Dear Rival

{Chapter 7}

Tanya’s POV

As soon as we stepped out of the classroom, I sighed in relief.

“Finally, tapos na rin ‘yung lesson. My brain cells almost filed for resignation,” I muttered, fixing my bag.

Keisha rolled her eyes. “You? Eh ikaw nga ‘yung palaging nakikipag-unahan sumagot.”

I smirked. “It’s called being prepared, not show-off.”

Before she could reply, we heard loud laughter behind us familiar voices, and one of them, unfortunately, belonged to Shan Villafuerte.

“Here we go again,” I muttered.

Keisha groaned softly. “If Jc makes one more annoying face at me, I swear I’ll throw my notebook at his annoying face.”

As if on cue, Jc walked beside Shan, doing exactly that sticking his tongue out playfully and making that stupid “peace sign” face that always irritates her.

“Keishaaa~ don’t look at me like that, baka ma-in love ka,” Jc teased.

“Ew. Dream on, Jc,” Keisha snapped.

Behind them, Brent chuckled sarcastically. “Bro, stop flirting. You’re scaring people.”

“Scaring? Excuse me, charming is the word,” Jc said proudly.

Xian, quiet as ever, just shook his head while scrolling on his phone. “You’re both embarrassing.”

Aiden, the loudest of the group, laughed so hard he almost dropped his backpack. “Nah, let them be. This is the entertainment I need every after class.”

I rolled my eyes at their noise. “Great. The circus arrived.”

“Correction,” said a familiar voice from behind — Cath, holding her phone like a reporter ready to spill tea. “The popular circus, Tanya. Half of the girls in class lowkey crush all of them.”

“Yuck,” I muttered, making Shell giggle beside her.

“Girl, tell that to yourself,” Shell teased while clutching her w*****d book. “Enemies to lovers daw ‘yung mga ganito, sabi ni author BlueReve.”

“Shell. Real life ‘to, hindi Wattpad.”

Denise, who had been quiet all this time, softly added, “But sometimes, fiction starts with reality.”

I looked at her, raising a brow. “What are you? A love guru now?”

Denise just shrugged. “Just saying.”

We were all walking through the school hallway when suddenly, our two groups somehow ended up side by side my COF on the left, Shan’s COF on the right. You could literally feel the rival energy floating between us.

“Wow, look at this formation,” Aiden joked. “Parang battle scene sa movie.”

“Battle of brains and attitude,” Brent said dryly, smirking.

“Oh, please,” I shot back. “More like battle of delulu vs. reality.”

Shan gave me that cocky grin I hated so much. “Reality? You mean the reality na lagi akong top 1?”

I crossed my arms. “That’s temporary. Enjoy mo na habang kaya mo pa, Villafuerte.”

“Don’t worry, Dela Cruz, I plan to,” he replied, smug as ever.

“Ugh, someone punch me,” I muttered.

“Gladly,” Keisha whispered, glaring at Jc who was still making faces beside Shan.

“Keisha, you keep looking at me. Kung gusto mo picture na lang oh,” Jc teased again, holding an imaginary camera.

Cath gasped dramatically. “Omg, confirmed! Jc’s flirting with Keisha again!”

“Flirting?! More like torturing!” Keisha said, looking ready to throw her water bottle.

Shell snorted. “Grabe, this is straight out of a w*****d story The Annoying Boy Who Fell for the Grumpy Girl.”

“Shell!” Keisha glared at her.

Even Shan laughed at that, and for a split second, I saw his genuine smile not the cocky one. But I quickly shook my head. Nope. Not falling for that trick.

We reached the school gate and started heading toward the tricycle area. Of course, fate decided to make things worse there were only two tricycles left.

“Perfect,” I muttered sarcastically.

“Alright, two groups, one solution,” Brent said. “Sino mauuna?”

“Us,” I said firmly.

“Nope,” Shan said at the same time.

We glared at each other.

The tricycle driver looked confused. “Uh, pwede naman apat lang po kada biyahe.”

I blinked. “Four per tricycle… wait—”

Cath smirked. “Looks like you’ll have to share, Tan.”

“Over my dead body.”

But before I could argue, Keisha nudged me. “Let’s just ride na, it’s getting late.”

So we ended up splitting. Me, Keisha, Shell, and Cath in one tricycle. The other? Shan, Jc, Brent, and Xian. Aiden got left behind, still laughing at us.

As our tricycles drove off, I could hear Jc yelling from behind, “Bye Keishaaa~ see you in your dreams!”

Keisha groaned so loud that even the driver laughed.

“Girl, the way he gets under your skin…” Shell said, chuckling.

“I swear, if he keeps doing that, I’ll transfer schools.”

Cath giggled. “Admit it, Keish, he’s living rent-free in your head.”

“Rent free? More like illegally squatting,” Keisha said, crossing her arms.

I leaned my head against the window and sighed. “What a chaotic day.”

Denise, who had stayed silent since we rode, softly said, “Tanya, you do realize you and Shan argue too naturally, right?”

I looked at her in disbelief. “Excuse me?”

“Yeah,” Cath chimed in. “You two even finish each other’s sentences sometimes. It’s giving tension.”

“Ew. No. It’s giving rivalry, not romance.”

Shell grinned. “Sure, Miss ‘Enemies to Lovers Denial Arc.’”

I threw a tissue at her. “Stop reading w*****d during class, Shell!”

They all laughed, and I tried to laugh too. But deep inside, I couldn’t stop thinking about Shan’s smirk earlier that mix of confidence and challenge that made my heart skip for half a second.

I shook my head. Nope, Tanya. You’re not catching feelings. Not for him.

Still, the echo of his voice saying “I plan to” replayed in my head all the way home.