Stealin' police cars with the senior guys
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Noel stared down at the colorful board laid out before her, eyes narrowing slightly. Squares of bright red, blue, green, and yellow stretched in a neat path across the table. Small metal pieces—a tiny top hat, a dog, a car, and something called a thimble—sat at the start. Stacks of pastel-colored paper money sat nearby, too crisp, too perfect to be real currency.
She tilted her head. “So… this is Monopoly?”
“Yup,” Devon confirmed, shuffling the deck of cards with practiced ease. “The most competitive game known to humankind. Relationships have been tested. Empires built and destroyed.”
Andrew laughed from his spot on the couch, sipping tea. “Don’t scare her, Dev.”
Ava shot a look at both her dads before leaning toward Noel. “It’s not as scary as it sounds. Just… try to keep up. And don’t trust them when they say they'll ‘cut you a deal.’”
Noel’s golden eyes flicked between them, unsure whether they were joking. Honestly, she still wasn’t sure how this "board game" worked. Property buying? Houses? Passing "Go"? It all seemed needlessly complicated.
She reached out and tapped one of the little metal pieces—the dog—with a claw-tipped finger. “What is this one for?”
“That’s your token,” Andrew explained, pushing it toward her. “Everyone picks one. It’s who you’ll be moving around the board.”
Noel glanced at the options, but her fingers lingered on the dog. It seemed… harmless enough. She picked it up delicately, as if afraid it might break in her hand.
“I’ll take this one,” she murmured.
“Excellent choice,” Andrew said with a grin, grabbing the car for himself. Devon claimed the top hat, and Ava took the thimble.
Devon passed out the money next, sliding crisp bills in front of each player.
“Here’s your starter cash. Spend it wisely,” he said, eyeing Andrew mischievously.
Andrew immediately leaned toward Noel and whispered conspiratorially, “Or just spend it recklessly. Much more fun.”
Noel looked between them, clutching her pile of money like it might disintegrate. “I… think I’ll watch for a few rounds,” she admitted.
“Totally fair,” Ava said. “We’ll explain as we go.”
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The game began smoothly enough. Dice rolled, tokens moved around the board, properties snapped up. Devon quickly bought half the orange properties, grinning smugly. Andrew snagged most of the railroads and started eyeing people’s cash piles. Ava, ever strategic, went for the expensive blue properties in the hopes of bankrupting someone later.
Noel’s first few turns were cautious. She hesitated before buying anything, unsure of the value of paper money and wary of their trading offers. Every time someone landed on her square, they explained gently how "rent" worked. She listened carefully but mostly stayed quiet, trying to memorize the rules.
Midway through, though, something shifted.
Noel landed on Boardwalk.
Ava leaned forward, smirking. “That’s the most expensive property. Gonna buy it?”
Noel stared at the little blue square, then at her remaining stack of money. She hesitated. In Daemos culture, risk was never taken lightly. But there was something oddly freeing about this—no real stakes, no politics.
She gave a little nod. “Yes.”
Andrew whistled. “Look at you, high roller!”
Devon chuckled as he handed over the property deed. “She’s learning fast.”
Noel smiled faintly, unsure why their praise felt... good. He never praised her like that.
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As the game wore on, things escalated. Devon and Andrew kept ganging up on each other, trading properties back and forth, trying to corner the market. Ava stayed quiet but clearly had a strategy brewing, biding her time with her two dark blue cards and a steadily growing pile of cash.
Noel? She mostly tried to stay out of the way, slowly buying up random properties whenever she landed on them. It wasn’t calculated—half the time she didn’t even know if she was making a "good" move.
But then, the luck started.
First, Devon landed on Boardwalk—her Boardwalk. Rent shot up dramatically. She watched, wide-eyed, as he slid a pile of money across the table toward her.
“Beginner’s luck,” he muttered, smiling.
Then, Andrew rolled snake eyes and landed on another of her properties. More rent.
By the time Ava landed on her last unassuming light blue property, Noel had somehow accumulated more money than anyone at the table. She blinked down at her pile, trying to figure out how this had happened.
Ava groaned, shaking her head. “I cannot believe this.”
Andrew threw his hands up dramatically. “She’s unstoppable! She’s a Monopoly prodigy!”
Noel blinked at him, startled. “I… am?”
“Apparently,” Devon laughed, eyeing his dwindling bills. “I’m one step away from mortgage-ville.”
Noel's cheeks flushed slightly, unused to this kind of light-hearted praise. “I’m just… following the rules.”
“Sometimes the dice favor the bold,” Andrew said, raising his mug. “Or the quietly observant.”
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They kept playing, though everyone knew by then the tides had turned. Noel, still half-bewildered, kept amassing rent money as the others landed repeatedly on her scattered properties. The more chaotic the game got, the more she found herself laughing along with Ava’s groans and Andrew’s dramatic reactions.
At one point, Devon even tried to offer her one of his railroads in exchange for a rent-free pass. She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously—Ava shook her head frantically behind him—and politely declined.
Before long, Andrew declared bankruptcy. Devon followed shortly after.
It came down to Ava and Noel.
Ava leaned across the board, fixing Noel with an intense stare. “Alright, Noel. Let’s see if you can actually beat me.”
Noel tilted her head slightly, considering. She rolled the dice, landed just shy of Ava’s property.
Ava rolled, landed on Boardwalk—again.
Noel blinked as Ava sighed loudly, sliding over the remainder of her bills.
“That’s it. You win.”
The room fell silent for half a beat, before Andrew whooped loudly from the couch.
“She did it!” Andrew declared. “Unbelievable! A total upset! First-time player, sweeps the board!”
Devon clapped his hands together, grinning. “Guess we’re the ones who need practice.”
Noel sat back, still clutching the little dog token in her hand. She stared at the money pile in front of her, then looked around at everyone smiling and laughing.
She hadn’t really set out to win. It hadn’t felt like a battle, or a test, or anything she normally braced herself for. It was just… fun. And somehow, her luck had carried her.
Her lips curled upward, slowly, almost shyly. “I… won.”
Ava nudged her shoulder lightly. “Told you they’d go easy on you.”
Andrew leaned forward, grinning wide. “Next time, though, I’m not holding back.”
Noel met his gaze, the tiniest glimmer of challenge in her eyes. “Neither will I.”
The table burst into laughter again, and Noel felt something warm settle in her chest.
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After they packed up the board, Devon disappeared briefly into the kitchen, returning with cups of tea and the leftover cookies.
“To the champion,” he said, raising his mug toward Noel.
She hesitated, but then lifted her cup, mirroring him. “To the champion.”
Ava glanced over at her, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips. “How does it feel?”
Noel glanced down at the dog token resting in her hand, then back at the three people sitting around her.
“Good,” she admitted quietly. “Strange… but good.”
And for the first time in a long while, she felt entirely at ease—not because she’d won, but because, for once, she felt like she truly belonged.
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