Enchanted

Chapter 13

Sabrina

Hoodie and sweatpants? No.

Oversized top with cargo pants? No.

Plaid shirt with jeans? Uh...

I rummaged through my closet with frustration and excitement after drinking a glass of coffee. My next-door neighbour, Pete got back from his night shift and his car had become a new alarm clock of mine, waking me up as early as 6.15 am.

"Sabrina, you're not going on a date so stop being fussy," I talked to myself. I ended up wearing a black crop top and dark blue jacket over it, paired with high-waist jeans.

Chess club activity is on every Thursday fortnight and we gather after school in the English classroom. The place where my memories of this school started. With Nicolette.

The club members will be divided into two groups, beginners and intermediate/advanced. Coach Walton will be switching between two groups, teaching the beginners the basics about the rules and openings then teaching the intermediate/advanced tactics, attacks and defence in detail.

I wasn't sure whether or not Cedric knows how to play chess and I was indecisive about whether to accompany him at the beginner section or let him tag along with the advanced members.

"Here are two options. Number one, you can teach him how to play chess if he doesn't know. That way, you can have personal time with him and he doesn't feel bored in the beginner class." Nicolette mentored with through my state of poor decisiveness. "Number two, if he knows how to play, just get him to join us in the advanced class. I'm sure he's good at everything."

I was arranging the tables in rows and setting up the chess boards and the pieces on top when someone addressed me, "Hi, Sabrina." The voice was rather familiar but it had not received proper recognition from my brain.

I looked up at Nicolette who was standing the other side opposite me, raising both of her eyebrows to indicate something indirectly to me. It's your crush, Cedric, duh.

I quickly spun around after turning the body language into actual words in my brain. "Hello, Cedric. Nice to meet you." My face was burning as I gave him an ear-to-ear smile but I ignored it. "I wanted to wait for you outside but you turned up 10 minutes early."

"It's okay. I figured if I go to soccer practice then I couldn't make it to chess club," he said coolly.

Guilt suddenly washed over me like a wave of icy water, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't know you have practice. You should go and-" "It's fine. After all, I promised you I'll show up today." He interrupted before I continue to ramble about how bad I felt.

"Thank you."

I gestured for him to take a seat at the table in the back to avoid attention from the nosy people. I heard other members asking each other questions like 'Are they dating' 'Is he Cedric from the soccer team' and saying things like 'He is so damn handsome' and 'He is super talented'. Nicolette sensed my uneasiness and gave them work to do so we can have some privacy.

"Do you know how to play?" I asked him as I shifted my position on the chair. "Oh, I haven't played chess in a while. Just picked up the old skills again last night," he answered.

"That's great, shall we start?" I looked at Cedric who picked white. "Oh, yeah, me first." He moved his pawn in front of the king two squares to the front.

I didn't want to take the advantage of being a school team player and checkmate Cedric in a few moves. I certainly don't need to use Scholar's mate, which is a 4-move checkmate used by younger kids to win a game.

"When did you start learning chess?" Cedric threw me a question out of nowhere. "Around the age of 9 at school. What about you?" I was glad he started a conversation because the audacity in me must have been used up and the engine of my mouth cannot function with that essential.

"I learnt it from YouTube around the age of 9 as well. My parents don't allow me to play video games so I can only play offline chess on my computer." He replied while castling to his king's side.

We talked about a lot of things like his soccer match, the classes we took and our hobbies. Nothing too personal that made anyone of us feel uncomfortable.

"Sabrina, the trick of talking to your opponent during a game is really effective," he said pointing to his rook that got pinned by my bishop. I grinned, "Oops, my apologies."

I was impressed he actually made it this far. We exchanged some pieces, a knight for a knight and a queen for a queen. Cedric may not be an expert in chess but he got the brain. He even attempted to checkmate me by using his queen and his bishop, aiming at the corner pawn.

"So um... king and rook checkmate? That works right?" He asked me after I captured his pawn, leaving him only the king. "That works, in fact, I have a funny story for it." I told him as he moved his king a step to the side reluctantly.

"Nicolette and I used to not know how to checkmate with a rook and king. During one of the competitions, she made her opponent get into a stalemate when she was clearly winning with a 5-point rook. That's also when I learnt this up." I caught Cedric holding his laugh when I realised Nicolette was standing behind me.

"Geez, how long have you been standing here?" "Long enough to hear you tell a joke." Nicolette shot me a look.

"I'm sorry," I used my puppy eyes tone but not showing the expression so I don't sell myself away in front of Cedric. "No worries. I just want to tell you, Kate and I will be guiding the beginners today so Coach Walton will be focusing on your section," she informed me before turning away.

Cedric sat with me for the entire 1 hour and 30 minutes session and occasionally talked to his friends from his class. We studied the world championship match between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov and Cedric and I were partners to mimic the game on our board.

"Thank you for getting me back into the world of chess. It's more than black and white to me now," he gave a small chuckle at his own words which I don't understand.

"Actually, thank YOU for sacrificing your soccer practice and joining me this afternoon. I appreciate it." I stood a meter far while talking to him because it is hard looking at him who is 6 feet tall when I'm only 5 feet 2 and a half.

"Text me when you have the next chess activity?" he asked while running his fingers through his messy brown hair. "For real?" I reconfirmed and widen my eyes in awe at what just came out of his mouth.

"Yeah, you can have my number." He smiled.

I can't believe it! My heart was doing a mini dance while I keyed in his number on my phone.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Spanish class," he waved before leaving the classroom.

Plan #3- Get Cedric Orlando's number to text/call him: check

"You're so lucky, Sab," Nicolette said as we walked out of the school compound. "I know right, I'm so happy I don't have to complete plan 3 because he has done it for me."