Lisa's going to ambush you in between? Why don't you come on over Friday? I'll make dinner and we can celebrate surviving another year of school."

"Celebrate? Like, how?"

"Oh, come on! You think Steve, uh my stepfather, is going to let me even touch booze? Let alone drugs?"

"But he's a Bronco!"

"And your dad's a computer engineer. So what?"

"So what if he doesn't like me?"

"Look, silly. I'm asking you to go out with me, not to go out with him." I couldn't help smiling. "He's already married."

"But he's a big football star. Doesn't he want you to date a jock?"

"Did you know that while Steve was playing football he got his degree in computer engineering? I don't think he's got anything against computer engineers. Or aspiring computer engineers. Besides, Mom'll be there too. She'll be a steadying influence on him. He'd never beat up anybody while she's around," I smiled. And why should he? When she could do it so much better and quicker? But both of them would have to go through me to get to him, anyway. Of course, I wasn't about to tell George that. "Besides, I like boys who have something between their ears."

Friday I brought George home from school. If that sounds like I brought home a stray puppy, that's not too far off. I practically had to put a leash on him and drag him the final block.

Mom and Steve were nice enough to stay out of sight while I led George to the kitchen. He turned out to be quite handy about the kitchen as we made up some lasagna. "Mother thought I should do just as much work in the kitchen as my sister did. And with Laurie away at college, I even had to pick up her share." I'd met Laurie a few times, the most recently while she was home for spring break; she was going to school at Colorado State University, up in Fort Collins.

"Smart women, both of them. So how come you didn't get any of the family brains?" I couldn't resist teasing him. "Sometimes I think it would be nice if things worked that way around here. Of course, I'd need a brother first." We both laughed.

We had finished our lasagna and were doing the dishes when Mom and Steve walked in. "Plenty of lasagna left in the microwave," I told them over my shoulder. George turned around and saw them. I wiped my hands and put an arm around him to keep him from shaking. "George, this is my Mom and Steve, my stepdad. Mom, Steve, this is George."

Mom offered him her hand. "Welcome. Julie's told us so much about you."

George took her hand briefly. "Um, thank you. Nothing too bad, I hope." He stopped trembling long enough to get a good look at Mom's chest. Just as I thought, George was a breast man. Now if THOSE Velorian genes would hurry up and finish kicking in.

Steve reached his hand out, laughing. "No, all good things." Steve didn't try to crush George's hand. "I may have to have you bring me up to date on computers sometime. I've been a bit, uh, busy doing other things for the last few years."

"Uh, sure. It would be my pleasure, Mr...."

"Please, call me Steve. I'm too young for this Mister stuff. Besides, everybody in this family calls me Steve."

George glanced over at his book bag. "There is one thing, Mr., um, Steve, if I could ask you, um, to, um...."

"What is it?" Steve prompted, a smile beginning to form on his face.

George went over to his book bag and withdrew a thin magazine and a pen. "If I could have your...."

Steve laughed. "Of course. But you know that this won't prove that you've dated my daughter. You'll have to get her to sign for herself," he winked, as he took the Broncos game program with his picture on the cover and autographed it.

We grabbed a couple of cans of Coke out of the fridge and went into the living room, ceding the kitchen to the two adults. We sat on the couch, talking about the school year that we had just finished, and the teachers, and the other students. Every time he mentioned Lisa's name, or the girls' basketball team, I would slide closer to him. He would look at me nervously, change the subject, and slide further away from me. Eventually he ran out of room, pinned against the end of the couch. I snuggled up to him, put my head on his shoulder, and asked, "Now, was there something else you wanted to say about Lisa?"

"Um, Lisa who?" he asked, putting his arm around me. Yes! Total and complete victory! We spent the rest of the evening continuing to talk about the school year, and our summer plans. His hand would start on the outside of my hip, work its way up my side, almost to my armpit, and then slowly start forward. Apparently that was when his conscious mind would reassert itself, because with a start his hand would draw back and drop back down to my hip, only to start its long upward journey again. He didn't mention Lisa again the rest of the evening.

The third time Mom stuck her head in and asked if we wanted to finish off the lasagna, we got the hint. George gathered up his things, making sure that he had the autographed Broncos program. I walked him out to his bicycle. This time he gave me a more proper good night kiss. Well, at least it was better than the first one, I didn't have to support his weight at all this time. This boy still has a lot to learn. And I didn't think that I'd mind being the girl to 'teach' him. In fact, I was quite certain that I wanted to be the one.

His knees didn't look shaky at all as he pedaled off tonight. And I even thought that my Velorian ears had heard him whistling and humming to himself as he went down the street.