Perfectly Insane (Academic Rivals to Lovers)

01|The Devil

The classroom buzzes with chatter at 7:45 in the morning.

How are people so enthusiastic on a Monday morning? Do they not have a life outside of school? Well, I mean, I don't exactly either, but atleast I'm not yelling so early in the morning. I lay my head down on the desk, watching the clock agonizingly tick by slowly.

"Alright, everyone, I'm giving back y'all's test now. If you have any questions, please come to my desk and ask."

The room quickly fell silent as I exchange a nervous glance with my best friend, Sadie, the room thick with anticipation. It feels suffocating in here.

My stomach churns and my finger taps lightly on the desk as I intently watch Mrs. Smith as she began to slowly distribute the papers, moving from one row to the next, each step making my heart drum a little faster.

Could she possibly walk any slower?

My mind replays the questions over and over. I couldn't have done too bad. I mean, I studied many sleepless nights for weeks for this chemistry test.

I watched her hand out each test methodically, pausing occasionally to offer a few words of encouragement or feedback to each student. Finally, she starts to turn down my row, riding my anxiety bit by bit.

Holding my breath, my hands start to tremble slightly with nervousness and excitement, as I wait for my name to be called. In the corner of my eye, I see Sadie give me a reassuring smile, but it doesn't shake the nervous anticipation that has been building up inside of me.

I'm okay, I'll be fine. You just need to calm down, Emma. I took a deep breath, attempting to slow my racing heart. Yeah, it's not helping a bit.

"You did great Emma, just don't beat yourself up about, you still did very well." Mrs Smith said, peering down at me through her glasses with kind eyes.

What could she possibly mean by that?

She hands me my paper and my eyes hastily search for my grade. I look at the top of my paper and my heart drops.

98%

Shit.

Uneasiness bubbles up in my stomach, as I scan the paper for what I could have possibly missed. What the hell did I miss? I instantly spot the tiny red dash across the question number 7.

" A mixture initially contains 0.1M of A and 0.2M of B. The equilibrium constant for the reaction of A+B <==> C is 10. What are the equilibrium concentrations of all species?"

Ok, I'll admit, that question had me stumped when I first stumbled across it, but I couldn't seriously have gotten it wrong, could I?

I immediately saw my mistake when I put "[A]≈0.0415" instead of 0.0414. I inwardly groan at my mistake. You have gotta be kidding me. Right now, all I just wanna do is bang my head against the desk at my stupid mistake.

Death was better than missing a measly 0.0001.

"Of course you got a 100, man. You're like the smartest in the class."

I recognize that voice. It was Dylan Hope. That's my brother, but if you looked at the two of us, you wouldn't get that we were related

He's tall, like REALLY tall, has dirty blonde, curly hair, and dark blue eyes. He kinda looks like an older version of Walker Scobell. He also looks just like my dad.

However, me on the other hand, look just like my mom. I have light ginger hair that cascades in soft waves past my shoulder. I also have sea green eyes, pale, fair skin, and freckles literally all over my face. I'm also short; 5"2 short. I'm that short.