Masked Girls

03. POWER

"Wait, what? What did you do-ahh! No, come on, dude!" I groaned as I realised my mistake - my darned bishop, too late to escape, was now trapped by Priya's pawns. "Rude!"

"Hey, you should've seen that coming."

"Well, all I can say is that my brain is fried after school."

"I'm pretty sure it's almost always fried, though."

"Big oof."

Priya chuckled heartily, "I mean, you can capture a pawn - meaning one less pawn I can potentially promote, right?"

"I would still be down on material, thank you very much," I scoffed, but still doing as she had suggested. "Hey, don't underestimate the power of the pawn," Priya said, capturing the bishop and chucking it to the side of the board.

I was distracted by fatigue - that meant a toilet break and a splash of water on my face was due. "Hey, where're you going? We're only at the middle game!"

"I'm going to the toilet!" I replied as I shut the door behind me, grinning as Priya complained about me ditching her.

Honestly, I wished I could hang out more with Priya - but I knew that was one thing that couldn't really happen. She was older, and every batch mostly associated with the girls in their own batch due to differing lunch periods. Plus, even if I got to hang out with her, she'd have her other friends-I would just be the extra kid on the side. In addition, maybe she didn't even really think of me as a close-enough friend and I didn't want to overstep. Overstepping boundaries was a great sin that caused social annihilation and I didn't want to have even the seniors hate me too.

I just had to continue doing what I was doing. Lie low, pass the exams and graduate, hopefully gaining a chance to join the committee in the Chess Club to add something nice to my portfolio in the future. It was boring and I hated it, but what else could I do? I had no power or influence to do as I liked in the twisted hierarchy of Rifton.

However, as I neared the toilet and heard a familiar voice, I realised that I'd spoken too soon.

"OMG, Alyssa, she is such a fucking fake bitch."

Whoa, what?! Who're you calling a -

I slowly peeked down the hallway to see a single student pacing about in the hallway, a rose gold iPhone pressed over locks of silky, wavy honey blonde hair. The girl paced a few steps, turning in a way that gave me a glimpse of her side profile.

And boy, was it somewhat shocking to discover the identity of the student spilling the tea. Despite already being aware of her tendencies to do so, one would think that Natalie Kingsley, the queen of the second year cohort, would be more discreet in her ways.

Apparently, she wasn't very careful when she was riled up.

"Ex-actly! Allie," Natalie exclaimed, "Like, I wish we could go back to being in Southlake; I wouldn't need to deal with all these idiotic girls who think they're so amazing. Like, seriously? They ain't shit."

Holy shiitake mushrooms. Natalie, the Natalie Kingsley, was swearing, and that too in the context of shading the same girls she called her friends? The tea was way too hot and tasty; I couldn't simply let this opportunity go to waste. Despite being a frog in a well and a social outcast, I did have one thing in common with my peers - a love for good gossip. In primary school, an average piece of gossip, real or fake, was enough to start drama, but this was secondary school. The tea had to present itself as facts before it was considered good tea.

Meaning, I had to collect evidence.

With trembling hands, I fished my phone out of my pocket and swiped it to camera mode as quietly as could be while Natalie continued to listen to the girl whom everyone knew was Alyssa Green (the best friend from another school) through her shiny rose gold iPhone. Before I knew it, I had my camera poking out minimally behind the lockers and the filming began. One recognisable blonde in an empty school hallway.