Time Rewind: 3 Years Ago

***

Stuffing a piece of toast in my mouth, and closing the first button of my shirt, I ran out of the house not wanting to be late on the first day of college. I was not expecting to ruin my morning by the nuisance's homecoming, by which I mean, Sky, short for Skylar.

They were back,

Our fathers were each other's utmost rivals, and because of this, I had to compete against him in every possible thing. Achieve higher grades, be better at sports, and have a greater life than him, that's how I was always taught to be.

Why did they have to be back? Why did I have to meet him again? I sighed disappointedly,

He was wearing the same college shirt as me and he had a bag hanging off his shoulder. He looked at me despairingly. Since I couldn't just walk ahead and punch him, I decided to keep it cool,

"Look who's back," I said sarcastically,

"Thanks for ruining my morning," he said in the same tone as mine, rolling his eyes,

"Thanks for ruining my day,"

He noticed my shirt, "Please don't tell me we go to the same college?" he asked,

"Unfortunately. I think bad luck follows you everywhere,"

"Maybe that's why I came back here," he raised his brow,

If there was a definition of a perfect smackable face, it'd be his,

He was about to reply when his mother walked out of his house. She gave me a look and kept a hand on his shoulder,

"Shouldn't you be going to college by now, Sky? Don't waste your time here," she said purposely gesturing towards me.

I heard my house door opening. I turned around to see my mother walking behind me, shooting gangster-type looks at his mother,

"Hurry up, Dew. Don't let unnecessary things make you late," she said gesturing to them, rolling her eyes,

What a comeback, Ma. I felt proud,

His mother was about to add something, but I waved to my Mom and jogged down the road. If I stayed longer, it would be a dogfight between these two ladies, and I didn't want to experience that. I could hear Sky's footsteps behind me.

While reaching college and settling down in the new atmosphere, I found out he had been enrolled in the Fine Arts field. Which was a great thing, because the Fine Arts faculty was better distanced from the Engineering faculty. We shared the same canteen and labs. It was a well-known fact in the university, that the Fine Arts and Engineering faculties were ancient rivals.

Here begins the four-year struggle,

I had chosen the Engineering faculty because technology was something that always intrigued me. Inventing things, learning about machines, building interiors, and such things interested me a lot. Both our degrees were for four years which was going to be a pain,

It would be better to avoid him. Less the nuisance, less the headache. I had many important things to focus on and build upon.

***

It had been around three months in this college now. I stepped out of the house after Sky had left so I didn't have to face him. We somehow managed to not show up in front of each other. Even if we did, ignorance was bliss.

Fortunately, I found two dumb people in my faculty whom I call friends. One of them is kind of smart, the other one pretends to be. The smart one is Jason and the one who pretends to be Mayor. These three months, I had no encounter with that nuisance, and it was pretty peaceful.

We three soon grew closer and our trio was well-spoken in the entire Engineering faculty. From seniors to freshers to nearby faculties, we even started growing in sports, especially soccer.

A few days later, there was an announcement in all the faculties. About the college fest. This time the seniors were going to pair up two faculties and they had to do the given event in the fest together. For this performance as freshers, we were being graded.

We were called to assemble in the open field, where all faculties stood in groups. The seniors had pieces of folded paper in a big glass jar. One of them started to pick out two folded chits at the same time and announce them through the speakers, which is how the faculties got paired up. After everyone settled, the pairing began.

"I really hope we get the Home Science faculty," Mayor said with a huge grin,

"Because of their food?" Jason asked,

He hit the back of Jason's head, "They have got the most beautiful girls," Mayor replied smirking,

I smacked both of their heads from behind. They turned around whining, "Is that all you guys can ever think of?" I asked shaking my head,

"As if you don't," Mayor teased. I shrugged off laughing,

"Only the last two chits are left. The rest faculties can leave with their pairs and start preparing the event outlines," The senior announced on the mic. We were goofing around so we didn't notice if our faculty had been paired up or not,

If nobody from our faculty leaves, just means we weren't paired up yet.

The crowd started to disperse, leaving just two bunches of people, the faculty of Fine Arts and Engineering. After our faculty names were noted down, we were asked to leave as the seniors dispersed as well.

"Oh, damned luck," I sighed, looking at the other faculty. Both, Jason and Mayor started regretting it as well.

"Did we really have to be paired up with such lame people?" Frank, from my faculty, said which people from their faculty heard,

"What did you say?" Andrew from their faculty stepped up moving towards us. Frank puffed up and moved ahead to face him. This place was about to blow.

"I said, why did have to be paired up with such lame people," he repeated hostilely. Both of them looked at each other as if they were going to break each other's faces. I knew they were going to, and I was so ready for it,

"Oh, maybe because Engineering people are so damned that all they do the whole day is whine," the fine arts guy said. Mayor stepped ahead and stood beside Frank,

"You better take that back before I punch your damn face," he said looking dead in the eyes of Andrew,

"What if I don't?" Andrew asked, one more guy stood behind him from their faculty backing him up,

"Want me to show you?" Mayor was about to go ahead to attack when Jason pulled him behind, telling him to calm down,

"How about I show you first?" Andrew was about to punch Mayor when I jumped in and held his wrist mid-air,

"How about you reconsider doing that?" I asked almost about to lose it.

They were not going to hurt any of my people today,

I clenched his wrist as my grip on his skin kept getting tighter. He winced in pain and pulled his hand away. Just then someone kept a hand on his shoulder from behind and walked ahead. It was Sky,

"How about you step back then?" he said standing in front of me, looking more confident,

An open challenge? Quite bold of him,

"You're going to step back first," I said tilting my head, and folding my arms,

"Stepping back first might kick your ego's ass, right?" his tone raised with that mock,

I can't play this game anymore,

My fingers curled up in a fist; I grabbed him by his collar and was about to punch him across his face when someone came running and told us that the teachers and the seniors were coming back this side.

Panic arose and everybody from both the faculties fled away.

Jason kept telling me to leave him and run with them but the urge to smack his annoying face was stronger. He kept looking at me with eyes filled with that annoying attitude. People from his faculty called him to run away, but he wouldn't let go of my collar,

He tilted his head, showing off a sly smile,

"What's stopping you? go ahead, punch me, unless you want to get suspended..." he said mockingly,

How I wish I could punch that smile off you, you jackass,

"Dew, just let him be! The seniors will be here any minute!" Jason yelled alarmingly,

I sighed and pushed him away. He was about to fall to the ground but retained his balance. His sly smile was still on which pestered me further. Mayor came running towards me, held my hand, and pulled me along with them, running towards our faculty.

Four years started seeming difficult with him studying here,

This is how our gang rivalry began. The people in his faculty thought they built the universe or something. What is so much of their attitude for?

Our faculty was liberal enough to back down if they backed down in the first place.

The fest was after the term exams, which were months apart. The seniors decided to form the groups this early, thinking we as freshers would get more time mixing with each other and blending in the fest well.

The exact opposite happened. In a month or two, the news of our gang rivalry spread across college. The professors of both faculties were told to keep their guard up in case we had another fight.

The fight was usually between Sky's two friends, Andrew and Spencer, and some other guys from their faculty against, me, Jason, Mayor, and Frank. Our family rivalry just gave a boost to this gang rivalry, which meant, more reason for fighting against each other. It was going to get tiring.

One thing was for sure, because of this nuisance, I had to go back to living my competitive life again. It exhausted the most out of me, but I was not ready to let go.

How unfortunate can I be to have this annoyance back in my life?

Here began the first chapter of this story.

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