Every time you make a move

Under Pressure

Monday 13th October 1986

Bastet dormitory, Headfort School, Kells, Ireland

"...Ow! Why does this have to hurt so much?!"

Roshni was spending yet another morning in front of the mirror above one of the sinks in her dormitory's communal bath and shower room, trying to drag her Denman brush through her tangled black curls on the back of her head before she could plait them. But to no avail, for each time the bristles tugged on a knot and yanked her scalp she winced with pain and increasing frustration.

As if the timing wasn't already bad enough, Matron called from outside the door, "Hurry up, girls! You have to be in the canteen for breakfast in one minute!"

Roshni slammed her brush back down onto the bathroom counter in defeat, for hair was not worth getting into trouble for lateness, and started ripping tangles apart before tying them up with her yellow scrunchie on her wrist.

"Fix your tie, Ms Bulsara" the matron remarked on the girl's uniform as she went out the door.

"Yes, matron" Roshni quietly obeyed, tucking it back underneath the stiff collar of her white shirt under her grey jumper and doing up her top button properly.

"If only mum was here to get rid of that 'bird's nest' stuck on my head... At least Johnny's hair is straight," She self-pitied, trudging down the staircase with her classmates, "Everything is easier when you're a boy... "

Life in boarding school was nothing like the life that Roshni had known before back home in London. A lot of the staff had a welcoming warmth of their own, but it wasn't the same warmth that her mother or Phoebe had. And none of them were to help teach her how to do the things that she suddenly had to learn how to do on her own, such as getting ready for the day (brushing her hair being the primary struggle) and putting on her own school uniform. Regardless this was the independence and self-discipline that Freddie had spoken highly of, and something that he hoped that she and her brother would come to appreciate when they would grow older as well.

When Roshni reached the top of the line to the dinner hatch in the school canteen downstairs, Ms O'Malley the school cook presented her a pre-prepared tray of a tomato and mushroom omelette and porridge, the girl's vegetarian alternative to bacon and fried eggs.

"There you are, pet. Eat it while it's still warm" the woman told her, peeling the cling film back from it before handing it over to her carefully.

"Thank you" Roshni politely took it from her carefully and stepped away from the dinner hatch, looking across the canteen and deciding where to sit. 

As she made her mind up she saw one of the other members of her Maths and Games club, Oshiro Toshiyuki, sitting on the empty end of one of the tables with just a book written in his native language of Japanese in front of him. 

"I don't know him very well... but at least he isn't mean and unfriendly like the rest of the boys in Maths and Games club." she thought. 

After all, Ohirio's english was moderate and therefore he was normally quiet in class. Therefore he and Roshni were often the last two sitting alone in the classroom, being the only girl there, none of the boys wanted her to join their group. And there  Miss Singh would end up grouping them together.

At that moment Roshni remembered something from last week:

"Miss Signh is hosting the school tournament for the 24 Game on friday..."

She remembered her teacher showing the game to them in last week's club meeting, and the order in which it was played. The player is given a card at random containing four different numbers ranging from one to nine. The rule of the game is that these four numbers could be added, subtracted, multiplied or divided with each other in order to reach the final value of 24.