The Rules of the Game

It was all just a game, a bit of harmless fun. Where did we cross the line and everything just go spiraling out of control? Like any game it had it’s rules. Granted they were unspoken rules, but they were rules nonetheless. Number one: No one gets hurt and Number Two: Nothing but harmless fun. But like any other game it changed over time to something twisted and malicious.

When Aroma Freeley first arrived she was so bright eyed and cheery. Her uniform was immaculate, her skirt exactly ten centimeters above the knee, shoes polished to perfection and small rimmed glasses that she constantly pushed up her small nose. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a tight bun and the only thing marring her perfect appearance, was the few wispy strands of hair that had escaped. When Tatiana offered to take her under her wing her dark eyes shone with excitement and anticipation.

For the entire day we spent our time getting to know Aroma. She was as smart as was implied by her appearance, she took the usual suicide five, as well as extra lessons of music and Japanese outside of school. Everything about her screamed out “I’m the perfect student!” I just wanted to hang her outside by her hair. Gretchin had been just as confused as I with Tatiana’s offer. In her own fumbling sort of way I’m sure Gretchin felt as I did, that Tat was done with us, replacing us her loyal friends after many years of loyal, devoted friendship.

Tat’s plans soon became clear as the following day she began ordering Aroma around. It started off as small things, getting us drinks and ‘helping’ us do our homework, but in merely a week she had her wrapped around her little finger. Aroma became our plaything, the pranks she had to do to prove herself to us grew ever the more cruel. Although at the time it seemed harmless.
First we had her cut Richelle Brimbley’s hair as she walked past her on the school bus. We redeemed ourselves to Aroma by telling her how smug Richelle had been when she had answered a question in physics before she had. Course Richelle had bawled her eyes out but no one saw anything on that crowded bus.

Next she spread gossip about Ms. Claytish about how she supposedly hit on some of the girls. Before to long it was all over school and Ms. Claytish was called in for a ‘chat’. I was rather pleased at that, as the previous week she had called Tat’s art ‘derivative’.  
The list of pranks grew longer as the weeks progressed. Months passed and the days slowly merged into one. However that day will always stand out so clearly in my mind. How could it not? That day our whole lives changed and all because of one stupid game of soccer between the four of us.


The ball soared over our heads landing with a thud on top of the church spirals. Tat cast an eagle eye over the church before commanding Aroma over to her.

“Reckon you could get our ball back?” she asked, lazily swinging her arm across the smaller girls shoulders. “We’d be ever so grateful,” Aroma’s eyes darted across from our faces to the towering spiral.

“I-I could never!” she replied stuttering and trying to weasel out of Tat’s iron grip. “Heights s-s-care me,” Tat let out a cackle.

“Well you have to face your fears sometime soon! Besides, after this I think you could be a full-fledged member of our group,” Gretchin and I quickly nodded our agreement and I could see Aroma’s resolve weakening. “No more drinks, no more pranks, just one of the gang,” Tat replied smoothing Aroma’s hair with one hand.

“But it’s dangerous!” Aroma replied, still not quite sounding confident.

“You’ve done rock climbing before right?” Aroma nodded. “It’s just like that, only less rocky,” Tat’s voice was cool and comforting. “Claudia and I have done it. Even Gretchin did once,” she turned and winked at us and once again we nodded our agreement. Aroma took several deep breaths, clearly stabilizing herself before she nodded. The three of us let out a cheer and led her inside to the second story, leading her to the window that was always left open.

“You can climb out threw here,” I said, unlocking the latch. “Then it’s just a matter of swinging yourself out onto the gutter,” Aroma meekly agreed and stepped out onto the ledge, reaching up and pulling herself out onto the top of the roof. The three of us stuck our heads out the window, observing her as she knelt on the roof, reaching out with one hand to clasp the ball. My nostrils flared as Tatiana’s perfume wafted into my nostrils, Acqua Di Gio by Amani.

Aroma let out a triumphant cheer as she held the ball out to us but before the cry had finished a large gust of wind blew and it was caught on the wind.

“Hurry up and get in here!” Tat called out to her, as commanding as ever. Aroma nodded and slowly began to slide down towards the open window but just before she was in reaching distance, she slipped. She balanced on the edge for a few moments before falling to the ground with a sickening crash. As she fell she had reached out for us, but none of us had reacted quickly enough and now, lying at an impossible angle, her arm still reached out to us.


It’s strange how much our game had changed. It was meant as a bit of harmless fun, yet somewhere along the way it had escalated to a horrid twist of manipulation, slavery and tragedy. We broke every rule of the game. ‘No one get’s hurt’… ha! We broke that for sure! Aroma’s twisted corpse lying mangled at our feet is proof of that. ‘Nothing but harmless fun,’ all our actions could hardly be considered harmless. The poor girl whom Tat ordered Aroma to cut her hair was a crying wreck, not to mention Ms. Claytish’s reputation.

Aroma was not without her own retribution. Our faces are all over the media. Tat can no longer complain her face isn’t getting enough media attention. Our parent’s companies have had an onslaught of boycotts, our school expelled us, our parent’s practically disowned us, and our lives have been ruined. All because of one simple game and the two rules we couldn’t follow.