Kyuhyun

Today was the day.

I approached the horde of people crowding around the board where they posted the test results from yesterday. The mass of people was probably ten feet deep. Several students were pointing at names, searching for their own, probably. Others stood at the edge of the crowd, standing on their toes, clamoring to get a better view. Why did they have to be so noisy?

I stood quite a distance away from the crowd, choosing to wait until the mass of people had at least thinned. I glanced around me. Some students were smiling or cheering, others were crying. A few went up to the list, then shrugged their shoulders, obviously satisfied with their results. Tch. They should at least try harder. Personally, I was never quite satisfied with my grades. Why?

As soon as I noticed that the crowd had disappeared, I walked up to the sheet of paper with the words Level 3 across the top, my year level. I skipped all those names I didn’t recognize at the bottom and went straight to the top. There it was.

Cho Kyuhyun.

2^nd.

“Dammit!!!” Frustrated, I pulled at my hair. I’m sure I was getting some weird looks, but do I care? All my hard work, those sleepless nights, those countless hours spent poring over books in the library until I was practically kicked out; no matter how much I pushed my limits for that test, it wasn’t good enough. No, Cho Kyuhyun had to be the best, he had to be. But I never was. Why? Because of her.

Jung Raeha.

1^st.

Why? Why her and not me? She was never the one who studied late into the night or spent extra on special tutoring booklets. In fact, I highly doubt she studies. She barely even listens in class, and she’s almost always asleep during lectures. How does she manage to ace every damn test?

She was my worst enemy, my fiercest rival.

And here she comes.

She walked by with her hands holding on to the straps of her backpack. She didn't even glance towards the bulletin board, yet she had such a happy jump to her walk. Was she so arrogant that she was already sure that she was going to be first? Tch.

I scowled unconcsiously. She seemed to notice it, though, as she walked by. She nodded at me, smiling. Do I sense an air of arrogance? "Cho." This was the way we usually greeted each other, if you could call it that. "Why the scowl?"

"Jung." I returned her greeting. "Have you seen the latest test ranking?" I nodded my head behind me, towards the sheet of paper.

She didn't even glance at it. "Nope. I don't really care about ranking. Why does it matter?"

"If you don't care about it, how do you always manage to get first?"

She just shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know and I don't care. Why do you always get so worked up about this? It's not a competition or anything." Not a… NOT A COMPETITION? She's my biggest competitor! How can she say it's not a competition?

"Tch. You don't know what it's like, being so close to the top but never reaching it." I put my hands in my pockets and stared again at the list, seeing my name near the top but not quite there. Second place was not enough. It was never enough.

"Grades aren't all that matter, you know. They don't determine true intelligence, strength, or character." Easy for her to say. Her name was at the very top.

She started to walk away towards the classroom, leaving me alone in my bitterness.

Sighing, I walked towards the classroom as well. As soon as I arrived, I knew I would see the same scene that welcomed me every morning: Raeha sitting on her seat beside mine, surrounded by a bunch of people laughing and talking together. I honestly found it annoying. It's too early in the morning for this! What's more, they often took over my seat, as well.

I glared at them as I approached my seat, which was, predictably, right in front of the teacher's. They seemed to get the message, stepping away from my chair.

Raeha just chuckled. "Ease up, Cho. It's too early in the morning to get all grumpy." I ignored her comment and plopped my bag onto the floor beside my chair. One by one, the crowd beside my chair, incuding Raeha, got up and went to be noisy in some other corner of the room.

"Heyyy." I was surprised by a hand on my back, instantly relaxing when I saw that it was only my best (and pretty much only) friend, Sungmin.

"Don't bother me today." I buried my head in my arms.

"I take it you've seen the test results." I heard him say, but didn't bother to turn to look at him as I replied with a groan, "It never changes. Whyyyyy?" He patted me on the back, returning to his seat as our teacher, Park Jungsu, walked in.

After the usual lecture about coordinate planes (which I had read about beforehand last night, to be prepared), Park seonsaengnim whispered to me, "Mr. Cho, I'd like to see you in the office today after class, is that okay?" I nodded. It's not like I ever had extracurricular activities anyway, they're a waste of time. I guess I'll have to sacrifice some library time.

"Great!" he grinned, rubbing his hands together. I smiled a little at him but then went back to my worksheet, diverting my attention. I have no idea if he said anything after that.

The bell rang signalling the end of classes, and I went out of the room to head to Park seonsaengnim's office. Sungmin caught up with me, slinging his arm around my shoulder. "Hey, Kyu. Off to the library?"

I shook my head. "Actually, I headed to Park-ssam's office."

Sungmin shrugged. "Did you get another award for something. You nerd." He pinched my cheeks, making my glasses ride up the bridge of my nose and hit my eyelid. "Yah." I shoved his hands away.

In truth, I had no idea what he called me for. I didn't do anything particularly outstanding lately. It certainly wasn't for misbehaviour.

"Well, see you tomorrow, then!" He ruffled my hair and walked away. I tried to pat it back into place as I approached the office.

I knocked on his door and heard seonsaengnim answer from inside, "Come in." Turning the knob, I stepped inside and bowed first as way of greeting. "Anneyong, seonsaengnim. What did you want to--" 

I looked up to see that he was sitting in his desk, with a big smile on his face, hands calmly placed on the table. But this wasn't what cut me off; it wasn't surprising at all. What was shocking to me was that someone  was in there with him, sitting in one of the chairs across his desk.

Raeha.

"Cho? What's going on, Park-ssam?" she said, obviously just as confused as I am.

"Jung, what are you doing here?"

"Please sit down and join us, Kyuhyun." he motioned for me to sit in the other chair across the desk, opposite Raeha's. Still trying to process the situation, I obliged.

Immediately, Raeha and I released a barrage of questions, and seonsaengnim just responded by squeezing his eyes shut. He raised his arms and we immediately shut up.

"Okay. So, as you two probably know, you are the highest-ranking students in school." He looked at the both of us. I scowled, remembering who the definite highest was. Raeha looked indifferent.

He sighed and pushed a letter addressed to the school across the table toward us. We leaned over to read it as he explained, "There will be a contest among the schools in the city, and our school was one of those invited to compete. We figured you two were our best chance." He leaned back in his cheap red office chair.

I looked over at the details of the letter. "Wait," I said, realizing something. "Why does it have to be two of us? Can't you send one person to do it?"

"The contest guidelines specify that schools will compete by teams, specifically teams of two." He placed his elbows on the arms of his chair, clasping his fingers thoughtfully. 

He was kidding, right? Was he really expecting me to work with … with her of all people? I looked at him incredulously. I have no idea whether Raeha's reaction was the same.

"Besides, this will be good for the both of you. You'll get some points out of it, and some experience as well." Points? Usually, I would accept it if it meant extra points that could help me get an upper hand on Raeha. But what good was it if Raeha was only going to get the same amount of points?

"Winners of the city division get to go to regionals, then nationals, and finally internationals."

This made me turn, my eyes wide. "Y-you're not joking, right?" Raeha spoke the question that was on both of our minds. Our teacher nodded. "I'm serious. You guys have a serious chance against them. And I think you guys would make a pretty good team."

US? A PRETTY GOOD TEAM? There was no way I could work with her. She would disturb my work ethic, or I would lose concentration, and consequentially make us lose the match.

But… the chance to go international was enticing. Competing against other countries, the chance for glory… I needed to think about this.

"I'll do it."

I turned, surprised to see Raeha accept it so easily. She was even smiling. Was she not totally against me working with her? She always told me that I was uptight, and would bother me even in class... But I guess the lure of being the best again reeled her in.

"Excellent, Raeha." Seonseangnim grinned, his dimples deep. He then turned toward me, expecting an answer. "Kyuhyun?"

I heaved a heavy sigh.

"Okay."

After so long, a first chapter! Yay~