Page 16 of Just a Little White Lie

I told him I’d finished my résumé.

He was sitting there looking at my laptop and—

Wait a second!

I ping straight and head back to my room.

“You okay?” Mallory calls after me.

“Yeah, fine!” I shout back, my hands shaking as I open up my laptop and stare at my Sent box again.

Surely not.

Did he…?

“He did,” I mutter, immediately incensed that he would cross such a line.

He emailed those schools for me!

After he carried me to bed.

My heart goes “aw” and starts batting its eyelashes, but I shut that down quick-smart.

Jack pretended to be me! Usingmyemail and doing so without my permission.

I’m fuming!

Until I realize that he was doing it to help me out.

What did he possibly have to gain from staying up to email schools and try to get me a job?

Nothing.

I told him I couldn’t do it. That it was too hard.

So he did it for me.

Leaning back in my chair, I brush my fingers lightly over the computer keys and can’t help a little smile.

He shouldn’t have done it, because… well, it isn’t right to pretend to be someone, and he should have checked which schools I wanted to contact.

But… he was just trying to help.

And for that reason, I can’t be mad at him.

I reach for the pen and pad sitting neatly on the corner of my desk—typical Luke the List Man. My lips twitch with a smile as I write Jack a quick note. It’s easier than thanking him to his face.

Thanks for not being a douche, Gigantor. Maybe you don’t belong with the crocodiles after all.

I slip it under his door before I can change my mind, then walk back out for more chip munching. I guess all I can do now is wait for a school to phone me and then watch the cash slowly roll in.

LAUREN

Idon’t have to wait long.

The sound of my ringing phone wakes me at seven in the morning. I adjusted my night mode to accommodate early morning phone calls. I hated doing it, but I couldn’t keep avoiding this reality.

I need money, and I’m a qualified teacher, so I just have to lump it.

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