The Slut's Guide to Chess

chapter 12

That afternoon, I decided to pay my step mum a visit.

I crept along the corridors and to the science block where she taught as a biology teacher. A lot of people assumed that because Yetunde enjoyed the subject that I had to be some sort of whiz kid at all things biology. I wasn't. I wasn't a whizz kid at anything, really. At least not anything regarding school.

"Hi, Zora," Lorraine Alcott greeted as she left Yetunde's classroom. Hand in hand with her new girlfriend, their relationship was the most talked about thing on campus. I wondered if it angered Xander that the spotlight of last week's episode belonged to a lesbian couple. I wondered if the thought made him sick. I wondered if he hated Lorraine Alcott now just because she preferred girls.

"Hey! You both look lovely. You make a beautiful couple."

Lorraine Alcott smiled.

After seeing that video of Xander, it was easy to think that he'd grown horns and a tail. I could see the grey cloud that hung over his office and imagined him as the big bad wolf. He was the enemy now. I'd drawn the line for good and evil and Alexander Devon fell on the 'evil' side. Despite knowing him for years and laughing and making memories. Despite the adoration I had for this man who my sister loved, who was like a big brother to me. Despite all this, he was evil now.

"Yetunde?" I called across the classroom when I entered.

The old classrooms of Blackwell were chilly and rotting. Everything from the walls to the tables and chairs were wooden. The most modern thing in sight was Yetunde's MacBook.

As I walked through the aisle of tables, Yetunde wobbled out of the teacher's cupboard balancing textbooks in her hands.

"Oh, hello," she smiled. "Can I help you with anything?"

I shrugged my shoulders and leant against the front desk, moving my eyes to the windows. The sky was darkening outside and only a few stray students walked together through the cold.

"Have you spoken to Alex lately?" Yetunde asked as though she could hear my thoughts. She opened up her laptop before grabbing a large clip and pinned her short curls back.

I shook my head back and forth.

"Did you see that video of him? I can't even look at him the same, you know. Anyway, at least if I don't talk to him I won't have to go on Educating Elite. I really do hate doing interviews for that show. Once in winter last year, I was late to be interviewed and whilst I was running to the studio I slipped on ice and had to limp around the school for, like, a week. Reminds me of that time I broke my leg while we were on that stupid family camping trip. And Xander was there then, too! Do you think he's purposely trying to injure me? My leg specifically! I think I've cracked the-"

"He's still Alex," she interrupted.

That sentence stunned me to silence. I stared at my stepmother while she absentmindedly typed on her laptop as though her words hadn't stolen the air from my lungs because it was true. He was still Alex after everything.

Xander was still the same Xander as he was yesterday, as he was a year ago and as he was before I'd seen the video. The same Xander who snuck through my sister's dorm window in the dead of night. The same Xander who chased me across the football field while my stomach burned from laughter. The same Xander who held me while I cried for my sister when she died that day.

Except now, I knew he was bad news. What was I meant to do with that, though? Everything was too much and it hurt to think about.

"You're quiet," Yetunde observed. "What are you thinking?"