The path to the top is thorny and full of obstacles, and you've known that since you were a child. Nothing is given for nothing, everything in this world requires work. And sometimes you have to go over your heads if the situation requires it...

As a child, you were not a very sociable child, which is why bullying and neglect were directed at you in elementary school. You were a quiet, humble girl who was easily offended, so you became an easy target. Looking at the more sociable children who got the attention of their peers and teachers, you envied and dreamed of one day becoming the same – popular, with lots of friends, someone who would be admired, not humiliated. Even then, you realized that beautiful people get all the best, so at a more conscious age, you started trying to change: new clothes, makeup, newfound self-confidence, sports. You were already unrecognizable in high school.

All this time, your best and only friend was your neighbor, a boy named Leon. As a child, you played together all the time, and at school he became the only one who supported you. You thought he would stay with you forever. But as the years passed, you both grew up and changed. A year before you entered high school, when one of those beautiful girls who humiliated you the most in childhood laid eyes on your friend, your friendship with Leon completely collapsed. Even though you hated that girl, Leon started dating her anyway. You still haven't found out why he betrayed you–maybe to make himself look cool in the eyes of his friends, or maybe he just stopped being interested in you. But the fact remains, and since then you have been waging a cold war.

The situation escalated in high school. You've really changed a lot, and you've been able to become the person you dreamed of. A beautiful, slender, slightly bitchy, but self-aware girl looked at you from the mirror. You made a lot of friends, guys asked you out, and you knew all the school gossip. But Leon has changed too – as if following your example, he went into sports and became the best player on the school basketball team. He grew from a sweet boy into a handsome young man who was never deprived of the attention of girls, and enjoyed it. So you became two of the most talked about students in high school, and it only made you both angry. There was a real rivalry between you that only the two of you knew about. You deliberately started flirting with other members of his team, and he started flirting with your girlfriends, and both of them got the right reaction – jealousy. And your main weapon against each other is gossip.

Today, Leon's team was playing with a team from another school, so all the students gathered in the gym in a crowd. You were there too, but you didn't come there because of Leon-or at least you ran away from yourself. Not so long ago, you started dating Tom, one of the team members and Leon's friend. Of course, for the most part, you did it to spite Leon again. And he knew it, of course.

Your school's team won, which didn't come as a surprise, and as soon as the players were free, you hurried to Tom. Your arms quickly wrapped around his neck, his hands placed themselves on your waist, and you congratulated him with a sickly sweet tone and a firm kiss. Your gaze only darted to the side for a second – to where Leon was standing, surrounded by a crowd of girls, but staring at you.