Everyone wears miniskirts

Her phone’s alarm sounded next to her ear, and Jessica groggily reached over to silence it. With a yawn she sat up, pushing the covers off her body. Slowly she shuffled out of her room for a much-needed shower.

When she got back to her room and had dried herself off, she set about getting ready for the day ahead of her. Something felt decidedly wrong as she was putting on her uniform, and a glance at her bedroom mirror gave her a shock while she was buttoning up her shirt.

The dark grey skirt, part of the college’s uniform, that had previously covered her knees was now resting neatly above her mid-thigh. Panic controlling her brain, she threw on her dressing gown and rushed to the kitchen where she found Mandy lazily chewing on a piece of toast while staring at her phone.

“Hey Mandy, you wouldn’t know if anyone’s playing a prank on me, would you?” Mandy, looking up at Jessica, raised a quizzical eyebrow as she shook her head. “Only, my skirt is a lot shorter than it should be.”

Saying this, she opened her dressing gown that she had previously been holding closed, revealing her half-buttoned shirt and miniskirt to her friend. Mandy stood up from the table and walked around for a closer inspection. A small gasp escaped Jessica when she saw Mandy wearing a skirt of almost identical length.

“Looks about right to me Jess,” Mandy said as she reached out to rub the hem between her fingers. “Did it shrink a little in the wash or something? I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Jessica swallowed.

“No, it used to go down below my knees. Like a regular skirt. I got it from the college shop.”

“The college shop only sells uniform skirts, and according to the dress code, that’s a uniform skirt.” Mandy grabbed her phone off the table and tapped away for a few seconds. When she turned it to Jessica, the screen showed a page on the St Catherine’s website.

“Girls must wear skirts as sold in the college shop. The hem should fall in the region directly between the knees and the bottom of the buttocks.”

Feeling the panic build within her again, Jessica began stuttering.

“Um, I’ve got to, got to go finish getting ready. I’ll – I’ll see you in Maths, ok?”

She ignored Mandy telling her that they didn’t have Maths today, and fled the kitchen.

Back in the privacy of her own bedroom, Jessica frantically flung open her wardrobe and examined the skirts inside. Her other school skirts all were the same length, and even her casual skirts were as short, or even shorter. Holding up her favourite blue miniskirt, which she remembered as being just slightly longer than her current skirt, she could see that it would barely cover her. Any time she leaned forward in it she would be showing off her underwear to everyone behind her.

She sat down on her bed and tried to hold back a sob. A light knocking came from her door but she didn’t bother to answer.

“Jess, if we don’t head out soon we’ll be la- Jess?” Emily opened the unlocked door to Jessica’s room to find her sitting, half-dressed on the side of her bed. She quickly rushed over to grasp her teary-eyed friend’s hands and asked what was wrong.

“Have you,” Jessica sniffed. “Have you ever said something you thought was right, and then everyone tells you you’re wrong?” Emily smiled.

“All the time Jess, all the time. Come on, we can’t sit here crying all day.” She hopped up onto the bed and sat cross-legged, facing Jess. Looking over, Jessica couldn’t help but notice the shortness of Emily’s skirt, and the pale blue triangle between her legs that her posture revealed.

After carefully dabbing at her eyes with a tissue, Emily began buttoning up Jessica’s shirt. When she was done, she grabbed the tie off the floor and carefully knotted it around it around Jessica’s neck.

“Do you need to me to tie your shoelaces, or have you recovered enough to do that?”

Jessica managed a weak smile at the buxom girl.

“I think I’ve just about got it under control. Thanks for, you know.” Jessica pulled on her shoes and as she stood up was pulled into a hug. Still confused, but feeling a lot better, Jessica headed off to her first class.