She reaches the dumpsters without incident.

Sara turned the first corner and found it abandoned. She walked at a quick pace, tempted to break into a run but felt that making less noise was a better option. She would still reach the dumpsters in plenty of time, and was worried that making too much sound could draw attention.

Her hands covered the front of her body, but looser than she had seen Christina shield herself earlier. She knew her friend was modest, extremely so, and while Sara didn’t want to get caught like this she knew she could live with it if one or two people happened to notice her. She’d do what she could to avoid being seen, but getting to the dumpsters before Christina returned was better than possibly getting stuck in a hiding spot for an extended period of time.

The closest path to the dumpsters was through the cafeteria and out the back exit, but she knew that wasn’t an option. The cafeteria was home to several after school clubs, maybe one every night of the week for all Sara knew. It was too popular a spot to be able to cut through. But the hallway going past it led to an exit, and it was the next closest to the dumpsters. She’d take her chances darting across the cafeteria entrance.

She turned a corner and saw the exit down the last leg of this journey, the cafeteria entrance looming on the left about halfway down the hall. As she approached she saw the doors were open, as they always were, and she could hear some quiet voices inside. She slowed down about twenty feet from the door and re-thought her options. She thought of possibly pushing the door closest to her closed to narrow her gap of exposure, but the noise was certain to turn heads. She could possibly guide it shut quietly but the motion might still catch someone’s eye. It would be best to just cross the doorway and hope for the best.

Regaining speed but trying to step softly she darted across the entrance, not looking into the cafeteria but straight ahead at the exit. A sudden rise in people talking, or maybe laughter, would be all she needed to know if she was caught or not; neither noise came and she continued through the hall to the exit.

Reaching the door she realized how hard she was pressing her hands against her body, and **** herself to loosen them. I must be more modest than I gave myself credit for, she thought, peering through the narrow windows in the large steel doors.

The windows provided limited vision, only so much of an angle left or right. Straight ahead there was no one, just the paved street the sanitation department used to reach the dumpsters as well as any delivery trucks. To the right was the road, across a field used by students during recess. To the left was the asphalt lot that housed the dumpsters and entrances to the cafeteria and kitchen. The road was thankfully abandoned- she knew a car could come at any time once she was outside, but this time she wouldn’t worry about making noise.

She pushed in the door’s crash bar and shoved the door open, stepping outside. Daylight hit parts of her body it had never hit before for a second before her hands crossed back in front of her. She broke into a hard run immediately, veering to the left and straight towards the dumpsters. She had taken a split second to glance around once she was outside and knew that for the immediate moment she was alone, but she wanted to get back to a hiding place before that changed.

She felt like she was exposed for a full two minutes before she reached the dumpsters, but knew it couldn’t have been more than twenty seconds. She dipped past the wall, squeezed past the dumpster and huddled down. She was completely out of sight now. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Sara settled in to wait.

***

“Hey Sara, you back there?”

“I’m here!” she said, peering around the dumpster and looking for her friend. Christina stepped into view and passed Sara a folded pair of jeans and t-shirt.

She began getting dressed while Christina took a step into the gap. “Make it here okay?”

“As okay as possible. Going outside like this was a little terrifying.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure I could have brought myself to do that. You’re brave.”

“Or just crazy, I guess” Sara said, pulling the shirt down over her body.

Christina handed her a belt, “You’re a size smaller than I am, thought you could use this. And here’s a pair of sandals you can wear.”

Sara slipped the belt through the loops and was thankful Christina had thought of this, the jeans definitely felt a little too loose for her liking. She slipped her feet into the sandals and felt the tip of her toes crossing over the edge of the footwear- they fit well enough for the walk home and Sara could live with the slight discomfort until then.

“Thanks for getting here so quickly,” she said, adjusting the shirt and jeans before stepping out from behind the dumpsters.

“Of course. I tried to run but the shirt kept riding up, so I had to walk fast and hold it down. Thankfully I didn’t come across anyone while I was that exposed.”

After exiting the dumpsters she grasped her friend in a tight hug, “thanks for coming back. Guess we have a hell of a story now, don’t we?”

Christina gave a short bark of a laugh, “I’m never telling anyone about this!”

“Well I better get home, everyone’s probably wondering why I’m so late.”

“Yeah, me too. See you tomorrow in class?”

“Of course!”