The Outfit Clash: I'm Told to Strip novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Night Shift

Maddie's foot came off the pedal.

The machine whined down to silence.

The other two students didn't notice anything. Their earbuds were in and their heads were down.

I walked across the room and stood at the cutting table.

I looked up at the photo of my own suit.

"You want to tell me about this?" I said.

Maddie got up so fast her stool fell over.

One of the other students finally looked up, saw me, and went pale.

He'd been at convocation too, apparently.

"Go home," I told him gently. "Both of you. Nobody's in trouble tonight."

They didn't need telling twice. They grabbed their bags and were gone in under a minute.

Maddie stayed where she was, holding the half-sewn collar against her chest.

"It's work-study," she said.

"At two in the morning?"

"It's night work-study. It's a special program. Vice President Sterne runs it." The words came out fast and flat, like she'd practiced them. "It's for scholarship students. We get experience making garments for industry. It goes on our résumés."

"How much does it pay?"

She didn't answer.

"Maddie. How much?"

"It doesn't pay," she said. "It's for credit. And for the scholarship. If you're in the program, your scholarship is renewed. If you quit, it's reviewed."

"Reviewed."

"Nobody who quit last year got renewed." Her chin wobbled. "I checked."

I looked at the rail of jackets.

There were twelve of them in different sizes. Men's cut.

"Where do these go?"

"A van picks them up on Fridays," she said. "Sterne outlet stores, I think. There's one at the mall in Hartford. I saw a jacket I sewed in the window there. It was four hundred dollars."

Her voice broke on the number.

"And Hunter's suit?"

She closed her eyes.

"I made Hunter's suit," she said. "In August. Vice President Sterne brought in that photo and said her nephew needed something special for convocation. She said it was a tribute piece. She said the design was public."

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