Rivals Forever

“What in the world are you doing here, Loser?” Ashley asks with a frowning face.

“I should be the one asking you this question,” Aron replies.

“Obviously, I got accepted by the top law school. I have all the reasons to be here,” Ashley says with rolling eyes.

“Well guess what, I got in as well. Ha! Now you won’t be able to get rid of me in this life at least,” Aron says and Ashely scoffs at his words.

Aron Chase and Ashley Warner have known each other since childhood. They live next door but their families have not been on good terms, mainly Mr. Chase and Mr. Warner. They HATE each other and their hatred was transferred to Ashley and Aron. They never really knew the truth of their parent’s hatred as they never told them the whole story. They just told them to never loose in anything from the kid next door. Mr. Chase and Mr. Warner named their kids with the first letter of alphabet so they would remain on the top of everyone especially on top of the kid next door. They put Aron and Ashley in the best school of their town but this caused both of them to compete in everything, whether it be curricular or extracurricular.

Ashley was finally happy that she got into the top law school in London and wouldn’t have to compete with the boy next door. But her happiness faded quickly after seeing Aron and realizing that he got in as well. Now Ashley has to bear Aron’s presence in her dream university. But she’s relieved that their parents won’t be here to keep an eye on them. Ashley and Aron barely talked to each other. They always bickered. Yes, they couldn’t even stand each other for a minute without bickering. Even if they ever wanted to be friends, they couldn’t because of their parents and sometimes they got tired of always being compared to one another. They avoided each other in university but still everyone eventually came to know of their not so sweet relationship.

“Oh Gosh, I hate him. Why do I have to see his face this early in the morning,” Ashley says annoyingly, seeing Aron standing in the hallway with his best friend, Noah.

“ I don’t understand why you hate him so much. Aron’s not that bad,” Sarah replies.

“You like him because for you, he’s your boyfriend’s best friend and for me he’s just a dumb rival,” Ashley replies.

Ashley and Sarah met on their first day to law school and immediately became friends as they had many things in common. Sarah was Ashley’s go to person but there was just one big problem. Sarah was dating Noah. What are the odds? She’s dating Aron’s best friends and that makes Ashley and Aron the third wheelers. Sometimes they had to go to a party together and Ashley never complained as she was happy to do it for Sarah. She didn’t like Aron but she was a great friend so she would agree to go out even if Aron was with them. They just kept their distance so they won’t bicker again and ruin everyone’s mood.

Once they were partnered for a project, so they had to work together. It was difficult for them but they agreed to compromise as they had to complete this project to get an A. They sat in the library for two hours daily and never talked about anything else except the project work. This was they first time ever that they were not competing against each other but were working together.

“I’m going to find the Criminal Law by Noel Cross. It might be of some help for our project,” Ashley spoke in a low voice as they were sitting in library. Aron nods and Ashley leaves to find the book. Ashley roams through the library in search of the book and finds it after a few minutes of searching.

“Find ya!” Ashley says with enthusiasm.

But the book is out of her reach as it placed on the upper shelf. Ashley is not tall. She’s barely 5’3. She stands on her tiptoes to grab it but fails. Suddenly a hand comes into her view. It’s Aron. He grabs the book from the shelf. Their eyes lock as Ashley turns around and Aron realizes that there is not much space between them. They have never been this close before. Aron can see Ashley’s freckles and her eyes are glowing through her glasses. Aron backs up a immediately to not make it uncomfortable for both of them.

“I didn’t need your help. I could’ve grabbed it myself,” Ashley says looking directly into Aron’s brown eyes.

“ Yeah, sure you were Shorty,” Aron scoffs.

“ I am not that short,” Ashley replies irritatingly.

“You should be saying thank you instead. Anyways, you’re welcome,” Aron says before pointing at the ‘Quiet Please’ sign.

“I never said thank you,” Ashley says in a low voice. Ashley leaves as she can’t stand him anymore. She knows Aron calls her ‘Shorty’, just to annoy her. Aron hardly talked to any girl. Ashley was the girl he knew while growing up. So he liked to tease her, he wanted to see her reaction and sometimes Aron found her cute. Ashley was Aron’s muse.

It was the day of the presentation and both of them were more than ready to present their project. They worked hard for this project and they worked as team. It was an important project for them as it was their chance to get in top 3 students who were to be selected for fully funded seminar in Singapore and 6 day trip to Turkey.

They were up next but at the last moment Ashley realizes that she didn’t have the USB with her. That USB had everything they had assembled for their project. But Ashley wasn’t able to find it. She panicked and asked Aron if he had it but Aron reminds her that she wanted to keep the USB herself. Aron sees Ashley panicking and calms her.

“It’s going to be okay. Don’t worry. It will be here somewhere. Just don’t panic. Everything’s going to be all right,” Aron says calming Ashley down.

Their professor comes to them and tells them that their up next. Aron then explains him the situation.

“What? You lost what? How could you be so careless? You are my top students. I never expected this from you,” Professor speaks in disappointment. Aron can see Ashley’s eyes filling up with tears.

“It’s all my fault Professor. I asked Ashley to give me the USB last night so I could review everything but I lost it,” Aron replies to Professor. Ashley looks at Aron with widen eyes and she’s shocked to see that Aron’s taking all the blame for her.

“It’s okay. But go find that USB right now. I’ll ask other students to present their project first. Now off you go,” Professor says and they leave immediately.

They rush towards library to find it but failed. They asked Sarah and Noah for help and they get to work. Ashley gets a call from Sarah and she tells her that she’s in her dorm and has found the USB in her drawer. Sarah runs to Aron and Ashley to give them the USB. She successfully gives it to them and Aron and Ashley present their project. They were the last ones to present their project but won first place. When they announced the winner, Ashley and Sarah jumped happily and hugged each other. Ashley in the moment of joy opens her arms to hug Aron but stops midway when the phone in her hand rings and she sees her father calling. Ashley leaves the hall to answers the call while Aron stands there and watches her leave.