Page 14 of Just a Little White Lie

“And you need to get out of my room before I start throwing everything I own at your head!”

The yelling is making me want to throw up, so I slump back onto my pillow.

“Lauren, I am not above manhandling you into that desk so you can start applying for a job or two. You don’t have the luxury of—”

I raise my middle finger in his direction.

His words cut off, morphing into a growl, and my bedroom door is flung fully open.

“Really mature, Lauren! Now get your butt out of that bed!”

“Hey, man, chill.”

Jack.

My ears perk up and start burning.

“She needs to get her ass out of bed. I’m not paying for her to lie around doing nothing,” Luke barks.

“She’s not. She was up late last night applying for jobs.”

“What?”

I pull my knees to my chest.Was I? When?

“Yeah, she emailed some schools and sent off her résumé. She’s going to start with some relief teaching until she can find a permanent gig.”

“Really?” Luke’s surprise offends me, but I can’t say anything because I seriously donotremember emailing schools last night.

“Yeah, so back off. Let her sleep in and enjoy a relaxed Sunday. She’s probably still suffering from jet lag, man. Show a little mercy.”

“All right, fine.” Luke sighs and pulls my door shut.

My heart is thrumming. I can’t believe Jack did that for me.

What is happening?

Did I fall asleep and wake up in a parallel universe or something?

I crawl out of bed and open the curtain to peek out the window. Grass, trees, fence, road. Looks normal enough.

Maybe Jack was overtaken by an alien in the night. A nice one who doesn’t want to be mean to me for a change.

I spot my laptop on the desk and stagger toward it. Opening it up, I hunch over and tap my finger on the mousepad while I wait for my email to open. As soon as it comes to life, I check my Sent box, and sure enough, there are three emails from me to the local schools telling them I’m available for relief teaching. My résumé is attached, and my wording is pretty decent.

Hmmmm. Well, I’ll be.

I guess drunk me is capable of doing something coherent.

Although I was stupid enough to contact Haven Academy!

Ugh.

My body feels heavy as I read over the email I wrote to the elite school and picture myself in front of a classroom of rich, arrogant kids who think they own the world.

A whimper eases out of me. The thought of teaching again is making my insides curdle, so I slap my laptop shut and crawl back into bed. Yes, I’m probably a whiny, spoiled brat, but when I close my eyes, I honestly wonder what I have to look forward to.

I thrive on fun, and right now, there is zero in my immediate future.

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