Then it stopped.

  Sara reopened her eyes and stood back up to her new full height. In her bare feet she was now a little bit taller than her friend. She smiled at Stephanie, who backed up a little.

  Stephanie looked Sara up and down again. Her arms had gained a little definition and were certainly stronger. She had broader shoulders to match and what was left of her sweats hugged whatever it could showing that every other inch of her body was strong and firm.

  "I'll ..., I'll be going now. You can ..., can keep the clothes. I need to go home ... now." She quickly grabbed her purse, not taking her eyes off of Sara. She backed out of the bedroom and made a quick dash for the door. In a moment, she was out and Sara heard the front door close.

  Sara just smiled, giggling quietly to herself. She bent over to pick up the dress that was dropped on the floor. As she did, the back of her pants split and she felt the cool breeze from the window play against the smooth skin of her rear, the red thong underwear she was wearing squeezing her in familiar ways. She just laughed again and moved to her mirror where she began to hold up Stephanie's dresses in front of her.

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  "C'mon, pick up the phone." Benjamin drummed his fingers on his dining table. He was quite a good cook when he worked at it, everything in his kitchen was organized and easy for him to find. He poked around for the other half of the eggs benedict he had made and stuck a small forkful in his mouth and chewed nervously. The phone rang again for about the tenth time. He was about to set the receiver down when he heard something on the other end click.

  "Hello?"

  "Sara?"

  "Yeah. Ben? Is that you?"

  He breathed a sigh of relief, even if she did sound slightly perturbed about the call.

  "It is, I really wanted to check up on you. I was worried after last night."

  "That's sweet of you Ben, I'm just fine thanks."

  Salvation!

  "But I'm kind of busy right now, I can't really talk."

  Defeat.

  "You're sure your okay? You don't need anything?"

  "Yeah I'm sure, I'm getting ready for work."

  There was an awkward pause as Ben couldn't think of anyway of getting Sara to stay on the line. Then Sara spoke up again.

  "Did Stephanie talk to you?"

  "No, I haven't heard from her since yesterday. What was that? Did you tear something? You're not still getting those dizzy-spells are you?"

  "No, I'm just realizing that I'm going to have to go sockless today. Talk to you later Benji."

  "Wait, I wanted to know if you wanted to do something after work."

  But he got no response. Ben sat in his chair, after a few seconds he heard a click as the operator disconnected their lines, then he heard a dial tone. He slumped in his chair and let his arm go slack, the phone hung limply in his hand. He sniffed once, smelling his cooling breakfast as he began to faintly hear the automated recording.

  "IF YOU'D LIKE TO MAKE A CALL, PLEASE HANG UP AND TRY AGAIN; IF YOU NEED HELP, HANG UP AND THEN DIAL YOU'RE OPERATOR. IF YOU'D LIKE TO MAKE A CALL, PLEASE HANG UP AND TRY AGAIN; IF YOU NEED HELP, HANG UP AND THEN DIAL YOU'RE OPERATOR. IF YOU'D LIKE TO MAKE A CALL..."

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  The taxi slowed to a stop in front of the department store. It's patron handed over a ten to the driver and told him to keep the change. He was glad to get it. The checkered door opened and out stepped Sara.

  Her feet were about a size and a half bigger and she had been forced to stop by Stephanie's to steal a pair of sandals that she could wear. Luckily her friend wasn't in at the time to wallow around in a nervous stupor again; she would come around soon enough and realize that this was a good thing.

  Anyway, she was wearing an old pair of brown sandals with ankle straps and no socks. She went through three pair before she concluded that the material was too thin to be of any use. The sandals clashed slightly with her dark green dress, but it was the best she could do on short notice. Sara chose this dress because the hem ended around her knees and she really wanted to show off her new legs. It also hugged her arms fairly well; she had tested them out earlier and realized that she was stronger than before. Quite a bit more in fact, she had set about her apartment experimentally lifting things and found that she could lift almost twice what she could have the day before. She had always kept herself in good shape and was still lean and hadn't become much bulkier. It was quite a little piece of information to know.

  The cab drove off behind her and Sara walked toward the front door of Nordstrom's. It was a nice warm day and the cool air-conditioning gave her a shiver as she entered the store. She went into the back store room and logged in for, what she expected to be, a nice day at work.

  Her register greeted her and she set her personal belongings in a small cubicle under her desk and looked around her department. There was a good-looking gentleman rummaging through a rack full of sweaters. He wasn't as cute as Shawn but he was worth saying 'hi' to. She walked up to him brimming with self-confidence.

  "Excuse me sir."

  He turned around with a curt expression that quickly melted when he saw her. He smiled and almost dropped the belt he had grabbed earlier.

  "May I help you?"

  "Uh," he quickly composed himself, "why yes. I think I'll be buying a few of these." He nodded to a few of the plaid ones he had separated from the rest.

  "Right this way sir."

  He giggled and followed her stupidly.

  Sara was eclectic. Usually men never gave her more than a quick glance. It was a wonder what a few inches could do to the opposite sex. Her patron couldn't keep his eyes off of her while she rang up his choices. She just stood there and basked in the attention. She hadn't felt this good about herself in a long time.

  "Here's your change sir, and have a nice day."

  "Thanks, I mean thank you." He turned his body without turning his head and began to walk away, tripping over his own feet a couple of times in the process.

  And so the day went; she never had so many people actually buy things in her department during one shift. Men would buy items that didn't even look remotely attractive just to get a chance to say 'hello' to her.

  It was around five o'clock that Sara had a chance to take a break. She walked on a cloud of air to the employee's lounge and sat at the table with her snack of yogurt and granola. She mixed the two together and ate it readily. She was absentmindedly flipping through a magazine, thinking about all of the notice she had received, when she heard somebody walk in to join her. She sat up as straight as she could and laughed at her minor action.

  "Sara?"

  Her mirth quickly soured.

  "Yes Miss Drake?"

  "What are you doing in here? Shouldn't you be minding your section?"

  "I'm on break Miss Drake. I haven't had the chance to take one for over three hours and quite frankly I deserve one."

  "There are a number of customers waiting to be served at your counter and I think it's high time you got back to work."

  Sara turned in her seat and looked up at her antagonist.

  Evelyn Drake had always been an imposing figure of a woman to her, but now she didn't feel like being intimidated by her anymore.

  "Listen, Evelyn," Sara slowly stood up, "I've been on my feet all day." At her full height, she still wasn't nearly as tall as Drake; especially since she was wearing heels like she always did. But instead of barely coming up to chest level, Sara's head was almost level with Evelyn's mouth. "I think after all the business I've gotten for your ungrateful ass today warrants me taking a few minutes of down time for myself."

  Evelyn Drake had always enjoyed picking on Sara. She never felt like she got enough of a power trip with just being supervisor; so she took out her feelings of inferiority on this employee because she was so easy to push around. But something about this particular occasion didn't seem quite right; and more importantly, she didn't feel all that comfortable with the situation. Though she didn't really know why. She was even thinking about letting the 'ungrateful ass' comment slip by without reprieve. So she just blinked a few times in mild frustration.

  "Very well; carry on." She turned on one high heel and walked out of the room.

  Sara felt her mood pick up a few notches and then sat back down to finish her yogurt.

  When she got back to her station, she looked up to see Evelyn Drake eyeing her from across the store, who quickly glanced away after being caught spying. Sara smiled again and looked around for any stray customers. There were probably were a few here and there, but she didn't notice them when her attention was caught by Shawn. He was sitting behind his own counter reading a book, waiting for a customer to approach with a problem of some sort.

  She was still feeding off her high from her confrontation with her superior (though she used the term loosely) and felt bold enough to do what she had dreamt about doing for a long while now. Sara stood up a little straighter; practicing her inhaling as she watched her chest. Took one last pause to brush away a piece of errant granola and walked towards him.

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