Checkmate - Chapter 5: Chapter 5

"Wahhhhhh!" Hana's cries were definitely a sound Althea never wanted to hear again.
Althea hoped it was just crocodile tears but sometimes wishes as mediocre as this, were unfulfilled considering it was her fault, to begin with.
A tinge of guilt nestled into her heart, buried deep. But a deal was a deal, they shook hands on it.
Joshua leaned closer to his childhood friend and whisper. "If a police officer happens to see us, I'll tell him this is your fault."
Althea dismissed his opinions as she held out her hand once more to display sportsmanship and the brunette took it more boldly than she had expected.
"Good game!" Hana congratulated her but she was vividly upset about losing.
It was a warm sensation when their hands met. As consented, Hana handed her the DSLR which contained her most prized photos. Althea went to the DSLR's gallery.
Hana's mouth went agape when she saw that Althea knows how to operate them.
Althea relished how Hana's easy to impress. She wouldn't tell the Japanese nor Joshua that she once was an avid hobbyist photographer. Childhood dreams often die when duty was shoved into a child's life. That's the bitter truth.
When her sight landed on the photos, her eyes slowly widened.
Althea took the time to stare at Hana's hard work. The photos were definitely something. Hana has the potential, but somehow it could be done better with more practice. It was peculiar, Althea thought. She was told that the subjects of the photos were her and Joshua but when she glanced at the photos closely, the photographer has her eyes on Althea.
"You're so snoopy and mean!" Hana gritted her teeth.
When Althea reached the part of the gallery where Hana was randomly picturing things, now she understood why the girl's failing. Hana's an amateur photographer. She shoots for pleasure, to experiment with her inner visual abilities and expression. Whereas working under a professional photographer changes that. It means Hana's now in responsibility to preserve memories of events that occur once in a lifetime and she has no excuse to do that badly. And the pressure of the responsibility ridicules her creative side.
"A deal's a deal," she said, looking back at the shorter girl.
"Stop looking at it if you're just going to delete them all!" Hana crossed her arms.
Althea's mind could not stay away from the cuteness the Japanese girl conveyed through her pouting. "You have to forgive me for staring. It's not every day I get a glimpse of that beautiful photography work of yours, though you do need proper guidance and training."
"You happen to be proud at that, don't you Althea?" Joshua bantered, raising his eyebrows insistently. "You fell to vanity as most young girls do."
"As if you do not, if ever you are most vain between the two of us." Althea dismissed as she proceeded to finish her business with Hana's DSLR.
In a few seconds, Althea's concerned eyes laid on Hana as she was seized with pity and haunting silence.
"I apologize," Althea said. "You are unaccustomed to this sort of thing. People must be patient with you to fully see your potential."
Blinking and bleary-eyed, Hana gasped at hearing the last two words. Her ears perched up to listen, staring back at Althea with her dark red eyes glittered with emotions.
"I want to assure you that I find no pleasure in making you cry." She continued.
"Do you really think I have the potential?" she said almost in sobs.
Althea nodded back with a smile. "I commend you for your vision. Your eyes for things are definitely beautiful."
"I think you are beautiful," Hana agreed, inching herself closer. "You don't have to be modest about it."
Althea and Hana were brought out of reverie when Joshua's whistling of a 1980's love song permeated the air.
"Shall we go, you daft chatterbox?" Althea grimaced, handing the camera back to Hana's hands.
"Isn't it rude to leave a girl from a far-off distant land in the east all by herself?"
Althea stared back at Hana and once more their eyes interlock.
Joshua knew it would take another couple of minutes of staring between the two of them before something happens so he took the liberty to invite her. "Do you want a ride?"
"Hana!"
They heard a rather shy commanding voice and their heads craned towards the source to find a quirky young woman with glasses approaching them.
"There you are!" She looked like she broke a sweat as she searched for the Japanese girl and her voice was laced with urgency. "Professor Kavanagh had just called me. She needs your photos right now!"
There was something familiar about the woman in the way she permeated somewhat anxious authority. When she was able to catch her breath, she finally had the chance to gaze upon Althea and Joshua. She instantly recognized them.
"Lady  Lancaster and Lord Cohen!" she gasped, her face horrified, and desiring no trouble. "Oh my apologies!" she bowed down and reached for Hana's head and pushed her down to bow with her. "Please excuse this girl for whatever troubles she may have caused."
Althea shifted her weight to her other leg with a little smile, realizing that the older woman was Hana's adviser. "Put your mind at ease, professor. We settled any mess." She turned to face Hana, hands on her hips, but she did not seem displeased, "Until we meet again, Hana."
The ride back to the academy was pure dread for Hana. She didn't have the energy to get off the car and to head towards the faculty room. Professor Andrea, being a kind and doting teacher, cooed her to get out of the vehicle and trust that the remaining photos in her camera are great enough to sway the threads of fate.
Hana smiled for the sake of her teacher's positivity. But as they went on their way, it does not take much to get Hana riled up again. The positivity became contagious and soon, Hana's all fired up to show Professor Kavanagh her remaining photos.
Once they arrived at the faculty, Hana and Professor Andrea stood shoulder to shoulder, heading towards the Photography teacher's desk.
This is it. Excitement and fear raced through her.
"Here they are, professor!" Hana handed her DSLR.
"About time, you two," Professor Kavanagh swung her chair, pressing the button with her thumb as she moved through the selections in the camera, scrutinizing every detail of the photos.
Hana's heartbeat hammered inside her chest, faster with every click. The faculty room was so quiet that she's sure the whole staff inside had heard it.
"Hanako Yoshida," she deadpanned once she finished.
"Yes, ma'am?"
Professor Kavanagh combed her hair with her fingers in frustration. "Never in my life had I met such a student with your lack of talent. Nothing's changed with your work! The location may have been different but the angles, the perspective, and the settings? They are the same. It's still plain old boring!"
Her face contorted into a sad puppy face, sighing deeply with all the thoughts of her parents' sacrifices and her own ending up on a waste. "Ahh, I knew it. Why did I even bother?"
"—except for the last photo." Her eyes locked on the screen with laser focus.
"The last photo?" Hana breathed the quietest sigh of relief imaginable. Her hands were shaking too.
Professor Kavanagh grinned and showed it to her. "This photo..." She began, struggling to find words. "It shows that you genuinely care about this girl winning her chess match!"
Hana saw the last photo she took of the blonde girl with green summits of towering mountains stood as their backdrop. It was the one where Althea felt like she was in charge of everything. Hana remembered what she thought of Althea back then. It was some sort of a womanly, egoistic pride; smiling as a mere thought of winning against her chess rival crossed her mind. Althea seemed like she had never been the type to brag about her abilities and knowledge, but somehow nothing seemed to be the same when she delivered the final move and defeated Joshua.
"There was some sort of attraction you had the instance your eyes laid on her and now you have captured the moment with a camera." Professor Kavanagh started, breathing heavily, air whistling through her nose and out her mouth. "The girl's smug smile, her elegant posture, her shattered enemy, and the background made everything seem like you were staring at a life-size postcard! This is an awesome moment you have captured!"
"Wow, Professor," Hana awed, lips curling into a lopsided smile. "You managed to know what happened when the photo was taken."
"Hana, a good photograph has good communication. The viewer has to receive what the photo speaks and conveys. The most complex the message, the better! Now that you know what quality content is; however, you need to work on the technicalities and aesthetic of your photos."
"And how will I do that?"
"Hanako, have you been sleeping in my class?" Professor Kavanagh asked, feeling as if all her efforts were in vain. "We've talked about it! You better start on your photoshoot now, because you're definitely in."
"YATTA!" Hana screamed, slipping into Japanese. She ignored the solemn stares and glares thrown at her by the other professors present in the room. "Yay!"
"But—"
"Eh?" Hana's head spun and immediately became momentarily unbalanced at the possible consequence.
"I want you to continue capturing photos of this girl for your photo line."
"Oh mon Dieu," Professor Andrea interrupted, urging her to sway from her decision. "But Professor Kavanagh, Althea  Lancaster is a—"
"Hana's a friend of the  Lancaster girl, isn't she? She wouldn't be able to have her consent if not?"
"Umm... hehe," Hana's voice raised an octave higher, refusing to narrate the details. "It's a long story, professor."
"I see," the woman with braided hair slammed her palms on her table, pleased with herself. "So it won't be a problem to go ask her again. I insist you ask her to become your model."
Hana's shoulders hunched down, taking it to the heart that fulfilling her dream to become a professional photographer like Shiny Andromeda meant that she would have to meet with Althea  Lancaster again.
"Gee Hana," Fallon said, swiping the greases on her fingers on a spare tissue. "I didn't know you had to go all through that."
Hana recounted the hectic day she had to her dormmates as they mulled things over a delivered pizza in their cramped dorm. Like her, Fallon and Liezel all came from outside the country just to study at Neos Athens University.
"As you can see, a believing heart is my magic!" Hana raised her pizza slice and the melted cheese threatened to fall on the floor. She placed her pizza-free fist on her chest.
"One more Andromeda reference and I'll force you to make an Andromeda reference jar." Liezel snarled as she poured an ominous purple sauce onto her pizza.
"Oh don't you dare!" She pointed the tip of her pizza to the girl with one visible eye. "Then that means you have to make a Mushroom reference jar too!"
"We're getting off-topic," Fallon asked, patting her full stomach. "Who were those strangers you met in the park yesterday, Hana?"
"Eh?" Hana asked. She tilted her head sideways trying to recollect the names that slipped her mind, unbeknownst to her that Liezel was pouring the same purple sauce on her pizza. "I believe their names were Althea and Joshua."
Fallon decided to stay quiet on Liezel's pranks, knowing that the purple sauce was merely made out of mushroom juice.
"You didn't get their last names?" Liezel asked with a weird grin, successful on her mischievous mission.
"They might have mentioned it but I forgot."
"Wait..." Fallon pondered for a while then gasped, fixing her gaze on Liezel. "Could they be?"
"You know them, Fallon?" Hana caught on.
"Hana," Fallon fished for her phone inside her skirt's pocket and worked her way through the screen, typing. "By any chance, would they be..." she showed her the University's official website, "...Althea  Lancaster and Joshua Cohen?"
Hana stared at the online news and decided not to even read a word on the article and just went on to identify the two natives. "Oh yeah, it's them why?"
"Hana!" Fallon exasperated, she clasped her hands together, her eyes widened behind the lenses of her glasses. "I can't believe you didn't know them! Haven't you been updating yourself with the university's news?"
"Hey!" Hana crossed her arms; her pizza became a victim of playful gestures. "I knew they were Neos Athens Students too. What's the big deal?"
"The big deal, Hana, is that they are both the heirs of their respective prestigious family names! Althea's in our batch and Joshua's a year before us! Both are running for Valedictorians and they are the most sought-after individuals in the whole school and whole the country!"
"Eh? Why?"
Fallon narrowed her eyes unbelievably at the Japanese girl. "Which part of elite nobles didn't you understand? Don't you have a Royal Family back in Japan?"
Before Hana could retort that the Japanese Emperor and his Imperial Family planned to abdicate the throne, so she really couldn't grasp the British Monarchy.
Liezel interfered, her razor-sharp teeth escaped from their hiding place. "So what, they have the blood of colonial Englishmen? I agree with Hana on this one, Fallon. Having blueblood isn't that big of a deal."
"Yabai yo!" Hana threw the pizza back to her plate, making an outburst unlike any other. For the first time, the consequence of her choice was devastatingly clear. "Does that mean I can't ask her to be my model?"
Liezel's face lost its hard lines, her jaw-dropping at hearing such a pathetic belief. "You were seriously considering that?"
Hana's face lighted up, her entire body tensed with excitement. "How do I ask a girl leagues away from me to be my model?"
There was an awkward silence gnawing between the three of them. Fallon decided to refrain from voicing out the negative thoughts and Liezel's ludicrous face caused her to raise her elbows and hands, shrugging, and with all sarcasm in her being finally materializing into one snarky suggestion.
"Why don't you try your usual Hana approach?"
"Yes, you're right!" Hana's eyes shone brighter than anyone's tomorrow, she balled her fingers into a fist, as if gripping into a rope that she would use to climb a high mountain peak. "I wouldn't know unless I try!"
"What?" Fallon massaged her temples, fearing an upcoming headache would swarm over them like an unwanted avalanche. "Liezel! Don't give her any stupid ideas!"
"I didn't. She thought that one on her own."