Chapter 6

Jane walks through the halls of her personal hell hole. Couples are perched at every corner, swallowing each other's faces. 'Seriously, get a room,' Jane thinks to herself as she passes each pair.

She goes through her day as always. Math, Science, History, English, Lunch, Art, Study Hall, and finally Gym. Her least favorite class of the day is her final class of the day. Unfortunately, she isn't athletically gifted. She is quite the opposite. Because of this, she has to take gym with the rest of the clumsy assholes in her school.

She makes her way to the locker rooms. She finds her locker, opens it, and grabs whatever pair of clean clothing she finds first. She walks towards the bathroom stalls that are next to the showers. Shit. Every single stall is taken. She only has five minutes between periods and her time is dwindling. She can't sit and wait for a stall because she may be late. She is not about to walk into a room full of hormone-crazed teens and have all eyes on her.

She walks back to the lockers and decides to get dressed in front of all the other girls. She removes her top and shorts. Next, she takes off her bra and underwear in order to change into some more appropriate undergarments and clothes. She hears some girls giggling behind her. They are probably gossiping about some hot guy or some shit like that. Jane doesn't have time for that kind of commentary. Once fully clothed she exits the locker room to find her assigned spot on the gym floor. She sits and waits as everyone else files into the room.

Oddly enough, Jane is getting quite a few stares from her peers. She looks down at her clothing to see if anything is ripped or if something else might be causing this unwanted attention. She can't find anything that would be responsible for this, so she tries to focus her attention on the gym teacher, tuning out the giggles and snickers and stares of her classmates.

Today they are running laps. It could be worse. They could be doing square dancing or dodgeball or pull-ups. Laps are doable. The teens are split into groups that will start at staggered times to keep everyone spaced out. Jane's group is the first to start. They are running 20 laps and were instructed to stay in the group. Jane puts in her headphones and gets ready for the torture that is about to ensue. The teacher blows their whistle, and the group is off. Jane sticks to the middle of the group. Not wanting to lag behind, she runs at a steady pace. It matches the beat of her music.

Before she knows it, they are already halfway done with their run. Jane has always had great endurance, so this kind of thing is a breeze for her. She finishes the laps without any issues. Once each group has finished their 20 laps, they are allowed to hit the showers and get dressed. The gym teacher said the rest of the period can be used as a study hall and Jane intends to do just that.

Jane is in the locker room, removing her dirty clothing and grabbing a towel. She covers herself and then heads for the showers. She rinses off all of the sweat and grime that accrued on her skin from the run. Oddly enough, no one else joins her in the showers. She finishes her shower in peace before returning to her locker to get dressed.

She unlocks her locker. All of her clothing has been taken, even the dirty clothes. What the hell. What is she supposed to do now? Walk out in front of her peers almost naked. This is so fucked. Jane takes a seat on one of the benches in the room, deciding to wait until one of her peers stops by. She waits and waits, ten minutes pass by and no one shows up. She puts her hands in her hair, she can feel tears beading at the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill. She sits up, wiping any evidence of weakness, and decides to peek her head out of the locker room entrance. She does so.

The gym teacher is in their office and the bleachers are filled with every one of her peers. She can't yell to the gym teacher and draw attention to herself, but she also can't walk through the gym in the nude. She stands at the entrance, frozen and helpless. This is the worst day of her life. How do things like this happen? She sucks up her pride and decides to shout across the gymnasium. She opens her mouth to do so but stops. She has an idea.

She rushes back to her locker. Fortunately, her phone is still inside. Whoever stole her clothes was too dumb to steal her phone too. She calls her mom. Ring ... Ring ... Ring ... 'Come on mom. Pick up. I have no idea what to do and I really need your help right now.' Jane chews on her thumbnail while she waits.

"Hello?" The familiar voice of her family member shakes Jane from her intrusive thoughts, bringing her back to the reality of her situation.

"Mom! I need your help. I need you to call the office and tell them to call the gym teacher. I need them to come to the locker room." Jane explains.

"What on earth? Why would I do that? Did something happen?"

"Don't worry about it mom, it's fine. Can you just do that for me? I will tell you all about this when I get home later tonight."

"I guess. But you are texting me as soon as you have your situation figured out. I am not waiting until tonight to know if my daughter is okay," her mama bear voice booms through the phone. Jane shivers, not wanting anyone to face the wrath of her mom. It would be an unfortunate way to leave this earth.

"Sure thing mom. Thank you so so so much and I love you." Jane ends the call with her mom, waiting in anticipation for the gym teacher to save her from this situation.

Each minute that passes is another minute closer to her freedom. She sits in silence, hearing the tick-tock of the clock behind her. After a few moments, she hears someone enter the locker rooms. She braces herself. If it isn't the teacher, she is going to have to deal with some gossipy teen. She needs to be mentally prepared for that type of situation.

"Jane? Are you in here?" Mr. Jackson's voice rings through the empty room.

"Yes. I'm in here." Jane tries to cover herself as best as she can. She does not want her attractive young gym teacher to see any part of her body. She hears footsteps approaching. She holds her breath, nervous about whatever shock her poor teacher is about to receive.

"Jane. What the hell is going on? Where are your clothes?" Her teacher turns and faces the other direction as soon as he realizes the compromising position that they are in. He really shouldn't be in the girls' locker room, but the female gym assistant is on maternity leave. Of course, something like this has to happen when he is by himself.

"I don't know where my clothes are. I took a shower and when I came back everything was gone. Like everything everything. Luckily my phone and bookbag were still in there, but all of my clothes, shoes, etc., those are missing, and I don't know what happened." Jane feels the tears start to cloud her eyes again. She is not about to cry in front of her hot gym teacher.

"Do you have any idea of where they might be? Do you think one of the other students stole them? I'm not really sure how to help. I mean I could call the front office back and see if they have any extra clothing. I'm not sure they will but it'd be worth a shot. I guess if that doesn't work out, we can wait here until school lets out. This is the last period of the day. The rest of your classmates should be on their way home. I could sneak you out through the side doors at the back of the gym and could get you to my car to drive you home? What do you want to do?"

"I don't think the front office keeps clothing in my size up there. I don't really want to let anyone else know about this. The fewer people who know, the less traction any gossip will have. I don't really want to deal with weird stares from teachers or students if I can avoid that. Would it really be okay for you to take me home? I don't want to make you drive all that way. I don't know what to do."

"It's no problem at all. I would rather know that you are safe and home, than leave you stranded in here with nothing to wear. I can't imagine how mortifying this must feel. Once we get you home, safe and away from the public eye, I will call the principal and see if we can do some kind of investigation to find your missing belongings." Mr. Jackson turns back around, still covering his eyes, not wanting to see the compromised situation that his student is in. Jane's face is bright red.

This is so awkward.