I had finished piling all of my food onto my tray and sat down to eat. A few people stared at me because my food pile was really more of a food mountain, but I figured that there were worse things to be called out for.

Like the fact that you're crazy? I couldn't help thinking it.

I sighed and rolled my eyes at myself, which definitely was of interest to my onlookers. I knew that there was one for sure way to get all these people to stop looking at me, so I started shoveling food into my mouth at such a rapid pace that even total loons couldn't stand watching my horrible manners. In my defense, the food wasn't actually that bad. Plus, they were serving bacon today, so my excitement was a no-brainer.

Everyone sort of lost interest after that. That is until I looked down and saw an arm sweep my tray off the table and replace it with a chess board. I was able to catch the tray and its contents, but that definitely did not change my reaction.

I set the tray to the side of the chess board and glared at an indifferent Kevin who had already gotten to work placing pieces on the board. I stood up fast enough for my chair to make that ear piercing screeching sound.

"What! Are! You! DOING?!" I yelled at him. I looked up and noticed that the security guards in the corner – the ones that are supposed to make sure we don't kill each other or ourselves – were starting to look nervous.

Kevin pulled another handful of pieces out of his front hoodie pocket and placed them on the board. Without looking at me, he casually responded, "You told me not to ask you anymore, so I stopped asking." He made that stupid, smug grin before locking eyes with me and asking, "What color do you want to be?"

If I thought the guards looked nervous before then they were straight up terrified now because they were all clenching their jaws, sweating, and waiting for me to make a move. I felt their eyes on me, so it didn't surprise me that, when I took a step towards the table, they all moved a step closer to me.

I looked at my chair, which, to my surprise, was almost seven feet from where it was. It, apparently, slid pretty far when I got up.

Oops, I thought.

I dragged it back to the table and sat down with a sigh. I hadn't wanted to play chess before because I hated games. They reminded me of shows I would see on TV from the couch of a foster home or the stool of a bar. They were the shows where there was this happy family that played board games in their home, got along, and had normal problems. I was reminded that I had no family, that I had no home, and that I wasn't normal. But most of all, I was reminded that I hated board games – a lot. I just wanted to be left alone, and I figured that the only way to accomplish this now was to get over my fear.

Your fear of board games? That's stupid.

I know, I told myself.

I sighed again and watched Kevin place out the pieces. Then, he pulled out this one piece, and, for whatever reason, I really liked the way it looked. I kind of stared at it until Kevin noticed my fixation.

"That piece is called the Black Knight," he told me.

I looked up and was surprised again when he had a smile that was genuine instead of mocking.

"I like it," I said.

"It's different," he said before spinning the board around so that all of the black pieces were on my side of the board.

"Different how?" I asked, and he explained to me how to play chess.