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31. Bae Jinyoung | Ranking

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Summary: you always came second place to Bae Jinyoung but when that changed you started to understand the boy you had labelled your rival.

Characters: Bae Jinyoung x reader

Genre: enemies to lovers / high school au / angst / fluff

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Second place, again.

It never changed, no matter how much work you put in, you could never beat him.

All the money your parents spent on extra tutoring was a waste and every tactic you tried to improve your intellect was pointless.

There was just no beating Bae Jinyoung, no matter how much you tried to.

If he had been graceful in being first place in school each time, perhaps you would appreciate his own efforts. But that smug smile he showcased as he paraded around campus made you scrunch your hands up in frustration.

You hated him.

You disliked how easy studying came to him. Math was like second nature to him, English was a breeze from studying abroad and Science went well with his methodical mannerisms. Everything was too easy for him and so difficult for you.

But it wasn't as if you could simply give up. Whilst you didn't initially care for your place in school, your parents did. Jinyoung's family was in your neighbourhood and they were known as the most affluent. Your parents had worked too hard all their lives to be subordinate to others. The mere idea of Bae Jinyoung beating you in school was enough to send your mother to bed with a thumping headache. It wasn't something you could easily dismiss.

So you tried harder. You went to extra classes after school. You had a private tutor. You spent your weekends stuck in your bedroom studying instead of out socialising.

And still with all your sacrifices you were never first.

It became more than just your parents' desire to beat him, but your personal goal.

You had attempted to befriend your rival but he had little interest in doing so, soon dismissing any attempts you had as merely a tactic to take his position. And whilst he wasn't exactly wrong, you had hoped together you could become a force to be reckoned with.

Instead, he was the one who actively sought you out after the grades went up on the school notice board, his eyes connecting with yours in a way that could only be described as victorious. He was winning month after month and you were losing.

You wanted to beat him so bad and rub his face in your winnings triumphantly just once.

At night you often fantasised about his face scrunching up in horror when his name wasn't next to the first place. You would giggle uncontrollably, perhaps from the delirium caused by lack of sleep as you studied late into the night. You envisioned his face crumbling and his eyes watering a little at not being the best at everything whilst you finally were. It was the perfect fuel to keep reading through your calculus textbook and not crawl into bed.

But the reality of every day was that Bae Jinyoung ruled the school. He had the girls fawning over him, boys wanting to be him and teachers wrapped around his fingers. The only one looking horrified was you.

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You weren't ready for the change though, and you walked up to the notice boards slowly, chanting inwardly all the good luck spells you had been doing all week long as you waited for your results to be in.

There was a lot more noise surrounding the lists than usual and you attempted to block everyone out, scrolling the first page from the bottom up, your eyes widening when your name wasn't next to the second place. Going back to the bottom and scanning it more carefully, you panicked when you didn't find your name. Why wasn't it there? You hadn't seen Jinyoung's either and it made no sense with the first place spot clearly being his, that your name was missing. Finally, you glanced up and froze, blinking once before staring at what it said.