Rival | Kim Seungmin

Class President

Yeeun POV

I purchased two bottles of banana milk from the school's snack shop before walking towards a table.

"Here you go," I handed one to my best friend Jiyeon as I took a seat across from her.

"Thank you~" she replied as she took it from me. "So are you planning on running for class president?" She asked, looking up as she took a sip.

"Yeah, my mom said I have to make it or else she's making me move schools," I replied as I took a straw and pierced it through the seal.

"She's not serious right?" She questioned with her eyebrows raised.

"I honestly have no idea," I frowned.

She sat quietly, sipping on the banana milk as she looked around aimlessly until she suddenly looked at me with widened eyes. "I heard Kim Seungmin is in our class this year so you might have some tough competition."

I placed the banana milk on the table. "Kim Seungmin?" Even saying the name made my blood boil.

She nodded vigorously, "Apparently he didn't move schools. You think it'll be okay? Do you even remember him?"

"...how could I forget," I sighed.

"Don't think about it too much. I'm sure it'll be fine as long as you don't talk to him," she reassured.

"It's not important to me anyways. Let's go to class," I said as I stood up.

We threw away our trash before heading towards the classroom. As we stepped inside, the seating chart was drawn out on the chalkboard. There weren't as many students in the room yet so we decided to take our time.

"Hey Yeeun, looks like this is your lucky year," Jiyeon said as she nudged me.

"Why?" I questioned.

"I get to sit behind you," she beamed.

"Why is that a good thing?"

"Because now we can talk more, duh. Maybe you'll finally have an eventful year," she shrugged.

We walked between the rows of desks before sitting in our seats. Our deskmates still hadn't arrived, so we simply talked for a bit.

"What are you going to do if you don't make class president?" Jiyeon asked.

"I'll try to reason with my mom," I replied after thinking for a moment.

"That doesn't sound promising," she frowned, giving me a worried look.

"Hello!" We turned our heads to see someone smiling brightly as he waved. "I'm your seatmate, Lee Felix," he smiled as he held his hand out to Jiyeon.

"Chae Jiyeon, nice to meet you," she smiled back.

"Let's get along well," he commented before taking a seat as Jiyeon nodded.

I turned to face the front as students started rushing in.
"I'm not late am I?" My seatmate asked as he sat down.

"No, the teacher hasn't gotten here yet," I replied.

"Good. I'm Lee Minho by the way," he stated.

"Song Yeeun."

"Nice to meet you, I look forward to being your deskmate," he gave me a soft smile before rummaging through his bag.

I turned to the front as the teacher walked in. The class grew silent as everyone waited for her to speak.

"Hello everyone. I am Mrs. Lim, I will be your homeroom teacher this year. As you all know, we will be selecting our class president this week. If there are any volunteers please raise your hand."

Everyone glanced around the room to see who would step up. I raised my hand to see someone do it at the same time. I didn't have to look to know who it was.

"Anyone else?" Mrs. Lim scanned the room before making her final statement. "Alright then, Kim Seungmin and Song Yeeun will be our two candidates. Everyone has until the end of this week to consider who they'll vote for. I will leave a small bucket at this table Thursday morning so you can put your votes in. We'll tally the results Friday morning. Any questions?"

Everyone shook their head and Mrs. Lim proceeded on with instructions.

Lunch

"So how are you feeling about your competition?" Jiyeon asked once we found a place to sit.

"It should be fine right? We've had a class with most of the students before and I've been class president for the past 2 years, there shouldn't be a problem...right?" I replied hesitantly attempting to convince myself.

"I don't know...as much as I want to say you can do it, too many people know him...and you two don't really have a great past either," she frowned slightly.

"Why is this guy so annoying," I mumbled before starting to eat.

After lunch I decided to go to the restroom. I was about to walk out of the stall until I overheard some girls talking.

"Can you believe Yeeun raised her hand?" One said.

"Right, I can't believe she thinks she has a chance against Seungmin. She's been trying since middle school. Isn't it time to give up?" the other added.

"I kind of pity her since he's obviously going to win."

"Same. Are you going to vote for her?"

"I mean it wouldn't hurt would it?"

Their voices grew softer as they left the restroom and I slowly left the stall to wash my hands. Am I that inferior to him? What's so good about a popular jerk anyways?

I walked back to class and took a seat before turning around as Jiyeon tapped me on the shoulder. "Have you been hearing all the bullshit coming out of everyone's mouth?" She asked.

"Yeah, I just overheard some girls talking in the restroom," I sighed.

"Ignore them okay, what they think doesn't matter. Plus they don't even know anything."

"That's right, I'll always be on your side buddy." We glanced over at Minho who appeared to have listened in on our conversation.

"Uh, thanks..." I didn't think he was listening.

"No problem," he gave me a small grin before putting his earbuds in and resting his head on the desk.

"I can't believe everyone's making a huge fuss on the first day. Looks like your year really will be eventful," Jiyeon shook her head as I turned my attention to her.

"All I wanted was to finish this year studying and living quietly," I sighed.

"But you've done that since freshman year. Maybe this is a sign that you should relax a bit."

"I think I relax more than enough. It's fine, I'll do my best," I replied as I shook away the negative thoughts.

"Excuse me," someone lightly tapped on my shoulder. I immediately frowned as I turned to see a familiar boy staring at me with a friendly smile.

"Yes?"

"You're Song Yeeun right?" He asked.

"Yes, and you are?" I asked, pretending as if I didn't know him.

My eyes traveled down to his name tag as he responded to me. "I'm Kim Seungmin. I thought it would be polite to introduce myself since we're technically competing for the same position," he smiled as he held out his hand. "Let's do well, although I don't think you have a chance, I wish you good luck."

I reached out my hand and shook it as I gave him a forced smile. "Good luck to you too."