Page 46 of Beg, Borrow, or Steal

Jack’s hand fully slips into mine this time. The air jumps from my lungs. His hand feels so good I actually have to look down at it. I have to see for myself what all the fuss is about. He squeezes once and when I look at him, he mouths,She’s not worth it today.

And then he pulls his hand away and I want to throw a fit.Put it back!

Marissa unlocks the front door of the school and Jack leans inso he can hold it open for her (and me) to walk through. She beams up at him as she and her apex predator shirt glide through the open door. “Always such a gentleman, Jack.”

I flutter my lashes up at him as I walk through next. “Yes,” I say in a quiet tittering voice only he can hear as I walk through. “Such a gentleman.”

“Kiss my ass,” that gentlemanly mouth whispers back at me.

I toss him the bird behind my back. He pokes my finger. And I couldn’t accurately explain the sensations I’m experiencing right now if I tried. It’s…so new for me. It’s what I imagine the fizzy bubbles in a freshly poured soda feel like.

Once we’re inside the school, Jack takes the lead and I drop back to give him some space to work his magic. And work his magic he does. It takes him less than two minutes of engaging with Marissa about her recent trip to Florida to visit her friend and laughing at her unoriginal jokes about catching crabs before he gets her to unlock Bart’s door. In fact, she’s so pleased to get to do something that he asks that she’s practically tripping all over herself to get to the door. Amazing. I always knew he was good at charming people, but I knew it in a resentful kind of way. It’s nice to be on the receiving end of it.

“Thank you so much,” Jack says, stepping into Bart’s office. “I could have sworn I left it in here somewhere.” The official plan was to look around the office under the pretense of having left his favorite jacket, and then once we spot the laptop and confirm it’s in there, he’ll act as a decoy and distract her outside the office long enough for me to open it, pray to the password gods that he doesn’t have one set, and then find the email and delete it.

Only problem is…Bart’s laptop is not in here.

“Dammit,” Jack mumbles, realizing the same thing I have. But then he remembers Marissa is watching. “I really hoped I’d find that jacket.”

“What color is it?” she asks. “Maybe it’s in lost and found.”

Jack looks at me and for some reason I think he’s silently asking me to respond. That’s how we both end up speaking at the same time with different answers.

“Black.”

“Blue.”

Marissa frowns.

“It’s blackish, blueish. Emily and I can never agree on which one it actually is.”

“But it’s black,” I say even though the jacket doesn’t exist because in this fake upside-down world I still must win. Jack just grins at me.

Marissa is walking us back out. “Well, I’ll keep an eye out for your blue jacket, Jack.”She would.

“Thanks so much. We’ll get out of your hair now.” And then as if an afterthought hit him and it wasn’t our entire goal by being here, he turns back to Marissa. “Oh, by the way—do you happen to know if Bart is going to do any work on vacation? I sent him an email about a potential curriculum idea and I’m wondering if I should expect an answer soon or wait awhile.”

What a smooth little liar.

“I wouldn’t hold your breath,” says Marissa while unlocking her own office door. “Bart takes his vacation week very seriously. There’s no way he’s doing a lick of work while he’s in the mountains.”

“Ah—I guess I’ll just have to be patient, then.”

I wait until we’re back at my truck to show my worry. “It wasn’t in there! He must have taken it with him.”

“Or, since he isn’t planning to do any work, he left it at home,” he says, refusing to let me only look on the negative side. But still, anxiety twists in my stomach. When my eyes drop, he ducks his head to catch my gaze again. “Hey. Even if he reads it, it doesn’t mean you’re automatically fired. There’s still a very good chancethat he won’t care at all. You might have to endure a little moralizing from him, but if anyone can, it’s you.”

Suddenly, my mom’s voice rings in my ears out of nowhere:Find someone who helps you look on the bright side.

But jeez, ghost of my mother, that someone cannot be Jack.

“So what’s the plan now?” I say, opening my truck and climbing inside. Jack leans one arm on top of it and bends down to see me.

“The good news is, we’ve got plenty of time now that we know Bart isn’t going to be opening his emails until next week. The other good news is I’ve got some ideas to consider. The very, very bad news is, a few of the backup plans end with me having the bromance Bart has always hoped for.”

Before I can chicken out, I blurt exactly what I’m thinking. “Thank you, Jack.”

He’s too stunned to speak.

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