Lue waspletely lost. "What''s your beef with Shanley?"


    "The bracelet."


    Juniper''s eyes darkened with a chilling hostility, the words escaping her lips like shards of ice.


    "Ahem." Lue nearly choked on her cigarette smoke and sat bolt upright. "Are you telling me the idiot on the ck market who drove up the price and made you overpay by thirty-five million was Shanley?"


    Juniper didn''t answer, the crunch of the small cookie in her mouth echoing ominously in the silence. It was actually quite terrifying.


    "Got it." Never one to miss out on some drama, Lue grinned. "I''ll have him talk to you personally."


    Messing with her boss''s money was far more serious than threatening her life. If things went as expected, this Shanley was about to lose more than just a little skin.


    ...


    After ending the call, Juniper tossed her phone into her bag and strode toward the ssroom on her long, slender legs. As she rounded a corner, she saw Qadir and Queenie slumped on the steps, looking utterly defeated, with two towering stacks of documents beside them. They were clearly exhausted.


    "Need a hand?" Juniper asked, raising an eyebrow at their flushed faces.


    "With that tiny frame of yours?" Qadir nced up at her, noting that her legs were thinner than his arms. She looked like a strong breeze could snap her in two. "No, we''re good. Just go get a couple of guys for me."


    Queenie just stared at Juniper, her mind still reying the image of that draft paper covered in correct answers.


    "Too much trouble." Juniper rolled up her sleeves. Before their astonished eyes, she effortlessly lifted both stacks of documents, one in each hand.


    "The way?"


    Qadir and Queenie stared nkly for a few seconds before scrambling to move aside, clearing a path.


    Without so much as a flushed cheek or a heavy breath, Juniper carried the two stacks up the stairs, taking them two at a time at a brisk pace.


    Qadir''s expression was frozen in disbelief, his world turned upside down.


    "Am I freaking seeing things?" he muttered. The two stacks weighed nearly a hundred poundsbined, possibly more than she did. Yet she carried them as if they were weightless.


    Was she even human?


    "You''re not seeing things." Queenie averted her gaze, a small, radiant smile gracing her lips.


    She was beginning to think her new ssmate wasn''t just cute, but also incredibly interesting.


    ...


    In the ssroom, Qadir tilted his head, cautiously observing his new deskmate. Her backpack was a men''s style-clean, but crumpled and with a hole in the bottom. The ones he threw in the trash were in better condition. The phone on her desk was a thick, off-brand model with paint peeling off the edges. The logo was unfamiliar. Her uniform jacket was slightly open, revealing a hoodie underneath with sleeves that were a bit too short. She was probably hungry, devouring a in, hard bread as if it were a gourmet meal. He''d heard she lived in the slums. It made sense now- she couldn''t afford proper food or clothes.


    How tragic!


    Remembering how hostile he''d been when she first arrived, Qadir felt a pang of guilt. “I''m such a jerk.”


    "Keep staring and I''ll gouge your eyes out," Juniper warned coolly, not even looking at him as she continued eating her bread.


    Qadir''s heart skipped a beat. "Hey, uh, thanks for earlier," he stammered, opening his backpack and dumping a pile of snacks onto her desk.


    He was starting to realize that, aside from her cold personality, being terrifying when angry, and being a fellow academic failure, Juniper was actually a pretty decent person. Kind, even.


    Juniper nced over at the mountain of snacks and raised a delicate eyebrow.


    "We''re probably going to be getting hauled into the principal''s office together a lot, so we''re basically brothers in arms now," Qadir dered, puffing out his chest. "Don''t worry, I''ve got your back. No one at Aurora High will dare to mess with you." Mess with her?


    The concept felt foreign.