These Games We Play

Chapter One: Physics Tests

Games for as long as I could remember were extremly important to me. Mum and I played them all the time with Philippa my older sister. Then I started playing them with my best friends Thalia and Camilla. We would make up as many games as we could think off. Pip and I would play games at dinner to avoid noticing how hungry we were. Mum would play games with me when the lights went out or when it was too cold but the heater was to expensive. Cam and I started playing games when her mum ran out and her dad started drinking. Lia joined us when she moved into her third foster home. The three of us playing games to avoid real life. We all had a main game though mum, Pip and my best friends: I have a secret. We'd play it whenever one of us had something to tell the other. Most of the time we could guess them others seemed to stay secret.

When mum died, we kept playing our secrets just weren't the same. Neither were the games they morphed into riddles and puzzles and chess. A lot of chess.

"Your move princess," a very gravely voice said to me bringing me out my self pity about a dead mother. " I haven't got all day."

"Not a princess, " I say moving my knights, "your move old man."

Harry scowled at me. I didn't really know how old he was I didn't know much about him at all. I knew he was homeless living in the park. I knew he was extremly good a chess.

"You are a horrible girl," he says eyeing the board and me. Three moves later I won.

"Checkmate," I told him getting up out my seat and going over to help him." Come on breakfast time." I tell him as he gathers his few belongings.

He scowled at me as we walked, "You are a sneaky girl you know that."

"Course I know, now come on you know the rules."

Whenever I won, I got to buy him food. I think he let me alot of the time just for a free meal.

"You drive a hard bargain princess," he says as well walk.

"Not a princess."

☆☆☆☆☆

I wasn't sure how, but I still made it to school on time even after dropping Harry off and running home to get my English homework which I had left in the choas of my room. I'd been cutting it close for a while now. How little could I pay attention in Spanish and still get an A. The answer was I didn't have to pay attention since my best friend happened to speak it and I had been since I meet her 13 years ago. The same could be said about my French (not that I took it at school I just spoke it since mum did.) I'd been doing it since freshman year. Seeing how far I could go till I started falling. It got me a fair amount of trouble at parties but to school I was still an A student who hopefully was good enough to get some sort of scholarship for college.

Now sitting in Calculus, I was drafting a Spanish report since I'd purposely forgotten it to pick up an extra shift. Except for the fact I wasn't drafting my much-needed Spanish report I was in the office. Good Girl's like me didn't get called to office. (Not that I was a good girl in anyway, but I still didn't get called to the office.) I was the kind of girl that was popular enough for parties but not to have friends. Heck, I had two friends and rotated through a few differnt guys every so often.( I wasn't beating the slut allegations anytime soon apparently. Curse Millie Windsor)

"Evangeline , have a seat," Princpal Altalms greeting wasn't warm in the slightest.

"I'm sure you know why you are here," he says in the condescending tone men seem to use when they are talking. (Altalm was really screaming I'm lonely and it's your falut)

Unless they had gotten wind of the poker games, I was using to fund my breakfasts. Or the fact I had been the one to accidently ruin Millie Windsor cheerleading outfit (she had it coming.) Or that Lia, Cam and I had broken into the school last week to get back Lias stuff. Or time I gave the captain of the lacrosse team a hand job under the bleachers (though that was at a football game so not technically during school hours). The point was I had done a lot of shit, so I had no idea why I was here.