My Hate/Love Story

Chapter 1 Ambitions

Leslie Koch had woken up early that morning. In fact, she was awake even before the sun had risen or she did not sleep the whole night. It had been a whole two weeks till she was supposed to have her letter arrive from Berlin International School. Granted they had said that it might take one to two for her reply to arrive.

Today would be the last of that second week, and if the reply still did not come then sadly she would have to believe that she was not selected for their scholarship program and that she was not even important enough for them to send a rejection letter. Or maybe just like her Hogwarts acceptance letter, it got lost because the owl was clumsy. Well, in this case, it was a postman. Finally, it was 9 a.m. and the postman arrived. Leslie's house was close to the post office so if they had a post they would always get there by 9 a.m. or at the most a quarter past nine.

Leslie ran downstairs so fast that for once in her life her physical education teacher would have been impressed if he had seen her. Sadly he missed it as this performance was in her own house.

"Slow down Leslie, or you will fall on your butt." bellowed her mother from the dining room, while her father turned the pages of the local daily.

Leslie heard her mother but she did not take her advice to heart. Her brain might have even failed to receive the proper signals to it. The only thing on her mind was the letter of acceptance from Berlin International School that might be waiting for her.

As soon as she arrived at the front porch she opened the letter box and took out the only letter from inside. It must be from the Berlin International School, nobody else uses letters these days to send information only. The age-old school believes in following traditions.

Leslie looks at the letter. It was addressed to her father. With disappointment welling inside her she heads inside to the drawing room and without a word keeps a letter on the table in front of her father.

As she starts to leave for her room, where she plans to cry for a few hours and lick her wounds in the dark, her father stops her.

"Leslie, I know you are disappointed, but think of it in a positive way. You are still in a very good school and your scores are the in top 10 in the whole of Berlin."

"Yes, Father" Bemoaned Leslie.

Leslie knew that it was her father's way of cheering her up but she could not help but think that maybe her father too thought that she could not be the best.

It is true that her scores were in the top ten in Berlin but she was second. She was second to Piero Feigenbaum. And she hated to be second to Piero Feigenbaum. The first time she heard his name was at the end of first freshman year. The results for city final examinations were just out. 

Leslie was initially happy with her scores she was even fine with being second after all the difference was only of five marks in maths. And she knew who Feigenbaum's were, and knew that they had a grandson her age. The said grandson probably got a world-class education with tutors lining up left and right to help him tweak every single mistake.

Leslie did not have that. Leslie was in no way poor but she did not come from one of the richest families in the whole of Germany. In fact, she started to even ignore his existence for a while.

Until they met at the national maths olympiad halfway between sophomore year. Well, they did not actually meet more as they competed. It was the final round of the quiz. Leslie was not sure which of them was going to win.

Piero won and not by some measly score of five. He won by full score. He thrashed her at the competition, he solved the problems before Leslie even read the question. In the buzzer round, Leslie did not even get the chance to press the buzzer once.

Since she was a child Leslie had been an academic weapon. The smartest kid in the room. But first time in her life she was feeling like an average person. She knew that there were people out there who were smarter than her, but for her, it only meant that there was still room for her to grow.

As soon as the Olympiad ended that day. Leslie ran to her shared hotel room bathroom and cried for two whole hours. She then washed her face and came out determined more than ever. She was a changed woman. She knew what she had to do. She had to score more than Piero Feigenbaum.

For the rest of the year, she got into studying like crazy. She studied before but now she stopped partying and listened to podcasts secretly during physical education. Stopped having any kind of social life whatsoever. And yet she did not overtake him. Not once.

And this year is her last chance to overtake him. It's the senior year.

For the whole two days after the city final examinations results came out, Leslie wreaked her brain to come up with new ideas to overtake Piero. She was out of ideas, she had already done anything and everything.

Then on the third, while she was walking back to her house from grocery shopping her mother put her too. Leslie saw a bus. The bus was nothing special filled with passengers headed to different places. It was the advertisement on the bus. It was about the newly launched scholarship program from the Berlin International School. Some politician was funding education for fifteen lucky students to hide his own dark history. Whatever it was none of Leslie's business.

What mattered to her was the chance to enter Berlin International School. A chance to study and get the same education as Piero. To learn how to defeat her enemy in his natural habitat.

Leslie's current school was not bad. It was actually great, but Berlin International School is just different. With their top-notch teaching staff and 24/7 present teachers for providing doubt clearing sessions. They have the best libraries with the latest versions of most books. It is the best school money could buy, and Leslie had a chance to get into it.

And she had failed at it.

Leslie went back to her room and for the second time in the four years of her high school life, she cried. She cried so much that she cried herself to sleep.

____________________________________________________________________________Her bad mood lasted till the next. When she got downstairs much later than her usual timing. It was fine after all it was Sunday. And she could afford to be sad and depressed for at least one more day.

Leslie boiled some water for tea. Chamomile was her favorite and might work in lifting her spirits. Her mother looked at her, sipping her own tea. For once not saying anything to her, not even a good morning. She was probably disappointed in her.

"Leslie" her mother interrupted her inner monologue.

Leslie looked at her mother wordlessly waiting for her to finish whatever she wanted to say.

"You forgot this in the mailbox yesterday."

"Huh?" Leslie inquired dumbly.

And then she noticed a white envelope in her mother's hand with a stamp of Berlin International School on it.

"I apologize. I took the liberty of opening your letter without your permission. But I thought it might be no use letting you know about it if you did not get in."

"You wouldn't have told me if I did not get in," Leslie whispered to herself. " I got in", she screamed in joy and started jumping. She hugged her mother with a laugh and snatched the envelope from her mother with the excitement of a child getting to taste the chocolate for the first time.

She knew her mother was not lying to her, but she wanted to read it herself once.

"Miss. Koch we are glad to inform you that you have been selected to attend the Berlin I International School on a full grant. Ah ha." She started laughing once again.

But this was not the end of it. The actual fight will start in Berlin International school. And Leslie was ready for it.