Malli|TK

1

RIVALRY

"When did World War II start?" Park Jimin asked as he stared at the blank, white paper he and his two classmates had to enchant into an informative poster soon.

"September 2nd 1939," Kim Taehyung, Jimin's best friend and one of the two other group members answered as he scanned the text given by the teacher.

"Wrong. Is there even anything you can do right?" Another voice, the third group partner snapped, voice dripping in annoyance.

Taehyung grumbled something under his breath— probably a curse— and looked to the raven haired sitting in front of him.

"Okay Mr. IKnowMoreThanYou, when was it then? It says 2nd of September in the text." Frustrated because of him and convinced of his own answer, Taehyung pointed to the line in the text where the date was written black on white.

The dark haired male looked at it for only a second, then leaned back on his chair and crosses his arms. "That's also wrong."

"I'm pretty sure if it's said in the text, it's right, Jeongguk. Don't pretend to be better than me."

"There's nothing to pretend, I am better than you." Cheeky grin on display, Jeongguk raised his hand to call for the teacher.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna point out the mistake. World War II started on the first of September 1939 and ended on the second of September six years later. Mr. Shang probably mixed it up," Jeongguk shrugged, which had Taehyung let out an annoyed breath.

"That's not necessary, let's just continue working—

"Nah, I want to show you that you're wrong."

"Why again did Mr. Shang put you two in the same group? And then with me?" Jimin, who was still present sitting next to Taehyung, questioned, so done with the behavior of the two. "All you do is competing with each other."

Both spoken to males stayed quiet, when Mr. Shang came to the table to Jeongguk's request. "How can I help?"

"There's nothing, you can go to the other students—

"There's a wrong information," Jeongguk interrupted Taehyung, glancing at him with a mischievous grin.

"A wrong information, that can't be. Where?"

Jeongguk was about to take the sheet from Taehyung, when the younger pulled it away. "Right! It can't be, Jeongguk probably just read wrong. Everything is fine."

Jimin stared at Taehyung. It has always been a question mark to him why Taehyung was so eager to be better in almost everything than Jeongguk. It is not jealousy, that is for sure. Jimin has never seen Taehyung making a remark about Jeongguk that sounded jealous in any way. And usually, his blonde younger best friend isn't the one to try to be the best either when it is with other people. It has always been about Jeongguk.

Glaring at Taehyung, Jeongguk ripped the paper back out of his hand. "It says that World War II started on the second of September, when it actually did on the First." He knows it, it is his birthdate and he read about it once and kind of never forget it.

Taehyung looked defeated when the teacher began skimming through the text and then pulled his phone out to research if what Jeongguk said was true. "You're right, Jeongguk. Thank your for pointing it out," he spoke and then informed the class about the mistake he made.

Taehyung stayed quiet during that time, feeling Jeongguk's eyes burning through his skull. He was just waiting for Taehyung to look at him, so he can put on that smirk and tell him that he's wrong, but Taehyung was not going to give him that satisfaction.

"Okay, if we're done with this now, let's continue working on the presentation." The full mood changed when he said that, his voice stern and determined.

He wants to be better than Jeongguk. He has to be better.

"Great that you're saying that, I was waiting for it," Jimin grumbled under his breath. He was happy to be in a group with the two smartest students in class, but he gets tired of their bickering and competitions.

For a short— really short — second, Jeongguk thought about teasing Taehyung, but he let it be, seeing as they have to get done before class ends. "Okay, I'd say we start with the basic information and then continue with details, participants and the cause."

"Sounds good to me—

"It makes more sense if we put the participants and causes before we mention the details," Taehyung suggested calmly.

Jeongguk looked at the blond for a little time. Nothing about Taehyung has changed, although the way he obviously tries to get upper-hand whenever Jeongguk is involved in something, throws him off track sometimes.

It is hard to believe, that still, after all this bickering and fighting and competing, no one knew Taehyung better than Jeongguk does. After all, there is so much more to the two than everyone thinks.

No one knows — besides Jimin, Taehyung's closest friend and Yoongi, Jeongguk's closest friend — that Taehyung and Jeongguk used to be inseparable when they were younger.

However, this "inseparability" was not as strong as the two thought it was.

Well, not as strong as Taehyung believed it was. It seemed to be so weak for Jeongguk when he decided to abruptly end it all. He was the one who decided to break off their friendship, he was the one who started all of this, who caused their friendship to evolve to rivalry.

Yeah, exactly. Rivalry.

"Tae?" Jimin ripped the younger out of his thoughts and he shook his head lightly, surprised. Usually, he is never absent in class and tried his best to pay attention in order to get a good grade. The best grade.

"Wh-what? I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention," he said, voice sounding broken as he couldn't believe that happened.

"Then pay attention. We need a full mark on this," Jeongguk scoffed, which had Taehyung feeling a tuck inside.

It had hit him hard. He used to admire Jeongguk so much, the older male used to be his everything. His home, friend and family, the most important person in his life.

It took weeks until Taehyung overcame the loss and it felt hard to grief over a lost friendship, when you would see that person everyday in school. So instead of being sad, he turned his sadness into antagonism.

Taehyung's view quickly turned from asking "how could you", with tears in his eyes, to "how dare you", with a glare marking his eyebrows.

And he hated Jeongguk now.

Or maybe he tries to convince himself that he does, because every time he looks at him, he finds a part of his heart fall into melancholy.

After all, years of friendship will never be forgotten— not when it was the best thing that ever happened to you.

"Please be done in five minutes, so we can start presenting in the next lesson tomorrow."

As if it was scripted, Jeongguk just finished writing down the last sentence, their poster now being full with information and knowledge.

"Done."

Author
Academic enemies >>

First chapter outtttt!
What do you think?