“Hey, what did you get on the test?” Youngjae’s head popped up next to yours and you jumped a bit. You covered your paper with your hand.

            “You came out of nowhere. How about you tell me first?” You narrowed your eyes at him. He smirked.

            “Not a chance. But since I got a perfect score, I’m sure you can get no higher.”

            You scowled. You had messed up a bit. You decided to be nonchalant. “You’re so cocky. I got the same exact thing.” Youngjae laughed under his breath.

            “Right. And that’s why I see a nine peeking out at me.” You glanced down at your test paper in panic and saw that your hand had indeed slipped to reveal the beginnings of your 98. He tapped you on the forehead. “Don’t try lying to me.”

            You seethed. He always happened to see right through you. The two of you have been in the same class since kindergarten. Ever since you realized that you weren’t the only kid who knew the colors, you’ve been feeling an animosity towards Youngjae. Throughout the years, he had not changed. He was always trying to one-up you in whatever you did.

            For the big third grade science fair, you thought it was cool for you to try and perform an experiment with dissecting cats and studying their digestive system but Youngjae had stolen first place from you by studying DNA from a microorganism. He was in third grade, dammit.

            But revenge was yours when you were able to steal the limelight and becoming the Best Student of your grade. He had been mad, thinking he deserved it more than you did, but that was his own delusions. He had thrown a fit, even wanting to skip the awards ceremony, but decided not to give you the satisfaction. He has hated you since. But that’s not your problem. The feeling is mutual.

            The two of you entered middle school and he was really cold when he realized that you were in all his classes, homeroom included. “I’m going to make sure you go down.” He snarled. You had given him a cool look.

            “The pleasure is mine to see you fall, you pabo.” You then smiled sweetly.

            Sixth, seventh and eighth grade went by quickly and the two of you compared grades incessantly. Whenever you beat him, he would only retreat back to his shell and work harder. When he beat you, you drove yourself to impossible heights. Your parents only shook their heads and whispered that the two of you would eventually end up together.

            You entered high school and the competition just became harder. The tests were harder but the two of you pulled the grades. Projects came and the two of you tried your best to find the hardest topics to outbeat the other.

            It was your final year and the most important praise of academic excellence was going to be rewarded. Both of you wanted to be valedictorian. Youngjae had the average and the smarts but you had the advantage of having your teachers like you. From what you could calculate, you had similar averages. The only thing tipping the scale is the large architecture project due at the end of the year.

            Your teacher was always biased towards males and he was always criticizing your work. Youngjae had the advantage of having testosterone and the teacher liked his weird designs, despite the fact that yours were more artistic.

            “Take a look at your design. Do you think this would stand up against the test of wind? What about a flood? I can put yours in a bath tub and it would collapse!” The teacher had sniffed at the blueprint. “Look at Mr. Yoo’s. His is perfect. He has designed a house of such quality that I would want to live in it. I’m not afraid of being blown away while sleeping and I know that I have the best assurance. Learn from him.”

            Youngjae gave you a smug look and you were near tears. You only had one week to submit the final design and one more week to make the prototype out of cadkey. Normally composed, you were on the verge of a breakdown.

            It didn’t help that day after day, the teacher shot down your idea. The day before the final plan was due, you sat outside your porch and cried. All your hopes of going to college, all your hopes of beating Youngjae was slipping from your fingers. Maybe it was time to give up.

            “Hey.” You looked up and even through your tears, you scowled.

            “Came to gloat huh?”

            He looked surprised, and a bit hurt, if possible. “No, do you always lash out at everyone who wants to help? Yeesh. I just wanted to tell you, I think your designs are pretty amazing. Regardless of what the teacher says, I think you should keep doing what you’re doing.”

            You looked at him, totally shocked. “W-what in the world? You know I won’t be getting a good grade.”

            Youngjae sat down next to you. “Maybe this wouldn’t matter to you, but have you ever wondered why I tried so hard to beat you?”

            You shook your head. “I’ve always admired you, and I figured you liked smart boys. So I wanted to impress you and get you to notice me. But it seems all that happened was your hating me. I guess my plans totally backfired.”

            You gazed at him in wonder, knowing you must look stupid with your mouth falling open. “Are you serious?”

            He nodded. “Yeah. I mean, it’s the end of the year. I think we can both afford to lighten up. I just swung by to make sure you were okay and to ask you to prom.”

            You blushed. “That’s really kind of you. But what about my architecture project?”

            He grinned wickedly. “I’m going to take that as a yes because there is no way I want to have you backing out. But I think you’re going to have to stick with salutatorian. I’m not letting you beat me yet. Just think it consolation to be going to prom with the smartest kid in the school.”

plot requested by waffyeols

The ending is a bit lame and I guess I'm just really out of it but wanted to post this so you can feel better unni ♥