“Who’s next?” Peter called.
“He already beat everyone,” grumbled Teresa, Dale’s daughter. She leaned comfortably on her crutch and gave Peter an annoyed look. “There isn’t anyone left.”
“Laurel, how about you?” Dalton called. I shook my head immediately, but my refusal went unheard. Hands pushed me down into Dalton’s vacated seat before I could escape.
“I’ll lose,” I protested.
“You aren’t that bad,” Peter assured me.
I raised an eyebrow. “I’m flattered.”
But people were clamoring for me to play, and this was supposed to be a week of games, after all. Peter generously offered me the white pieces so I could move first.
We began with a standard opening series of moves. I leaned forward to study the board, looking for any weakness in Peter’s position but couldn’t find any. I bit my lip and slowly moved a pawn up. If Peter took it with his bishop, my knight would be able to capture the bishop and fork his king and queen.
I knew Peter was too good a player to fall for such an obvious trap. It only worked on more inexperienced players, but I couldn’t think of a better strategy, and a bad plan was still better than staring at the board until everyone died of old age.
Peter took the pawn. An audible gasp rose from the crowd, and Peter instantly realized his mistake.
“No,” he said, his eyes widening. “I didn’t mean to…”
“If you touch it, you take it,” I said happily.
I captured his bishop with my knight. “Check.”
Peter slowly moved his king out of check, and I captured his queen. Peter’s supporters groaned and he studied the board for a long time before moving again.
Although I was significantly up in material, Peter was too good a player to lose easily. No matter what tactics I used for the rest of the game, he managed to evade my traps and claw his way back into a stronger position. He captured piece after piece, and I could feel the game slipping away even as the crowd leaned closer, hoping I might manage an upset. Eventually, Peter still managed to checkmate me, but it was close. The closest I had ever come to beating him. We shook hands, and the crowd cheered again.
“Good game, Laurel,” Peter said as people began to disperse.
I gathered the white pieces and placed them into a leather bag. Peter did the same with the black pieces, and we began walking back to return the set to Friar Tuck.
“If you hadn’t blundered your queen, you would’ve won much sooner,” I told him truthfully.
“I wouldn’t have blundered if you hadn’t distracted me,” Peter returned.
I stopped in my tracks. “I distracted you?”
Peter suddenly looked silly with embarrassment. “I only meant… playing against you is different from playing against boys. Not that I pay attention to girls when I play, of course. I mean…”
I grinned. “So you’re saying you almost lost because you were paying attention to me instead of the board?”
Peter’s face flamed red, and it gave me a little surge of evil pleasure to see just how uncomfortable I’d made him. He was always so calm and dependable that rattling him felt like a victory far greater than winning the chess match.
“I wasn’t trying to look,” Peter said defensively. He glanced over, then snapped his eyes forward again as if he had been caught committing some terrible wrongdoing. “That shirt just looks nice on you.”
“Oh does it?” I laughed. “You do know this is your sister’s shirt, right? Do you think it looks nice on her?”
“No.” Peter looked horrified. “That would be disgusting. She’s my sister. It just… It just looks different on you.”
“Oh really? I didn’t realize you’d been paying so much attention to what I look like.”
Peter’s blush deepened and spread to his ears. I shouldn’t have enjoyed making him squirm as much as I did, but after weeks of feeling powerless, there was something satisfying in knowing I could unsettle someone with only a few words. It was a terrible thing to be glad about, and it became worse when wearrived at the largest building in camp, the stone chapel Friar Tuck used for sermons. Its bell tower rose above us, and the sound of our footsteps quieted as we approached the door. Peter knocked and refused to glance in my direction.
Friar Tuck opened the door and smiled at Peter, who wordlessly handed over the bag of pieces and the chess board.
“How did it go?” Friar Tuck asked in his jolly voice.