Alyona looks at her reflection in the full-length mirror on her closet door. Her school uniform was proper, and everything was within the rules the school had about how students were supposed to be dress. She couldn’t wait to see her boyfriend at school.

“Come on sis, Gina is outside waiting for us.” Silvia sticks her head in her older sisters’ bedroom.

Ever since Julia and Gina moved out with their family, the house has been kind of quiet. Her father and mother had been disappointed at first, but later realized how nice it was to only have four kids in the house instead of ten and their pets.

“Okay, I’m coming.” Alyona grabs her book bag and purse and heads downstairs.

Their aunt Christmas was already at school, so they were catching a ride with Gina. Alyona and Silvia rush out to Gina’s hummer. When they get in, only Haylee was in the Hummer.

“Gina, where is Arabella?” Silvia was curious where Gina’s daughter was.

“She’s home sick today.” Gina had stayed up late with her daughter after she had thrown up several times during the night.

Arnold was taking her to the doctor’s this morning. She was supposed to meet up with him after she dropped everyone off at school. She was going to take Arabella with her to work and let her rest on the sofa in her office while she worked. Because Arnold couldn’t stay home and watch her. He had a few cases in court that he had to be at.

“I hope she feels better.” Haylee liked Arabella.

Her and Arabella were around the same age and she was like a sister to her. She slides over to let Alyona sit next to her, while Silvia takes the passenger seat.

“She will Haylee.” Gina looks at her youngest niece in the rearview mirror.

“Okay, I’m all buckled in sis.” Silvia looks at Gina.

“Good, let's get you girls to school. Oh, Christmas is bringing you home. So, after your classes and clubs. Go find Christmas.” Gina still
couldn’t believe that one of their childhood friends had been a closeted lesbian.

She knew Julia was one and couldn’t blame her for being one. After what they experience, she almost was willing to go down that path. However, the moment she met and saw Arnold, she knew he was the one for her.

It doesn’t take Gina long to take the girls to school and drop them off. Before she pulls off “you girls behave yourself and stay out of trouble.”

“We will sis.” Alyona closes the hummer’s door.

Gina pulls off after dropping the girls off at school. She had to go and pick Arabella up from the doctor’s office. She reaches over and rubs Cadmus' head.

Back at School:
Alyona, Silvia, and Haylee start separating to find their friends to hang with. Silvia locates some of her friends and heads over towards them. Haylee spots some kids from her class and runs over towards them.

Alyona feels an arm going around her waist and was about to grab it when she hears.

“Hey good looking, how are you feeling today?” Nicky had spotted Alyona and managed to sneak up behind her.

Normally he wouldn’t have been able to. She was always aware of everything going on around her. He didn’t know why she was like that, but he knew it wasn’t because of her family.

Alyona smiles when she hears Nicky’s voice. She loved when he puts his arm around her waist or shoulder. He was the Captain of their football team and valued brains over looks.

“Better, now that you are here.” She gives him a kiss.

He returns the kiss. He stops after a few minutes “are we still on for Friday night?” They were supposed to go on a date.

“My mom and dad said it was okay. So, yes.” Alyona had asked her mother and father if she could go on a date with Nicky.

Nicky had been scared the first time he had approached Alyona. She had only been at the school for two weeks along with her sister Silvia. At first, she seemed kind of nervous and on guard all the time.

Then she seems to feel comfortable in school and around people. He watched her play a game of chess with one of the chess players the school had and beat him several times. That was when he realized she was the one for him. He also loved her long platinum blonde hair.

“Good, because you are going to enjoy the night, I have planned for us.” Nicky was going to take Alyona to his Uncles barbeque restaurant and to the movies afterward.

He knew Alyona loved barbeque, because whenever the cafeteria offered it. She always asks for it, instead of the other choice they have. He also liked the fact that she wasn’t like some of the other beautiful girls in school. The ones that thought the world evolved around them.

The two of them head towards their first bell class together. They had four classes together and after school, she joined her chess club members and practice chess moves with them, while he had football practice.

Alyona has gym class during the fourth bell with her boyfriend Nicky. This week they were inside the classroom, instead of the gym. Her assigned desk was two rows over from her boyfriend.

As Alyona is heading to her fifth bell class. A group of older students was harassing a younger student. Alyona knew the school didn’t tolerate bullying. She walks up to them and stands right in front of the biggest one.

“Leave that kid alone.” Alyona didn’t like bullies, not after what happened to her.

Preston turns around to see who just told him to leave the kid he was harassing alone. He spots a girl with long platinum blonde hair and bright amber eyes. She stood a few inches shorter than him.

“Who are you to tell me what to do, blondie?” Preston didn’t like taking orders from anyone.

The only reason he was at this school, was because he was kicked out of his last one for causing trouble. His parents sent him to his Uncle Joe here in Montana. His mother was hoping that he would straighten his act up.

“Just a concerned student, is all. If you and your goons don’t leave this student alone. I’m going to report you to the office.” Alyona wasn’t going to tell her sister-in-law.

“You’re not going to tell anyone if you know what is good for you.” Preston steps closer to Alyona.

“Preston, I wouldn’t do that. She’s a Bounty and they don’t back down.” Roger was a muscularly built kid.

He was a member of the schools wrestling and weightlifting team. He knew the Bounty’s didn’t back down from anyone. His father worked at the same precinct as Julia Bounty. His father had told his mother that she never back down from anyone. She was one of the toughest female police officers they had. He also mentioned that he didn’t know any Bounty that would back down from trouble.

“I don’t care who she is. She doesn’t tell me what to do in this school.” Preston hated being told what to do.

He was feed-up with his parents telling him what to do. He was feed-up with his uncle telling him what he could or couldn’t do. He wasn’t about to back down from a 5ft 7inch girl who played chess either.

Silvia had seen a crowd gathering near the stairwell that leads up to the second floor and wonders what was going on. When she goes over to
investigate, she heard someone say something about her family’s last name.

She manages to make her way towards the front and spotted her older sister Alyona facing off against one of the new guys that had transferred in recently. Him and the two goons standing with him had transferred in after school started. On the floor behind them was one of the girls from her class.

“Alyona, that’s Gloria behind them on the floor.” Silvia tries to get past the three guys.

One of the guys tries to grab Silvia but ends up with a punch to his face from her and a knee to his family jewels. The other guy tries to stop Silvia but ends up falling to the ground from her sweeping his legs out from under him.

Preston tries to grab Silvia but has his legs swept out from under him by Alyona. She moves forward to help her sister. All the kids behind her, also move forward to restrain the three bullies of their school.

“Mr. Anderson, Mr. Anderson you need to come quickly.” Amy was out of breath running towards her fifth bell class.

Mr. Anderson was busy writing the days assignment on the blackboard when he heard Amy’s voice. He turns around to see what the emergency was.

“What’s wrong Amy?” He walks over towards her.

“There’s a fight down at the stairwell.” Amy was ready to go back to it.

“Go get security, Amy.” He shuts his classroom and heads down to the stairwell.

“Yes, sir.” Amy runs off to get security.

When Mr. Thompson gets to the stairwell, he spots the three bullies in the school being held by several students. He sees a young girl with short brown hair that had blood leaking from her nose, being held by a Latina girl and a platinum blonde hair girl, who he knows to be on the school Chess team standing near her.

“Mr. Anderson, I need to get Gloria to the nurse.” Silvia had Gloria lean her head back as her father taught her.

“Go ahead.”

Just as Silvia and Gloria head to the nurse, two security officers appear. They spot Mr. Anderson and the kids holding three young men. One of the guards recognized Alyona Bounty. He knew she was the niece of Mrs. Christmas Bounty.

“Can someone tell me what happened here?” Mr. Anderson looks at Alyona and the three boys.

“Yes sir, these three morons were bulling Gloria and I stepped in and asked them to stop or I would tell the office. This one.” pointing towards Preston. “He got in my face and said he didn’t have to listen to me. So, when he went after my sister, I dropped him with a leg sweep.” Alyona wasn’t going to lie.

She wasn’t going to do anything till they went after Silvia. She knew Silvia could have handled all three, but her father said they should always protect the family. Alyona just watches the security guards and Mr. Anderson.

“Alright, let’s take this to the vice principal office.” The security guards escort everyone to the Vice Principal office.

Mr. Anderson heads back to his classroom. The other students that had class went to their classes. Alyona just followed the security guards, along with the three boys and a few other kids that were witnesses.

Vice Principal Beasley just got off the phone with the Principal of Green Hill High. He wanted to set-up a chess match between Green Hill High chess clubs’ members against his chess club members. He didn’t mind, because the members of his chess club were some of his brightest students.

As he was about to start on an email to send to the chess club, there was a knock on his door.

“Enter!”

Security guards, Alyona and the three boys, along with some witnesses walk into his office.

“Sorry to bother you, Mr. Beasley, but we had a situation. It involved Ms. Bounty and these three gentlemen.” Security Guard Evans and his partner made the three boys and Ms. Bounty stand before the Vice Principal desk.

“Okay, why don’t you tell me what happened.” Mr. Evans.

“According to what I have found out. These three boys were bullying Gloria Meyers. Ms. Bounty and her sister stopped to help Ms. Meyers.
When Mr. Preston and his friends tried to stop them from helping Ms. Meyers, they subdue the three boys.” Evans told Mr. Beasley exactly
what happened.

Mr. Beasley looks at the three boys and then at Ms. Bounty. He knew her family always donated money to the school and that she had a relative that worked at the school. He also knew that the Bounty’s believed in protecting the underdog. He also knew Alyona Bounty was a member of the school’s chess club and she was pretty good.

“We’ll have to call your parents and have them come in.” He would have to speak to the boy’s parents.

“Ms. Bounty let me write you a pass and you can go ahead and go to your class.” Vice Principal Beasley writes a pass for her.

“Thank you, sir. What is going to happen with Gloria?” Alyona was concerned about her.

“I’ll check on her and see how she is doing, Ms. Bounty.” VP Beasley hands the pass to Alyona.

“Thank you, sir.” Alyona heads towards the lunch room.

Her fifth bell class was almost done. She goes through the lunch line and over to her favorite table. Her boyfriend Nicky shows up and sits down next to her.

“Are you alright?” Nicky was concerned about Alyona.

“I’m fine. Preston didn’t stand a chance against me.” Alyona was trained to defend herself by her father and by Julia and Gina.

“That’s good because if you weren’t. Me and a few fellows from the team would have gone after Preston and his hitch men.” Nicky would protect Alyona if he had too.

Alyona felt all warm and fuzzy from that statement. She was happy that Gina, Tizzy and Julia saved them. Her adopted parents were loving and protective of them.

After lunch, she finishes going to all her classes. By the time she goes to her chess club meeting, everyone had heard what happened. Silvia informed her that Gloria was okay and had gone home with her parents.

Silvia was staying after with a few friends of hers to bake cookies and cakes for the bake sale coming up. The school student body normally, put on a bake sale to help raise funds for the carnival they have in the Spring. Since Silvia likes to cook. She volunteered to help.

Alyona watches as her practice partner makes his move. Fred was one their best chess players, along with herself, Penny, Harry, and Leon.

“Come on Fred, the next move is easy to do.” Alyona could already see what chess moves Fred was using.

Fred finally makes his move. Alyona makes the counter move to it. She was already six moves ahead of him. By the time the game ended, she beats Fred.

“You did good Fred, but the moves you were using were easy to guess.” Alyona liked Fred as a partner. The two of them could easily outguess each other.

“They might have been easy, but I got you on some of them.” Fred had used a move that wasn’t part of the defense Alyona was thinking.

“True, but I still ended up beating you.” Alyona puts the chess pieces away.

“Don’t forget, we have practice tomorrow.” Fred grabs his stuff and heads towards the front of the school to catch his ride.

“Hey, sis, Christmas wants to know how much longer you're going to be.” Silvia had a box in her hands.

“I’m ready to go. So, what’s with the box?” Alyona wonders what her sister had inside it.

“Some pastries and such for the family.” Silvia walks next to Alyona as they head to join up with Christmas.

Christmas was locking her classroom up, with Haylee standing by her side. When she saw her sister-in-law heading towards her.

“You two ready to go?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Silvia and Alyona were ready to head home.

Haylee couldn’t wait to get home to play with Roxy. She loved her little Collie and her horses.

Christmas looks towards Alyona as they were walking to the car “I heard you and Silvia got into a fight today?”

“It couldn’t be avoided, Christmas. Three guys were picking on a girl in Silvia’s class. I tried to handle the situation without resorting to violence but Preston was trying to grab Silvia. So, I did what daddy said to do and always protect the family. I could have broken his legs, but I didn’t.” Alyona knew she could have been a lot harder on him, but she used the right amount force to take him down.

“Your older sisters got into a fight at school when they went here. Julia ended up nearly breaking the attacker’s arm.” Christmas could remember the day as if it happened yesterday.

“Mom, have you heard how Arabella is?” Haylee was worried about her cousin.

“She’s got a nasty cold, sweetie. Your Aunt Gina said she should be better in a few days.” Gina had called Christmas to ask her to get Arabella’s missed school work and to tell her teachers she was going to be out of school for a few days.

“Can I see her, mom?”

“Not yet, sweetie. Gina doesn’t want you to get sick. Let’s just give your cousin a few days.” Christmas didn’t want Haylee to get sick.

Christmas pulls up in front of the main house “alright girls. Your home. I suggest you tell your father what happened in school today.”

“We will Christmas.” Alyona and Silvis get out of the SUV and head into the house.

Alyona notices their father’s hummer was parked in its normal parking space. They were meet on the porch by Chaos the second and Mayhem, Chaos’s twin brother.

“Hi Chaos and Mayhem, what are you boys up too?” She ruffles Mayhem’s fur, while Silvia ruffles Chaos’s fur between his ears.

Both wolves just look at the girls as they walk into the house. Once the girls were in the house, they run off to play. They head towards the back of the property and into the woods.

When Alyona and Silvia head into the house, they are met by their mother. Debbie looks at her two teenage daughters. She was thankful the twins were asleep.

“So, how was school today?” Debbie received a phone call from Christmas about what happened in school.

“We need to tell you and father about an incident that happened in school.” Alyona figured they already knew.

“He’s in his study. Come on so we can get this over with.” Debbie leads the two girls into Jack’s study.

Alyona and Silvia follow their mother into their father’s study. They notice he was working on something.

“Mom, Dad. Silvia and I have something to tell you.”

Jack stops what he was doing and look up at Alyona and Silvia. He loved them, just as much as he loved Julia and Gina.

“Let me guess, you got into a fight at school, because someone Silvia knew was getting picked on?” Jack watches the looks on his daughter’s faces.

“How did you know?” Alyona couldn’t believe their father already knew.

“Christmas called and told us. You did the right thing.” Jack was proud of his daughters.

“Thanks daddy.” Both girls run over and hug their father.

The rest of the week goes by uneventful. Alyona stays after school every day to help practice for the chess match coming up. She was going
to make sure her team won the match. They practice very hard against each other.

The day of the match, Alyona is paired up against a beginner player and wipe the floor with him within a move. She left him with no way he could win. Her next opponent gave her a little bit of a challenge. He was good, but not equal to her level of playing.

She beats him with no problem. By the time she gets to the other school’s best player. She was ready to prove how good she was.

Alyona looks at her opponent. He was built like her boyfriend and seem to be a little cocky. She could tell, because her father taught her how to read body language. She smiles at him and shakes his hand.

Her boyfriend and his friends had come to cheer her on. She was lucky that her boyfriend accepted her like she was. He got along with her father and his parents were nice people. They were in the cattle business, just like her father.

Alyona and her opponent sit down at the chess board and start off. Her opponent tries to lure her into a trap, but she saw it for what it was. She had to admit the guy was good and he was matching her move for move, then she does something he didn’t expect. She used a move Selina taught her.

That move changed how the game went. In no time she was putting her opponent on defensive, but whatever move he made, she countered.

“Checkmate in six.” Alyona looks at her opponent with a smile on her face.

The guy looks at the board and couldn’t see any way to beat Alyona. No matter what he did, she had him. He looks up at her “good game.”

“Thanks.” As Alyona shakes his hand.

The gym erupts in applause as the two of them stand up. Alyona spotted her family in the crowd and could see how proud they were of her. Her body friend comes up and hugs her and gives her a kiss.

“Nice going baby.” As the guys lift her up and carry her out of the gym.