Chapter 3

I couldn't help but smirk at the teacher's words. He didn't even bother to ask why I had hit someone and went straight to handing out punishment. With bias like that, what was the point in saying anything? As much as I wanted to storm out of the classroom, I needed the credits, so I forced myself to stay. Thankfully, I had already taught myself most of this material back in senior year, so I didn't even bother listening. Instead, I pulled out my phone and started scrolling. While checking my social media, I came across a post from Joshua. What caught my attention was the car in Joshua's post, which was the same model as mine. That particular car wasn't common, so it surprised me that he had one, too. But then, something else made me pause. One of the photos in his post looked oddly familiar. Wasn't that a picture of my family's orchard? Not wanting to jump to conclusions, I immediately sent the photo to Alan, my family lawyer. Alan replied quickly, "Yes, this is indeed from our orchard. We took these photos in August for promotional purposes, but they haven't been released to the public yet." How did Joshua get his hands on an unreleased photo of our property? I was stunned. I quickly messaged Alan again. "Could you do a background check on Joshua, my roommate? I have a feeling that something's not right." I couldn't shake the suspicion that he might have hired a hacker to breach the computer system of my family's orchard just to mess with me. After class, I headed toward the library. On my way, I passed a bulletin board and noticed a large poster pinned up. "The First Starus Creative Entrepreneurship Competition!" I had been involved in small business ventures since high school, earning some pocket money along the way, so this event piqued my interest. I stopped to read the details carefully. It started with signing up and then submitting a project proposal, and the grand prize was five hundred thousand dollars. As I was absorbed in reading, a group suddenly shoved me, nearly knocking me off balance. I turned to see Joshua with his arm around Lina, flanked by a few classmates, all sneering at me. My eyes instinctively went to Lina. The clothes, shoes, and bag she was wearing were all gifts from me. I didn't know if she had forgotten or simply didn't care. She sure had some nerve if it was the latter, strutting around in her ex-boyfriend's things. But surprisingly, I didn't feel that same sting of jealousy anymore. Instead, I felt like she had played her part well. She'd fooled me into believing she loved me. "William, are you seriously thinking about entering this competition?" Joshua eyed me up and down like he didn't even know me. "Don't tell me you've lost your mind over that five hundred thousand dollar prize! Do you even have the capital to start a business? Look closely, this contest is all about creativity and profit. Without money, what business are you going to start off with? If you don't invest anything, what kind of returns can you expect?" One of his lackeys chimed in, "William can always sell those knockoff products. Five dollars a piece, and he might actually make a profit." Lina couldn't help but laugh at that. I ignored them, pulled out my phone, and snapped a picture of the poster before leaving. But before I could walk away, Joshua quickly stepped in front of me and blocked my path. My temper flared instantly. "Move!" I snapped. "Hold on, William. If you want to act though, I'll give you the chance. Why don't we both sign up for this entrepreneurship competition and see who ranks higher?" Joshua offered. Compete with Joshua? Please. He wasn't worth my time. I sidestepped him and kept walking, but he taunted me again. "What's the matter, are you scared of me?" Lina followed and joked in a self-righteous way, "Go on, William, don't be afraid. Who knows? Maybe miracles do happen, and you might win." Joshua crossed his arms. "Tell you what, William. If you win, I promise I'll stop messing with you for good." I felt speechless as Joshua just wouldn't quit. It seemed like the only way to shut him up was to give a lesson. I stopped in my tracks, turned around, and stared at him. "Fine. I'll compete with you. But let's raise the stakes. If I win, you kneel in front of the entire school, apologize to me, and then leave this place. If I lose, I'll do the same," I said. Everyone around us went silent, stunned by the challenge. They didn't expect me to take it this far. Lina laughed awkwardly. "Isn't that a bit extreme?" Joshua just scoffed. "I don't mind. I'm just worried you'll back out when the time comes." I turned to Lina. "When we were together, did I ever break a promise to you?" Lina's face turned red, and she muttered softly after a moment of hesitation. "No." "Then we're good. Joshua, are you in or not?" I asked. "Are you kidding? Will I be afraid of you? Let's do this, and Lina can be our witness," Joshua replied. The bet was sealed. Ignoring their laughter, I headed straight to the library to start my research. This entrepreneurship competition wasn't something that anyone could just breeze through. The person had to show real results and scalability. Plus, having a mentor's recommendation would score him extra points. I immediately sought out my professor, Roger Hopkins. "An entrepreneurship competition? Do you want to participate in it?" After listening to my idea, Roger pursed his lips and laughed disdainfully. "Don't take this the wrong way, William, but this kind of competition isn't for you. Starting a business in college sounds easy, but it takes capital. Do you have any?" I didn't want to lie to him, so I nodded. "I don't have much, but I can manage to get the capital around ten million. I'm not aiming for anything huge, but just a small project. I was hoping you could write me a recommendation letter." "Ten million!" Roger's eyes widened in disbelief, and for a moment, he just stared at me silently. I wasn't sure if he thought it was a lot of money or too little, so I added, "If you think that's not enough, I have other accounts I can pull from." "William!" Roger suddenly yelled my name, and his expression grew impatient. "Why are you so… vain? You are only a freshman, and you're already this vain. When you step into the real world, you're going to run into serious trouble, do you realize that?" Roger snapped. I was taken aback and quickly tried to defend myself. "Mr. Hopkins, I'm not lying to you—" "Enough!" Roger interrupted and cut me off mid-sentence. He tossed my proposal onto the floor without a second glance. "You think the faculty doesn't know what you're up to? Let me be honest with you. Everyone's heard about you. If you don't have what it takes, stay in your lane. You're poor and your character's not any better. I don't even know what your parents taught you." I wanted to ask what exactly he thought was wrong with my character, but arguing wouldn't help. Instead, I pulled out my phone, opened my banking app, and entered my password to show him my balance. Just then, the office door swung open, and Joshua strode in, along with Lina and a few others. He completely ignored me, shoving me aside as he smiled at Roger. "Mr. Hopkins, could you help me out with a recommendation letter? I'm entering a startup competition, and a mentor's recommendation could really boost my chances." "Of course! That's no problem at all. It's just a letter, after all." Roger's tone shifted entirely. He was now warm and friendly, like he was a different person compared to just now.' Rofer quickly picked up his pen and easily wrote a recommendation, finishing it with his stamp before kindly asking Joshua, "Do you need a digital copy too?"