Emma’s own chess pieces where tucked into her school satchel and she fished out the white pieces and they took their places on the board. They had belonged to her father, who had given her his old set at Christmas when he had received some beautiful new ones. The pieces didn’t seem pleased by it and their disquieted was rather evident in their movements. She directed her her Kings knight to move F3, it was her favourite opening move, her uncle had told her it was a ‘Kings Indian’ opening, or at least she thought it was, honestly she just liked the name. The little figure shuffled to his spot, leaning idly over the mane of his horse, as though he might fall off.

She beamed rather proudly at the mention of the summer because boy did she have big plans! ’I’m going to help my uncle in his book shop’ she explained, Emma loved showing off the steady stream of books she received from her uncle, and more often than not she could be found by the fire place devouring one or other of them. The book she had been reading before the match was on domestic cat care, and that was another of her big plans. ’Mother said I can get a kitten if I show her I’m responsible’ she explained trying rather hard to seem very grown up as, ’So I shall be back next year with my own cat!’ her voice was almost a squeal as she finished relaying her news. She didn’t have a pet and the prospect of her own cat was almost too much for her to bear.

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