As Charlie Tucker pulled into the parking lot of the school, he wondered, as he often did on Saturdays, what other seniors did on their Saturday nights. Was he missing out on anything that he would later regret? Wild parties, like in the movies, where parents were out of town and everything was chaos? Or were those types of parties just fiction, and everyone was sitting at home on their computers or binging on TV?
He had two juniors assisting in the AV room, Dinesh and Michael, and those two had a crew of friends that seemed to go to the movies every weekend. Every Monday, they would be talking about the new movie they'd seen. Even if all the movies in the theater were crap, they'd go and see a crap movie.
Dinesh had asked Charlie to come with them a few times. But Charlie always declined. If seeing crap movies was the only thing he missed on Saturday nights, then it wasn't any great loss.
Charlie drove straight across the school's parking lot, ignoring the white lines that delineated the spaces. The lot was almost completely empty, except for a red pick-up truck near the front double-doors of the school.
Charlie grinned when he saw that truck. He grinned because he knew it was a trick. Daryl Kramer, weekend security guard and owner of the red truck, was currently at a resort in Miami on a two-week vacation. Instead of hiring a replacement guard while Daryl was out, Principal Edwards had asked Daryl to park his truck at the school as usual, so that it would appear he was still on duty.
Charlie pulled around the school to the back. He liked Daryl. Sometimes, when Charlie worked late in the AV room on the weekends, Daryl would stop by and they'd chat. Daryl was bored patrolling the empty school on the weekend, and he liked to watch Charlie splicing together video in the school's editing bay. "Move to Hollywood after you graduate, Charlie... that's where you belong!" the guard always said. Charlie would just smile. Deep down, he knew that the guard had no perspective to praise his work, but Charlie appreciated the kind words all the same.
Charlie pulled his car up next to an unmarked green door in the back of the school. He got out of the car and walked to the door, fishing his keys out of his pocket. He unlocked the door, pulled it open and propped it with a concrete block. Returning to his car, he popped the trunk and began to unload the camera equipment.
The closet in the AV room also required a key. It was a deep closet, big enough that it could be a small bedroom. High industrial shelving lined the walls. Each piece of equipment had a designated location on a shelf. Charlie liked things to be organized. As he brought each piece of equipment in and placed it on a shelf, he signed it in on a clipboard that hung just inside the closet.
After everything was brought in, Charlie locked the green door and brought one of the cameras into the editing bay. He hooked it up to the main computer and started downloading the footage. It was the varsity girl's basketball game, and he had set up three cameras on tripods and carried a fourth. Not a significant basketball game, the team had lost by twenty-two points and their record was 4-11. But Charlie still downloaded all the footage from the four cameras and began to edit it together.
The AV room had a small window, but it only showed the hallway. Charlie couldn't see outside, and couldn't see the daylight fading. The time in the bottom corner of his computer monitor was the only indicator that night had settled onto the school. Charlie kept an eye on the time. He knew he could sometimes lose himself in the work and let the hours fly by, and this weekend he didn't have Daryl to urge him to go home.
He was staring at the computer screen with the headphones on when movement flickered in the corner of his eye. He glanced towards the window and saw something just as it passed the edge of the window. Not something, someone. Someone was in the school with him, and they had just passed by in the hall.
Charlie hadn't turned on the lights in the AV Room, and the only light was the glow from his computer monitor. Had the intruder been spying on him through the window? Or had the AV Room appeared to be just another dark empty room from the hallway? He suspected the latter.
Charlie approached the window and peered out. He could see a figure walking down the hallway. Long dark hair, almost to the waist. A girl. Charlie squinted through the blurry glass, trying to decipher what he was seeing. Did he know her? The girl was walking away from him. Her arms were bare and swing by her side in a slow and exaggerated way. She had long legs that were left exposed by an incredibly short skirt. Charlie blinked for a moment, trying to decide where her legs ended and the skirt began. How could a skirt be that short? The girl turned a corner and disappeared from his view. She was headed toward the main office and the intersection of hallways that everyone called the "Front Tee".
Charlie considered his options. He could phone the police and tell them someone had broken into the school. But he didn't know for sure that this girl had broken in. Maybe she had a key like he did. Maybe she was a teacher, or some other school employee.
It wasn't like she was a man in a hockey mask. Charlie decided he would follow the girl and see what she was up to. If she had a legitimate reason to be there, then that was fine. He could tell her that he also had a legitimate reason to be there. He definitely didn't want her to get spooked and call the police on him!
Charlie stepped out of the AV room into the hall. He walked slowly in the direction that the girl had gone, alert for any sounds. If she had broken into the school, then there was a chance she wasn't alone, and he didn't want to be surprised by other intruders.
He reached the corner and peeked around it, towards the Front Tee. What he saw astonished him, and for a moment all he could do was stare. The girl was standing in the Front Tee, facing towards the front of the school, with the office at her back. She was fifty feet away, but he still recognized her immediately.
Michelle Santos. Beautiful Michelle Santos. At lunch just a week before, Greg Arden had noticed Michelle entering the cafeteria and had remarked, "Damn, that Michelle Santos always has something on, doesn't she?" Charlie even remembered what she'd been wearing, a skin-tight pair of jeans and a lacy white blouse that could have been specifically tailored to cling to her breasts. Michelle Santos never threw on a t-shirt and jeans in the morning like some of the other girls. She always came to school looking like she'd spent the morning with a stylist and a make-up artist.
"That Michelle Santos always has something on, doesn't she?" Those words echoed in Charlie's mind, because the Michelle Santos he was seeing had nothing on at all. The reason her skirt had seemed so short was because she wasn't wearing a skirt. She was standing in the Front Tee completely naked.
Charlie couldn't do anything but trace her body with his eyes. It was like a dream. She wasn't trying to cover herself; in fact, she looked like she was posing, her feet apart, one hand on her left hip, the other hand at her mouth where she was biting her finger. Her body was flawless. Her legs were impossibly long and smooth, a dancer's legs. He followed them up to her waist then let his eyes pass over her flat tummy to linger at her perfect breasts.
He was captivated by them. How many times had he seen Michelle wearing something tight or low-cut, offering a tantalizing glimpse of those breasts? How many times had he stared at her chest, trying to imagine what those breasts looked like under the fabric? Now they were right there in front of him, swelling and falling with every breath she took, and he could scarcely believe it.
Everything about Michelle radiated graceful femininity. Her long, delicate limbs. The way her dark hair fell onto her bare shoulders. The way she perched on her toes. Even the soft flutter of her eyelashes. Charlie could have stared at her forever.
But the way she stood, as if posing, made him wonder if someone else was present. Someone standing unseen by the front doors to the school, taking a pictures of Michelle. Maybe taking a video. Did Michelle have some boyfriend who had pressured her into doing this?
Charlie stepped around the corner. She hadn't noticed him, her eyes focused on what was in front of her. He stepped closer, keeping close to the wall at his left, hoping to disappear among the line of brown lockers. He leaned in, trying to see down the school's front hallway, looking for the shadow of another person. Michelle had both hands behind her head now, combing her long hair with her fingers, letting her breasts jut out. Was someone snapping picture after picture of her, playing the fashion photographer while she went through poses?
Charlie inched closer. The school was quiet, and he knew for certain that his careful footfalls didn't disturb the stillness. It wasn't that she heard him. It just happened that she chose that moment to turn in his direction, perhaps to continue her naked walk through the school. She was looking directly at him, and their eyes met.
Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. "Charlie!" She blurted. He had a half second to admire her body from the front, and then she crumpled to the floor. She shrank into a tight ball, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, her eyes still wide as she stared at him.
"Michelle?" Charlie almost continued with: What are you doing? But he quickly realized that it was a stupid question. He could see now that she was by herself. Whatever she was doing, she was clearly embarrassed to be caught doing it. He didn't need to hear her try to explain it. Maybe it was better if he didn't know.
Charlie had a sudden idea, a different strategy. He pitched his voice as a low whisper. "Don't tell anyone you saw me, okay? I thought the school would be empty... I didn't know you'd be here...."
She blinked at him, still frozen. "I didn't think anyone would be here..." She matched his whisper.
"I shouldn't be..." Charlie looked over his shoulder, as if nervous that he was being followed. "I broke in. I knew the security guard is off today... so I broke in. Please don't tell anyone..."
"I won't tell anyone if you leave now." Michelle didn't even want to look at him. Her eyes darted between peeking up at him and looking at the floor, and her face was flushed. "Just go. I promise I won't tell."
Charlie gazed at her, wondering how long she could remain in that crunched-up squatting position. He had the feeling if he walked over and gave her a slight nudge, she would fall over. "Did you break in, too?"
"No. I have a key."
"You do?"
"I'm the head of the spirit squad. They gave me keys." She still wouldn't meet his eyes while she talked.
"No kidding." Charlie had never seen her at the school on the weekend before. "Is this the first time you've walked naked through the school?"
Michelle blushed furiously. "Yes." Her voice was so low he could barely hear her. "I didn't think anyone would be here. I knew the security guard wasn't here today..."
"No one was here, so you decided not to wear clothes?"
She looked down at the floor and didn't answer.
"Where did you take off your clothes?" he asked.
She peeked up at him. "Down the hall. Will you turn around and face the wall behind you? And close your eyes. I'll go get my clothes and get dressed. Then we can talk, okay?"
"No."
She blinked. "No?"
Charlie shrugged. "Sorry. You're naked in the middle of the school, by your own choice. And you're also the most beautiful girl in the senior class. If you think I'm going to close my eyes and pass up the opportunity to see you, you're crazy. If you want to get your clothes, go ahead, but I'm not going to look away."
Michelle inhaled sharply and her body seemed to quiver. She clutched her arms to her chest and her hands slid up and down on her forearms, almost as if she was trying to warm herself. Charlie could hear a shake in her breathing. He had spoken the first words that had come to his mind, and it surprised him that they had such an effect on her. He watched her with dread, expecting that she would start to cry and he would feel like the worst asshole to have ever lived.
Abruptly, she lifted her eyes and met his gaze. Her eyes were wide but not wet. To his astonishment, she slowly began to rise, unfolding like a flower blooming. She kept her arms over her chest, but extended and stretched her long legs. Charlie knew he was staring, but he couldn't help himself. His heart pounded in his chest when he glimpsed that spot between her legs, a dark line of trimmed public hair leading down to the visible crease of her pink slit.
