Alice is terrified of course

Mrs. Sylvia looked down her nose at Alice, as she sighed. "You are going to be able to present, correct? We can only take so much of your stammering."

"Sorry...", Alice mumbled, hanging her head in shame. She raised her head up again to look at the sea of students waiting for her to begin. She stared out at them, unable to move as her muscles felt frozen in place. The only sound in the class was the slight shaking of Alice's papers as she held them, and the quiet snickering of her classmates at her continued unresponsiveness.

"Oh, for goodness sake!", Mrs. Sylvia chided. "My dear, if there was a way for us to help you be more comfortable in front of class, we would do so, but you're just going to have to muscle through this on your own." At this, Rachel raised her hand excitedly, a look of barely unconstrained glee on her face.

"Yes, Rachel, do you have something that will help Alice here?"

"I know that I always feel more comfortable when I take my shoes off. Maybe Alice should give that a try?", Rachel said with a fake sweetness in her voice.

Alice felt her stomach drop. She had forgotten that Rachel had somehow gotten ahold of Alice's diary earlier in the year, and had discovered her fear of removing her clothing in public. Rachel knew that Alice was nervous at the prospect of even taking her shoes off! Even though she would technically still be fully covered!

"Well, that sounds perfectly reasonable my dear," Mrs. Sylvia said. "Thank you for the suggestion. Alice, please take your shoes off and put them in the corner there."

"But...but...I...I...can't...", Alice started before Mrs. Sylvia cut her off.

"Good gracious, dear, it's not that much to ask. Please remove your shoes, or someone will have to do it for you." As Alice continued to attempt a response, Mrs. Sylvia turned to the class. "Who can help Alice, please?"

Brady and Chloe immediately raised their hands, and Alice was wide-eyed in terror as they approached her. Brady moved behind Alice and grabbed her by the waist as Chloe lifted up Alice's left leg, and went about untying her laces and removing her sneaker. She quickly did the same with Alice's other shoe, but as she tossed Alice's shoes in the corner, she turned to Mrs. Sylvia, still with Alice's right leg raised in the air. "Mrs Sylvia? Maybe we should take Alice's socks off too? I know that it always makes me feel better to go barefoot."