The math teacher began his lecture. Less than ten minutes in, the room was filled with yawns. The students looked miserable, as if they weren''t learning but having their souls drained.


    "Juniper, are you sleepy?" Qadir asked, hiding his face behind a book, his eyelids feeling heavy.


    "I''m okay," Juniper replied, turning to look at him and blinking wearily. The problems were ridiculously simple, like asking what 1+1 was. It was mind-numbingly boring. But sleeping would be disrespectful to the teacher, so she popped a candy in her mouth to stay awake.


    "Alright, ss, try to solve this problem," the math teacher said after exining an example, pointing to the ckboard. "It''s not very difficult. Just use your heads, and you''ll find the answer."


    "What the hell..." Qadir muttered, chewing on his pen and letting out a long yawn. "Why are weparing the speeds of a car and a bicycle?"


    It was a word problem about calcting speed. Juniper nced at it and got the answer in less than a second. So boring.


    As the teacher strolled around the room, he happened to see Juniper. She was resting her chin on her left hand, a pen held loosely in her right, and hadzily written a single number, ''2'', on her scratch paper. For such aplex problem, there was no process, no reasoning, not even any calctions. Her paper was cleaner than her face.


    Did she really think she could solve it with mental math? Did she think she was a genius? He was sure she had just gottenzy and looked up the answer in the back of the book.


    At that thought, the math teacher''s face darkened. He despised students like her- not very bright, unwilling to put in the effort, and always trying to be clever. Raise her score to 40? With an attitude like that, she''d be lucky to raise it by 4.


    After math tutoring ended, Juniper walked ahead with Qadir and Queenie nking her like bodyguards. The trio ambled toward the cafeteria.


    "Juniper, let''s grab the ss president. How about fondue for lunch?" Qadir said, lookingpletely drained. "I used up way too many brain cells and need to refuel. My treat, order whatever you want."


    "Don''t think I didn''t see you. The teacher lectured for an hour, and you slept for forty minutes," Queenie teased, not holding back. “The remaining twenty minutes you spent staring into space."


    Qadir''s face flushed. "Come on, genius, give me a break!"


    "I think you should really try harder," Queenie said, pursing her lips. "It would be so boring to just inherit your family''s business after graduation. College is a lot of fun!"


    "No worries," Qadir said, sidling up to Juniper with a grin. "I''ve got Juniper with me."


    Juniper turned her head, giving Qadir a quizzical look. "Who''s with you? I''m going to college."


    "No way, Juniper!" Qadir was stunned. "With our grades? Even if we study like crazy for three months, there''s no way we can improve that quickly."


    Not to mention, Juniper''s grades were far worse than his.


    "Want to bet?" Juniper stuffed her hands in her pockets, her expressionzy but her tone dangerously confident. "Queenie, you keep an eye on him. If he dozes off in ss again, just hit him with a hammer."


    She had noticed that Qadir was actually quite smart; he just didn''t like to study. If he applied himself even a little, he could definitely get into college.


    "If you don''t study, you won''t even be able to count the money from selling your family''s pigs. You''ll run your family''s business into the ground!"


    Qadir frowned, chastened and unable to retort.


    "You got it," Queenie said, stifling augh at Qadir''s defeated expression. She leaned in and whispered, "Juniper''s not like you. You can''t even imagine how high her IQ is."