Lori Loud had a lot on her mind as she walked the halls of Royal Woods High School. It was an hour after the school day had ended, when the school's various clubs and organizations were in session and the sports teams were practicing either outside or in the school's gymnasium. Lori had a manila folder clutched in her hands as she made her way to the classroom where the school's student council was meeting.

I hope they're still accepting ideas for the spring festival, I took a lot of time coming up with this...

Inside the manila folder were several pages' worth of sketches and concepts for the miniature golf course that Lori had designed for the spring festival. The Royal Woods High Spring Festival took place every year, and was a chance for the school to raise money and for the students and their friends and families to come and have a wonderful time. The student council was in charge of planning the festival and approving all the activities that were set up there. Lori clutched her folder tightly. She was nervous, which was common for her. As cool and collected as Lori seemed on the outside to most people, she was actually somewhat insecure, and frequently anxious, even when she thought she had everything under control. It was an acquired trait, something she'd gotten from living in a house where very few things were ever totally under control.

However, Lori had reason to be confident that her proposal would be accepted this year. Her new best friend Carol Pingrey was president of the student council, and Carol herself was a golf aficionado, co-captain of the varsity golf team with Lori.

My proposal's gonna be accepted, no sweat, thought Lori, smiling as she tried to calm herself down. She approached the classroom door, took a deep breath, and gripped the handle. Calm down, Lori. Here we go.

Lori opened the door and entered the room. But she wasn't greeted by the members of the Royal Woods High student council... only one. The president, Carol Pingrey.

And the situation that Lori found Carol in made her gasp.

"Carol? What the heck...?!"

Carol was seated in a wooden chair that had been placed in the middle of the room, and was tied to that chair with white ropes around her midsection, pinning her arms to her sides and her back to the chair. Her wrists were crossed and tied behind the chair with more ropes, while her legs were bound together at the ankles to the bottom of the chair. A single strip of duct tape had been pressed over Carol's mouth, and she let out a loud exclamation as Lori entered the room.

Lori! Carol muffled through the tape, squirming lightly in her bondage.

Lori rushed over to Carol, a look of bewilderment on her face. She placed the manila folder on a nearby desk and reached up to pull the tape from her best friend's mouth.

"Carol, what happened?"

Lori yanked the tape off Carol's mouth as quickly as she could. Carol immediately winced as the loud sound of tape being ripped from flesh echoed through the room.

"Ow!" Carol cried.

"Sorry," said Lori sheepishly. "Who tied you up?"

"The rest of the student council," replied Carol, slinking into the chair a bit. Lori had a puzzled look on her face, but was also somewhat relieved that there didn't seem to be more sinister forces at work.

"Why would they do that?" asked Lori, raising an eyebrow. "Is this some kind of a mutiny or something?"

"Uh, something like that... we were just talking about our plans for the spring festival and all of a sudden they decided to tie me to this chair! Can you get me out of this?"

"Sure thing," said Lori, walking around to the back of the chair to free Carol's wrists. "But...I'm still confused. What would make the student council turn on you like this? I mean, you're not hurt, are you?"

"No," said Carol, shaking her head. If anything, she looked more annoyed than scared or angry, and Lori stopped for a moment to think as Carol continued to speak. "They just got tired of hearing my ideas! I can't imagine why!"

Now Lori was even more curious, and instead of untying Carol's wrists, she walked back around to the front of the chair to continue the conversation. Something didn't add up... the student council liked Carol. Sure, she could be a bit overbearing at times, but so could everyone. So could Lori. And Carol was one of the most popular students in school, but she wasn't mean or anything like that, at least not that Lori knew of. So there had to be something else, and Lori wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"What exactly happened before they decided to do this?" Lori asked, looking into Carol's eyes.

"Well, we were talking about what we wanted to do at the festival... I mean, we have a limited budget and limited space, so we can't accept everybody's ideas, and- hey, weren't you gonna untie me?"

"Oh... right, sorry," said Lori, though she didn't move from her spot in front of Carol. "I just... wanted to know exactly what led to all this, that's all."

"Well, I was proposing my idea for a carousel, like we'd rent one just like at the fair and put it in the middle of the festival for people to ride, just like in the old days! And I also had an idea for a fancy food truck, not one of those ordinary food trucks with junk food, but the food truck with a gourmet chef! And then also, I want to have a fashion show."

"Oh, I bet Leni would like that," replied Lori, who began walking around to the back of the chair to free Carol as she continued talking about her ideas for the festival. Carol had quite a lot of ideas, ideas that would definitely take up a lot of the festival's space and budget...and after she'd listed off her ideas, she began listing everyone else's, along with the reasons why their ideas wouldn't work."

"So Chaz wants to put a bunch of arcade machines next to the food trucks, but that wouldn't work because it would cost too much money. And Maylene wants to have a live firebreather but that's WAY too dangerous. And then Whitney-"

"So...were anyone's ideas for the festival any good?" asked Lori, reaching down to Carol's tied wrists a second time, while an increasingly skeptical look started to appear on her face. I'm starting to see why they got annoyed with her...

"Besides mine?" asked Carol.

"Yes, Carol, besides yours," said Lori, annoyance starting to seep into her voice.

"Errr, not really," Carol replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"Carol, maybe the reason people got mad at you is because you vetoed all their ideas. I mean, did you even listen to them, or-"

"Lori, you don't understand!" Carol interrupted. "The spring festival has to be perfect, that means that we can only use the ideas that work 100 percent!"

"...like yours," said Lori, shooting Carol a glare.

"Well, yeah," Carol replied, still not realizing that she might be coming on a bit too strong.

Carol, I have seen that look before, thought Lori, thinking back to her own experiences with planning events like these. Nothing as big as the Royal Woods High School Spring Festival, but the feeling was the same. Making sure everything was just right, listening to everybody's input... which most of the time was wrong. "Carol, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Are you okay? I mean, you're not hurt or anything? Nothing hurts at all?"

"Uh, no," said Carol, raising an eyebrow.

"You're not worried about any of the people who did this hurting you?"

"Well, I am kinda peeved that they tied me up, but no, they're mostly my friends, they wouldn't actually hurt me."

"And your hands? You can feel your hands, right?"

Carol was very perplexed now, but she flexed her wrists, clenched and unclenched her fists, and even moved her fingers around.

"Yeah, and I can feel they're still tied to this chair, so maybe if you could hurry up and untie me...?"

Satisfied that Carol wouldn't be losing circulation to her hands anytime soon, Lori walked back around to the front of the chair and saw a roll of duct tape on a nearby desk. She picked it up and looked over at Carol.

"Carol, I'm starting to think the other members of the student council might have had a point. It sounds to me like you haven't been a very good listener today."

Carol's eyes went wide with shock.

"How can you say that? All I've been doing all day is listening to people's ideas! It's not my fault none of them were any good! I'm just trying to make the spring festival the best it can possibly be, and-"

Carol didn't hear the sound of Lori tearing off a strip of duct tape over her own voice, and was suddenly cut off when Lori pressed the tape back over her mouth, silencing her once again. Carol let out a loud cry of protest as her speech was interrupted, while Lori placed the tape back down on the desk and put her hands on her hips.

"I'm really sorry about this, Carol, but it sounds like the other student council members were trying to have some kind of intervention for you..."

Intervention? Carol shouted through the tape, glaring fiercely at Lori before yelling at her to be released right this moment! Lori sighed and didn't budge, and not even the fiercest glare Carol could muster would move her. How... how dare you!

Don't hate me for this, Carol, thought Lori, sincerely hoping that Carol would calm down and listen to what the other student council members had to say once they got back. It's not like you have a choice but to listen...

Carol's indignant ranting continued for the next few moments, before the door to the classroom opened yet again and the rest of the student council filtered in. Lori recognized a few of them: Whitney, Chaz, Becky, Dana... there were nine of them in all, not counting Carol, and they all seemed somewhat surprised to see Lori there, and especially surprised to see that Lori hadn't freed Carol yet since the two were such good friends.

"Uh, hey Lori..." said Whitney, looking back and forth between the two girls. "I see you found Carol."

"Hey, we didn't want to tie Carol to a chair, but-" one of the boys began, before Lori cut him off.

"I know why all of you tied Carol to a chair," said Lori, prompting Carol to glare fiercely at her. "At least, I think I do, but can you tell me in your own words?"

The other student council members exchanged nods and glances with one another, before one of them, a tall African-American girl with long, braided hair, began to speak.

"Look, Carol, you're a great student council president... most of the time. But it seems like lately you haven't been considering any of our ideas! In fact, when one of us starts making a suggestion, you usually just interrupt us and tell us how bad it is!"

"Jalenda's right," said Chaz, looking at Carol with a somewhat guilty expression. "Whenever we have an idea, especially about the spring festival, you don't let us get a word in edgewise. Like with my arcade machines. When I mentioned them, you kept saying how it would be too much money to rent them out. Then I tried to tell you about my cousin who bought out an old arcade and offered to let us borrow the machines for free, but you didn't let me finish explaining myself, you just told me my idea was a non-starter and interrupted with your own thing!"

That's not true! Carol squealed, followed by a muffled but long-winded explanation about how the arcade machines would take up too much floor space at the festival. None of what she was saying was intelligible thanks to her taped up lips, but that didn't seem to deter her, and several members of the student council, along with Lori, began to sigh.

"You didn't even want to hear about my idea to have a flag football tournament," said a blonde boy in a letterman's jacket, looking quite disappointed as he spoke. "It'd be a way for the jocks to get to hang out with the not-so-athletic kids, maybe even get some of the parents and teachers involved? But you said nobody wanted to play football at the spring festival."

"Yeah, but you didn't have any problem proposing that mini-golf course idea of yours," said Dana, rolling her eyes. Lori nervously bit her lip and concealed the folder containing her own miniature golf course idea under her top. "It seems like the only ideas you want to hear are your own..."

Well yeah, but... Carol began before finally realizing that she wasn't going to be saying anything any time soon, and instead began pouting. Lori looked over and could see just how frustrated Carol was getting. She wanted Carol to listen to her friends, but she also didn't want the other student council members to dogpile onto her while she was unable to defend herself.

"Okay guys, I think you can literally cut the tension in this room with a knife," said Lori, smiling and walking back over to Carol. "I'm going to let Carol say something now in her defense..."

Carol slunk away from Lori as she reached over to peel off the tape, remembering what had happened the last time. Lori silently reassured her, gently peeling off a corner of the tape and then slowly pulling it back from Carol's lips, leaving one end of it attached to her face.

"You guys, I'm sorry I interrupted all of you at the meeting today, but I just want this festival to be perfect!" Carol pleaded, her tone softening as she looked around the room. "I value you guys' input, I really do, but we can't include everybody's ideas!"

"Right now we're not including anybody's ideas but yours," said Maylene, crossing her arms over her chest. Another blonde girl standing nearby agreed.

"You've shot down every single one of our ideas," said the blonde, looking around the room. "Not just from us, but all the student submissions too."

"Wait a minute, the student council president is the one who has the final say on everything?" asked Lori, looking back over at Carol. "I thought you guys had to vote on everything?"

"But according to the student council by-laws, Carol has to bring everything to a vote," said Jalenda, looking over at Carol. "And the only things she's agreed to bring to a vote so far is her own stuff."

"And I'm assuming you guys would vote down any of Carol's ideas," said Lori.

"The way she's acting right now, heck yeah we would," replied the boy in the letterman's jacket.

"I'm not acting any different than the way I usually act, Tommy!" shouted Carol, starting to get frustrated again as she looked around the room. "I'm just trying to make sure we have a good spring festival!"

"A spring festival with nothing in it because you won't listen to our ideas," said Tommy, rolling his eyes. "Every single one of us has had perfectly good ideas, but you keep interrupting us with-"

"No, I don't!" interrupted Carol. "And if you would just let me-"

Carol found herself silenced once again as Lori pressed the tape back over her mouth. Carol glared at Lori again and shouted 'c'mon, Lori!' though the tape, but Lori just smoothed it down with her hand and softly patted Carol on the cheek to remind her that it wasn't her turn to speak anymore. Carol fumed, quite annoyed with Lori but somewhat subdued as the other members of the student council continued to speak.

"I did all the calculations for the budget," said Chaz, "and I've got a spreadsheet right here. All of our ideas, including most of yours and the best of the student submissions, would fit well within our budget."

"Wow, Chaz, that's a pretty detailed spreadsheet," Lori replied, looking it over. "Did you show it to Carol?"

"Well, I tried to, but she interrupted me and said that we were underestimating the cost of our stuff."

"Carol," Lori said, looking down at her friend. Carol blushed sheepishly, not having anything to attempt to say in her defense.

"Carol was really worried about her carousel," said Whitney, rolling her eyes. "I told her her carousel was stupid, and that's when she kind of flipped out at me."

It's not stupid! Carol shouted at her. Lori placed a hand gently over her already taped mouth, prompting Carol to roll her eyes. Seriously, Lori?

"Whitney, that wasn't polite to call her idea stupid," said Lori, glaring hard at Whitney.

"I know, but I just got so frustrated with all her interruptions and micro-managing," Whitney replied, letting out a sigh. "It's like as soon as she became student council president she thought she was boss of everything."

I know that feeling, thought Lori, giving Carol a sympathetic look as she moved her hand away. You know we need to talk, right?

Carol looked into Lori's eyes, then looked away, bowing her head a little. The other members of the student council continued to speak, grateful to finally get the chance to talk without being interrupted or having their ideas immediately shot down.

"I thought, you know, we could have a sumo wrestling contest," said a brown-haired boy with a pair of headphones around his neck.

"Uh, Doug, you know only Chaz would win that, right?" replied Lori, before catching herself and covering up her own mouth lightly with her hand, not wanting to interrupt anyone like Carol had been doing. "Um, but it's... it's an all right idea I suppose."

"Not real sumo wrestling," said Doug with a laugh, "I mean we'd rent some of those big fake outfits and charge a dollar a round?"

"Oh, that!" Lori said, suddenly realizing what Doug meant and laughing to herself. "Those are kinda fun, I mean, not my thing but... Lincoln and Lynn like to do that."

"Yeah, that's not really my thing either but I guess it'd be fun to do, for like the kids and stuff," said Whitney, rolling her eyes but nodding.

The rest of the student council chimed in with their own ideas while Carol and Lori listened intently. Lori could see that Carol seemed to be receptive to the ideas when she actually listened to them, but something else was bothering her, and it wasn't the fact that she was tied to a chair.

"Carol, now that you've heard some of the other ideas that the student council had, do you think they're good ideas that would actually work for the spring festival?" asked Lori.

Carol still had an unsure look on her face. She began to speak, and once again, the tape didn't seem to deter her from making quite a long winded and disjointed answer.

Well, yeah, but the thing is, those ideas aren't... they're not going to...

Lori glared at Carol again, who realized the futility of anything but a yes or no answer. She sighed and nodded her head, though she still looked like she had something else to say.

"I think you should let Carol say something now," said Jalenda.

"What do you guys think?" asked Lori, smirking as she looked around at the rest of the student council members. Carol huffed again, not enjoying the loss of control, but her fate was in the hands of her friends in the student council, who conferred briefly amongst themselves before agreeing with Jalenda that Carol's lips should be free from the tape... at least for the moment. "Okay Carol, do you have something else to say?"

Lori carefully peeled back the tape, and Carol once again began to speak, this time softer and more slowly than before.

"Guys, I'm...I'm really sorry about all of this. I honestly didn't know you guys felt that way. I mean, I guess I should've known, but I was just so worried about the spring festival, and wanting it to be perfect, that I just kind of wanted to do everything my way and not listen to what any of you had to say. But... you're my friends, and it wasn't right for me to disregard you guys' suggestions."

"You're darn right it wasn't right," said Dana. "It made us feel like we didn't mean anything to you..."

Carol's eyes got wide again, and she shook her head rapidly, deeply concerned that her friends thought about her this way. She had no idea she'd been coming off like this, and Lori could see the regret on her friend's face.

"I'm so sorry, Dana," said Carol, looking around the room. "I'm sorry to all of you."

"What's the big deal, anyway?" asked Tommy. "I mean, you were always a bit controlling, but at least we could all get a word in edgewise. But then once the spring festival planning began, you really kicked it into overdrive."

"Yeah, you were pretty cool before then, but after that..." Becky trailed off, shaking her head. "It was nuts!"

"Well...the thing is, ever since I was six I've gone to the Royal Woods High School Spring Festival. I'd play all the games, I'd play in the bouncy house, I'd watch the performers..." Carol had a wistful look on her face as she remembered spring festivals in years gone by. "Every year I'd come and have the time of my life! And...and I'd always dream about attending Royal Woods High and joining the student council and planning my own spring festival. I had all the stuff I wanted to do all up in my head! Mini golf, a fountain, a fancy food truck, and that carousel... I couldn't wait, it would be a dream come true...and after I became student council president, I'd get to make that dream come true! But I guess... I forgot that it's not just my spring festival, it's everybody's spring festival, and letting other people have input into it didn't mean it still couldn't be amazing just like the one I'd always dreamed of. The thought of losing control made me, well... lose control! I let it go to my head, didn't I?"

"It's okay, Carol," said Lori, patting her best friend on the shoulder and smiling at her. "You wouldn't be the first one to let that happen to them."

Carol smiled at Lori, and the other student council members smiled and gave understanding looks.

"Hey, we get it," said Chaz, rubbing the back of his head. "Sometimes in my online video games, my team starts losing and I go nuts! I don't do that anymore though, Lori's sister Leni taught me a good technique for staying calm in those kinds of situations."

"Well, I'm captain of the baseball team," said Tommy, "and sometimes when the game's going south, I start to really get rough on my teammates! But that never helps..."

"We all have times when we feel the pressure, Carol," said Dana, "but it's times like those when you have to remember that your friends are here for you and their ideas are worth listening to!"

"You guys are so right," said Carol, listening and nodding. "And from now on, I promise not to be so hard on you guys again. I promise to listen to everything that everyone here has to say, and to let other people speak, and to accept all the ideas you give me, and no more interrupting! I'm going to be the best student council president there ever was, and not to be so controlling and uptight all the time! And also-"

Lori pressed the tape back down over Carol's mouth. Carol glared at her, though not quite as fiercely as before.

"They know, Carol," said Lori with a smile. "I think your friends still have a bit more to say."

Carol nodded and looked back over at them, listening as her friends continued to speak.

"Carol, you're a great student council president," said Jalenda. "Even though sometimes you can be a bit... imposing, you're also smart and sweet, and you really do come up with some great ideas. And we're sorry for tying you to a chair. In retrospect, it was a bit drastic... we also considered a walkout, but we figured we needed to confront the problem directly. 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, crumbling the piece of tape into a ball and tossing it into a nearby trash can.

"Of course I do," said Carol, looking around the room. "Besides, it's not like I fought back very much when you were tying me up... I think maybe a part of me knew I needed to sit down and listen to what all of you wanted to say, even if another part of me didn't want to hear it. So what do you say, guys? Tomorrow we start fresh and get this spring festival planned with everybody's input?"

"Sounds like a plan," said Whitney. Lori walked around behind the chair and finally freed Carol's arms and wrists, while Dana helpfully removed the ropes from Carol's legs. As soon as Carol was free, she stood up and hugged some of the girls, while Lori watched nearby, glad that everything had worked out.

You learned that lesson a lot quicker than I did, thought Lori, who got the last but also the biggest hug from Carol. "So you're okay then?"

Carol nodded.

"Yeah," said Carol, rubbing her wrists which were slightly red, but other than that she was no worse for wear.

"I know it must've been a pain to be tied up like that, I just... I really think you needed to hear what your friends had to say. ...walk with me?"

"Sure," said Carol, smiling. She looked over at the other members of the student council, most of whom were talking amongst themselves. "Same time tomorrow, guys?"

"Yeah, we'll see you then," said Jalenda, nodding her head.

"Bye, Carol! Bye, Lori!" said Whitney, waving to the two of them as they left the room.

Carol and Lori walked out into the hallway, and Lori could feel something scratching against her back. She reached under the back side of her top and pulled out the manila folder she'd hidden.

"Oh...is that why you came to the meeting today?" asked Carol. Lori nodded and handed her the folder, and Carol looked it over. "Whoa, this is... a nine hole miniature golf course!"

"Yeah, I thought...well, it's probably not..." Lori smiled and blushed nervously, remembering that Carol had suggested the same idea.

"This is way better than mine," said Carol, looking Lori's sketches and diagrams over. "I mean, these are some really challenging holes, but not too challenging, and really well thought out too!"

"You mean it?"

"Of course I do," said Carol, handing the folder back to Lori. "Just bring that to the meeting tomorrow and I'll make sure it gets in. Maybe none of my other ideas will make the cut, but I'll make sure your golf course does."

"I think we should have your carousel too," Lori replied graciously. "I loved riding it when it was little. ...I loved riding it with Bobby last year too."

"You should invite him to visit from the city, I bet he'd love to come to the spring festival again! And have him bring Ronnie Anne too, does Lincoln still like her?"

"Oh, he totally does," said Lori with a smirk. "He tries to downplay it, but they are literally soulmates."

Carol snickered, and the two made their way out to the parking lot.

"Hey... so about before," said Lori, stopping and turning toward Carol. "You shouldn't feel bad about all that stuff that happened. I know you feel guilty, but it's okay. It's normal."

"Yeah, but you gotta admit, I was kind of a jerk..." Carol replied, bowing her head and rubbing the back of her neck with her hand. "I mean, I was a complete control freak."

"That is nothing compared to how I used to be with my siblings," said Lori. "I babysit them from time to time when Mom and Dad go on their dinner dates, and I was literally a dictator. It was terrible! It wasn't fun for any of them, or for me. They called me the 'Queen Of No'! I wouldn't let them do anything, and I snapped at them whenever they even suggested doing something besides eating, sitting quietly in their rooms, or going to bed."

"Wow," said Carol, her eyes widening. "So what happened?"

"Pretty much the same thing that happened to you," said Lori. "One night they just got sick of it, overpowered me, and tied me to a chair."

"Oh man, that sounds awful!" said Carol, though she was trying to stifle a laugh as Lori told her about it. "So what happened, you had to wait until your mom and dad got back to get free?"

"Oh, I got myself free in 30 seconds," said Lori, smirking proudly. "When you live with ten younger siblings, you pretty much have to learn how to get out of all sorts of binds. I bet I'm a better escape artist than Houdini."

"That's... actually pretty cool," replied Carol, quite impressed. "Guess that's another thing you know how to do better than me."

"Hey, don't be so down on yourself," said Lori, placing her hand on her friend's shoulder. "There's tons of stuff you do better than I do. You're more popular than me, you're nicer than me, and there is no way I could ever be student council president."

"But...you'd make a great student council president," said Carol. "You were awesome in there."

"Only because I listened," replied Lori. "But I had to learn how to do that the hard way. You wanna know what happened with my siblings that night babysitting? Lincoln came to me begging me to take back over again. I did, and we barely managed to get the house cleaned back up in time... minus a busted golf club, anyway. But from then on, I started listening to my siblings more. I can still be a fairly strict babysitter, but I let them do a little bit of what they want now, as long as they tell me what they're going to do and promise not to make a mess. And now that you've learned to listen, you're going to be an amazing student council president. Actually, I think you already are."

"Why do you say that...?"

"They went to all that trouble to get you to listen to them," said Lori. "They could've just walked out on you, but they didn't."

"They cared enough to tie me to a chair," said Carol, rolling her eyes but grinning.

"Exactly," said Lori.

"Which you need to teach me how to get out of," said Carol.

"It's all in how flexible you are," replied Lori. "And getting that flexible is not easy."

"Well...how hard could it be?" asked Carol, stretching her limbs out as much as she could and swaying back and forth to try and test her flexibility.

"Two words," said Lori, leaning in close to Carol's ear and lowering her voice. "Yoga farts."

O-O-O

THE END