A scantily-clad trip to homeroom

Soon enough we were in the school parking lot, both of us backseat passengers slumping in our seats. We knew we couldn’t reasonably be seen from in here, but that didn’t mean we believed it.

The school was as busy as one would expect on a Monday morning. Mrs. Norman started pulling right up to the front dropoff zone, and I didn’t know if she was doing us a favor by not making us walk or the opposite by dropping us right into the middle of the crowd at the doors. I grabbed Lydia’s hand with the hand that wasn’t holding my towel.

"Oh by the way, I actually have a meeting I have to be at this afternoon. But you shouldn't have any trouble taking the bus home, right?" Mrs. Norman asked.

I honestly didn't know whether she was bluffing or not, but I pushed all thoughts of this afternoon out of my head anyway. "So how are we doing this?" I asked, apprehensive.

“Well, we’re going straight in and down to homeroom. No problem, right?” Lydia said.

“Nope. Backpacks, remember?” I said.

“Okay, backpacks and then homeroom. Will you walk with me? Please?”

I sighed. “I’ll walk with you part of the way, but Mr. Martin’s class is kind of in the other direction.”

She looked dejected, and I wished that I could remind her that I was in this entire mess because of her, but I remembered that she was a friend first.

“Okay fine, I’ll walk with you,” I said.

Our conversation had eaten up most of the time it took to get to the front of the dropoff's car queue.

“Alright ladies, this is your stop. Remember: no clothing but your perdy little towels, no clips, and no tying,” Mrs. Norman said.

I took a deep breath and opened my door. I grabbed my backpack and shut the door, which was awkward one-handed, but I managed it. I looked around and I was already getting stares, but hopefully no one I actually knew had seen me yet. Lydia was on the far side of the car, so she scampered around to me and did the best estimation of an embrace that she could do with one hand.

“You look so cute in those, like you’re all wet from the bath. Maybe I’ll make you go with wet hair tomorrow to complete the look,” Mrs. Norman said from the now rolled-down window. She really just did. Not. Stop.

I wasn’t going to manage spending another second around her mother without lashing out at her. I grabbed Lydia and we speedwalked to the school entrance. Despite the busyness, the students who saw us were making a pretty sizable gap around us, which I was thankful for. We definitely didn’t need to be accidentally bumping into any boys right now.

“We’re going to my locker first so I can drop you off,” I said. If she was going to make me walk all that way then we were doing it on my terms.

So off to my locker we headed. The towels were holding surprisingly well, probably due to the fact that we were holding onto them for dear fucking life. Our towel holding situation was physically awkward, perhaps in a way that you would only understand if you had to do it yourself. I had to scrunch up my shoulders to get my hand in the right position to hold the top, but if I meant I wasn’t flashing a boob then I was happy to do it.

Getting my books ready was another serious challenge. At my locker now, the second time I dropped my binder I threw in the towel (hah) and freed my 2nd hand by pinching the top of the towel with my chin for a tense few seconds. Luckily, I was back up and ready for class with no serious mishap. Or so I thought.

“Wait! Jill!,” Lydia said in the loudest whisper she could muster.

I followed her sightline and, sure enough, on the left side the towel had slipped enough to show at least a lot of cleavage, and maybe more. I quickly remedied that situation and then looked around, seeing a handful of people who looked like they saw my display (and, for that matter, wouldn't have missed it for anything). I felt the heat rise up my neck and into my face, but I fought against it. I also fought against the urge to ask Lydia how much she saw. Perhaps I was better off not knowing.

Our walk to Lydia's first classroom was uneventful, but actually walking in was another story. Gone was the relative anonymity of the hallway; classrooms were filled with people you had to interact with on a daily basis. Still, we made it in, and I saw Lydia squeeze into her seat before I left.

Now on my own, the hallways were a bit more of a frightening prospect. If one of the boys decided to break cordiality and tease me (or worse), would my classmates help me? Luckily, I didn't have to find out because most everyone was still too shocked to approach me.

I waltzed into my first classroom, trying to form my confidence into a physical barrier between me and my classmate's eyes. I tempted a glance at Lytton, but I could only read blank surprise in his face.

I squeezed into my own seat, making sure to keep my legs glued together even if I was in the middle row and the desktop provided enough cover. I made one last adjustment to my towel and tried to ready myself for the day.