Tension. Writhing tension filled the space between the four of them. Jessica looked to Valerie, Valerie looked to Shannon, Shannon looked to Beth, and Beth looked to Jessica, their faces illuminated by a dim ceiling lamp in the center of the room. The drive of war lessened their usual amelioration towards one another, replacing it with competitive fuel. But who would move against who next? This was the question pricking their anxiety, elevating every additional ounce of animosity to be mustered. The next cascade of events would be determined by Beth.

Jessica leered in all directions, debating which of her so-called friends would be next to betray her. Caressing the red tie of her school uniform, she pondered, considered, then wrapped the slim cloth around her hands in anticipation of punching someone. Her eyes glared left.

There was Valerie, with the nerve to grin after all she had done in such a short span of time. With her black mascara, dark eyes flashing the fires of Hell's ninth ring, her hands rested ponderously on her denim pants, occasionally moving to fix the laces of her leather corset. That Jo Jett style hair was hiding sinister intent deep inside the Mexican brain.

But then her gaze zoomed across to Shannon, a girl who wanted to prove something... with those pink yoga pants and that slim t-shirt. If her brain was prone to as much fitness as her body, she would easily make a worthy opponent. Combined with a perfect poker face, it was a deadly combination. Jessica would, nevertheless, have to wait and see.

Beth. She could tell when Beth was trying to fool someone. All she had to do was act old. Sure she was old, but she never acted old. So when her old friend grinned and said, "I fancy myself a noob in this scenario," she knew right away that the old woman was sputtering bullshit of the highest degree. Catching her, on the other hand, that was a different task. The old lady was trying to be cute by wearing the RWBY  t-shirt she bought her months back, a sentimental attempt to bring Jessica's guard down – The shirt emblazoned the 'Ice Queen's' silhouette below the old lady's wrinkly grin. Appropriate, considering the act was ice cold.

Between and equidistant to them, on the rosewood table of four chairs, lay a holographic display of Chinese Checkers. Madness. Pure madness. 

Marbles were scattered across the board. Valerie had the least amount of marbles in play, but Jessica looked to Shannon's lines that were scattered in two different directions, while Beth's and her own pieces rested on the verge of crossing each other. The old lady could attack Shannon, a move that would grant Valerie the upper hand over at least one person. Since Jessica had the most pieces, she would settle for her losing a few. Suddenly, to the rush of everyone's blood circulation, Beth began her move.

It was swift; it was precise; it was ruthless. In one maneuver, her marbles dispatched piece after piece from all three sides. No one understood why or how such a coordinated attack could happen. But Jessica knew. She knew all along. It's why she arranged her pieces to cushion the extent of destruction to her side.

"Hija de puta!" exclaimed Valerie, on the verge of flipping the table.

"Hey! Hey!" calmed Shannon. "It's just a game!" —turning to Beth—"You done fucked up, though."

Beth reservedly withdrew, lifting her hands in guilty surrender. "It seems I have taken you two by surprise. Although it's all in good fun, I did not mean to upset you with my playstyle. Beginner's luck, I guess." Then, when her gaze drifted to Jessica, she noticed the school girl leering at her with competitive animosity. "Something wrong, Jess?"

But Jessica's eyes shot her with eyes like to a scorned cat, squinting at the old woman's smile. "I see right through you," she said sourly. "I'm coming at you like Rohan at Pelennor, old lady!"

"I'm sorry?"

"You heard me!"

Beth covered her mouth with a lasting giggle, her endearing grin quickly returning. "Sounds like someone's ready for the smackdown."

Both Shannon and Valerie's mouths burst wide open, and their eyes beamed in surprise. Valerie stood from her chair. "Oh! Oh! Oh! Sinister granny just revealed herself!" she exclaimed.

"She was playing us the whole time!" Shannon shouted. "The whole time!"

"You two were fools!" Jessica remarked. "Fools! I never fell for it. I see the dagger in that smile and say screw you, MacBeth! No me estás engañando, vieja! You're up against Kirk now, Khan!"

Several minutes passed while the four of them strived to overtake one another. Row after parallel row of marbles intersected and reigned havoc. It quickly became a close game, with stress levels peaking near the end of their desperate maneuvers. Jessica saw how Beth kept peeking at her, gauging her expression, searching for weaknesses.

Valerie performed a move that left Shannon glaring with bitter surprise. "I am aware of the fact that we met recently," Shannon formally stated, "but maybe we're at the point where I can smack you."

"I understand where you're coming from," Valerie cordially replied. "I welcome it. I don't always get to slap an ass in yoga pants."

Shannon's lips slipped into a wolfish grin. "Come at me, baby, I'm gonna enjoy this!"

"It is not good sportsmanship to talk in such ways!" interjected Beth. "If you really want to prove a point, you have to sit down, engage your rival respectfully, and utterly humiliate them." Again, Beth met eyes with Jessica, and Jessica leered, pointing two fingers from her eyes to Beth's.

After many "Oh's" and "Ah's," Valerie eventually succumbed and surrendered to Jessica's marbles. Springing from her seat, she griped in frustration, "Grr! You guys are messed up!"

"Learn from your mistakes, Padawan," said Jessica. "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate means you need to git gud."

"Bang! Bang!" blew Shannon.

"Whatever, mmkay? I'm not even tripping right now." Valerie walked around the table and stopped by Beth's countertop, where a box of Tacquizza pizza rested. After helping herself to a slice, she sauntered back to the table, wondering who would lose next.

"You may want to go easy on the pizza, dear," Beth remarked disconcertedly. "Pizza is for winners."

"Bang! Bang!" blew Shannon.

And a few moves later, Shannon suffered from the combined onslaught of Beth and Jessica. "You know what?" she started, shaking her head, "I ain't even mad. I wasn't the first to go."

"Keep acting like you're not dead inside," Valerie said from the counter. "If it makes you feel better."

"You still eating pizza?"

"No!" Valerie put the slice back in the box.

"Everything she eats goes to one place, anyway!" said Jessica. 

  Shannon snickered, staring at Valerie's chest. "You'd think so."  

After a prolonged exchange of leers, Jessica and Beth resumed their one-on-one match. 

"Your move," said Jessica.

"Very well," the old lady replied.

Jessica paid close attention to Beth's every maneuver, every cock of the eye, every stroke of the fingers, every change of face. She was a worthy rival who proved adept at masking intent. 

"Your move," Beth said.

Jessica gauged the field of scattered marbles, contemplating the old lady's strategy. Not much time passed before she deduced a plan of attack. After analyzing the pattern, she reacted with meticulous moves, inception to an attack Beth could not expect.

Shannon and Valerie witnessed the brutal execution. Beth watched helplessly as the field slowly cleared, Jessica erasing her units in optimal maneuvers across the hexagram. "Mother of David!" she cried. 

And after all was said and done, Jessica laid her last marble, the teenaged admiral felt indomitable in stating, "All your base are belong to us, old lady!"

Silence. Dropped jaws. Everyone cautiously reared their eyes. Valerie stared at Jessica, Jessica looked at Shannon, Shannon stared at Beth, and Beth disbelievingly stared at Jessica. "You sunk my battleship!" she remarked. Quickly, however, her smile returned. Its genuine warmth made Jessica smile back. They stared each other, riling into giggles that marked the end of their match.

Jessica shot up from her seat. "Bam, losers! Take a side of sorrow with your pizza!"

"Hey!" Shannon protested, "You've got an unfair advantage with that freaky brain of yours, girl! You're always three moves ahead!"

"Yea, you nerd!" Valerie jeered. "And congratulations on beating an old lady!"

"I'm sorry, what?" said Jessica, holding out her ear. "I'm not fluent in the language of loser!"

"I take it back, Valerie," said Shannon, "Jess is the girl I need to smack!"

"No one's smacking anyone, Shannon!" exclaimed Beth. "As you have just witnessed, she's already laid the smackdown. Best thing is to accept and move on."

"Fine! Your wise words have not fallen on deaf ears, Beth Sensei. But now that I got the hang of this, I might—" Shannon stopped mid-sentence to observe Jessica making L signs with her fingers, two dancing hands spelling out Loser right in front of her face. But she maintained her cool and breathed in. "Master taught me self-control. I can get through this."

"And my mother taught me chingasos!" rejoined Valerie. She vaulted over the table and grabbed Jessica in a headlock.

"My hair!"

"Are you thinking about your life decisions, now?"

"I regret nothing!" She struggled to break free from Valerie's smooth arm, but could not avoid the pulverizing scent of strawberry perfume. Fortunately, Valerie did not have the tightest grip. They were simply making a scene at this point.

"Yo, this ain't your home!" said Shannon. "Quit the malarkey!"

Valerie winced. "This girl just say malarkey?"

Then Jessica broke free. Standing upright, straightening her skirt, and breathing in. "Truce. Sorry about that, Beth."

"It's cool," Beth said from the comfort of her seat. "I was young once. Time passed before I learned how to lose with grace."

Shannon laughed.

"Ouch, granny!" said Valerie. "I felt that."

"As long you as you remember when you're having fun, and keep having fun. That's worth everything, and why I enjoy having the three of you visit... Funny thing about age, it fast-forwards your sense of time. Everything just breezes by. Flashes of what was real, that's what memory is, the unreal returning in variation."

Beth had transitioned into full-blown speech mode. Neither Valerie, Shannon, nor Jessica minded. In fact, they all sat back down.

"Regrets only come with mistakes, and mistakes only reach you with time. If one is inevitable, so are the rest. I have plenty of my own mistakes, but I have literally stepped into the fire and stepped back out. Think of the fire as the present; you're not thinking about what came before; you're facing down what's in front of you and whatever comes next, whether or not your shaking, bruised,  or uncertain. In those moments, I had no guarantees or thoughts of what would come next. Here I am." Beth stared at each of the girls' faces, their thoughtful sobriety. "I am lucky," she continued, her wizened blue eyes falling on Jessica's. "The only way you hack life is by living presently."

Beth amicably walked the girls outside of Pine Rime Hovels. Kids still played in the nearby park. Once under the evening moon, Valerie and Shannon waved their affectionate goodbyes, electing to take the tram together. Jessica's destination, however, lay a shorter distance away and in the opposite direction. She was about ready to leave when Beth questioned her. 

"When did you get that?" She pointed to the Gravity Board under Jessica's arm.

"I made it!" she said proudly. "Well, after I got my hands on the right parts!"

"That's amazing! How did you go about doing that?"

"Got a job. Bet you'll never guess where!"

Beth smiled. "You going to make me guess? It was new for her, seeing Jessica out of her shell. A senior in high school now, she had come a long way from reclusion. It was worth seeing through. 

"You probably won't have to pay for tacos and pizza anymore," Jessica mused, rocking her hips.

Beth laughed. "Does that mean you'll be standing at my door with a different uniform?"

"Probability: one-hundred percent!"

"So I guess you don't have to worry about transportation anymore?"

"Not one bit!"

"To a university?"

Jessica's chin lazily stooped over her shoulder. "Thinking about it..."

"You don't even know if you're attending..." said Beth, staring concernedly at the teenager. "There it is! When your eyes widen like so, they're so much like a lynx cat."

"Lynx, huh?"

"So what are your plans, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Interesting offers have come my way. I still have time to think about them, but I may go solo after finishing school. Do you happen to know anything about Goliath?"

"I know how King David defeated him with just a rock and sling."

"Hahaha! We'll see things work out. You don't have to worry, Beth."

"No, I don't."

"Alright," Jessica crowed, "I'll see you again, soon. Take care."

"You, too. Aufweirdesehen, homegirl."

"McFly!" Jessica hopped on the gravity board, swiveling as if still unused to the motion.

"I get the reference," Beth snickered. 

"Tehee."

Jessica wore her goggles before delivering a final, energetic salute. Headphones on, she kicked away from the descending sun, and Beth watched her slow disappearance around the pines.

"Shuffle, Babel." 

As bliss began to play in her ears, Jessica glanced back one last time. The environing leaves hovered and impressed upon the wind an abstract dance. Listening, witness to nature's melody before the disappearance of Beth and Pine Rim, she looked forward to the next day.