Julescript_
"Between the Grades and Glances"
Have you ever experienced being hated?
Not by strangers. Not by the world. But by the very person who brought you into it?
For Octavia Emersyn Valencia, or Avia, that hatred comes from none other than her own mother. Simula nang pumanaw ang kanyang ama sa isang trahedyang aksidenteng nangyari habang inililigtas siya, doon nagsimulang magbago ang lahat. Hindi na siya tinawag na anak, kundi malas.
A curse. A constant reminder of everything that was lost.
Since then, Avia spent her life trying to earn even just a flicker of affection. Kung hindi niya kayang mahalin siya bilang anak, baka bilang achiever.
She poured everything into academics, sleepless nights, endless recitations, top marks. Pero kahit gaano siya kahusay, kahit ilang medalya pa ang maiuwi niya sa bahay, it was never enough. Not when the shadow of misfortune was still tied to her name.
And if her mother's coldness wasn't enough, there was someone else who made her existence even more unbearable.
Salvius Rase Montero. He was everything she wasn't. Effortlessly brilliant, calm under pressure, and always ahead. Ever since elementary, Salvi had always been one step higher, one grade better, one glance further. Hindi sila magkaibigan. Hindi sila nag-uusap. But they were always in competition, silent, but constant.
Avia has one goal: matalo siya. Kahit isang beses lang.
But Salvius never makes it easy.
There's always an unspoken tension between them. It's not just about grades, but also every time their eyes meet, filled with a silent challenge, long-standing annoyance, or perhaps... something more difficult to admit.
In a world where Avia struggles to be seen, and Salvius remains the unreachable standard, what happens when rivalry turns into something deeper, something more dangerous than hatred?
Is there tension underlying those grades and glances?