Get T-shirts

You stop off to get T-shirts.

Alex won’t like it if you use the CCL shirts because they won’t be see-through when wet. But that CCL being displayed too proudly might be a liability in this situation, especially since you didn’t run this by actual CCL leadership first.

It’s likely that the others already have white T-shirts, but it’s easiest to make sure. Small for you and Lisey, medium for Kris and Karen.

Once that’s done, you head back to the house, which you find empty. You know better than to think that the others are focused on business. They went looking for Sissy, just like you told them to, but they’ll have stopped for lunch or something, and that’s OK.

You check Sissy’s room, but nothing has been disturbed. She hasn’t come back.

You don’t like this. You had better get this resolved while you can; if you go back home for Thanksgiving with any loose threads, it will be miserable.

You go to your room and find an appropriately skimpy pair of shorts, which you lay out with your shirt before sitting down at your desk with a pen and notebook to plan your presentation for tomorrow.

Convincing the university that Professor Austen needs to go will be difficult. You know better than to try to explain to them why a teacher breaking girls’ hearts is bad. They won’t understand that. But they will understand the risk of scandal, so that is the approach that you will take. You will tell them that if they don’t do something about Professor Austen, this will blow up in their faces. They’ll argue that it may blow up even if they do, and you’ll ask them this: if it blows up, do they want to look like the good guys or the bad guys?

You can do this. It will take all of your cleverness, but how hard can it be to outsmart the people who run the university?

You left your door open so you would hear it when the girls came home, but you lose track of time.

“Shit,” you say, looking at your watch when you hear them downstairs. You close your notebook and head down.

“You said you’d cook,” Karen accuses. “We’re hungry.”

“You said you’d look for Sissy,” you fire back, glaring at her.

“Hey, we did,” Kris says, abashed, trying to hide her shopping bags behind her back. “We just didn’t find her.”

“She’s at Martha’s,” Lisey says confidently, dumping her shopping on the floor and poking Kris with an elbow. “I guarantee it.”

“How do you know?” you ask, crossing the large foyer to join them.

“She caught us. We were about to creep up and peep, but she saw us through the window and closed the curtains. She did not look happy,” Kris tells you.

You nod, putting your hands on your hips and sighing. “She knows.”

“No doubt,” Karen says.

“It doesn’t change anything. We keep going.”

“On an empty stomach?”

“I said I’d cook, so I’ll cook. I put shirts on your beds. Find some shorts, and start getting ready. It’s getting late.”

“Shirts?” Karen says, looking disbelieving. “You going to do my makeup too?”

“I will if I have to,” you mutter, going into the kitchen. “Be back down here to eat in twenty minutes.”

“Is this the fucking army?” Karen’s saying as they take their shopping bags upstairs.

You don’t need a large meal tonight, but you do need them to eat, so you have to make something they like. Just with small portions. You boil water and put on a saucepan and skillet. Oil in the skill, tomato sauce in the pan. Ground beef.

If there’s one time you can count on CCL girls to be punctual it’s when they’re hungry. You try to explain to them what they need to do tonight as they gobble their spaghetti, but they aren’t listening.

You’re dreading it, but time is passing. As the girls get ready and put on their outfits, you move around the house, making sure that every window and door is locked, just like you do every night. It bothers you that there’s not already a rule about this. CCL has a chore board. Why is locking windows not on it? You will change that when you’re in charge.

You find your girls already in the foyer when you finish.

“Show me,” you command as you grab your coat. They all open their coats to show that they’re wearing their shorts and T-shirts with no bras.

“What’s that?” Kris asks, seeing the duffel bag that you’re carrying.

“That’s clothes for us to change into. Ours will be wet,” Lisey tells her.

Kris looks surprised. “You really think of everything, don’t you?”

“That’s my job,” you say, grabbing your keys.

The girls chatter excitedly on the way. They’re expecting a party, and they’re going to get one. There are already a lot of cars outside the Free Gurls bar. Your girls are CCL girls. Even babies like Kris have plenty of guts and desire, so you don’t have to worry about them. They can handle themselves. Even so, even after a… big night together, this is an audience. A shot or two before anything else might help loosen everyone up. You could certainly use one, but you’re also thinking of Kris, who reacts obviously to all the stares she gets as you lead the girls inside.

A drink first?

Or just let the girls be?