How to train your rival

By Deone Kirk

For more than ten years Candice Holl was the brightest wherever she was.  In Primary School she won the award for academic excellence.  In high school she was the dux of the school as well as winning the prizes for English, Drama, Science and Mathematics.  The only black marks on her otherwise outstanding academic career was in the interschool debating competition.  

The first year she participated when she was thirteen the battle was fierce.  In the final round it was between the St Martha’s school for girls which she attended and the Granston Grammar school for boys.  The boy’s arguments were passionate and brutal, but Candice felt as though they the girls were currently winning.  So, when it came for the final boy to speak Candice was quietly grinning and very confident of their victory.  She couldn’t have been more wrong.  The final boy destroyed the arguments of her team members, picked up the strongest point from his team and made a final confident conclusion that blew everyone away.  She went from sitting smugly with her arms crossed to furiously rewriting her points.  He finished with a triumph and gave her a smug self-satisfied smile as he walked back to his seat.

Credit to Morishita Suu.  This is from her manga Short Cake Cake.

This of course served to make Candice livid.  Which in its way was a good thing as she was always at her best when red hot rage was guiding her actions.   She skillfully pointed out the flaws in his arguments that best supported her team mate’s positions, placed doubt regarding his conclusion and finished with a show stopping finale of her own.  The scores were close but as each member had scored well overall their team won.  He however had trounced all their scores.   His team had lost but he himself had beaten them all.  

The year after he came back with a much stronger team and lead them to victory but her personal score was only slightly lower than his.  The year after the girls won again but her personal score was only one point off his.  For that last three years of high school their personal scores were equal and by their last year, each school had won an equal amount of times.  However, on that final year the boys won.  One of her most bitter high school memories is his smug face as he left the arena.  The last winner.  Never to be beaten again.

Her only solace was that it was highly unlikely she’d ever see him again.  This year she had left town to study at the Australian National University law faculty.  It was the university for the best and Candice was confident that she would feel right at home with her fellow peers.  She loved her room at Burgmann College and had instantly made friends in the dining hall.  She was on a high and felt like nothing could get her down.  Which is why when she walked into her first tutorial she was stunned when there he was sitting staring out the window.

She instantly felt the resentment rise within her and she deliberately ignored him to sit on the opposite side of the room.  As expected he was always one of the first to offer an answer or opinion but university is not the same as high school.  The gap in ability here is much slimmer and she was mildly amused when he got an answer wrong.  She immediately put up her hand and answered the question flawlessly.  From the corner of her eye she noticed him looking in her direction, so Candice turned to treat him to a smug smile.  She noticed the expression of shock recognition before he turned his face away.  

At the end of the tutorial he stayed behind to clarify the point he got wrong within the tutorial, so Candice waited at the door for him.  As he left the room she fell in beside him.  She was correct in the assumption that as first years they would be heading toward the same lecture.  Clearing her throat, she said, “So you followed me to Canberra.”  He glanced at her with irritation and said, “I think we can safely say that I have never given you a second thought regarding my future career.”  Candice smiled widely and said, “Deny all you like but I do appreciate the chance you’ve given me to even the score.”  They arrived at the lecture theatre and she stepped ahead to enter first.  She looked behind her as she went through the door and said, “Just remember I’m not going to make this easy for you.”  She entered the lecture theatre with his expression of acute annoyance happily etched into her mind’s eye.

I do not own this art.  I wish I knew who did it.

To her delight she saw him that evening sitting on his own in the cafeteria eating dinner whilst reading a book.  She caught up with her friends and deliberately sat at the next table over so that if he looked up he would see her back.  As her friends started to chat casually about their day she started to wonder exactly why she had done that.  Could it be that she had possibly started to fancy her rival?  She had certainly enjoyed besting him that day and he had always been a standard that she had pushed herself to overcome.  Whilst she was not a complete novice in the world of love any romantic attachments she had had over the years had all been put aside in her never-ending quest to be the best.  

Suddenly her friend leaned across the table and said, “Candice whilst you’ve been spacing out the guy behind you has been sneaking glancing at your back for the past fifteen minutes.”  Candice instantly turned around and met his eyes.  He deliberately turned away, packed up his tray and left the table.  Candice asked her friends to mind her food for a minute as she got up.  He was depositing his tray in the left receptacle, so she assumed he would be taking the corridor on the left.  

As he walked through the entrance of the corridor she stepped out from behind the vending machine and said, “You know if you wanted to stare I’m more than happy to snap a selfie for you.”  To Candice’s delight he turned bright red, dropped his head and went to step around her.  She fell in beside him again and said, “You know even though I’ve known of your existence for about six years I don’t even know your name.”  He turned to face her with an expression of shocked annoyance, “You mean to tell me that you’ve been a pain in my ass for six years and you didn’t even have the common decency to remember my name?”

They entered the common area and he dropped down into one of the loungers.  Candice leaned down so that her face was level with his and asked, “Well it’s not like the competition scores had our pictures next to them.  So how do you know it was me that was the pain in your ass?”  He glared at Candice and said, “It’s not that hard to put two and two together.”  A smile slowly spread across Candice’s face and she said, “You asked, didn’t you?”  He blushed again and turned away, so she grabbed his book whilst he wasn’t looking.  “Hey!” he started when she flipped the book to the inside cover where he’d written his name.  She showed him what she’d found and handed it back.  With an expression of triumph, she said, “It’s nice to meet you Stephen White.  See you tomorrow.”

When she got back to the dining hall her dinner was lukewarm and her newfound friends were full of excited questions.  They both leaned forward excitedly and asked, “Who was that guy?”  Candice explained their six-year rivalry and coincidental meeting that day.  Kate the more outgoing of her newfound friends asked, “Do you like him?  He’s not my type but he’s not bad looking.”  Candice replied, “I’m not sure yet but even if I do decide I like him I think he’ll be the last to know.  I’m not done teasing him just yet.”  

However, for the rest of the week Candice barely saw Stephen.  He’d arrive at tutorials and lectures just before they started and disappear practically into thin air the moment they finished.  She had no idea where he was eating his dinner and he avoided the welcome dinner that was held on Friday entirely.  Whilst she made lots of new friends and had a truly great time she was disappointed he hadn’t shown.  That weekend she devised a strategy and bright and early on Monday morning she put it into effect.

After reading the course outline she’d noted that in four weeks they would need to present a presentation.  Given the time-frame it was highly likely that they would need to choose a partner or a group for that presentation this week and start preparing.  So that day she deliberately made herself late for her tutorial.  By the time she got in there most of the seats were empty except for the one next to Stephen.  So, she apologised to the teacher and sat down in his neighboring seat.  

After she had got out her textbooks she leaned over to Stephen and whispered, “Where are we up to?”  He paused for a moment then lifted his book, so she could see that page and whispered back, “Question 3.”  We sat for the rest of the tutorial diligently doing our work and not saying a word to each other.  However, at the end of the tutorial the tutor explained about the presentation assessment in four weeks of which we would need to present in pairs.  Stephen instantly tensed.  Candice mused if she hadn’t been so close she would have never noticed.

Candice packed up her books then turned to Stephen.  She asked, “Do you want to do the presentation with me?”  Stephen looked up from packing away his books with an expression of disbelief.  He looked lost for words, so Candice continued, “Let me put it this way.  I know you’d pull your weight and can deliver a speech.  So, we’d get a killer grade.  Plus do you know anyone else in here?”  He still seemed completely stunned so Candice said, “Look we have the same next lecture.  If you want to do the assignment with me grab me at the end.”

All through the next lecture she could barely concentrate.  She desperately wanted to know his answer, but she’d effectively done all she could.  So, she was pleasantly surprised when she saw him waiting at the exit.  He was ignoring everyone else as they went past whilst playing distractedly with his phone.  He looked up as she came near and meet Candice’s gaze with a determined expression.  Candice smiled at him with delight.

He said, “You’re right.  It makes the most sense to work together.”  They walked out into the main drag and Candice replied, “I’m really glad you saw sense.  Hand me your phone.”  His eyes narrowed in suspicion and he asked, “Why do you want my phone?”  Candice rolled her eyes and said, “I’m going to give you my number.  That way we can make a time to meet up and discuss the assignment.”  He blushed again but handed Candice his phone.  Candice grinned and programmed her number in.  Then she cheekily stepped out into the sun and snapped a selfie.  His mouth was wide open when she handed him back his phone.  Candice winked and said, “As promised you now have my selfie.  Anyway, text me and we’ll catch up later I’ve got to go meet up with Kate.”

Image is Selfie by Foo https://foomidori.deviantart.com/

With that she ran back to Burgmann with Stephen watching on in bewilderment.