endless competition - academic rivals

|chapter two| chance

mateo's p.o.v:

over the years, mateo had grown accustomed to competition. in competition, he found comfort in the fact that his opponent would never change. mira rao was an open book to him; her mannerisms, hobbies, peeves, habits, and even routine was as familiar to mateo as the back of his hand.

when he saw her on the first day of senior year, he could swear that her eyes looked more watery than usual, and worse, her confident demeanor diminished. he convinced himself that she was just getting older, but deep down he knew the true mira, and the one who he was staring at on that foggy morning was not her. 

but he had bigger things to focus on: academics. his mindless determination guided him as he made his way to his first period: ap lit. he noticed an occasional wave from friends he had made over the years and felt complied to wave back. 

as he reached the door of the classroom, he heard a voice say, "mateo!"

he turned around in surprise to see jack, his best friend since he could walk, come up to him. the two did their signature handshake with goofy grins on their faces.

jack had messy blond hair that nearly covered his blue eyes. he had grown taller over the summer but he still wasn't as tall as mateo. 

"where were you this morning?" jack asked inquisitively.

"talking to mira" mateo responded nonchalantly.

mateo's best friend raised a cheeky eyebrow, "you just had to see her huh?"

"how many times do i have to tell you this? it's not like that. we're rivals and that's all we'll ever be."

"i think you're trying to convince yourself that," jack paused and raised his arms innocently in the air when he saw mateo's glare. "but fine. i'll drop it."

before mateo could respond, the bell rung, causing students to flood the school in search of their classes. 

"bye mateo!" jack waved.

"bye jack!"

he turned to enter the classroom but bumped into the same person he'd walked to school with earlier in the morning.

"can't get enough of me, huh?" he asked with a cocky smile.

"in your dreams." mira replied before swiftly walking through the door of the classroom. 

from the colorful walls to arrays of posters, mateo could tell that he would enjoy this class. he noticed the seating chart on the television screen and sighed when he realized who he was sitting next to. 

in freshman year, a poor unsuspecting teacher had made the mistake of putting mateo and mira next to each other. every word from mateo was challenged by mira, and vice versa. their arguing was that of a presidential debate, and everyone in class would watch as they flung thinly-veiled insults at each other. some kids even brought popcorn when the two were on opposite sides of the debate. 

the teacher retired after that year, most likely due to mateo's and mira's constant bickering. mateo vowed to himself that this year would be different. maybe their bickering would slowly turn into respectful disagreements. maybe they would actually agree on something once in a while. maybe he and mira would make amends.

that last part was definitely was not happening. 

he took a seat and laid back as mira plopped her backpack down and slumped into her chair. this wasn't like her at all. usually, she would sit all prim and proper in eager anticipation to meet her future mentor. he watched her out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help but feel disappointed by the shell of what once was his greatest competitor. 

in that moment, a woman who mateo assumed to be the teacher walked in and said, "hi class! my name is ms. trahan and i'll be your ap lit teacher. my teacher's assistant, eva" she pointed to a girl with short red hair passing out papers, "will be handing out our syllabus this year. i thought a good way to start this class would be a lesson about the commonly accepted interpretation of literature versus other various interpretations.

"you will be working on this with the partner next to you. i would like both of you to write down what you assume to be the common interpretation and then write each of your personal interpretations. i'll give you thirty minutes and then we'll share our ideas!"

"cheery, isn't she?" mira said sulkily. 

"let's just focus on the assignment, shall we?" replied mateo, unsure of how to navigate this new version of mira. 

as the thirty minutes went on, mira slowly became her past self; arguing at every chance she got and savagely disparaging mateo at every chance she got.

"don't you get it numbnuts? there's no way that frost was trying to say that the road less travelled was more appealing. he literally just said before that, 'then took the other, just as fair.' use your brain for once, i'm begging you."

mateo chuckled as he argued back, "silly, dumb mira. frost is trying to say that because less people took the other path, it was the better path to walk on. he could tell because one had a better claim."

mira scowled in response, "yeah but then he says 'had worn them really about the same'. take that idiot"

mateo glowered at mira, "but then he goes on to say that that has made all the difference"

mira felt pure, hot anger coursing through her veins, "you-" she pointed a finger at his chest. "you are the most infuriating, idiotic, ignominious, immature person i've ever met."

mateo turned and whispered loudly to the person next to him, "alliteration - that's how you know she's mad."

the other person suppressed a laugh as they turned around and continued their conversation with their partner.

"i genuinely don't think i've ever wanted to murder a person more in my life. you know?" mira continued rambling. "the one thing you're good at is pissing me off. at this point, it has to be an art. how do you push someone's buttons that much? is that even humanly possible?"

"you're just begging to be pissed off. just look at that face!" mateo said with a cheeky grin.

"i hate you, i hate you with all my heart." mira said with a stony glare.

"aw, wouldn't you just give me a chance? i'm sure you love me once you realize that i'm always right"

"i'd rather die."