Friday arrived faster than Damian expected.
His alarm went off at seven.
He reached for his phone.
Seven messages.
He groaned and pulled the blanket over his head.
Another notification appeared.
~Ethan: Wake up bro
Damian ignored it.
His phone buzzed again.
~Ethan: I know you’re awake
Damian opened one eye.
How?
Another message.
~Ethan: Don’t make me come there
Damian sighed.
He picked up the phone.
~Damian: I’m awake.
The reply came almost instantly.
~Ethan: better be
Damian smiled.
~Damian: What do you want?
~Ethan: You forgot we have that quiz today?
Damian sat upright.
"...Shit."
He completely forgot.
~Ethan: 😂😂😂
~Damian: Why are you laughing?
~Ethan: Because I studied yesterday and you didn’t.
Damian stared at the screen.
~Damian: You’re a terrible friend.
~Ethan: A prepared terrible friend.
Damian threw his phone onto the bed.
"Unbelievable."
He got ready quickly.
By the time Damian reached campus, Ethan was already waiting outside the lecture hall.
"You look terrible."
Damian glanced at him.
"Good morning."
"Did you sleep?"
"Enough."
"That’s not an answer idiot."
"Neither is your face. Moron."
Ethan laughed.
They entered the hall just as the professor walked in.
The quiz wasn’t difficult.
It wasn’t easy either.
Damian finished with a few minutes to spare.
Ethan leaned over afterward.
"How many did you answer?"
"All of them."
"Confident?"
"No."
"Good."
Damian looked at him.
"Why is that good?"
"Because if you were confident, I’d be worried."
Damian shook his head.
"You make no sense."
"I make perfect sense."
The professor collected the papers.
The room immediately became louder.
Students began discussing their answers.
Damian packed his things.
Ethan stood.
"So."
Damian looked at him.
"What’s for lunch?"
"Whatever the heavens provide, presumably."
"Very funny."
"I’m serious."
"So am I."
Ethan groaned.
"Let’s go before you start talking like a professor."
They headed toward the cafeteria.
Lunch was loud.
Too loud.
Damian preferred quieter places, but Ethan had already found a table.
They sat with two other classmates.
The conversation quickly turned to school.
The upcoming assignment.
A professor everyone agreed gave too much work.
Someone’s presentation that had gone horribly wrong.
Then, inevitably, exams.
"I swear," one of the guys said, "if that lecturer gives us another surprise test, I’m dropping the course."
"You can’t drop it."
"Then I’ll drop myself."
Everyone laughed.
Damian shook his head.
"You’re all dramatic."
"You say that because you actually study."
"I barely study."
Ethan looked at him.
"That’s a lie."
Damian shrugged.
"Okay. I study sometimes."
"Exactly."
The conversation moved on.
For the next thirty minutes, there was no talk about money.
No investments.
No businesses.
No system.
Just university.
He’d spent the past few days thinking about finances, investments and what he should do next.
It was nice to forget all of that.
Even if only for lunch.
After lunch, Damian checked the time.
1:14 PM.
His meeting was at three.
He still had some time.
He headed toward the library.
Emily was sitting near one of the windows.
She looked up.
"Hey."
"Hey."
She moved her bag from the chair beside her.
"You’re early."
"I have somewhere to be later."
"Important?"
"Kind of."
She nodded.
"What class do you have next?"
"None."
"You’re lucky."
"I know."
Damian sat down.
Emily closed her book.
"You know what I realized?"
"What?"
"We’ve been friends for like two days."
Damian raised an eyebrow.
"Two days really?"
She stared at him.
"You really are bad at this."
"At what?"
"Being a friend."
Damian laughed.
"I never claimed to be good at it."
She smiled.
"Fair. But show some effort atleast."
They talked for a while.
About classes.
Professors.
The study group.
A ridiculous rumor circulating around campus.
Nothing important.
Nothing life-changing.
Just two students talking.
Eventually, Emily checked her phone.
"I have to go."
"Okay."
She stood.
"See you later."
"Yeah."
She walked away.
Damian watched her disappear into the crowd.
He smiled.
Having another friend wasn’t so bad.
At 2:40, Damian left campus.
He arrived at Westbridge Solutions fifteen minutes later.
The receptionist recognized him.
"Damian."
"Hi."
"Sarah is expecting you."
"Thanks."
He took the elevator upstairs.
This time, he wasn’t nervous.
The office felt slightly more familiar.
Sarah met him near the entrance.
"You’re right on time."
"Trying to make a good impression."
She smiled.
"Come on."
They entered the same conference room.
Daniel was already there.
He stood.
"Damian."
"Mr. Daniel."
They shook hands.
Sarah sat down and opened her laptop.
Daniel gestured toward the chair.
"Take a seat."
Damian sat.
Sarah brought up the proposal he’d sent.
"We went through your pricing model."
Damian nodded.
"What did you think?"
Daniel leaned forward.
"You identified a problem we hadn’t considered deeply enough."
Damian raised an eyebrow.
"Really?"
"Really."
Sarah turned her laptop toward him.
"We ran some numbers based on your suggestion."
Damian studied the screen.
Several charts were displayed.
Projected users.
Subscription rates.
Retention.
Revenue.
The numbers were noticeably different from the original plan.
"This could work."
"That’s what we’re thinking."
Daniel folded his hands.
"But there’s a problem."
Damian waited.
"We don’t have the resources to test it properly."
"What do you need?"
"Students."
Damian smiled.
"That shouldn’t be difficult."
Sarah laughed.
"We were hoping you’d say that."
She pulled out another document.
"We want to run a small pilot at Westbridge University."
Damian read through it.
They wanted to recruit students to test the platform.
Gather feedback.
Track usage.
Improve the product before a wider launch.
"How many students?"
"About fifty to start."
Damian nodded.
"I can probably help."
"We were hoping you could."
Daniel leaned back.
"There’s another reason we wanted you here."
Damian looked at him.
"We’re considering creating a student advisory group."
"Advisory group?"
"Students who test our products and give us feedback before major releases."
Daniel paused.
"We’d like you to be the first member."
Damian wasn’t expecting that.
"Me?"
"You’ve already demonstrated that you understand the market."
Damian thought about it.
It wasn’t a huge position.
There wasn’t much money involved.
But it could give him experience.
"I’d be interested."
"Good."
Sarah smiled.
"We’ll send you the details."
Damian nodded.
He looked back at the proposal.
"There’s something else I’d change."
Daniel raised an eyebrow.
"Already?"
Damian smiled.
"The onboarding."
Sarah turned toward him.
"Why?"
"You’re asking students to commit before they understand the value of the product."
He pointed at the screen.
"Let them use the basic version first."
Daniel considered it.
"Free trial?"
"Exactly."
"How long?"
"Two weeks."
Sarah started typing notes.
Daniel looked at Damian.
"You’re going to make us redesign the entire thing, aren’t you?"
Damian laughed.
"I’m just giving suggestions."
"Hmmm...what else have you got in mind."
The meeting continued for another forty minutes.
By the time they finished, Damian had filled several pages of notes.
He stood.
"Thank you for the opportunity."
Daniel shook his hand.
"We should be thanking you."
Sarah walked him toward the elevator.
"One more thing."
Damian turned.
"Yes?"
"The advisory group will need to meet occasionally."
"Okay."
"Probably once or twice a month."
"That works."
The elevator arrived.
Damian stepped inside.
Sarah smiled.
"Have a good weekend."
"You too."
The doors closed.
Damian leaned against the wall.
He hadn’t expected that.
He had walked into Westbridge thinking he was simply an investor.
Now he was becoming involved in the company itself.
Not because of his money.
Because he’d actually contributed something.
Now he has been given a role that requires social skills.
Outside, Damian checked his phone.
A message from Ethan was waiting.
~Ethan: Where are you?
Damian replied.
~Damian: Downtown.
~Ethan: Doing what?
Damian thought about it.
~Damian: Had a meeting.
~Ethan: With those business people?
~Damian: Yeah.
~Ethan: You’re becoming a businessman now 😂
Damian laughed.
~Damian: Relax.
~Ethan: Anyway you coming to campus tomorrow?
~Damian: Why?
~Ethan: Football match.
Damian had forgotten.
~Damian: Oh right.
~Ethan: We’re going.
~Damian: Fine.
~Ethan: Good.
Damian put his phone away.
He started walking toward the bus stop.
Then stopped.
A golden screen appeared in front of him.
«[NEW FEATURE UNLOCKED.]»
Damian frowned.
He read the next line.
«[CASHBACK BOOST AVAILABLE.]»
His eyes narrowed.
For the first time, the system had shown him something he hadn’t seen before.
Not a purchase.
Not a balance.
Not a simple cashback notification.
A new feature.
Damian stared at it.
Then another line appeared.
«[Requirement: Reach System Level 2.]»
Damian’s expression changed.
"Level two?"
The screen disappeared.
Damian stood there for several seconds.
Then smiled.
Apparently, there was more to this thing than he thought.
And for once, he was actually looking forward to finding out.