Masked Girls

09. ANONYMITY

As an amateur player, I had learnt that each piece was worth different points. Pawns were worth a single point, queens were worth nine, each rook was five, and bishops and knights were both worth three points. Yet, I would later hear that the bishop was actually worth three and a half points. Emphasis was placed on preserving the bishop pair for the endgame, where they were hailed as superior for their ability to move diagonally, flying to far ends of the board in a single move. Knights, while unique in their ability to surpass obstruction and cause great harm with forks, were forever restricted to a three-by-two L-shape, and thus much slower in progression.

The same could be said with regards to the Populars.

With Natalie out of the picture, it was obvious to the cohort that Gillian would step up to fill the power vacuum - and that she did. She was vibing, basking in the attention that she now received and all the wannabes after her, obeying her every order. Just a week ago, an unspoken law had been passed: for all wannabes to get the same Kanken that she herself brought to school. Guess what? Now almost everyone had a Kanken-style backpack.

I would've bought the backpack too - only because I thought it looked snazzy, mind you - but of course, Mom began a tirade about how I was constantly looking to waste her hard-earned money and that my backpack was still in good shape. Oh well.

But her words continued to echo in my mind, especially considering what Gillian really thought of me - a foolish little chess geek who believed she was cool enough for the Populars just because Natalie was fake-nice to her.

A pawn, far from the eighth rank, and yet delusional for promotion.

Today, I decided. Today, I was prepared, my mind buzzing with fresh information and newly-learnt facts. I had watched enough Taylor Swift music videos to have a proper conversation with Natalie and Lisa.

"Guys, guys - " I exclaimed, and they all turned to me. "I finally listened to the songs!"

"Oh?" Lisa's fork froze in mid-air. "It's good, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," I agreed avidly, then paused, realising that there wasn't much I could actually say. The entire group had already watched all the music videos, and repeatedly gushing about the details would be very redundant. But seeing as the attention I had managed to capture was about to slip away, I decided to continue. Hopefully someone would also add something and the conversation could continue from there. "I was yesterday years old when I realised from a YouTube comment that the other girl in You Belong With Me was also Taylor."

"Dude," Addison remarked. "I knew that since the first time I watched it."

"I knooow," I groaned. "She looked so different though!"

"It's so obvious," Gillian rolled her eyes, turning to . "Anyway, you guys want to hang at Springcourt tomorrow? We could get Starbucks; there's a new promotion."

"Oh, tomorrow?" I turned to confirm.

No one acknowledged my question.

"I'm down," Lisa shrugged.

It had been a long day, and after a pile of homework was finally completed with much difficulty, a phone usage break was in order. I hauled myself off the chair, grabbed my phone and plopped onto the bed,

Of course, however, there was always something on Insta that annoyed me. On a good day it was normally a story post asking for more likes on a certain post, but today it was Gillian's private spam. (Wait, how is it a spam account if she has 300 followers?) The image posted was just a pointless meme; the comments were the real deal.