Academic Rivals Novels & Stories

“That was you?!” He nodded, clearly enjoying my reaction, a wide smile stretching across his face. “Shut up!” I blurted out, half laughing, half incredulous. He only shook his head, the grin still firmly in place. We were friends in high school, but I was pretty popular and had a lot of friends across different grade levels, so it was hard to keep track of everyone. If he hadn’t said the words “academic rivals,” I might not have recognized him. After all, he was the only student in the school who ever rivaled me for the top rank.

His face was a thundercloud, his eyes burning with rage. "Are you that desperate?" he roared, his voice dripping with scorn. "Willing to sell yourself to a rival Alpha just for a title?" Before I could answer, Damien took a step forward. A wave of raw power exploded from him—a crushing Alpha aura that slammed into Killian's warriors, making them stagger back and flinch. "She is anything but desperate," Damien's voice was a low growl that promised violence. "She is the new Lead Beta of the Ironfang Pack. And she is my equal."

August didn’t seem to mind when I was unavailable to assist her, saying “You have a real relationship with your friends while us dating is a scheme. Tell Arlo good luck on the match.” I didn’t tell Arlo good luck because we don’t really do that. And I guess I should have because our team was definitely losing. I can see the stress it was causing him. This is his last and biggest season as Captain of the Chivalrous Knights (the Academy’s Baseball Team). And this season is what would dictate if his dream university will draft him or not. The score is at 18 for the Ancient Emperors, our most notable rival and only 11 runs for us. From where I sat, I can see that Arlo’s father was berating him i

"I'm Cherry, and since your friend has already taken care of the paperwork, we just need to establish your ground rules. Real names, corporate titles, and personal backgrounds don't exist within these walls. You'll be registered under an alias. Tonight, you are Aura." I glanced at Skylar, whose initial embarrassment had already dissolved into reckless excitement. "The masks stay on at all times in the common areas," Cherry continued, tapping the desk. "They're only removed behind closed doors, at the total discretion of you and your paired partner. Your partner has been selected by our curation system based on your shared psychological profile, and he'll carry an alias as well. Enjoy your de

"The Vance family." The ancient feud between the Sterlings and the Vances had tasted like blood for decades. They had fought over territory, shipping lines, and power since their grandfathers' time. For Damian Vance to treat his own wife like garbage in the dirt was one thing, but to throw her right onto Sterling ground was an entirely different declaration of war. "What do you want to do, sir?" Julian asked, his tone shifting into absolute professional lockstep. "Should I prepare a statement? Alert the board?"

"Maybe you just haven't given me much to laugh about." "Fair point." We kept talking about nothing important from books to movies to even high school experiences. That one time in high school when I broke my arm falling off a roof trying to get a frisbee. The time he got food poisoning before a championship game and played anyway. Forty-five minutes passed before I even noticed and when I looked at the clock it was hard to believe we were rivals who hated each other's guts with the way we were talking like friends who actually liked each other.

Arjun raised his brows and repeated her two words. Paayal Agarwal nodded "Hmm, the hospital director especially instructed me that I take good of her. And just earlier I bumped to Rudra Kumar, our hospital owner in the corridor, so I thought if you and this girl related to him?" Arjun frowned, then he thought carefully and told her "He's my business rival," A bitter expression came on his face while he call his name. 'Rivals?... They are Rivals!!" After knowing that they were business rivals, she gasped in shock. Now she was only praying in her heart that Arjun had not listened to her and RK's words at all because the rival businesses try to find each other's weaknesses so that they can beat

The conversation didn’t go further. But something shifted between them — something steady, intentional, inevitable. ⸻ 🌙 Arc Seven: Rivalry Escalates Publicly The next morning, Harper discovered Rowan had published a fellowship blog critique discussing “emotionally entangled research partnerships” that subtly mirrored Harper and Emery’s methodology. The academic world didn’t name conflicts directly. It implied them. Harper showed Emery the article, anger flickering behind her calm expression. “They’re challenging our credibility,” Harper said.

Silver Coast College. Five years ago. One of the prominent tertiary schools in the country ranked one for its quality education. Laboratories and facilities were provided, making an edge over every other school. Full of elite students with higher than average grades that almost filled the topnotch list every year per college course. Anyone who would graduate from this university would be competent throughout the world.

He said smoothly, avoiding our faces as Evie pitched me gently to get my attention. Christine lost, I doubt she even heard what he said. He continued. “The guys can keep up with the training as it’ll be our normal training while the ladies are to take it a lot more seriously.” This time around he looked at us one at a time. “There will be daily sparring but I’m guessing it’ll start tomorrow. Lots would be drawn and whoever has the longer stick would get the privilege to pick who they want to spar with from another team.” He explained in bits and we all nodded.