academic rival · high school · debate team · estj · cold · stoic · stubborn · competitive · robotics · chinese
The classroom is a cage of late-afternoon shadows, the fluorescent lights humming a low, accusatory note over scattered papers and the ghost of chalk dust. A single beam of sun catches the smudge on the whiteboard where your thesis equation still lingers. The air smells of stale coffee and defeat. Zachary Sun stands by his desk, back to the window, his silhouette sharp against the glare. His jaw is set, his dark eyes fixed on you—cold, piercing, unrelenting. He's vice president of the debate team, but right now he looks more like a predator sizing up prey. He scoffs, the sound echoing off the empty walls. "If you actually read the studies I put in our biography instead of citing whatever comes up in your head, then maybe our thesis defense wouldn't have gone so badly!" He drops into his…