The Handcuff Effect

5

I woke up with a numb arm and a sore cheek. I must have fallen asleep on top of that stupid notebook last night.

My handcuffed arm was twisted at an awkward angle I'm sure would be painful if I could feel it. As it was, the simple shifting of position as I woke was letting blood flow back into my dead limb, and the tingles of oncoming pins and needles told me I was going to be hating Nathan for probably the better part of that morning.

My phone buzzed on the wood of the bedside table and I picked it up. 'Hey, mum,' I murmured groggily. 'What's up?'

'Did you just wake up?' She asked in an accusatory manner.

I rubbed my eyes and suppressed a yawn. 'Are you kidding? I've been up for ages.'

'You're going to be late, hun. It's half past eight.'

My eyes popped open. 'You're joking.' I told her, wide awake as I threw off the sheet and stood, giving the cuff a merciless jangle. 'Get up!' I snapped to the limp Nathan-form.

An unintelligible grumble came from him. Mum laughed and I felt my heart stop. Uh oh. 'You two better get to school or the office is going to call me.'

'On it!' I cried, yanking on Nathan's limp arm. 'Love you, mum. Bye!'

I heard her laughing as I hung up. I was about to starting kicking Nathan to get him up when he shot me an irritated look. 'We're gonna be late!' I yelled at him, attempting to drag the boy to his feet.

He weighed an absolute ton, so I only succeeded on dragging him a few inches across the floor. 'If you tell me that you like to get to school an hour before it starts,' he began grumpily, 'I'm going to kill you.'

'We're gonna be late!' I yelled at him again, smoothing my crinkled dress a little. I needed to solve this clothes issue and soon, otherwise I was going to smell really awful before too long.

Nathan eyed my frantic movements carefully. 'What's the time?'

'It's half past! Get up!' I screamed, finally succeeding in dragging the boy to his feet. He rubbed a hand down his face, trying to wake up.

'Half past seven?' He asked, ruffling his hair in a way that would have been adorable if I weren't about to have a litter of figurative kittens.

'No, you idiot! Eight! Half past eight! We have twenty minutes to get to school!' Nathan stared at me, a weird look on his face.

'I thought you were a goody two shoes, always at school early to do more than needed work.' He began slowly as I dragged him down the hall to the kitchen.

'Sure,' I told him in an unsteady voice over my shoulder, 'when I have an assignment due that day.'

I slammed four pieces of bread in the toaster, leaving them to cook while I dragged Nathan into the bathroom. I really wanted a shower. I sighed, knowing I would have to lather on the deodorant instead.

In front I the mirror, I yanked my brush through my hair furiously, finding far too many knots than I wanted. I threw it up into a hasty ponytail, and launched myself out of there and back into the kitchen just as the toast popped.

I heard Nathan snort behind me, clearly unused to my morning routine. 'You've gotta be doing this more than once to time the toaster that well.' He commented and I shot him a look.

'Did I not just say this is my routine?' I snapped, grabbing the toast and dropping them onto two pieces of paper towel. I was not in the mood for dishes when I got home.

'I hope you like your toast dry,' I told told him as it thrust his breakfast at him, running us back into my room. I munched on the toast as I looked through a draw for some new socks, thankful today was Friday. If I had to jump into the weir in order to get clean, then so be it.