The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Burn
by Kerri-Leigh Grady

Mina tugged at the gym sweatshirt the front office had forced on her, pulling it away from the sweat coating her chest. The room was sweltering—as usual, the school air conditioner wasn’t working, and the unseasonably hot May day converted the cement school building into a solar oven. Only hotter.

She’d been stopped in the senior hallway on the way to first period, Mrs. Sweeney’s imperious voice carrying through the halls. “Mina Jepsen. Come back here now.”

She’d had to fight off embarrassment when she turned around and walked to the front office secretary and self-appointed dress code nazi. She’d given Mina a once-over and, loud enough to carry to the snickering cluster of boys passing by, announced, “You’re a distraction. How will boys learn if you dress like that?” Mrs. Sweeney had swept her hand up and down Mina’s…