Being so busy with Sam and training, Hector all but forgotten about Charlee’s snobbish attitude until Walter had showed up last night. Even though Hector refused to ask outright, he did get a few things out of Walter about what the people on the school’s chess team thought of him so far. They’d been thoroughly impressed. Of course, Walter didn’t say who exactly, and Hector was not about to ask, but he seriously doubted Charlee had been one of the ones so impressed.

It wasn’t until they were into the game a good ten moves that Hector picked up on Charlee’s plan. He couldn’t be sure yet, but if he weren’t mistaken, she was imitating the opening moves from his game in Saturday’s tournament, not the game in the final round against Bisbee either. This was the opening he’d used on Kowalewski—the player he’d knocked out before Bisbee, the one who was supposed to have been the biggest threat, the guy he'd specifically prepared his opening novelty for.

After a few more moves, there was no mistake about it. It was exactly the game he’d played.

Clenching his jaw, his mind raced now. What was she doing? She had chosen to play this for a reason. Why? Should he be flattered that she’d obviously took the time to examine his game and apparently memorized it, or should he be pissed that maybe she really was being snobbish—showing him up? What idea had she found that he hadn't when he prepared for Kowalewski?

Hector looked up at her after her latest move, meeting those deep baby blues once again. Nothing in her blank expression gave anything away. He decided not to let on that he knew what she was doing, because he still couldn’t figure out why. Instead he would use the fact that he knew what moves she’d be making before she actually made them to his advantage.

He’d completely given up on helping Walter make small talk with her. If Walter couldn’t even come up with a few comments about chess, the one thing these two had in common, then he couldn’t be helped. More onlookers gathered around Hector and Charlee: onlookers who may very well be thinking the same thing he suspected both Walter and Charlee thought—that maybe he wasn’t cut out for the U.S. team or even the school team. It’d been common knowledge that whoever made the U.S. team would be automatically invited to play for the ESU team.

Walter was on his own. Right now, Hector was on a mission. There was something more important he needed to focus on now. Obviously, Charlee was up to something. Hector was going to figure it out one way or another.

And then, she played her new move. It was bold, nothing like the quiet play that had led up to this position. Kowalewski’s knight had passively retreated here, but this was a challenge, a pawn pushed up the last file on the board, like a bomb going Ka-boom on his king’s pawn shield.

Hector couldn’t help but smirk. Was she getting nervous? Sure she’d taken out the pawns in front of his king, but it was such a gamble. He could just fend off her attack and then slowly squeeze out a win in the endgame.

The next move proved she was panicking because she sacrificed her queen for a pawn. Hector smirked again as he took her queen and set it aside with a sympathetic shrug. She wouldn’t even look at him now. Hector watched her serious expression, more than amused at how she made her next move so quickly.

“Check,” she said in the most nonchalant manner possible, meeting his eyes with a smug smile.

Hector’s eyes were instantly on the board. The pawns she’d gone after so aggressively had actually opened up a file for her rook to put his king in check. He moved his king to the only place he could, stunned that he hadn’t caught that. She had him on the run now. Examining the board, he saw how she must’ve planned this in advance, because in the next couple of moves using her bishop and then her knight, she got him.

“Checkmate,” she said then sat back in her seat again, looking a little too pleased with herself.

Chapter 7

It played out more beautifully than Charlee could have anticipated. The look on his face when she said check was priceless. Everything after that point was just icing on what should have been her ever loving smug cake.

Just like all the other fantasies about what she wanted to do with him, this had now been included in them. But like all the others, she didn’t think it would actually happen. She was going to just play her best game and impress him that way. It wasn’t until the last moment, and after remembering how he’d followed up his invitation to his party that weekend by suggesting she go with Walter, that she gave into the temptation to do this. Sure he’d been interested in those two sluts Saturday night and at the same time interested in Drew, but her? Oh no. Not Charlee. Apparently she wasn’t even a consideration. Walter could have her.

When she’d gotten home Saturday night, knowing full well that by then someone had already uploaded the play by plays of the games it took Hector to win the tournament onto YouTube, she looked it up out of curiosity. Since Walter had been so sure Kowalewski was a sure win, she was curious to see exactly how Hector had defeated him. She’d seen some of the moves that day, but they moved much too fast for her to catch all of it.

As it turned out, Walter had been right. It was Hector’s strength in speed play that had won the game. Charlee had been so thoroughly disgusted still about Hector and the two girls that night, she’d almost been happy about this revelation. Had the game been more drawn out and not quite as fast, Kowalewski more than likely would have defeated Hector. Not that Hector’s game hadn’t been impressive, it was. She’d give credit where credit was due, but Kowalewski did manage to make him flub a few moves that were obviously not part of Hector’s plan.