Black and White

Chapter 2: An Opponent

I lifted my chin up and I saw the girl. She was tall, beautiful, and her looks confirmed me she was also bright.

"I'm Penelope Adams. What's your name?" she said.

"O-Oh," I was first hesitant to talk to her. "I'm Clark Sinclair. Are you a chess player, too?"

"Yes. Actually, I want to practice for the competition today but I don't have an opponent. Would you mind if I'll have you?"

"Me? No. It's alright. Honestly, I also wanted to practice but I don't have an opponent, too."

"Really? Alright. Then let's start the game."

We practiced. But I noticed something's wrong with her. It seems that she's having a problem. I read her face and looked through her soul - she was having a problem. I asked her.

"I think you have a problem, huh?"

"Yes," she answered truthfully. "And I don't know what to do about it."

"Why? What's your problem?"

"It's about my boyfriend, Julian."

"Julian? Why? I mean, what's wrong?"

"I-I saw him with another girl. I thought that girl was just his friend but then, I knew that he was already cheating on me. I asked him why and he told me it's all about my chess competitions. That I don't have time for him anymore..." she explained to me as she broke down to tears.

"Then, we are the same. I recently broke up with my girlfriend, and guess what? Her reason was also about my chess competitions," I said as I comforted her.

"Really?" she sniffed. "Then we can be friends."

After some time, the competition started and after it, we went home together. I now found a friend whom I can really trust.

The days past and our school announced to every students that our chess team won the champion. We were all happy and our coach told us that we will be competing again. I said this good news to Penelope, who became my best friend. She was happy for me, too and she told me that we can practice so that I could enhance my skills.

We, then, practiced for weeks and soon, we got close to each other - very close to each other.