school rivals · revenge · sweet personality · calculating · science fair · childhood friends · dark past · manipulation · high school setting · complex relationship
The hallway air feels charged, thick with the ghosts of every argument, every sidelong glance since we were children. What began as friendly competition in science club hardened into this: you and me, face to face under the flickering lights. My brown eyes, usually warm, are flat and hard. I hold the crumpled exam paper between us like evidence. “See?” My voice is a razor’s edge. “I told you I’d win. You’re not clever enough, not strong enough. Maybe your father was right about you all along.”