Less Than Friends

02.

Chapter 2

Three days has passed since the exam started, it was the announcement of the school examination ranking for senior high school students, pumunta ako sa hallway kung nasaan nakalagay ang announcement, students gathered around the bulletin board, some are happy while some are dismayed, my heart was beating so fast as I slowly looked up for my name, I don't have to struggle looking up for my name, I just have to look up like I use to do.

'Kyla Maris Lopez...'

I can feel my eyes shaken because of the anxiety, but once I saw my name in the first place, a sigh of relief made my whole body relax, alam ko naman sa sarili ko na hindi ko bibitawan ang rank ko, exam ranks are the worst for us students here. I was curious to see other students' scores then my eyes landed at Mathews name, pang 389th rank ito out of 557 students, well at least he's higher than his gang, most of them are 400 below, not bad for him.

Nakita ko si Katie kasama ang mga kaibigan nito, nakalagay na rin ang rank nila, they're grade 10 students along with some other friends from other sections, curious, I walked up to see her ranking.

'Katie Jill Lopez...'

My eyes landed on her name, my temple creased, she placed 409th, it's worst than I thought, ang akala ko kahit man lang umabot ito ng 300, well there's no doubt in that, she's still awake in the morning not reviewing but talking with her friends all night, not that I care, I was just curious, panigurado ay madadagdagan nanaman ang sama ng loob iyon, mom doesn't really compare us both but mom would often like to tell people about my ranking.

"Pres, congrats."

I looked up to see Mathew, nakangiti lang ito sa akin.

"It seems you did some reviewing yourself, your higher compared to last year's midterm." I said.

"You're looking at my rank too pres? I'm flattered, nakakahiya tuloy, seeing your rank inspires me."

"You can do better, you're just not trying."

Tiningnan ako nito.

"Are you cheering for me?"

"No, I'm just saying na tamad ka."

I saw him frown, but I looked away, this guy annoys me all the time, even though na dapat masaya ako dahil sa na-maintain ko nanaman ang rank ko, and mom doesn't have to worry about my tuition fee, but it always gets ruined by this guy, I can't seem to co-exist with him in one place.

"Next time I'll be right by your side on that board, but I'll still give you the number one spot."

Napatingin ako sa kaniya.

"Even if you do try, still go for first place, I wouldn't feel bad about it, I would probably be impressed if I placed second because of you."

His face became serious for a second.

"You'll be impressed?"

Tinaasan ko ito ng kilay.

"Well yeah, in a way..."

He chuckled.

"Get ready, because I will actually replace your rank, if not kahit sa second place ako mapupunta para katabi kita."

Why is he acting like this all of a sudden?

Napatingin ako sa second place na balak abutin ni Mathew, I think he can never beat Andrew though, sabi ng mga teachers noong lumipat sa school namin si Andrew ay may katapat na raw ako sa wakas, we were going back and forth sa first place but I mostly get to first place, back in junior high school, my pride and ego about my grades are super high, so I considered him as my rival back then, but now we just out-grew that phase and just let our hard work pays off by itself.