Jake, Matt and Dan were best buddies, but also the three geekiest teens in town. They spent their evenings avoiding the jocks and bullies by sitting around on beanbags in Jake’s dad’s garage, and watching Netflix or playing various shoot ’em ups on their Xbox.

During the summer break, their parents all decided to go on holiday together down to the coast. The three nerds would have preferred to stay indoors playing video games, but their parents encouraged them to go out and have “fun” on the beach.

When they arrived, the main beach was full of tanned fit jocks, just as the boys had expected.

“Bunch of jerks,” sighed Jake.

So they continued walking along the shoreline. Eventually they came to some rocks which they climbed over. On the other side was an oddly quiet secluded beach with no-one in sight.

“This is more like it!” smiled Dan.

“Hey, who fancies a swim?” asked Matt.

“Wouldn’t that mean getting wet?” asked Jake, shivering at the thought.

Dan agreed with Jake, so Matt decided he would go for swim on his own. He removed his glasses, changed into the trunks that he had brought with him, and then slowly waded into the sea, which was pleasantly calm and warm. He submerged himself up to his podgy waist and waved at his friends on the beach who just shook their heads at him and then carried on looking at their phones.

“Screw them,” he muttered to himself. Then he took a breath, held his nose, and fully submerged himself under the water.

Five minutes passed by, and Jake and Dan were still so busy playing with their phones that they completely failed to notice that their friend had seemingly vanished beneath the waves. It was only when a fit and handsome hunk emerged from the water a short time later, and started striding confidently up the beach towards them, that they suddenly put down their phones and took notice. The man seemed to be wearing the same trunks that Matt had been wearing, but instead of being saggy as they had been around Matt’s legs, they were pulled tight around the hunk’s thick muscular thighs. The man was grinning at them in a slightly disturbing way.

“Guys!” said the hunk excitedly. “Something amazing has happened to me!”

“Who the fuck are you?” asked Jake.

“It’s me, Matt!” said the guy, as water slowly dripped down his athletic chest and eight-pack abs.

“Don’t be a jerk,” said Dan. “What have you done with Matt?!”

“Seriously guys,” protested the man, “the water has changed me. It’s turned me into a buff stud, look!”

The man proudly flexed his chunky new biceps at them.

“Go fuck yourself,” said Jake, angrily getting up and walking down to the shoreline.

Jake called out for Matt, but he couldn’t see his friend anywhere in sight. He began to think that maybe his buddy was in trouble, so he quickly stripped down to his underpants and dived into the sea to look for him.

As Jake swam, he began to feel weird. It was like the sea was somehow whispering to him. The whispers told him not to worry about Matt. They told him that everything would be all right from now on.

“Come beneath the water, and we will make you like your friend,” whispered the waves.

Jake found himself compelled to fully submerge his body under the water. Then the sea changed him too.

A few minutes later, he emerged, now a fully grown man with a body just as fit and athletic as Matt’s had become. He proudly strolled back up the beach and then high-fived Matt who he now recognised as being his friend.

“Nice abs dude,” smiled Matt, patting Jake’s chiselled midriff.

“Yeah, and check out these guns man,” said Jake, flexing and kissing his newly inflated arms.

“Almost as big as mine,” joked Matt, flexing his own biceps in return.

The two dudes were so busy admiring their new fit bodies that they momentarily forgot about their one remaining nerdy teen friend.

“What the fuck is going on!” exclaimed Dan finally.

“Hey dude, just chill out,” said Jake. “You should go into the water too, then you can become like us.”

“What, become some self-obsessed, muscle-brained jerk?!” retorted Dan. “No thanks! We hate jocks, remember?!”

Matt laughed. “You’re confusing hate with jealousy, little dude.” Then he bounced his pecs at Dan tauntingly. “Tell me you don’t want this.”

“No, I don’t,” said Dan, folding his arms and looking away.

Matt and Jake shared a look.

“You’re right,” said Jake, “I did used to hate jocks, but it’s nerds I hate now. Nerds like you, who spend all day indoors, growing fat, while studs like us go out, enjoy the outdoors and keep our bodies fit and healthy. Matt and I are different now. We’re gown-up men, and we’re going to decide what’s best for you.”

Then they grabbed Dan by the arms and dragged him down the beach towards the ocean. Dan struggled against them, but they were much too strong for him now. Eventually they waded into the sea a few meters and dropped Dan into the water. Then they waited patiently for the ocean to do its work.

A few minutes later, Dan emerged, a new man.

“Woo! Yeah!” he exclaimed, flexing his bulbous biceps in front of his friends. He was the tallest and strongest of them now. His wet t-shirt and shorts were stretched tight around his newly grown body, revealing an athletic and muscular shape.

“Still think that we’re jerks?” asked Matt with a wry smile.

“Hell no!” laughed Dan. “I was a jerk before you dropped me into the water. Now, I’m a MAN!”

The three hunks laughed and hugged each other in the water, elated by the changes to their bodies and minds, and glad that they all saw things the same way now. The nerds they had once been were dead and gone forever.

They returned to the main beach, picking up some new trunks and shades along the way, and then took their place amongst the other fit beachgoers. This was where they belonged now.