Sara makes it back without a problem.

“Christina?”

She’d been hiding behind the dumpsters for what felt like hours. She knew it was likely that only twenty or thirty minutes had passed since she reached the hiding space but she wasn’t able to stand up straight without her head being visible from the outside; her legs had grown sore from crouching and her back was starting to ache. Twice people had walked by and she’d started feeling the fear of getting caught all over again, felt her face flush with redness in embarrassment, before both times the interloper had come and gone without incident. The voice from a slight distance startled her and at first she wasn’t certain if it was Sara or not. Only when she called out again was she sure it was her friend.

“I’m back here,” she called out.

Sara stepped between the dumpsters and held her arm out. She was holding a plastic grocery bag weighed down with clothes. “Should be everything you need.”

Grabbing the bag Christina plunged her hands inside and pulled out whatever was on top. A shirt. She tossed it over her head and pulled it down over her chest.

“Thank you so much,” Christina said, pulling a pair of jeans from the bag and shooting her legs through them. She knew they’d be a slightly tight fit but she was just happy to get dressed again. A little discomfort was nothing. “You couldn’t imagine how terrified I was.”

“Hey, that’s what friends are for, helping each other out of a jam. You’d do the same for me.”

Christina finished dressing by stuffing her feet into a pair of well-worn sandals Sara had brought her, then squeezed out from behind her hiding spot.

“I’ll get these back to you tomorrow,” she said. “Monday at the latest so I can wash them first.”

“No sweat, I don’t need them back immediately.”

“Thank you again,” she hugged her friend. “I better get home, my parents are probably worried sick about me. Still want to get together later?”

“After today I honestly think I’m just going to pass out early. My heart was racing the whole time we were running through the school, I’m pretty beat.”

Christina realized she was feeling much the same way. She’d be able to get through her homework and dinner and that might be about all the energy she had. “No worries. Tomorrow night then?”

“You’re on!”