The Unravelling of Meryl Prentiss

Meryl rose bright and early, as she always did. Getting ready in her usual fashion to a soundtrack of birdsong and, in one earpod as she went around her bedroom getting ready, an album from her favourite band — The Boy Band Heart of Hearts. "Every beat another drop of love..." She sang to herself quietly, as she opened up her chest of drawers and withdrew some underwear (the same kind she always wore, sensible but cutely cut cotton panties, most of them with a bow on the front, and a bra that matched the former), she took off her PJs and quickly slid the panties up her pale, slender legs, fitting them snugly over her heart-shaped butt and posing a little in the mirror, before picking up the bra and putting it on over her perky, b-cup boobs.

Satisfied, she went to her wardrobe and picked out a nice, tasteful sky blue pleated skirt, and a white blouse. The skirt went on first, and she made sure to twirl in the mirror, seeing that everything was covered before she put on the blouse. "Alright, tights," She reminded herself, going to the drawer where she always kept her tights, opening it up and finding it...empty. Meryl was confused, as ever since Secondary School she'd been putting her tights in that same spot. Come to think of it, she was certain that she'd seen them in there just last night, so what exactly was going on?

She put a mental pin in that one for the moment, and got her pumps out of the bottom of the wardrobe, they shone under her bedroom light, because she always polished them. Sauntering out onto the landing, Meryl stopped off at her Sister's door before she went downstairs and knocked on it gently. "What?" A sleepy voice called out from behind it.

"You see Mum move my tights or something?"

There was a pause, then a muffled creaking of springs and footsteps on carpet, before the door opened a crack. "Hmm? What?" A sleepy-looking blonde who looked much like Meryl herself, only the slightest bit - maybe a year - younger, appeared at the door. Her hair was bedraggled, and she was wearing only a tight vest - her tummy peeking out the bottom a little and the outline of her nipples clearly visible - and skimpy pink underwear.

"Tights? They go on your legs? Kind of see-through?" Meryl asked.

"Oh, right...no, don't you know where your own tights are?" Her sister seemed to feel a sudden itch, reaching up, pulling her vest out a little, putting a hand down it and scratching her right breast.

Meryl made a face, "I usually do, Missy, but today they're not where they're supposed to be."

Missy shrugged, "No clue, sorry. Can I go back to bed now?"

Meryl hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah, right, sorry to wake you," At that, Missy nodded and turned around, picking her floss-like underwear out from between her ample buttocks with one hand as she closed the door with her. Meryl shook her head, that girl was always so...indecent. Their parents often complained of it, how she lacked discipline, constantly flouted uniform rules at Sixth Form with her ludicrously rolled-up skirts, and tendency to hang around with unsavoury characters, many of them boys. Meryl wondered if, when Missy moved up to Hartwell in a few months, she'd actually get her act together. Then again, probably not, she thought, as she descended the stairs and went into the kitchen after closely inspecting the Living Room and Laundry Room. Mum was sitting at the kitchen table, nursing a hot cup of coffee, and she looked up as Meryl came in.

"Hey, sweetie," She smiled as Meryl came over and kissed her on the cheek. "You good to go?"

"Like always, except...tights?"

Her mother looked confused. "Not in your room?"

"No, you haven't seen any?"

Mum shook her head. "Not a one, I'll have a look round for your while you're gone if you want?"

Meryl nodded, slightly unnerved by what appeared to be the very real prospect of her going to College without tights. It wasn't a major deal, or at least it shouldn't be, but it was a small disruption to her natural rhythm and she felt thrown off by it. There was a sense of...exposure, going out bare-legged; Meryl tried her best to ignore it, seeing it for the irrational response it was.

She made a little toast, had a small cup of tea, then bid her Mum goodbye and left for College. On the bus there she kept her hands on her knees, feeling as if she needed some kind of coverage; it may have been irrational, but it comforted her. When she arrived at college, she met up with her best friend Kayla and explained the lack of tights when she noticed.

"All these years and I've barely ever seen those gorgeous legs!" Kayla exclaimed mockingly. Meryl rolled her eyes, and they went to the first class they had together. After that, Meryl went to her second class alone (Kayla didn't take Philosophy), met back up with her for lunch, then they made their way down to Volleyball practice. In the changing rooms, Meryl arranged her clothes as she always did, the blouse folded neatly on top, the skirt folded up under that, the shoes on the bench next to them both, and the panties folded into a triangle and hidden between blouse and skirt. Not wanting to flash anyone, she always took her panties off before her skirt, then surreptitiously shimmied into her alternate pair while sat on the bench.

Kayla laughed at the sight of it, "You know you're the only girl on the planet who brings separate underwear for sports?"

"I most definitely am not, I got the idea from Woman's Hour, helps with hygiene and PH balance."

"PH Balance? Who are you, Einstein?"

"Just a girl who takes her sexual health seriously, Kay,"

Kayla snorted, "Easy to do when you don't have any sex."

Meryl ignored that comment and patted her sports underwear — a set of Nike-branded granny panties worn under her Volleyball shorts, then went out to play ball. They came back an hour and a bit later, sweaty and covered in mud. After a shower, Meryl came back to her spot to change back, she took of her mud-stained Volleyball shorts and folded them up, then put her skirt back on, peeled the sweat-soaked sports underwear off her backside and went to put her original panties back on. Yet when she went to get them from their place under the blouse, they were gone.

She frowned, looking under the bench to see if they had somehow fallen through, but no. She stood up and looked around, someone might have picked them up after they'd fallen and mistakenly thought they were theirs? Meryl thought to ask the rest of the girls outright, but she didn't feel great about announcing, even to a room full of other girls, that she'd misplaced her underwear. "Wassup, Mer Bear?" Kayla said, by way of greeting from behind her. Meryl turned, looking worried. "Whoah," Kayla said. "What is up, actually?"

Meryl looked around, then leaned in and whispered, "I'm not wearing any underwear!"

Kayla raised an eyebrow, "Is this the point where our longtime friendship blossoms into a lesbian romance?"

"I'm not trying to turn you on!" Meryl hissed. "I've...I've lost my panties."

"So just ask if anyone's seen them?"

"I-I don't want to...I feel weird about it."

Kayla shrugged, "Okay, I'll do it," She suddenly steeped past Meryl and shouted, "Anyone seen Meryl's pants?" Meryl flushed a little, and hid her face. The other girls either shrugged or mumbled, "No," One girl who had yet to put her trousers back on actually stood up and took off her own panties right then and there, offering to lend them to Kayla, giving the room a full frontal view in the process. "Patsy!" Kayla yelled, "Put the minge away! We've discussed this!"