The New Rival
The halls of Ridgewood High always smelled faintly of coffee, rain, and expensive perfume. It was the kind of school where students carried laptops worth more than most people’s cars and competition was an unspoken religion.
Ava Moreno walked in clutching her Chemistry notebook like a soldier heading into battle. It was Monday morning — test day — and she wasn’t planning on letting anyone beat her. Especially not him.
She spotted him immediately: Ethan Blake, leaning against his locker like the hallway belonged to him. His tie was loose, shirt untucked, and his smile…that irritatingly perfect smile. Two girls were laughing at something he said, twirling their hair like they were in a shampoo commercial.
Ava rolled her eyes. “Some of us actually come here to learn,” she muttered under her breath.
As she passed, Ethan’s voice floated over her shoulder. “Morning, Moreno. Don’t stress too much about the test—you’ll need energy left to cry when I beat your score again.”
Ava stopped, turned slowly, and gave him a tight smile. “Dream on, Blake. The only thing you’ve ever beaten me at is wasting oxygen.”
The nearby students laughed, and Ethan just grinned wider. “Harsh. I’ll remember that when I’m valedictorian.”
“You? Valedictorian?” Ava scoffed. “Please. You’d trip over your own ego on stage.”
The bell rang before Ethan could respond, but his smirk lingered as they walked into Chemistry — the battlefield.
Mr. Carter, their teacher, distributed test papers, his monotone voice cutting through the quiet. “No talking, no phones, no nonsense. Begin.”
Ava flipped her paper over and attacked the first question like her life depended on it. She could feel Ethan sitting one desk behind her — the worst possible place — tapping his pen rhythmically. On purpose.
She gritted her teeth. Tap. Tap. Tap.
“Could you not?” she hissed without turning around.
“Could you focus?” he shot back in a whisper.
By the time the test ended, Ava’s nerves were shredded. She handed in her paper and stalked out of the classroom before Ethan could say another word.
But of course, he caught up.
“Hey, Moreno,” he called, falling into step beside her. “What’d you get for question fifteen?”
“Go away.”
“Because I think it was trick—”
“Ethan, I swear—”
He stopped suddenly, his smile flickering for the first time. “You know, you could try being nice sometimes. It wouldn’t kill you.”
She paused. “And you could try being less of a narcissist. But here we are.”
For a second, their eyes met — something sharp and electric hanging between them. Then Ethan laughed softly. “This is going to be a fun semester.”
He walked off, leaving Ava staring after him, her heart pounding for reasons she refused to name.
That night, Ava sat at her dorm desk, staring at her reflection in the window. Outside, the lights of Ridgewood glowed under the autumn sky. She thought of Ethan — his smirk, his confidence, his stupid pen tapping — and felt an unfamiliar mix of frustration and something else she didn’t want to admit.
She told herself she hated him. She believed it.
Mostly
