Page 133 of Pride High 3: Yellow

“Huh?”

“When you got caught kissing and groping. What did you imagine the outcome would be?”

“I didn’t,” he admitted.

“Check,” Dr. Sharma said, placing her bishop diagonal from his king.

“Wait,” he said. “Let me concentrate.”

She leaned back. “By all means!”

Ricky studied the board, but it didn’t help much. After a few more moves, the game was over.

“Another round?” she asked, returning the pieces to their proper places after he nodded. “As a mental exercise, let’s pretend you hadn’t been caught by Graham and your romantic escapades were allowed to continue unfettered. What are some other possible outcomes?”

“If you want me to be really honest,” Ricky replied, “we could have ended up having sex. Like maybe on the last day of school.”

Dr. Sharma spun the board around, so he could play as white and go first. “And what if you had?”

“It probably would have been exciting,” he said, moving one of his pawns.

She did the same while waiting for him to say more. When he didn’t, she asked, “What else?”

“Things could have stayed the same,” he said after thinking about it. “We would have kept messing around a little before class. Which was nice. Especially during the times we weren’t allowed to see each other.”

“Give me another possibility,” she said.

Ricky moved a pawn before responding. “Someone else could have caught us. And maybe attacked us or something crazy, I don’t know.”

“That’s certainly possible.”

They took turns moving pieces in silence, Ricky leaning forward in excitement when she moved her queen right where he wanted it. He took it with his rook.

“Checkmate,” Dr. Sharma said after taking the rook with her bishop.

Ricky growled in frustration.

“The secret,” she said, “Is not to consider all possibilities, but to follow the most likely to their end result.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Let’s say Graham caught you in the act, except he didn’t decide to inform the coach. What could have happened?”

“He definitely would have said something mean,” Ricky said. “But I don’t think he would have attacked us.”

“And after he said something mean?”

Ricky laughed without humor. “Diego definitely would have gotten up in his face.”

“Then what?”

“Graham might have backed down. Or maybe he would have shoved Diego away. I guess that depends on how he felt about a bisexual guy being so close to him with uh… at least half a boner, because they don’t go awaythatquick.”

“So they might have gotten into a fist fight, in which case, the school would have surely gotten involved, and Diego might have been suspended or even expelled indefinitely."

“True,” he admitted.

“Although you could be right,” Dr. Sharma amended. “Perhaps, after Graham and Diego exchanged heated words, they might have gone their separate ways. Would that have been the end of it?”