The Slut's Guide to Chess

chapter 16

There were several different sides to Eliott Hearse, but this was my favourite. When her lips pulled up widely to that wild sort of smile with exposed teeth and blazing cheeks, she had my full attention. Her nerves were alive and vibrated into action as she jumped to every small noise and laughed boisterously at every word.

Eliott practically shook with anticipation and the best part about when she got into these sorts of moods was waiting for what would happen next. This one time, she'd ran through the corridors of the girl's dormitory and up the stairs, taking two at a time. I'd followed like a lost puppy, in awe of her magnificence. She'd glided along the corridor, moving so swiftly it was as though her feet barely touched the floor. She was flying like an angel.

By this point, the other girls at the dormitory had taken notice of us. They'd stood outside their doors and watched with curiosity or annoyance while Eliott bounced along, not bothered. I imagined the sight we must have been, the two sluts racing along the corridors on a sunny Sunday morning, laughing loudly and tracking dirt across the carpet.

Soon, we had run out of steps and the door widened to the rooftop. The sun beat down onto our faces and the slight breeze caused sweat to break on my forehead that I'd wiped with the back of my hand.

"I don't think there's any time to be cruel, Lightning McQueen," Eliott had called, a little out of breath. She circled the perimeter of the rooftop like an animal with prey. "See, we're only two people in this small country on this massive fuckin' planet that circles this massive flaming sun that's in this massive fuckin' galaxy where there are so many other massive fuckin' galaxies. We're nothing..." She'd trailed off.

I cocked my head to the side and watched as she tucked the two blonde strands of hair at the front of her face to behind her ears. Her eyes glanced over the edge of the roof while her pale skin glistened under the blazing sun like diamonds.

Sometimes I wondered whether I was bisexual with a preference for boys because I was pushed into it by the heteronormative society. I wondered how I could possibly like boys too when I fell for Eliott so quickly. Liking boys was casual, it was the type of love that happened but never consumed me. I could fall in and out of love with several different boys in a day - I loved love. But, liking girls was a picky decision. And then, when I liked one, it was obsessive. I was so obviously obsessed with Eliott.

"What is the point of it all? If we truly mean nothing at all, why are we here?" She'd paused in her steps and faced me, her back to the edge. "I reckon I could make the jump," she'd smirked and my heart lurched. I didn't know which way was up and which was down.

"W-what?"

"I could do it," she'd stated. Her voice was triumphant and knowing. If she had told me she knew the future, I would have believed her. "I could jump onto the tree and then down onto the concrete below and be completely fine, I know it. I can feel it."

I bit my lip uneasily. "I don't know, Eliott... We're pretty high up."

This side of her also scared me.

It wasn't relaxed like the smoke that crawled around her figure at 3 am as she smoked out the window. It wasn't the sleepy words she whispered in my ear because she knew it made me squirm. It wasn't the Eliott I was used to but it was still Eliott and it took me a while to realise and accept those different sides of her.

She'd rolled her eyes. "So? I can do it. You probably can too. Come on, Zora. We're the slut club, there's nothing we can't do! I bet boys jump from buildings all the time so why can't girls? Let's do it."

Before I could've stopped her, she stepped forward and descended across the edge.

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