I walked over to Chrissy nervously, holding my carrot. I always had one handy, being part rabbit.

My palms started to get sweaty. They always do when I'm nervous. I sat down beside Chrissy, and offered her the carrot.

"H-hi," I said. "I'm Sam, Sam Gladiator. We're in the same year."

She nodded.

"Well, you know, I just wanted to come over here because, well, you looked lonely."

"It's probably better that way," Chrissy said. "Thanks for the carrot." She got up and walked down the steps to the side-by-side graves. Then she pulled a flower out of her bag and placed it on Salex's grave. She then muttered something I couldn't hear, but it sounded something like, "I'm so sorry Salex."

The bell rang. I got up and walked out of the dining area to the gym. Taurtis came up behind me.

"So, how'd it go?" he asked me.

"She didn't talk much," I answered. "I just told her that she looked lonely and gave her the carrot, and she just said, 'It's better that way.'"

"Oh, okay. That's weird. Come on, let's get to gym."

We walked into the gym and lined up in two lines: boys and girls. The gym teacher was already waiting for us on the stage.

"STRETCH MAGGOTS!" Rowan yelled. "I WANT TO SEE YOU SWEAT!" We started jumping and stretching. After a while, Rowan yelled us to go to the locker rooms. The boys' is on the left, and the girls' on the right. We walked in and down the stairs.

"Don't get your clothes wet this time Taurtis!" I yelled.

~

After we changed, we headed back up the stairs and lined up again.

"ALRIGHT MAGGOTS," Rowan said. "TODAY WE ARE GOING TO PLAY HUMAN CHESS!" Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Chrissy's face light up.

"WE ARE GOING OUTSIDE!" We all headed out the door and to the right. The soccer field had been turned into a giant chess board. My mouth dropped open.

"ALRIGHT. IT'S THE NEW GIRL AGAINST...CHAN!" Rowan yelled.

"Yay," I heard Chan say. "I'm good at this game." Chan and Chrissy walked up onto a small podium that Rowan was standing on.

"SAM, TAURTIS, YOU TWO ARE KINGS!" Rowan yelled. We walked to our positions. "SOOKIE, SOUL, QUEENS!" Sookie stood beside me. I smiled inside. I had liked Sookie for a long time, the first day of school even. But then I realized a relationship with her wouldn't work, because Taurtis told her my secret plan to get her to like me, so I gave up.

"J, DOM, STAR, AND JTS, KNIGHTS!" They went to their spots.

"HIDDEN, PIE, ELLEN, AND PEPE, BISHOPS!" Pepe left Patty's side.

"INVADER, SILLY, YUKI, AND PATTY, ROOKS! NO PAWNS!"

Chrissy's team was King: me; Queen: Sookie; Knights: J and Dom; Bishops: Hidden and Pepe; Rooks: Invader and Patty.

Chan's team was King: Taurtis; Queen: Soul; Knights: Star and Jts; Bishops: Pie and Ellen; Rooks: Silly and Yuki.

"We're gonna beat you, Taurtis!" I yelled across the field.

"Oh, really? We'll see about that!" Taurtis shouted back.

"CHRISSY MAKES THE FIRST MOVE!" Rowan yelled.

"Patty to A3," Chrissy said without hesitation. Patty moved.

"Soul to E4," Chan said loudly.

Bringing out the queen already, are we Chan? I thought.

~

The game lasted a while. Chrissy and Chan both proved that they were good at chess. It was down to the last stretch. Chan had to make one move and she would win, but it was Chrissy's turn. I couldn't think we could possibly win, but Chrissy said, "J to B3." Then she turned to Chan. "Checkmate."

Chan and her team's mouthed were all hanging agape. Taurtis then lowered his head to J.

"You guys win," he said sadly.

Our team cheered.

"Well done," Rowan said to Chrissy, astonished. "DISMISSED!" he yelled to the rest of us.

I ran up to Chrissy. "Wow," I said. "Where did you learn to be so good at chess?"

She blushed and said, "I knew a guy. He taught me." Then she walked away. Taurtis ran over to me.

"I told you we'd win," I said as we started walking away.

"Yeah," he said. Then his face lit up. "You know, J invited us to come over to his old house. He said he'd meet us there. Wanna go?"

"Sure. This should be good."

"Yay! Let's go!" Taurtis then ran to the edge of the street. "We don't want to be late!"