“And it kills my social life. I’m never going to get a date to prom,” Tamara groaned.
“Prom’s not for another two years, young lady, you can worry about it when it’s closer. Right now you need to worry about your scholarship.”
Tamara took a deep breath and pushed the classroom’s heavy wooden door open. The room was expansive making Tamara wonder what teacher needed such space to teach. What the heck were they teaching? Her eyes darted around the room searching for Mrs. Kelly, but she hadn’t arrived yet.
“Hey, Tamara,” Greg waved to her.
Greg was the captain of the Chess Club who had spent most of freshman year flirting with Amber. It took Tamara months to convince Amber to tell him very bluntly that she was never going to date him.
“Hey, Greg,” Tamara said and sat down her backpack.
Across the room stood a large scale replica of a black knight piece with gleaming eyes that followed Tamara’s gaze as she tried to look away.
“That thing’s creepy!” she said rubbing her arms to rid herself of the goose bumps that were rising on her skin.
“Don’t insult, Sir Bedivere,” Greg laughed, “He’s our good luck charm. We owe him big time. He's the reason our team has never lost a tournament.”
“It’s a little big to carry around isn’t it?” Tamara laughed.
“We don’t carry him around. He lives here. The story goes that he showed up the day the town opened the school.”
“Do you really believe that?” Tamara asked, crossing her arms.
“No one knows where Sir Bedivere came from or who brought him here, but he is our good luck charm so no insulting him. It’s our first rule.”
“Okay, don’t be so touchy!” Tamara said, leaning back against a desk.
The rest of the club began to trickle in one at a time. It was already four o’clock and the meeting was supposed to begin at three forty five. Tamara hoped Mrs. Kelly wouldn’t make them stay late because of the late start. After all, she had arrived on time.
Greg fell into conversation with his friends and Tamara sank into the background. It felt odd to stand outside of a group and look in. Most of the people in the club were guys, but two girls were in the mix too. One hung from Greg’s arm and Tamara had to bite her lip to keep from smiling. Tamara arched an eyebrow. Even nerds dated.
Tamara ran her fingers through her hair extensions and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. She just wanted to get it all over with: the meeting, the being compared to her grandfather, and having to admit to a room packed with nerds that she couldn't even play chess. Okay, so that wasn’t totally true. Tamara knew what the pieces were called, that knights moved in an L shape, and the queen had to protect the king.
That wasn’t much to go on. Her stomach flip-flopped just thinking about the laughter that was sure to follow her words. At least the others were here because they wanted to be here and not because their mom’s had forced them into it. Tamara crossed her arms and watched a small murder of crows flying by, trying not to think about how lame she felt. In fact she couldn’t think of another time she had felt this lame.
“When are we going to get started?” Tamara asked.
“Our other new member should be here soon. Mrs. Kelly has a dentist appointment so she won’t be here.”
Tamara nodded and turned her attention back to the crows, but they were gone. Even they didn’t want to stick around and watch her reputation fall to pieces. The door swung open and Tamara looked up, drawing in a sharp breath. The guy entering the room was taller than her by at least a head and looked like he engaged in exercise that didn’t include moving pawns around a chess board.
The newcomer was a stark contrast to Greg and the other guys in the room. Their arms
were skinny and Tamara was pretty sure she could bench press most of them. The newest arrival on the other hand, looked like he could easily pick up Tara. His thick brown hair was cropped short making the gaze of his dark brown eyes even more intense. A grin tugged on the corners of Tamara’s mouth. What the hell was a guy like him doing here, in geekville?
“Hey, Hayden!” Greg called out.
“Sorry, I’m late,” Hayden said dropping into a chair. Tamara’s eyes followed him as he leaned back resting on arm on the chair’s back and stretched his legs out.
“Not a problem. We’re just glad to have enough people for the tournament,” Greg said.
Murmurs of agreement sounded here and there reminding Tamara that she was standing in room five eighty five.
“Okay guys,” Greg said turning towards the larger groups, “Most of you know Tamara Page and some of you have already met Hayden Bradley. Even if you haven’t you haven’t, you have now.”
The group laughed and Tamara rolled her eyes.
“With them we have enough people for the tournament which will take place one week from tomorrow. Hayden participated in Chess Club at his old school, but Tamara hasn’t played before. We have two weeks to whip her into shape so let’s get started,” Greg said and turned Tamara and Hayden, “I thought I’d watch you guys play a game. That way I can see where you are and give you pointers if you need it. We don’t expect you to be an expert by next Saturday, but we would like it if you knew the basics at least.”