{Chapter 8}
1188 Words
Tanya’s POV
“Keishaaa! Wake up na! We’re gonna be late again!” I yelled as I waited outside her gate.
She came out still fixing her ponytail. “Relax, Tanya. It’s not even seven yet.”
“It’s 6:58, Keisha. Knowing traffic, that’s ‘almost late’ in my book.”
She laughed and hooked her arm around mine. “You and your perfect timing.”
When we reached school, the entire hallway buzzed with energy students laughing, rushing, gossiping.
“Good morning, 10-Crimson!” Cath suddenly appeared out of nowhere, holding a small notebook.
I sighed. “Cath, why do you look like you’re about to announce breaking news?”
“Because I am.” She flipped her notebook open dramatically. “I heard from the student council that Ma’am Chavez will announce a new math project, and it involves random pairings.”
“Random?” Shell gasped. “Like, we don’t get to choose our partner?”
“Exactly,” Cath said, grinning like she enjoyed watching chaos unfold.
“Oh no,” Keisha muttered. “Please not Jc. Please not Jc.”
I chuckled. “Imagine if I get paired with Shan. That’d be literal torture.”
“Manifesting it!” Shell giggled. “Enemies to Lovers: Math Edition.”
“Shell!” I glared at her, but she only hid behind her w*****d book, pretending to read.
Denise quietly said, “You’ll survive, Tanya. Probably.”
Probably. Great.
When the bell rang, everyone hurried to their seats. Ma’am Chavez entered, holding a folder.
“Good morning, class!”
“Good morning, Mrs. Chavez!”
“Today, we’ll start our Math Project: The Sequence Research Pair Task. Each pair will study one real-life application of arithmetic or geometric sequence.”
Everyone cheered well, almost everyone.
Ma’am Chavez smiled knowingly. “Since I know you’ll just partner with your friends, I’ll make it fair… through random selection.”
The class collectively groaned.
I leaned toward Keisha. “I told you. Torture.”
She whispered, “If I get Jc, I’m dropping out.”
Ma’am started reading names from slips of paper.
“Keisha and… Jc!”
Keisha’s face froze. “I hate my life.”
Jc immediately made a heart sign. “Meant to be, Keishaaa~”
“Meant to suffer,” she muttered, earning laughs from everyone.
Ma’am continued.
“Cath and Aiden.”
“Omg no!” Cath groaned. “That guy talks louder than the school bell!”
“Shell and Xian.”
Shell squealed softly. “At least tahimik siya… parang book character.”
Denise and Brent were next. Denise just nodded quietly while Brent smirked. “Guess we’ll get this done quick, huh?”
Then came my turn.
“Tanya Dela Cruz…” Ma’am paused, pulling another name. “…and Shan Villafuerte.”
I felt the entire room freeze.
Jc whistled. “Ooooh, plot twist!”
Shell gasped dramatically. “Enemies to Lovers confirmed!”
“Shell, I swear.”
Shan looked at me with his trademark smirk. “Looks like fate wants us together, Dela Cruz.”
“Fate’s got terrible taste,” I shot back.
Ma’am Chavez clapped her hands. “Settle down, class. You’ll work with your partners for two weeks. You’ll present your findings in front of everyone.”
Two weeks. With Shan.
Lord, take me now.
After class, our COFs gathered near the canteen.
Keisha was ranting. “Two weeks with Jc? I can already hear his stupid sound effects.”
“Relax,” Jc said, sitting beside her. “You might end up liking me.”
Keisha’s glare could melt metal. “In your dreams.”
“Every night,” he said, grinning.
Shell was laughing so hard she almost spilled her drink. “This is too good.”
Meanwhile, I was silently dying inside. Shan sat across from me, casually eating fries like nothing happened.
“Stop looking at me like that,” I said, annoyed.
“Like what?” he asked innocently.
“Like you’re enjoying this.”
He smirked. “Maybe I am.”
I groaned. “If you’re gonna act cocky for two weeks, I might just drop the project.”
“Can’t. You’d lose your chance to beat me,” he said.
I glared at him. “Oh, I will beat you. Even if it kills me.”
Cath leaned forward. “This is better than any series I’ve watched.”
“Same,” Aiden agreed. “We should start taking bets.”
“Count me out,” Denise said quietly. “But I think Tanya’s gonna snap first.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Denise,” I muttered.
After lunch, Shan and I met at the library to start the project.
The silence was awkward the kind of silence that screams don’t talk to me.
I started flipping through books. “We’ll do arithmetic sequence in architecture. It’s easy.”
Shan looked up. “No. Geometric in finance is better.”
“We’re doing architecture.”
“No, finance.”
“Architecture.”
“Finance.”
We glared at each other again for the nth time that day.
“Fine,” I said. “Rock, paper, scissors. Best of three.”
He smirked. “Deal.”
We counted, played and of course, I lost.
He leaned closer, whispering, “Looks like I win again.”
I wanted to punch that smirk right off his face. “You’re insufferable.”
“Admit it. You’d be bored without me.”
“Ha. You wish.”
He chuckled softly. “We’ll see.”
We spent the next hour doing actual research, though we couldn’t stop making snarky comments in between.
Every five minutes, Shan corrected something I wrote. Every ten minutes, I corrected him back.
It was chaotic, exhausting, and… strangely fun.
When we finally wrapped up our notes, I realized we had actually finished more than half the work.
“Not bad,” I muttered.
“Told you,” he said. “We make a good team.”
I gave him a deadpan stare. “Don’t push it.”
Outside, our COFs were waiting.
Keisha was glaring at Jc again, who was showing her a doodle of a heart with their names on it.
Cath was already whispering gossip to Shell.
Brent and Aiden were joking about how “Tanya and Shan are totally in denial.”
And Xian? Still quiet, just shaking his head like he’s babysitting toddlers.
When Shan walked beside me, Shell nudged me with a mischievous smile.
“So… how was your first study session, partner?”
“Loud,” I said flatly.
Shan grinned. “And productive.”
Cath whispered to Keisha, “I’m telling you, may spark.”
“Spark? More like static shock,” Keisha said.
Everyone laughed, and I tried not to smile.
That night, as I lay on my bed reviewing notes, I couldn’t stop thinking about that smirk again that annoying confidence of his.
I told myself it’s just rivalry. It has to be rivalry.
But the thought of working with him again tomorrow…
Didn’t feel so bad anymore.
- Writer
