Morning Break
The bell rang for morning break and hundreds of children poured out of the school for twenty minutes away from class. The boys wrestled on the grass and played games of tag. The girls were playing hopscotch and jumping their skipping ropes. Teachers cruised along the perimeter watching for any situation that might get out of hand.
Petra and her friends had their ropes in their hands but today there would be no skipping. There was a new boy at school, his name was Cooper, and he was cute. The girls stood in a circle discussing the possibilities. Which one of them would be first to approach him, would he choose to make the first move, did he already have a girlfriend? These were the hot topics of discussion; there was no time for play today.
As they chattered away Alan and David, another pair of ten year olds in the same grade, interrupted. ‘May we borrow a few of your skipping ropes; we’ll give them back after recess.’ Donna and Joanne offered theirs and the boys ran off with them. As the conversation continued Petra slipped away for a moment to get a drink from the water fountain.
She sipped at the cold water as it splashed her mouth; a trickle ran down her chin. She straightened up and before she could wipe the water from her face a loop of skipping rope dropped over her. The noose tightened and pinned her arms to her sides. She turned to face Alan who had a big grin on his face.
‘You’re mine now’ he said in a squeaky voice ‘you have to be my slave.’ Petra could have easily escaped the sloppy lasso but she made no attempt to do so. Alan was cute and she wouldn’t mind being his slave for the rest of recess; other than being pulled around the schoolyard so that he could show her off to his friends there were few demands that a ten year old boy places on a slave.
Petra also had another reason for not trying to get away from her captor. She actually liked being a slave. When the boys started this latest game of capturing the girls Petra quickly discovered that not only did she have a submissive side that liked to be dominated but she also enjoyed that it was in public for all to see. Being marched around at the end of a tether was so much more fun that using the rope for its intended purpose.
As an added bonus she also found out that she enjoyed being bound. When some of the boys took possession of her simply by grabbing her hand or her sleeve she quickly got bored with it. When one actually made the effort to acquire her properly with suitable restraints she found it exciting. Today she was deliberately walking slowly so that Alan would yank on the rope and tell her to “get moving.” With each pull the noose tightened and Petra would be jerked along. She loved it.
As she was being towed through the yard she noticed that several other girls had been claimed by various methods and she was fairly certain that none of them felt quite the same about it as she did. All too soon the break was over and the kids lined up to go back into the school. Neither Alan nor David returned the ropes they had borrowed so as Petra sat in class she daydreamed about what might possibly await her at lunch break.
Lunch Break
While her friends chattered about what fun this new game was Petra quickly and silently ate her lunch hoping to get out to the schoolyard as soon as possible. If she could get there before the others that meant that there would be fewer targets for the boys and her odds of being one of the lucky ones would improve.
She was barely two steps out of the door when she was halted in her tracks by a bright pink skipping rope that dropped over her head and came to rest across her waist. She glanced back and it was David. He was not as cute as Alan but he was taller and more athletic and considered by her peers to be the better choice of the available boys (aside from Cooper whose potential had yet to be determined).
He had not made a noose but instead held the rope in both hands and pulled back on it to stop her. Once she was standing still he began to loop it around her. Petra knew that he wasn’t too bright when it came to binding his victims. She quickly dropped her arms to her sides so that the rope would pass over her wrists pinning them to her body. He wrapped it around her three times and started to knot it.
‘Tighter’ said Petra. ‘What’s that?’ he replied. ‘You have to pull it tighter’ she directed him ‘or it will just fall off.’
He pulled the slack out of the ropes and she only had to tell him “tighter” twice more before she was bound to her satisfaction with her arms securely held in place. He knotted the rope in front and did a reasonable enough job that Petra didn’t have to guide him through that too.
As he paraded her around she knew that they were both the envy of the schoolyard. She was envied by the girls because she had been taken by the most sought after boy. He was envied by the boys because he had the cutest girl in school on the end of his rope.
Soon after the school year started this game of slavery had begun. No one seemed to know its origins; it just seemed to spontaneously erupt all over the school yard and Petra had observed that the girls who were beginning to blossom were the first choice of the slavers. If they wore dresses they were even more in demand. Within a week of the new term starting Petra was digging through her closet looking for dresses. It didn’t take long before her efforts paid off and she rocketed to the top of the boys shopping list.
The lunch break is longer than the morning one and David had plenty of time to show off his latest acquisition which pleased Petra just fine. It wasn’t long before everyone knew that she was the hottest guy’s girl of choice. All went well for Petra except for one brief interlude when he tied her tether to one of the soccer goal posts while he went to kick a ball around with his mates.
Petra liked the feel of straining against her leash and twisted and turned to get the most out of it but having the attention span of a typical child she soon tired of it. She demanded that David sell her to a new owner if he didn’t want her any more (a tactic the girls had added to the game to make it more interesting). He quickly abandoned the pitch and was leading her around again; her smile lit up the yard.
All too soon the bell rang. Petra ran and skipped ahead of David taunting him and thwarting his efforts to untie her. She wanted to remain bound as long as possible and it wasn’t until they were both standing in line that he was able to free her.
Afternoon Break
Petra had been enslaved twice already and to the best of her knowledge no one had ever been captured more than that in one day. If she could get roped again it would be a milestone worthy of bragging about. As she emerged from the school she saw that both David and Alan were waiting ropes in hand. Which would get to her first?
David seemed to have the edge but then something unexpected happened. A third player emerged from the throng of children flocking into the yard. He stepped in front of David and without stopping pulled the rope out of his hand and quickly turned towards Petra. He accelerated and overtook Alan who did not see him coming. The new aggressor stepped in front of Alan and stopped for a split second to face him; just long enough to give him a look that said “back off”. Alan retreated.
Rope at the ready he turned towards Petra again; it was Cooper. Petra thought that he was going to bowl her over as he rapidly approached. He stopped suddenly; his face just inches from hers. He looked directly into her eyes, the intensity made her tremble, and then he ordered her to “turn around”. She did so without hesitation.
He pulled her arms roughly behind her and crossed them. He wrapped a single loop around her wrists and secured it with a single cinch. He did not have to be told to make it tighter. Petra had never been tied like this before and as the rope bit in she knew that there was no chance of it falling off.
He tugged on the rope and began to drag her across the yard. She turned to try and keep up. She had to awkwardly walk sideways as he kept tension on the rope. Several times she stumbled and almost fell but he took no notice. By the time they reached the far end of the yard, away from the scrutiny of the teachers on patrol, her wrists were aching and her shoulders were sore. Her shoes were scuffed and her hips were throbbing. She was thrilled; it was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to her.
He looked past Petra scanning the yard. His actions hadn’t drawn the notice of any of the teachers and he turned his attention to Petra. Usually a playtime kidnapping involves some teasing and smart-ass comments. So far that hadn’t been Cooper’s style and that wasn’t about to change.
‘Get on your knees’ he commanded ‘right now.’ Her first impulse was to ask “why?” but the question went unspoken. She obediently kneeled down. Petra was terrified but thrilled at the same time. This wasn’t what she expected but it was what she wanted.
He passed the other end of the skipping rope under her ankles and pulled on it. Her body arched back and her fingertips touched her heels. He wrapped it several times and cinched it. Petra offered no resistance but once he was done she tested her bonds. She was tied tight and helpless; and it felt great.
Cooper stood back to appreciate his work. If he was pleased it didn’t show; his face was as serious as it had been all along. He walked around behind her and Petra was getting excited at the thought of what could happen next. He took her by the shoulders and pushed her over, gently lowering her face down to the ground. The rope between her wrists and ankles pulled her legs up into the air.
She turned her head and rested it on the ground. The feel of the gravel against her body, the tension of her stretched limbs, the ropes gripping her wrists and ankles; it was the most amazing thing Petra had ever felt. Then the bell rang. Without a word Cooper scooted off to line up with the others.
Students were already filing into the building when Mrs. King spotted Petra at the far end of the yard. She had been missed in the confusion that accompanies trying to get several hundred children organized.
When she reached Petra she immediately untied her ankles and helped her to sit up. “Who did this to you?’ Mrs. King asked as she began to work on the knot at Petra’s wrists. When Petra hesitated to identify her assailant the teacher realized that at this age this wasn’t an act of aggression, it was an act of affection.
After years of tormenting the girls the boys don’t know what to do when their hormones change and they find themselves attracted to their former adversaries. In an attempt to be noticed they continue to pester but find more intimate ways to do it. What better way to be close to the object of your affections than to pull her around a schoolyard at the end of a rope.
Mrs. King helped Petra to her feet and brushed the dirt off of her pretty floral patterned dress and white knee socks. As they walked to the school the teacher said ‘I’ll bet it was that pesky Allan Jenkins wasn’t it?’ Petra nodded in agreement.
It wasn’t until a few weeks later that Petra found out that there was no one named Allan Jenkins at her school. Mrs. King became her favorite teacher from that moment on.