Three

MORGAN'S POV

The time was ticking. I could feel the eyes of everybody in the class room on my back as I moved my hand swiftly across the board. The tension was so thick; you could slice it with a knife. I tried my best to tune out the loud ticking of the clock as I focused on the ridiculously long algebra equation I was asked to solve.

Almost done…

"Finished!" I said and dropped the marker on the floor. My heart was beating loudly as I looked at Mr. Ackerman. He looked up from the stop watch in his hand and a huge smile was plastered across his face.

"And we have a new record."

"Yes!" I walked back to my seat feeling like a goddamn hero. I made sure to send my smug smile Dylan's way. The angry look on his face said it all.

Even though he had managed to sit where I wanted to sit, I still had the upper hand. I won the fastest equation solver for the week. I won it last week and the week before that and the week before that…you get the gist.

I kept beating my own high score.

"I might not know seven facts according to you, but I do know how to solve a simple math equation. Unlike some people who just mope at the board like their brain's on the floor." I heard him snicker and slam his fist on the table. Satisfaction washed over me.

"Now class, you all know the state quiz math competition is coming up and we need to select a candidate from the junior class to represent our school with the rest of the seniors on the math team." A smile appeared on my face and I waited for him to call my name like the rest of the class knew he would. Not to brag, but I'm kinda like brightest student there.

"It is no surprise that I have decided to choose Morgan Daniels…"

"Yes! In your face sucker. Whoa!" The joy I felt at that moment knew no bounds-at least I thought it didn't.

"Morgan?" I stopped midway in my celebration to look at our teacher.

"I'm not done with the announcement yet."

"Right. Sorry about that." I sat down quietly but I still felt that adrenaline. I was going to represent our school with…

"Dylan Park."

I'm sorry what?

"Ex…sir...how…what?" I didn't even know how to ask the question I wanted to ask. Dylan turned around and faced me with a stupid smile on his face. I refused to accept this. We can't be two from the junior class on the team.

"I'm sorry sir, but there can't be two people from our grade. The school already agreed to have four seniors with a junior represent them. It's how it's always been."

"You are right about that Morgan…" Dylan snickered and glared at me while I stuck out my tongue at him.

"Yeah, real mature," he muttered.

"I chose the both of you not to compete in the state competition but to compete against each other." For the first time ever, Dylan and I both felt the same way-confused.

"I don't…"

"See, I didn't know who to choose for this competition…" I'm sure I looked like a fish out of water with the way I was gaping at him.

Hello! Did you not see my mad math skills? I mean, it really isn't that hard to choose.

"The both of you are really bright students…"

"Emm… Mr. Ackerman, not to sound conceited or anything, but I'm brighter than Dylan in so many ways. I can solve equations that Dylan couldn't even fathom. I scored the highest in the whole class on last week's surprise test and the week before that and…you get the gist. Plus, I am ranked number one in the whole school for math. Why the hell do I need to compete with him?"

"The thing is Morgan, you're right about all those things but I can't ignore the fact that Dylan is also as smart as you are…" I cut him off. He was saying things that didn't fit into my vocabulary.

"I have a higher GPA than he does. My GPA's 4.5 he's is 4.0. How is he as smart as I am?" I was seething. If it were any other person in the AP class that I was in I wouldn't have minded but since it was Dylan Park, I minded a lot. I was not gonna sit back and listen to Mr. Ackerman insult my intelligence.

"Oh, stalking me now, are we?" I glared at the sorry excuse for a human being that was smiling at me with one devastatingly annoying perfect brow raised. I wanted to pluck out the hairs one by one.

"I didn't think you'd want to know my GPA."

"The whole school knows it you dipshit. You posted it on the website and hung it on the wall. That's why your ugly ass got a week of detention in the first place." Mr. Ackerman raised his hands for the both of us to keep quiet.

"Now you are my brightest minds, but don't push me or else I might just sit the both of you out of this quiz." I folded my arms and stared at him.

"You wouldn't. The school wouldn't even accept that." He pointed a shaky finger at me.

"You…are kinda right about that." He let out a frustrated sigh. "Listen, the both of you have got to stop fighting in my class or I might just ask that you be taken back to regular math." We both gasped.

"You wouldn't dare." He gave me a flat look.

"I would. Now," he clapped his hands and moved to retrieve the marker I had dropped earlier. "Settle down and let's go on with what we had planned for today. We will continue with this discussion after the class."

All through the rest of the class all I could think of was how I must get that spot on the quiz team. Even if that meant I had to play dirty.

                                ***

"So you and Dylan are going to engage in some kind of nerd face off?"

"Something like that," I replied to Ivy. She nodded and went back to texting with Sasha.

"Can you believe Mr. Ackerman thinks that Dylan is just as smart as I am?" The thought of it alone was making me mad on so many levels. I wouldn't even have been this offended if he had compared me to Jerry. At least he knew the difference between H2O and H2O2.

Idiot.

"Dylan is kinda just as smart as you are. I mean, if he could get into your AP classes, then he must be," Ivy said. I ignored her indirect insult and focused on the issue at hand-I was being compared with a guy who thought that the earth was perfectly spherical. I mean, can you believe that?

"So like when is this nerd war hitting off? Will it interfere with my therapy sesh because I really need to get my pores opened?" I gave Elle a flat look.

"It's just going to be an exam, nothing too extreme. Hundred questions I suppose."

"Yeah, because that isn't extreme at all," Ivy commented dryly. My phone went off and I opened it and read the text.

Sasha: Is the winner for the math stuff also going to participate in the general quiz competition for Avondale?

"Probably, but the school usually just undergo some kind of general knowledge test for that." She nodded and picked up her phone again.

Sasha: Do you want me to help you study? Or if you want I could get Intel on Dylan for you, just so you know what he's up to.

The offer was tempting but shadowing Dylan would just make it seem like I'm scared that he'll get chosen instead of me. And I'm not scared. I'm a hundred percent positive that Mr. Ackerman will pick me.

"It's okay, don't worry about it. And by the way, I'm talking about the whole following Dylan thing not the helping me study thing. You can come to mine after school." Her face lit up at once and she sent me a 'thumbs up'.

Wait a minute…

Her eyes were fixed on my brother and I knew I had been played. She just used the excuse to help me study just so she can have a reason to see that empty headed brother of mine.

"Don't freak out, but Dylan's coming this way." My head shot up immediately and my eyes started searching for him. I watched as he and Tyler walked over to our table and when he got there, he welcomed himself and sat down next to me. I recoiled so I wouldn't touch him at all.

"Hey Squeaks." That smug smile was back on his face and I couldn't stop myself from wondering if he knew something I didn't.

No, Morgan, don't stress yourself with over thinking it.

"What do you want ass hat?" I asked folding my arms across my chest. He raised a brow at me.

"

I see you went from 'dickwad' to 'ass hat'. I don't know if that's a promotion or a demotion."

"What do you want?" I asked again, this time my voice was a little more intense to let him know that I wasn't going to play around with him. He bent his head and bit his lower lip before replying.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for your face."

"Excuse me?" My eyes were wide in annoyance and my breathing had started ragging. He held his hands up in surrender.

"What I meant was I'm sorry for hitting your face with the ball two days ago. I'm glad that it didn't bruise."

Oh it bruised alright. My mom freaked out when she saw it and for the sake of the sanity of everyone in the house and my social status, I had to tell her that I slipped and fell on the gym floor. Of course Isaac was mad that I lied to her but if I didn't, she would have caused a really huge scene and I didn't want to be that girl who reported everything to mommy.  I had to use makeup to cover it up so no one would notice it. I guess it worked well since the idiot couldn't tell that it was foundation that was on my face.

"Dylan, I don't really give two shits whether you apologize to me or not. It means nothing to me." For a second there I thought I saw a tiny flash of pain in his eyes but it was gone within a blink of an eye. I must be imagining things. How hard did that ball hit me?

"Well, my good conscious wouldn't let me rest until I apologized which I already have so…" he stood up from where he was sitting and bent his head in greeting to everyone seated there and said the only words I know in Korean.

"An-nyeong-hi gye-se-yo," he said before quickly reaching for my plate and grabbing my last cookie and running off before I could even comprehend what just happened.

"Hey!" I said and stood up quickly to retrieve it. He was already down by his table and I felt all my anger and frustration build up inside me again.

He took my cookie. He took my damn cookie!

How badly does Dylan want to die because he is practically begging me to let him meet my dad!

"Just let it go," Ivy said rubbing my sleeve. I looked at her sharply.

"You know very well I can't do that. He just…snatched my cookie. He's practically begging for war." He already scored one point from History class and he was scoring another one.

You need to get your head in the game, Morgan. Focus.

There was only one thing that could calm me down now. Extreme puzzling.

I heard the notification bell in my phone go off and I quickly reached for it.

Sasha: Does this mean that you don't need help studying again after school?

I was so glad for the kind of understanding friends I had. I didn't even need to explain why to Sasha and she already knew. But I didn't want to be the reason she didn't sleep properly tonight so…

"If you want to see him that badly, just come over and hang with him," I said and sat down back to start planning my revenge. I didn't miss the light shade of pink that washed across her cheeks and the knowing looks the rest of my friends sent her.

Now, for Dylan Park…