Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. Every move counts nowadays; after the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Mallory’s focus is on her mom, her sisters, and the dead-end job that keeps the lights on. Thatis, until she begrudgingly agrees to play in one last charity tournament and inadvertently wipes the board with notorious “Kingkiller” nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess.

Bradley Graeme is pretty much perfect: he’s star football player, manages his OCD well (enough), and comes out on top in all his classes… except the ones he shares with Celine Bangura. They used to be best friends, until Brad decided he was too cool for consipracy-theory-obsessed Celine and literally abandoned her for the popular kids’ table. (At least, that’s how Celine sees it.) These days, Brad hates her guts - and the feeling is mutual.