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"Maybe, yes," he answered with a serious expression. "Trust me, you don't want to be her rival."
"You know an awful lot about her," I remarked.
"It's just my hunches going overtime," he explained, but I could tell there was more to the story than he was letting on.
I ignored his advice and checked the rankings. I couldn't believe my eyes. Every semester before she arrived, I had remained at the top, and I wanted to keep the streak going. But there it was, plain as day – my name written in second place and hers with a higher CGPA, ranking first position.
How was that even possible? Considering that she had just transferred in, and half of the semester had already started, why would she...?
"Is everything alright, man?" Shawn asked with a concerned expression.
"Everything is just perfect," I answered with a blatant lie.
It didn't stop there. Every competition, test, examination, project, and final. She remained ahead of the rest of us. The score gap wasn't even close; at a point, everyone just gave up competing once they heard she was on the opposite team.
It was frustrating.
"I was sure that you'd remain ahead of the rest of your peers," one of the professors remarked. "This girl is like nothing I've ever seen. I don't see her struggling to be the best in any field she'd choose."
"She does it so effortlessly that one would question their own ability as a lecturer," another praised.
These same men would sing such praises in my name, but their tune had changed to favor the woman who had intruded in my space. I decided a truce was necessary to clarify things between us, but boy, was I wrong.
I met her in the school garden, reading a book. There were others nearby, focusing on their own lives.
It was fresh after her breakup with the meathead that everyone in school loved for some odd reason. The rumors were that she wasn't in any relationship with him. Other rumors claimed that she was a dominatrix. I didn't care about any of them. I just wanted to increase my chance of getting the grant promised to the overall best-performing student.
"Good morning, Miss Hill," I greeted.
She slowly lifted her eyes and stared at me for a few seconds before returning her attention to the book in hand. "What do you want?"
In other words,go away.
I shook it off and continued, "You're an outstanding student, and you make it look so easy." The first was to start with praises, followed by compliment. I really admire that."
She lifted her eyes and stared at me for a few seconds, almost like she was accessing me. "Is that your attempt at flirting with me?"
"I am not flirting with you," I assured her. "I am just trying to initiate an academic proposal."
"And why would I do that with someone lower than me in intelligence?" she asked with a smile.
The moment she asked that question, I could have sworn that the entire place went silent. I could even feel the concerned gaze around me.
"Again, I don't think you should be rude in your responses," I advised, trying not to be triggered by her arrogance.
"I don't think you understand, little doctor boy," she said. "I am above you, and you are beneath me. It's that simple. If you need my help or my guidance, all you have to do is grovel…and maybe, just maybe, I would be willing to teach you how to get better scores and become a better doctor generally. You don't have to thank me. I'll do it for you, so kneel."
I finally understood her problem. She had issues with men, but it didn't seem like misandry. She just couldn't stand some of us.
Talking to me like that in front of everyone else…
"I don't think I should grovel. I just want us to…"
"The answer is no," she said with a stern look as she got to her feet. "I heard you were the top student, and I must admit that it was obvious why you were in that position. To be honest, you're pretty average in my eyes and in academics, too. Maybe try harder than you normally do, and then get back to me, okay? I'll keep beating you because that's where you belong…at my feet."
She mocked my efforts and decided automatically about my position in school and her life. I didn't want her words to be valid in my case, or else she'd win. So, I worked harder, but no matter what I did, I couldn't catch up. She was always beyond my reach, and it kept frustrating me.
She became the best-graduating student and got the opportunity I wanted. Even doctors I had dreamed of working with fought over which hospital she would work in. She was surrounded by everything I was desperately trying to work on achieving and smiled. It wasn't fair.
