System Revenge: From Trash Boy to Top Boss

Chapter 7

The murmurs about Aria Golden’s name rippled through Club Moon, growing louder, more insistent. Xavier, his face a mask of disbelief, stepped closer to Damon, his voice a low, dangerous growl. 

“Are you out of your mind, Damon?” Xavier spat, his eyes narrowed. “Or are you just completely ignorant of who’s who in this school? Do you honestly not know that Aria Golden is the most beautiful, the most respected, and the most adored lady in the entire university?” 

He let out a harsh, disbelieving laugh. “Or are you claiming to be her boyfriend now too, just like you claimed with Jane? You’re delusional, Damon. Utterly delusional!”

A wave of laughter, sharp and mocking, swept through the crowd. Jane, her face still flushed with anger, chimed in.

“He’s completely lost it, Xavier!” Jane cried, shaking her head. “To even imagine himself with Aria? Aria isn’t just a queen, Damon. She’s a goddess, and all of us, every single lady on this campus, we worship her as her die-hard fans!”

As if on cue, a group of girls near the bar began to chant, their voices rising above the subdued music. “Aria! Aria! Aria!” The chant spread, a spontaneous outpouring of reverence for the campus icon.

Damon watched them, a calm smile. “Keep it up,” he said, his voice cutting through the chant. “Aria is my girlfriend. You’ll all find out soon enough.”

His words only fueled the disbelief as a burly football player, Mark, scoffed, stepping forward. “Your girlfriend, Newton? That’s a good one. I spend half my allowance just liking all her posts and commenting with heart emojis on her page and she doesn’t even know I exist.”

Another guy, thin and nervous, piped up. “Yeah! I send her gifts, thousands of dollars' worth, every single week, and all she sends is a polite ‘thank you’ through her assistant, and that’s it. No way she’s dating you!”

“Amateurs,” a third student, a known social climber, sneered. “I’ve been spending months, months, getting closer to her friends, just for the chance to be in the same room as her, and you think she’s your girlfriend?”

Then, a girl from the corner, her face pale, blurted out, “My boyfriend… I caught him… masturbating to her pictures once.” A collective groan of disgust and a few uncomfortable snickers followed. 

Most of the guys, however, just shifted uncomfortably, a silent acknowledgment of their shared guilt.

Xavier stepped forward again, his arms crossed, a look of triumph on his face. “You see, Damon? With all of this,” he gestured to the collective adoration, “how can you possibly claim to be Aria’s boyfriend? Even I, a rich guy, can’t get any real access near Aria and some of my friends,” he added, puffing out his chest, “they’ve literally changed faculties and departments just to get closer to her. Just for the sheer opportunity of looking at her from a close range.”

Damon let them finish, letting their disbelief and their boasts wash over him.

“You’re all right,” Damon said, a slow, confident smile spreading across his face. “But you see, all of you are way below Aria’s level. But me?” He paused, letting the tension build. “I’m above her level and that’s why she’s my girlfriend.”

A collective gasp, then a furious roar.

“Above her level?!” Mark bellowed.

“You’re insane!” Jane shrieked.

“That’s an insult!” Xavier snarled, taking a step towards him.

“Oh, it’s not an insult,” Damon said, his smile unwavering. “It’s the truth and since you all seem to have trouble believing the truth, I propose a bet.”

The word ‘bet’ hung in the air, silencing the angry shouts. Everyone loved a bet, especially when it involved public humiliation.

“Soon,” Damon continued, his eyes sparkling with challenge, “Aria will arrive at this party and when she does, she will come directly to me and she will kiss me.”

A wave of laughter erupted.

“Kiss you?!” Jane shrieked, clutching her stomach. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!”

“You really are delusional, Newton!” Xavier scoffed.

“If what I say happens,” Damon pressed on, ignoring their mockery, his voice rising above the din, “then you will all bow to me, every single one of you. And if it doesn’t,” he paused, letting his gaze sweep over them, “then I will bow to every single one of you.”

The laughter died down, replaced by a nervous silence. Damon’s confidence was unnerving. It was too solid and unwavering. What if he was right? What if, somehow, the impossible happened? The thought sent shivers down their spines. They began to shift, to look away, and to murmur amongst themselves; this was a risk.

Then, a voice cut through the hesitation.

“I’ll take that bet, Newton!”

A second-generation rich kid just like Xavier, who was a lavish spender. Ernie Cooper, a tall and well-dressed guy, with a half-cocky laugh.

“If Aria Golden comes up here and kisses you, Damon,” Ernie said clearly, “I’ll give you my whole month’s allowance, which is about fifty thousand dollars, in cash.”

A stunned silence fell over the club. Fifty thousand dollars! That was insane.

“But,” Ernie continued, his smirk widening, “if she doesn’t, then you, Damon Newton, will serve as our personal busboy for the rest of the night. You’ll clean up our drinks, fetch our snacks, whatever we want. And… you’ll sign over full ownership of your little errand website to me.”

Damon looked at Ernie, his own smile mirroring Ernie’s. “Deal, Cooper. But there’s a small addition to your terms: if I win, you won’t just be serving everyone else; you’ll be serving me and Aria as our personal busboy for the entire night.”

Ernie stopped his smirk for a split second, then turned his head and spat out a huge smirk, “You got it, Newton.”

As soon as the terms were agreed upon and the stakes were laid out. You could feel the tension coming through the room. Jane's birthday party was already a bit of a drama fest and everyone was in there, waiting to see what was going to happen.

Damon got out his phone, his body language deliberate, looking away from the stares and the whispers, tapping on a contact.

“Hey, it’s me,” Damon said softly into the phone. “Where are you? ”

Aria responded, “Hey Damon, me and my friend just pulled up at the club. We will be inside in a minute.”

He paused, listening. “Okay, great, see you in a minute.” He hung up. 

He looked at Ernie, who was still smirking. “Still want to back out, Cooper? You’ve got a chance right now.”

Ernie threw his head back and laughed, a loud, derisive sound. “Back out? What the hell do you take me for, Newton? Who are you trying to fool with that fake call? You think I’m stupid?”

Just then the music, which had been playing softly in the background, suddenly stopped because the DJ, who had been watching the whole thing, changed his attention.

A well-defined voice bounced off the door through the bar's loudspeakers. “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome… Aria Golden and her friends!”

A collective gasp swept through Club Moon. Every single eye snapped to the entrance. And there she was.

Aria Golden.

She came in not only very beautiful, but she was glowing. Her dress was a swirl of green that rolled all around her, and her friends were pretty, too, putting on an elegant show behind her. And then the whole club was frozen in time, their mouths in disbelief.

Aria Golden, at Jane’s party, the low-level party that she was famously known for avoiding.

Her movements were traced by a hundred eyes that watched her and were mesmerized as she made her way through the stunned crowd. Her direction was clear, as she wasn’t heading for the VIP section, or the bar, or any of the popular cliques.

She was walking directly towards Damon.

As he stood proudly with his hands folded comfortably into his pockets, a triumphal smile rested on his face. His eyes were locked on Aria's eyes and she too smiled; she was also looking at his eyes.

Just as Aria was nearing the edge of the small circle that had surrounded Damon, suddenly Jane, a face of sheer shock and utterly desperate prodigiousness, ran at her. She moved like a desperate fan, practically jumping in front of Aria, her hands clasped together.

“Aria! Oh my god, Aria!” Jane breathed heavily, exaggerating her pitch and breathing very fast; she bowed almost like a curtsy. “Welcome, welcome to my party, goddess. It’s such an honor.”