…

Chess was cold. She felt as if her entire being had been doused with a deadly bucket of liquid nitrogen. Rolling over, she could see her bedroom floor. Somehow, she'd managed to roll under her bed during the night. The icy Montana temperature of fifteen degrees made sleeping without blankets impossible; yet, somehow, she was just lying under her bed, blanketless, in pajama shorts and an overly large tee shirt.

"Chess, there's bacon in the kitchen," her mother called from downstairs. Chess rolled onto her stomach and crawled out from under the bed, army style. On the way out, her foot kicked something that had been pushed up against the wall. Chess turned, peering into the darkness. Standing proud and tall beneath her bed was a black top hat. A scrap of paper had been hastily stuffed into the band around it.

"No freaking way," Chess growled. If she was dreaming, then the dream was starting to get a little long…and predictable. She stared at the hat for a while, then quickly slid back and grabbed it. Sneezing from the copious amount of dust bunnies, Chess lifted herself off the ground and joined the waking world.

…

Maddox Harper stood outside the Chester house. It stood on the corner of Wander Road and Landon Avenue. Behind it stood a dark and stately forest. Decades ago, the house had been the first of a neighborhood; however, the contractors hired to build the suburban houses stopped after the first one, due to unusable land. The house itself had cracking foundation and a leaky old roof.

"Sorry I'm late," Chess called, running down the front steps. She threw her backpack into the back seat of his car before sitting down in the passenger seat. Maddox slammed the door behind her before getting behind the wheel. "It's freezing in here," Chess muttered, seeing her words turn to steam on the windows.

"If you're going to be late, I'm not going to waste gas by leaving the car on. If you want to be warm, you should get up on time." They suffered the rest of the way to school in silence.

Madd Harper was known for silence. The teachers called him a wild card, as if he were some sort of magic Rubix cube that could change at any moment. He drove Chess to school each day in the same unvarying routine that they'd had since he got his license. After Chess' brother had died, it had seemed to Chess that Madd was decent to her because of his guilt. Adam Chester had fallen from a tree when he was twelve years old. Chess had been ten, and she had been standing at a mere twenty feet away. Later she told the police that Maddox had been standing with her, that he had been nowhere near the tree at the time of the accident.

…

"You really shouldn't drink," Chess grumbled, lifting an empty bottle of scotch up to the light. The setting sun that shone through the amber liquid at the bottom sent golden reflections over the worn boards of the old tree house.

"It's not mine, it's Madd's," Adam protested. Chess rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, it's Madd's," she replied. "You just borrowed some."

"Shut up," Adam growled, leaning out the window. "I think he's here. Go check and see if that's him, over by those trees." Ever the dutiful younger sister, Chessie climbed down the tree and set off towards the clump of trees. The hideout was deep in the forest behind Chess' house, and it had been a few weeks since her brother had started to let her hang out with him and Maddox. As she was walking over to the trees, a human blur sped by her. She turned and saw Madd making his way up the trunk to the tree house, which had no ladder. Ladders, Adam had declared, were for pansies. He was just the sort of person who would say that, neglecting to mention the fact that his father had told him not to take the ladder they had in their garage.

"Madd, wait!" Chessie called, racing towards the tree, which was no small distance away. Suddenly, Chessie heard a crack. The world came to a standstill. Even the birds ceased their song. No movement came from the tree house.

Under the trapdoor, there stood a narrow rock, shaped like a wedge, just tall enough to be a proper stepping stone. Adam and Madd had used it to hoist themselves up onto the nearest thick branch, from which they could climb the branches like a ladder until they reached their hideout. It was a very hard, sharp rock. Slipping on it had caused more than a few skinned knees, but never before had it broken a neck.

By the time Chess reached him, Adam was as dead as the rock beneath him. His eyes were wide open, his head tilted back at an unnatural angle. Chess looked up through the open trapdoor. Maddox's wide blue eyes met hers.

"Madd…" Chess gasped, still in shock. He pointed towards the tall brown grass. Still speechless, he was pointing at an albino rabbit, standing tall on its hind legs and watching them with its blood-red eyes.

…

Chess suffered through her morning classes, which were math and English. Both teachers thought she was mentally challenged and didn't deserve to be there. Both of them picked favorite students, and Chess wasn't on the list. The class favorite in math was Dinah March, and in English it was Alexandra Little. Alex and Dinah were both blonde, tan, rich, and popular. Unlike most of the other students, Alex and Dinah were part of a clique of teenagers who only lived in Montana because there was more room for mansions. They attended public school merely due to the convenience of doing so. Chess hated them. During lunch, as she sat with a few of her friends, she heard the usual hush in the lunchroom which meant that Maddox was walking in. Every female head in the cafeteria turned in unison as the tall, lanky figure strolled through the line.

"Doesn't he just belong up in the front?" Dinah sighed, fingering her gold 'D' pendant as she stared in admiration.

"You're just saying that because you're interested in his back," Alex muttered, rolling her eyes. Madd was a football player, so he was technically part of their group, but he didn't socialize much. Unfortunately, that just made him mysterious, and therefore more attractive. Alex, however, was dating the captain of the varsity basketball team.

"There's no shame in liking the way he wears his jeans," Dinah replied primly, sitting up a little straighter. A few tables away, Chess glared sullenly.

…

Snow-laden trees slid by, blurring together in a sea of green and white as the car sped up. Chess sat staring out the window.

"Do you know Dinah March?" she asked suddenly, turning to look at Maddox. His eyes never left the road.

"I guess so. Why?" he asked cautiously.

"Do you think she's pretty?" Madd glanced at her quickly before once again focusing on his driving.

"I don't know." He frowned. "Should I?"

"No…I don't… Never mind. I was just asking." Chess turned back towards the window.

"Do you?" Madd asked, looking at her again.

"What?"

"Think she's pretty?"

"I guess." Chess mumbled. "She's not my type…you know, being female and all that." She closed her eyes for a minute, wondering just how awkward the lopsided conversation was likely to get. They reached Chess' house, and she jumped out and tugged her backpack out of the trunk before trudging up the steps to her front door. Behind her, she heard a honk. Startled, she dropped the backpack and turned around. Madd was casually watching her. The car was idling in the driveway. Chess took a slow step towards the car, leaving her backpack on the front step. Nothing happened, and without a second thought, Chess walked back to the car, opened the door, and got in.

…