Margaret handed a small paper bag to Brandon and Shelly. “Put anything valuable or that you might lose in here, keys, id, cellphone. And don’t worry, we’re going to return them later. You both have to unlock your cells though. We need to be sure to let your friends know where to find you.”

Shelly looked at Brandon, wondering if she should hesitate or hold back anything. He just looked back and shrugged. They were outnumbered. So they both just did as they had been told. “Now what?” Shelly asked.

Wayne laughed from the back row of seats. “Yeah, barefoot.” Cathy Lee giggled.

Shelly and Brandon did as they had been asked and stood beside the van. They understood were being ‘punished’ by the others. At least they weren’t getting beat up or worse. Maybe they’d have to walk home barefoot.

This was all the result of a stupid prank. Shelly and Brandon went to Richfield High School. Mark and the others went to their archrival school West Valley High School. Shelly and Brandon had painted the West Valley’s front steps and most of the walk leading to the steps with Richfield’s bright blue and red school colors. It was a Homecoming prank. They hadn’t been alone, but of the twelve participants, they were the two who got caught by Mark and the others. Their friends had gotten safely away.

The parking area had a lot of loose gravel. It was uncomfortable on their bare feet. The Richfield pair weren’t going to be running off anywhere very fast. Five others got out of the van, three boys and two girls. Wayne, the skinny kid from the backseat had two partial cans of the paint they had confiscated. “Too bad we’ve only got your school colors, this would be way better if we had our colors.”

“Shit!” Shelly uddered. ‘They’re going to paint us.”

“Not yet,” Margaret chimed in. “First, we want some good to come from this. So you two are going to donate your clothes in that donation bin. Everything comes off, right down to your skin.”

“I’m not taking off my clothes!” Shelly shouted.

“There are more than enough of us here so that won’t be any problem, will it?” Margaret watched as Shelly’s defiant look faded.

Shelly looked at Brandon, but he just shook his head. Maybe he was already resigned to their fate. She looked back at the West Valley teens. “Maybe there’s some other way ... anything? Please don’t do this.”

Cathy Lee trained a flashlight on Brandon. “Boys first.” Brandon cringed at her command. She kept the light on him. “Strip or be stripped.” Brandon began very self-consciously removing his clothes. After a few moments, he stood naked, his clothes on the ground. The flashlight was directed at his penis. It was wrinkled and contracted from his anxiety. “Pitiful,” she said, “I was hoping for a lot more than that.” There were a couple of chuckles from the group. “Pick up your clothes and put them in the bin.” Brandon didn’t even notice some of the others taking photos or videos of their plight. Later, those would be shared widely at both the schools. He just did what he was told. His clothing was gone inside the donation bin. Then he stood, nude, and waited for whatever else would happen.