Besting you

2. Meeting her

Walking with long strides, he makes his way over to where Lumine was sitting in the class, which was not actually that far. 

Lumine was currently cheering up a disheartened Amber (somehow) by reminding her that at least she wasn't last place in the class.

A tall figure loomed over her desk and she momentarily stops comforting Amber.

Azure eyes meet golden ones. He offers a wide and overly excessive grin which makes her raise an eyebrow at his attempt to appear friendly. 

"Hey girlie! You probably already know me but congrats on getting number one, must've been some feat to beat my score, huh?"

Lumine tries to prevent the loud scoff from what she heard but fails which makes Childe's grin falter."

"First of all, who are you? And second, I bet your score isn't even worthy of comparing." 

Now, Lumine was not an arrogant person. In fact, it was probably one of the last words you'll hear from someone describing Lumine. Just something about this guy most definitely ticked her off. From the way he approached her, acting like she should know him and then claiming that her grade was similar to his, which was already an insult in it's own way. She was the best in her own way and had no need of flexing her score on anyone. Usually it was just Amber that knew her score, though her classes over the years easily figured that Lumine was way above them. 

Childe, on the other hand, was definitely not described as humble. Though he did try to be discreet in his own way, he'd somehow always end up spilling his grades and accomplishments to the entire class, hell, maybe the whole year group. No one could go through their senior year and not know of Childe, top grades of every subject, and this girl was telling him she'd never heard of him? Impossible. 

Childe places a hand on his chest in mock offense. "Your words hurt girlie. I scored pretty high mind you. 94.92%!"

The question he'd been dying to ask. "What'd you get?"

Lumine smirks. "Full marks."

Childes eyes almost bulge out of his head. Did I hear that right? Full marks? How? That last question was where everyone messed up, theres no way-

"Just kidding 95.02%, most importantly, still better than you."

Childe's eye twitches. For someone to always have his guard up around people especially strangers, he'd never been so unprepared for that situation. Given his status around the school he'd always put on a friendly act around them which got him to where he was today. Girls loved him, though he never dated any of them. He definitely knew how to woo a lady but with the amount of love letters he got, he decided that it just wasn't worth his time. 

It seems the smug blonde in front of him wasn't falling for his act. 

She really pissed him off. She scored a bit higher than him and she took it upon herself to mock his grade. No one dared to ever try this, especially not a girl almost half his height. His expression darkened but vanished almost as quickly as it appeared. Though it was quick, Lumine most definitely noticed. 

"I'll beat you next term."

Lumine crosses her arms and expression turns smug. 

"Is that a challenge? You know you'll lose."

Childe leaned closer. "This opportunity is quite hard to come by. I hope you can amuse me."

Childe looked Lumine in the eye one last time, grinning like nothing had happened, slipping his cheerful persona on easily. "Bye girlie! Next term will be fun."

"It's Lumine to you,"

"Whatever you say girlie."

Once both had returned to their seats, something new had sparked between the two. A conflict? No. A rivalry. 

---

"Of course she doesn't know you."

"Huh? But who wouldn't?" Childe asks with a genuinely confused expression. Everyone knew him. And it was a fact. It was just Childe. He didn't ask for it but fate had it that everyone knew him, for one reason or another. Be it for his 'friendly' personality or his ability to easily mold into social settings or even his grades, everyone knew Childe one way or another. 

Kaeya sighs. They were both currently walking out of class. "She's a bit like you, you know. I doubt she could name more people than you in our class."

Childe shoves his hands into his pockets. "And how do you know so much about her?"

"Tut-tut-tut, I just know, and you can trust that I'm telling the truth." Kaeya was always full of the latest gossip and whatnot. He was also Childes biggest source of information around the school. He just somehow new everything from their science teachers marriage status to who Ei (the popular girl) had a crush on. Childe and Kaeya were a pretty interesting but also dangerous duo. 

"Hmm, how come I don't know her?"

Kaeya heaves another sigh. "Ask yourself that question. You're probably the only one who doesn't know that Lumine has topped all her classes since she started school."

Oh?

"But unlike you she's way quieter about everything and doesn't hunt down the person with the highest grade in the class."

"Hmph, didn't seem that way when I talked to her. So feisty."

"Probably because you were a dick."

"Am not!"

"Is so."

"Take it back!"

"Nope."

Childe chuckles, a new fire lighting in his eyes. "Whatever. I'm gonna love it when I absolutely crush her next test."

---

"You know that was Childe, right?" Amber says to Lumine as they walked out of the class.

"How should I know? More importantly, why should I care?"

"You should know and care! First of all, he's hot. And secondly, he's like known for being smart. He's probably as smart as you!"

"Woah woah bold claim there."

Amber raises her eyebrows. "Since when were you so haughty?"

"Since I met him."

Amber grins and raises her eyebrows and gives Lumine a knowing look.

"Shut up. I don't like his type. He was just so- so fake when he was first talking to me. And I hate that."

Amber hums. "I can't wait for next term, NOT for the test but you guys' results! You might actually like working against him."

"It's not a competition, Amber."

"It is now! From today."

"You should focus more on your own grade, ahem ahem."

Amber pouts. "Lumineeeeee how could you say that to me?"

Lumine laughs. "You're more invested in our grades than your own."

"Only because it seems fun!"

Lumine was definitely excited, more than she'd admit. She'd wanted the satisfaction of wiping that smirk off his face. She hated his type. Pretty boys like him deserve to be put in their place. It was already 1-0 to her and she could absolutely beat him again.  

And just like that, they both decided they'd do what it took to best the other.