The first major examination finally came to an end, and after days of waiting with bated breath, the moment of truth arrived. When the results were posted on the bulletin board, the whole hallway was crowded with students scrambling to see their ranks. I pushed through the crowd, my head held high as usual, completely confident in myself. I had been number one for as long as I could remember. It was my title, my identity, my comfort zone. There was no way anyone could take it away from me.
But as soon as my eyes landed on the very top of the list, I froze completely. My mind went blank, and my body went cold. I stared at the paper, unable to process what I was seeing.
For the first time in my entire life, I was not number one.
My hands started trembling uncontrollably, my fingers gripping the edge of the board until my knuckles turned white. My eyes widened in pure shock and disbelief. I read the names over and over again, hoping it was just a mistake, hoping my eyes were playing tricks on me. But it was real.
Rank 1: Kaiza
And right below her name, in second place, was mine.
Rank 2: Cole
"What?" I whispered to myself, my voice barely audible, feeling a sharp sting in my pride. It hurt more than I could ever explain. How was this possible? How could a new student, someone who just transferred here a few weeks ago, beat me just like that? I studied until midnight every single day. I never missed a point. I knew every answer by heart. I gave it my all, yet she still managed to get a higher score than me. It was humiliating. It felt like the whole world was laughing at me. My face burned with shame and anger as I walked away from the board, feeling like I had lost everything that defined me.
I walked back to the classroom feeling heavy, angry, embarrassed, and incredibly frustrated. My mood was worse than ever. As soon as I stepped through the door, Kaiza saw me immediately. She didn't look shy or sorry at all. Instead, her face lit up like the sun, and she immediately waved her test paper high up in the air, grinning from ear to ear, looking so incredibly proud of herself.
"Hey Cole! Over here! Look! 98%!" she shouted excitedly, holding up her paper so I could see the big score written on it. "I told you I would be first! I told you I wasn't here to play around!" She laughed happily, her voice echoing in the room. "Sorry not sorry, Second Place! You have to work much harder next time if you want to catch up!"
I glared at her intensely, my jaw tightening so hard I could feel my teeth grinding. I was so annoyed and furious I wanted to scream.
"It was just luck," I snapped coldly, trying to save whatever dignity I had left. "You got lucky with the questions. Next time, there is no way I will let you win. I will definitely beat you by a mile. Don't get too confident just because of one exam, Kaiza."
"Oh? So we are officially rivals now?" she raised an eyebrow, looking amused and absolutely thrilled by my reaction. A mischievous smile played on her lips. "I like that! It makes things so much more fun! Challenge accepted!"
She leaned closer to me, her eyes sparkling with determination. "From now on, every recitation, every quiz, every project, every single assignment… I will beat you! I'm going to take every single point available! You can't escape me, Cole!"
And she did exactly that. She wasn't just lucky; she was incredibly smart, maybe even smarter than me in some ways. She was sharp, fast, and brilliant.
Every time the teacher asked a difficult question that nobody else could answer, we would both raise our hands at the exact same time, our hands shooting up like rockets, competing to be the first one to speak. And more often than not, she would get it right. She would answer perfectly, and then she would turn to look at me, sticking her tongue out playfully, looking so proud and victorious.
I hated her. I really did. I hated that she was smarter than me. I hated that she was so cheerful and loud all the time, while I was always serious and stressed. I hated that she was always invading my personal space, always bothering me, always there. I just wanted her to disappear and give me back my number one spot. But the truth was, the more we competed, the more she became part of my daily life. Whether I liked it or not, she was there, and slowly but surely, she was becoming impossible to ignore.