The room erupted again and half the class's eyes lit up at once.
This was real. Actual resources and opportunities. Way beyond "personal tutoring."
Seeing the energy fully ignited, Ethan rode the moment, flashing that familiar slightly-too-casual smile, and threw out one last thing: "And on top of all that — to celebrate the election and thank everyone for the support — if you elect me class president, tonight—"
He dragged it out deliberately, pointing in the direction of the dining hall: "Second floor of the dining hall. My treat. Food and drinks, as much as you want. Nobody goes home sober."
"WHOOOOO——!!!"
"Ethan let's GO!!"
"Class president! It has to be you!!"
"Ethan! Ethan! Ethan!"
The whole classroom blew up. Cheers, whistles, hands slamming on desks.
The energy hit the ceiling.
That promise was so simple and so real it grabbed everyone immediately. The fastest way to anyone's heart.
Then, cutting through all of it, a sharp and flustered voice rose above the noise: "Mr. Hayes! I object!"
Summer shot to her feet, pretty face flushed red, finger pointed straight at Ethan: "This is blatant bribery! Using a free meal to buy votes! That's cheating and I am formally demanding his candidacy be disqualified!"
Ethan raised an eyebrow and looked at Summer standing there radiating righteous fury, almost laughing out loud.
The double standard on this one was something else.
Summer could bow at ninety degrees and hand out a full visual experience to every guy in the room, and that was campaigning. But Ethan offering to buy his classmates dinner was cheating?
Officials can light fires but regular people can't even strike a match.
The smile stayed at the corner of his mouth as he waited to see how Mr. Hayes and the room would land on it.
Mr. Hayes handled it like a professional. Textbook deflection.
He cleared his throat, voice calm and measured: "Ethan's running his own business, so that takes real effort. As for tonight's dinner — I think we'll just set that aside for now."
That one sentence quietly handled Summer's "bribery" accusation while leaving just enough of a gap — "for now" doing a lot of quiet work.
He turned to Summer, tone gentle: "Summer, please sit down. Ethan made a suggestion and I've already addressed it, so the question of influencing votes doesn't currently exist."
He put just enough weight on "currently," his gaze sweeping the room with the unspoken message of "everyone knows what that means."
Ethan's mouth curved slightly. He caught it immediately. During the election — sensitive period, can't do it. But after the results? A spontaneous celebration between classmates, completely outside anything a faculty advisor could comment on.
Mr. Hayes didn't waste another second: "Alright, debate's done. Pick up your pens. Secret ballot for class president starts now."
The room hummed back to life, quiet conversations threading through the air everywhere.
Ten minutes later, the count went up on the board.
Mr. Hayes wrote it out himself:
Linda: 1 vote Michelle: 1 vote Summer: 5 votes Ethan: 20 votes Abstentions: 3 votes
Clean and decisive.
Those three abstentions were almost definitely from Ryan's crew trying to stay neutral.
Mr. Hayes looked at the board and felt the last of his worry disappear.
The guys had been too scared to go up and speak. But they knew exactly where to put their votes.
Summer stared at the 20 to 5 on the board. She had mentally prepared herself. It still hit hard. A tight, heavy feeling settled in her chest.
Nora was right beside her, reaching over and gently tugging her sleeve, voice soft and full of genuine concern: "Summer... don't be sad. I told you before — he's just really something else. We... we really can't beat him."
That sincere, well-meaning finishing blow landed directly in the center of Summer's chest.
She turned and stared at Nora, mouth opening to say something like "who said I wanted to beat him" or "I'm not sad" — but the words died before they came out.
Looking at Nora's innocent, genuinely worried face, she just felt more suffocated.
How does someone comfort a person like this?
This wasn't comfort. This was pouring lemon juice directly into the wound.
The more Nora tried to help the worse it felt.
Mr. Hayes announced that Ethan had been elected class president of Business Administration Class Two.
The student rep election followed without drama. Summer won that one cleanly.
After that, the remaining positions — academic rep, social committee, the rest — were filled out one by one.
The whole process took just over twenty minutes before the first real power distribution of college life wrapped up.
Mr. Hayes declared the class meeting closed and walked out with his folder.
The second he was gone, Ethan got swarmed.
"Bro you actually have a company?"
"What kind of company, Ethan? Come on, details!"
"How did you even do that straight out of high school? That's insane!"
"Ethan hook us up!"
Ethan deflected with a few easy answers, then broke free with the dorm crew, Ryan, and Jake in tow.
They barely hit the ground floor before Kevin was already rubbing his hands together, eyes gleaming: "Ethan. Big day. Class president. Shouldn't the boys be eating well tonight? Second floor of the dining hall, yeah?"
At this point Kevin was already cycling through "Ethan" and "bro" every other sentence...
Marcus jumped right in: "Yes! Obviously! Ethan's buying!"
Derek nodded with that quiet easy smile.
Ryan and Jake, card-carrying members of the outer support crew, immediately piled on: "Ethan, treat us! We showed up for you!"
Ethan looked at this group of bottomless pits, somewhere between amused and resigned: "Fine. Let's go. Second floor."
Then Jake hesitated for a second, then carefully ventured: "Hey... should we maybe invite Summer? She looked pretty rough back there."
Ethan shook his head without even thinking about it: "Her? No chance. The way she's looking at me right now she'd rather flip the table than sit at it. Inviting her is just asking for a scene."
Jake wasn't ready to drop it: "Come on, isn't that a bit harsh? Win some lose some..."
Ethan looked at his whole earnest people-pleaser energy and laughed: "Alright, if you think you can get her to come, go for it. I'm not making that call."
His tone was lightly teasing, but internally he was shaking his head. This kid genuinely could not help himself. Decent looking, family had money — why was he so set on chasing after Summer, a tree he was never going to climb?
There are 130 advance chapters ahead in my Patreon. If you are interested can check it out.
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