Rave Academy

Chapter XI

Rosalie Solace (1967)

   Amira placed her chess piece back onto the chess board, a smile forming on her face, "Checkmate," She smiled, before tossing her arms into the air in victory.
   We were playing chess in our dorm. I had taken the seat from my desk and dragged it to Amira's desk.
   I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms. "You said you never played chess before."
   "Maybe I told a little lie?" Amira said before we both ended up in laughter.
   What was supposed to be a study group turned into a chess game after Amira and I had a brain meltdown from too much knowledge. No matter how many strategies I made and how many losses I dodged, Amira was always steps ahead of me.
   "Rematch?" Amira asked, putting the pieces in the right places on the board.
   "Only if you promise to not act like you're playing with an expert," I sighed, running my fingers through the locks of my hair.
   "Fine," Amira laughed.
   As soon as I made my first move, Amira looked up at me, moving her pawn piece. She isn't going to keep her promise, and it's quite obvious. I could see the mischief in her eyes. I can finally tell what she's thinking. Even though we were playing the game seriously, we still talked to each other in a friendly manner. We just asked random questions to get to know each other."
   "Sushi or Spaghetti?" I asked Amira, moving another pawn.
   "Sushi all the way," Amira responded waiting for me to make my move, "Would you rather have a mean friend but they're rich, or a nice friend but they're poor."
   "The nice friend," I responded, "Money and friends? Why does the money your friends have matter?"
   "Good answer," Amira responded, "Oh, and checkmate.
   "Already? I asked, how!?" I asked, sitting up in my seat.
   "You were focused on something else," Amira smiled.
   "That's crazy," I sighed, getting up from my seat, "I think we should find Darlene. I'm sure Blake is annoyed by her annoying him for 10 continuous hours."
   Amira nodded her head, placing her chess game into the drawer of her desk. When we found Darlene and Blake, they were in the lunch facility. Yelling at one of Dalia's friends. Really!? Out of all the people Darlene could have argued with, she had argued with someone who could cause more problems with me.
   "What's going on?" I asked, stepping between Darlene and Blake.
   "Hey Rosalie," The girl smiled, her dimples poking through her cheek.
   "Willow," I said, nodding my head slightly.
   Willow was a warm cinnamon color, and her eyes were a chestnut brown color. She had blonde strands of hair going through her dark brown braids. I'm surprised Willow wasn't with any of her friends. She couldn't get one out of her five friends to hang out with her? Of course, I didn't ask that question because I knew that I'd probably end up saying it in gibberish with no grammar.
   "You know her!?" Darlene asked, with obvious anger in her voice.
   "Yeah, We've... hung out a couple of times," I lied, trying not to cause a bigger scene, "What's going on?"
   "Just some misunderstanding," Willow smiled, with a friendly tone, "I'm just saying that Darlene should consider having manners when she talks. You want respectful friends, right?"
   "Says you," Darlene scoffed, "You're the one talking about people you never met."
   "Darlene," interrupted, "I think it's best if we don't escalate the problem from where it is. Plus, we need to check up on Bailey."
   Darlene and Willow completely ignored me, going back to the full-blown argument they were having earlier. Blake sighed stressfully, sitting at the table we were all in front of. There was no teacher to stop the argument, and the lunch ladies focused on other things.
   If Darlene attacks Willow, she will no longer be able to attend this school. So the best thing to do was pull her away from the situation. I turned towards Blake, he was stressing out. I turned to Amira, and we made eye contact. I told her about my situation so I was sure she'd understand what was going on.
   "I mean, it's not the best choice to show your true colors," Willow laughed, "Definitely when your anger issues put you on your third strike."
   "My anger issues, huh?" Darlene asked, her eyebrows scrunching up, "You want to see where my anger issues may lead you!?"
   My heart had dropped at Darlene's following words, this was escalating too quickly. "Darlene, please," I said, quickening my words the more I began to panic, "Just step back for a moment. You need to make good choices!"
   "Both of you need to sit down!" A voice yelled from behind us.
   I turned my head, Amira was standing there, crossing her arms. I backed up Willow and Darlene. Willow refused to sit down while Darlene reluctantly sat down. Blake, who was stressed out, looked up at her words. I'm sure our peers from other tables had turned to see who had yelled.
   When Willow saw how many people were watching us, she sat down one seat away from Darlene.
   "Look, I don't know what I and Rosalie had walked into," Amira calmly stated, "But this is not how you're going to deal with this conflict. You will either calmly talk to each other or you both will part ways."
   Both Willow and Darlene looked at each other, before saying, "Part ways."
   If this wasn't a serious situation, I would've been laughing at how they both synced. Darlene left from the back door, and seconds later, Willow left through the front door. I turned to Amira, and then we both just casually walked out of the lunch facility. Once the door closed, Amira burst into laughter. When I knew it was okay to laugh, I began to laugh. The tension from earlier had finally dropped.
   "Did you see how they both agreed on leaving the situation alone?" Amira asked, covering her stomach as she laughed more.
   "Yeah, and you got everyone's attention," I chuckled, "Even kids from other tables."