Chess Pieces

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Kira spotted Lee immediately as she came skipping down the stairs from the Girl's Dorms. He was sitting at a table over in the corner playing chess with Matt. She suppressed a grin. It may sound strange, but chess was a bit like... Lee's football. It wasn't that he wasn't good at sports. He could play footie and rugby and things perfectly well when he felt like it. But... he just preferred chess.
And he was really, really good at it.
But so was Matt.
Matt was a new addition to the school, and right from the word go, Lee and Matt had struck up a... shall we say... a sort of friendly rivalry. They spent a lot of their time playing chess, but for the most part, their games ended up 'Stalemate'.
Matt was a challenge. It was why Lee liked him.
"Lee!" she called, moving over to him and dragging up two chairs. "Hi!"
He blinked and turned to smile at her. "Hi, Kira. Come to watch?"
"Well... I guess," she said slowly, giving the chessboard and a disgruntled Matt a little nodd. "But first I'd like to introduce you to Madeline." Her hand reached out behind her and she thrust Madeline forward. "This is Lee," she said proudly.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Madeleine felt Kira pull her forwards, and nearly tripped over.
Lee was very cute, she noticed immediately. Madeleine did this, she assessed people on first meeting. It only takes fifteen seconds to form an opinion of somebody, but that's not what Madeleine did. She assessed them. Lee was playing chess in his spare time, so he was obviously quite intelligent. He had a great relationship with his cousin, which meant that family was at least a little important to him. He was good-looking, with soft-looking wavy dark hair and blue eyes, like Kira's. His hair and skin were clean, which showed that he took care of himself.
And the way Kira had described him said it all, really. He sounded, and looked lovely.
"Hey," she smiled, extending her hand.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

"Hey," Lee said pleasently, extending his own hand and shaking Madeline's.
Kira watched his eyes flick over Madeline a couple of times, and after a few moments, he let go of her hand, a spark in his eye and a smile on his face. He was satisfied. From what Kira could tell, he already liked Madeline. It was immediate.
Kira was the same.
"This is my friend, Matthew," he said, nodding at Matt.
"Matt," Matt corrected him, a little grouchily. "And it's your move, Lee."
Lee looked briefly at the board, and moved his knight forward. "Check."
Ignoring Matt's sudden swearing fit, he continued to address his cousin and her friend.
"Pull up a chair, you two, it won't take long before I beat this guy."
"You wish," growled Matt, grinding his teeth.
Lee winked. "Wishes can come true."
"Matt," said Kira suddenly, "I think you should- "
"Shh!" he cried, his eyes snapping up. "I'm trying to concentrate."
"But, look, if you just- "
"No!"
"- move your- "
"Go away!"
"- queen, you can close in on knight, so it can't move without you getting it and protects your king," she finished, unfeigned by his rudeness.
Matt stared at the board for a few moments. "Son of a gargoyle. You're right."
"My little cousin has a few tricks yet!" laughed Lee, looking fondly at her.
"Little by a week," she said, smiling. "I could just have easily been your big cousin, Kira."
Lee laughed and looked back at the board. "Alright, I'm in trouble. Kira's helping Matt- what d'you say, Madeline?" He looked expectantly at her.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Madeleine smiled at him. "Why not?" Pulling a chair round to his side of the board, she said, "It's been a while since I last played, just to warn you."
Okay, understatement. She hadn't played since Shaun died. They used to play most nights - Shaun was uncommonly good at it, and he enjoyed beating Madeleine at it. She didn't mind, it improved her game. Often, the games would last well into the night before finishing. Most people assumed that Shaun, being a fighter, thought with his fists rather than his head. Not true. Shaun was clever. Very clever, but this only really came out in his chess games. He wasn't the most academic person in the world; he'd opted out of staying on at Orchid Hill and was just taught how to control his powers by their parents. But chess... well, he liked chess. He was good at it. Sometimes, Madeleine and Shaun would play against their parents. And they always won.
Madeleine remembered the first time she beat Shaun in a chess match. The swearing that followed had been absolutely hilarious. It also got him grounded when their parents heard him.
So Madeleine had stopped playing when he died; it hurt too much. Her dad had tried getting her to play a game with him, but the expression on her face when he opened with a King's Gambit made him stop. He didn't know that that was Shaun's opening move the very last time that they'd played.
That game had been left unfinished. They had to interrupt it to walk to a shop to get some milk. He'd been killed on the walk back.
Bloody milk.
But she knew she'd have to get over her thing about playing chess. And if she didn't do it now, she never would.
So she just sat down beside Lee. At least now she didn't have to watch them open the game. No chance of a King's Gambit.
"Right, what do I do?" Lee asked, looking at Madeleine with his blue eyes.
Madeleine looked at the solid wood chess board. "Move your castle there. It threatens the king, and if the he moves the queen to take the castle, your knight is free to take the king. If he moves the queen to take the knight, the castle can take the queen."
Lee grinned at her and moved the castle to the square that Madeleine had pointed to. "Check."
Madeleine smiled, feeling a warm feeling inside.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Kira's eyes glazed over for a few moments as she took in this move. Double threat. But not entirely impossible to wriggle out of. She could see a pawn that was one move away from the end of the board, and it wasn't in the direct threat of anything. They could move the queen, and take the knight, and although their castle would then take their queen, they could move that pawn, and get her back.
Matt was eyeing his row of bishops, another plan evidently forming in his mind. But for now, that would get them out of the direct danger. She nudged him.
"More tactics, I hope?" It came out sharply, but Kira decided to assume he meant it in the nicest possible way.
"Move her to there, she'll take him, he'll take her and he'll," at this point she nodded at the pawn, "become a she." She stopped and giggled. "Aah, chess... Not only does it sound like they're doing each other, but they're also having sex changes. Magic, isn't it?"
Matt didn't seem to appreciate this bit of humour, but he moved accordingly. Kira again didn't mind, she was quite happy sitting here and calling out orders. However, Lee was in a better position than Matt. No doubt he would win, but she liked the chase.
Raising her eyes to Lee as she thought this, she felt a sudden uncomfortable twist in her stomach. Lee wasn't looking anywhere near her, nor the chessboard.
His eyes were fixed on Madeleine, and Madeleine alone.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Madeleine bit her lip as she pondered this move. The pawn... It would take either the knight or the queen would take the castle. Ouch. Well played.
"What do you think..." she said, turning to Lee, and tailing off to see that he wasn't actually paying any attention to the chessboard.
Blushing slightly, she turned back to look at the chessboard, and noticed a bishop that had gone unseen. Right in a diagonal line from the pawn that Matt had just moved.
She turned to Lee again. "The bishop."
"What?"
"The bishop," she said, gesturing. "The bishop takes the pawn and we're back were we were. Where you were, rather."
Whoops. She was just the help. She'd forgotten that.
And she'd also forgotten until now just how much she missed playing this game.
Lee looked back at the board and smiled, moving the bishop to take the pawn, to several cuss words from Matt. "Check."

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Kira wrinkled her nose as she watched Lee eliminate her pawn. There goes her 'he-she'. Matt was looking annoyed again. Kira was under the strong impression that he was blaming her entirely for the situation they'd landed themselves in.
She was proved correct.
"Alright, I don't need any help for this one," he said boldly, turning on her. "You can shut up and watch."
Kira stared at the board for a few moments. The king was in danger. But the queen could probably take the bishop, but that left the king wholly unprotected. He'd still be taken. What they needed was some way of getting their king- or her king, as she was beginning to think of it- some sort of protection. She could get Matt to move that castle, that would take the knight, and then the queen would still be threatening the castle.
"Matt."
"What?" He rounded on her again, his eyes like little green slits.
"I know what to do," she began. "Look, if you can- "
"No, I know what I'm doing," he said confidently, and moved his bishop in the path of the knight.
Kira bit her lip. In his anger with her, he'd over-looked one factor. Really, it was an amateur mistake.
Knights could jump pieces.
They were going down.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

This time, Madeleine didn't need to tell Lee what to do. In a second, Lee had moved the knight over the bishop and knocked over the king. "Checkmate!"
"Yes!" Madeleine laughed.
Lee laughed, held up his hand and hi-5'd Madeleine.
Matt was grumbling about his loss, and Madeleine could feel Kira think "told you so..." even without the power of telepathy.
"Nice one," she said, smiling at Lee.
"Thanks for your help," he said, grinning back at her.
Feelling slightly uncomfortable as his gaze lingered on her, she dragged her eyes away from his blue ones and looked over at the cursing Matt.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Kira sat for a few seconds, a little deflated, but on the whole she was taking their defeat much better than Matt. He'd now taken to swearing at her, finding the lifeless chess pieces unworthy of venting his anger upon.
"You f**king, stupid, little c- !"
"Steady on there, mate," said Lee, his eyes hardening, so that they looked a little like hollow sapphires. "That's my cousin you're talking to."
"If I hadn't listened to your cousin's bollocks," growled Matt, rounding on Lee, "I'd be the one hi-5ing girls right now- not you, you arrogant little- "
"Madeleine's a Warrior," said Kira suddenly and unexpectadly, "and you're an Academic. I don't fancy your odds- so do you really want to finish that sentence?"
Matt suddenly stopped, looking as though he'd swallowed something very nasty. His face a sort of pallid colour, he bowed his head for a few moments, breathing deeply, and looked up again at Lee, his smile ice cold.
"Bad loser," he muttered through gritted teeth.
"Not at all," smiled Lee, looking over at Madeleine with renewed respect- respect she'd already won from her fast thinking at chess. "If it wasn't for Madeleine, you probably would've won. I bet you will next time."
Matt didn't look like he trusted himself to answer. Kira smiled at him.
"What?" he snapped, catching her eye.
"You look a little constipated," she said gently. "Maybe some medicine?"

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Madeleine was surprised into laughter.
Matt did look constipated, and he was now throwing her one venomous look, not trusting himself to talk thanks to Kira's hint about Madeleine being a Warrior. Lee was looking at her with anewed respect, and she reminded herself to thank Kira for that later.
"He might not beat you," she said, turning to Lee. "You're really good. I had nothing to do with it. You'd have got there... eventually."
Lee laughed. "I strongly doubt that. You're a quick thinker. You're a Warrior?"
"Yes," she said, smiling proudly. "You?"
"Spy," he said, looking her up and down.
"Oh, we'll be working closely then," Madeleine smiled.
"I dare say," he laughed. "And you're in Kira's dorm, right?"
Madeleine met his sapphire eyes, realising that this was a heavily coded question meaning "You're Head, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I am," she smiled.
He looked at with yet more respect. "Cool."
She smiled shyly at him. "You'd be a good Spy; you're good at chess."
"And clearly you're good at battle formations and armies," Lee said. "I salute."
She laughed. "I'm really not that good."
"And you're modest."
"Go away," she grinned. "We may be on the same side in this game, but it doesn't mean I won't hit you. With the chess board."
"What?" he asked.
Madeleine fixed an image of the black queen in her head and it floated up, hovering between her and Lee. "Yep, like that."
"Awesome," he breathed, but he was still looking at Madeleine.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Kira watched the conversation between Madeleine and Lee continue as though she and Matt were part of the wall. He glared at them for a few moments, then began to pack away his chess pieces.
"Need any help?"
"Not from you," he muttered, looking pointedly across the room. Suddenly, he spotted a pretty red-headed girl chatting happily to a tall blond boy. All his anger seemed to wilt.
Kira followed his gaze, and sighed.
Lydia.
Matt had been in love with Lydia from the very first moment he walked through the front doors of the school and tripped over her school bag. Well... perhaps 'in love' was too strong a term, but he was pretty much infatuated with her. Lydia however, knew him as the funny boy who always beat her at chess.
No more, no less.
And so when he asked her to the dance, not only was she completely scared out of her comfort zone, but she was also forced to decline, finding another date as soon as possible afterwards, or be made a liar.
That's how she met Kyle.
And they hit it off.
So now, Matt was miserable. Kira watched him for a few moments, digesting this, then sighed, feeling a pang of pity.
"Want to go to the dance with me?" she asked in a low voice.
He started, staring at her. "With you?"
"As friends," she added quickly. "Because... you know..."
He stared at her for a few moments, then sighed and gave a curt nod. "Very well."
"Good," said Kira, satisfied, and straightened up. "See you."
She didn't even bother saying goodbye to Lee. He didn't notice her disappearance anyway.