Nicole Green groaned as she rolled over onto her side. She burrowed deeper into the folds of her sleeping bag, trying to hide from the early morning light that tickled her eyes, trying to wake the teenage girl.
"Nicole…" Someone said, shaking the young woman. "Wake up." From inside the sleeping bag, Nicole mumbled something that almost sounded like "…go away!"
"Come on!" The person continued, shaking harder. She obviously wasn't going to go away anytime soon. Grumbling, Nicole slowly sat up, blinking in the sudden light.
She glanced over and found herself looking at Laura Morgan, her best friend Rachel's younger sister. Even though the younger girl had little interest in Nicole and her older sister's games, Nicole usually got on well with the quiet, studious middle-school girl…usually.
"What?" Nicole asked, putting on her glasses.
"Rachel asked me to get you up early, last night before we went to bed." Laura replied. "She told me to wake her up too but…" she shrugged. Getting Rachel up before noon was a herculean task, if not a Sisyphean one.
"She also told me to remind you about your bet." She added as Nicole unzipped her sleeping bag, standing up. Nicole nodded. She hadn't forgotten.
It had started last night. Laura and some friends were having a sleepover in celebration of spring break. Nicole had been invited as well, to help Rachel and her mother keep an eye on things during the party. The eldest Morgan daughter, Sarah, had elected not to come home but was instead spending the break with some friends of hers from college.
While waiting for the pizzas to get there, Rachel had suggested a game of truth or dare. Laura's friends had joined in with a will. After a few shocking truths and a couple outrageous dares, Rachel had a chance to dare Nicole.
"So, Nicole…" Rachel had said. "Which will it be? Truth? Or Dare?"
"Dare!" Nicole replied without the slightest hesitation. She knew what Rachel was going to dare her.
"Ok. Here's the dare…" Rachel continued as the other guests cheered the two on. "I'll tie you up. If you can't get free in, say half an hour, you're our prisoner and we get to do whatever we want with you for the rest of the evening!"
"You're on!" Nicole nodded as Laura's friends all grinned at the prospect of having a captive to torment for the evening. Rachel ran to go get her bondage things. In minutes, Nicole soon lay on the floor, bound tightly with rope at her ankles, knees, wrists and elbows.
Rachel smoothed a piece of duct tape across Nicole's lips. The teenage girl groaned into her gag. That would make it impossible to use her teeth to undo the knots, and that was assuming she could even get the ropes to her teeth.
The girls surrounding Nicole giggled as she squirmed around on the floor, testing her bonds. A few pulled out cell phones and began recording the older girl's plight. Normally, Nicole was flexible enough; she could slip her bound wrists around her ankles, to get her bonds within reach of her teeth. With her elbows bound, however, that was no longer an option.
Just then, from downstairs, Nicole heard the doorbell ring. "Pizza's here!" Mrs. Morgan called from downstairs a moment later. Chattering excitedly, the girls ran for the stairs, their captive completely forgotten. "We'll try to save you a slice, Nicole." Rachel said as she headed out of the room, leaving her friend to squirm helplessly in her bonds. "Oh, and remember, clocks ticking!"
To make a long story short, Nicole had eventually squirmed and struggled her way free in time to claim a couple slices of pizza. "Of course, getting free is much easier," Rachel said, putting the best face on things.
"Oh? Easier then what?" Nicole asked.
"It'd be much harder to stay tied up." Rachel replied. "I bet that you couldn't go a whole day tied up!"
The two had spent the rest of the evening haggling over the details of the bet. Eventually, it was decided that only Nicole's hands would be tied, but Rachel would get to give Nicole five challenges during the day, with Nicole forfeiting should she fail even one. Nicole's hands would be tied in front of her, but she'd be bound before she changed out of her pajamas. She'd have to figure out a way to get dressed while tied.
Nicole and Laura walked into Rachel's bedroom. The teenage girl lay on her bed, cocooned in the sheets. She groaned as Nicole poked her and muttered something about "…radioactive aardvarks…"
"Come on, Rachel!" Nicole said, tugging the sheets back. "We've got a wager today!" If there was one thing that would get Rachel out of bed early in the morning, that was it. Grumbling and rubbing her eyes, the teenage girl sat up and got out of the bed.
"Good luck, Nicole!" Laura wished her as she left. "Thanks!" Nicole nodded back.
She stumbled into the bathroom, and a few minutes later came back out, looking a little more conscious than before. She stripped off her pajamas and found a t-shirt and some shorts that were probably clean, and put them on.
From her stash of bondage supplies, Rachel found a short length of rope, worn soft by use and very flexible. Nicole held her hands out, palm to palm, to be tied. Rachel looped the rope around her wrists, quickly wrapping it around her arms several times before knotting it off securely.
Rachel stepped back as Nicole tested her bonds. The rope, though snug against her wrists, was still loose enough that she had some range of movement, twisting her hands around in the ropes. "Is that ok, Nicole?" Rachel asked. Nicole nodded. It was loose enough; she shouldn't have problems being tied all day."
"Well, in that case, let's see if you can get changed tied like this." Rachel continued.
"Is this one of the challenges?" Nicole asked.
"No." Rachel replied. "Feel free to just sit there, unless you don't want to spend the whole day in your pajamas. Oh, and we will be going out today, just so you know."
"Cheater." Nicole giggled, sticking out her tongue.
"Come on, get going!" Rachel said, giving Nicole a playful swat, sending her friend scurrying out of the room. Nicole walked back to the living room where she was sleeping with the other guests who'd stayed the night. Even walking was odd with her hands bound out in front of her, instead of by her sides.
She stepped carefully over the sleeping girls and found her bag. She pulled out the clothes she'd brought for today and walked back upstairs to Rachel's room where the teenage girl was finishing tying on her sneakers.
"Out, Rachel" Nicole ordered. "I've got to change."
"Actually, I was thinking of staying and watching…" Rachel teased off-handedly. "I've got to make sure you don't che-OW OW OW!!! Ok! Ok, I'm going! I'm going!" she cried as Nicole drove her from the room under a flurry of blows.
Luckily, after Rachel had made the bet, Nicole had had enough time to run home quickly, and prepare. After some searching, she'd found an old nightshirt of her mother's with shoulder straps that could be unbuttoned.
Twisting her arms to reach the buttons was hard enough, but after a minute, she undid both and let the white cloth fall down around her feet.
Nicole had, after some thought, elected not to wear a bra, so she only had to change her panties. The top she'd picked out for today similarly had straps she could undo to get on with her hands tied together. She slipped it over her head, pinned it in place with her elbows against her sides as she struggled to redo the shoulder straps.
After that, putting on her shorts was an easy enough matter. A pair of flip flops finished things off. Checking her appearance in Rachel's mirror and deciding that nothing was too out of place, Nicole stepped back outside.
Rachel was waiting for Nicole. She eyes her friend's outfit for a second, than she turned. "Come on, Nicole." Rachel said, walking. 'Your first challenge is about to begin."
Nicole followed the teenage girl downstairs to the kitchen. Rachel disappeared into the pantry, muttering loudly to herself. A few moments later, she reappeared with the things to make pancakes. "Ok, Nicole!" Rachel said, setting everything on the kitchen counter, beside the stovetop. "For your first challenge, you are going to cook breakfast this morning. And this morning, I'm in the mood for pancakes!"
Nicole nodded. "Easy enough." She replied. The teenage girl started searching through the cabinets.
"The left one!" Rachel advised. Nicole opened the cabinet in question and pulled out a large, glass mixing bowl. Some more searching turned up a wooden spoon and a measuring cup. She measured out the ingredients, one at a time and added them to the bowl. Picking up the spoon with both hands, she stirred them, until she had a fine batter.
Another drawer produced a large iron skillet. Nicole set it on the stove and turned it on. After letting the skillet heat up a bit, Nicole scooped up a cup of batter and poured. The pancake mix sizzled as it hit the hot metal, quickly spreading out in a circle.
Flipping the pancake proved a bit of a challenge with her hands tied, and Nicole kind of botched the first one, which ended up looking odd. "MMM! Pancakes!" Laura said, stepping into the kitchen.
"Here…" Nicole said, flipping the slightly singed flapjack onto the younger girl's plate. Laura shrugged and set about slathering syrup over her breakfast, as Nicole poured a second batch of batter onto the skillet.
With a little practice under her belt, Nicole did a little better on her second pancake. "Your breakfast, mistress!" Nicole joked, flipping it onto a plate and handing it to Rachel. She grinned, drowning the plate with syrup and began stuffing her face.
As Nicole was cooking her third, hopefully her pancake. Mrs. Morgan came in. "I thought I smelled something cooking." She said, seeing her two younger daughters inhaling their breakfast with every sign of enjoyment.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, seeing Nicole. "Are you the chef this morning, Nicole?"
Nicole nodded. "What'll it be, Ma'am?" she replied playfully.
"Oh, I suppose a pancake or two would be nice." Mrs. Morgan answered. "Us too!" Laura and Rachel shouted from the table where they were sitting. "Seconds please!" They sang in unison.
Nicole sighed, scooping the golden brown pancake onto a plate and handing it to the older woman. Good thing she'd made a lot of extra batter… She poured yet another scoop of mix onto the skillet and watched the batter bubble and brown.
"Any particular reason you're tied up, Nicole?" Mrs. Morgan asked off-handedly as Nicole cooked. She knew her daughters well enough to know they didn't need much of a reason to get out the ropes. She giggled cheerfully as Nicole explained the wager. "That's wonderful! Oh, I hope you win!"
"Mo-om!!!" Rachel exclaimed, betrayed, from the table.
Any hopes Nicole had that she might get to enjoy one of her pancakes were dashed as Laura's friends started wandering into the kitchen as they woke up, demanding pancakes as well. Nicole cooked up a storm, just keeping up with the calls for breakfast. Spatula flying, she served flapjacks as fast as she could.
Soon, she scrapped the bottom of the mixing bowl to pour one last pancake out on the griddle. "This one's mine!" She growled at a girl she knew had already had seconds, and thirds, who looked disappointed.
Nicole switched off the stove and flipped her pancake onto a plate. Grabbing the bottle, she slathered syrup all over the golden brown flapjack. With her hands tied together, there was no way she could use a knife and fork at the same time, so she found a fork with the sharpest edge she could. She ate quickly, shoveling the delicious, warm pancake into her mouth. She had a feeling…
"Come on, Nicole!" Rachel said, as if on cue. "Let's get out of here!" Nicole inhaled the last few bites. "We still need to clean up!" She protested, gesturing to the mixing bowl and skillet.
"Exactly!" Rachel replied grabbing Nicole's bound hands in one of her own. Before the teenage girl could protest further, Nicole was yanked out of the kitchen and out the front door…