Felicity was looking forward to her first day in the sixth form at Maple Park School. She would be studying Business Studies that would give her two a-levels and English. Her best friend Mia would be joining her. Lena and Eliza had decided to move on and would be attending college instead. She would still see them but it wouldn't be the same as being with them every day.
"Felicity, you're going to be late for school" Her Mum called from downstairs.
"Coming" Felicity answered as she looked at herself in the mirror. She wore a knee-length navy blue skirt with a white shirt, navy blue jumper and a blazer with the school logo on the front. She also wore black tights and a pair of black pumps.
When Felicity entered the kitchen, she saw her younger brother Teddy sitting at the table eating cereal from a bowl. He had his school uniform on. Teddy wore a pair of grey shorts, a white polo top and a red jumper. He also wore grey socks and black school shoes.
"Felicity, I'm going to big school," Teddy said. He seemed excited. "Are you coming to drop me to school? Please?"
"Teddy, I can't. It would make me late for school" Felicity replied, "Have a good day tho. I will see you later."
Felicity walked into the familiar school building and made her way to the sixth form area where she found Mia waiting. The head of the sixth form Mr Joans greeted all the students as they entered.
"Good Morning Felicity," Mr Joans said.
"Morning Sir" Felicity replied.
Mia smiled as she walked over to Felicity.
"It's good to be back," Mia said. "I've missed this place over the summer. The big stage, the lights and the acting."
"At least someone's happy" Felicity replied. "I don't see Robbie anywhere tho. I thought he was staying on."
"Oh, Robbie changed his mind. I think he's gone to college" Mia said. "Do you know what group you're in?"
"12D, what about you?" Felicity asked.
Oh, I'm in 12C," Mia replied. "I think it's because of the subjects we choose."
"Maybe," Felicity said. "I guess I will see you later."
Felicity found herself sitting next to Ben and another girl called Sinead. Ben had been in most of Felicity's classes last year and she had a crush on him but never got around to telling him. Sinead was a new student who came from a different school. She had pale skin with freckles, long blonde hair and blue eyes. Felicity had to admit that Sinead was pretty.
Felicity sat though the usual teacher introductions and lecturers about what the school expected of them during the year and then spent her free lesson in the school library.
"Mind if I join you?" Sinead asked.
"Actually, I was just leaving," Felicity said as she picked her things up. "Maybe another time."
"Ok then," Sinead replied.
Felicity left the library and went to find Mia.
In another part of the school, two special guests had arrived for a tour. One of them was a 15-year-old boy called Joseph Collinford. The other was his father, William. Over the years, the Collinford family had donated money to the school to improve the range of after school activities on offer.
Joseph didn't understand why he had to attend with his dad. He should have been at school.
"As I mentioned earlier, the money was used to buy new equipment for the school and fund a new club, The chess club which has been popular with some of our younger students." Mr Milton said as he showed them a classroom, the tables were joined together and two students sat opposite each other, in the middle of a game.
"That's great news. I'm glad that we could help." Joseph's dad said. "I'm sure Joseph would like to play a game if that's ok with you."
"Of course. No trouble. Ethan could you be Joseph's opponent for me please" Mr Milton said. "Mr Collinford and I are going to talk in my office about financial matters."
Ethan and Joseph sat at one of the tables and started to play a friendly game of chess. Joseph often played chess with his dad and he enjoyed it. It was the only time he got to spend alone with his dad. His sister Mary liked to be the centre of attention. Ethan proved to be a very good player and Joseph got annoyed so he deiced to cheat by moving more than one piece during his next go.
"You can't do that. It's cheating" Ethan said.
"I can" Joseph replied.
"Nobody want's to play with a cheat," Ethan said.
"Fine. You won't mind if I take this then" Joseph said as he took Ethan's King from the board and stormed out the room.
The window in the unknown location opened and Firefly stood in the light.
"In every game, there are rules but sometimes it pays to break the rules," Firefly said as he tapped one of the fireflies with his wand and sent it out.
Joseph walked towards the headteacher's office, he was annoyed that Ethan saw him as a cheat. Maybe he went a bit too far this time. The Dark Firefly entered the king that he had in his hand.
"Chess Master, I'm Firefly. You want to play chess with your rules well I can make that happen. I will give you the power to make London one big chessboard. In return, you will bring me Wolfette and Tawny Owl's Miraculous."
"I will be the best Chess player in the world," Joseph said as he turned into Chess Master. As Chess Master, Joseph wore a black and white patterned tunic with a long red robe. The King piece turned into a staff.
Chess Master made his way back to the classroom and walked in. He didn't knock.
"Since you won't play with me, Ethan, you will have the honour of being the first piece in my collection," Chess Master said.
Ethan didn't have a chance to react Chess Master used his staff to turn him into a Knight.
He then turned the other people in the room into other pieces from the chess set.
Felicity walked home from school with Mia.
"You're telling me that you sat next to Ben for most of the day and you didn't tell him your true feelings," Mia said.
"I don't know how to tell him and I'm scared that he only sees me as a friend," Felicity said. "Maybe we are better just being friends."
"The two of you are made for each other. It will work out in the end" Mia said but Felicity wasn't listening. She was looking at something on her phone. A few weeks ago the government brought out an app so that people could report sightings of Dark Firefly Villians. It was more of a safety app as people knew when to stay away. Photos showed the ground outside The Shard covered in black and white tiles.
"Mia, I just remembered that Mum wanted me to pick Teddy up from school today," Felicity said.
"That's ok. I'll see you tomorrow" Mia said as she watched Felicity leave.
Felicity transformed and made her way towards the scene.
"I've never been a fan of chess. The game can take hours to play" Tawny Owl said.
"Maybe but this person doesn't look bored yet" Felicity added. "It seems like he can turn people into chess pieces with his staff, I bet the dark firefly is in the staff as well."
"You can't force people to play chess," Tawny Owl said.
"That's where you're wrong. These people have no choice, I make them play my game because no one wanted to play with me," Chess Master replied. "Firefly said that I could win"
"Firefly is lying, anything he promises is a lie," Felicity said. "Please give me the staff. It's not right to make people suffer."
"No," Chess Master said as he aimed the staff at Felicity. "Now you will become part of my game,"
"I don't think so," Tawny Owl said as he blocked Felicity from getting hit, he got turned into a bishop. Felicity didn't like it when Tawny Owl took hits for her but he would always say that she was the only one that could set things right after.
"If you want to play chess so badly then I'll play a game with you."
"Fine" Chess Master said. "Let me explain the rules."
Eventually, Felicity decided that it was time to end the game and return things to normal. While Chess Master was thinking about his next move, Felicity used her whip to take the staff from Chess Master.
"No, you did that on purpose," Chess Master said as he watched Felicity step on the staff, freeing the dark firefly.
"I free you from evil," Felicity said as she touched the dark firefly with her whip. The dark firefly turned to dust and then disappeared. The people that had been turned into game pieces turned back to normal, with no memory of what had happened to them.
Joseph looked around him, taking in his surroundings.
"How did I get here?" Joseph asked.
"Firefly turned you into one of his minions but it's ok now," Felicity said. Tawny Owl waved at Felicity and disappeared. He was already in enough trouble with his father and didn't want it to get worse.
Joseph smiled at the young hero and then walked away. He needed to find Ethan and apologize for what he did. It was the right thing to do.
Ben got into Luka's car and they drove away from the school.
"You're late. I've been waiting for here for 45 minutes," Luka said. "Your tutor is waiting for you at home."
"I had to stay behind and speak to the teacher," Ben said. He didn't want to tell his step-brother that he had been turned into a chess piece by one of Fireflies minions. "Did Dad want to talk to me?"
"He's still working but he said that he would make time to talk to you at the weekend," Luka said.
Ben sighed as Luke pulled up outside the house. He didn't understand why he needed a tutor. It was only the first day back at school. His father didn't understand that Ben had no interest in sitting the entrance exam for Cambridge University the following year. He wanted to be free to choose if he went to University or not.
Note: Chess Master was suggested by a Guest user. I had fun using the idea for this character.
I've been really bad at updating this story but I'm going to try and work on it.