“Not healthy?” Angela asked me. “I’ll tell you what’s not healthy. Being you right now. I’m going to get you. Count on it.” she told me just before she let me go and I quickly found mom." Mean Girls 3026 Part 7 Written by Toni Trepasso Edited by Gwen Brown, with my many thanks to her.

There was a part of me that was still leery of allowing Angela to get close. Even when she ended up helping me on my project, I was still a bit worried, but she never pulled anything, even when we started running together every day. Not even when she invited me to come to the gym with her to work out. She seemed genuinely interested in helping me. However, there was one thing that I couldn’t over look, and I found it out when we were working out.

The thing I noticed, that first day in the gym, was that she looked different than when I’d seen her that first day. When we ran I didn’t see it, since she usually wore a sweatshirt, and sweat pants. However, once we were in the gym, she had on a pair of shorts, and a t-shirt, that was cut to be a belly shirt. This is when I noticed first that she had a pack of abs that you could do laundry on. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I do a couple hundred sit ups a day myself, but while my abs were speed bumps; her abs were like rolling hills. It was then that I could see her arms were vascular as hell. I don’t just mean that her veins were showing, I mean they looked like they were trying to rip loose from her skin. When she started to stretch, it was then that I saw she had the build of an amateur bodybuilder. She was ripped. Not really huge, but you could tell that she was hitting the weights hard.

Once we started our workout, it became clear to me, that I was glad I was on this girl’s good side. She lifted like an animal and grunted like one too. I was kind of embarrassed from the looks she and I were getting from the others in the gym as she worked her body. And what a body it was. Her arms became ripped with sinewy muscle. Her shoulders were clearly defined from her arm, and her chest looked like someone had grafted a couple of steaks under her breasts. By the time we were done, she was pumped. I don’t just mean she had a good sweat and was breathing hard, I mean every part of her body, was throbbing, and you could see that her arms, chest and shoulders were bigger than when we had started. She really freaked me out when she stood up from her bench press, and flexed her biceps. The entire gym could hear the ripping sound as her shirt sleeves lost the battle with her powerful muscles, but she didn’t stop there. She went in to the classic crab pose, and her shirt ripped right up the middle of the back, exposing it to the entire gym. Good thing her sports bra held, or else some of the guys would have gotten a real show.

We both showered in the locker room, since I really didn’t want to go all the way across the campus, smelling like the inside of the gym. I ended up asking her about how she was able to put up so much weight, and she told me that it wasn't due to the moon's gravity, they have gravity pumps make it actually feel like Mars in the gym, she was just using her body to the maximum.

Angela was done with her shower quickly, but I lingered a bit, since the water in the locker room had more pressure then the apartment. Once I finished, I wrapped a towel around myself and went out to the locker area to find Angela. It was at this point that I saw something that would change how I looked at her as both a person and as a potential friend.

I turned the corner to the row of lockers we had put our stuff in, and I saw her jabbing a needle into her ass. I was freaked out to say the least, and started to question her about it.

“What the fuck?” I exclaimed. “You’re a god damn junky?” I asked staring at her wide eyed.

“It’s not what you think.” she told me as she pulled the needle back out. “It’s not drugs.”

“So you’re diabetic?” I asked sheepishly. Thinking I’d jumped to conclusions.

“No.” she said shaking her head. “These shots are hormones.”

“Hormones? for what?”

“I’m a bodybuilder.”

“You’re taking steroids?” I asked in shock.

“They’re not steroids. It’s just bovine growth hormone.”

“Uh, Angela, that is what most steroids are.”

“Ok, so I’m, taking steroids. What are you going to do about it?” she asked as she started to look angry.

“Hey, we’re cool. My lips are sealed.” I told her putting my hands up in surrender.

“Fucking right your lips are sealed.” she said flexing her arm at me with a fist.

I didn’t say another word while I got dressed and then drove her back to her dorm. Once I got back to my place, Grace could see that I was shaken and a bit disturbed. But I refused to tell her about what I’d just gone through. I simply went into my room and put in a little more work to the presentation I was working on. For some reason, working on my project always made me get a bit lost in time.

What I was doing, was putting the video clips I was using to songs from the era of the footage. The early stuff was easy. I used 1950's and ‘60's car songs, and then ‘70s through 2008 hard rock. The hard part I was having was finding songs from the time of my accident until now. That was my first project. I basically was using one song per ten year stretch of footage.

Work progressed well, and I found that by the end of the year I had everything done, and synced up well enough to make a coherent project. The rest of the class was pretty impressed at all the older footage, and even my Nostalgic Motorsports instructor hadn’t seen much of the footage I was using for the early segments.

By the time school ended for the year, I did continue to run and work out with Angela. It wasn’t really that I had a choice in the matter either. Since I knew her secret, she kept a close eye on me, to make sure I didn’t tell anyone. In the mean time, she continued to lift hard and heavy, and by when the time came to fly home, she was close to two hundred pounds of solid muscle. To say she scared the hell out of me that this point would be an understatement. I was scared shitless of her. I’d seen what she did to her locker one day when it wouldn’t open. Poor fucking metal door, it never had a chance. She punched her fist through it, and then pulled it clean off the hinges. I would sure feel better to be home and safe with mom, and dad. That is what I had taken to calling Amanda and Mark over Christmas break.

Once the ship touched down and we were back on earth, I was happy to see mom and dad at the airport. Amanda looked like she’d been working out more than when I’d seen her in December, but maybe it was just my eyes. They both asked me about how school had gone, and how my project had turned out. When I told them I got an A on the presentation, they were both ecstatic, and before we went home, they took me to dinner to celebrate.

Once we got home, and mom helped me put my things away, she and I both decided to go for a swim and I told her I’d meet her down stairs in after I put on my bikini. I’d picked up a cute red one at one of the shops at school and wanted to wear it for the first time, so I put it on and did a little pose in front of my mirror, smiling since it made me look uber-cute. As I made my way to the back yard and the pool I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw mom standing there in her bikini.

I couldn’t help have a flashback to Angela and everything that had gone on at school once I laid eyes on mom and her bulging muscles in her tight, tiny bikini. Oh man, she did look great, like always, but I was still shocked at the transformation she put her body through since I’d last seen her for Christmas break.

“Something wrong hun?” she asked me putting her hair in a braid.

“What happened to you?” I asked slack jawed.

“What?” she asked with a smile then flexed her arm, “These little things?”

“Uh, YEAH!”

“I’ve been working out with Mrs. Johnson.” she told me before diving into the pool.

I didn’t have any idea who the woman was that mom said was her work out partner, but from the looks of mom, she had to be one hell of a built woman. I chose not to ask any more, for fear that she might react like Angela had at school. I just dove in and kept stealing looks as I cooled off and relaxed a bit. Letting the water wash my cares away and it helped me forget about Angela and all the problems.

I got into a routine after a week of being home. I’d still go for my runs with mom, and then swim some laps in the pool to help work my overall body. Then I’d go out to the garage, and work on the classic car I’d bought online. Classic perhaps isn’t the best term to use. It’s a 1968 Plymouth Barracuda. To see it compared to the cars of today, this thing was ancient. I mean, it would have been a classic in my time, but here we were a thousand years later. It was done the way I’d always wanted one of these cars too. The guy I got it from had raced it as a Super Stock Hemi Automatic, in the NHRA. The only thing I did was add a horn and a working speedometer so I could drive it on the street. Mark was cool with it, since I let him take the first few trips in it. That is, until I got my license. The look on the proctor’s face was classic, as he climbed in to my car and saw a cute teenage girl driving the beastliest car ever to come out of Dearborn in the muscle car era. I passed with flying colors, and before the ink was dry on my license, I was on a road trip to Utica to meet up with Grace. She about freaked when she heard the roar of my big block coming down her street.

“How did I know it was you, when I heard that roar of this thing coming?” she asked as she hugged me.

“Lucky guess”, I said with a giggle?

“So what is it?” she asked as she looked at my new ride.

“Well, it’s a 1968 Barracuda. The previous owner raced it, and it has some history to it.” I said as I opened the hood so she could get her first look at a Hemi engine. “This was the first super stock car into the 8's, back in the day.”

“Wow. So it’s pretty fast?”

“Yeah, it was fast back in 2006 when it went that quick. Now with the modifications they made to it over the past thousand years, it’ll do mid sixes all day. That is as quick at the pro-stocks used to go back in the day.”

“Cool. We can go to the cruse night later.” she told me dragging me into the house. “My mom’s waiting to meet you.”

I won’t bore you with the details of the trip, just that her mom was cool for an ex-navy captain. Grace and I were able to get together a couple of times that summer and since it was usually on the weekends, I never got the chance to meet Mrs. Johnson, the woman mom’s been lifting weights with. Not that it bothers me either way, it’s just something she’s doing to pass the time, and I’m proud of her for taking her body to the next level. I did ask her if she was using steroids though.

“No. I’m trying to get ready for the NPC’s.” she told me. “That is an all clean show. They test blood, urine and hair to make sure you’re clean.”

“That’s good.” I told her with a hug. “I’d hate to see anything happen. I mean those things are bad for you.”

“That’s right.” she told me with a smile and flexed her arm. “This baby’s all natural.”

I went to the competition with her, and she and I sat in the audience when the junior division did their thing. I was shocked to see Angela up on stage, but never said a word to mom about knowing her. Amanda did however make the comment that there is no way Angela could get that big without ‘help.’ And she was right. I knew for a fact that she’d been using, and using hard. Once they announced the winners, I was shocked when they announced it was Angela for the heavyweights and overall teen titles. But I kept my mouth shut for fear of the beating I’d take if she suspected I told on her.

The next day, just before mom’s group was to have their show, they announced that Angela Johnson had been disqualified for failing the drug test. And the new winner was the girl who’d placed second to her. I did my best to hide and make sure Angela didn’t see me there at the contest. It would have seemed suspicious that I was there and she got disqualified.

Mom on the other hand, ended up finishing second to Mrs. Johnson, in the over 40 class. Once I made my way back stage, I threw my arms around mom and told her how proud I was of her. She finally introduced me to Mrs. Johnson who in turn introduced me to her daughter. Angela. She looked shocked to see me at first, but that look quickly gave way to anger. She looked like she was about to kill me, once she realized I was at the contest. She pulled me aside to talk to me, while our mom’s finished changing back into their street clothes.

“I know you ratted me out.” she said pinning me against a wall. “I’m going to get you for getting me disqualified.”

“I didn’t say a word, I swear.” I told her as I started to shake.

“You expect me to believe you?” she asked, pounding her fist against the wall.

“I swear on my life, I didn’t tell a soul.”

“You’re just jealous.”

“Of what?”

“That I’m stronger and prettier then you are.”

“Actually, you freak me out. I mean, come on, you are obsessed with getting bigger. That can’t be healthy.” I said then gulped, as I realized what I’d just said.

“Not healthy?” she asked. “I’ll tell you what’s not healthy. Being you right now. I’m going to get you. Count on it.” she told me just before she let me go and I quickly found mom.

Amanda could tell I was shaken, on the ride home. I didn’t want to tell her, but she finally drug it out of me over a bowl of ice-cream . I explained about the trouble I had with Angela at first at school, and then how she seemed to act like a friend to me. I also let mom know about the vast amounts of steroids I’d seen Angel taking. She was a bit concerned, and I begged her not to tell Mrs. Johnson, but she didn’t listen to me. Mrs. Johnson came with us on our run the next morning and once we were all by the pool after the workout; mom let the cat out of the bag, and sealed my fate at the hands of Angela.

What surprised me more than hearing mom tell Mrs. Johnson about Angela, was that the woman actually got mad and called mom a liar. She kept saying that her baby wouldn’t do that sort of thing and stormed off after calling me every name in the book. For her part, all mom did was stand there shaking her head, before pulling me into a hug, telling me that she believed me.

The rest of the summer was a blur pretty much. I remember that mom and Mrs. Johnson stopped working out together and mom and I started lifting together. It kind of felt good to be able to use what I’d learned back in the day to help push mom even further. By the time I’d gone back to school I’d actually helped mom pack on another fifteen pounds of muscle. This meant that she should be ready for her next contest; however I’d be at school so I’d have to follow it online.

Once back at school, Angela confronted me and with all her friends around she pinned me against a wall again. I could see that she’d been hitting both the weights and steroids hard and heavy, since her arms were nearly as big as my head.

“Get the fuck off me you freak.” I spat at her as I struggled to get free.

“Freak am I?” she asked with a grin. “I’ll show you a freak.” she told me as she cocked her fist.

It was then that I saw Samantha walk up and demand to know what was going on. Angela mumbled something about this not being over, as she let me go, and walked off. I hugged Samantha, and she let me know that mom had told her to expect trouble. The only thing is, none of us knew what kind of trouble lay ahead.

TO BE CONTINUED...