Scars and Secrets

Kairos’s Point of View Everyone at Westfield Academy knows one thing for sure, me, Kairos Thorne and Jaxon Vance are not friends. We are not even acquaintances. We are enemies. Pure and simple. We have been at each other’s throats since our very first day on campus, and nothing has changed in four years. Every practice, every match, every class, every single moment we are in the same room, it is nothing but competition, insults, trash talk, and endless attempts to prove that one of us is better than the other. The whole student body calls us the biggest rivalry in the school’s history, and they say it like it’s some kind of legend, half funny, half dangerous, but the truth is, they don’t even come close to describing how much we actually hate each other. I was standing at the edge of the main football field, wiping sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand, watching as the team finished their warm-up drills. The sun was high in the sky, beating down hard on the grass, and the air was thick with the smell of grass, sweat, and energy. I was the Defensive End, the one whose job was to stop everything Jaxon Reid threw at us, to block his plays, to tackle him if I could, and to make sure that no matter how good he thought he was, I was always one step ahead of him. And Jaxon? He was the Quarterback, the Team Captain, the golden boy of Westfield Academy. Rich, handsome, confident to the point of arrogance, and everyone’s favorite. He had everything I didn’t, money, popularity, a family name that carried weight, and people who were ready to do anything just to be near him. And the worst part? He knew it. He used it, he flaunted it, and he loved using it to get under my skin. “Hey! Thorne!” The voice cut through the noise of the players calling out instructions and coaches shouting, and I didn’t even need to look up to know who it was. But I lifted my head anyway, my jaw already tightening on its own, and there he was. Jaxon was walking across the field, his uniform fitted perfectly to his body, his posture straight and proud like he owned every inch of the ground he stepped on. He had that lazy, annoying smirk on his face, the one that made me want to punch it right off his face, and he was surrounded by a group of supporters and teammates who were laughing at something he had said like it was the funniest thing in the world. He stopped right in front of me, leaning back on his heels and looking me up and down like I was some kind of object he was inspecting. His dark eyes scanned me from head to toe, slow and deliberate, and I could feel the judgment coming off him like heat. “You look tired,” he said, his voice loud enough for everyone nearby to hear, sharp and teasing. “Or are you just always this slow? I swear, Kairos, sometimes I wonder how you even manage to keep up with us. You run like you’re carrying the whole world on your shoulders, which, knowing your situation, you probably are. But don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone you’re struggling to survive just to play football.” I felt my blood pressure rise instantly, my hands clenching into fists at my sides. I didn’t even bother to hide the anger in my eyes. “Shut your mouth, Vance. You don’t know anything about my life, and you never will. You just sit there high up on your little throne thinking you’re better than everyone else, but the truth is, you’re just lucky. I earned everything I have. I worked twice as hard as you just to get here, and I’m still standing while you’re just… existing.” Jaxon laughed, a loud, mocking sound that made my teeth grind together. He stepped closer, closing the small gap between us, and his expression turned cold and challenging. “Earned it? Please,” he scoffed, tilting his head to the side. “You’re here because you’re good at what you do, yeah, I’ll give you that much. You’re strong, you’re fast, you’re tough. But don’t go thinking that makes you better than me. I don’t just rely on talent, Kairos. I have brains, I have strategy, I have leadership. You’re just a brute who hits hard. That’s all you are. You run around, tackle people, make noise, but you don’t know how to win. You just know how to cause trouble. And honestly? It’s getting old watching you try so hard just to keep up.” “I don’t need your approval, Vance,” I snapped back, stepping forward to match his intensity, not caring that every player nearby was watching us like it was a live show. “And I don’t need you to tell me what I am or what I’m not. You think you’re the king of this school? Fine. But in this field, I’m the one who stops you. Every single time. You can talk big, you can throw your fancy passes, you can act like you own the place, but when the game is on the line? I’m the one who shuts you down. And you know it. That’s why you hate me so much, because you know I’m the only one who can actually beat you.” Jaxon’s eyes darkened, the smirk disappearing from his face completely, replaced by a look of pure hostility. He leaned in even closer, his voice dropping low and sharp, only loud enough for me to hear, but full of venom. “You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” he murmured, his breath warm against my face, making me want to shove him away. “You think you know everything just because you can run and hit people. Listen to me carefully, Thorne, you will never be better than me. Never. I will always be the best quarterback this school has ever seen, and you will always be nothing more than the guy I have to stop to get to the end zone. You’re just my obstacle. That’s all you are. And obstacles are meant to be broken.” “Is that so?” I shot back, my voice just as low and just as dangerous. “We’ll see about that. Next game, next practice, next time we line up against each other, I’m going to make you eat those words. I’m going to stop every single play you call, I’m going to make you look stupid in front of everyone, and I’m going to prove once and for all that you’re not as great as you think you are. You can keep your money, your name, your little fan club, I don’t want any of it. All I want is to beat you. And I’m going to do it so many times that you’ll get sick of seeing my face and hearing my name.” Jaxon stared at me for a long moment, his eyes burning with the same anger and frustration that I felt. For a second, I thought he was going to say something else, something worse, something that would start a real fight right there on the grass. But then he pulled back, straightened his uniform, and put that arrogant smile back on his face, even though I could see the tension in his jaw, even though I knew he was just as mad as I was. “We’ll see, Kairos,” he said, loud enough for everyone to hear again, turning his back on me like I wasn’t even worth his full attention. “We’ll see who’s laughing last. And mark my words, I’m never going down to your level. You’re stuck being the second best forever. And I’m going to make sure you remember that every single day.” He walked away then, joining his group of friends, laughing and talking like nothing had happened, like our argument was just another part of the daily drama. I stood there for a long time, my heart beating fast, my hands still clenched, watching him go. I knew he was trying to get to me, I knew he was trying to provoke me, but it worked. It always worked. Because no matter how much I told myself I didn’t care, no matter how much I told myself he was just a spoiled rich kid who didn’t know real struggle, he still got under my skin. He still made me angry. He still made me want to prove him wrong more than anything else in the world. “Can you believe him?” I heard Tyler say as he walked up to me, shaking his head with a grin that told me he was enjoying every second of this. “He talks more trash than a garbage truck, honestly. You should’ve knocked him down when you had the chance.” Tyler was our wide receiver in the team. I let out a sharp, bitter laugh, finally relaxing my hands and wiping the sweat off my neck. “Don’t worry, Tyler. I will. One day, I’m going to shut him up for good. I’m going to show him that he’s not as perfect as he thinks he is, and that I’m not as weak or as easy as he thinks I am. He can keep acting like he owns the place, but one day, he’s going to realize that he can’t win against me.” Tyler laughed, slapping me lightly on the shoulder. “I believe you. You two are something else, you know that? Half the school is scared of you both, the other half thinks you’re the most entertaining thing that ever happened to this campus. But mark my words, you two are going to drive everyone crazy before you graduate.” I looked back over at Jaxon, who was now standing with Coach Miller, pointing at the field and arguing about strategy like he owned the whole team. He looked confident, he looked untouchable, he looked like he had everything in the world. But I knew better. I knew that behind all that pride and arrogance, he was just another person who hated losing, just like me. And that was our biggest difference, and our biggest connection at the same time. But I would never admit that to him. And I would never let him know that I saw anything other than an enemy in him. “Let them talk,” I said to Tyler, turning away from the field and walking toward the locker rooms. “All I care about is beating him. Nothing else matters.”