Queen's Gambit Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Morning is a special time of day when life returns from its sleep. Some people love it and revel in it day after day while others curse its existence and hate rolling out of bed. If you aren’t a morning person then you know that seven am comes way too early for any sane person. Judging by the way they slowly rolled out of bed it was easy to tell that the three girls who lived on California drive were not morning people.

It was always a race to the shower in the morning and you didn’t want to be the last person in or else you were showering in cold water. There were thumps on the floor right before the loud slam of the bathroom door showing that a victor had emerged for the day.

“Esme! It’s MY turn to go first today! You know that! Now open this door and let me in or I’ll break it down!” she screamed as she banged on the door with an armful of clothes.

“You’re five minutes late and I don’t think you have it in you Lena, I mean what would dad say?” Esme called through the door over the running water.

“I’m not playing around Esme! It’s my turn to go first today!” she shouted continuing to bang on the door. She was pounding the door so hard that she dropped her clothes and began muttering a string of profanities, careful not to let them drift downstairs.

“Lena, take second today if you want, I don’t mind,” a third voice called from down the hall. “I’ll even help you do your hair if you want.”

“I don’t need your charity Stella, I can handle this by myself!” Lena called back.

“It’s not charity; I want you to shut up! You’re giving me a headache,” Stella answered.

Esme laughed from inside the bathroom, as Lena continued her tirade and Stella pressed the pillow harder over her ears. Most people would see this as a random incident, but their parents knew better; which is why the girls were upstairs and their parents’ room was on the bottom floor.

“Girls, hurry up and get down here so you can eat before you go,” Savanna, their mother, called from the kitchen downstairs. She loved her girls and their unique traits but sometimes wished they were more alike if only to make the mornings just a little quieter.

Esme was the first to reach the counter downstairs and as such took the strawberry waffles from the plate that had been set there. First come first served she thought as she poured out the syrup and took a large bite.

“Honey, I wish you would leave one of those for your sister,” she said gently.

“It’s not my fault Lena is always after me to get down here, I have to spend a lot of time on my hair to get it to look this way,” she said gently running her finger through her hair.

“Not Lena, Stella likes the strawberry too,” she said.

“Oh, well I guess she can have the one I haven’t taken a bite of yet,” she said as she traded one of her waffles for one on the plate. Though it was a small gesture it made Johanna smile to see that she had concern for more than someone other than herself.

After a few minutes of silence someone bounded down the stairs with heavy footfalls meaning it had to be Lena. She took a seat and began to pour juice into her glass.

“Are you ready for your presentation today Lena?” their mom asked.

“Well I would be feeling much better about it if I had been first to the shower and do my hair like I had wanted,” she said with a scowl as she pulled her hair into a ponytail.

“I can’t help it that you can’t get your hair to do what you want or be fast enough to be first to the shower,” Esme said into her plate of waffles. She tossed her light curls over her shoulder and stroked them slowly, showing off her mastery of the curling iron.

“Well I doubt your hair would cooperate with cranberry juice mixed in,” Lena said as she raised her glass menacingly. Esme eyed her carefully but refused to give Lena the satisfaction of a flinch. You could never tell if she was making an idol threat; Lena had a mean streak in her that was known to slip from time to time.

“Oh, thank you!” Stella said as she grabbed the juice from Lena’s hand and took the last stool at the counter. “You two are so sweet to me,” she said as she grabbed the last strawberry waffle from the plate.

“You’re welcome Stella,” Lena said as she reached for another glass. As their mother looked on them she wondered how her three identical daughters could have turned out to be so extremely different. One with so much passion for life that it may yet get her into trouble, one so headstrong that a brick wall couldn’t stop her and one so gentle that everyone around her changed themselves to be around her.

She asked about their classes and with the school year coming to an end the girls sat dreaming of how to spend their free time. Esme was debating breaking up with her boyfriend, not that they were few or far between. It wasn’t really her fault; being outgoing and attractive made for a potent combination that boys couldn’t resist. Lena rolled her eyes and said she planned to spend it training. She was named MVP of the basketball team and helped the tennis team make it to State this year. Stella wanted to try something new like painting or flower arranging to balance off her music. She was the lead violinist in the orchestra and wanted to try something different for a change.

All beautiful and talented in different ways, their mother thought. “Ok girls, you better get going if you’re going to make the bus,” she said sadly, not wanting to see them go. The girls got up and went to grab their backpacks before heading out the door with smiles and kisses for their mom.

Lena was always the first one to the corner where the bus picked them up, partly due to her extremely competitive nature and partly due to the running shoes that she wore everywhere. Stella walked slowly next to Esme today who was wearing particularly high heels that clicked on the pavement with each step she took. As they waited for the bus Esme wove braids into Stellas’ hair as Lena went over her notecards, pacing back and forth. She wished she had Esme’s grace or way with words, but was too stubborn to ever ask for help.

On the bus one could notice more pronounced differences between the girls if only by their friends. Lena sat next to the athletes, Esme sat with her dancer cohorts and Stella sat in the rows inhabited by band kids. The bus drove off with a cloud of smoke just like every day before it, but something else lay in wait for the girls today.

XXXXXXXXXX

If there was one thing Josephine hated more than the cold dirty city, it was the cookie cutter shapes and bright colors of the suburbs. These people were blissfully oblivious to the world that truly lay all around them. Most of these people would never know how it felt to fight hand to hand, and feel blood on their hands. They would never know what it was like to lose someone who was closer than family, and never understand the true meaning of suffering.

After flying all night she wanted to get to a hotel and sleep, if possible, before getting started with the task at hand. But as Balthazar had pointed out, she didn’t have much time. She took another drink of her coffee and sped down the road towards the high school. It was odd for candidates to be so close in proximity, it usually caused complications. If the candidates knew each other or worse, if they were friends, it could undermine the whole point of the tournament.

She waited within view of the buses because the only information she had been given was that there were three girls who all took the same bus to school. She would need a cover, but with school almost out for summer options were few. Maybe if she were able to get to the parents she could get the girls for large amounts of time. It would take a while to get to three set of parents though.

The short dossier she had received said there would be no mistaking the girls but wasn’t any more specific than that. Then there was the lack of information on the tournament. Why would they be preparing after such a short amount of time? Something bad must have happened, but then again, this could be a sick joke Balthazar had thought up and with his bad sense of humor to cause trouble for her.

The only thing she could think about was she watched kids come off the busses was how she should have killed Balthazar when she had the chance years ago. She had him pinned and she passed because she was too trusting. Never again.

She stopped reminiscing for a minute to take a look at the kids coming off the latest bus. There had been nothing interesting so far and it was very unlikely to change any time soon. A couple of goth kids dressed all in black, followed by a fat kid with a girl who could only be his friend; a small group of girls carrying small instrument cases except one. Then two boys with black heavy metal band shirts. After them came a girl who looked very upset about something as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

She looked similar to the girl without an instrument case that had gotten off before her, the face was identical. Well, those two were probably sisters, twins even, but there had to be tons of siblings at this school. In the suburbs families had 2.6 kids anyways. How do you end up with .6 of kid? She reached for her coffee for a split second and when she looked up there were boys with letter jackets followed by a couple of girls obviously dressed to get a boys’ attention though she couldn’t see their faces. The bus doors closed and it pulled away making them the last ones off the bus so this couldn’t have been the right one.

She reached for the keys to start the ignition to get out of there. This was a gigantic waste of time. How could you let him do this to you Josephine, she asked herself. Just need to get back to the life you built for yourself in the wake of all the trouble they caused for you so long ago.

As she started the car and began to pull away from the curb as one of the last girls off the bus bent dropped her small purse, spilling everything onto the sidewalk. The boys around her immediately bent down to help her with her things. Typical, she thought as she pulled forward. The car in front of her pulled out suddenly causing her to stomp on the brake and stop with a short jerking motion.

“Learn to drive damn it,” she screamed into her steering wheel. The other driver didn’t even acknowledge her. She got the urge to slam on the gas and ram into that car just for good measure, but realized it would be a bad idea to make a scene here.

She looked around trying to make sure the way was clear this time and caught a glimpse of the girl who had dropped her purse. As she stood up she tucked a curl behind her ear and turned to wave to a friend giving a clear view of her face. After a double take Josephine realized she looked just like the two other girls that had already stepped off the bus.

So this was the mystery, triplets. No wonder Balthazar refused to give any other details. She took quick survey of the girls as they entered the school and left with her head full of thoughts. The first problem was still how to train three girls at once. The second was that her initial assessment of the girls was, less than impressed. Finally, the worst of all was that they were sisters, no way would they be able to fight each other.