The Mall Elf, Arc One

Author’s Note: Merry Christmas, to those who celebrate! A handful of you will have read the first draft of this one a few years ago. This is the newly edited version. I really did want to post something brand new for everyone on the 25th, but this month has entirely gotten away from me despite my best efforts. I’d rather a timely post on the holiday itself, so here we are. Hope everyone has had a lovely holiday month, and stay tuned for everything that’s coming with my writing in the New Year. :)

Love always,

Lady Lucia

Part One

Alexandra had always loved Christmas. That is, until she got her first job over the holidays.

It’s easy to be full of joy when you and your friends are shopping together, decorating cookies, or watching a movie marathon of classic Christmas films. But an afternoon of shopping with friends is different than being stuck at the mall every day, for hours at a time. When her parents insisted that she get a job for a little real world experience and to earn some of her own money for said shopping sprees, Alexandra thought she had chosen wisely.

Santa’s Workshop seemed painless, in theory. Especially compared to anything retail-related, where she had witnessed plenty of asshole men and entitled women taking out their problems on some minimum wage worker who didn’t remotely have the power to do what they were demanding of her. Pair that with how crazy some people can get over the holidays, and Alexandra definitely wanted nothing to do with that scene.

However, there really was no winning when it came to possible jobs for a high school senior in December. Though being a Christmas elf seemed fairly simplistic on paper, the reality was that it was exhausting to the point where Alexandra really wished she had picked retail instead. For starters, the noise. Impatient brats, crying babies, and incessant pop Christmas music surrounded her every second of the day, and it really never turned into white noise thanks to how unpredictable and piercing each layer of noise could be over the course of an afternoon or evening. Of course, there were still asshole men and entitled women. The adult males who blatantly checked her out when they thought she wasn’t looking, or even sidled up and ‘innocently’ put a hand on her shoulder or lower back to ask a question about something while their kids reached the front of the line.

Alexandra was eighteen. Clearly a teenager, thanks to her annoyingly youthful features, but that didn’t stop the occasional older guy from being a total creep anyway.

The entitled women weren’t quite as disgusting as the leering men were, but they were definitely more frequent. Rather than get in line, they’d make a beeline to the nearest elf available and ask if they could skip to the front. Their kids have a super important Christmas pageant rehearsal soon, or their relatives are arriving any minute and they need to get home ASAP, or their kid has some ‘condition’ that doesn’t mesh well with standing in lines. As if they were the only ones trying to fit a mall trip into an otherwise hectic holiday season. Alexandra was normally a pretty chill girl, but this job was quickly making her jaded towards people.

There were two other awful factors about the Christmas elf gig: Ava, and Courtney.

Courtney was the ‘Head Elf,’ essentially meaning she was the girl there with the most seniority. Though not technically a manager, the college girl was in charge of schedules, daily duties, and pretty much everything else involving the other hired elves. The busty blonde had a habit of chastising the girls simply because she could. It was never outwardly malicious, as Courtney was a master of the warm smile that came with years of faking it for a job like this. Even worse, she’d constantly undermine Alexandra’s authority around the parents and kids. “Don’t listen to the mean little elf. Of course you can go to the front of the line. It’s Christmas!” She’d swoop in and be the hero, but would never allow any of the other elves to make such a judgment call in regards to line skipping.

Then there was Ava. She was a high school senior like Alexandra, but basically the upgraded version. They were both brunettes with fair skin, but Ava had everything Alexandra had ever wanted. Sharper facial features, more luscious hair, an extra few inches of height, and a perfect hourglass figure. Alexandra wasn’t that small, standing at 5’4” with decent B cups, and she knew full well that size didn’t actually mean anything. But when wearing identical elf outfits, it was impossible to ignore how Ava looked in comparison. However, it wasn’t her size that made Ava awful. It was the fact that they were both new hires this year, and Alexandra’s peer had apparently made it her mission to screw with Ava and make herself look better in comparison. Like Courtney, Ava did things with an effortless nonchalance that made it appear more like concern and less like tattling.

“I wish Alexandra would smile more around the kids.”

“When’s the last time Alexandra emptied the trash cans?”

A passing comment here and there, just enough to slowly make Alexandra’s job worse. If she didn’t plaster on a smile every second of the day, Courtney would get on her case about it. Nine times out of ten, Alexandra was now the one to take the trash out. Her breaks were often cut short as well, no doubt thanks to something Ava said when Alexandra wasn’t around. The most baffling part was that the two girls never really had any beef with each other at school. There was no good reason for Ava to do any of this. Alexandra was convinced that her ‘better half’ was just having fun at her expense as a way to entertain herself while working the long and otherwise repetitive hours.

It was way too late for Alexandra to defend herself, as she had already been subtly painted as the lazy new hire with a bad attitude.

“Hey, Ava? Alexandra? Break time,” Courtney said, “I’ve got everyone’s coffee orders right here.”

She handed the folded sheet of paper to Ava, of course, and then turned to delegate something to one of the girls who just returned from their break.

“You’ve got it!” Ava smiled. She pocketed the paper and offered her hand to Alexandra. “Ready to go??”

Alexandra resisted the urge to scowl and roll her eyes. They were still in public, which meant that being on break didn’t necessarily mean she could break character. “In a minute,” she said. Ignoring the extended hand, she turned and walked away, not looking back once as she made her way to the locker room hidden in the back. Her expression finally dropped to one of annoyance once she was facing away from everyone else.

The unfortunate part was, she and Ava were the only two new hires this year compared to the rest of the girls. Not only that, but they both had A names and similar looks. For girls like Courtney that didn’t really know Alexandra or her classmate personally, it was easy to view them as a matched set. Alexandra would have much preferred to take her fifteen minute break with literally any of the other elves, but she was almost always sent off with Ava instead. Of course, today was worse than usual, since it wasn’t a real break. It was a coffee run that would basically eat up the full fifteen minutes. No chance to sit down or relax.

That small window of freedom was made even smaller thanks to Alexandra’s need to hit the bathroom after working nonstop all morning. She would have tried to get Ava to do the coffee run without her in the meantime, but that would probably just lead to the girl whining about how she couldn’t carry all those drinks by herself.

Just after Alexandra pulled the candy cane stockings down to her ankles and settled herself on the cool seat, the locker room door opened and the echo of boots pierced through the otherwise silent locker room. The approach was easy to hear thanks to the elf footwear, and the closed stall door no doubt gave away Alexandra’s location. She silently prayed that it would just be someone coming in to grab something or to wash their hands.

No such luck.

A moment later, Alexandra could see two elf boots that matched her own on the other side of the stall door, directly facing her. Two sharp knocks on the door made her wince in annoyance at the invasion of what should very much be a personal zone of the locker room. And then she instantly recognized Ava’s voice.

“Hey, Alexandra?”

Part Two

Good lord.

Couldn’t she just have one second of privacy? Apparently Ava seemed determined to stay attached at the hip for their entire shift break, including a conversation through a bathroom stall. Alexandra awkwardly sat on the toilet, suddenly feeling very exposed despite having the visual protection of the door between them. There’s no way she was going to use the bathroom when her classmate could hear every little sound. That would be the definition of awkward. Lips pursed in annoyance, Alexandra replied, “What . . . ?”

“You cool paying for drinks? I think I left my wallet at home.”

Of all the-

“Sure.” Rather than engage, Alexandra merely responded as curtly as possible. The elf girls would traditionally pay back the coffee runner(s) with cash or through an app anyway, and Ava could easily do the same. Also, this conversation could happen on the way to get those drinks, rather than in the bathroom. Hell, Alexandra would straight up pay for Ava’s coffee in exchange for a little privacy right now. She doubted that was the angle Ava was playing at, but it wouldn’t be too shocking if it was.

“Cool. Well, are you ready to go?”

“No. I still have to piss.” Rather than ‘pee,’ Alexandra opted for the harsher word in hopes that Ava would get the message. Go. The fuck. Away.

The boots on the other side of the door remained facing towards her, however, and Ava replied after a few seconds, “Well, what are you waiting for? The sooner you’re done, the sooner we can leave.”

“Ava, just wait outside! I’ll be there in a minute.”

“No way, Alexandra. You always take forever in here. Now hurry up, or we won’t make it back by the end of our break!”

Alexandra’s jaw actually dropped a bit at the nerve of this girl. That little word ‘forever’ was one of the words Courtney used in regards to Alexandra’s breaks recently. It was the reason she was always dismissed with a second elf, since she wasn’t trusted to take breaks alone any more. As usual, it was extra insulting since she had always made it back on time before. Ava’s point about the locker room was true, however, but that was only because Alexandra preferred silence to the noise that would otherwise accompany her if she went anywhere else in the mall for her break.

“Guess we won’t make it back, then,” Alexandra said. She hoped the shrug came across in her voice, because it honestly wasn’t worth giving Ava the satisfaction of coercing her into doing something so awkward.

“Okay! Do you want to tell Courtney why we’re late, or should I?”

At that, Alexandra actually hesitated. There was no doubt in her mind who Courtney would believe. And if Alexandra tried to explain her side of the story, she could pretty easily project what Ava might say in response. ‘What? I was just grabbing some things from my locker. Alexandra was the one being all weird about everything!’ Something like that. Since a girls’ locker room is literally designed for a number of girls to be in there at once, it’s not like Alexandra had an excuse for not using the bathroom while Ava was nearby. Only the two of them would know the specifics of why it was so awkward, since Courtney definitely wouldn’t be in the mood to listen. Yeah, Alexandra could risk it, but she’d then have to explain to her parents if she ended up getting fired. If not today, then fairly soon if Courtney kept seeing problems with her.

“Fine? You want to be a weirdo and listen? Be my guest.”

Despite her outward confidence, Alexandra couldn’t help but lightly blush as she began peeing, knowing that her classmate would hear everything in the quiet space. But that was the least of her problems compared to what came next.

Suddenly, two hands were reaching under the stall and grabbing at the candy cane leggings bunched around her ankles. “AMY!!” Alexandra screamed. From how aggressively the tugging was, the girl seemed determined to remove the lowered garments. “Ava, stop!”

“Relax, Alexandra! I’m trying to help your boring look.”

“What the fuck, Ava?! Stop!”

It was SO awkward. Alexandra was mid-stream, and every bit of squirming just made the experience worse. The little kicks did next to nothing against Ava’s efforts. In a matter of seconds, Ava wrestled off not just Alexandra’s leggings, but her boots as well. The cheap straps popped off in the struggle, and she was left with nothing. Bare legs and bare feet.

“Ava!!” Alexandra angrily shouted. It was a public bathroom floor, so she hovered her feet above the likely dirty tile as she called out to her classmate. “What are you doing?!”

“Sorry, not sorry! This will be a better look for you, don’t worry. I’ll meet you outside!”

“Ava, wait!”

Alexandra called after her, cheeks burning as she finished doing her business after being unexpectedly and roughly stripped out of half her clothes, but it was too late. The locker room door slammed closed, leaving her alone in the locker room. “Shit. SHIT.” She swore to herself in frustration, gazing down at her totally bare lower legs below the hem of the red dress. Alexandra waited another minute or two, before realizing that she couldn’t just sit in the stall forever. This was officially no longer worth it.

Cringing in disgust, Alexandra placed her feet on the cold and probably dirty bathroom floor and opened the stall door. Her boots and leggings were nowhere in sight, and one sideways glance in the mirror made her blush darker than before. The elf dress was short on her legs. Alexandra always knew the outfit tended to sexualize the girls a bit, but the leggings were what made things more appropriate. And, since she didn’t wear underwear with leggings, any wrong move might expose her. Not to mention the fact that she now looked more like a Christmas stripper than a mall elf.

‘I’m going to kill her,’ Alexandra thought to herself.

But first, it was time to bail. Resolved to change into her street clothes and slip away without telling Courtney or anyone else, Alexandra headed right for her locker. For a moment, relief washed over her, despite her situation. She wasn’t getting fired; she was quitting. Good riddance.

But then that moment of relief ended.

As Alexandra approached her locker, she stopped short when she noticed. Her jaw dropped for the second time since her break began.

Her lock was gone. And it had been replaced with a different one.

Part Three

Had Ava done this? And how??

For a few seconds, Alexandra yanked at the lock. She knew it was fruitless, but she had to try anyway. With an annoyed groan, she whacked the locker before stepping back to plop down on the bench behind her. Alexandra brushed her hair back with both hands. What could she do? Hide in the bathroom until another girl came in? She was planning on quitting anyway, so it’s not like she would care if she got in trouble for however long it took to wait. But that didn’t change the fact that her phone, wallet, and car keys were locked away. The elf outfit didn’t have any pockets, so most girls just kept their things in here.

Against her better judgment, Alexandra stood up and made her way to the locker room exit. She could at least poke her head out and see if Ava was waiting for her right outside. The difficult girl did say as much, though that could still mean literally anywhere outside the locker room. Either way, it’s not like the door opened out to Santa’s Workshop. That privacy was enough to give her the courage to peek out.

Alexandra cracked the door, using her hand and hip to keep it positioned just right, then stuck her head out to check out the back area. “Ava!” she hissed.

It didn’t take long to find the girl. Ava was perched up on a stack of unopened boxes a few feet away, one leg crossed over the other and nonchalantly checking out her nails. At the sound of Alexandra’s voice, she glanced up towards the locker room door. “Oh hey!” she exclaimed. Ava had the same energy as when she was selling the Christmas spirit to kids, practically beaming at Alexandra’s arrival. “Took you long enough! Ready to go?”

“No. I’m not.” Alexandra said. “Give my things back. And what did you do to my locker?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about! I don’t have your things, Alexandra. And I have my own locker. Why would I do anything with yours?”

“I’m serious, Ava. This isn’t funny.”

“You’re right. Making me wait out here forever isn’t funny.” Ava hopped down from her small perch. The only thing on her person was a small purse, and she went so far as to give a quick spin to showcase that she didn’t have anything else. “How about this? Help me with the coffee run, and I’ll help you with your locker situation. Fair?”

No. It wasn’t fair. There’s no reason Alexandra should have to do anything, since Ava was the one who screwed everything up to begin with. “No, Ava,” Alexandra said, standing her ground. There was no way she was going to walk around a crowded mall while barefoot and going commando in just a skimpy skirt. “Come unlock my locker. Now.”

“Suit yourself.”

Ava just shrugged with a coy smile and began sauntering away.

The worst part was, Alexandra knew exactly what Ava was doing. She had seen the tactic in plenty of shows. The manipulative girl, walking away to ensure that the other person called after them. When watching such a scene, it was easy to claim how stupid it was from an outside perspective. When living it, however, Alexandra couldn’t take the pressure. What if Courtney found her and demanded her to keep working despite the wardrobe issue? Alexandra might not have the backbone to say ‘no’ to the harsh girl. And what if Ava decided to perpetually keep the new lock there? Alexandra would have to find someone to cut or pick the lock, and she’d be without a lot of her valuables until then. Plus she’d have to prove that the locker was hers for such a person to break into it, which would require some degree of permission from Courtney or Courtney’s boss.

All those issues and more flashed through Alexandra’s mind. She didn’t have the time to take a breath and think about how there were some better options out there that didn’t involve playing along with Ava’s game. The time pressure made Alexandra way too hung up on the locker itself, and she found herself huffing and begrudgingly saying the words. “Ava, wait.”

“Come along, Alexandra!” Rather than stop or glance over her shoulder, Ava just kept walking.

Taking a breath to steel herself, Alexandra did just that. She stepped out of the safety of the locker room and quickly strode after the frustrating girl. Ava’s casual saunter made it easy enough to catch up, but only a few yards away from the end of the hallway that opened up to the second floor of the mall. “When we get back, will you open my locker?” Alexandra asked. She needed the clarification, as the word ‘help’ wasn’t particularly specific.

“You really should be more trusting,” Ava said, “It’s not healthy to be paranoid.”

With that, she took Alexandra’s hand like it was the most casual gesture in the world, quickly interlacing her fingers to make any escape attempt more difficult. For a moment, Alexandra thought it was in an effort to be patronizing, or perhaps to make her uncomfortable, but it was only after a few steps of begrudgingly letting Ava hold her hand that Alexandra figured out the real motive. Now she only had one hand to adjust the hem of her dress while they walked.

Part of her wanted to yank her hand free, but she also knew that Ava was pretty much holding all the cards at this point. Leggings, boots, locker. So Alexandra decided to play along for now, but doubled down on her question. “Will you, Ava?”

Ava just sighed. “Yes. I’ll open your locker. Now let’s go!”

She tugged on Alexandra’s hand and, just like that, they emerged together from the side hallway. Only Alexandra’s torso was covered, with her bare shoulders and bare thighs blatantly on display in the bright mall lighting. She felt like scurrying back into the dim hall behind her, already faintly blushing at the thought of how much skin she was displaying, but Alexandra instead found herself being pulled forward.

Toward the coffee shop, and towards countless eyes that were going to see her like this.

Part Four

By the time Alexandra came to her senses, she was in too deep.

Ava had already led them past a good five or ten stores. They had only walked hand in hand through the mall for a minute or so, but that had been enough to convince Alexandra that this wasn’t going to be a world ending experience. Nearly everyone around them was busy doing their own last minute Christmas shopping, and even two girls dressed as elves didn’t draw the most attention when the place was so crowded. Alexandra still couldn’t help but fidget with her skirt with the one free hand she had, but she ended up being a little more concerned about a security guard noticing her bare feet than the issue of some stranger appreciating a short skirt.

Of course, Ava had other tricks up her sleeve. No matter how briskly Alexandra walked, her needlessly vindictive coworker kept walking more quickly and insisting that they needed to hurry in order to get back on time. Alexandra struggled to match the taller brunette’s long strides, and almost stumbled once or twice when she was pulled off balance by one of Ava’s hard tugs. Any attempts at complaining were met with dismissive responses, and any attempts to liberate her hand were met with a hard squeeze and another forward tug. “I don’t want you getting lost, Alexandra!” That was the most recent response, making the shorter brunette blush as some group of girls they were passing giggled to themselves at what they no doubt assumed was a younger sister being chastised and treated like a kid despite her obviously adolescent age. She definitely caught Ava’s little smirk at the girls’ reaction.

When they reached the coffee shop, however, Alexandra wished they were back out in the crowded mall. Moving. That was her best defense as they navigated through the holiday rush. Standing still while they waited in line made her feel a lot more exposed. Plenty of people were around enjoying their drinks and taking a well deserved break from shopping, and Alexandra could only imagine the judgmental comments anyone might make about her appearance. Especially with Ava standing right next to her, a shining example of how a proper mall elf should be dressed. By the time she and Ava reached the front of the line, Alexandra was beyond anxious about her surroundings. The only thing keeping her from being a nervous statue was Ava’s little hand tugs guiding her to the counter to order.

A few whispers off to Alexandra’s left made her blush yet again from the assumption that a few teens at a nearby table were talking about her. Ava’s entire coffee order was a blur, as Alexandra was too focused on their surroundings. Alexandra didn’t even notice that it was her credit card that Ava was using, per their conversation in the locker room earlier. Kind of. ‘I'll pay for drinks’ didn’t exactly mean ‘steal my credit card,’ but the mildly exposed girl was too distracted to even notice the blatant proof that Ava was, in fact, the one who swapped her lock with a different one. And pilfered through her locker, too.

Alexandra was snapped out of her nervous haze by Ava’s voice. “Hold these!” Before Alexandra could figure out what was happening, Ava gave her two full disposable coffee trays to hold. It was natural to take something that was being handed to you, and not always so easy to hand such things back. Holding eight cups full of coffee, for example, took all of Alexandra’s effort just to maintain balance.

“Ava, wait!” she exclaimed.

It was the same problem as before. Alexandra had already decided to quit, and she could theoretically just dump all this coffee into the trash. But she had to survive until she and Ava returned to Santa’s Workshop, because leaving the mall in her current state was impossible.

Ava knew that. “Come on, Alexandra!” Similar to before, she didn’t wait. The taller brunette just smiled, patted Alexandra’s head, and walked away.

“Bitch,” Alexandra muttered to herself. She didn’t care if anyone heard.

Carefully following, Alexandra used her chest as an extra balance point for the drinks as she kept the cardboard trays stable on her hands. The good news was, Ava wasn’t holding her hand any more. The bad news was, Alexandra couldn’t adjust her skirt. And, on top of that, she couldn’t match Ava’s stride in the slightest. Every step was a struggle, and she was already bracing herself for somebody in a rush to push past her and potentially knock half the drinks out of her hand.

It didn’t take long for Ava to notice. The obnoxious classmate and coworker eventually glanced over her shoulder, and paused when she saw just how far the two of them had separated. Turning around, she walked back to meet Alexandra with a smug smile. “Such a slow poke. This is why I was rushing earlier.”

“Hmm, I wonder what would speed things up?” Alexandra scoffed. She gave an obvious look to one of the trays in her hands, before meeting Ava’s gaze. Alexandra was so done with all of this.

But she had no idea that Ava could make it worse. A lot worse.

The elf outfit consisted of a red strapless dress layered with a green satin cardigan-like coat. Each was trimmed with white, and a loose black belt held the coat in place. It only worked as an ensemble, leggings included, because the combination was the perfect way to show just enough thigh and chest while still covering every other inch of bare skin to be appropriate and kid-friendly. Take away one layer, and everything looked a lot more slutty. Alexandra had already figured that out in her bedroom when dressing for the job.

“Speed things up? Oh, I know!” Ava exclaimed. She circled around Alexandra, and Alexandra mostly just turned her head to follow the girl with her eyes, as pivoting too much with the drinks would be more difficult.

Without any warning, Ava began acting way too quickly for Alexandra to process or react in time. Her hands snaked under the back of Alexandra’s cardigan, unzipped the strapless dress all the way, and then firmly gripped the sides of the red outfit piece.

“Your clothes are slowing you down, Alexandra,” Ava said. She had the most casual tone, like it was the most simple and logical thing to say. “But don’t worry, that’s an easy fix.”

Then, in one harsh yet fluid motion, Ava yanked the dress all the way down to Alexandra’s ankles.

Part Five

“AMY!!!” Somewhere amidst the struggle, Alexandra screamed the girl’s name in horror. The red elf dress was tight enough that even unzipping the back didn’t make it as simple as whisking it down her body. There was a long moment where the dress got caught on Alexandra’s hips, but Ava persisted with the nonstop downward tug until she managed to get the red fabric all the way to the ground.

Alexandra was totally helpless to stop it. Each of her hands held a cardboard coffee tray with four Starbucks coffee cups of varying sizes on each. A rational girl would drop things in order to defend her clothes from being removed, but Alexandra’s natural impulse to preserve the eight drinks warred with her other instincts. What was she supposed to do, throw the trays off to the side and let them explode on the ground? This was happening to her in the middle of the mall’s upper floor walkway, and there were no tables nearby. Not that she’d ever choose getting stripped over making a total mess, but everything happened too quickly for her to think ‘screw the drinks; save the dress.’

Alexandra’s eyes widened at the other realization. It was more than just her dress. Since she didn’t wear underwear with the elf stockings, and since Ava had so rudely yanked the candy canes off her legs earlier, Alexandra was now wearing nothing beneath her waist. Her cheeks instantly turned crimson as a nearby “Oh my God!!” confirmed the reality for her.

That modesty instinct finally kicked in, and Alexandra hastily bent over to grab her dress in an attempt to at least pull it up to her waist to cover up her fully exposed parts. The tight cardigan and plain bra showed way more of her stomach and chest than she’d prefer, but right now Alexandra had tunnel vision in regards to covering her most private area from the public eye.

She roughly dropped both trays onto the ground in front of her, and one of the taller cups tipped over and spilled out; away from her, thankfully. With free hands, Alexandra gave a desperate upward tug to the recently stripped dress, only to be met with resistance. In her haste, she hadn’t immediately noticed–Ava was stepping on the dress!

Not just the edge of her elf boots or something. The continuously mean brunette had firmly planted her foot down right on top of the dress between Alexandra’s legs. 

“Ava, stop!” Alexandra gasped. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening to her!! She could hear more voices around her, a mortifying concoction of judgmental girls, awestruck guys, and offended parents with their kids. It had only been a few seconds since Ava brashly pulled her dress down, so each of those ‘groups’ was really only one or two people. But to Alexandra, it felt like a full crowd as she was bent over and struggling to retrieve her pinned dress.

She was truly trapped. Standing back up would risk more exposure, and struggling to get away from Ava with the dress still at her feet might result in wiping out. Staying bent over while bottomless was just as bad, save for the fact that Ava’s position, while no doubt suggestive, was at least blocking some of her nudity. With Ava’s foot so firmly planted to keep the dress down, the girl had to be right behind her.

So Alexandra did the one thing her mortified and panicked mind was able to think of. With her hands already down by her feet, she used them to hold the dress in place and slipped her left foot out. Then the right. It was too late to back out now. Escape took priority over preserving the main part of her outfit. In a flash, Alexandra stood back up, elbowed Ava in the stomach, and began sprinting away with one hand clasped over her bare crotch and the other wrapped around her chest to keep the cardigan and bra in place. Bare ass on display for all the world to see.

She managed to avoid the puddle of coffee, and took fleeting satisfaction in Ava’s winded gasp and subsequent swearing. But those little moments did nothing to help the stark reality that she was running through the mall while bottomless. The embarrassment washed over Alexandra as faces and voices blurred past her. This wasn’t a horrible dream. This was really happening. The thought she had about mall cops earlier resurfaced. Maybe they hadn’t noticed her bare feet, but they would certainly notice her bare everything below her chest.

Regardless, the goal was the same: avoid people.

After running past a few more stores while mooning the entire mall with her pale little ass, Alexandra darted into one of the side hallways with bathrooms and water fountains. The adrenaline helped come up with the ‘plan,’ though it wasn’t exactly a long term solution. Relief quickly turned into another wave of embarrassment as she saw a few guys around her age talking by the water fountains.

Alexandra had no choice but to commit. She couldn’t go back out to the mall. Three was better than hundreds. So, after a moment’s hesitation, she continued the half naked sprint. She got her first lucky break of the day when she reached the bathroom door. It was unlocked and unoccupied.

Ignoring a pretty loud “What the fuck?!” from one of the nearby guys, she burst into the bathroom, slammed the door behind her, and locked it as quickly as humanly possible.

Alone. Safe.

But not really.

Alexandra caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and the girl looking back at her confirmed her recent humiliation. From her reflection’s stomach down, there was nothing but bare skin. Her simple, white bra was poking out of the cardigan, and her small cleavage was visible too. An added insult was her hair, looking a little unkempt from the struggle with the dress and the mall sprint. Even with her hand covering her crotch in the privacy of the bathroom, Alexandra lightly blushed at the sight. She had been in public like this. How many people had seen her ass? Her cleavage? Did anyone take pictures? Oh God, what if someone recognized her and told her parents?? She could explain everything about Ava, but they might not see it that way. After all, she could have just stayed in the locker room. Instead, she begrudgingly went along with Ava’s game all the way up until the taller brunette literally stripped her.

And she still didn’t have her phone!! What was she supposed to do now?

Before the half naked Alexandra could process everything or even slow her breathing, she heard a knock on the bathroom door.

Part Six

It wasn’t fair.

Alexandra had barely been in the private bathroom for thirty seconds. She needed time to think. She needed time to come to terms with her current state of undress. She needed time to figure out a way out of this mess. What she did not need was someone waiting for the bathroom to free up. Alexandra was half naked. She couldn’t just leave the only place that offered her protection at the moment. But she also couldn’t stay in there for hours.

Wait, was this Ava? Would the needlessly horrible girl actually chase her down? Alexandra wouldn’t put it past her.

“Occupied,” Alexandra said. While ‘Who is it?’ was tempting, that would be a super weird thing to ask if it was literally anyone else but the girl she suspected.

To her surprise, a male voice answered. “Are you naked in there?”

Oh, God. That was almost worse than Ava. It was one of the boys she had just ran past while bottomless. After a long, flustered pause from both the question and the voice to whom it belonged, Alexandra found herself answering. “No . . . ” Somewhat true. She wasn’t fully naked. Plus she had to say something, as not answering at all might as well be a ‘yes.’ Then again, they had clearly seen her, so it’s not like the question needed to be asked.

Without missing a beat, the boy called her out on it. “Are you half naked, then?” This time, Alexandra fell silent, giving the exact quiet ‘yes’ she had just been trying to avoid. It’s not like lying would convince him anyway. “Awesome.” The word came out more as a chuckle. “So why are you half naked, cutie?”

The other two boys were saying something, but Alexandra couldn’t make out the dulled voices through the door. This was the last thing she needed right now! The boy talking to her sounded so nonchalant, but she felt the exact opposite. Carrying a conversation while bottomless and still flustered from everything she just went through was anything but casual.

“Look, can I just borrow your phone?” Alexandra sighed. Maybe this was a silver lining, awkward as it was. She had her BFF’s number memorized, as well as her parents' numbers, but the former would obviously be her first move.

“My phone? Stranger danger, cutie! I don’t even know you. But maybe you could come out here and introduce yourself?

“NO.”

Alexandra couldn’t help but reply harshly. From the glimpse she got in the hallway, she was pretty sure these boys were in her year. The impromptu pet name was one thing, but his teasing suggestion was absurd. She could already visualize three separate phone cameras aimed right at the door. She was pretty sure they didn’t go to her school, but still. Anyone who was at this mall would only be a couple degrees separated from her.

“You’re no fun! Okay, whatever, stay in there while we get to know each other. What’s your name?”

“Umm-” she hesitated. She also cursed herself for the instinctive response. Talking through a bathroom door was awkward enough under normal circumstances, but especially awkward as Alexandra became more and more aware of her totally bare lower half. At the same time, she only had so many options. Maybe this could work out if she played her cards right. “Alex-” Cutting herself off, she repeated the nickname. “Alex.”

She didn’t mind the abbreviated version of her name, but ‘Alexandra’ was both her preference and what most people called her. But the boys almost certainly had smartphones, and there was a slim chance they had a friend of a friend of a friend that would connect them just enough for her name to pop up with a search. Hopefully ‘Alex’ would be enough to prevent that. A totally fake name would have been better, but she had been too caught off guard to think about that until it was too late.

“I’m Sam,” he said, “How old are you, Alex?”

“Eighteen . . . ”

“Oh, so am I. You have a boyfriend?”

Ugh. Alexandra was only answering the stupid ‘get to know you’ questions to placate the boy, but that didn’t mean she had to tell the truth. And being single wouldn’t do her any favors in this situation. “Uh huh.” Hopefully an imaginary boyfriend would make the boy on the other side think twice about messing with her.

“Good to know! Where do you go to school?”

“Lakeview High,” she lied again, “It’s out of state.” There was no way in hell she’d willingly give them the name of her school. That would make it way too easy to figure out who she was. Instead, Alexandra just blurted out the name of the school her cousin went to. It was close enough to Christmas that she could easily be a girl visiting for the holidays.

A long pause followed that answer. It actually made her nervous that the boys might have decided to leave, and she hated that she had started to pin her hopes on their presence. “One sec, Alex,” he finally said. While the three of them conferred, as she could easily hear the subdued voices through the door, Alexandra just fidgeted impatiently. It really was impossible to ignore the fact that she was bare from her midriff down. Completely at the mercy of this male peer for now, unclothed at the mall, she could only pray he wouldn’t keep holding it over her head. But at the same time, she was a half naked girl and he was a teenage boy.

Sam’s voice through the door interrupted her nervous thoughts. “Okay, cutie, I have a proposal for you. If you take a naked selfie on my phone, you can use one of our phones for whatever you need.” He paused for a moment to let that sink in, but continued right as she was about to shut him down. “From the neck down, Alex. No face. That’s fair, isn’t it?”

“Umm . . . ” Alexandra’s mind was racing. Her aunt’s high school advice immediately sprang to mind. Rather than give the classic ‘don’t drink until you’re legal,’ or ‘save yourself until marriage’ lectures, Aunt Lorrie was a lot more realistic when it came to teenagers. She told Alexandra to make sure that her first time drinking was in a controlled environment, and to make sure your first time in bed is on your terms, rather than because a boy (or girl) is pressuring you to. Another piece of advice was about nudes. In the modern day, pictures like that tend to be part of dating. Not all couples do it, of course, but it happens plenty. Her aunt said that if Alexandra wanted to share her body with a significant other like that, to at least make sure her face isn’t in anything she wouldn’t want shown on social media. Break-ups can be messy, and protecting yourself is more important than the fleeting excitement of revealing pictures.

Apparently Sam had scored such pictures before from a girl given the same advice. And now he wanted a vulnerable brunette’s body to add to his collection.

Alexandra had never sent photos like that, and she wasn’t exactly keen to make this her ‘first.’ But, at the same time, she didn’t have a lot of options right now. Was it worth a picture if it meant ending this nightmare of a day? Maybe she could just take one of her upper half with just her bra. That was like a bikini, kind of. “How do I know you’ll follow through?” she asked. Stalling for now, plus she was actually curious. Or, for that matter, how did she know they wouldn’t yank the door open the moment she cracked it to get the phone?

“You don’t trust me, Alex?” Sam sounded dramatically offended and wounded, but he moved past it pretty quickly. “Don’t worry, I assumed you’d have trust issues. Here’s what the boys and I figured out . . . ”

And then he explained. The boy was pretty quick on his feet to come up with such a thorough plan in a matter of seconds. Sam proposed that he would pass two phones to her. Since photos could be taken on a smartphone without unlocking it, she could snap the nude selfie on the dark blue phone and then pass it back outside. Once he verified the pic was there, she could have the password for the second phone and use it for whatever she wanted.

A lot more elaborate than Alexandra expected. Apparently when a naked pic was on the line, boys will do anything to make it happen. And it somewhat assured her that they wouldn't try to yank the door open. A willing selfie would be better than pics snapped while she was covering.

“I’ll take one in my bra,” Alexandra conceded. That was a big enough first for her, and would allow her to use the other hand to cover her bottom half. For her, modesty. For him, maybe a tease?

Rather than pushing back, Sam agreed. “Okay.” But it wasn’t that easy. “Bra pic with your face, or totally naked below the neck. Your choice!”

“No, that’s not-”

“That’s the deal, cutie. It’s called compromise. Do you want a phone or not?”

Alexandra took less time to think this time around. She didn’t want one of their phones; she needed one. It was the only way to get out of this mess without leaving the safety of the private bathroom.

“Okay. I’ll do it,” she said.

Part Seven

To the boys’ credit, they didn’t try to pull a fast one on her.

Alexandra was super nervous as she unlocked the bathroom door. Her knuckles were practically white as her hand kept a death grip on the metal handle, and she had braced herself to yank the door closed the moment she felt any kind of pull coming from the other side. However, all that was waiting for Alexandra was what she had countered with in the embarrassing negotiations with Sam: two phones, sitting on the floor mere inches from the tile under her bare feet. Since she was bottomless, Alexandra had insisted that she wanted to grab the phones like this; if one of the boys handed them to her, there was a good chance she could be seen through the crack.

Not willing to release her grip on the door, the small, bottomless brunette stuck her foot out and kicked one phone after the other into the bathroom behind her. Blushing at the male whispers, no doubt brought on by the sight of her partially bare leg, Alexandra quickly closed and locked the door without a word.

“So what pose did you choose, Alex?” Sam asked through the door.

Alexandra was about to snap back with how only friends and family called her that, and how she preferred ‘Alexandra,’ but stopped herself when she remembered that ‘Alex’ was the name she had given him. An attempt at anonymity to go with the lie that she was from out of state.

“It’s a surprise, babe,” Alexandra said. She cringed at the impulsive and awkward attempt at flirting. It really was getting to that point where she’d do anything to get out of this humiliating ordeal. It also totally undermined her lie about having a boyfriend. “Be patient, okay?”

“You have three minutes, or we flag down a mall cop.”

Alexandra couldn’t tell if he was bluffing or not, but his words had the desired effect. Instead of stalling and perhaps backing out of the deal and trying to use two of their phones as leverage, Alexandra found herself hastily stripping off her bra and cardigan. She had already made her choice. A fully naked picture of herself may be robbing her of her dignity and a bit of innocence to boot, but it also protected her. Even if Sam decided to post it, God forbid, it would just be one nude of millions online. No one would know it was her. A selfie, however, would be a lot more damning.

The logic of her choice didn’t mean the task was easy.

Setting down her clothes and the second phone on the sink, Alexandra flicked up on the dark blue phone’s home screen to access the camera. Flipping it to selfie mode, she positioned the lens until she could see her whole body on the screen. Small breasts, perky from her nudity and the cool bathroom air. And then, below her waist . . .

Alexandra didn’t have much hair down there, and she also kept herself neatly trimmed. The few wisps she had might as well be invisible, as they did nothing to protect her modesty from the camera. Could she cross her legs, or throw a hand down there for a teasing pose that just so happened to also preserve at least a shred of dignity? Or would Sam just insist on another try, and end up with two nudes instead of one? Probably the latter.

There was another problem: Alexandra really only had one shot at this. Since she didn’t have Sam’s password, she couldn’t go into the phone and delete a bad attempt. Letting out a heavy sigh, blush darkening as she saw her bare chest rise and fall on the screen, Alexandra didn’t waste another second. Before she could talk herself out of it, she dropped her other arm and captured the first full nude picture she had ever taken of herself. Her fair skin wasn’t the most photogenic underneath the overhead bathroom light, but it didn’t matter. This was for a pervy, opportunistic boy, not someone she actually wanted to impress.

Though she’d have a few seconds to examine the photo before it disappeared behind the locked screen, Alexandra decided she didn’t want to know. The fewer details about this she remembered, the easier it would be to get over it. So, resisting the urge to chuck Sam’s phone in the toilet and destroy the picture of herself that would forever be in the boy’s possession once she gave the device back to him, she cracked the door again and slid the phone back out.

Alexandra winced in shame and embarrassment the moment the door was latched and locked behind her. She really just did that. Her whole body was bared and immortalized to a boy she didn’t even know. Was it too late to call through the door and take everything back?!

“Sam!” she exclaimed.

“Be patient, babe,” he said, “I’ll give you the password. I just have to zoom in first; riiiight here . . .”

Alexandra tensed up at his words. He was already checking out the photo. Zooming in on what?? Her bare chest, or her crotch? Either way, Sam was the first boy to ever see her fully naked, albeit on a screen. Not only that, but he was teasing her with her own words on top of that. “Sam, please delete it!” she begged. It was her body. The ‘willing’ picture made so much sense amidst her desperation, until she actually started thinking about the guy out there walking around with that picture in his phone day in and day out. It was so wrong, and so inappropriate. He was a total stranger, which meant she’d have no idea how to track him down after all this.

He just laughed. “A deal’s a deal, Alex. The password is 1487.”

“I don’t want the password. I want you to delete that picture!”

“You have three minutes with my friend’s phone. Then we flag down a mall cop.”

Alexandra’s jaw dropped a little bit, mostly from opening her mouth and not finding any words. Sam, refusing to give up the naked picture of her. The same time limit and the same threat, but for something that was way more complicated than her previous task. It wasn’t fair. This whole day wasn’t fair! “Sam-”

“Two minutes, 55 seconds.”

“Okay, okay! I get it.” Alexandra groaned. He was going to keep the picture, and that was that.

She fumbled with the second phone, opting to stay naked for now. The totally bare brunette only had so much time with the phone, versus the unlimited time she had with the two pieces of clothing neatly folded on the sink. Priorities. Alexandra messed up the password the first time around, cursing under her breath. Thankfully, the second attempt gave her access, and Sam hadn’t been lying. A deal’s a deal.

Losing her dignity and modesty for three minutes of cell phone use.

Putting in her best friend’s number, the only ten digits she had memorized aside from her parents’ numbers, Alexandra made the call. One ring. Two. “Come on, Jen,” she muttered. Impatiently tapping her bare thigh as the phone rang, Alexandra realized there was a good chance Jennifer would ignore the call simply because it was an unknown number. “Pick up, pick up, pick up.”

The phone kept ringing. Alexandra counted each one, despairing a lot more around ring number five. Surprise, surprise, she ended up going to voicemail. Either Jennifer was busy herself during the holiday season, or just wasn’t in the mood to pick up a number not in her contacts. Groaning in frustration, Alexandra hung up. There’s no way she could leave a voicemail that would succinctly describe all this, plus Jennifer would be calling Sam’s friend if she ended up calling back.

“Two minutes, Alex!” Sam oh so helpfully informed her.

If she ended up taking a nude without it actually getting her anything helpful in return, Alexandra was going to scream. She needed to figure something out, now, and the amused boy on the other side of the door wasn’t helping anything.

What to do?

Alexandra had no idea.

Part Eight

Naked.

Alexandra was fully naked in the private bathroom. The few articles of clothing she had left to her name still took a backseat to everything else. Elf cardigan and personal bra were still neatly folded on the edge of the sink, and the increasingly desperate brunette girl once again flushed when she caught her reflection in the mirror from glancing towards her clothes. Bare everything; smooth curves that were also currently sitting on Sam’s phone. And, while hastily putting her bra back on to cover her small mounds and hard pink nipples and maybe provide her a little warmth to boot, every second counted at the moment.

She called again. Spam numbers rarely called back to back, so maybe Jennifer would pick up the second time around. Alexandra refused to call her parents. She’d rather run home naked than explain this to them, and it was starting to look like that very well might happen.

No answer from Jennifer.

Grimacing in frustration, Alexandra let out a heavy sigh. What else could she do?? Even if she had her wallet, which she didn’t, it’s not like she could walk bottomless into any of the nearby stores. Her phone and street clothes were back in her locker, and Ava’s lock was still keeping her out. Plus that would involve crossing half the mall and then waiting in the locker room for her awful classmate to finish her shift. Or borrow something from one of the other elf girls, potentially, but there was still the matter of the crazy busy mall.

As much as she hated to admit it, these boys were her best chance.

Alexandra’s eyes suddenly lit up. She had a phone! She could order herself a ride! It would be some random guy’s money, but whatever. She literally took the first nude of her life for this; taking $20 or so in return was perfectly fair.

Not thinking twice about it, the naked brunette quickly found her way to the app and punched in her information with the limited time she had left. Mind nervously racing, she began thinking about all the minor issues that came with using someone else’s phone for this. ‘For a friend. Brunette girl named Alex.’ Alexandra closed her eyes and tried to visualize the mall. She and Ava were just at the usual coffee place, then partially walked back towards Santa’s Workshop. After Ava so brashly yanked the elf dress down, Alexandra ran. At the time, it was all a mortified blur. But there were only so many restrooms in the mall, so this would be next to . . .

The closest exit was through the department store around the corner! The other nearby stores didn’t have outside access. ‘Meet her by the west entrance.’ Alexandra added the last special instruction, then ordered the ride for herself. Now, should she tell Sam or his friend what she did, or just close the app and hope that they wouldn’t notice? Then there was the matter of getting through the last stretch of the mall and the store itself while half naked. And sitting in the car with her bare ass on the seat. Would she be allowed into the vehicle?

“30 seconds!” Sam said, “Almost done?”

“I’m done,” Alexandra said. She closed out of the app and locked the phone, placed it on the floor, and opened the door just enough to kick it through the crack. Vaguely remembering a small duffel bag from when she first ran past the boys, or maybe it was a backpack, she figured it was at least worth a try. “Do any of you have spare clothes?” she asked, once the door was once again closed and locked. “I can pay you back.”

A brief silence followed her question, followed by another round of whispers. As expected, it was Sam who spoke up. “We have a towel,” he said. It actually wasn’t the worst ‘fix.’ While not a long term solution, a towel would be more than enough to cover her bottom half for a quick walk through the mall, and the driver would let her into the car without any awkwardness. Well, still some awkwardness.

“That works!” Alexandra said. It was better than nothing.

“I’ll trade you for your bra.”

This time, the silence was on her end. Was he for real right now?! Throwing caution to the wind, Alexandra blurted out, “Deal!” Now that there was a ride on the way, the clock was ticking. Not even waiting for Sam to be annoying about it, she just grabbed her bra from the edge of the sink and unceremoniously tossed it out to them. “Now the towel,” she said. Once again, she had only cracked the door for a moment before closing it immediately again, just in case.

“Not the most exciting bra, Alex.”

“TOWEL.”

Yeah, it was a plain, white bra. But so what?? She was working today. There was no reason to put on anything fancy when all she needed was the usual support that a bra offered. ‘Believe it or not, boys, girls don’t always wear the sexy lace found in your fantasies.’

Sam may have been a pervert, but at least he was a boy of his word. After some shuffling that Alexandra could hear through the door, he gave a playful knock. “Here you go, babe.”

Alexandra cracked the door and let out a small sigh of relief when the towel was actually there. Snatching it up, she didn’t even close the door this time around. Hastily wrapping the towel around herself, she inwardly swore at how small it was. Yeah, it covered her whole torso, but she’d have to hold it tightly to keep it that way. Thanks a lot, Sam. She left the objectifying cardigan behind. It would be stupid to wear it under a towel anyway, and it’s not like she planned on returning to work for Courtney or Santa’s Workshop ever again.

Not wanting to be late for her ride, as that would probably send a notification to Sam’s friend, Alexandra stepped out of the bathroom right away. All three guys were standing nearby, and she assumed the one holding her bra was Sam. “Please delete that picture, Sam.” She clutched the towel to her body, lightly flushing at how all three of them looked awed at the visual and the form of a toweled girl who was very clearly naked underneath. Speaking of fantasies.

After imploring their ringleader to do the right thing, she hurried off back towards the mall. They didn’t pursue her, nor try to yank the towel off, thank goodness. Apparently a full nude pic and a recently worn bra were enough prizes for a boy his age. Based on how her day was going, Alexandra half expected Ava to be waiting around the corner to complete the job. Her original tormentor was not there, in fact, though the light of the mall was a lot more bright than the hallway. Add the holiday crowd, and Alexandra was keenly aware of how exposed she still was. Naked and toweled at the mall. It was beyond mortifying. Plus anyone could notice her situation and decide a game of Tug-of-War with a towel would be fun.

Not wanting to be late for her ride, nor interested in standing around in the state she was in, Alexandra made a beeline for the department store.

Conclusion

Luckily for Alexandra, the universe wasn’t totally against her.

While she definitely got a few strange looks, and some interested ones as well from a handful of boys who weren’t too shy about their appreciation towards her lack of clothes, nothing actually stopped her from hurriedly walking as quickly through the mall as she was able while still firmly holding the towel in place. No employee or mall cop slowed her down, and no pervy guy or mean girl made an attempt to grab her only source of modesty. Granted, Alexandra was going out of her way to not get too close to anyone in general as she strode to and through the department store, but it still felt lucky. So far, nothing had exactly gone her way today, so she was anxious the entire time.

The sedan described on the app was already waiting outside when she made it to the outside doors, and she quickened her pace at the thought of Sam’s friend canceling the ride any second if he noticed the purchase she had made on his phone.

Alexandra gasped as she stepped outside. It was cold, and the gust of wind from opening the door threatened to blow her towel away for a second. Giving a nervous wave to the driver while simultaneously holding the towel with a death grip, she stepped farther outside and sharply inhaled at the biting cold that stabbed at her bare feet as she stepped through the slush on the sidewalk. Oh, God. Both her feet began stinging immediately, and she raced over to the warmth and safety of the car waiting for her.

“Hey!” she nervously exclaimed. Alexandra slowed down just enough to make sure she didn’t flash the driver while climbing into the car. She already knew it was a guy, because the app told her so, but she still wasn’t totally prepared for it. He was kind of attractive, but too old for her. College, maybe. “Sorry, it’s a long story. I’m Alex.”

“I’ve seen worse,” he shrugged.

She couldn’t tell if he was lying or not.

The driver was at least professional enough to not say anything else as they started driving, but Alexandra could tell that he was curious and maybe a little bit interested. She caught his eyes once or twice in the rearview mirror, but the college boy would just casually look ahead again, not seeming particularly embarrassed that she noticed him checking her out more than once. It’s not like she could blame him. The semi-sexualized elf outfits were one thing, but she was literally a girl in a towel and he was a guy. Alexandra tried to feel flattered that a college student might see her that way, despite the age gap, but the desire to be clothed and in the safety of her own home overshadowed any thoughts of idly flirting like she might have attempted if her circumstances were different.

The sight of her house brought a wave of relief when it finally came into view, and she barely remembered to blurt out a quick ‘thank you’ to the driver before jumping out of the car the moment it came to a stop.

Thank God. No car in the driveway.

Alexandra’s feet stung again as she walked over the thin layer of snow and slush that the plows and shovels couldn’t completely clear from the street or her driveway. She clutched the towel to her body in case any more sudden winter gusts aimed to make her day even worse, though she barely felt the cold of the outdoor air amidst her tunnel vision to get inside. At the moment, it was more about being safe from people’s eyes than being safe from the below freezing temperature.

It was only when she reached the front door that Alexandra realized something. While an empty house was ideal, in theory, she didn’t have her keys! “Please . . .” she muttered, twisting the handle and pushing. Nothing. The door barely budged.

“SHIT.”

Alexandra loudly swore to herself, groaning as she gave another few hard twists on the handle and pushed on the door. Desperate, wishful thinking. Her parents rarely left the house unlocked, and that went doubly for the holiday season. Too many potential thieves out there. With a frustrated punch on the door, no different than when she was locked out of her own locker earlier, Alexandra stepped back and weighed her options, the crisp winter air hitting her a lot harder now that she no longer had that tunnel vision in regards to getting inside. In her desperation, the toweled brunette could only think of three decent options:

--Sit around and wait for her parents to come home, freezing her ass off and then attempting to tell the story while trying to appear blameless. She was blameless, but being outside while practically naked would bias them against her.

--Knock on a neighbor’s door. It would mean warmth and clothes, but she didn’t think that begging one of her parents’ friends to stay quiet would prevent them from passing the story along anyway.

--She could attempt to find an unlocked window or door, at the risk of being a lot more noticeable by anyone who happened to walk by or look out a window while she was circling the house and trying every possible entrance.

None of them were ideal, but Alexandra had to choose . . .

Until then, she would be naked save for a towel, stuck in the freezing winter air.

Her impossibly long and impossibly mortifying day wasn’t over quite yet.

END OF ARC ONE