A mysterious moat that needs filling

Melissa, Jill, and Thomas stayed to the center of the path, careful to avoid the vines. Melissa looked ridiculous with her right hand positioned behind her shoulder, but she didn't have a choice if she wanted to preserve her modesty. They walked in silence, padding across the cobblestones.

Turning a corner obscured by the villainous hedges, they came to a halt. In front of them was a deep, concrete basin - basically an empty swimming pool. The sticky vines lined either side of it, so they'd have to go through the structure to get get to the other side.

"What the fuck?" Jill said. "This place is so weird."

"Look," said Thomas, pointing. He had seen a wooden ladder leaning against the close edge. "Let's just climb down, move that ladder to the other side, and climb back up."

"Seems simple enough," said Melissa. "But you guys have to go first."

"Why?" asked Jill.

"Because if I grab on to that ladder, I can't hold my ripped dress, idiot," Melissa spat. It seemed she blamed Jill for her predicament even though it obviously wasn't her fault.

"Jeez, calm down," Jill said. "I'm sorry, I forgot, OK?"

Thomas certainly hadn't forgotten. He'd enjoyed catching snatches of Melissa's skin through the tears in her yellow dress, and the thought of seeing her right boob fall free was pretty exciting. Still, he knew he had to act like a gentleman if he wanted to stay Melissa's friend.

"Hey, no problem," Thomas said. "I'll go first."

Thomas threw his legs over the ladder and started climbing down. It quickly became clear, though, that this wasn't going to be extremely easy. The ladder was unsteady, wobbling under his weight. He carefully descended and reached the concrete floor without incident. As he stepped off the bottom rung, he could feel water through his sandals.

"Well, that explains why the ladder was so shaky," he said. "There's water down here, and the floor's a little slippery. Jill, you come down next, and I'll hold the ladder for you."

With Thomas stabilizing the ladder, Jill was able to climb down without a problem. Her sandals splashed in the shallow water as Thomas called up. "OK, Mel, your turn!"

"All right. But don't you dare look, do you hear me?"

"We won't, we won't," Jill replied quickly.

Thomas grabbed the ladder, pressed it against the wall, and looked down. He could feel Melissa's weight above him and knew that looking up would let him see up her tattered dress, spy her exposed breast, or possibly both at once. He ached to peek, but especially with Jill right next to him, he didn't dare.

Melissa was moving slowly. "Shit, this is hard," she said. "My flip-flops were not made for climbing." Jill caught Thomas' gaze and rolled her eyes, grinning as she silently made fun of their friend.

"Fuck!" they heard from above, and the ladder jolted. Without thinking, both teens looked up. Melissa had hooked one rung under her right elbow and was grasping the edge of the ladder with her left hand. One foot was dangling; clearly she had lost her balance. Though things were moving fast, Thomas was pleased to catch sight of Melissa's exposed ass and the thin strip of white fabric that hid under her dress. He couldn't see the breast he knew would be exposed from above, but his upskirt view was lovely.

"Fuck, fuck! DON'T look at me!" Melissa shouted. "I'm fine!"

Thomas and Jill exchanged looks, both of them grinning from ear to ear. When Melissa got close to the bottom, she commanded, "Close your eyes. Both of you!" Already nervous about what he'd gotten away with so far, Thomas followed directions. He heard Melissa splash into the thin stream of water, and a moment later, she announced that she was ready.

Melissa was sweating profusely from the effort and breathing hard. Her hand was stuck, once again, behind her shoulder and her looks could kill a bull.

"Let's get going," she said. "We need to get out of here."

Thomas picked up the ladder, and the three friends started heading to the other side of the empty pool.

"Shit," Thomas said as he rested the ladder against the far wall. It didn't reach all the way to the top, falling several feet short. "There must be an incline. It's deeper on this end than on that end."

"Well fuck me," Jill said. "Now what do we do?"