Project: One Night Stand (HIATUS)

Chapter 6: Speaking of The Devil

'It's not really about the competition. Your biggest challenge in a race is yourself. You're often racing against time. You're frequently running everything through your mind. You're always competing against preconceived ideas. It's not really the person next to you that you worry about.' -Summer Sanders  

Chapter 6:

"Teresa MacCoy, what a splendid surprise to see you here in our Biology class." someone seriously said beside me. Even without turning my head to look at the person who was talking to me, I knew who he was – I could always sense a mean sense of foreboding whenever he was near. "I do need competition, I really do."

"It is also an equally splendid surprise to see you at the same class, Carl Joseph," I said sarcastically with a smile ignoring the invisible daggers that he was pointing at me. "I trust you had a wonderful vacation?"

"Of course," Carl Joseph said arrogantly. He flashed his new watch by subtly waving his pale skeletal wrist – the light reflected on it, creating a beautiful golden beam. 

I did not know the brand of the watch that he was wearing but from the looks of it, I know it was very expensive. It had the rocks and everything.

Like most of the students in Clover Green High, he too was from a rich and affluent family. His family owned the Hailstorm Pharmaceuticals Inc. which was a company that manufactured a wide range of medicines. It was known all over the world for its top-of-the-line research and studies for cancer-treatment medicines. 

He planned to enroll in Biomedical Engineering in The University of Sheffield located in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. He could have just pursue his college studies in University of California in San Diego or John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland both schools offered great Biomedical Engineering programs but since he wanted the best school for that particular field, he had his eyes set on The University of Sheffield – at least, he would be an ocean away from here. 

 "I had an interesting tour in our plant located in Germany. Our German R&D division is currently looking for a cure for prostate cancer but I am not going to tell you the details because it is currently our company's top secret."

I mentally rolled my eyes. 'Did he just say top secret and then he is telling me about it?'

"That is amazing, I hope that your company will indeed find a cure for Prostate Cancer – God knows a lot of men need it." I said genuinely. Seriously, I was not being sarcastic here despite the fact that I found Carl Joseph Hailstorm irritating. 

Seriously, he was the one who started this rivalry when I him beat in our Math subjects since the freshman years. We always get perfect in our Math subjects but then during the final exam, our teacher would give us a separate exam schedule from the rest of our classmates and then give us questions fit for Math major college students. The exams were always hard but, in the end, I got a perfect score whereas he was always a mark behind me. I really did not want to compete as it was stressful but then he was determined and even dared to openly challenge me. I just shrugged knowing I did not have any choice.

He seemed to look a bit crestfallen when he notice that I did not compliment his new watch. I knew he was fishing for a compliment or two but sorry, he would never get it from me. He always loved the attention especially when someone praised his new stuff or whenever he got a perfect score in the exam but I was not really a materialistic person nor I was fond of giving compliments to people that were not close to me. And even if someone would flash a gold-plated Mercedes Benz in front of me, I would still remain unfazed.