Free Web NovelChapter 245: Just a Normal Student
Sighing, Stan kept reading. The next message stopped him.
Zack: [I know you don’t need a school certificate at this point. I know you’re past that. There’s no amount of money I could offer that would move the needle when you drive a Lamborghini and the cost of that car alone is worth several times more than this trophy.]
Zack: [But this isn’t about the trophy. It’s about pride. It’s about not being ridiculed on every platform I open for the rest of the semester.]
Zack: [So here’s my proposal.]
Zack: [If you help us win this game, I’ll personally arrange for friends to cover your attendance for the rest of the semester. Every lecture you don’t feel like attending, handled. Your name marked present. Notes shared. Quizzes? I know people. Discreetly.]
Zack: [All you have to do is play one basketball game.]
Stan paused. Then read the message again. A quiet laugh escaped him. ’This guy. He really does know exactly what to offer.’
A school certificate? No, he didn’t need one. But the certificate wasn’t the point. Sacha was.
Sacha, who had worked herself to exhaustion to pay his tuition during the worst years.
Sacha, who had been so proud when he was accepted to Peak University that she had cried in front of him, the first and only time he could remember seeing it happen despite the difficulties they’ve been through before.
Sacha, would be heartbroken if he simply abandoned his degree because he no longer needed it financially.
And if he was being honest, Zack’s offer solved a real problem. His attendance had been terrible lately. Genuinely terrible.
Between Star Entertainment, the Vivian situation, the Damien incident, the Red Serpents, Amelia, the Madelyns, and the constant chaos generated by his increasingly viral films, he had attended perhaps one lecture out of every three. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
More than once, he had caught himself wondering how badly that would affect his standing at the end of the semester.
Zack’s proposal eliminated the concern entirely; One basketball game. In exchange for a guaranteed clean attendance record for the remainder of the term.
By any reasonable standard, it was an excellent trade.
The next message, the second-to-last in the chain, confirmed the timing.
Zack: [Match is tomorrow. Tomorrow, Stan. As in the day after I’m sending this. Please, please, please respond.]
The message had been sent yesterday. Which meant the game was today.
Stan took a breath, typed his reply, and hit send.
Stan: [Alright. I’ll help. Deal.]
The typing indicator appeared before the message had fully delivered.
Zack: [THANK GOD.]
Zack: [Bro. BRO. I’ve been refreshing this chat for three days. Where have you been??]
Stan: [My DMs are insane. Yours got buried. I had to search your name to find the thread.]
Zack: [That is the most millionaire-problem sentence I have ever read.]
Zack: [But fair. That’s what fame looks like.]
Zack: [Speaking of which, Unfinished Business has been picking up traction in a way I didn’t expect. I’m getting attention I never used to get. Even the girls I’m talking to now are way above what I’d normally pull.]
Zack: [I’m not operating at your level, obviously. I’m not dealing with campus belles.]
Zack: [But it’s a noticeable upgrade.]
Stan could practically hear the smug satisfaction in the text.
Zack: [Anyway, match is this evening. Their campus. We’re at the gym training right now.]
Zack: [Knowing you’ve never played serious basketball, you should get over here and join practice. Learn the rhythm. Run a few plays with the team.]
Zack: [The more time we have with you on the court before tip-off, the better our chances.]
Stan: [I’ll be there in twenty minutes.]
Stan: [Quick question. What was your fallback plan if I refused?]
Zack: [Easy.]
Zack: [I’d have spammed you with messages and called you repeatedly until you answered.]
Zack: [And then I’d have informed you that Sophie, Maya, and several other extraordinarily attractive women had confirmed they’d be sitting in the cheer section.]
Zack: [Wouldn’t you want your girls cheering for you while you dominate the court?]
Stan laughed out loud. It was, admittedly, a strong strategy.
Stan: [That’s a solid play.]
Stan: [Although, honestly, I wouldn’t want them cheering for anyone else.]
Stan: [And frankly, I don’t think they would.]
Zack: [What makes you so confident?]
Stan considered the question.
The truthful answer was that the system’s favorability mechanics made the prospect almost laughable. None of the women connected to him had any meaningful interest in other men anymore.
Unfortunately, that was not information he intended to share with Zack. Ever.
Stan: [Just trust me on this.]
Zack: [I genuinely envy you.]
Zack: [Do you know how hard it was to convince Sophie and Maya to join the cheer squad?]
Zack: [Both of them flatly refused.]
Zack: [The ONLY argument that worked was telling them you’d be playing.]
Stan: [Sounds about right.]
Zack: [Anyway, get over here]
Zack: [Practice is already underway, and we don’t have a lot of time.]
Stan: [On my way.]
Stan set the phone down, swung his legs off the bed, and crossed to his wardrobe.
He pulled out a fitted athletic jersey, basketball shorts, knee-length socks, and a clean pair of high-top sneakers, the latter purchased on a whim weeks ago and never actually worn.
A few minutes later, he was dressed.
He had the jersey, the shorts and the shoes and then a lightweight hoodie thrown over everything for the drive.
He grabbed his keys and headed for the door before pausing in front of the full-length mirror.
For a moment, he studied his reflection.
The man staring back at him looked unmistakably ready for a game.
The jersey fit neatly across his shoulders and chest. Two weeks of gyming, combined with the system’s steady physical enhancements, had transformed his build into something leaner, stronger, and more defined than it had any right to be.
Not bodybuilder-muscular, just athletic.
The kind of physique sports commentators described with genuine approval rather than polite generosity. The kind of build that looked like it belonged on a court.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Then he caught himself. The smile vanished.
Stan shook his head at the brief moment of vanity, grabbed his bag, and headed for the elevator.
He took the Audi. The Huracán would have attracted exactly the sort of attention he wasn’t interested in dealing with.
Besides, the game was being played at Velaris Crown University, Mia’s campus, and arriving in a matte-black supercar at a university where the girl whose family he had recently spent the night with was an active student felt unnecessarily theatrical.
The Audi was practical, it was forgettable.
Most importantly, the Audi performed the valuable service of transporting him from one location to another without becoming the center of discussion.
That alone made it the superior choice.
He pulled out of the parking structure, merged into the morning traffic flowing through Inksea, and pointed the car toward Peak University’s athletic complex.
Zack had a game to win. And apparently, Stan was going to help him win it.
The system, the corporate maneuvering. The unanswered questions surrounding the system itself. Amelia’s impending repayment crusade.
All of it could wait until later.
For the next few hours, none of those problems required his attention.
He was simply going to run drills with a university basketball team, play a game, and spend time with his best friend.
For one afternoon, at least, he could pretend to be a normal college student again.
Stan rested one hand on the steering wheel and watched the city slide past his window.
It felt surprisingly refreshing.
Of course, given his recent track record, the universe would probably interpret that thought as a challenge.
And the universe had developed a habit of accepting those.
