My Superstar System

The Race.

"Sir, I don't understand. Why was my scholarship cancelled?" Zach asked a middle-aged man.

It was the next day, and Zach, who had barely slept the night before because of the cancelled scholarship, had come to get an answer.

Howard, who was sitting in his office, was speechless.

He didn’t expect that the timid boy from before would have the guts to come straight to his office and ask questions.

"It was cancelled. Pay your fees yourself, period!," Howard said harshly.

Deep down, he was smirking. This kid clearly didn’t know who Vincent was. The man was vicious and he would do anything for his son.

"Okay, so there's no reason, right?" Zach said, then suddenly smiled.

But it wasn’t a smile of joy, it was a smile of anger. His anger was boiling. Tim really hit him where it hurt the most.

It was easy to know who pulled the strings, it had to be Tim, because it was only Tim he clashed with and only he had the connection to do this.

Zach left the office. It didn’t take long for the news about his cancelled scholarship to spread. The way information traveled these days was no joke.

The school was large, though, and only a small circle knew about the fight between Zach and Tim. Even fewer people actually knew who Zach was. He wasn’t anyone special.

Now, his money problems had grown from a small burden into a mountain. Without the scholarship, he had to leave the dorms. This was a big issue.

He needed money fast. And to do that, he had to become famous, only then could he fully use the Superstar System.

"System, is there anything I can buy with my 105 fame points that can help me right now?" Zach asked.

"Nothing useful for your current situation," the system replied.

Zach facepalmed. So all through his life had only gotten him 105 fame points, and he still couldn’t use them to get anything helpful.

"But," the system continued, "you can seek revenge using your Lucky Tablet. For every 100 fame points, you can turn a Lucky Tablet into an Unlucky Gum."

"Sweet!" Zach was immediately excited. "Use it now!" he said.

A sticky gum appeared in his hand.

"How do I use this?" Zach asked.

"Get close to him and stick it on his body. Just like the Lucky Tablet, it lasts for 10 minutes."

"Okay."

Zach immediately started looking for Tim.

Since Tim got his scholarship taken away, maybe it was time for him to pay. His tuition was seventy thousand dollars a year, after all, nothing much for a rich tycoon.

"Found you," Zach smiled.

Tim was street racing on school grounds, and Zach suddenly had an idea. Racing a racer didn't sound bad.

Zach immediately made his way over. When he got there, he was surprised to see a huge crowd, everywhere was packed.

“Tim! Tim! Tim!” people were chanting his name loudly from all directions.

Zach looked toward the track and saw a bright red sports car leading by a huge gap. The speed and drifting were top-notch and it was Tim's.

Zach's heart tightened. How was he supposed to beat this guy in a race?

But he had the Unlucky Gum. It was the source of his confidence.

Tim finished the race and got out of his car, waving to the crowd. The cheers got even louder.

“Hey, piece of crap, you're not that good!” a voice suddenly shouted from the crowd.

Everyone went silent, turning to see who had the nerve to say that.

“Who said that?! Show yourself!” Tim roared, his expression twisted with anger.

Zach stepped forward. When Tim saw him, his face went pale, but quickly turned into a wide smile.

His father had told him that Zach had been dealt with. But he expected Zach to come begging, not shouting.

“I’m not good? Ha! That’s a joke,” Tim said.

“You’re really not worth the hype. How about we bet?” Zach asked.

Tim looked uninterested.

“You have nothing to offer,” Tim replied.

“Don’t be so quick to refuse, let's race, if I win, I get eigthy thousand dollars from you. If you win, I’ll be your slave, however you want.”

Tim still wasn't moved.

“You can even put a collar on me if you like,” Zach added, trying to convince Tim.

Tim’s eyes lit up. Now he was interested, Eigthy thousand dollars meant nothing to him.

“Deal! Give this loser a car,” Tim shouted as he got back into his vehicle.

“Not so fast,” Zach said, stepping closer.

“May the best man win.” Zach held out his hand for a handshake.

Tim scoffed. “I don’t shake hands with losers.”

“Good,” Zach said with a smile, like he had expected it. He patted Tim’s shoulder, at the same time, he stuck the Unlucky Gum on it.

"You...." Tim was annoyed.

Zach smiled again as he took the keys to a yellow sports car from one of the drivers.

As he climbed in, he brought out a Lucky Tablet and swallowed it. He was good at racing, though not a pro. He needed all the luck he could get.

“Are the drivers ready?” the acting referee shouted.

The crowd roared in response. People took out their phones, this was going to be a serious race, especially with that kind of bet.

Some even started live streaming it, and within minutes, the school portal was full of viewers.

“Ready!” both Zach and Tim shouted at the same time.

Boom! The signal for the race was given.

Tim took off immediately at high speed and so did Zach.

Zach shifted into the highest gear. He wasn’t ready to lose.

Zoom! but Tim still took the lead, with Zach just behind him but lowly, Zach began gaining on him.

But then, Zach’s foot slipped, and he accidentally stepped on the brakes.

“Oh no,” he panicked.

But it was at that exact moment that Tim was about to bump into Zach’s car to throw him off balance but Zach’s sudden braking made Tim’s car spiral off track instead.

Zach seeing what happened smiled, there was no need to panic. The Lucky Tablet and Unlucky Gum were starting to take effect.

He quickly stepped on the accelerator and sped off.

“Shit!” Tim yelled in frustration.

He slammed on his brakes and tried to drift Tim really had it in him because this was where his skill showed.

Even though he had lost his position, he wasn’t far behind Zach.

Meanwhile, Zach reached the dangerous S-turn. He didn’t slow down, he was scared but he decided to take the risk. After all, these were the best 10 minutes of his life.

The risk paid off, he pulled off a beautiful, clean drift without slowing down while still at high speed.

Normally, Tim could have done the same, but today wasn’t a normal day. When he tried to drift, his car spiraled again. The drift and speed didn’t align, and his car almost flipped. He barely managed to regain control, but by then, Zach was already far ahead.

Still, Tim didn’t give up. He had faith he could catch up and tried speeding again.

But then, his car suddenly shut off.

Tim gritted his teeth and tried restarting the engine, but nothing happened.

“What?!” Tim panicked. On the third try, the car finally roared back.

By now, though, his chances of winning were more or less gone.

Meanwhile, Zach was having the time of his life. He even removed his helmet and let the wind blow through his hair, grinning widely.

Zach got to the finish line first beating Tim by a large margin.