"So, see you guys at six then?"

"Six." I agree, nodding, whilst beside me Jessica pulls a face. Luckily, Emma doesn't notice. She beams at us, and waves, before literally bouncing off down the corridor towards her final two lessons, Science and Math I think, her long blonde hair bouncing behind her, and judging by how much male attention she draws a couple of things up front are joining in the party too.

I shake my head, turning towards my own next class, Sports. Jessica falls into step beside me. "Remind me again why the new girl's invited to our sleepover."

"Because," I explain again. "She's the new girl."

"And a project, right?"

"Right." I grin, Jessica grins back. "I've no idea why she decided to try to be our friend. I mean," I shrug, thinking, "we kind of look the same." Which is semi-true. All three of us are blessed with slim and toned yet busty bodies. Yet at the same time, Emma is blonde, and tanned, while Jessica and me are the school goths. Both pale-skinned, we hate the sun, and up until September, we both had natural black hair. I dyed mine blue, which, so long as I keep scoring straight A's, the school chooses to overlook. I continue talking as we make our way into the changing rooms, stripping off our white shirt and black skirt uniform, putting on black shorts and white tees with the school logo, a dark green Oak tree, on the left breast. Jessica and me, along with one or two of the other girls, also put on sports bras, lest we distract the boys too much.

"Let's just see how she does. We'll show her what we enjoy, and if she likes it, then she passes, and she can be our friend. What do you think, Anna?"

"So we're going to tie her up then, Jessica?"

"Oh yes." Jessica giggled, clapping her hands, which gets us some weird looks from the other girls. She stops, and clamps hands over her mouth, as though she's just spilled an important secret, which she hasn't, which gets me laughing. The other girls file out, shaking their collective heads at us crazy geeky goths. "We'll tie her up," I say again when we're alone. "We've got all weekend to play."

"Just no more tying me." Protests Jessica , rubbing her wrists. "You do it too tight, Anna"

"Come on." I tease playfully, hugging her as we walk side by side out to the sports field. "It has to be tight to be real remember."

"I guess."

"And besides." Still teasing. "If I didn't tie you up, then you wouldn't be able to revenge tie me just as tightly." At that Jessica smiles. "That's right." She exclaims, grabbing my wrists playfully, mock forcing them behind my back. I squeal, wriggling free, running off onto the field with Jessica running after me, half laughing as she attempts to order me to stop so she can finish the job.

The sleepover is at my house. Three or four times a year my parents go away, far away, usually on a plane, for a Friday to Monday long weekend. They leave me in the care of my older sister, who leaves herself, to spend a weekend with her boyfriend, or on one occasion to attend a weekend-long rave. My parents leave early, so it's just my sister waiting for me when I return from school. We split the money our parents leave us, for treats and emergencies as required, in half, then with a kiss and a hug she leaves too, and I'm alone. Until Jessica turns up anyway.

"So, how are you going to get Emma to let you tie her up?" We're playing Mario Kart on the big 65" in the lounge, a rare treat, just killing time for the final half-hour until Emma's due. "I'm going to.... bitch." I curse, as Jessica well-timed green shell detonates behind my racer, stopping me dead and allowing her to take the lead. I push her, but she rolls with it, never taking her eyes off the screen, sticking her tongue out at me. I stick mine out back, trying to catch back up, before continuing. "I'm going to trick Jessica."

"You're not going to ask her, Anna?"

"No." Shaking my head, before grinning as I use the lightning to shrink all the other racers, her included. "Take that. No. I've always wanted to trick someone into being tied up. And I can't trick you because...."

"Because we're always tying each other up."

"Exactly."

"But what's the fun in tricking her?" Jessica gives me the finger, laughing, she's won. As she picks the next track, a ghost house, I explain. "When we tie each other, there are rules. We agree how long for, and what we can do. If we trick Sammy into letting us tie her, then maybe we can just keep her tied up." Jessica laughs, getting it. "Because she'll be gagged." I nod. "She'll be gagged, so she can't say 'please untie me' or 'I don't want to be topless'. We can do what we want."

"But we'll unite her eventually?"

"We will. And then, if she doesn't run away screaming, we'll let her have some revenge." We both grin at each other, at the thought of some tie-up fun coming our way. "So," Jessica asks, a couple of races later, as the doorbell sounds. "How are we tricking her?"

"Leave it to me." I smile, and Jessica nods agreement. "Just follow my lead."

Emma passes three of the first four tests with flying colors. At Mario Kart, she isn't great, but she's never last place for long, and she can make it all the way around Rainbow Road without falling off the edge. We order pizza when she arrives, which she loves, devouring her share of the two large plus a garlic bread we order. Lastly, she doesn't protest when I cue up The Fog, the 1980 original, not the awful remake, which we watch whilst we eat.

We're suckers for a good horror. Emma 's only failed is her choice of sleepover outfit. Jessica and I have an unofficial sleepover dress code. Since we tend to spend most of the weekend tying each other up, which is our favorite activity anytime we have sufficient time and privacy, we both tend to dress for comfort, but also we find it's more fun if the tied up girl has plenty of skin on show.

With that in mind, we're both dressed in nothing but a thong, black for Jessica and green for me, combined with black band tees, which this weekend both happen to be semi tight-fitting Iron Maiden ones, which only reach halfway down our butts, allowing us to cheekily wiggle at each other. Neither of us wears a bra. She returns from changing wearing a onesie. It's pink, with a zip up front, making it impossible to know what underwear she is or isn't wearing, covering her from neck to wrists to ankles.

Emma has pulled the hood, styled as a pink unicorn complete with horn, up, so it frames her grinning face. Jessica and I shake our heads, which makes her laugh, which makes us laugh too. Maybe not such a failure after all.

After the movie I stand up to stretch, winking at Jessica as I do. "Jessica and I like to play Magic," I remark to Emma, as I clear away the pizza boxes. "The card game," I add, she nods, smiling slightly, so I continue. "Here," I say, handing an elastic band wrapped pre-made deck to her. "This is Jessica's deck, why don't you and her play together against me, she'll show you how it all works." Jessica takes the deck, stepping back slightly as she does, putting her behind Emma. She gives the cards a quick scan, her smirk telling me she knows what I'm up to. We sit down at the main table, with a bowl of popcorn between us, and a glass of chilled coke each, and play.

The game is heavily rigged against Jessica and Emma. My deck, I built both a couple of days ago, is stacked with powerful damage inflicting cards and mana. It's also been pre-laid out by me so that the cards will be drawn in a very specific order. Jessica's deck, which isn't actually hers, I built using every weak card I could find, with the bare minimum of mana included. Even a seasoned pro would be hard placed to win using it. We don't shuffle first, which would obviously ruin my draw order, nor do we cut and restack each other's decks. Both of which you're supposed to do.

Emma, poor unsuspecting girl, looks super keen to play and remains keen the whole game, listening intently as Jessica talks her through each turn, pointing out which cards to play, and the correct sequence of events.

I win. Obviously. Jessica manages not to laugh when she congratulates me. Emma looks sad, so I move in for the kill. "How about we play again?" I ask. "Just you and me this time, if you think you've got the hang of it."

"Okay, Anna." She nods, perking up, collecting her cards together. I do the same, placing some at the top, some at the bottom, making sure I'm well covered to win the next match. "Sometimes." I muse, as though I've only just remembered. "We" gesturing at Jessica and myself "like to bet on who'll win. What do you think Emma, up for some fun?"

"Sure." She nods, whilst behind her, Jessica mimes catching her on a fishing line. I try not to giggle. "Sometimes," I say. "We say that the winner gets to tie up the loser." I watch her as I do, this is the real test. I've said it now, it's out there. But Emma doesn't flinch, doesn't pull a face, instead she shrugs, a small smile forming as she seems to be trying to picture that outcome. "Okay." She says. "Sure. Why tying up though?"

"For fun." Shrugging, like it's no big deal, which it actually is. "Okay." She repeats, nodding. "Okay then." I smile. "You and I will play this match and Jessica can tie up the loser. Fair?"

"Fair." Emma agrees, and we're on.