CHAPTER TWO
checkmate!

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if diane was told to describe her childhood, she would say she grew up on the sidelines; watching others go by. she's never been the type to make a ton of friends or join in on clubs and activities. she liked it that way. it was simple and uncomplicated, her whole life was quiet. what she was doing now, sitting in the school library waiting for the debate club to start, was surely not something she would've chosen.

this is the dumbest thing i've ever agreed to. diane sat on a chair at a wooden table and fiddled with her fingers, her shoes brushing the carpeted floor.

"welcome, everyone, to the debate club. i am mr.alpine," he greeted. he stood in front of a bookcase, facing two tables. diane sat at the one left to him.

"for the first day, you all will be playing chess. i expect most of you scholars to know how to play by now. if not, play with someone who is experienced as they shall teach you. i will come around for attendance," he leaned forward and picked up a big white bag. "the chess sets are in here, take good care."

diane scanned the people around her. she didn't recognize anyone. they were all definitely older than her, and she didn't know how to play chess either. she looked across from her, a girl with jet-black hair slumped down into the chair with a small chess set placed in front of the two.

"you know how to play?" she asked, picking up the chess pieces and arranging them onto the board.

"is it like... checkers?" diane winced. she studied all the different pieces.

"the only thing that's the same is the board," the girl put the last piece on and glanced up at diane. "i'll teach you."

diane nodded, laying her crossed arms onto the table.

"this one is the pawn. there's eight of them and they move forward one square. they capture diagonally." the girl picked up one of the pieces in the front. it was shortest out of all of them.

she picks up the castle and... the weird looking one. "then there's the rook. it goes sideways and forward. the bishop goes forwards left and right diagonally."

"that right here is the knight. it's the only one that can jump over pieces. it also can only go in an "L" shape." her finger hovered over a horse-shaped piece.

diane stared at the horse-shaped piece. "an "L" shape?" she repeats with a confused tone.

"yeah," the girl nodded. "like this," she moved the horse around the board to demonstrate. "next is the king and queen. the king can move one space around and the queen can move up and down, and diagonally across the board. you got it?"

"mhm," diane nodded slowly. she still didn't really understand "how do we start?"

"i'll go first." the girl slid the pawn in front of her king forward by two.

"didn't you say that one can only move one square up?"

"you can move the pawn forwards two times the first time."

"oh, okay." diane moved one of her pawns on the far left up. the girl followed up by moving her knight. diane placed another pawn forwards. the girl then moved her bishop up. diane put her knight four spaces up.

"you can't do that," she said, stopping diane.

"do what?" diane asked defensively.

"it has to be an "L" shape."

"what the hells an "L" shape?"

"do you know your alphabet? this is an "L" shape." she demonstrated how to move the pawn correctly, again — and quite aggressively diane would add.

"fine," diane said. she moved the horse back and slid another pawn up two spaces.

"so, why'd you join the debate club?" the girl asked, sliding another piece up.

"i just—" diane stopped herself. was she really gonna tell this girl she put a bet on joining the debate club? that would be dumb. "i just like debate. kinda," diane lied. "what about you?"

"i joined 'cause i was in my middle school's debate team." she answered. "i also need a good amount of extracurriculars on my resume for college and debate's good one."

"cool." diane replied, not processing a thing she said. inside she blindly moved her pawn up another square.

"check!" the other girl couldn't help but smirk with pride from her easy victory.

"check what?" diane asks, sitting up straight. her focus was brought up from her sudden express.

"checkmate. you have to move a piece so i don't get your king. if i get it, i win."

"oh." diane moved her king behind her last knight.

the girl moved another piece. "check."

"this game's bullshit," diane complained. "this isn't even debate."

"it does connect to debate, actually." the teacher crept up behind diane. his voice made her jolt. "names?"

"devon lee," the girl playing diane replied.

"and yours?" mr.alpine asks, readjusting his glasses.

"diane."

"last name?" he asked, a stern tone leaks through his voice.

"keene." she glared at the teacher.

"alright. to answer your question, both chess and debate require critical thinking and a strategy. it's a great warm-up that i learned from my own teachers," he said, scribbling the girls' names down.

diane scoffed slightly, her eyes glued to mr.mcalpine's back as he walks away. she turned back to the game and moves a bishop up three spaces left.

"keene? like the guy who kicked that kid off?" devon thought out loud.

diane swallowed, hoping the school fight wouldn't be further brought up. it was the one thing she wished she could get away from, escape.

"do you know him?"

"he's my brother."

"why did they have that school fight?" devon asked curiously.

there it is, being asked again. diane pushed her hair back. "sam kissed miguel... tory got angry and went crazy. they fought and the guys intervened and everything escalated."

"check, again." devon interrupted, moving her queen to catch diane's king.

"great, so, we're done?" diane asked, sitting up. devon nods and starts cleaning up.

"yeah." devon starts picking up the chess pieces and sorting them. "are you mad at him?"

"who wouldn't be?" diane muttered. a wave of shame passed her, just thinking about what happened. "i know he didn't mean to."

"what, he told you?"

"no. i just know he didn't do it on purpose, you know?"

"i have a video of it if you want." devon reached for her backpack under her chair.

"you caught it on camera?" diane asked in disbelief.

"the clip went valley viral, everyone has it." she tapped on her phone and placed it facing up so diane could watch.

the video was shaky but just clear enough to tell what was happening. miguel had robby pinned to the floor. it stayed like that for a couple seconds until miguel let go of robby's arm. he took that chance and got up, beginning to continuously kick miguel til...

"oh my god," diane watched, her hand over her mouth. the screams of sheer horror of students as miguel crossed the railing rang from the speaker of the phone. robby ran to the railing as well and the video ended.

"where were you when it happened?" devon asked, retrieving her phone when the video stopped.

"i was running up the stairwell to the second floor. the main ones were taken by tory and sam. what about you?"

"i was watching some other fight on the first floor. i could've sworn i saw you though," devon replied.

"alrighty, as i noticed that most of you have finished you chess games and the time is reaching four-thirty. i need to make some final announcements." mr.alpine's voice boomed through the library. devon moved her body to face him.

"first of all, thank you for your time and attention. this school year we will have three major debate events. autumn, winter, and spring. this autumn one will fall around the first week of november. our debate topics will be: karate should be banned in the valley?, voting age should be lowered to sixteen, do video games play a role in mass shootings, and there are still some in the making. lastly, on friday debate club is canceled. i'll let you discuss about these topics until it's time to go."

"do you think karate should be banned?" devon turned to ask diane.

"no," diane said. it was the immediate answer that popped up in her brain.

"what if more school fights are promoted due to them?"

"it's not karate's fault."

"if it keeps being taught more and more people can use it the way it was used in the school fight. that's why it should be banned," devon argued.

"that's—" diane paused. "do you want karate banned?"

"not necessarily."

"then why are you arguing with me?"

"we're debating. this is debate club," devon grinned, clearly winning this mini argument.

"you should be helping me instead of arguing," diane complained.

"i'm just helping you find the points you're not going over."

ring! the final school bell rang.

"have a good evening! get home safe!" mr.alpine waved as everybody shuffled grabbing their things. "leave the chessboards, i'll collect them!"

"it was great playing with you," devon said, getting up from her seat.

"yeah cause you won." diane said as she trailed behind devon. "...you're a really fast walker."

"it's so i can dodge the super seniors around here," devon replied laughing, pushing the library doors open.

she pushed it twice to it'd stay open for diane. diane didn't push it for the person behind her.

"see you later," devon walked the opposite way diane headed.

"bye!" diane shouted. she felt it was nice to talk to someone who wasn't in the whole karate fiasco. it felt fresh and authentic, like they were actually connecting, even if their conversation didn't reflect that. diane enjoyed her first day of debate, deep down planning to go to the next meeting.

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a/n
hey... i know it's been like a year since i started this and i swear not a day goes by that i don't think about updating/writing this!!!

and tbh, i have most of the major plot points already scripted in my head, it's just some parts are harder to write. for example, i procrastinated this chess game for so long. (IM SORRY FOR WRITING HOW TO PLAY CHESS!!!!)

another reason i've been pushing off publishing is because i felt like my writing wasn't good enough. i wanted my chapters to reach a certain word count or wanted every single thing to be calculated... and now i realize, (march of 2024), it's not a big deal and this is just a fanfic i do for fun!!!

anyway one of my 2024 resolutions is to stop procrastinating and go more with the flow, so, this is me doing that. sorry for the long wait, if you've been waiting since may of 2023, i'm so sorry!!!

thanks for reading, and ur patience, i really appreciate it :)