The Stand-In Who Refused to Graduate

Synopsis

I was a professional stand-in, and there wasn't a job I hadn't taken. I went on blind dates for other people, knocked back drinks for them at business dinners, and showed up at their kids' parent-teacher conferences. Then Richard Stone, the head of Stone Holdings, offered me 50 thousand dollars a month to fly to Germany and study in place of Julia Summers, the woman he'd never gotten over. I figured I could coast through it, so I took the job. In my first class, the professor lectured on fluid mechanics. I understood it. Better yet, I loved every second of it. The contract said three years, but I ended up studying for eight. Meanwhile, Julia went back home, married Richard, and had three kids. As for me, I'd published four papers in top journals, earned a PhD, and was now applying for postdoc positions. The memo on Richard's monthly payments went from "Thanks for your hard work" to "Are you actually human?" Personally, I thought that question deserved a research paper of its own.