Literally Speechless

"And you can feel your hands?"

Carol was confused at this point. She flexed her wrists, clenched her hands into fists and wriggled her fingers. "Yeah, but they're still tied to this chair. So maybe you could hurry up and untie me...?"

Satisfied that Carol wouldn't be loosing circulation anytime soon, Lori saw a roll of duct tape on a nearby desk and picked it up. "Carol," Lori said. "I'm starting to think the other members of the student council might have a point,"

Carol's eyes went wide with shock. "How could you say that?" she said. "I'm just trying to make the spring festival the best it-"

Carol didn't hear the sound of Lori tearing off a strip of duct tape so she was suprised when Lori pressed the tape back over her mouth, silencing her once again. Carol let out a cry of protest as her speech was interrupted while Lori ignored her and placed the tape back down on the desk.

"I'm really sorry about this Carol," Lori said. "But It seems to me like the other student council members were trying to have an intervention,"

"Mmmmmph!" Carol shouted through the tape, glaring fiercely at Lori before yelling at her to be released. Lori didn't budge. "How dare you," Carol thought. "Please don't hate me for this," Lori thought. "It's not like you have a choice to listen,"

Carol's muffled ranting continued for the next few moments before the door to the classroom opened and the rest of the student council entered. There were four of them, not counting Carol. Whitney, Chaz, Becky and Dana entered the room and were somewhat surprised to see Lori there. They were even more surprised that Lori hadn't freed Carol yet either.

"Uh... Hey Lori," Whitney said. "I see you found Carol,"

"We didn't want to tie Carol to a chair but-" Chaz began before Lori cut him off. "I understand why you tied Carol to a chair," she said, prompting Carol to glare fiercely at her. "At least, I think. But can you tell me in your own words?"

The other student council members exchanged glances and nods with each before Becky began to speak. "Look Carol, you're a great student council president," Becky said. "But most of the time it seems like you only care about your ideas,"

"Becky's right," Chaz said. "Whenever we had an idea about the spring festival, you shut it down because you wanted to do your own thing,"

"Mmmpgf," Carol squealed, followed by a muffled explanation. None of what she was saying was understandable thanks to her taped up lips but that didn't seem to deter her. Lori sighed. "It seems like the only ideas you want to listen to are your own," Dana said.

"Nmmm," Carol began before realizing she wasn't going to be saying anything anytime soon. Lori looked over and could see how frustrated her tied up friend was getting but she wanted Carol to listen to her friends.

"Ok guys," Lori said. "I'm going to let Carol say something in her defense," Carol slunk away from Lori, remembering what happened last time. Lori silently reassured her before peeling the tape from Carol's lips, leaving one end attatched to her face.

"You guys, I'm sorry I interrupted all of you but I just wanted this festival to be perfect!" Carol pleaded. "I value your ideas but we can't include all of them,"

"Right now were not including anybody's ideas but yours," Whitney said, crossing her arms. "I'm not acting any different to how I usually act," Carol shouted, starting to get frustrated. She wriggled her arms but the restraints wouldn't give.

"Every single one of us had good ideas but you kept interrupting us," Chaz said. "No I didn't!" Carol shouted. "And if you just let-" Carol found herself silenced again as Lori pressed the tape back over her mouth. "Come on Lori!" Carol shouted through the tape but Lori just smoothed it down with her hand.

"I did all the calculations for the budget," Chaz said. "All of our ideas plus some of Carol's and the best of the student submissions and they would actually fit well within our budget,"

"Wow Chaz!" Lori said as she looked it over. "Did you show it to Carol?"

"Well... I tried to but she interrupted me," Chaz said. "Carol," Lori said, looking down at her friend. Carol blushed sheepishly, not having anything to say for herself. "Carol was really worried about her stupid carousel," Dana said.

"It's not stupid!" Carol shouted but Lori placed a hand over her already taped mouth, prompting Carol to roll her eyes. "Seriously Lori?" she thought. "That wasn't polite to call her idea stupid Dana," Lori said.

"I know, but I got so frustrated," Dana replied. "It's like as soon as she became student council president so got to be the boss of everything,"

"I know that feeling," Lori thought. "You know we need to talk, right?" Lori asked Carol. Carol looked into Lori's eyes and then bowed her head. The other members of the student council continued to share their ideas without having to be interrupted.

Lori could see that something was bothering Carol, and it wasn't the fact that she was tied to a chair. "Carol, do you think some of these ideas would work for the spring festival?" Lori asked. Carol had an unsure look on her face. Carol began to speak and once again, the tape didn't seem to deter her.

Lori glared as Carol continued her muffled ranting, causing the tied up girl to fall silent. "I think we should let Carol say something now," Whitney said. Lori nodded and once again, peeled back the tape from Carol's mouth.

"Guys i'm... I'm really sorry. I didn't know any of you felt that way. But you're my friends and it wasn't right for me to disregard your ideas," Carol said. "You're damn right," Chaz said. Carol looked down and Lori could see a look of regret on her friend's face.

"I'm sorry," Carol apologized again. "I promise we can compromise and also-" Lori pressed the tape back down over Carol's mouth. Carol glared, but not as fiercely as before. "I know Carol," Lori said. "But your friends still have a bit more to say,"

Carol nodded. "Carol, you're a great student council president," Becky said. "But sometimes you can be a bit imposing. You're also smart and sweet and come up with some really good ideas. We forgive you. Do you forgive us?"

Carol nodded silently, smiling under the tape. Lori reached over and gently removed it, this time for good. "Of course I do," Carol said. "And it's not like I struggled so much when you were tying me up. I think maybe a part of me knew I needed to sit down and listen,"

"How about tomorrow we start fresh, this time with everyone's ideas," Carol said. "Sounds like a plan," Chaz said. Lori went around the back of the chair and finally untied Carol's wrists and arms while Chaz, Becky, Dana and Whitney untied her legs.

"You learned that lesson a lot faster than I did," Lori thought as she got the biggest hug from Carol. "So you're ok then?" Lori asked. Carol nodded. "Yeah," she said, rubbing her wrists which were slightly red but she wasn't hurt.

"I know it must have been a pain to be tied up like that," Lori said. "But I really think you needed to hear what your friends had to say,"

"Sure," Carol smiled. "Same time tomorrow guys?"

"Yeah, we'll see you then," Whitney said. "Bye Carol, Bye Lori," Dana said, leaving the room. Lori gave Carol another hug as the two girls went home.

The end.