Morning daunted on me like a pile of bricks, the idea of dreaming fading away. My eyes fluttered open, light flooding the room through the windows and causing my eyes to ache. I let out a small noise, yawning.
My body locked into its position, so I tried to stretch out my muscles. It roared in objection, however I was physically stopped by a body next to mine. Feeling my heart leaping out of my chest, I turned my head slightly to see Simon, his eyes still closed.
I froze in my spot, admiring his sleeping stature. I had never noticed how innocent people looked when they slept until now.
Footsteps echoed along the walls, pulling me back to reality. I fluttered my eyes shut quickly, trying to find a natural position.
"Time to get up." The new nanny, Nanny McPhee said. No one moved, no one even made a noise as they seemed to still be asleep. Nanny McPhee sighed before she started walking up and down the aisle. My face was burning as a thick wave of embarrassment washed over me.
"I shall give you half an hour to be up, washed, dressed, teeth cleaned, beds made and out into the garden for some beautiful fresh air before breakfast. Remember, lessons start at nine, sharp." Then she left the room.
Everyone groaned in annoyance, suddenly awakening. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding as Simon shifted besides me.
"I don't know about you lot but I wanna stay in bed." Simon murmured in his morning voice, sitting up. Stay calm. I screamed at myself mentally, pulling the blanket onto me for comfort.
"For once I agree with you but...uh...Simon.." I whispered so only he would hear. He turned to me, so I subtly gestured to where he was.
"Yes, Lou?" He rolled over, almost laying on top of me. I quietly screeched, balancing off the edge of the bed as I grabbed him to pull myself back up. Simon's doing it to purposely annoy me.
"Sebastian, run the thermometer under the hot tap, Chrissy, chalk. Eric, crayons. Lily, pepper." He ordered everyone, rolling away from me and looking at his siblings.
All the kids shuffled out of their beds, getting all the equipment leaving Tora, Simon, Aggie and I alone.
"How do you know she won't do something horrid to us?" Tora asked, sitting up as Simon followed in pursuit.
"Good that" I said groggily. "She's right, how do you know?"
"I worked it out," Simon said, sitting up from his bed.
"She's a trained hypnotist, that's how she made us do all those things last night. Just, don't look directly at her and she won't hypnotise us."
I nodded, leaning on my elbows while shuffling to the end of the bed, giving Simon more space. The younger children soon returned with all the equipment they were requested to get.
Simon smirked, grabbing a piece of white chalk from the box Chrissy brought. He rubbed the pure white utensil onto his hands until it was a sort of dust-like powder.
He dabbed his index finger into the powder before looking at me, bringing it up to my nose. I scrunched up my face as he tapped my nose, leaving a chalk dust finger print in his fingers place.
His lips curled into a shy but mischievous smile as he did the rest of my nose, my cheeks, my forehead and the rest of my face along with my neck and hands. Not once did his eyes leave mine, leaving me to concentrate on his brown shade. For once I didn't feel at all uncomfortable. This isn't weird, is it?
"Alright you lot. Rub some chalk dust all over you faces, dot them with the red crayons and then take a small whiff of pepper." Simon ordered, looking away from me. I looked down, feeling my cheeks heat up slightly.
"Pepper?" Lily asked, tilting her head in confusion. I grabbed the small bottle and breathed in some pepper. It felt weird and I ended up sneezing.
"It'll give you a stuffy nose. Just...be careful" I explained as Simon put his hand under my chin and lightly lifted it, holding a red crayon in his other hand.
Minutes later we all had chalk white, red polka-dotted faces. Our noses were red and stuffy. We soon heard footsteps making their way back up the stairs as we all scrambled to our beds.
"She's coming!" Sebastian exclaimed, rushing to his bed and throwing the covers on top of him sloppily. We pushed all the equipment underneath the beds before rushing to our beds.
"Quickly! Everyone into bed and remember: Don't look into her eyes" Simon ordered as he crawled under the quilt of his own bed.
Everyone followed his orders, burying themselves in their quilts as we all anxiously awaited Nanny McPhee's appearance. She stood in the doorway, glancing over each of us. I resided to looking a the ceiling, not daring to look over at the Nanny.
"Dear me," she mumbled, taking in the sight before her.
"We can't get up. We're ill"
"Colds in our noses," Chrissy croaked, pointing to her nose.
"And kemperkug" Sebastian said, waving the thermometer in the air.
"We think it might be the measles" Simon suggested, Aggie agreed by shaking her bell rattle in the air. Was she going to fall for it?
"Good heavens. Then there is of course no question of you getting up. I'm sorry to have to tell you all that you'll have to stay in bed," Nanny McPhee addressed but I had an uneasy feeling settle in my stomach.
I hid my eyes under the covers to avoids Nanny McPhee's supposedly hypnotic gaze. I didn't really think Simon's suggestion was correct, but it was the only lead we had. Suddenly I heard the bang of her cane echo through the walls before she made it downstairs, the same bang from last night before chaos broke out.
Everyone broke into a fit of giggles but me, my throat became unbelievably sore and a sickening pain settling in my stomach, replacing the uneasy feeling. I complained in pain.
"I don't feel well" I managed to groan out.
"I think I've got a temperature" Tora agreed.
"Don't be daft," Simon said, I looked at him to see him itching his neck furiously. I went to go sit up but I couldn't, it was like I was glued to the bed. I started freaking out.
"Simon, I can't get up!" I panicked, wiggling under my bed sheets.
"You must have looked at her then" Simon snapped. I stopped wiggling, looking at Simon.
" I did NOT look, and you don't seriously believe that her gaze is hypnotic." I finally concluded, turning my head away from him.
"She's right Simon, I can't get up either." Tora said, adding to the argument. With that, Simon wriggled and squirmed under the sheets. Realization rang onto his face as he came to the conclusion that he couldn't get up either.
No one could. This then led to a series of alarmed screams which disrupted the room.
"I can't get up!" Sebastian complained.
"I'm stuck like glue!" Eric said.
"I'm stuck too!" Chrissy cried. Everyone was kicking, thrashing around as I seemed to be the first one to stop.
Soon, everyone gave up and slammed their body against their mattress in frustration.
"I thought you said it was hypnotism." Tora spat to Simon who slammed his fists and body against the mattress in anger.
Eric glared at Simon from across the room. All the kids seemed to, faces drawing to frowns and complaining.
"Hypnosis, eh? Well bang goes that theory."
