Check & Mate

by Ali Hazelwood

Essay question: what does Nolan Sawyer smell like? Two paragraphs or longer

“I’m hungry.” “Then starve.” I bite the inside of my cheek. Honestly, I think I’m growing on him. “But this is my emotional support sandwich.” “Then have a mental breakdown.”

“Are you going to cry?” “No.” “Are you going to pass eye water?”

Oz is my favorite character so far

I’m not gonna make a friendship bracelet for him, but I’ll take a sphincter-clenchingly scary asshole like Sawyer over a slug-slurping-moisture-after-a-rainstorm slimy asshole like Koch any day.”

I-

I want to cut his brake lines. Just a little bit.

Like the match is an afterthought, and I am what he came here for.

“Hi,” I say. I can’t tear my gaze from his. Am I out of breath? “Hi.” Is he out of breath?

Well. It’s either Sawyer or an alien wearing his skin. I’m kind of rooting for option two.

“Are you going to run away?”

Why did that make me giggle

“He’s cute,” Mom whispers while I’m loading the dishwasher. “Cole Sprouse?” “Nolan.”

“You should stop swearing in front of twelve-year-olds. Mrs. Vitelli says that my brain’s still all squishy. I’ll probably end up in juvie if you swear just once more.” “Fuck.” “Here goes another promising young woman.”

Taking some creative liberties with the sentence structuring ability of 12 year olds I see

“Also, there’s tons of fanfiction on AO3, mostly of him making out with some Emil Kareem guy, but—” “What? How do you know what fanfiction is?” “I read it all the time.” “Excuse me?”

I remember being 12

“I do get several angsty late-night phone calls asking why Tanu just liked the shirtless picture of some Stanford swimmer on Instagram,

Oh my god lukas blomqvist in my chess book?

I couldn’t understand how someone could be so enthralled by the idea of being alone in a room with another person without a chessboard.” “But now you can?” He gives me a long look through his sunglasses. “Now I can.”

He always defeats his opponent quickly. Then he finds something warm to drink for the rest of the team, sets it by our boards, and comes to stand somewhere behind my opponent.

Someone took care of me. I don’t ask who.

Nolan is more approachable when consumed through the Brita filter of his friends,

but I’m not better than someone who’s just as innately good and has had decades of professional training.

Isn’t he 20??? I don’t think he has DECADES of training

“If they find my corpse in a ditch,” I say to Mom, “tell the police not to look into her. She probably did it, but I don’t want her to spend her life in prison.”

“What’s that smell?” “Your armpits.” “No, the good one.”

Oh, shit. The article. “I…Don’t worry about it. It’s a lie, I’m not sleeping with Nolan.” Nolan’s eyebrow lifts. His arms are still looped around my waist,

I did not whip out the calculator app for you to step back now.”

Oz is still the best

I woke up on his couch and my first instinct was to burrow into him. A horror story in fifteen words.

did you know I have an MBA? Now you do, please don’t tell anyone, it’s my most shameful secret.

“Is it very expensive, Malte?” I ask, plucking a chocolate-covered strawberry from a tray. “What?” “The vintage sexism you wear all the time.”

If I become your second, I’ll know you.” There is a beautiful, indecipherable half smile on his lips. “You think I don’t want you to know me?”

“Is it wise, to go to a cabin in the woods with the Kingkiller?”

Great line, but again - no 12 year old is saying this

“I need to think.” “Sure. Think. Think out loud.”

“Well, you know how I feel about agreeing with white guys with trust funds, but…I might have to give him a brownie point here.”

When I’m with you, I want to play more than I want to win.”

By Eleni Gataki, Senior Chess Correspondent, BBC

I didn’t notice this the first time omg congrats