Masked Girls

03. POWER

Mondays were the worst - but at the same time the best. (Yes, I just contradicted myself.)

They were dreadful because they were the reason I had to drag my ass out of bed back to the hellish world of school each week; at the same time, they were also the best because it was the day of the weekly two-hour Chess Club session. It had taken a couple years of hard work, practice and many failures in between, but I liked to think that I had become at least half-decent at spotting checks, pins and discover attacks. The trophies and medals on the top level of my bedroom cabinet proved the point too.

"Checkmate!" I announced, a little too happily as I admired the position in which my two rooks had trapped Keira's king. Keira Newman, one of the Leftovers and a not-so-good chess player groaned. "Called it. You always win, Selene. You're just too good. I wish I had like, half your skills."

"Aww, it's okay, Keira, I'm sure you'll get better with more practice. Plus, the future woman grandmaster is still Priya," I consoled for courtesy's sake. Both Keira and I knew she wasn't going to - Keira didn't care about chess. She had only joined the club to fulfill her extracurricular requirements while being able to slack off and do her homework. As she pulled out her pencil case and slapped her huge binder down on the table, all ready to pull out the week's worth of assignments, Priya waved me over for a game after destroying one of the new kids in a nasty checkmate.

"You didn't go easy on her, did you?" I asked, sitting down opposite her as the dejected first year student shuffled past me.

The Chess Club president snorted, "In my defense, I tried. I even screwed up my entire position so that she would have a chance, okay? I literally was not thinking. But when I see free pieces, I just take them, dude."

I grinned, "You can destroy people all you want at competitions, but you should probably be lenient with the new kids. Breaking the Rifton team's spirit before team competitions doesn't sound like something Mrs Sherton would want." Mrs Sherton was the teacher-in-charge of the club, currently marking a ton of history essays at the back of the room. She, too, enjoyed being the teacher-in-charge for the non-rigorous nature of our club, compared to what some of her colleagues probably had to deal with.

"Pfft..." Priya's voice dropped to a whisper - like she always did when she had some tea to spill -and I leaned in, "Like there was any team spirit to begin with, honestly. Let's be real, I don't think anyone here actually sees a future of them seeking active self-improvement in chess."

"Taryn's decent."

"And planning to quit after this year," Priya rolled her eyes.

"Wait, what? But she's doing well! She wins things!"

"Yeah, but of course, 'chess is boring'." The Indian girl and I exchanged off our knights. "Of course she would jump ship for the dance team. So, yeah, Selene, it's probably just gonna be you and me holding up the fort. You better not quit, dude, or I'll hunt you down for ditching me with a dying club."

"Don't worry, dude, it's not like I could pass any of the other selection tests for the other clubs and sports," I stated. I knew why Priya was worried; the club wasn't exactly prospering like the sports and performing arts groups. Chess was, unfortunately, a very unpopular after-school activity, since it was related to everything nerdy and geeky. Regardless, moving pieces across a checkered board of black and white was one of my few talents. And being there, beating opponents and winning games convinced me that there was still some sliver of hope out there, that I still had trophies to hold and medals to wear.

All in all, playing chess made me feel like I, like the queen on the chessboard, was in control.

Priya pressed the clock. "Hah!"