Catwalk Ch.3

As Cat stepped onto the stage, she grew anxious. The only thing that kept her going was the muscle memory from the rehearsal and the fact that she had nowhere to run to, other than off the stage and into the crowd of students who had filled the auditorium.

The lights were shut down, and other than the strobe lights, she was walking on stage in pitch blackness. By the time she had found her spot on the red line, enough light had hit her body that some of the girls in the front noticed that she was on stage naked.

To Cat’s surprise, instead of mocking her, there was an abrupt, high-pitched cheer from the girls. After a second, the guys who had taken their seats in the rear of the auditorium managed to focus on her, and the crowd completely erupted.

Nervously, Cat found her footing and made her strides. Half a second behind her was Connie, who was first in line. They matched each-others steps in both pace and style. Connie made her way to center stage, did a pirouette turn and headed off toward the left. Cat got to the far right of the stage, right up to the edge where she could see a couple of familiar faced laughing and cheering for her. She matched Connie’s pirouette before repeating the arch and landing on the far left of the stage.

Her classmates had now all caught onto the fact that Cat was modeling in nothing but a hat, necklace and a pair of high-heel shoes. She’d hope that in the darkness, maybe they wouldn’t know it was her, but by the time she had completed her second turn, they had begun chanting her name to the music. “CAT! CAT! CAT!”

The song that was playing was the same one they had practiced. It was a remix of the song by Nelly, ‘Hot in Herre’. Cat tried not thinking about the words to that song as she continued her path. Next was Alisha. Cat switched from a stride to the elegant glide that Alisha was performing. The two girls nearly brushed as they passed one another in precision step.

Cat appreciated how well Alisha’s steps made it look as though she were riding on wheels rather than walking. The illusion was lost when Cat did the same steps sans clothing. For the time she spent walking, posing and making her turns, she had gotten so caught up in the process, remembering which step/pose/turn was next, she had completely forgotten that she was walking around her high school stage almost entirely naked.

The cheers of the crowd, in her mind, were for her performance, not an appreciation that she was showing off her naughty bits for the world to see. Cat thought about the website for a moment and nearly stumbled. It wasn’t just her classmates watching. Alisha said that this was being broadcast on Fashion TV. Later she discovered that it was only on their website, but just the same, anyryone in the world could be watching this!

Far closer to home, her family. At least her parents, and probably her little sister and little brother were watching. Maybe her older brother in college and her grandma, if she managed to figure out how to open a link without signing up for a reverse mortgage. Everyone who mattered to Cat was now seeing her live both her dream and her nightmare simultaneously.

The remix of this song was over fifteen minutes. It was enough time for each model to have two additional costume changes. By the time they reached the finale, even the exuberant crowd had started to calm down. At the end, she followed as the girls exited stage right. The crowd found their voice again in a standing ovation.

“Are you okay?” Mrs. Alexander asked Cat who was now covered in sweat. She was unable to speak, freaked out by what she had just done. “You were amazing, by the way.”

Several other girls chimed in congratulating Cat on keeping up so well. “I never could have done that.” Brittany said. “You are so brave for going out there and for so long.” Said Connie.

Even Alisha gave her a congratulatory hug before mentioning, “The crowd is getting pretty rowdy out there. Should we give them an encore, Mrs. Alexander?”

She agreed and lined the girls back up. This time Cat would enter last. One by one the girls walked out onto the stage, using the specific walking style that they had performed for the show. Only Cat and Mrs. Alexander walked out normally, holding hands and making it to the center of the group.

The difference was, now the auditorium lights were turned back up. Cat was standing center stage and fully illuminated. As soon as she and Mrs. Alexander reached the center, the cheers grew to the loudest they had been all night.

1-2-3 Mrs. Alexander and all the girls all bowed. They exited stage left this time and headed back toward the dressing room. There were hugs all around, and before she knew it, Cat was standing side by side with Alisha. “Ready?” Alisha asked.

“Ready for what? Aren’t we done?” Cat asked, confused.

“The party, silly.” Alisha said. “You really were amazing out there.”

“But don’t we change first?” Cat asked, horrified. “I can’t go out there like this!”

“You just did.” Alisha said cheerfully. “That was the hard part. Everyone wants to see us in our costumes.”

Before she could say anything else, Alisha had her locked arm in arm and was escorting her to the cafeteria. Everyone was already there. Streamers, balloons, food and drinks. When Cat and Alisha walked in, another round of cheers for Cat began.

“Oh my god! Cat, you are awesome!” Said a freshman boy whose name she didn’t know. Suddenly Cat was the most popular girl in school. They had even set up a photo booth, so the students could have their photo taken with one of the models. Cat was quickly ushered there, and soon there was a line of 100 people who wanted to get a selfie with Cat.

Some of the boys were making obscene gestures, but the photographer refused to take the picture until they stopped. “Alisha, these won’t be in the yearbook, will they?” Cat asked worryingly.

“Probably. Smile!” Alisha said.

After a bunch of photos had been taken, they started doing group shots to make the line go quicker. Pretty soon, some of the boys moved the lunch tables together into a line. The crowd started chanting again, “Encore! Encore!”

“Cat, your fans await.” Alisha said with a sinister grin. “Here, I’ll hold your shoes.”

Cat reluctantly slipped out of her shows and a couple of football players lifted her up, setting her at one end of the long make-shift runway. Cat slowly began walking the length of the line of tables. As she walked, the chants of “Cat! Cat! Cat!” resumed. Pretty soon, her reluctance left and she was back striding and gliding and strutting down the runway. Her classmates cheering her on as she went.

When she had made her forth return, she saw Beth standing at the end staring daggers into Cat’s heart. Cat reached Beth and slid off of the table.

“There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you. These need to go back to New York tonight!” Beth said in a fury. She then snatched the hat and necklace off of Cat and stuffed them into the box she was holding. “Shoes?” Beth said, holding out her free hand.

Alisha handed the shoes over to Beth who dropped those in and left in a rush. “What about my clothes?” Cat yelled after her, but Beth was gone.

Cat scanned the room frantically. She saw Connie over by the punch bowl. She had already changed back into her own clothes. She looked again. All of the girls had changed back except for… “Alisha, why didn’t you change back?”

“This is my dress.” Alisha said with satisfaction. “My uncle gives me clothes from his collections whenever I ask.”

Cat’s jaw dropped. She was standing in the cafeteria, with all of her classmates, and she was naked. For no reason, she was just here naked! Worse, now she didn’t even have the hat or necklace, it was 100% nude!

Cat sprung into a sprint, exiting the cafeteria and headed back to the auditorium. She made it up onto the stage and into the staging area where she had taken her clothes off in the first place. There were still a few girls there helping clean up the make-up area and put things away.

“Has anyone seen my clothes?” Cat asked in a panic. She didn’t see any of the clothing bags from earlier.

“What did they look like?” Asked Stephanie.

“They were in one of those Caisse garment bags.” Cat said hopefully.

“All those got loaded onto the truck a few minutes ago.” Stephanie responded.

“What truck?” Cat asked.

“In the parking lot… some courier. They said they have to go back to New York tonight.” Stephanie said. Cat’s jaw dropped. Her clothes were being shipped to New York.

“What’s wrong, Cat? Why aren’t you dressed?” Mrs. Alexander asked, looking a bit taken aback that Cat was standing there butt naked. Not everyone in the cleanup crew was a girl either. Some of the boys had volunteered to help, plus the school janitor was there to sweep up afterwards.

“Do you know where my clothes are?” Cat asked, helplessly.

“You didn’t get them back from Beth?” Mrs. Alexander replied.

Cat shook her head in defeat.

“Maybe you can still catch the truck. Let’s go.” Mrs. Alexander took Cat by the hand and the two of them sprinted out of the auditorium, through the school halls and out the door. They could only watch as they saw clearly the courier van was just pulling out of the parking lot and onto the street.

“Beth.” Mrs. Alexander said, seeing that the girl was still walking back to the school. “Did Cat’s clothes go on the truck?”

Beth cocked her head. “I only put the Caisse garment bags and boxes onto the truck. Why?”

“Cat, where were your clothes?” Mrs. Alexander asked.

Speaking to Beth, Cat said, “You had me put my clothes into one of those garment bags.” Tears began streaming down Cat’s cheeks. “Are my clothes gone?”

Mrs. Alexander gave a loud sigh. “Let’s go inside and sort this out.”

Cat was frozen. She was naked in school. Her clothes were who-knows-where. Her parents were going to be furious with her. After a minute, Beth and Mrs. Alexander each took one of Cat’s arms and escorted her back into the school. The other students cheered when they walked in, but Cat was numb.

Suddenly a deep voice rang through the hallways. “Catherine Beaumont! What do you think you’re doing?”

Principal Shephard was walking toward them. Panic set in, as Cat had been scolded by Mr. Shephard previously. Beth disappeared as soon as she heard his voice. Even Mrs. Alexander took a couple of steps away from Cat as Mr. Shephard approached.

“In my office, both of you!” Mr. Shephard said before leading Cat and her teacher through a walk of shame.

It took a few minutes after arriving at Mr. Shephard’s office to sort out the particulars of how Cat ended up wandering the halls of the school naked. Mr. Shephard finally gave her a look of sympathy before saying, “I’ve already called your parents when I heard you had been parading around the cafeteria without a stitch of clothes on.”

“My parents?” Cat asked.

“Yes, your parents. I’m obligated to inform them when you do anything this unusual. You may wait outside my office until they arrive.” He said. “Mrs. Alexander, stay here. I have words for you as well.” Cat stepped out of the office and took a seat at one of the chairs that were normally reserved for the kids waiting to see the principal.

As numb as she was from the experience, now that she was out here alone, a new chapter in tears and sobs began pouting out of her. Some boys had taken notice that she was just sitting there. Because of her crying, they didn’t approach her, but they were definitely staring. Subconsciously, Cat’s hand moved up to cover her small breasts.

“Where are your clothes, young lady?” Asked Cat’s father from down the hall. His voice boomed and was nearly as deep as Mr. Shephard’s. Both of her parents walked briskly, ferociously towards her. “Answer your father!” Her mom demanded.

“I do-don’t know.” Cat sobbed. “New York I th-think.”

“Do not sas-mouth me young lady. You are in a world of trouble!” Her mom said. Just then, Mrs. Alexander exited the principal’s office and Principal Shephard came out as well. Mrs. Alexander was downcast and walked away without saying anything.

“Mr. and Mrs. Beaumont.” Principal Shephard said.

Cat’s father turned his attention to the principal, “Where do you get off letting my daughter wander around here without any clothes?” Her father demanded, fury turned toward the principal instead of Cat. It didn’t help with the tears or the sudden trembling that she was now experiencing.

Cat’s parents disappeared into Principal Shephard’s office and closed the door behind. For a few minutes, she could hear her father continuing to shout at Mr. Shephard. For about another minute, she heard Mr. Shephard shouting back. Finally the conversation quieted down to a muffle that Cat couldn’t make out.

Several minutes later, the door opened and Cat was invited in by her mom. There were only three seats in the room, counting Mr. Shephard’s so Cat was forced to stand by the desk.

“What’s the point in covering yourself now, Cathy? It’s not like the whole world hasn’t already seen your flaunting yourself tonight.” Her mom said sarcastically.

“Good point.” Her dad said. “Arms down!”

Cat dropped her arms to her side. She somehow felt more exposed than she was when she was on stage with cameras rolling.

“So Principal Shephard told us you volunteered for this fashion show.” Her dad said. “Why weren’t we informed?”

“Mom signed the permission slip.” Cat said defensively.

“Well, you didn’t say anything to me about going on stage naked!” Her mom said, equally defensive.

“Young lady, you are lucky not to be expelled for this!” Her dad told her.

“Well actually.” Mr. Shephard began. Cat’s jaw dropped as she braced for the worst news of all. Continuing, “It’s not exactly against the rules for students to be naked anymore. Or anyone for that matter.”

“What’s that supposed to me?” Cat’s mom asked, astonished.

“It’s just as I said. Last year, new federal regulations required all public buildings to convert their restrooms and locker facilities into gender neutral.” Mr. Shephard said.

“And?” Asked Cat’s father. “I don’t see…”

“Let him speak, dear.” Cat’s mom said.

“Well, that’s just it. It didn’t make sense to expect people to shower together in public locker rooms, and then arrest them for public decency if they did the same thing outside. So it was really a law change, but more that the anti-nudity laws are now moot, since they can no longer be enforced.”

“So you’re saying this” {pointing toward Cat} “isn’t even illegal?” Cat’s dad asked.

“Not even breaking a rule.” Mr. Shephard said.

“Well, she’s breaking MY rules.” Cat’s dad said before turning to Cat. “Do you think this is funny?”

“Na-no, daddy.” Cat said through sobs.

“Why are you laughing then?” her mom asked.

“I’m not… I-I’m crying.” Cat said.

“Unconvincingly.” Her mom concluded.

Her dad had started to regain his composure. “You know what… Kids misbehave, it’s part of growing up. I sure did. When I got caught smoking a cigarette, my dad made me smoke a whole carton. I was sick for a week, but I never smoked again.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t get addicted, dear.” Cat’s mom said.

“You’re missing the point. Our daughter wants to walk around naked, let’s apply the same principal.” Her dad said.

“What? I don’t want to walk around naked.” Cat said. “I just…”

“That’s what I told my dad too. I don’t want to smoke daddy.” Her dad said. “Since you wanted to be naked, you can be naked until you learned your lesson!”

Cat was horrified. She can’t stay naked, she just wants to go get her clothes back and have this over with. “H-h-how long?” She asked.

“Hmmm I don’t know. How many cigarettes are in a pack?” Her dad asked no one in particular.

“Ah, twenty.” Mr. Shephard offered.

“Okay, twenty days.” Her dad said.

“Twenty days??? I can’t go twenty days without clothes!” Cat said.

“Aren’t there ten pack in a carton?” Her mom added.

“Oh, right. So… well, it’ll be mid-summer before you get your clothes back.” Her dad corrected. “200 days. I’ll have to get a calendar.”

“NOOOOOOOOO!!!!” Cat yelled. “DADDY, NOOOO!”

“Not another word from you, or I’ll make this punishment apply at school as well as home.” Her dat said cooly.

“Daddy, please don’t do this.” Cat continued.

“You heard me young lady.” He said.

His words had not sunken in and she continued wailing, “no, daddy, please noooo”

“That’s it. Your punishment applies both at home and now at school as well.” He said.

“Wait, you mean it was just going to be at home?” Cat asked finally.

“Not anymore. When we get home, we’ll box them up and put them into storage.” Her mom said firmly.

Cat wanted to argue, but finally she realized that was just making it worse. Her mouth kept opening, but she managed to keep sound from coming out.