hi my name is Erica and I'm from the USA please like And subscribe some people might call me a nerd but that's only because I actually enjoy school and love working hard maybe that's what happens when the single dad who raised you is a world-renowned neurosurgeon but I never felt pressured by him to excel like him I just like being the best and while I don't have many close friends I generally get along with everybody in my class well everybody except one geneveve ly that's only because she's the actual devil not really but hear me out Genevie transferred to our school from France when we were in the fifth grade and I immediately hated her snobby attitude Are you seriously reading Matilda back in France we just finished L miserable American children are so immature do you still wear daers too she was also crazy smart and got the highest grades in class I'm not even trying she was just so conceited and full of herself and I just had to show her that she wasn't better than everything every body so I worked harder than I ever had and soon our grades were equal so you think you're as good as me no Genevie I'm better and from that day forward everything was a competition between us but there was never a clear winner we always got the same grades we both got first place at the sixth grade science fair we always had the same number of followers on social media and somehow our Tik toks got the same amount of likes could you believe it we even shared the same birthday in the seventh grade our families accidentally had our parties at the same pizza Arcade instead of having fun we spent the whole time biting each other on the Dance Dance Revolution machine getting TI out Erica you wish Genevie I could do this forever we kept dancing even after everyone left and the pizza Arcade security team had to literally throw us out I was so sore for the next few days I groaned every time I moved things only got worse once we were in high school in our last year we both ran for school president but our smear campaigns and aggressive politics got so out of hand that violence broke out between our supporters the principal canel the election and chose a student as president who wasn't either of us but we were still going to end up being co-valedictorians of our class and I had to make sure I wrote a better speech than Martin Luther King himself the bright side of it all was that high school would be over soon and we'd never have to share a stage or room again but to make things worse it was around this time that Bethany barged into my life I always thought dad was too busy for RO Rance but he'd met this demon flirt monster while he was treating her mother and now the two were dating isn't your dad just like the cutest ever Erica she had him wrapped around her little finger and before I knew it he'd asked her to move in with us don't think of me as a replacement for your mother not until the wedding anyway as if having a snoody French arch nemesis wasn't enough I now had to live with barby's evil cousin we couldn't stand each other all she did all day was constantly trying try and fail to become a viral influencer through endless Instagram and Tik Tok posts for a non-existent audience don't forget to like And subscribe I'll teach you how to trap the man of your dreams and whenever Dad wasn't around she would call me a loser and an annoying knowt all and go on and on about how I would never get a boyfriend no matter what some of those ugly girls say online boys do not find intelligence attractive Erica but at that point boys were the last thing on my mind the same went for geniv we were both so busy trying to be the best at everything that we didn't have time for boys uh hey Erica do you maybe want to go to the movies with me how can I go to the movies when I still don't know absolutely everything about the War of 1812 no shush Genevie why don't we stop you poor boy is your highest ambition to be nothing more than a distraction to me but that all changed the day Lee Taylor Reyes transferred to our school howdy y'all he walked into our lives with his rugged good looks and Texas cowboy charm all the girls fell for him but none fell harder than geneveve and me oh my God M we thought we were competitive before but now it was war Genevie and I started doing things neither of us had ever done before when Lee Taylor became quarterback we went to every game go Lee Taylor go Lee Taylor you are the best at American foolishness when Lee Taylor got the lead in the school play we went to every show bravo bravo you have resurrected Zia Genevie had always been the more fashionable of the two of us and once Lee Taylor hit the scene her clothes and makeup game reached a level unseen that's a mighty fine dress you're wearing there Genevie what is this sing I only wear it when I don't care what I look like there was no way I could compete with her on that level not on my own I needed help and there was only one person I could turn to Bethany Erica it's so wonderful you're finally acting like a normal girl I was so desperate that I let Bethany give me a complete makeover she used Dad's credit cards to buy me all new clothes and makeup she took me to the most expensive Salon in town and started giving me flirting lessons dad was just happy that we seemed to be finally getting along and the whole time she was filming everything and posting videos on her stupid Channel Hey guys join me on my Brave and selfless Journey as I turn Erica from a zero to a Shiro and help get her the man of her dreams and the videos actually went viral Bethany was officially an influencer now and the weirdest part was that her lessons were working Lee Taylor was now paying just as much attention to me as he was to geneveve there's something different about Jerica and I like it thanks for noticing Lee Taylor but just like with everything else between me and Genevie neither of us was actually winning no matter what we did Lee Taylor would only lead us both on and wouldn't make a Clear Choice things got so bad in the struggle for Lee Taylor's heart that our grades began to slip we stopped doing homework we were failing tests neither of us were valid dictorian anymore but we didn't care all our effort was going into out scheming the other to win over Lee Taylor like the time he had a minor football injury and we both went to visit him in the hospital oh you poor baby it's a shame your mommy is out of town but look my chef made you a consume and I will Ru a for section of the newspaper in fren that looks like gross bath water I've got just the thing to make you feel better some good old American cheeseburgers also a recent study shows that most people think Spanish is hotter it ended up being a screaming match in French and Spanish that got us thrown out of the hospital and one day after the teacher made me and Lee Taylor Lab Partners Genevie marched up to me angrily in the cafeteria later and pinned me against the wall give it up Erica no matter how much makeup you put on or how much idiotic giggling you do Lee Taylor will be mine you've never beaten me and you never will what are you talking about you were so much makeup you look like a French mine and besides it's you who's never beaten me I am so much bter than you in every way that counts then how come you've never proved it prove this did you just throw a hamburger at my face after saying something totally stupid we do you want french fries with that as we rolled around on the floor screaming and attacking each other we knew we were making an absolute spectacle of ourselves but we didn't care about what anyone thought except Lee Taylor and the next day he invited me and Genevie to meet him by the bleachers after school ladies y'all are two of the prettiest and sweetest girls I've ever met and I've really tried to choose but a choice is impossible so you must make it what the heck are you talking about why do you speak nonsense LL I heard that y'all's rivalry goes way way back I'm thinking it's time that it was finally settled with the race the Saturday one lamp around the school track Winner Takes all including my heart we were both shocked by this proposal but when he gave us that heart melting look of his we agreed but what we didn't know was that Lee Taylor had live streamed our conversation to the whole school and in the days leading up to Saturday the race was all anyone could talk about posters were put up advertising The Race For Love Lee Taylor was actually charging admission none of this was legal the principales and teachers didn't dare try to stop it for fear that the students would rip them to Pieces everyone was just way too excited about it the school became divided between team Erica and team Genevie some of xev's biggest supporter started wearing black and white striped shirts and Berets while waving around baguettes and speaking in terrible French accents don't you see the girl things were getting so nuts that people were approaching me in the Halls offering me money to lose the race so they could win big on bets even Bethany started showing up to school to interview students students for her Army of new followers so tell me are you team Erica or team Genevie team Erica all the way USA USA Lee Taylor Reyes be honest who do you really want to win the race all I say is May the best girl win while all this was going on I was just trying to ignore the insanity I'd spend every night doing laps around my yard trying to get faster and faster my head was filled with images of my post-race life when I would walk around arm in arm with Lee Taylor but in a weird way the thing I was looking forward to the most was an end to this eternal Feud with Genevie Saturday came and the crowd was bigger than any homecoming game in our school's history go go this is it my fabulous followers the race for love live now you'll see once and for all Erica's transformation from loser to a not Loser yeah despite the bizarreness of the scene Genevie and I led up for the race Lee Taylor had even bought an actual starter pistol from home on your marks get set go we were off in a Flash the crowd roared geneveve and I weren't exactly athletes but we were giving it our all we were feeding off the energy surrounding us the only problem was that neither of us could break away we were level like always literally shoulder toh shoulder as we approach the Finish Line it seemed like this would end in yet another tie my energy was flailing and in desperation my eyes I searched for Lee Taylor and they found him kissing another girl right in front of everyone I stopped short fully expecting Genevie to race ahead and win but she had stopped too and was also staring at Lee sweaty and out of breath we looked all around us at the ridiculous result of the war we've been waging for so long what the heck are we doing this is very foolish no all of this for a boy a conceited and deceitful boy he really just manipulated us to make this all happen I don't think I ever felt this dumb in my entire life look at what we are wearing what happened to us our rivalry used to inspire us to become better and better at everything but now it's only made us worse o I've always counted on you to motivate me to be the best I can be that's what I've always counted on you for but why did there have to be all this hate and jealousy I have a very tough M who says second best is a term some loser made up that's why I'm so competitive what's your excuse I don't really have one I was just born BN this way but look where all this jealousy has gotten us silly girls playing stupid games no more I agree no more Genevie and I walked through that Finish Line hand in hand and left the field without looking back the crowd started booing and angrily demanding Lee Taylor refund them the money he had charged them in case you're wondering what happened next Dad finally walked in on Bethany screaming like a maniac at me saw her true colors and threw her out of the house Lee Taylor kept playing with the hearts of other girls until the day he messed up with one girl too many H she's trying to run me over with her car Genevie and I graduated top of our class she went on to be a Cosmetics entrepreneur and I became a lawyer years later we still keep in touch and cheer each other's successes