The Teaching Assistant, Part 49

When Amelia asked what the girl meant, she was informed that the losing team would have to take a lap around the track in just their bra and underwear.

Why was this the first time she was hearing this?!

Then again, could she have stopped such a bet even if she wanted to? Summer was making the calls where her little clique was involved, and Amelia had agreed to be the young blonde’s bitch. Under duress, but still. Despite being the oldest person present, it was unlikely Amelia could be the voice of reason at this point, especially when the penalty had already been established. Probably when she and Lily had been away, unless the terms had already been in place before the two groups met to play.

“But, we can’t . . . ” Amelia trailed off. She was at a total loss for words. Though she had plenty of hang-ups where her own body was involved, she was concerned for the same reasons she had been about the locker room. Whenever the administration learned that Amelia was supposed to be applying for the teaching assistant job, rather than joining the school as a transfer student, it wouldn’t look good if she was participating in such juvenile and inappropriate bets as a young adult. It didn’t matter if Summer and the others won. That just meant the other team would be stripping down, no doubt while the rest of the girls watched in amusement.

“Sure we can,” the girl next to her said, “Besides, it’s not that big of a deal. We’re wearing sports bras. Public school girls run like that all the time. We’re the ones stuck sweating in conservative athletic uniforms when we could be a lot more comfortable in something else.”

That didn’t alleviate any of Amelia’s worries. She very much was not wearing a sports bra, and the fact that they were supposed to be wearing the polo all the girls in the gym currently had on would only make it more noticeable to any observer that the half naked students running around the track were breaking any number of rules on top of the general improperness of the penalty.

She nervously watched the game, still not confident about either outcome. Winning was probably ideal, as at least she wouldn’t be an active participant in what was to follow. Their chances were obviously better if she didn’t play at all, considering how Summer and the other three girls on the court hadn’t succeeded in bridging the gap between the scores yet. However, Summer decided to switch out half the players when the other team called a pause to do so on their side. “Lily, Julia. Out.” The two girls listened without a word of discussion, and Amelia was put back in along with the girl whose name she hadn’t caught yet.

Taking their positions, Amelia grimaced when Summer glanced over with a serious expression. The pressure to do well from the bitchy blonde didn’t help very much, nor did the lingering threat of what would happen if they lost. Amelia was the worst of the four players on her side of the net, and the opposing team hadn’t forgotten. The ball was aimed at her again and again. She managed to keep it alive a couple times, but wasn’t nearly coordinated or experienced enough to consistently do so. Their opponents scored point after point, closing out the game in a matter of minutes.

“Millie!” Summer groaned, “What was that?” she asked, regarding the last point. Meanwhile, the other team celebrated amongst themselves for a few seconds before forming up and approaching the net.

“Well? A bet’s a bet.” The girl speaking, Irene, was clearly the leader of her own pack. Not everyone was scared of Summer, apparently, although a handful of the girls behind her looked a little on edge about the current face-off. The unspoken challenge was quite clear–it would look bad if Summer publicly went back on her word, and now she had been put on the spot about it.

Rather than confirming or denying anything to the small crowd, Summer merely gestured for the girl to walk with her. “Wait here,” she told her girls, including Amelia.

As the two leaders crossed the gymnasium to have a hushed conversation behind the edge of the bleachers, Amelia could tell the winning girls were both annoyed and a little skeptical about the situation. Because of course Summer would be pulling something like this, instead of simply accepting the loss and paying up. Amelia’s real age and life experience meant she could read some students in such a way, even the rich ones. Not all girls, of course, or she wouldn’t be in this mess. As for Summer’s team, most of them seemed torn between judgmental towards Amelia for making them lose, and curious what the two captains were discussing.

A couple minutes later, Summer and Irene returned.

“So, what’s the deal?” One of Irene’s more impatient teammates asked, “They’re still doing it, right?”

“Depends on how you feel about her counter-offer,” Irene said, “Unlike Summer, I don’t do the whole monarchy thing. She thinks that since Millie was the reason we scored over half our points, that Millie should be the one to suffer the consequences.” Her team started complaining about how that wasn’t fair and was just a fraction of the original bet, but Irene held up a hand to silence them. Going on, she said, “In exchange for our good will, Summer is offering us one favor each, redeemable until the end of the semester. Within reason, of course”

That gave her girls pause. While they glanced back and forth and shared a few hushed responses with each other, Amelia was processing the fact that she had been singled out to strip down. At first, it seemed like total bullshit, when she hadn’t agreed to the immature and low key taboo terms in the first place. In a way, however, it kind of solved the main problem she had been worried about. She still didn’t want to do the embarrassing task herself, of course, but at least she wouldn’t be present while any other students were doing it.

There was more. Irene concluded the details to the alternative penalty by saying, “Oh, and since just one girl will be doing the lap instead of six, Millie will have to do six laps by herself.”

“No underwear, either,” Summer added, “She’ll have to run them buck naked.”

At that, all the girls’ faces lit up. Not just Irene’s team, but also most of Summer’s. Everyone except Amelia, of course, whose jaw dropped. Coming to her senses a couple seconds later, as even the thought of being publicly naked–and outside, to boot–made her blush. Finally finding her voice, she protested, “No, wait!”

“Quiet, bitch,” Summer snapped, “It’s not your call. And haven’t you been listening? You’re the reason we lost. Are you really going to make the rest of us suffer for your failures?” Turning her attention away from Amelia as if the matter had been settled, she said, “Well, Irene? What’s it going to be?”

Irene returned to her group and circled up with the girls. It was a quick discussion. They whispered amongst themselves for thirty seconds at most before breaking off to face the losing team again.

“Make the favors transferable amongst the six of us, and you’ve got a deal,” Irene said.

Without so much as a glance towards Amelia, Summer extended her hand to Irene. “Deal.”