Chapter 1 - The name above mine

Benjamin POV

I watch as the people surround the notice board. People rushing towards the notice board. I.. I'm not like them..I walk leisurely as the students run. They already form a half restless circle checking their names and marks. Some start cursing themselves.. Some laugh and Some are relieved with the marks they get and Some are disappointed.

My eyes went straight to the top.. This time my name is not in the first place.. it's the second. I was second in my class again.. This is not the first time..His name is above mine again - Alexander Miller. I watch in silence.. my surroundings blur. I check the list again, top to bottom, left and right searching for any mistake. A mistake that doesn't exist.. it's the same...

Rank One

Rank Two

For others it doesn't matter... but me,, it matters... Marks are my pride. A two or three mark difference is also a big issue for me. Others would've called it a tie.. But for me.…Who sees marks as their own pride…. it's no no. It's not the first time… Him being above me…

"Damn" someone muttered behind me "Guess the crown changed heads again".

I listen but don't talk… It doesn't matter to me…. I stepped back before anyone could look at my face… my fists tightened around my bag straps. As I turn around I see him… My study rival. Alexander. He stood away from the board.Not surrounded by people. Not celebrating… He was just observing… As if he already knows the results. And this is something he is already sure about.

Our eyes meet.

It was just for a brief second. No hatred passed between us…. Just a sharp look…a look of recognition.

So it's you

I had seen him before. Of course everyone has. He is Mr Popular. A guy who is good at studies and also sports…. He is a basketball captain. A dream guy for every girl. Body like a Greek god.which also adds to his face card and his height. Which is actually quite opposite to me… Who is shorter than him… And a lean body… And nerdy glasses to see the world.

He looked away first' which actually annoyed me even more.

"You know the second is still the best rank" One of my friends Ethan says.

"Yeah… There's still next time" Adam says supporting Ethan.

I nodded. Because This is an expected reaction. I look back once again to make sure… To make sure he is gone.

All throughout the day… His name followed me….people talking about him… Comparing me to him. By evening I sat at my desk… Open books on my desk with my notes aligned, but my mind was elsewhere, Memorizing my day… Memorizing His name….

I didn't hate him. Not yet. Because hate needs intimacy.

I close my eyes that night watching the full moon. Thinking about how his name is above mine… And how my name is beneath his. Tomorrow we would see each other again in the hallways. We would pretend this meant nothing,( maybe for him ) We would exist in parallel - for the same goal

But somewhere deep within my heart beat a little faster - not with fear but with anticipation.

TO BE CONTINUED.

Chapter 2 - Two Toppers : Separate Worlds

Third-person POV

The next day

If ranking were the spine of the department , the Friend groups are the nerves. Two individuals, fighting for who is best in studies. Two different parallel worlds, two different friend groups.

One was near the front rows… Near the board… Near the faculty. Desks filled with notebooks and textbooks and hands busy with working on something the faculty would say. Friends talking in hushed tones about deadlines, assignments and few gossips.

And across the lecture hall... The other group exits.

They occupy the last rows. A different world even though it seems parallel. The chatter seems endless… From competitions to future plans… Those actually seem like dares rather than plans… A side that is filled with energy which actually lacks from the front rows.

And Alexander belonged there

He leaned back against the chair, posture relaxed as if there was nothing in this world that would restrain him. Executing confidence, laughing along with his friends about some sick joke.

Benjamin forced himself not to look. Not to look at him… The professor arrived gaining the attention from the students from front row to the last row. The lecture began, the once clear board was filled with complex theories.

Benjamin automatically started writing in his notebooks his full concentration on the theories. Then a voice cut from behind.

"Sir" A cold bold voice spoke…gaining the attention from every living person in the class. "The assumption only holds if we take the first vari, but it varies with the second variable".

"Explain what you mean Alexander". The professor said.

He did , clearly in simpler terms without notes. Oozing with confidence,, what he is saying is correct. And it is. Benjamin knows it too. Because even he knows what Alexander wanted to convey. The only difference. One was confident. And the other was not.

Benjamin looked upwards and he couldn't resist his muscles to turn... Alexander's eyes flickered to the front row, encountering a brief 1 second eye contact. A look of recognition between two toppers - You noticed it too right .

Alexander looked away immediately. Which actually annoyed Benjamin again.

It's lunch hour… The University mess was filled with chaos.

Benjamin's table was filled with commentary from his friends.

"He is always showing off" said Adam. "Well what do you expect from a college jock. He turned blind getting a rank one" Ethan said supporting him. And the two expectedly turned towards Benjamin, wanting an equal reply from their friend. Benjamin just nodded as if he was agreeing to what they were saying.

Again across the mess hall... the other group exists.

Alexander's table was filled with laughter and energy. Friends compliment him. Benjamin noticed, no - studied Alexander's face. A small faint restrained smile.

The two worlds did not overlap. Couldn't overlap.

Yet comparison followed them. If one name was said… The second person's name was already compared to - During the second hour, after lunch the professor handed the assignment, even his compliments seemed to compare them.

By evening, Ben took the long route, his mind filled with Alexander, his voice… The comparison, how he seems to top him. Once he reached the room. His desk filled with notebooks again preparing for the next exam.

Somewhere around the campus, Alexander may also be getting ready for the exam, preparing it. The next challenge, and the next comparison.

Ben wrote in his notebook

Know your opponent

But only later he would understand how incomplete that thought would be. Because no one knows what the future unfolds. Even me…

TO BE CONTINUED.

Chapter 3 - The Unspoken Comparison

Third-person POV

The next day

The comparisons began subtly, the way most things did—soft enough to deny, sharp enough to feel.

It started in class.

The professor returned the latest assignment without ceremony, placing the papers on the desk and adjusting his glasses. Looking at the students.. And saying

“Overall, this was well done,” he said, flipping through pages. “But two submissions stood out.”

A pause. A predictable look around the students.

“One of them demonstrated exceptional clarity in reasoning,” the professor continued. “The other showed impressive originality.”His eyes moved—not by accident—from the front rows to the back.The room followed.

Benjamin felt it immediately: The attention, the quite murmuring between the student's. He kept his gaze on his paper, expression neutral, even as his name was called second. Applause followed, polite, restrained, but it sounded distant, hollow.He did not look back.He didn’t need to.

By now, comparison had become a routine performance. Every praise, Every expectations. Later, in the hallway, voices overlapped.“If he keeps this up—” “But the other one’s more consistent.” “Depends on the exam format.” “They’re basically the same.”

Basically.

The word irritated him more than it should have. Basically implied sameness without understanding. Across the corridor, Alexander passed by with his friends, moving with unhurried confidence. He didn’t look over. He never seemed to. And somehow, that absence of acknowledgment felt intentional, As if ignoring the comparison was its own declaration of superiority. A dominance.

Ben's friends closed in around him, voices warm but edged.

“They’re hyping him up too much,” one of them said. “You’re still the safer bet.”

Safer.

Another word that landed wrong.

He smiled faintly, accepted the reassurance without comment.

By midweek, the comparisons had migrated beyond classrooms. Faculty meetings spilled into rumor. Study groups whispered rankings before results were announced. Even casual conversations carried the weight of expectation.

Who will top this time?

The question followed him everywhere.

In the library, he found himself seated two tables away from Alexander, separated by nothing but the big racks and stacks of books. Alexander was focused, head bent, brow faintly furrowed in concentration. There was no arrogance in the posture—only intent.

Benjamin tried to return to his notes.He failed.

Every so often, the scratch of the other boy’s pen reached him. Disturbing his thoughts, getting his attention.

When Alexander stood to leave, the chair shifted softly. For a brief moment, A very subtle glance towards him.

Their eyes met.

Not long enough to start a fight or confrontation No challenge. No apology, Just understanding.

Benjamin exhaled only after he was gone.

That night, alone at his desk, he reviewed his notes with ruthless attention. Margins were rewritten. Arguments refined. Comparison, he decided, would not undo him.But as the hours stretched on, an unwelcome truth settled quietly in his chest.

This was no longer about outperforming a faceless standard.

It was about him.

Somewhere on campus, another desk light burned late into the night. Another mind chased the same perfection, the same victory, the same unspoken acknowledgment.

The comparison no longer needed words.

It lived in glances, in pauses, in the space where one name was always followed by the other.

And neither of them was willing to look away.

TO BE CONTINUED.