what happens in the story to start the story moving forward

The Midnight Library begins with Nora Seed in elementary school, playing chess with the school librarian Mrs. Elm, and discussing different moves in the game. The story then skips ahead to Nora's life as a thirty-five-year-old adult. In the span of a day, she is fired from her job at a music store and then loses a music student because she misses their scheduled lesson.