Chapter Text
Prologue
Varian’s POV (age 7):
I stood behind my project, a sense of pride overwhelming me. The theme of the fair was insects, and I had successfully curated the perfect formula to eliminate annoying insects. “No more nosy house flies or pesky lizards!” I announced to the crowd as Dr Belle inspected my concoction by spraying it on the test rats.
“Impressive” she stated as the rats started hyperventilating and fell to the ground in their cages. I grinned and rolled my table to the side as the next contestant wheeled in.
I was confident. Old Corona has been having a problem with pests since when it was built and I was happy to help. Dad had also been super irritated by the rat problem.
I was certainly winning. All the other kids had based their projects on ‘How insects help in the Food Chain’ or ‘Insects and their Homes’; I on the other hand, solved an actual problem. Even that annoying Y/N isn’t here. What could possibly go wrong.
Dr Belle got through with all the other projects and walked onto the stage. “Thankyou all for coming here. It was my honour to meet such creative and wonderful minds. I had such a hard time ranking all your projects; but I have arrived at a conclusion. The winner for this year’s Corona Young Minds Competition is…..”
“WAIT” shouted a voice from the back.
That voice.
I groaned loudly and glared at the direction of that extremely frustrating voice. Y/N L/N.
Ever since we met in kindergarten, she has been making my life miserable. She was the teacher’s pet, the star student, the topper in every test. Being Cassandra’s sister, you’d expect her to be cooler but no. she was the kind of person to be excited for surprise tests.
I watched her wheel her table to the stage as Dr Belle smiled at her and uttered a few words I couldn’t hear.
“This is the Apothitis powder.” Y/N, “If you apply it on the border of your house, your room or anywhere, no land insect will be able to enter that zone. They will be physically incapable of entering.” She took some white-colored powder from a drawstring pouch and applied it to the border of the table. She then let go a few cockroaches. They scurried across the table but as soon as they reached the powder, they stopped. The crowed cheered as the poor roaches struggled on the table with no place to go. Ultimately, they gathered at the centre as the crowd cheered even louder.
“You can also mix water in it and apply it on your walls to ensure protection against flying insects. This works with lizards and rodents too. This project ensures protection from such unwelcome guests without killing them because we need them in our ecosystem and killing is wrong.”
A kid with a ‘Life cycle of a Butterfly’ project turned to me and smirked. The crowd applauded as Y/N got off the stage with Dr Belle smiling proudly behind her.
“There has been a little change in the winner” she stated to the crowd.
No not again! She always does this. Comes in and steals my spotlight while others praise her. That project isn’t even that impressive.
“Third prize goes to Hiro Hamada for his ‘How Dragonfly wings inspire Drone design.” A lean boy with black spiky hair came up to the stage and accepted a bronze medal.
“Second prize to Varian Ruddier for ‘The Luatus spry’.” I walked up the steps and begrudgingly bowed my head, allowing her to drop the medal on my neck. The band on my neck felt uneasy, as a reminder of what had happened and what was to come.
“And first prize goes to… Y/N L/N for the Apothitis powder!”
I watched Y/N as she strutted towards the stage and accepted the gold trophy. She smiled sweetly at Dr Belle and stood next to me. Instantly, her angel-like smile turned into a smug grin.
“Looks like I won. Again” she spoke in a low voice so only I could hear her.
“If you wanted to show up you could’ve come early. What was the need to arrive late and make a whole sow off it” I retorted, deflecting the subject.
“Drama is my middle name” she smirked turning to me.
“One day, Y/N, I will beat you. I will be the one winning first prize and you’ll just be part of the crowd.”
“We’ll see Chem-boy”
“We so will”