Checkmate - Chapter 35: Chapter 35

The next few minutes are pure chaos. Children fighting and Althea returning after quite a while and showed her the photo she settled on. Althea was still staring at the camera frame, and Hana almost saw the colors of the photo reflected in her eyes.
Hana gulped before getting the guts to look at Althea's photograph.
It was a green frog submerging from the water. There was no movement and it was so clear. The greenish monochromatic theme of the whole subject, foreground grasses, and background rippled green reflected waters fitted each other so well.
The photograph was quirky and nearly impossible to have taken in just a short time. Althea Lancaster was lucky or merely naturally gifted at art. Hana's lips curved upwards, almost forgetting that they were here to compete against each other and learn from the kids.
When Hana was made aware of that fact again, she clenched her fingers to her camera and focused on seeing the world around her. Hana immediately ran to the eastern part of the forest park. She remembered when she was spying on her future girlfriend and her friend was a most interesting area. Confined by an alcove embellished with abundant ivy strands and some little purple flowers whose name Hana was not familiar with. She walked through the bower of vines, carefully stepping with her feet on the asphalt, and headed forward guided by the melodious sound of water splashing onto rocks.
She gaped as she noticed somewhere farther from where she stayed, a beautiful fountain, cast in marble stone and adorned with some tasteful figurines portraying little angels that poured water from their sparkling vessels.
It was still beautiful.
Nevertheless, Hana was plagued with the question of beautifying mundane photos, Hana then adjusted her shutter speed. She was annoyed at the smudge effect. All she wanted was to capture the fountain's water in a blur motion. She began clicking and experimenting to get her desired effect.
Hana set her was just about done when time ran out and Amani ordered everyone with a microphone to stop. The photo in front of her was more formless and messy than anything she had ever made. This was done with a slow shutter combined with camera movement and she was glad she was wearing the sling, if not she would say goodbye to her camera. She returned to sit at Althea's side.
Amani had managed to get everyone to calm down. She and two of her fellow organizers served to be the judges too. They evaluated everyone's photos one by one by walking over to where they were stationed.
They arrived at where the lovers were sitting and before Amani even asked for Hana's name, she grinned with eyes lighting up in recognition. "Althea Lancaster?"
"Wow okay, everyone recognizes you." Hana pouted.
"Yes, I am," Althea said, in her most formal voice.
"What are you doing here? I can't believe you, out of all the people in this small event—"
"I just wanted to check out the competition, that is all." She shrugged.
"Okay..." Amani said, and after she took one last look at Althea's photo, she moved and checked Hana's.
Amani and her companions scribbled on their papers and turned to the next competitor, a scrawny kid who squealed when he showed them his phone.
"What's wrong?" Althea whispered to Hana, leaning close to her when the judges were a good distance away.
Hana tensed up. "It's inevitable. I will lose, not because my photo is not good, but because next to you, I am no one."
Althea had so much energy to dispute her. She calmed herself by looking at Hana's photograph and smiled a Cheshire grin. "You are better than you assume yourself to be. You used blur motion on the water similar to how a painter would smudge their motion."
After about a minute or so, Amani cleared her throat at the front of the platform. "Okay everyone, we have the results. First of all, I'd like to say that all of your pictures were wonderful and that everyone, no matter what, is a winner."
Hana rolled her eyes so hard that they almost tumble out of her sockets and fall to the floor.
"We'd love to give out prizes to everyone here, but we only have three, so please don't be upset if you don't get one. This was a very hard decision. For those of you, who are part of our Photography Kids club, you can stay and we will bring in snacks and lemonade after our next painting lesson. For those of you who aren't, and only came for the competition, you can leave, but please feel free to look and check out our other after-school club activities."
Hana's pulse heightened, waiting for the announcement. Every part of her body synced up with the thought until she was charged and alive and trembling in anticipation.
"Now, for the winners of the 50-pound gift cards," Amani said, calling out a boy and a girl. "Come on up here!"
Two kids got up, holding their cameras, and walked up until they are standing by Amani. The boy let out a little squeal. Both of their photos are a complete mess. Hana was better than both of them, but so is Althea's.
"And now, the winner of the Polaroid camera," She paused to read the paper she has in her hands. Every second that passed is too slow for Hana to handle.
"Althea Lancaster!"
Hana's entire body felt like flames. Althea was shaking herself. She has won again and Hana has lost.
"Congratulations to the winners!" Amani exclaimed.
Althea got up in horror and stood by the two kids, who stared at her as she walked over. Hana heard the low hum of hundreds of voices. It rose quickly until it drowned out everything but the thunder of her own pulse in her ears. Hana's eyes find Althea's, and her body nearly exploded into aggravation and a million other things upon seeing the expression on Hana's face.
"Hold up," Althea said before anyone can clap for her. All eyes focused on her, and she raised her chin at the attention. "How did Hana not win?" she asked Amani, pointing to the other kids' pictures. "How did those win instead of hers?"
The kids stared at her with resentful eyes, but she pretended not to notice.
"I... well," Amani muttered. "As I said, everyone's was good. We simply don't have enough prizes to give."
"Tell me the truth," Althea demanded, crossing her arms in all her daunting ferocity. Althea was infinite, unbounded. She was a goddess while Hana was a lowly mortal. She wanted to take a picture to immortalized her girlfriend bright and cold as a blue flame
Amani sighed. "It wouldn't be fair for the kids if both of the oldest people here won. We are always having competitions. Maybe she can come by next time."
"You mean all this is for naught but participation?" Althea snarled "You should have said so in the beginning."
"Our apologies," she gulped.
"No, it is my fault. We were brought into this competition simply with a lesson to impart. Needless to say, I appreciate it if your companions delete all their photos of me." Althea said. The sea in her eyes was drowning every organizer at the stage. "I am merely trying to live normal somehow but here you are—assaulting my privacy."
Amani's eyebrows went up but her companions all sweated like no tomorrow.
"Please delete them all," Althea asked, gently this time.
"I'll make sure these idiots delete it, Miss Lancaster." The girl with the beautiful brown curls said.
"Thank you, Amani," Althea said. "In return, you can have the Polaroid camera."
Everyone in the area had their eyes threatening to come out of their sockets. Probably thinking of two things when she gave away her prize—she was selfless or arrogant.
Hana sat there, her jaw dropped. She failed to capture any photo but committed it all to memory. This marked the only time she was glad her tendency to freeze in panic didn't cause her to take a photograph of her girlfriend without consent.
"I cannot believe the school is letting them do this," Tosca said, shaking her head. "Althea Lancaster is still leagues away from her. I'm still not confident your student can work with Althea's level and for them to succeed in a reckless partnership is just so stupid."
Andromeda sighed and turned to her old friend. After she had explained the board's decision to send Althea and Hana off to represent the University, she knew Tosca's reaction will be similar to this. Yet, it still hurt Andromeda that Tosca would be difficult to convince.
"It's like, they are not even thinking rationally anymore. They are all so emotionally driven—"
With a flash, Andromeda went down the hard route. Tosca was on the floor, her speech halted as she held her cheek. A metallic flavor began to trickle out of her chapped lip, it stung with pain.
"Hey! Have you gone crazy?" she cried, glaring up at the scowling Andromeda. "What was that for?"
"That was for everything you did to us!" She said, balling her hand into a fist once more, prepared for another punch of reality. "All those pent-up emotions you've caused me. You frustrated me, angered me, embarrassed me, brought me down—I let you walk all over me! My anxiety doubled whenever you would become so passive-aggressive. But now that I see you doing it to Hana and Althea, passing our animosity to them, giving them not-so-subtle insults and cold shoulders—I couldn't stand by anymore! I have to do something!"
"By punching me?" she asked, her voice raising an octave.
"Sometimes," Andromeda cracked her knuckles. "Talking won't get you anywhere, fists do! And look, it worked. I got your attention; you're finally listening to me."
"You watched too many action movies, Andromeda!"
"Look who's talking! You read too many books about resentment and jealousy!"
Tosca stared for a moment and then shrugged. "That's fair."
Andromedaroughly pulled up a groaning Italian from the ground, not letting her glare waver. "Anyway, you should have more faith in Hana. If Professor Oakley and Althea learned to have faith in her, we must too. So stop being an asshole."
"Sure, but please do me a big favor."
"A big favor?" Andromedablanched.
"No, please, Andromeda, I know we haven't been on good terms lately. You're here to mend things and I'm seriously making it all about me. That punch was a good wake-up call, by the way. Remind me to never cross with you again."
"I'm weighing the options of punching you again. But most importantly, why would I do you a favor?"
"I'm sorry for how I have acted around you," she said, "I knew I'm a total jerk but I was just upset."
"I will have to stop you right there." Andromeda snarled, pointing a finger her way. "That's not how you apologize. Do it properly!"
After all that had been said, Tosca looked at her and finally understood. Her arms went around Andromeda's neck and she held Tosca back into her.
"I'm sorry," Tosca said in a remorseful voice
"It's all okay now," Andromeda said, wrapping her arms around her. "I forgive you."
Tosca flinched at the sudden contact. It took her a few moments to melt into the hug. They pulled away and looked into each other's eyes for a long moment.
"What's the big favor?"
Tosca smiled at her with lidded eyes. "Oh, you will see."
"What was the point of all that?" Althea asked as soon as she and Hana got to Professor Oakley. She had never been so angry her entire life. She agreed to join the silly competition to win with Hana. But fate was cruel enough—the lesson was cruel enough. "You knew I was going to win this completely alone. What was this about?"
"So by now, you have learned the hurtful truth." Professor Oakley said, sitting at one of the chairs.
She offered Hana and Althea to sit as well when they stormed back to the gazebo, absolutely fuming. But they refused for they were too upset.
"That those who were born with a name in the art world are often favored by people, that in a world where you are the minority, only one will emerge victoriously. The children's innocent and artistic spirits were the least of importance. Deep down, you both know children who retain their creativity become artists. Why would I teach you a redundant topic?"
Althea gulped, silenced by the truth and the tea spill.
"For you two to be able to have a chance to win that competition is for Hana to have a platform of her own. Hers must be distinct from yours; Miss Lancaster. The name Lancaster is from a long and illustrious line of incredibly powerful people who also happen to hold sway in the politics of the country. Due to this, being a daughter of that House, you are held to a higher standard by your peers and Professors. Meanwhile, Hana was born without resources and without a family name to back her up. We will build her platform along with her talent from here."
"What do you mean by platform exactly?" Hana raised a cautious hand.
Althea came to her rescue. "I believe you will learn about it next year, darling. She meant the ability to sell art because of who your name and who you are."
"Oh."
Professor Oakley's forehead creased in deep thought. "To have a platform, you have to have a brand. What kind of established significance do you aim to show to people, Miss Yoshida?"
"Umm," Hana mumbled. "I guess my brand is to show happiness through my paintings? I don't think I have a platform. I was hoping that the competition will give me the recognition."
"Participation does lead to certain recognition, which is good for forming your own platform. But, your goal to win is it not?"
Hana nodded.
"Participation is not enough then." Professor Oakley pushed her chair backward filling their ears with the jarring sound of the metal scraping on the floor. "In your training, I will help you create a name for yourself, you will also be able to take a wonderful photo out of an ordinary object, and you will have to learn how to paint as well. What occurred earlier serves as an electrified shock to reality, come this weekend, the real training begins."
"Thank you, Professor," Hana said. Her shoulders were still heavy with the heavy whiplash of reality. "But how can you be creative when everyone's breathing down your neck with all those rules, deadlines, and grades?"
"Everyone breathing down your neck is inevitable, Hana." Althea offered. "You have to find it within yourself to make them invisible."
Professor Oakley nodded. "She shares my thoughts, this one." She casually pointed to the blonde. "Oh, before I forget. I wrote letters for your Headmistress last night. I hope it will be delivered to her soon. If she agrees and permits me, come next weekend, I am free to take you on a weeklong excursion. Worry not my dears; I have a spare room in my cottage. But mind you, it is not soundproof and I would appreciate it much if you would not try anything."