[Cormac29Ru]

By 1:30, the lunch crowd had largely cleared out, and Em’s Diner was empty with the exception of a few retirees at the counter. Em herself wandered by with coffee pot in hand. “Megan, Samantha, let me know if either of you need more cream. Another slice of one of my pies, Ms. Burke?”

Rebecca smiled and lifted her cup for a refill. “No, two’s my limit. Over my limit, actually, but my God, it was good. I still want to talk to you about your future, but, could you give us some privacy?”

“Oh Dear, yes. I’ll keep the booths around you clear.” Em about to leave but stopped to put a hand on Samantha’s shoulder. “I just want you to know what a brave woman you are to tell your story. I feel so awful for what happened to you, and that poor Erin. To think I believed the rumors about your sister.” Em looked right at Megan, shaking her head. “Can I run by her place with a pie later?”

Megan nodded. “She’d love that. And she’s doing better, thanks.”

Rebecca turned her gaze back to her tablet. “According to Janelle’s text messages, it was two of her girls on the inside, Nicole Walshe and Lara Behrt.”

Megan’s eyed narrowed. “And they did this willingly?”

“In part. Nicole loved every second of it, even helped in the planning. It appears that Lara was forced into it. If I’m reading between the lines, there were threats of her losing her scholarship to college.” Rebecca scrolled through the internet for a second, stopping on the two girls’ respective Facebook pages. “Hmmm. It looks like Lara’s been pretty down since it happened.” Rebecca pursed her lips for a second, thinking. “I’ve got some ideas. Let’s make some calls.”

****************************

At 4:45 on Friday, the volleyball team was wrapping up an exceptionally hard practice with running up and down the bleachers. Nicole surveyed the team from the umpire’s stand with a wicked smile on her face. When Nicole had started her special theme practices, the team hadn’t blinked. It allowed them to work around the rules on how many practices the team was allowed to have. However, in the past few months, Nicole’s more draconian ideas started to manifest themselves into reality. Last month it had been Hit or Strip, where Nicole had the girls start in full uniforms and warm-ups, and for every time they shanked, they lost a piece of clothing, picked by Nicole, of course. By the end of practice two girls were down to Sports bras and underwear, while Katie awkwardly wrapped up the practice running with her shorts and track pants on, but topless and wearing only one shoe. Nicole laughed aloud as she thought of Katie failing to keep her large breasts covered as she stumbled and slid through wind sprints.

Today’s theme had been equally evil. Nicole called it Worthiness. She had the girls shower before practice. When they entered the changing room, they found their lockers open and empty, with their things in one bag and a second bag sitting on the benches for each of them, neatly labeled. Some girls’ bags had shorts and t-shirts. Others had their warm-up suits. She and Lara’s had their full team uniforms. And the bags of the two sophomore girls, Renee and Via, were empty except for their sneakers and socks.

Addressing a confused room, Nicole seemed in her element. “You’ve probably noticed some issues with clothes. And I’m sure you’re wondering…why are Mandy and I in uniform?” If Nicky was hoping for a chuckle from the crowd, she was out of luck. “It’s because we’ve earned the right.”

Nicole pointed at Lara’s chest. “You see that letter there. Take a good look.” Lara hoped she wasn’t blushing. It wasn’t that she was that self-conscious, but the uniforms they had worn as freshman were track style shirts and shorts. A month after Coach Janelle took over, the girls were in college-style compression shorts that left nothing to the imagination and tight tanks with built in sports bras. Lara had the body for it, but never liked it.

“She’s earned that letter.” Nicole kept tapping Lara’s chest right below the C, squarely on her breast. “She’s earned that and a college scholarship, thanks to Coach Janelle, because she’s worked her butt off.” With the word butt, Nicole smacked Lara squarely on the ass. Lara was sure she was blushing now. Be brave, she reminded herself. This will get worse before it gets better.

Nicole circled the two sophomore girls. “You too hadn’t earned your jerseys. You haven’t earned your warm-up suits.” She paused behind them. “In fact, you hadn’t even earned those towels.” With that, Nicole grabbed the back of their towels and lifted them to the waist, showing of the neatly trimmed pubic hair of both girls.

Both girls grabbed the knots on their towels instinctively, but Nicole just laughed, letting her grip go. “Oh, don’t worry. You’ll keep them for now. That’s why we have practices like today. So you can prove your worth.”

The practice had been a grueling one. Deena, a senior who had seen limited playing time, had originally felt good about having her full warm-up suit on until she shanked an easy dig and Nicole walked up behind her and yanked the pants off in one swift pull, exposing her thong. Nicole held threw the pants over her shoulder. “Well Deena, I’ll be honest. I was going to just give these right back to you. But I don’t remember putting a thong in your bag. So since you saw fit to modify your uniform, I’ll just keep these through practice, hmmm?”

Deena reddened with embarrassment. However, her problems were small compared to Renee and Via. Both had dropped their towels more times than either could remember, or would ever want to. Via’s towel survived less than a third of her block and spike attempts, and her ample breasts were sore from jumping over and over again, not to mention the rubbing of the towel on her dark brown nipples. Renee, meanwhile, experienced an uncomfortably long sequence where she lost her towel sliding for a dig and hadn’t had a chance to grab it for several rallies, as Nicole had kicked it away so “no one would trip on it”.

As the girls closed practice with water and stretching, Lara whispered in Nicole’s ear angrily. “What were you thinking? Having the two of them in towels?” Nicole balked, confused, but Lara kept right on talking. “Are you trying to get us busted? Haven’t you seen the news?”

Nicole was thrown by Lara’s vehemence. “What are you so worried about?”

Nicole hissed at her. “Get a clue. Coach isn’t here, rumor has it that she’s losing her job, and there’s no one to cover for us. Suppose the two of them report us to the principal? Suppose people notice you've got a thing for stripping people?”

Nicole looked at Deena, Renee and Via, who were staring up angrily, and gulped before whispering to Lara. “Well, you haven’t been reigning me.” She bit her lip. “What are we going to do?”

Lara exhaled. “No one else is here today in the building, right? Then follow my lead. And you owe me.”

Lara took another breath, grabbed Deena’s pants off the ground and threw them to her. “This was a tough practice. For everybody. But Deena came in like she always does and got better as the game went on.” There were a few nods and pats on the back as Deena shuffled back into her pants, snapping the sides back up. Lara continued, pointing at Renee and Via. “And you two were great today.” There were a few small claps at this. “Two years from now, you two will be captains.” There were a few more claps at this. “And these will belong to you.” And with that, Lara quickly peeled off her jersey, followed by her shorts, leaving herself topless, wearing only a thong and her sneakers. There was a sharp intake of gasps from everyone, but Lara didn’t flinch. She held out her uniform to Via. “Take it. You’ve earned it today.”