This story will be in several parts. All have been written already and will be posted after editing is done. Many thanks go out to Kaitastrophe for her wonderful editing work.
*****
"Josh, do you have a minute?"
He recognized that gentle voice. Startled, he looked up from the book he was reading to a beautiful face he knew well. But her eternal smile was missing, and her blue eyes seemed to lack their usual sparkle.
"Emma, is something wrong?"
"Just a minute Josh. I have to talk to you about something, but not here."
"Do you want me to come over to you place?"
Emma nodded. He saw her attempting to smile while she was nervously rubbing a strand of her long blonde hair with one hand. How could he ever refuse a request from the angel next door?
"Mom, I'm just gonna go over to the Hendersons' for a minute!" he yelled towards the kitchen door as he stood up from the bench on the patio.
Emma seemed inpatient. She grabbed his hand as they walked to her house next door. Her palms were sweaty even though the worst heat of the day had already passed. It felt odd that she was touching him considering they hardly ever spoke. Since middle school, they had been hanging out with different crowds: she a popular cheerleader, he an editor of the school newspaper. She led the way through the front door as he walked behind her. His gaze drifted to her shapely legs clad in white yoga-pants. The pants were very tight and stretched around her firm butt cheeks like a second skin. The outline of her panties covering her ass was clearly visible. Josh took a mental picture and filed it away for later use. They walked straight through her house to the garden where another surprise was waiting.
"Hello, Darryl," Josh said to the boy sitting on a chair by the garden table.
"Hi, Josh," The big guy replied in his deep voice as his girlfriend sat down next to him.
Josh sat down on a chair at the other end of the table and looked them over. Darryl seemed to have the same look of nervousness as his girlfriend. He looked intimidating, wearing a sleeveless shirt that showcased his broad shoulders and bulging biceps. He had expected they would have something urgent to say, but instead, an uncomfortable silence developed. He had never seen the starting QB of their high school team at loss for words, something Josh knew so well himself. As he shifted his gaze to Emma he couldn't help to feel a pang of jealousy. She looked adorable in an orange top with spaghetti straps. Her skin was spotless and tanned as always. Her breasts were completely covered, but the way they made her top swell could drive any boy crazy. He looked straight into her big blue eyes and cleared his throat.
"Emma, you wanted to have a word?"
Emma and Darryl glanced at each other. He saw Darryl nod slightly before Emma spoke.
"It's this thing Josh," She paused for a moment. "We have this problem. I mean Darryl has this problem, and we can't tell anyone about it. You're the smartest kid I know, and I hoped you could help us."
None of it made a lot of sense. When would she get to the point? He saw her fiddling with a strand of her long blonde hair again. He had often admired her from afar, and he had only seen her do this when she was very nervous, before an exam or a public speech.
"So what's the problem then?"
Emma looked pleadingly at her boyfriend, who shrugged his broad shoulders.
"It was your idea, you tell him," Darryl told Emma.
His deep voice had a certain tenseness that suggested he wasn't completely onboard with this. Josh was starting to feel uneasy about all this. Was something serious going on here? Was Darryl in real trouble? Drugs? Gambling? What do these popular kids get themselves into?
"Darryl's penis has shrunk," Emma blurted out.
Wait, what? Was this some kind of joke they were playing on him? Josh looked at the couple but Darryl stared intently at the tabletop, while Emma blushed furiously and looked away. They couldn't be serious, could they?
"That's not possible, Emma."
"Yeah dude, it is possible." Darryl said, not looking up.
This was the star quarterback, the blonde haired lady-killer, sitting there looking humiliated, so at least something serious seemed to be going on. Even assuming it wasn't a joke, what could he do about it?
"All I can say is this: go see a doctor," Josh finally told them.
"Yeah I did, and she told me dicks don't just shrink, and then she suggested I was insecure and made this up so I'd get some prescription for a drug that would make me bigger. She told me not to believe those ads on the internet. It was totally humiliating!" Darryl nearly shouted out.
"Josh, I can confirm it's true. It shrunk. And I know Darryl's ... uhm ... penis quite well," Emma chimed in.
Josh could imagine she did. He knew at some level she probably was having sex, unlike him, but when she said it, he had to stop his mind from picturing her doing it. Oh well, he was sure he would find a time later for that fantasy. It wouldn't be the first time after all. He tried to refocus on what was going on in front of him.
"I'm sorry for asking, Darryl, but did you use performance enhancing drugs, like steroids maybe?"
"C'mon, that was the first question the doctor asked also! I'll tell you the same: no, I haven't and I never will! And I'm not stupid. I know that shit shrinks your balls and stuff."
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I just needed to know. Could anyone have slipped it to you without you knowing it?"
"Nobody has given me any suspicious supplements or anything like that. But I guess it's always possible," Darryl responded after thinking a moment.
"Then shouldn't you go to the cops?"
"Dude, what am I gonna say? They would laugh in my face. And I don't want anybody to know. I noticed it about two weeks ago and I've faked a knee injury so I can skip practice and not shower with the guys."
"So this started two weeks ago?" Josh inquired.
"That's when I noticed. Could have started sooner. It seems to be stable now."
Josh had to admit to himself he felt flattered his gorgeous neighbor and her popular jock boyfriend looked to him for help, but what was he gonna say? They were looking at him as if he knew an answer simply because he had good grades and wrote for the newspaper. He knew it was stupid since they didn't really care about him, but he didn't want to let them down. He had to try and come up with something.
"So let's assume somebody gave you steroids and this person had bad intentions. Maybe to get you a positive drug test. Who would benefit from that?"
Darryl shrugged, "No way that happened. I get along with everybody."
"But since you're out injured, your place as starting quarterback goes to Brian Morris, correct? He's your best friend, right?"
Again he saw Emma and Darryl pausing and exchanging cautious glances before any of them replied.
"Well, we're actually not that close anymore, but Brian would never do anything like that. I know him," Darryl said flatly.
"If I were to believe all the stories going around about him, this guy can get pretty crazy."
"That's just it! Brian is all about partying and girls. He doesn't care about being starting quarterback. If anything he'll be annoyed that he has to cut back the partying now," Darryl said.
"You said you're not that close anymore with Brian. Does that have anything to do with Liz?" Josh asked as neutrally as possible.
He wasn't that familiar in the school gossip, but even he knew Liz and Brian had broken up not too long ago. Liz was also on the cheerleading squad, and a very good friend of Emma's, if he remembered correctly.
"Nah, we just grew apart I guess."
"But the Liz thing didn't help," Emma added.
He sensed there was something they weren't telling him, and it had something to do with Liz and Brian. Maybe Brian did something bad to cause the breakup, and that's why Darryl was no longer close with him. But did it have any connection to Darryl's 'condition'? He really didn't see any way forward but to look into Brian.
"Could I maybe speak to Liz? I assume she knows Brian best and she can tell if he might have something to do with it," Josh suggested.
"No way!" Darryl blurted, "No one can know."
"Look Darryl I don't know what else I can do to help without looking into this. I'm sorry, but it's the best, and only, option we have to fix this."
"I said no, and it's final" Darryl said in a loud voice, his face turning slightly red.
There was a pause where they were all watching each other before Emma spoke up softly.
"I might have an idea. I can set up a date between Josh and Liz. He can hear her out without saying anything about you. How does that sound?"
Well going on a date with Liz wasn't exactly a punishment, Josh mused. She was a beautiful black haired cheerleader, far out of his league.
"Uh huh that might work," Josh said, trying to hide how eager he was.
Emma and he both looked at Darryl, who was staring stubbornly into the distance.
"Fine, but if you tell her anything about this I'll kill you!" He snapped in an angry voice.
Emma put a hand on her boyfriend's arm in support.
"Thank you so much for coming, Josh. I knew you would help us. I'll let you know if and when I've set up the date."
The white-toothed smile she flashed him could have melted an iceberg.
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Josh was working on the layout for next week's school paper in their small office when his phone buzzed. "Pick her up Friday at seven for dinner. Good luck!!" the message from Emma read.
"Getting texted by a girl are we?" his co-editor Katie teased.
Josh couldn't help but blush, as if he was caught doing something wrong.
"Oh my God, you are, aren't you! Who is she? Tell me!"
