Desperate Lies

Chapter 10

Eve feared that Paul would question her whereabouts on New Year's, but he ended up being too hung over to notice that she had been gone - thankfully. For the next week, Eve remained as complacent and obedient to Paul as she could, if only for the fact that her future was at stake. Eve couldn't have Paul become even a little suspicious that she was plotting to find a way to leave him. Still, she found time to sneak out of the house to "work" so that she could meet up with Chris, plan for the future, feel loved and validated, and usually end up taking her clothes off.

When January 6th finally arrived, it was like a breath of fresh air. Eve awoke and happily got ready and did everything that Paul asked of her that morning, because she knew that this was the day where she could officially begin her plan to get away from him. When Eve finally got some free time, she'd told her father that she was going to take her camera out and get some photography done. However, she actually ended up walking all the way to her school so that she could talk to someone in the financial aid office.

Chris knew that today was Eve's big day, and told her that he wanted to know every possible detail about what she learned so that he could help her plan on getting away. Eve clutched her phone in her coat pocket, ready to call or text him at any moment if she needed anything.

Campus was mostly empty due to the fact that classes wouldn't start for another week and a half or so, but all of the office buildings were open again and students were allowed to come in if they needed to discuss anything with anyone who worked for the university. Eve walks into the building and goes up to the front desk.

Once Eve tells the secretary what she needs, she's pointed toward someone that she can talk to about her loans, how she could go about paying them off after graduation, and so on. She explained that her father was currently paying for them and had paid for her undergraduate tuition as well, but that she wanted to start paying for everything.

"Alright, let's see," The administrator says, typing Eve's name into the computer, "Hmmm...That's weird. Your full name is Eve Lawrence, right? Eve isn't short for anything?"

"No, my name is Eve Lawrence."

"Hmmm, let me try typing it in again."

The administrator refreshes the page and types Eve's name into the computer again. He furrows his eyebrows in confusion.

"What's wrong?" Eve asks.

x

Chris answers his phone, which was connected to the Bluetooth in his car, "Hey, Eve. Everything okay?"

"Not really. Are you busy?"

"I was out running errands - I'm actually probably pretty close to you. Are you crying?"

"I hate my dad, I hate him."

"Okay, okay, I'm making my way to you, I'm gonna come pick you up, okay? What happened?"

There's a long pause as Eve remains silent on the other line.

"Eve?"

"I'm on a scholarship," Eve says, "And I didn't know it until just now."

Chris's eyes widen, "What?"

"That's what the financial aid office told me. I'm still in a little bit of debt, but not nearly as much as my dad had me thinking. They were able to look up my financial aid records from undergrad too...I was on a full ride scholarship during undergrad, Chris; the only money that I owe now is from my Master's, and it's an amount that I could probably pay off myself in just a couple years. My dad was lying to me about paying this insurmountable about of tuition money!"