Chapter 652
Donald could only shake his head and sigh. Right in front of Charlotte, he typed in his computer password and bundled up all the files she needed.
“Here’s my email,” she said, watching him with a grin that made her look like she’d just scored a major heist.
Charlotte’s eyes sparkled. “Thanks. Guess I’ll head out now.” She sounded so cheerful as she turned to leave, but halfway to the door, she spun around and pointed at the pile of snacks on his desk. “Are all these for me?”
Donald smiled, giving in. “Yeah, they’re all yours.” He reached over and gently ruffled her hair. “No one here at The White Whale can teach you anything new. You should really focus on your med school stuff.”
Charlotte nodded, all sweet and obedient, then stuffed every snack she could grab into her backpack. “Thank you, Donald. You’re honestly the best.” With that, she hugged her loot and dashed out of the room.
A few minutes later, Saul came in. He found Donald leaning over his desk, smiling but looking like he was trying not to laugh or cry. “Donald, did you sort things out with Reaver?” Saul asked, hopeful.
If Donald could just convince Reaver to come back to the training base, maybe they’d all have a shot at picking up some new tricks.
Sort things out? The memory of Charlotte’s bandit routine flashed through Donald’s mind. He felt a mix of exasperation and helplessness. “If I get the chance, I’ll have Lottie come by and give you guys a couple of lessons.”
“Lottie?” Saul frowned. Charlotte was good, sure, but was she really ready to be training them?
They still wanted Reaver, even if it meant getting totally wrecked in the process.
Seeing Saul’s disappointed face, Donald sank into his chair, rubbed his eyes, and sounded half out of it. “Lottie is Reaver.”
Saul froze, completely stunned.
…
After leaving The White Whale Training Base, Charlotte slid into the backseat of her car just as her phone started ringing.
Mr. Lane’s name lit up on the screen. Perfect timing. She’d been wanting to check in about how Shirley was doing in the physics department at The Cabinda University. She answered, “Hi.”
“Lottie, if I don’t call you, are you just never going to contact me again? Mr. Lane sounded half annoyed, half dramatic “Do you have any idea how long it’s been? I’ve missed you!”
Charlotte smiled and told Jackson to head to The Cabinda University. “I’m coming over to apologize in person, okay?” Her voice was gentle and teasing.
“You’d better,” Mr. Lane insisted, like he was afraid she’d bail. “Lorinda’s here too.”
“Alright,” Charlotte replied politely before hanging up. Then she quickly sent a message to Anthony.
[Anthony, do you remember our bet about Shirley?]
They’d agreed that for every point Andrew scored above the passing line thanks to Shirley’s tutoring, Anthony would give Shirley one. hundred thousand. Andrew had gone over by about ten points, that meant Shirley was owed a cool million.
After a pause, Charlotte sent Shirley’s bank account number to Anthony.
[A million is plenty. Any more and she might get overwhelmed.]
A minute later, Anthony sent a screenshot showing the money had gone through, along with a message: [She’s a great kid. Andrew’s lucky, that’s all I’ll say.]
Charlotte’s lips curled into a soft smile when she saw it. She doubted Andrew even realized how he really felt about Shirley yet.
…
About half an hour later, Charlotte carried a lunchbox into the physics lab at The Cabinda University.
Mr. Lane was guiding Shirley through an experiment. For someone who’d only just started learning physics in a structured way, Shirley was keeping up surprisingly well.