“Good. I was hoping he’d get rectal cancer, but I guess this works too.”

“Jesus, Jackie!” That’s pretty harsh, even for her. “Rectal cancer? You’re awful.”

“No, he is awful. He broke your heart.”

“Just because he doesn’t love me doesn’t mean he deserves to have someone ruin his life. Austin grew up with nothing and no one. My family isn’t perfect, but at least they’re a safety net. Austin has no one in his corner, but he’s clawed and scraped and cobbled together a life. And now he’s losing everything. Over a damn lie. He must be devastated. It’s not fair. It’s not right.”

Who would do such a thing? My heart is pounding and the bitter taste of adrenaline coats my mouth. Austin may be too disheartened to fight, but I’m not. I’m furious for him.

Jackie’s got a wicked smile on her face and my suspicion is growing by the second. I snap at her, “You didn’t do this, did you?”

She gasps dramatically and places her hand over her heart in mock shock. “Who, me?”

“Jacqueline Meredith Ryan, tell me you didn’t do this.” I wag a disapproving finger at the computer screen.

She holds her hands up in surrender. “I wish I could take credit for it, but no. I didn’t.”

I glare at her, not believing her denial.

“I didn’t! I swear. Besides, those lab systems are super secure and even my genius has its limits.”

That gets me thinking. Who would have the skills to pull this off? “You’re saying only a leet hacker could do this?”

“Yeah. Well, no.”

I shake my head, confused.

“You don’t need to hack shit to fake lab results. The weakest link in any network is always the people. I can’t imagine handling piss pays that great. I guarantee someone in that lab is on the take. If you know the right guy and have a lot of cash to throw around, you’re golden.”

The lightbulb flicks on in my head and it all makes sense. “Monte!”

“Who-sy, what-y, huh now?”

“Austin’s teammate. Former teammate, Montgomery. King of the Douchebags?” I use the nickname I gave him after our classroom confrontation and Jackie finally remembers who I’m talking about.

“Tiny penis. Giant ego.”

“That’s the one.” I chuckle. “It has to be him. He hates Austin. And he’s always bragging in class about how his dad is some big-time plastic surgeon for celebrities.” My hands fly around wildly and my mind races a mile a minute. “If I can prove it was him, that he set Austin up…”

“Why would you do anything to help that asshole?”

I ignore Jackie as I construct my masterplan. “Maybe if I steal his phone or hack his laptop—”

“Woah, pump the brakes there, Jason Bourne. You realize that shit is illegal, right?”