Broken Glasses [Ongoing]

Chapter Ten: You Can't Be Serious

Bennett's eyes flitted to the chessboard then back to me. "Yes."

Walking over to the table, I went to the other side of the table, not taking the chair Bennett pulled out. I thought against shrugging off my fleece light-blue denim jacket I wore over a white pocket tee and black leggings and sat down before awkwardly scooching the chair forward.

"One game," I told him.

He nodded and took a seat. "One game," he confirmed.

Chess is a two-player strategy game. It had a board that was eight-by-eight, 64 squares, with each player having 16 pieces that vary in their abilities. The goal is to trap the opponent's King piece into a checkmate. Depending on what side you were on, you either had a white set or a black set to which white moves first- because society.

Bennett had the white set, but he rotated the board so that I would have the white set instead. We had played chess a couple of times and would alternate between who starts the game. That one action told me everything- he wanted me to begin first, to give me that edge, because he's looking to reconcile.

I held out my hand to him and he took it for a short handshake- a sign of respect before beginning the game.

I then picked up a pawn piece and moved it forward.

Neither of us spoke as we played the game. We alternated turns without taking a moment to pause to think about the next move. Just as I was confident with each move I made, he was confident with his.

However, as I tried to focus on the game with my eyes on the board, I glanced up at him but only found him staring at the chessboard. I managed to get away with it until the fourth time when I looked up to find us lock eyes before we simultaneously broke it off and stared back at the board.

I didn't know what the true point of having us play a game of chess. We weren't talking as we traded moves. The game was just going to end with one of us winning.

He moved a bishop, I took it with my knight.

He moved a rook, I took a knight he left alone with my pawn.

I moved my knight, he moved his pawn instead of taking it.

Although we had played the entire game without even a moment to stop, it was at that move did my hand halt mid-air, hovering over my queen piece.

I exhaled sharply. "We're starting over," I stated as I began to set my pieces back to their original positions.

Bennett looked up at me, his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "Why?"

"If you're going to invite me to play a game of chess," I told him as I continued to reset my pieces, "do that with the intention to win, not with the intention to let me win."

This entire time, Bennett has been allowing me to win. He gave me openings for my pieces to move forward, sacrificed his pieces when there were ways to save them, and moved his pieces to avoid having to take mine.

I looked at him, my eyes narrowed. "If your plan was to get me to win a game of chess just so I would forgive you for humiliating me in class- it failed. Try again."

Bennett exhaled before resetting his pieces after me.

When I made the first move with a pawn, I told Bennett, "If you want to talk, you have to move a piece. If you want to move a piece, you have to talk." I folded my arms across my chest. When I said the new rule, he stopped his hand from moving a piece.

After glancing at me, he moved a knight piece. "I apologize for playing the game with the intention of letting you win."

I moved another pawn. "Is that all you're sorry about?"