The longer they lingered in front of the steam tunnels, the more Camila’s nerves frayed. At any minute, hordes of campus security guards could descend on them and get them all in trouble. That her long wait was her fault, for arriving so early, did nothing to abate her nervousness.
Lamara, at least, was on time. She and Yelena were a matched pair, they’d been walking silently together. To Camila’s surprise, Lamara went for a hug as soon as she said hello. Not that Camila minded, it was great to get to hug her roommate. I wonder if it’s like a switch that flipped for her. Am I a hug friend now? I like being a hug friend.
The only slightly annoying thing about Camila’s roommate was the heavy brown purse on her arm. Annoying because wasn’t a purse at all, as it was Betty’s stealth diaper bag. Camila resolved to ignore the diaper bag. She wasn’t going to need it, and Amanda wasn’t going to find out about it. With a twinge of embarrassment, Camila wondered if Yelena, as a fellow Delta-G, knew what Lamara was carrying.
As they waited for their last member, the talk turned to what people knew of the steam tunnels. Everyone had theories or knew rumors. The discussion was short on facts and packed with nervous giggles.
“We have to be careful,” Camila insisted. “Betty said people have gotten lost or hurt.”
“I’m sure they were just messing with equipment that they shouldn’t have touched.” Amanda said with a shrug. “It’s not a labyrinth. There’s no minotaur.”
“Oh, I hear there is a minotaur, but he’s unionized and won’t work overtime.” Yelena said in a deadpan tone. Camila giggled, she hadn’t spent time with Yelena at the sorority house yet, but it looked like Lamara had picked a good sister to bring.
Lamara laughed. “I agree with Amanda, as long as we don’t touch the equipment we’ll be fine.”
“I’m sorry I won’t get to meet the minotaur, but I’m glad he has representation at work.” Sui Yin said, stepping into the circle of light at the tunnel entrance.
Camila checked her phone, catching an annoyed glance from Sui Yin. Okay, it was a little bitchy to check the time when she showed up, but she’s seven minutes late.
“Let’s get inside.” Camila pulled on the bent door, wincing when it gave off a horrible metal shriek. “I’m nervous somebody will come by.”
“I don’t think anyone cares about people sneaking into the tunnels. If they did, they’d fix the door.” Sui Yin took point, stepping through the door and eyeing the digital meters at the entrance.
“If they see us they’ll have to enforce the rules,” Lamara said. “Let’s not get kicked out before we even start.”
Camila was the last to enter, pulling the door closed with another nerve-wracking squeal of metal. Amanda and Yelena were already wandering down the tunnel. Sui Yin was poking at the buttons on the meters. Grabbing Lamara’s hand and squeezing it, Camila grinned at her roommate.
“Are you nervous? I’m freaking out a little.”
“I’m nervous too, but it’s fun.” Lamara returned the hand squeeze.
For an hour they wandered through concrete tunnels that twisted and turned with little apparent reason. Locked metal doors appeared every hundred yards or so, the consensus among the girls was that those doors lead to campus buildings. The doors bore codes of a letter and trio of numbers rather than names, making it hard to tell which buildings they were under.
Though Camila liked to think she had a good sense of direction, she had to admit she had no idea where in the campus they were. The other girls seemed just as confused. Now deep in the tunnels, the novelty of the experience was beginning to wear off. There were only so many lichen-spotted walls and scratched-up metal doors you could walk past before they became boring.
Lamara was the first one to open a door. Sui Yin and Amanda had tried doors at the beginning of their journey, but they’d all been locked. Seemingly at random, Lamara picked a door that swung open easily for her.
“How’d you know that one would open?”
“The code on it. It doesn’t match the building codes,” Lamara said, as if her revelation were obvious.
“I see it,” Yelena said. “The building doors have an A, H, or M at the start of their code. This one has a P, it probably goes to the plant.”
“I didn’t catch that at all. I’m impressed,” Amanda said.
“How did you know which ones were building doors?” Sui Yin asked. Camila was curious about that herself.
“The letters kind of line up with the building. We just passed A244, and we were under the weird little admin building with the dog statues out front. The H is for classroom buildings.” Yelena shrugged.
“Oh, that’s what building that was!” Lamara said. “I lost track of the buildings a while ago, but I caught the first few we walked under.”
“I thought we were all lost. Well, not lost-lost, but I have no idea where on campus we are.” Camila said. It was gratifying to see Amanda and Sui Yin nod in agreement.
“We’re between the dog statue building and the old cruddy fountain.” Yelena said. “I think the cherry trees are right above us.”
Camila laughed. “That’s really impressive. Okay, you’re our guide on the way out. We won’t be the freshman that get lost this year.”
“I’m not a freshman at all, but sure,” Yelena said.
“This is fascinating and all, but where does that door go?” Amanda asked.
Pressing together, the girls hurried through Lamara’s door. The tunnel that greeted them was far newer and cleaner. Instead of massive iron pipes, that had been half-sunk into the concrete of the other tunnels, there were shiny metal conduits arranged neatly on the ceilings.
“This has to be the IT infrastructure,” Sui Yin said.
“Let’s cut the internet to a rival sorority.” Amanda said. Camila looked at the Alpha-Kai girl askance.
“What? I’m kidding, obviously. We’ll pick a fraternity instead. I vote we cut internet to Alpha Epsilon Phi.”
“Ugh, the apes.” Sui Yin nodded. “I second the motion.”
“Nobody is cutting any internet!” Camila stamped her foot nervously.
The rest of the girls chuckled, leaving Camila blushing. Even for a joke, that was an out of line suggestion wasn’t it? We could get in so much trouble!
“I wonder if there’s a server room down here,” Lamara said.
“If there is, it has to be locked,” Sui Yin said.
Yelena made an equivocating hmm noise. “You’d be surprised what people leave unlocked.”
“Yeah, like the door to the whole IT area. Maybe we should go back to the steam tunnels though. What if there’s cameras?” Camila looked at the other girls with an entreating expression. No one was moved.
“Somebody would have to be watching the cameras. Limited human attention is the biggest weakness of camera systems,” Lamara said, to an approving nod from Yelena.
“The steam tunnels are BORING.” Sui Yin took off down the hall. “Come on, let’s see something cool!”
Reluctantly following the gaggle of girls, Camila looked for cameras. She didn’t see any, not that meant anything. There wasn’t much time to catch details with how fast she was walking to keep up with her friends.
“Jackpot!” Sui Yin cried out from the front, her voice echoing down the tunnels.
Straining to look over the shoulders of the other girls, Camila could see a barred wall and door. Behind the shiny steel bars were racks upon racks of servers. To her horror, Sui Yin swung the door open.
“Yelena, you were right, someone left the door unlatched.” Sui Yin’s tone was gleeful as she stepped through the door.
“SUI YIN, DON’T!” Camila shouted. It was loud. Louder by double than the earlier shout of “jackpot”. The sound bounced off the smooth yellow walls and made the other girls wince or cover their ears.
Startled, Sui Yin let go of the door. It swung back on its own. Time seemed to slow down as Camila and the rest of the girls stared at the door. Lamara was closest, Camila wanted to shout to her to stop the door, but couldn’t make her body catch up to her brain.
The door shut with a soft click that was nevertheless audible in the silence following Camila’s bellow. A pale green light on the number pad lock winked out, to be replaced by bright red. Lamara grabbed the door and rattled it. It was firmly locked.
“We’re going to get in so much trouble!” Camila wailed.
“Cammy, stop freaking out,” Sui Yin said, rolling her eyes. “It has to open from the inside, so that people don’t get stuck.”
Sui Yin grabbed the door handle and pushed down on it. Nothing happened. She tried again. The third time, she rattled it harder than Lamara had. Still, the door held.
“That’s another thing you think people would do with doors, but they don’t.” Yelena said.
“Shit.” Sui Yin’s bravado was gone now. She stuck an arm through the door bars and tried to push through. Despite the Chinese girl’s trim figure, she had no hope of getting through the bars. The bars on the wall section were slightly further apart, but still Sui Yin-proof.
“We’re going to get expelled.” Camila whimpered.
“Stop that, we are not,” Amanda said. “Don’t stir up panic. I don’t suppose anyone knows how to disarm number pad locks?”
Amanda looked at Lamara, who shook her head.
Camila snorted, “Of course not.”
Yelena raised her hand. “I can pick lots of locks, including this one, but I’d need tools.”
“Where’d you learn to do that?” Sui Yin asked, impressed.
“I didn’t have a phone growing up, so I had to make my own fun.”
“Lamara, you’ve got like, every tool. Did you bring a multitool or something?” Camila’s hopes rose. There’s still a chance to get out of this without getting in big trouble.
“Uh, usually I do, but Heather told me that the knife on it is actually illegal. My purse has a couple of screwdrivers and some pliers – which are way more dangerous than the little knife on my multitool – but I have a different purse today.”
Camila stared in disbelief at the big brown diaper bag. She was going to be expelled and have her life ruined because of a diaper bag. What a way to go. The ABDU administration could just throw her in a diaper pail on the way out.
“Camila, stop panicking.” Amanda’s gave Camila a tight hug before she fully registered her friend’s words. Amanda’s arms stayed tight around Camila too, holding her in a firm embrace until Camila’s breathing slowed.
“Thanks. Sorry everyone. I’m not trying to freak out, but this is all my fault and…”
“No part of this is your fault. I’m the one that organized this trip, and Sui Yin went through that door on her own,” Lamara said.
“I’m not excited to be trapped, but it’s on me, hon.”
“But I’m responsible because – because…”
“Okay, Camila? I totally get what you’re feeling, but you’re not the queen bee of every situation. Take a breath and be a minion for a bit.” Amanda gave Camila’s arm a squeeze.
“About those tools, we should look for some,” Yelena said, pointing at the ceiling of the server room where a shiny black hemisphere sat nestled among the conduits. “That camera can probably see the whole server room. It might take a while, but someone’s going to see Sui Yin eventually.”
“Do you want to try the maintenance rooms we saw back in the steam tunnels, or look for a supply room here?” Lamara asked.
“I think a room in this area is more likely to have tools that will work with that keypad lock.” Amanda said. Yelena nodded.
“Then we go down this hall. I bet the tools aren’t far away from the server room. Nobody wants to walk a long way every time they have to unscrew a rack to swap servers out.” Lamara hefted the diaper bag on her shoulder and set off down the hall.
“But..” Camila’s protests fell on deaf ears.
I’m really not in charge. It was a weird feeling. With Betty and Heather, it’d been natural to not be in charge. They were older than her, and had positions of authority besides. Among her peers though, she’d always assumed that she was the one running the show.
Oh my god. Am I really the horrible bitch that Ginger thinks I am?
Biting her lip pensively, Camila turned to Sui Yin. “We’re going to get you out of this, I promise.” As soon as she got an acknowledging nod from the other girl, Camila scurried down the hall to follow her friends.
Lamara’s assessment of where the supply room should be was revealed to be extreme optimism. Yelena theorized that no one had asked the IT staff if they wanted a tool room close to the servers, which everyone had to agree was probably right.
The first door that Yelena picked open had Camila in a state of jittery terror. Every click of Yelena’s lockpicking tools, felt like an echo of the handcuffs that were going to close around Camila’s wrists any moment. There hadn’t been much of note behind the door, a few stacks of binders and some maps. At Camila’s insistence, they left the maps behind, even though Lamara pointed out that there were enough spares that they must be intended for staff to take copies.
The next few doors Yelena picked opened to stairwells or even to empty closets. By the fourth door Camila was exhausted from being anxious. The taboo feeling was replaced by boredom. I didn’t realize crime could be boring. I’m doing crime, and it’s not even fun.
A sudden hug startled Camila. Whoever had touched he let go the minute she jerked. It had to be Lamara then, not Amanda. Turning to her roommate with a smile, Camila grabbed Lamara in a big hug. It felt great to have the embrace enthusiastically returned.
“You seem like you’re in distress. Do you need…” Lamara pointed at the diaper bag.
“No, I’m fine. I’m nervous about what we’re doing. It wasn’t supposed to go this far. Also – what Amanda said…”
Camila looked around. Amanda wasn’t in sight. Sighing at yet another person running off on their own, Camila decided she was going to have to let that one go for the moment.
“What about what Amanda said?”
“About me needing to be in charge. I realized – I always assumed that I was. Do you think I’m bossy? Is Ginger right about me?”
Lamara looked at Camila with a furrowed brow. It was the kind of expression someone would make if they were asked if green were actually blue. After a few moments of confusion, Lamara shook her head.
“I don’t think you’re bossy, I think you’re responsible. This whole evening is about not being responsible, so you’re having a hard time. You make a good leader. That’s why I wanted you to come. I’m sorry it’s been difficult, I wanted this to be fun for us.”
“You think I’m a good leader? I’m not – a stuck up bitch?”
“Why would you be one of those?” Lamara looked confused again. “Is that the thing that Ginger says about you? She says lots of inaccurate things. She’s not very good at seeing people for who they are.”
“Thanks Lamara.” Camila fell into a hug with her roommate, grabbing Lamara tightly. They held each other until Yelena popped the door open.
“Spare conduits.” Yelena sighed. “I’ll try another door.”
“Keep going down this hall in sequence.” Camila said, releasing Lamara. “Lamara and I are going to find Amanda.
“Got it.” Yelena walked obediently to the next door, for all that she was a sophomore and therefore a senior sorority sister.
“There’s two branches up past the next door,” Camila said to Lamara. “You take the left, I’ll go right.”
“Understood. It’s good to have a plan.” Lamara took off down her branch at a steady pace.
Fed up with the comedy of errors their excursion had become, Camila jogged down the right branch. There was nothing but a dead end and more locked doors. Back at the junction, she hurried down the main path.
That one ended too, in a door that looked like it went up to a building, by its door code. Though she didn’t know what building she was under, just knowing there was a building helped keep Camila oriented. Lamara is really smart, I wish she had more friends.
Jogging down Lamara’s fork, Camila found her roommate and Amanda together. Amanda was leaning against the wall with a distressed look on her face. Lamara was standing by with that awkward distance she kept from people she wasn’t comfortable with.
“Amanda, are you hurt?”
“No – I – um…” Amanda blushed. “I was really hoping there was a bathroom down here. I checked this whole hall though, there isn’t one.”
Camila blinked. It was hard not to laugh. She managed it anyway. Of all people, she know how much it sucked to have people laugh at your potty issues. Amanda looked like she had to go really badly, and they hadn’t even found the tools they needed, never mind getting started on Sui Yin’s lock. Her lab partner was doomed to have an accident.
Shamefacedly, Amanda continued, “I was also kind of looking for a private spot. I’m almost at the point that I need to just find a corner.”
“No, you can’t do that here! That might pass in the steam tunnels, but there’s no way someone wouldn’t notice in this section. We can get you outside at least, or even to a building. Lamara, you know the way back, right?”
“Of course.”
“I’m not going to make a walk all the way back to the steam tunnels, let alone outside.” Amanda pressed a hand to her crotch and winced.
“We’re so close to doing this without getting caught by anyone, there has to be a way to…” Camila’s eyes fell on the diaper bag Lamara was carrying.
“Lamara, give me your purse.”
Lamara blinked. “But we’re not supposed to…”
“Shh. Amanda knows about me. Understand? She knows about MY issue.”
Frowning, but willing to help, Lamara handed Camila the bag. Amanda watched them both, her usual sharp gaze blunted by her potty distress.
“Amanda. This is – my diaper bag. Lamara brought it for me in case I needed it, and I felt awkward about asking her for it before. You can use one of my spares.”
Amanda’s jaw dropped. “But – then…”
“You’d have to wear it after using it, or carry it wet. I haven’t seen a garbage can, sorry.”
Blushing so deep that her face went full tomato, Amanda held out a hand. “Give me a diaper – please.”
Camila opened the bag and picked out a simple pink one. Amanda didn’t need to be embarrassed by having her first diaper be one with dancing teddy bears. Anyway, Camila wanted to save that one for her date with Mommy.
“Do you want help putting it on?” Camila asked.
“No – just give me some privacy.”
“Are you sure? It’s pretty hard to put one on by yourself, especially standing up and for the first time. You look like you really have to go. The diaper might leak.”
“I – um – Camila I can’t just – this is so humiliating.”
“Lamara, can you keep a lookout and make sure Yelena doesn’t come down this branch?”
“Got it!” Glad to have an out of the uncomfortable social situation, Lamara squeezed Camila’s shoulder and hurried down the hall.
“Can you get your jeans and panties down without losing control?” Camila took the diaper from Amanda and opened it up.
“Yes.” Gritting her teeth, Amanda kicked off her shoes. She peeled her clothes off and held the was of fabric in front of her crotch. Looking up, she frowned at Camila sprinkling powder generously into the diaper.
“You’re putting powder in there?”
“Trust me, you’re going to want it if you have to walk around in a wet diaper. It’d be better if it was on your skin, but I doubt you want to lay on the floor or let me put lotion on you.”
Amanda squirmed. “No lotion. This is sexy but – I’m not into you that way. I’m not trying to be rude…”
“I understand. I’m not hitting on you, I feel the same way. You’re a good friend.”
“Really good friend now.” Amanda laughed nervously. “We’re really close. Intimate even.”
“Besties.” Camila said with a grin. She stepped in and wrapped the diaper around Amanda. Carefully, she set the leak guards and pulled the padding tight. It took some doing to hold the diaper and tape it at the same time, but when she’d finished, Camila was proud of her work.
“This is so weird,” Amanda said, squirming in her diaper.
“You’re all set. You can pee whenever.”
“That’s part of what’s weird, I was about to lose it – but I can’t make myself go.”
“Do you want help?”
“Won’t that make it even weirder between us?”
“Not on my end.”
Amanda bit her lip. Ever couple of breaths she winced in pain. Camila took her friend’s hand and squeezed it gently.
“Okay,” Amanda whispered. “Please help me.”
Camila took Amanda’s hands and smiled gently at her lab partner. “Shift your legs apart. Then we’re going to squat down together. I’ll help you keep your balance.”
Amanda looked terrified. Camila’s heart went out to her. It had to be beyond humiliating to be helped the way Camila was helping her. That they had a shared interest in diapers had about even odds of making it better or even worse.
As they squatted, Amanda’s eyes went wide. She gasped in shock, whimpered, and burst into tears. Wrapping one arm around Amanda, Camila wiped away her friend’s tears with her sleeve.
“You’re okay. I’ve got you.”
Amanda shuddered and leaned against Camila. “That was the most fucking confusing thing that ever happened to me.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“I don’t know. I’m crazy embarrassed but so turned on – I think if I say too much it’ll be TMI.”
Camila helped Amanda stand, giving her friend another supportive hug. “We’ll find you a nice boy or girl who’s into diapers.”
“Yeah, right.” Amanda tucked her panties into the pocket of her jeans and stepped into her pants. It took some grunting and pulling, even a few hops, but she was managing to compress the diaper into her jeans.
“They exist, trust me.” Camila winked.
“Oh god, the jeans are squeezing it all back out.”
“I told you that powder was a good idea.”
“I kind of wish I’d taken you up on the lotion.”
“Next time.”
“Next time!?” Amanda shook her head, giggling nervously. “You’re crazy.”
“So are you, diaper girl.”
“Okay, don’t do that unless you are trying to hit on me.”
“I thought you didn’t like me that way.”
“I don’t, but there’s a lot going on right now.”
“I’ll be nice. Let’s find the others.”
—–
By the time Amanda and Camila made it back to the group, Yelena had found a screwdriver and had the number pad dismantled. Camila was excited to see cool hacking, or at least some electrical trickery to get the lock to open. To her disappointment, Yelena simply found the lever holding the lock closed and pried it back with her screwdriver.
With Sui Yin freed, everyone was itching to leave the tunnels. Camila insisted on putting the lock back together and returning the screwdriver. At first, the girls were annoyed about returning the screwdriver. Yelena insisted that there had been ten screwdrivers in the maintenance room, and that it’d take too long to pick the door again.
“We’re not leaving any evidence,” Camila declared. “This is a black op. We’re ghosts, we were never here.”
That got some good laughs, and more importantly, it convinced Yelena to pick the supply room lock and return the screwdriver. Giggling and holding hands, the girls retraced their steps to the steam tunnels. A terrible weight lifted off Camila’s shoulders when she heard the shriek of the steam tunnel entrance door and got safely outside.
“That was pretty crazy,” Amanda said. She’d been subdued on the walk back, and her cheeks were pink in the light of the tunnel entrance. “I have to talk to one of my sisters about an assignment and she goes to bed soon. I’m going to run if that’s okay.”
“Do you need someone to go back with you?” Camila asked. Sui Yin and Yelena gave her odd looks at that question, but Camila ignored them.
“Nope, I’ve got it. Talk to you later though, okay?”
“Sounds good. Goodnight, Amanda.”
Amanda waved and set off at a jog. Camila smiled, she’d noticed the bulk in Amanda’s jeans, but she’d been looking for it. Lamara knew, of course, but the other Delta-Gs likely hadn’t seen anything in the dim tunnels. She didn’t blame Amanda for wanting to take off before they got into better light.
“What now?” Yelena asked.
“We should eat something sweet to celebrate. There’s a twenty four hour brownie place at the edge of campus,” Lamara said. Camila grinned, she was one hundred percent certain her roommate had researched the brownie place as part of the excursion, and maybe even scouted it ahead of time.
“Yum!” Sui Yin said. “I’m in.”
“First things first.” Camila said. “Sui Yin, you’re in trouble.”
Everyone was looking at Camila nervously. They were expecting her to say that they had to turn themselves in because they might have damaged the locks, or something else extremely bossy. While Camila did have some guilt about how far they’d gone in the tunnels, she had something much less official in mind.
“You get three spanks from each of us for getting yourself locked in that server room.”
“What?!” Sui Yin’s jaw dropped in outrage.
“Sounds fun.” Lamara grinned.
“It’s a sorority-appropriate punishment. I’m in.” Yelena said.
“Come on Yelena, you’re the senior sister. Can’t I get out of this one?”
“No way, Camila’s in charge.”
“Bend over and put your hands on that pipe.” Camila said with a satisfied smirk.
With a nervous chuckle, Sui Yin put her hands on the pipe and stuck her butt out. Lamara went first, giving three good smacks that made Sui Yin gasp. Yelena put in some measured strokes that made up for their low impact by landing on the lower curve of Sui Yin’s cheeks.
Camila wound her arm up and delivered three Heather-worthy spanks, getting a yelp out of Sui Yin each time. She caught the girl with one more as her sister was relaxing. The sting of it made Sui Yin jump.
“Hey, that was four from you!”
“You got one more for trying to get out of your spanking.”
Sui Yin blushed and nodded. Camila took the spanked girl’s arm on her left and Lamara’s on her right. It was a relief to finally walk away from the steam tunnels. Yelena didn’t join arms on the other side of Lamara, but the two of them seemed to be okay with that, so Camila let it go.
As they walked, Sui Yin whispered to Camila. “Does your mommy spank you like that?”
“No, but Heather does.”
“Hot.”
“Hot?” Camila raised a brow at Sui Yin.
“Yeah, hot.” Sui Yin licked her lips and bumped hips with Camila. A flicker of excitement sent nervous energy through Camila’s belly.
She’s definitely right. The word is Hot.