valedictorian | jeno

1: The New Girl's a Threat

"The two of you were barely paying attention in class anyway." Jeno was about to turn around when Yangyang leaned in closer.

"Which is why this is the best place in the whole class?" The classroom wasn't really that big in size as Yangyang looked around. "The teachers have their eyes on the two of you so that they miss the seats right behind you."

"You're distracting though."

"Are we?" Haechan raises his eyebrow before jerking his head towards Cho, who wasn't even paying attention to the two of them.

"Eunji!" Yangyang calls Jeno's seatmate all of a sudden.

Jeno enlarges his eyes, warning him not to continue calling out her name. She would definitely notice them if—

"Eunji!"

Cho finally turns around. "Yeah?" There was no trace of emotions on her face; there was no annoyance or interest; it was just a plain reply.

"Be honest, do we talk too much in class?" Haechan leans forward, asking her innocently.

She thinks for a moment. "Not all of the time."

"See!" Yangyang's hand pointed towards Eunji, who was looking at Jeno's dark expression, not really hiding the annoyance he had towards his two friends.

"Thank you, Eunji!" Haechan smiles at her.

"Be honest, Jens, you're just interested in whatever we have to say." That was the last Jeno wanted to hear from both Yangyang and Haechan as he turned around in time for the teacher to arrive.

Literature class was more his thing; he noticed that. So, it wouldn't be much of an exaggeration to say that he felt more at peace when it came to literature. His back straightened as he heard Yangyang and Haechan whisper behind his back.

"Today, we'll be discussing a story's theme." Mrs. Kim looks at the class after writing exactly that on the board. "How about we start with a classic, The Little Prince? What do you think is the theme of the story?"

Cho doesn't raise her hand; instead, she looks down on her notes beside her, and Jeno glances over at her side before raising his hand. Cho simply looked at him.

"Yes, Mr. Lee."

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." Jeno speaks a little too confidently that the two behind him snicker.

"Excellent, Mr. Lee!" Upon Mrs. Kim's approval and turning back around, Jeno looks back at the two, making sure to glare at them.

The two only tried to hide the smile on both their faces as they looked at Jeno. Beside him, she hears Cho mutter something underneath her breath, and would it be considered too rude for him to lean over and listen to what she was saying? Of course it was, he thinks to himself as he looks away from her.

Jeno's gaze lingers on Eunji before turning away and looking down at his notes. The rest of the subject was spent introducing the various themes of popular classic novels and tales. On one end, due to his nature of constantly reading, Jeno was able to pick up on the spot several themes, even whispering them underneath his breath, while Cho sat there, writing every theme down.

Once class ended, Jeno began gathering his stuff and stuffing it in his bag.

"Where are you off to?" Haechan leans on Jeno's table, his bag already on his back and his legs ready to go.

"You know what the date is, right?"

Haechan glances towards the blackboard where they write the date every day. "Yeah? It's written there." He points at the date.

Jeno rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "It's been three weeks since midterms; you know what comes out after three weeks, right?"

"The rankings." Yangyang comes to talk to the two of them as he zips up his back.

Jeno looks over to Cho's side to see her carefully placing her stuff into her bag.

"Oh, come on, Jens, there's no one else other than you who can top that list anyway." Yangyang shrugs.

As much as he wanted to believe that there was a certain something in him, the pit of his stomach made him feel uncertain about that. He has never felt like this in the years since the list became important to him, which was his first year of junior high school three years ago. Except because of a certain presence that bothers him.

"Well, we might as well check if we came out on the list," Haechan sarcastically remarks as he walks out of the room, with Yangyang following him as he snickers at Haechan's comment.

The hallways were large—too large for the small high school population. There were only two classes per year; in a class there were barely thirty students in each. So, the halls were never full, and it oddly felt like a ghost town even during the day. As they walked towards the lobby, where the boards are, the classroom beside theirs opened their doors and they were facing two other individuals.

"Oh?" Renjun's face lit up with a smile as soon as they saw the three others. "You guys headed home?"

Yangyang shakes his head. "He's going to check the list."

"What list?" Jaemin stops talking before nodding his head— "okay. I want to look at it too." He shrugs his shoulders before walking ahead of Renjun, who had opened the door, and stood beside the group.

Haechan scans over Renjun's shoulder. Then he takes a peek into the classroom. "You're not going home with Bona today?"

Haechan refers to one of Renjun's closest friends, Kim Bona, an extension of their friend group and arguably the closest girl classmate to all of them. Bona and Renjun were almost attached on the hip, their parents being best friends during high school. Whether their friendship was forced upon them or not, there was no denying that they were always together.

Renjun shakes his head. "Says she has something to do."

One more thing about Renjun and Bona, they were always the butt of Haechan's teasing. So, he leans towards Renjun as they walk to the lobby, popping his head to his side. "Aren't you feeling lonely without Bona?"

That was the last thing Jeno was going to listen to the whole Renjun and Bona ordeal.

Jeno jogged down the stairs as they reached the lobby where they displayed the list. Standing by the board, he couldn't directly look at the piece of paper that was supposed to hold his name.

He was right about the bad feeling.

Cho Eunji - Class 1-1

Lee Jeno - Class 1-1

a/n

Academic rivals to lovers is one of my favorite troupes, which is why I hesitated if I wanted to publish this or not. Not to mention the intended short nature of this fic (with 10 chapter and 3 epilogues) made me hesitate even more since the progress wouldn't be so slow. Either way, I decided to still post it to challenge myself, not just with the whole academic rivals to lovers troupe but with writing high school romances TT.TT

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your read 💚

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