"I've got the perfect punishment!" The principal announces, sick of fighting with us. "Since you two detest being around each other so much, I think that the perfect punishment would be for you two to hold hands for the entirety of today." Jesse and I scoff simultaneously.
"Principal, there's no way we're doing that," Jesse responds.
"Yeah, there's no way you can even make sure we do it. It's not going to happen," I reason.
"Oh, I know that it's going to happen and I have the perfect way of making sure it does."
"Come on, James. What are you going to do? Staple our clothes together?" I laugh off.
He grins maliciously and I can tell he's going to say something sadistic.
"No, that's ridiculous. I'm going to handcuff you together."
"Kinky," I muse.
"Please-" Jesse begs.
"On top of that," he cuts us off again. "You shall not be allowed to attend the Christmas ball."
"Come on, James! You can't!" I protest.
"Principal Johnson, please don't," Jesse pleads.
So basics, the Christmas ball is this ball that happens just before Christmas break. Obviously. It's the equivalent of a Winter Formal but our school wanted to be unique and edgy, so there we go.
But the big fuss is that the theme this year is so good. It's called 'The Bleak Midwinter' - this means I can wear dark colours to the Christmas ball and it's the most controversial theme Manhattan High has ever seen and everyone is so hyped it's unreal.
And it's in less than a month so no one can wait. I already have my dress!
"If you two really want to go then you will hold hands and act like you two can at least stand each other for the rest of the day. KT you are excused from your lessons and will attend all of his in order to keep this up. Effective immediately."
"You're kidding, right? Is this just because I'm a girl and a man's education is more important than mine?" He can't expect me to not go to some of my AP classes just for some shitty punishment.
"No, it's because you're a better student and can afford to miss a day of school. Jesse, on the other hand, can not. And you will do as I say without complaint or you will not be allowed to attend the Christmas ball. And do I really have to repeat myself? Effective immediately," He growls.
I look at Jesse worriedly and he mirrors my expression. He then takes my hand in his and we both look angrily at the principal who handcuffs us eagerly.
"Lovely, you're now dismissed."
"Suck a fucking bag of dicks," I mutter under my breath so that Mr Johnson can't hear. But clearly, Jesse heard it as he lets out a hearty laugh. I look at him sternly. "Problem?"
"No," he scoffs. "But there is something you should know."
"I'm listening." What's he done now?
"Well, after the food fight yesterday I overheard some random people talking about us," Jesse begins.
"Go on." What the fuck is this?
"They were saying that there has been a divide between us," Jesse says with disbelief in his tone. "They said, and I quote, 'The populars are falling apart - we can strike now and end up running the school.'"
Shut the front door.
"What the fuck?" I stop walking and just stand there putting my free hand to my forehead.
"I know. They said something about lunch... what lunch has to do with anything confuses me."
"They obviously learnt from you, Dexter. They want an audience for whatever they're pulling. But it's easy we just shut it down before it happens. Big statements at the start of lunch, we'll take care of it. It will be fine," I dismiss.
"But it's a fucking rebellion! I thought they were scared of us!" Jesse counters.
"I know, we all did. But don't worry about it, nothing too drastic will happen. We'll all just say some stuff and everyone will forget about it." I wave off. I don't care for this school much right now. It's pissing me the fuck off.
"Okay, that's sorted then. But these aren't." Jesse then lifts up our interlinked hands.
"This is torture," I groan, looking at the handcuffs.
"You love it." He winks.
"I don't. I'm with Jack and I'm forced to hold hands with this pathetic, sweaty-palmed, greasy son-of-bitch who thinks he's good at pranks," I groan, closing my eyes.
"Hey! I'm great at pranks!" Jesse quickly rushes to his own defence.
"I'm not even going to argue with you," I sigh, not wanting to start anything with him.
There's an awkward silence for a bit before Jesse decides to break it, "what are we going to do about this?" He asks, referencing our hands.
"We have to keep wearing them, otherwise we can't go to the Christmas ball." Did I mention how unfair this punishment is?
"Ugh, this fucking sucks," he groans loudly.
"Tell me about it," I grit. I'm still angry at him.
We walk lazily into Jesse's first lesson which happens to be my lesson as well. And I am so not looking forward to it. Did you guess it yet?
History.
Fuck my life.
"Jesse, Katrina, you're late," Mr Thompson says as we walk in
"Nice observation, sir." Ugh, the asshole speaks again.
"Sorry, we were in the Principal's office," I explain.
He rolls his eyes, familiar with our antics. "Please find your seats and I'll let it slide."
We look around the room and there are two seats left. But those two seats are inconveniently placed on opposite sides of the classroom.
"Um, Mr T..." I trail off.
"Yes, Katrina?" He asks.
"We have to sit together," I sigh, ignoring all the wolf whistles.
"And why is that?" He asks.
I raise my left hand up, dragging Jesse's right hand along with it.
"Ah, I see. Why are you handcuffed?" He asks, seemingly not shocked.
"Mr Johnson thought this would be a fun punishment," I breathe.
"And why are you holding hands?"
"Because we're in love." The fucking asshole strikes again.
"Part of the punishment," I correct.
"Very well then. Blake, move to the front do these two can sit at the back."
"Real sorry, man," Jesse mutters.
"Yeah, sorry, Blake." He just winks at me.
"It's alright. But you can make it up to me with a date!" Haha, what a joker.
"Keep trying, Hunter." Jesse leads us to the back of the classroom. I attempt to open my bag to retrieve stuff, but my body is yanked to my left by Jesse who is trying to do the same as me.
"Uncompromising position," I huff as I realise that my head is resting on his crotch.
"See if I care." What a dick.
"Don't worry," Blake calls from the front. "You'll be on my lap willingly." He winks jokingly and I smile as I laugh.
"I thought you were meant to be a jock, not a player," I call out teasingly.
"Hey, I'm working on it!" He shouts defensively.
"I was joking, dumbass. Loosen up!" I laugh at his sudden defensiveness.
"Does the line work though?" He smirks.
"Every time," I smirk back.
"I disagree." Trust the asshole to interrupt the banter we had going.
"I don't care what you think - it's our thing." I sit back up and grab my stuff one handed. It's not that hard.
"Now today we will be focusing on the American Revolution," Mr Thompson starts.
"I think we should focus on something that matters," Jesse interrupts.
Commence asshole induced torture. Phase 1.
Wait that sounds weird. It's not dirty, get your mind out of the gutter.
+++
"What do you have next?" I ask, afraid of the answer, considering the traumatic time I had in history.
He lets out a laugh. "You're not going to like it."
"Try me," I challenge.
"Gym." Fuck. My. Life.
"Mr Johnson!" I storm through the corridor to the principal's office.
"What's the problem Katrina?" He asks as we enter.
"Can I sit this lesson of Jesse's out?" I plead.
"No," Ha answers quickly, without hearing the reason.
"But it's gym and boys are more athletically able than girls. I'm not being a bad feminist, but it's scientifically proven that guys are built better than girls, " I reason.
"Fight for your gender!" He says in a jolly manner.
"No!" I shout.
"Then suffer through gym anyway!" What a prick.
"Then can you uncuff us for like 10 minutes?" I beg.
"And why would I do that?" He asks, naïvly.
"Because he has gym!" I shout again.
"And?" He asks.
"We physically can't get changed with this on." I raise our hands.
"Fine. But you have to get changed in here," he tells us without thinking about the nasty ass implications of that.
"Principal, that's disgusting!" Jesse says.
"Gross, I'm not getting changed in front of either of you!" I say, revolted.
"Yes, you are, Katrina. But not in front me. That's repulsive. I have a wife, and I don't intend on going to jail and losing my job simultaneously."
"No, I'm not changing in front of Jesse," I refuse.
"He's in your grade!" Mr Johnson retaliates. "And besides, you're teenagers with similar interests... you might be sleeping with each other for all I know."
I gag and shout my protests again.
"Do you want to go to the Christmas ball or not?" Mr Johnson asks after I've finished screaming.
"Fine," I give in.
I am then dragged into the land of axe, snacks, six packs and jock straps.
AKA the boys' locker rooms.
And when it is filled with guys it is unholy. It is a vulgar scene and there is way too much nudity among too many homophobic guys in here.
"Girl!" They all scramble to find something to cover themselves up with. Thank god.
"Nice observation boys!" I shout. "Just grab your stuff and let's leave!" I mutter to Jesse as I choke.
"Quit it, Fox." He shoots back. I sigh and avert my eyes and sigh again, wanting this to be over. I tap my foot impatiently and by some miracle, Jesse finishes grabbing what he needs to and we leave.
"Time to go to the girls' locker rooms!" I say, eager to deter my mind from the sights in the boys' locker rooms.
"No! I am not going in there." Jesse stops abruptly.
"It's empty! And it's not like you have a choice anyway." I yank his hand forward and proceed down the corridor. When we reach it Jesse tries to protest but eventually gives up and comes with me.
"Why does it smell like fruits and... flowers in here?" He asks, genuinely confused.
"Shampoo and deodorant - you should try it some time." I roll my eyes and search for my locker. Then I see the familiar sight: K. Fox (C) - CF/RA
"Centre forward? Nice. Right attack in what, though?" He questions?
"Well, I was captain of the girl's soccer team before I left and nobody on the team is better than me and they haven't removed the letters so... I guess I'm still captain. Not that I'm surprised. And as for right attack, that's lacrosse. I'm the best at that too."
"Impressive, let's go." We grudgingly make our way back to Mr Johnson's office to get changed. I like him less and less every punishment.
Mr Johnson uncuffs us and leaves as we each head to a corner to change. I take off my top and pull on the mandatory white tank top. It's so ugly. At least the guys get an actual t-shirt.
I am just about to pull down my shorts when I see Jesse looking at me.
Joke's on him! I'm wearing boyshorts. It's not a thong so whatever show he was expecting is cancelled.
I slide down my jeans and put on my soccer shorts because there is no way in hell I'm wearing the gym shorts the school give us because I have worn Spanx less tight.
"Ready, KT?" Jesse asks.
"Yeah, one second." I tie my hair up into a quick messy bun walk out to join Jesse outside where Mr Johnson is waiting with our handcuffs.
He locks them and we are forced to hold hands again.
"When we're doing press-ups we won't be able to hold hands, you do realise?" Jesse states, amused.
"Yeah, and I can't wait." Not going to lie, Jesse's clammy ass hands are getting on my nerves. He shoots a scowl in my direction but I ignore it.
I survive the axe chamber again and we make our way to the sports fields.
"Hey, Kat," Jack says, giving me a quick kiss. "How come you're here?" He asks, but before I can answer I hear the coach shouting.
"Dexter, what is the meaning of this?" Coach demands, in reference to my being here.
"Look, coach. It's a punishment from the principal, we can't do anything about it. He wouldn't let KT miss it," Jesse tells him.
"Okay then." Coach then turns to me. "But Fox, I'm training boys. I will not change that just because a girl had been forced to be here."
"Fine by me." I'm sporty - this should be easy!
"Why is a girl here?" Some jock asks when everyone is here.
"Fuck off," Blake says. "KT's twice as good as you and you know it." Wow. didn't expect that to come from Blake.
"I'd like to see her try!" He shouts.
"Oh, you will!" I speak up.
"Alright!" The coach announces. "Practise as normal, despite there being a girl. That means 20 press ups, 50 sit ups and 20 bicycle crunches. Warm up, let's go!"
I was wrong, this will not be easy.
We both drop to the floor and I only keep Jesse waiting a few seconds as I was only like 2 push-ups behind him. The situps were in sync because I could actually keep up with him on these ones. The crunches were difficult at first but we got into a rhythm and it went pretty smoothly from there. And we were done before the dumb jock too.
In fact, we were finished fourth. Blake first, Jack second and Damon third. Kinda dragged Jesse down a bit. But we can deal.
"Told you," Blake laughs at the jock from earlier when he's done and I fight to repress a smirk.
But I am panting. That was fucking hard work and I'm not going to lie, Jesse carried me through, I mean he did actually drag me and I'm pretty sure my wrist is bleeding from the times the handcuff dug into my skin.
"Right, now that most of you have been beaten by a girl, we will start with a game of... Hunter, you finished first, what game do you want to play?" Coach poses Blake the question.
He looked at me as if asking what I wanted to do. I mouthed 'soccer' and he told the coach that we should play baseball, what a charmer.
"No, girls can't play baseball. It's illegal." The government really isn't helping feminism, is it?
"Football?"
"Prohibited."
"Ultimate frisbee?"
"Banned."
"Damn, those are the sports I'm really good at. I've got nothing else." Blake, you infuriate me. We are no longer friends.
"Dickson, you finished second you pick," Coach says, staring at his clipboard, sounding bored.
"Usually I'm second," Jesse whispers in my ear.
"I don't care," I whisper back.
"Soccer," Jack winks at me. I smile back in reply. At least someone's got my back.
"Right then,"Coach claps his hands together. "Let's play. Hunter, Dickson," he addresses them. "Team captains. Dickson, pick first."
"Jesse and KT," he says.
"Hey, he can't have both of them!" Blake demands.
"But he can't have just one, pick two this round then it's one by one again," Coach answers.
"Fine, Damon and Zeke." I don't even know the people who are called out next. I don't tend to bother with names.
"Right, what position are you?" Jack asks me.
"Centre forward. Hardcore, am I right?" Jesse replies for me.
"Ha! That's cute!" A jock says. "I'm centre-forward because Blake's not on our team.
"I don't know," Jack says honestly. "You're a sub, KT is captain of the girl's team..."
"Yeah, and? You're just saying that because you're doing it with her! She's a girl! She can't do anything I can't do!" That fucking does it. I try to launch at him but Jesse holds me back with the handcuffs.
"You prick! I can play better than you with my eyes closed and we all know it!" I yell.
"That's kinda true," Jesse actually defends me.
"Okay, so KT and Jesse as centre-forward," Jack clarifies.
"Wait, what? I'm a striker! I can't run!" Jesse shrieks. My ears are now bleeding as well. Oh, joy.
"You're a running back. Chill," I tell him.
"How the hell do you know that?!" Jesse demands loudly, jumping back.
"I've been into your locker room, remember? And how's your football uniform?" I ask innocently.
"Shut up," he growls.
"Oh, that one burned," I say dryly.
"Shut the hell up!" He shouts.
"Honestly, you wound me," I mock.
"Shut it, bitch," Jesse says menacingly.
"Ah! I can't take it. You're too good, I'm dying!" I joke, putting my hand on my heart.
"Shut the fuck up!" He yells loudly.
"You're killing me here!" I say almost laughing.
"Now listen to me, slut. You open your mouth one more time and I will end you," he snarls, pointing a finger at me threateningly.
"Oops," I bat my lashes innocently.
He raises his hands to my throat but I knee him in the stomach as soon as his hand makes contact with my neck. When he bends down I move my left hand over his head, wrapping the chain from handcuffs around his neck and I pull his body up so he's looking me in the eyes.
"Touch me one more time and I will end you," I growl back. He coughs and grips at the chain around his neck. I unwrap the chain when I realise I'm actually hurting him and see red marks around his neck.
Oops indeed.
"Fucking crazy bi-" Jesse starts.
"Is everything alright here?" The coach comes over here to ask.
"Actually-" Jesse tries to say.
"It's all good here, coach," Jack intervines.
"Good, you guys are skins, Hunter wanted shirts," Coach says blandly.
"We have to be shirts," I complain.
"Yeah, we do." Jesse keeps glaring at me. I choose not to look.
"Why? Oh yeah, you're a girl. You guys are shirts."
"No, not because I'm a girl. Because we can't take our shirts off with these on," I point to the handcuffs.
"Yes, you can." Blake saunters over. "You take your shirt off as much as you can and pull it down your arm, then you feed it through the handcuff. Sorted."
"Fine," the coach says. "You guys are skins."
"Have fun, Fox," Blake says seductively as he saunters back over to his team.
That sneaky son of a bitch.
I am so happy I wore a sports bra today.
+++
How'd you like the chapter???? I realised I forgot to update so I stayed up till half one writing this for you guys - that's dedication <3<3<3<3
VOTE and COMMENT if you want to see more of the handcuffs!!!!!!!
(Maybe we'll see them again in Jack's bedroom.........)
JOKES!!!!
I am JOKING. There will be none of that and you'll find out why later in the book. Just wait. Dang, the underlying theme here is so dark and emotional and you guys will hate me for it when we get there. But that's not for now.
Anyway, have a fantabulous day!
Much love, crying coffee xxxx
So everyone knows I don't sign off like that okay get off my back I'll say it -
Ciao, coffee lovers!!!!!
Teaser: more motherfucking handcuffs