↠twenty-nine

23 4 43
                                    

*also this is kind of a short chapter so sorry :///

-𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓽𝔂

- -

It was kind of strange to think that Arthur was still the president of the Chess Club, after everything that happened.

He just felt like everything had changed so much in just days. Everything except chess.

He began to let his thoughts trail off to wherever they decided to go, mostly just to pass the time. It was his turn to move, and the blonde-haired senior across from him was quickly growing impatient.

"I'm not falling for your tricks this time!" Emma-Kate Price hissed. "You not gonna get me like you did last time."

She had demanded a rematch after what had happened last time they had competed. God, that felt like forever ago. Had it really only been a few weeks? They had cancelled one of their meetings for Prom Week, but...

Arthur decided that he probably wouldn't be able to trick her the same way again. But if he could make her think that he was going to...

He gently slid one of his bishops directly into a danger zone, where Emma-Kate could easily use her king to capture it.

Emma-Kate's eyes narrowed, then she glanced up at Arthur. "What angle are you playing?"

"The winning one," Arthur said plainly, leaning back into his chair.

Emma-Kate scoffed, before sneakily using her knight to capture Arthur's bishop, rather than putting her king in danger. She then looked at him with a rather smug look on her face.

Arthur started shaking his head slowly, before saying, "You always count your chickens before they hatch."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You always think that you've won the game before you actually have."

Arthur was rather fond of planning ahead. Emma-Kate, on the other hand, was more spontaneous. There were times, maybe, that Emma-Kate might have an advantage over him. Not now, though.

Arthur knocked out her knight with his other bishop, placing them almost exactly back into the situation they were in before.

But now she HAD to move her king. Well, unless she moved pieces somewhere else. Which Arthur was sure that she would, if only because he knew how desperate Emma-Kate was to win.

Emma-Kate glowered at him with the ferocious anger of a thousand suns. Her eyes scanned the board almost hopelessly as she searched for escape.

She moved one of her pawns. She only had two left, and they were on the opposite side of the board as her king.

Arthur knew immediately that Emma-Kate was trying to form a plan. 

But so was Arthur. And Arthur hated being unprepared...

There was a heavy silence in the air as Arthur also moved one of his pawns, near hers. The tension in the air was so thick that it was suffocating.

Emma-Kate hesitated. She seemed to grasp that there really wasn't much of a way for her to get out of this. Almost all of Arthur's pieces were near her king, so if she took out one, another would just take its place.

And Emma-Kate had a lot less pieces than Arthur did.

Emma-Kate gently pushed out her chair, climbing to her feet. She placed a hand on either side of the board, gripping the edge of the table so tightly her knuckles turned white. Her eyes were locked on the pieces on the board, and Arthur could've sworn a vein in her forehead was about to pop.

Arthur leaned all the way back in his chair, so that the front two legs rose into the air while he absentmindedly placed his feet on the edge of the table.

Then, in one swift moment, Emma-Kate flipped the entire table over.

And, for poor Arthur who had the majority of his balance placed on the table...

The world seemed to slow as Arthur realized what Emma-Kate had done. Various chess pieces were surrounding him, including the very king that Emma-Kate had flipped the table over for, and the board seemed to be about halfway across the room.

He heard several gasps, and wondered whether they were because of the table or him.

And then Arthur hit the ground, and time went back to normal.

"Ow."

"Oh Jesus, Arthur--" that was Emma-Kate's voice, "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize you were..."

Emma-Kate quickly helped Arthur back to his feet, and then a crowd was standing around them. The other members of the club wanted to know that Arthur was okay. He was. He was pretty sure of that.

"It's fine, I'm fine," Arthur quickly said, seeing the apologetic look on Emma-Kate's face, "There's no permanent damage, I'm sure."

Emma-Kate honestly looked like she was about to cry, and that was the last thing Arthur wanted. He didn't want to make anyone cry.

"Are you sure? I could've given you a concussion or something! All because I was so upset--"

"No, really, Emma-Kate, it's okay! Don't... don't even worry about it."

"I really am sorry... I just-- I don't even know. It was so irresponsible and immature of me. I think I see why you're the club president now. I'm an adult, for Christ's sake!"

"No no, you don't need to be so hard on yourself. I'm really okay."

Emma-Kate took in a deep breath. She nodded her head.

"Okay."

- -

if i ever make a new "vines relating to rosaleen channing" (which i almost definitely will because they're real fun to make) then i'm putting this one as arthur:

-𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓽𝔂

rosaleen channing ↠ applyfic [ongoing]Where stories live. Discover now