Published: July 6th 2023, 12:00:04 pm
The start of a new short story, commissioned by an anonymous Patron, and inspired by a Community Story entry. That entry will still be in the poll for this month, and will lead to another chapter for this month if it wins.
Nichole probably should have known something was going on, but she'd thought, naturally enough, that it was an innocent question. After all, even if the appearance of the two strict looking tall women in fussy clothes had put her a bit on edge initially, as soon as she'd seen the badge on their blazers indicating they were from a grade school, she'd let herself relax. She was small, yes, did not look much like an adult, especially in the yellow sundress she was wearing at the moment in an attempt to beat the late summer heat; if anything, however, maybe she could be mistaken for a high schooler... There was no way anyone would think she belonged in grade school.
"What do you think you're doing here this time of day, young lady?" one of them asked her.
It was even a fair question, given the time of day, how few people there were hanging around the shop. There were other people who didn't work 'normal' hours, yet that didn't prevent her from feeling out of place when she ventured out so early and saw how much of a ghost town most places were.
She didn't say that, though. Would it have made a difference? Mentioning her job at all, that she worked in the afternoon and into the evening at a different store, might have tipped them off that they were barking up the wrong tree. She didn't like to volunteer that she was still in retail at her age, however, not if she didn't have to, so, instead, she told them the truth.
"The AC at home is busted," she complained. "This place is so much cooler."
The women exchanged a look. "Do your parents know you're doing this?" she asked after a second.
That had been another opportunity, she'd realize later, to set things back on track. That definitely indicated they didn't know she was a grown-up, and that she ought to do something about that... But she didn't.
"I don't have any parents," she sniffed. It was her usual refrain in these instances of mistaken identity, though this wasn't the best time for it. Still, she was out of their jurisdiction... Right?
"What about your guardian, then?" the other woman inquired.
"None of those, either," Nichole shrugged nonchalantly. "Just poor, little old me in that hot apartment, all by myself..."
She was, she had to admit, asking for it at that point, much as she hated to victim blame. It was a stupid thing to say, to do, practically taunting them... Yet, she couldn't help herself, whether that was thanks to her irritation from the heat, from being bothered when she was minding her own business, or some buried desire to push things when she knew she was safe.
"Is that so?" the first woman raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you come with us, dear?"
Nichole sighed, knowing she'd gone too far. "Listen," she told them, reaching for her purse. "I'm an adult, it's..."
But she hadn't brought her purse. She wasn't going to buy anything, and not having her cash with her would keep her from being tempted, and the shop was just a short walk from her apartment. All she'd needed was her apartment key... That wasn't going to help her now, though.
She squirmed, cheeks turning red. "Umm... I-I am," she insisted, tugging at the skirt of her dress, aware she had no way of proving that, that the women were clearly not convinced by her words alone, as they stepped closer, showing the true extent of how much bigger than her they were. There was probably some way to change their minds... But it wasn't the one thing she thought of in the moment, right before their hands closed around her arms, and she was dragged away, which was to stomp her foot and whine, "I am a grown-up!" like a little girl throwing a tantrum.
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She'd thought about it for quite some time; she'd had plenty of opportunity for quiet reflection, thanks to the early, strictly enforced, bedtimes here, along with the ample time she was given every day for homework that she was able to finish in a matter of minutes, thanks to it being for grade-schoolers, stuff she'd learned over a decade ago.
It wasn't a lie that her parents were both gone, and she had no relatives on this side of the country, either. The ones she did know about hadn't seen her since she'd been getting taught her times tables the first time, probably didn't remember her, or care enough about her to come all the way out here to help her out. She had friends, yes, and co-workers... Which of them could she actually trust to give her a hand, to not make fun of her for the rest of her life over this?
There were only two people that came to mind - and the second mostly just because she was married to the first. If she'd had the presence of mind that first day, perhaps she could have had the women contact them, but considering she'd already declared she had no parents, no guardians, she doubted the women would have accepted anything her friends had to say.
As embarrassing as it would have been, having to have them clarify that she was, in fact, an adult, it would still have been better than this, than them seeing her now in her school uniform, her Mary Janes, white cotton panties, training bras with no padding whatsoever to help fill out her almost non-existent cleavage, no make-up... She hated how well she fit in with the other students, how much she looked like she belonged here.
It was hard to decide whether it would be worse, letting Traci or Miles see her now. She'd known them both for years by now, since they'd all been in college together. She'd had a crush on Miles from the first time she'd met him, had even managed to sneak a kiss or two, after they'd been drinking a little, but she'd never worked up the courage to ask him out, to let him know how much she was actually attracted to him. When Traci had swooped in and beaten her to the punch, she knew she had no hope. She was friends with Traci, too, and liked her well enough, though she always secretly wished it could have been her who had acted first, dated Miles, married him...
It was too late for any of that now, unfortunately; they were still close enough that she was sure they'd come to her aid if she asked. She just had to find a way to do that, which was difficult when her cell phone had been confiscated, when her time in the computer lab was strictly monitored, restricted to only approved websites.
She'd need a teacher's phone, or a chance to use one of their computers. They were both likely to be locked, but the former might need a fingerprint, or a face scan, to get into... The computers would be simpler, she suspected, and they weren't going anywhere. All she had to do was wait until she was able to get a good look at one of them logging in to see what their passcode was, and then wait for her roommate to fall asleep one night so she could slip out of their room, and their dorm, and creep through the empty school back to the classroom.
She'd learned to pick locks a long time ago, but her skills were rusty, especially when she was stuck using a spare bobby pin, and her palms were sweating every time she heard a sound, sure it was a security guard about to find her and haul her off to the headmistress. Eventually, the door opened, however, and she made it in, shuffling up to the desk to punch in the code she'd seen the teacher use.
She felt a huge wave of relief wash over her once she hit send on her e-mail, which was probably why she was a bit more careless on the way back to her room, why she wound up getting caught in the halls and taken to the headmistress after all. "I got lost," she claimed innocently. "I was only going to the bathroom, and I must have taken a wrong turn."
The headmistress glared at her, unimpressed. "Hmm," she replied. "Well, we can't you have out wandering throughout the school in the middle of the night."
"It won't happen again," Nichole promised.
"No," the headmistress agreed. "It won't. Come along, Nichole... We're going to have a little visit to the school nurse."
Nichole blinked. "Huh? I feel fine, ma'am..." That didn't stop the headmistress from leading her to the nurse's office, however, making her stand by the exam table in her PJs awkwardly while the two women whispered to one another, not knowing what to expect... Though it certainly wasn't what the nurse pulled out of a cupboard, unfolding and laying out on the table beside Nichole.
"W-Wait," Nichole shook her head, face burning. "I-I don't need.... I-I'm not..."
"You will not be leaving your room after curfew again," the headmistress informed her, giving the bulky diaper splayed out, waiting ominously for Nichole, a threatening pat. "For any reason. Now, hop on up here so the nurse can take care of you... Or do I need to go get my hairbrush, young lady?"
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For the first week or so, Nichole soldiered through the humiliation of having to toddle back to her room at night - or to the nurse's office in the morning - with her diaper bulging beneath her PJ bottoms by reminding herself that she'd gotten her message out, that Miles and Traci would be there any day to rescue her, to clear things up, that this would soon be over and she could go back to being a big girl. As the days went on, however, and there was no sign of her friends, as she started to get teased more and more for being a 'bedwetter', as the other students assumed she must be, she began to grow hopeless, especially on mornings like today, after she'd woken up in the middle of the night, having to use the bathroom, and had no choice but to go in her diaper.
She was always certain any girl she passed in the hallway would be able to tell, through her pajama bottoms, that she was soggy, that they either had younger siblings, or had friends who did, and recognized it straight away, thus confirming those rumors about her needed her diapers at night. There was nothing she could do about it, though, as she shuffled her way to the nurse's office to get cleaned up, given a fresh pair of panties to wear for the day...
Only, today, as she laid on the exam table, waiting, the nurse got a call, and a few moments later, the door to her office opened up... And in walked Traci and Miles. She gasped, sitting up, too excited to see them to care about the wet diaper around her waist. "You're here!" she squealed.
Later on, on the car ride home, they'd explain the whole thing to her, tell her how they'd tried, the day after she'd sent the e-mail, to come rescue her, just to be denied entry, thanks to what she'd said about having no parents or guardians around. They wouldn't even let them talk to her on the phone, much less onto school grounds to see her... Until, finally, they'd had a revelation about how they could get around that.
Of course, by then, she already knew that part, since the headmistress, accompanied by a strange woman, came in afterwards, while Nichole was still hugging them, crying with happiness. "I guess she does already know you," she'd commented. "How lovely. Well, Nichole, this lovely couple had decided to adopt you, and I'm afraid they're going to be withdrawing you from our school. We'll certainly miss you."
Nichole wanted to say something about how the feeling wasn't mutual, how she wouldn't miss any of this, or the headmistress, one bit, but, fortunately, she was too overwhelmed to speak, to revel in her victory, in the imminent return to her adult life, once her friends got her away from here, and her. "And this," the headmistress had continued, "is Ms. Brooks. She's your social worker... I told her, and your new parents, how much of a handful you can be, so she's going to be keeping a very close eye on you from now on, to make sure you're getting the kind of care you need."