Companion for a Night

A rich kid offers to pay anyone who'll be his companion to a ball ten thousand dollars.

My roommate stops me from responding. "He's just a rich guy fishing for fun—he's using money to play around with women! Are you going to offer yourself to him for money? We can't be gold diggers!"

My mother is sick, though. She needs my scholarship money to save her life.

To my devastation, my roommate latches onto a school board member and takes away my scholarship. She even mocks me. "With your looks, you could've sold yourself for money. Here's a hundred bucks to compensate you."

That's not all—an AI face-swapped picture of me are posted online. Countless people harass me because of them.

My mother doesn't want to drag me down, so she takes her life. I break down and choose to jump off a building.

When I open my eyes again, I'm taken back to the first day of the semester. The rich kid is looking for a female companion. I immediately say, "I'm the companion you've been looking for, sir!"

"God, here's another poser!"

My roommate, Fiona Sharpe, grinned as she shoved her phone at us. Its screen showed a student chat group where a bold message stood out. It read, "Urgently looking for a female date—must be attractive—to accompany me to a banquet. You'll receive ten grand upfront as payment."

Perhaps the person who sent it was worried that no one would believe him as that message was accompanied by a picture of a young man decked out in designer brands, leaning against the hood of the latest Rolls-Royce. He was also sporting a Rolex Submariner "Hulk" on his wrist.

The replies he got were filled with nothing but mockery.

"Did a scammer targeting those bougie kids accidentally wander into our group?"

"Dude, talk about desperate! Are you looking for a date or just someone to sleep with?"

"How much do you actually have on you right now?"

The author of the thread immediately defended himself. "I'm being serious! One of the banquet's requirements is to bring a plus one, but I don't have a girlfriend. So, I thought I'd ask here since this group has more women. I'm looking for a legit date. I'm not interested in anything else!"

Alas, the ridicule only intensified.

"Why are you struggling to get a girl if you're that rich? You could easily get an influencer or minor celebs to be your plus one."

"That's out of the question. My old man would kill me!" he replied.

Unfortunately, his dramatic response only invited more jeers.

It seemed that he eventually became fed up with all the insults because he stopped replying soon after.

However, I knew that he was being truthful.

My heart pounded against my chest as I fumbled for my phone and hastily typed a "1" under the message.

Before I could add anything else, Fiona lunged at me in an attempt to snatch my phone away. "What are you doing? You're not actually thinking about doing this, are you? Renee, we're strong, independent women! You can't be such a gold digger!"

I yanked my phone back with all my might.

Fiona shot me a look of utter disappointment. "Delete it before anyone else sees this! You've totally lost your mind just to satiate your greed. You might not care about your image, but I certainly do! What would people think about our dorm?"

Then, she reached out to grab my phone again, but I was too fast for her. I clutched my phone to my chest and stormed to the bathroom, locking the door behind me.

I saw a friend request on the screen. The sender even sent me a wall of text.

"Hi, I'm Luke Carrell. You believe me, don't you? I will find a plus one from this university just to prove those suckers wrong! You'd better take a bunch of pictures to prove them wrong. How dare they call me a scammer!"

I ignored Fiona, who was desperately trying to break down the door, while I accepted his friend request.

Meanwhile, Fiona twisted the doorknob violently and screeched, "I know you can hear me! Delete that comment now! I'm doing this for your sake! If he really were some rich scion, he'd have women throwing themselves at him! That's clearly a scam! All you're doing is selling yourself for nothing!"