“It wouldn’t have hurt to say thank you,” I said, my eyes locking on the old computer he grasped in his hands. The same as last year. “Don’t you agree, sir?”
Mr. Morgan’s face paled. We’d had an understanding for the past two years. He would stay out of our business, and I would stay out of his extramarital activities. Not like he had any power, anyway—he was merely a lackey, beholden to the whims of those in higher positions. I might have arrived at Pantheon as an outsider, but now I was part of the chessboard, the students my pawns. Eat or be eaten. Be the predator or become the prey.
“That’s right.” Mr. Morgan’s lips contorted into a hard line. “Apologies. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
He slipped away from our balcony with his tail between his legs. I took my phone out and opened the AI chess game I’d created a few years back when social interactions weren’t enough to keep my brain entertained.
“You traumatized him,” Cillian said in his thick British accent.
“He’s going to miss us.” Kay sighed. “Maybe at the end of the year, we should send his wife everything Levi has on him. It’d be a shame to leave this place without some drama.”
“I don’t give information out for pleasure,” I quipped. “It’s better to save it for something more efficient.”
“You’re a party killer as always,” Kay mumbled.
My opponent opened in 1.e4. King’s Pawn Opening, the most popular and scholarly move. That was why I always played with the black. I could get in my opponent’s head with just one move and choose from various counterattack strategies to annihilate him.
“Hey, guys. How was your summer?” The voice came from the most utterly boring person on earth—son of the French Defense Minister and third-year politics student, Sylas. Only I knew his deepest secret. It was satisfying to know that I was the only one capable of ruining his perfect image.
“I was on my father’s yacht, you?” Each time Kay could flaunt his money, he would.
“Humanitarian mission. We helped in refugee camps,” Sylas said, and I couldn’t help but curl my lips into the closest thing to a smile I could manage. “Next year, why don’t you guys join me?”
I need to optimize the AI algorithm and implement new chess moves.It was far too easy to beat.
“The world needs more people like you, Sylas.” Kay pointed at him, knowing perfectly well that he was too selfish to do that. “Those hands are certainly not fit for labor.”
“Or anything.” Cillian snorted. He always managed to get under Kay’s skin with just a few words.
“What about you, Levi?”
I increased my pace, unleashing a pawn storm for checkmate. “I don’t do socials, but I do warfare, surveillance software, and AI.”
The Unifier student in him grimaced. “You’re maybe not the right person for a humanitarian mission.” Of that, we could agree. “I’ll see you after the ceremony. I’m sure one of you will be elected headmaster of their house.”
“Am I the only one who wants to punch him?” Kay asked before leaning on his arm against the balcony wall, encroaching on my personal space. “Now, Levi, what was the show with the white-haired girl about? You left us and headed straight in her direction like a nuclear missile. Didn’t figure she’d be your style; she looks so… pure, and you’re so… you.”
I was two moves away from checkmate, but in a bad move, I let my opponent’s pawn slip through my fingers.
Dalia Mercier and her Kiss of Death.
It had been 1666 days since I last saw her.
I scowled. “Is your straight side interested in fucking her, or is it the gay part of you trying to dig deeper into my psyche like my fucking therapist?”
He grinned. “That’d depend on which one pisses you off the most.”
“Leveraging your half-Korean heritage to your advantage won’t work with her,” I said, trusting her to have more brain cells than to fall for his smooth-talking.
I squandered my available time, the clock ticking in my opponent’s favor, as I scanned the rows, seeking that shock of white hair amid the crowd.
“I didn’t know you, out of all the people, could feel threatened. And by me? I’m getting a hard-on just thinking about it.” Kay laughed. I didn’t. “Why so possessive? I never minded sharing with any of you.”
Dalia’s journey at Pantheon University was about to take a dark turn. I would be the shadowy figure lurking in the background, ready to lure her into the depths of my revenge game that I’d designed specifically for her. She knew I wasstaring at her. I could feel the way her eyes drifted to the side, and her friend—Yasmine, a scholarship kid, if I remember correctly—wasn’t exactly discreet.
“In the future, refrain from sharing. I remind you that I am still your roommate, and bleaching my eyes is not an option,” Cillian said.
“It’s not my fault you’re a virgin,” Kay taunted.
