She proceeds to the lost-and-found box

Sophia could almost not bring herself to go forward, as the dash to end up behind the desk would be ridiculously risky. However, she had no other choice as the voices behind her grew louder. Fully stressed out and extremely embarrassed, she slowly opened the door while the people at the desk seemed distracted. She duck behind a waiting bench and awkwardly shuffled alongside it in a crouched position. She could hear the girls were already paying for their tickets, so they would be done any minute and head into her direction.

With no time to waste, Sophia dashed from her cover and immediately through the open door just to the side of the desk. From the lack of a reaction, it seemed they must not have seen her. It was a miracle, but Sofia could not feel relieved just yet. She now crouched in a small office with windows on three sides. Behind her was a window looking into the reception area, and she could see the back of the lady's head. On her right was a wall full of shelves, and dead ahead she could look into the pool area. The final wall, on her left, had windows she knew looked into the cafeteria, but the blinds were down. The smooth floor felt cold beneath her bare feet, and the air condition chilled her wet skin.

Sophia shivered from a combination of fear, embarrassment and the cold as she crouched to the side of a bookshelf. She softly closed the door behind her a bit, but not fully as to avoid alerting the clerk. The office was a bit of a mess, but she could see the large wooden lost-and-found box tucked beneath a shelf on the far side of the office. She had to crawl on hands and knees to make it there unseen, making her feel even more degraded. It was certainly better than being caught like this, however, especially as she was now somewhere she should not be.

Once at the box, she gently pulled it from under the shelf. Much to her dismay, the box was locked with a brass padlock. Sofia cursed to herself. She really had no luck with locks and keys today. As she frantically looked around for the key, she suddenly felt a strong breeze that send a shiver down her spine and blew the door fully open again. She dove behind the office desk to move out of view of the now open doorway and carefully looked out over the top. A group of 10, maybe 20, people had just entered the building through the automatic doors. She was trapped!

Sophia cowered behind the desk as she eavesdropped on the people. She quickly realized it was a sports class offered by her college, one that she had considered joining no less. It was all people from around her age, both boys and girls, maybe even people from the same study as her! Getting caught would have been bad already, but now it would be a complete humiliating nightmare.