College love or hate(ROMANCE)

The air in the lecture hall crackled with a tension that had nothing to do with the professor's droning lecture on 18th-century poetry. Across the room, Liam and Chloe sat locked in a silent battle of wills, their eyes occasionally meeting in a clash of sparks.

Liam, with his tousled brown hair and perpetually amused smirk, found Chloe infuriating. She was brilliant, sharp-tongued, and utterly unconcerned with his attempts at charming her. Their first encounter had been a disaster - a debate over the merits of Shakespeare that devolved into a full-blown argument.

Chloe, with her fiery red hair and piercing blue eyes, found Liam equally irritating. He was arrogant, distracting, and seemed determined to make her life miserable. His constant attempts at witty banter only served to annoy her, and his casual disregard for deadlines was a source of endless frustration.

Their rivalry had become legendary among their classmates. They competed for the highest grades, vying for the professor's attention, their subtle jabs and sarcastic remarks a constant undercurrent in their shared classes. Yet, beneath the surface of their animosity, a strange energy simmered. A spark, a tension that neither could quite explain.

One rainy afternoon, after a particularly grueling study session, Liam found Chloe alone in the library, hunched over a mountain of textbooks. He hesitated, then sat down beside her, a rare moment of vulnerability in his usually cocky demeanor.

"Look," he began, his voice uncharacteristically soft, "we both know this is ridiculous. The constant sniping, the competition... it's exhausting."