Just beg them to leave.

“Please, just go!” Christina pleaded. A tiny part of her wanted to tell the truth, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it. She had blurted out the only thing that came to mind, a **** request that she worried would fall on deaf ears.

“Tell us what you were doing first!” the teen nearest her said, still giggling.

“Look, I’m having a really terrible day-“

“Obviously,” another teen snickered.

“-and I don’t want to talk about it! Just forget you saw me here, please!”

This brought another bout of laughter and teasing.

“I think we caught her doing a dare!”

“No, I bet she’s enjoying this, probably excites her!”

“No!” Christina practically wailed, “that’s not it at all! Can’t you please just leave me alone?”

“I dunno, that’s a pretty strong protest! You probably are enjoying this. Or you were until we caught you!”

Christina just shook her head and stared at the floor. She knew they wouldn’t leave her alone until they’d had their fun mocking her situation.

“How were you planning to get back to your clothes?” The nearest teen asked, “you didn’t hide them in the stall with you!”

“She probably ran through the halls like this!”

“Oh, and when we stepped out of the classroom she hid in here hoping we wouldn’t see her!” She turned towards Christina, “that’s it, isn’t it?”

Christina didn’t look up, just shook her head and whimpered a meek “no…”

“Oh yeah, that’s totally it. Well no reason why we should hold her up, right?”

The other girls laughed again and agreed. Before Christina could realize what she meant, the teen reached in and grabbed Christina’s arm.

“No!” She shouted, “Please no!”

Another girl leaned into the stall and grabbed Christina’s other arm. When they pulled Christina’s first thought was about her arms being pulled away from her body and now facing total exposure to the invading teens. A split second later she pulled back, trying to avoid being thrown out of the bathroom.

“Come on, don’t be shy!” the lead teen laughed, “you ran all the way here, you can keep going!”

“Don’t’ worry, we won’t hold you up anymore!” another girl giggled.

Christina leaned backwards with all her **** but it wasn’t enough to stop from being pulled out of the stall. The two girls got behind her and she saw the third teen had moved to the door. She watched as the door was pulled open and tried to fight as she was helplessly pushed out of the bathroom.

Immediately she broke into a sprint, her arms now safely back in front of her body. She heard the girls laughing behind her, practically cackling now. Feeling her face flushing red she tried to use the embarrassment to increase her motivation to run as fast as she could, putting distance between herself and her tormentors.

She rounded a corner in the hallway and all she could think of was making it to the dumpster as soon as possible. She desperately didn’t want to miss Sara stopping by and her not being there, since she’d been evicted from the restroom.

Luckily the hallways were deserted, the **** majority of students having left and the after-school clubs and programs in full swing. Her bare soles lightly thudded on the tile floor as she tried to move quickly but stay quiet.

She knew the most direct path to the dumpsters was through the cafeteria, but that room commonly hosted various after-school activities. Christina momentarily considered stopping by the cafeteria and peeking inside to see if she could cut through, but quickly argued against it. If the room was full there was a chance she’d be seen just looking around the corner and she didn’t want to chance anyone possibly noticing her bare shoulder and asking questions. She also knew the doors commonly stayed open all the time so she didn’t want to dash past it, heading for the next-nearest exit from the dumpsters. After ruling that out she opted to take the third-nearest exit, the last door leading to the back of the school, close the closest to the street on that side of the building but far enough away that she felt she could run fast and keep her visibility somewhat low.

Christina turned into the hallway and ran away from the cafeteria. She was breathing a bit heavily from the exertion, already slightly tired from gym class but enough energy to make this jog without slowing. Her ears strained to catch any sounds of possible students or teachers in the halls. A slight murmur came from a class room far down the hall, but it was low enough she prayed that meant everyone was well engaged in their activity.

Prior to nearing that room, though, she reached the hallway leading to her chosen exit. She rounded the corner without slowing, relying on luck and prayer that no one would be walking through the passage. Her fortune held- it was as abandoned as the rest had been.

She could see light coming through the windows built into the doors of two classrooms ahead. Part of her wanted to hesitate and duck down below the windows as she had done when fleeing to Cassie’s locker, but a larger part of her wanted to reach safety. She picked up her pace as she flashed past the first door, then again at the second. No sudden noises came from either classroom. She was hopeful either no one had noticed, or that she was fast enough to no realize the passer-by wasn’t wearing anything. Or at the very least didn’t recognize her.

Christina did pause when she reached the door leading outside. Using the thin vertical windows she peered outside to make sure the coast was clear. A car passed on the road, at least forty yards away, then nothing. No one appeared to be walking around or hanging out there. She popped the door open slightly and listened. No one talking nearby, no sounds of approaching cars. She wasn’t sure how far away she could hear, but had to trust that things would be clear.

Shoving the metal door open by the crash bar she bolted outside, into the daylight and the public. Pivoting immediately to her left she started running towards the dumpsters. Her face was burning red from blushing so hard, the heat creeping into her neck and upper chest. Keeping her arms firmly in front of her she sprinted as fast as she could.

“Christina!” a female voice called out.

Oh my god, who the hell just saw- wait, that sounded like Sara!

Peeking over her shoulder she saw that it was her friend, who had just turned the corner and was walking towards her carrying a plastic grocery bag. Christina jerked her heads towards the dumpsters in a ‘please hurry!’ motion and saw Sara start picking up her pace before she looked back towards where she was going. Not waiting for her friend, Christina only wanted to get out of sight of anyone else who might stop by.

She reached the concrete wall which contained the dumpsters and quickly squeezed between it and the dumpster nearest her. She got behind the dumpster, into concealment and realized her cheeks were wet with tears. She wiped them away, listening to Sara’s footsteps approaching.

Her friend squeezed between the two dumpsters hand handed Christina the plastic bag. Immediately Christina reached in and pulled out the first garment she felt, a pair of jeans that she hastily stuffed her legs into.

“What happened?” Sara asked, “I thought you were going to hide out in the restroom?”

“Some teens came,” Christina said, fastening the jeans around her hips. “Realized I was naked in there and shoved me back into the halls. I ran here as fast as I could, I was worried I might miss you.”

“Oh jeez, I’m so sorry. I was worried you might get caught in there.”

Pulling a t-shirt over her head, Christina began profusely thanking Sara for getting back with some clothes for her. She jammed her feet into a pair of sandals Sara had brought and started squeezing out from behind the dumpsters.

“Thanks again,” she said, adjusting the jeans. They were a hair too small for her but they would work long enough to get home.

“Of course, you’d do the same for me!”

“Hey, can we skip hanging out tonight? I’m really beat, I just want to finish my homework and go straight to bed. Try to pretend this whole ordeal never happened.”

“I was sorta thinking the same thing. You free tomorrow night?”

“Yeah, let’s do that. I can get your clothes back to you then.”

“No worries, I don’t need them super fast.”

They walked out from behind the school and to the street. Sara lived to the left and Christina was to the right, through a park and across another street. They hugged each other and said their good-byes, before Christina started heading towards her house, praying that her parents weren’t too worried about how late she was getting home.