Checkmate ⚢

Chapter 26 Pinnacle

"Congratulations, Miss Lancaster! Our judges have selected you as the most talented artist among all to represent Neos Athens Arts. Her achievement is particularly impressive since she isn't part of the Arts program and had only submitted her series a night before the deadline. For her outstanding artworks, we crown and adorn her, one of the Nine Muses' famed white knight robe and witch hat! Come up here, Miss Lancaster!"

Hana failed to hear everything else, but she knew the people gave Althea a round of applause. Althea untangled herself from Hana who refused to look at her, hurt etched across each other's face, as she hurried up towards Wafiqah and the judges.

"HURRAH ALTHEA!" Madeline and Heather cheered embarrassingly as if they were Althea's proud mom and dad.

There was a buzz of some sort like a microphone in a karaoke bar until in a distorted voice as Wafiqah announced the rest of what was written in the card. Hana took a deep breath and then doesn't understand why the relief of oxygen does not get to her. She closed her eyes and opened them again until the world is a blur but as two-dimensional, as it was before and she can't understand.

Whenever Hana was upset, she would comfort herself with the knowledge that moments are fleeting, that the day would soon pass, or that before she knew it she would be graduating and becoming a famous Photographer like Andromeda Danton. Hana always had a high threshold for physical pain because it didn't feel like her who really felt it. It was easy to give herself hope, because no matter what mistakes she made at that time, she was only a child inside, and besides, Hana didn't exist in the grand scheme of the country or world, so whatever blunders she made weren't important.

Hana wanted to become more than that. The fact she's trying so hard to leave a mark in the world was a pointer that Hana wanted to become a part of the world around her—to stop depersonalizing when things go wrong.

Her thought process continued until Hana heard someone talk to her.

"Oh no, Hana are you okay?" Fallon had asked her, her hands on Hana's shoulder and bringing her out from her train of thought. She hadn't noticed that her friends had gathered around her.

"Fallon!" Hana grabbed her Finnish friend from the sleeves, she wasn't aware that she was crying. "I didn't win any awards."

"Yeah, too bad," Liezel said. "But it's your fault; you set your bar too high."

"Liezel!" Fallon hissed at her.

It was typical for Fallon to hiss at Liezel as it was typical for Hana to take it to heart when her hard work doesn't go her way.

All her frustration and sadness began to bubble up to the surface, sliding out of her in more hot teardrops. Hana tried to not make a sound; she didn't want anyone to hear her but her throat failed her as she cried out loud. Her body shook as she cried.

"But it's still amazing what you did Hana. You managed to pass her finals although you almost flunked." Fallon said.

Hana wrapped her roommates in a hug. The tightness inside her finally relaxed, she laughed awkwardly, "Thanks to you all—and Althea."