Angie clenched her fists as she heard the familiar taunt from the back of the classroom. “Hey, nerd, what’s the answer to Question seven?” It was Jake, the school bully, who always picked on her and Ash for being smart and studious. She didn’t mind him though. She always had a witty comeback or a nice roast for Jake and his cronies. In class, it seemed she didn’t care what anyone thought of her. She was confident and independent.
She thought a little bit, grinned at him, and retorted, “Hey, Jake, I’m glad you’re interested in the answer to number seven. Maybe if you paid more attention in class instead of picking on others, you would know it. Or maybe you’re just too dumb to understand it. Either way, you’re wasting your time and ours. Why don’t you go back to your seat and try to look smart for once?”
She glanced at her rival, Ashton, who was sitting across from his desk. He was the only person who made her feel bad about herself. She tried keeping it in, keeping her casual demeanor, but it never worked. She could never ignore his constant terror. Angelina despised him and wanted to beat him. Maybe more than beat him. He seemed confident, and was better at everything. Under the surface though, Ash obviously hated Jake, but he hated himself more for being so insecure and sensitive. He wished he could stand up to Jake, or at least ignore him, but he always felt like he had to prove himself to everyone. He just had to prove his superiority to her.
In reality, Ash didn’t understand why she didn’t respect him. He thought they had a lot in common. He secretly thought they could be a good team, though he always lied to himself, saying he didn’t.
The teacher handed out worksheets to the whole class, and said, “Okay, students, I’ll be putting you in pairs, according to your alphabetical order. Go and sit down next to the person you are paired up with and do the worksheet together.
She then cleared her throat, and opened the negative credits register, where unruly students were given negative marks on their exams. If the negative credits reached seven or above, the student was not promoted. However, she wasn’t looking to give anyone a negative credit that day. She only needed the register to look at the alphabetical order.
“Aden Paul and Addison Foster,”
As she kept yelling out names, they all started going to each others’ places, and starting discussions.
“Adrian Florence and Agnes Reynolds,”
“Alex Cook and Amaya Snow”
She adjusted her glasses and continued reading.
“Amelia Leah Owen, and Amelia Miette Owens,”
“Angelina Wylde and,” said the teacher, and tried to stifle a laugh. “Ashton Winters.”
The two glared at each other. Angelina objected. “This must be a mistake! After me comes Anna Jay.”
The teacher chuckled. “Anna Jay left the school a few days back, remember?”
“But then what about Athena Robson? I can just work with her, can’t I?”
Athena Robson, the blue eyed, strawberry blonde-haired, slightly tanned girl in question, who was sitting next to Ashton gasped in shock, being woken from her long thought process about her resemblance to Angelina. “Huh? What?!” she turned to Ash and sighed. “No, sorry… I’m working with Ava.”
“Come on!! You can’t let me down now! Not after 10 years of being friends…”
Athena shook her head, mirroring the teacher, who then said, “I’m sorry, Ashton. I know it must be hard for you to work with Angelina. But you’ll do well.”
Ashton groaned, picked up his books and sat down next to Angie, whose partner had moved out to sit with their assigned partner.
Angelina and Ashton sat in awkward silence, staring at the worksheet in front of them. They had to answer some questions about states of matter, which they both knew very well, but neither of them wanted to cooperate with the other. They felt a surge of resentment and competitiveness, as if they had to prove who was smarter and better.
Suddenly, they heard a loud laugh from behind them. They turned around and saw Jake snickering. “Ooh! Nerd boy and nerd girl!” he whispered, and formed a kiss face. They tried to ignore the teasing, but they felt their faces growing redder and redder by the minute.
“I swear… that Jake…” Ashton muttered.
“Ugh… I know… he’s the worst.” Angie added.
They decide to leave it be, and think of better things, but the comments from the back only grew louder, and more annoying by the minute. They tried to simply focus on the answer sheet. Ash solved the odd numbered questions, and Angie, the even numbered ones.
But even after they finished – before the rest of the class – they were still subjected to Jake and his cronies, with their endless torture.
This was especially brutal for Angelina. She had set a high bar for herself in order to beat Ashton, to prove to everyone, and to herself, that she was good in her field. Every loss she took, she only raised the bar higher. She kept telling herself she could do it next time, but when ‘next time’ finally rolled around, she never made it even close to her goals.
She disciplined herself strictly and always strived to carry herself with elegance and poise. She walked the narrow road perfection, she talked perfection, she lived for perfection. The only thing stopping her from being the model student was a winning streak.
She never liked to distract herself with mundane, childish things like going outside to play, or even staying inside and playing. All she did at home was practice for her next contest, look in the mirror to practice a winning smile, and occasionally working on her web comic for fun. Oh, and did I mention practicing for her next contest?
She never cared for romance, and wanted nothing to do with it. In her eyes, this concept of love the whole world spoke of so highly was merely an illusion. She hated it with all her stone-cold heart. She ran away from any such discussions. But she was still yet to publicly come out as aromantic.
Feelings and emotions were a waste of time to her, except for anger and happiness. Anger was her main source of determination, and happiness was something she wanted desperately, and had already found, or so it seemed. But she couldn’t help but cry into her hoodie, which she pulled on as soon as she felt the first tear form.
“You’ll never be alone, I’ll be with you from dusk till dawn,” She heard Ashton humming a familiar tune under his breath. It was one of those catchy pop songs that played on the radio all the time. She recognized it as Dusk Till Dawn, and felt a surge of anger and sadness. How could he be so calm and cheerful when she was suffering so much? She wiped her tears with her sleeve and glared at him.
“Hey, Ash,” she snapped. “Do you mind shutting up for a minute?”
Ashton stopped humming and looked at her with surprise. He hadn’t noticed her crying. He had been too busy arguing with Jake, their mutual bully, who had been taunting them for the whole of Chemistry class. He had finally managed to shut him up with a witty comeback, and was feeling proud of himself. It wasn’t like his usual, but he had put in a lot of thought into the comeback. It was one he thought was stupid, but He didn’t expect Angelina to be so rude to him. Well, they were rivals, but she wasn’t this rude.
“What’s your problem?” he asked, annoyed.
“My problem is you,” she said, bitterly. “You and your stupid song. You think you’re so cool and smart, but you’re not. You’re just a nerd who can’t stand up for himself. He’s just teasing us.”
“It’s not teasing, it’s harassment,” he said, raising his voice. “He’s always making fun of me for my looks, my grades, my hobbies… He even accused me of having a crush on you!”
Angelina snorted. “That’s ridiculous. Why would anyone have a crush on me? Or you, for that matter?”
“Exactly,” he said, nodding. “Well, I get why people would like me, I am really handsome.”
“But once they realize how awful your personality is… oof… you aren’t even nearly handsome, or smart enough to get away with such an attitude.” she said, crossing her arms. “Unlike you, I can stand up to that idiot Jake.”
“Shh, shh… I’m trying to work on the fifth answer. It’s tough.”
Angelina smiled evilly, and rubbed her fists together. “Haha, you got stuck with the hard one! Sad life…”
“At least I have one, unlike you.”
They looked up and saw the teacher, right in front of their desk, shaking her head. They both fell silent, stewing in their resentment and frustration. They wished they could be anywhere else but there, stuck with each other, stuck on the fifth answer, right under the teacher’s nose.
To be continued in a later chapter.
(Fun fact: Ash was based off of one person I, the author know, and instead ended up like a different person I know. A blend of both, I suppose...)
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