My Significant Rival

{Loreign’s POV}   "Is this the right place?" I asked myself as I looked around the neighborhood. The whole place was a little suspicious. It was just a decent village, a little smaller than ours but enough to tell that the people living here were still living a decent normal life. I looked at the paper I was holding in my other hand. It was handwritten by my brother who was currently the Campus Mayor of the school we were studying. As a very supportive sister, I was tasked to deliver a letter of request of whatever Lucas was asking to a first-year student like me though in a different department.  “House number eight-five-three. I’m currently at… eight-four-seven. Gosh, how does this place even work? There are no even proper street lights that don’t blink.” I hugged myself as I frowned at the street light not too far from me that was seemingly on the brink of losing its power. Beyond the blinking lights, I couldn’t see anything anymore.  It was already past seven, I went to almost five students. Lucas had a lot of things to do and he looked stressed already so I volunteered out of recklessness and then was tasked to do this. If I only knew that the houses of these people were far away from each other and I wouldn’t get even a single penny for the transportation expense, I shouldn’t have checked Lucas.  I saw a movement from the dark side of the place. I was really about to move forward and look for whoever this person’s house, but I saw a faint little light coming from the dark, it was moving. I realized that the light seemed to be a phone as it was also lighting up vaguely the face of a person, a man, in particular, looking at his phone.  “There’s no way that there were bad guys living here, right?” I shivered at the thought. The man was already inching closer until he came under the blinking street light. He was wearing a black hoodie and pants, I couldn't see his face because the hoodie covered his head. His other hand was inside his hoodie’s pocket, while the other was holding his phone.  He was not doing anything, he was just standing there while looking at his phone at first. But then he looked up and looked around. If things weren’t worse yet in my mind, he looked at me. His eyes stayed on me for so long that I felt creeped out. Should I call Lucas now? I was literally having goosebumps now. My fear heightened when the man raised his hand and pointed at me. I stepped back. My heart was beating fast, I could even feel my knees shaking as I stepped back. The man was stepping forward slowly, but he was still not taking his hoodie down so I couldn’t tell what he was up to. He was really creeping me out, what should I do? I was stepping back as he stepped forward. Something in my mind told me to just run now, and that was exactly what I did as I screamed, “Help! Help!” “Stop!” the man’s modulated voice called me out. I looked back and panicked when I saw him running after me so I quickened my pace. But he also matched my pace. “It’s not what you think! Hey!” I panted. I was never good at running, and even a minute jog was already tiring me out, and it was not even shocking that a cold hand already grabbed my arm and forced me to look at him. But there I started screaming at the top of my lungs and started flailing my arms everywhere just to get his tight grip off on my arm. “Don’t touch me! Help!” I did my best to get out of his grip. I slapped, punched, kicked, scratched, and even took his hoodie from covering his face. If he was going to do something bad to me and I would live, I would be able to tell who did this to me.  “Stop! I’m Arth Dalton!”  “I don’t care who you are, don’t hurt…” I froze and stopped from fighting for my life as I stared at his face. My eyes almost bulged out as I paled. “You are… that person?” He was red, one because of the scratches and all the s******c physical attacks that I did, and mostly because of anger as he was glaring at me as if he was really going to kill me now. He let go of my wrists that he was holding earlier to stop me harshly and glared at me before picking up the paper bag with food and a letter inside that I was carrying earlier for someone named Arth Dalton, a first-year psychology student at Wesley College. “Why did the Campus Mayor even send a stupid, scaredy cat? He could have given this to me personally.” He opened the sealed envelope and took the paper inside that Lucas asked me to give to him and read the message. “What did you just call me?” I asked. I squinted my eyes at him. No one had ever called me that way before, so what gave him the right? I was shocked when he crumpled the paper while looking at me. Then he threw it on me. Right on me. “Stupid, deaf scaredy cat. Get out of here and tell the Campus Mayor that I’m not interested in any position unless he’s going to give up his. I’m taking these foods, anyway.” He turned his back and started walking away without even letting me reply. I had never met such a rude person in my life, and I hope I would never meet him ever again because I would surely throw a stack of papers on his face once I see him again. I just wished our paths would never cross again. — “Yes, I’m here already. Yes, I remember to choose who I will be friends with, and yes, I won’t get in trouble on the first day. Don’t worry too much, I can handle myself, okay? Take care of yourself, too, Lucas. Love you!” I sighed and ended the call. Lucas, my overly protective brother, was just being his usual self and kept on asking me if I have already arrived safely at the school premise. He was even supposed to send me to school like I was six years old and in need of parental guidance. Was he even aware that I’m already twenty-one and independent? He was so busy with his law school and stuff that I didn’t want to bother him. Though being with him really would boost my influence on this school because Lucas was the previous Campus Mayor which really was, basically, the most influential in the school, plus the fact that he was handsome and probably a campus heartthrob as well on his reign? It’s basically a free ride of fame for me. I looked around the whole school. Wesley College was an infamous school known for making students’ dreams come true and professionals no matter what their degree was. Just upon hearing the school, it was like a magic word that they were already accepted to jobs and opportunities. It was exclusively for colleges, so the whole academy was smaller than a university but still enough to accommodate all kinds of colleges. The school was still elegant and obviously, only students who were rich and in the middle class could afford it. Seriously, the tuition fee was no joke. The uniforms were the same but only differed in color to identify which year a student was. I was wearing a brown uniform—a crop top blazer with a white sleeve and a black tie partnered with a brown skirt that reached above my knees. While for junior students’ the uniform was black, for sophomores was gray, and for freshmen was color maroon. All had the logo of the school on the right side of the pocket for the girls and the left for the boys. I walked along with the other students while listening to the talk of the school. Of course, the vacation had just ended, and everyone had their own stories to tell, even I had my own, and I was looking around to see my cousin who I knew would be the very first person who would want to listen to all my stories. I went to the west wing of the school where the Hortus Lawn was, and I knew that a very green person like my cousin would be first found. “Loreign!” A high-pitched voice overpowering all the buzzing voices from the other students immediately stole my attention while I was looking around the flock of students. “Here, Loreign!” I frowned when I saw her waving her hand at the back, smiling mischievously at me. I rolled my eyes when our eyes met, she was screaming my name as if she was purposely letting everyone know my name. Well, it's not like I was not known. I was pretty sure that almost half of the school population knew my name and knew me as Lucas’ sister.  “Rhaze, are you crazy? Are you just lacking attention or you’re just a natural attention seeker?” I told her as soon as I reached her place. If I didn’t have a reputation to maintain in this school and there were no eyes watching my every move, I would have smashed her head and pulled her hair. But I was aiming for something huge this school year so maybe once we were alone.  Rhaze chuckled. "No way. I'm helping you gain more people to know you more." I squinted my eyes as I sat beside her on the chair of one of so many round tables on the wooden floor. We were surrounded by huge trees which made the air fresh and cold. "And how?" “By making your name known? It will add to the attention and once they will hear your name-” “They would think I have a crazy friend and they wouldn’t vote for me because they will think I’m crazy, too,” I continued, cutting her sentence off while rolling my eyes. “Help me in the campaigning after the filing of candidacy and qualifying exam.” “Huh. Of course, I would. I’m going to post every single poster with your face on it to every single student’s forehead, I promise.”  I glared at her. Rhaze really liked to tease me in every possible way she could think of. She knew how small my patience was, and she was aware how I hate being teased, and since she knew that I couldn’t practically hurt and ignore her. Apparently, she was the only friend that I come with. I don’t have any particular circle, though I was always invited everywhere. “Kidding aside, I’ll recruit every person I know and make them vote for you. It’s not like you need it, Lucas was the Campus Mayor before, and everyone knows that you are his sister, plus, you excel in your academic performance so I’m one hundred percent sure that you will win.” Rhaze tapped my shoulder to cheer me up. The application for the Campus Mayor was next week, and I’m sure I would have a lot of competitors and definitely be as smart or even smarter than me. But I wasn’t nervous, like Rhaze said, I had Lucas as my inspiration and supporter. He was the best Campus Mayor among the alumni, maybe he could advise me some tips. “I’m telling you, babe, you should pursue running as the Campus Mayor. Imagine the Campus Mayor and me as soon-to-be Campus Vice as a couple. Many would be envious of that, I swear.” My eyes squinted as I looked at my back and saw two figures walking side by side. The girl, who I couldn’t be wrong as the known smart but bigheaded, and scandalmonger, Sabrina, was like a leech with her arm wrapped around her tall boyfriend’s arm as they talked loudly. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Well, I wasn’t even bothered by whoever this man was aspiring to run as the Campus Mayor. From what I know, only fools would be Sabrina’s boyfriend, therefore, I conclude, this person was also a fool. But my brow raised and my forehead creased as I stare at the guy’s white hoodie. It had a black print of the word ‘Psychology’ at the back, and for some reason, I felt like I have seen that before. I just couldn’t remember when and where.