The King's Queen

Chapter 28

Grace Thatcher
Age: 18

*°*

Song: Only You by Selena Gomez

Jackson's POV

"You can't do that... You can't move that piece there... Demetri!"

"What now?" Demetri groaned. "I can't concentrate with you breathing down my neck about rules and regulations. What is this, a court room?"

"I wouldn't keep repeating myself if you'd simply decide to play the game properly." I glared at the board that was now in a chaotic state of confusion thanks to Demetri. "Chess is a game that has rules you must follow. You can't just move the pieces however you like."

"You said the goal's to capture the king, right?" He pointed at the king piece and I nodded. "That sounds like a war to me and there are no rules in war."

"It's a war based on strategy," I insisted, "not moving your pieces at random. It's not possible for a pawn to move horizontally."

"Well, my strategy just so happens to be different from yours," he drawled, advancing his pawn several squares and knocking my bishop out of the way. "I'm taking your king in any way that I can."

I sighed, shaking my head at his callous gameplay. I'd been trying for a whole week to get him to follow the rules but he just wasn't one for rules. I repositioned my rook to guard my queen. In a few more moves I'd be able to promote one of my pawns.

"You talk my ear off about following the rules and keeping my king safe, but you're doing the opposite." He pointed at my queen. "What does that piece do? You keep surrounding it with other pieces. I thought you were supposed to be protecting the king."

"This is the queen," I informed him before going into explanations on how it could be used. I doubt he was really paying attention anyway. Demetri had a penchant for zoning out on things that didn't interest him.

"Sounds to me like the queen is the most important piece," he murmured. "The king can barely even move at all. What kind of king can only move one step at a time?"

"That makes protecting him more challenging. You need to play strategically to combat that."

"Just use the queen to protect him," he frowned.

"I never use my queen to fight," I told him. "To me, the queen is just as important as the king... perhaps even more. I play to protect them both."

"Let the queen fight too. This is the twenty-first century."

"Even if I don't use the queen to fight, you still won't be able to win with that barbaric method of playing."

"You can just make another queen with one of these things," he pointed out, flicking my pawn with his finger.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "It's good to see you actually remember some of the rules. If only you'd stick to them."

He shrugged, clearly not intent on doing that any time soon.

"I don't see why you're trying so hard to protect something replaceable."

"Life is more worthwhile when you have something worth protecting."

"Huh."

He advanced one of his pawns by two squares. I quickly captured it using an en passant.

"You should try playing my way," he said after a moment. "It's more fun."

"Rules exist for a reason, Demetri. Not everything is about fun."