Juniper worked with incredible speed. She would nce at a question and


    immediately start writing the answer. In less than ten minutes, the left side of her literature answer sheet was nearly full, her handwriting neat and elegant with a touch of ssic ir.


    "She certainly writes fast," one teacher whispered, covering her mouth. "But who knows how many of her answers are correct."


    “So far, all the multiple-choice questions are right,” the literature teacher noted, her brow furrowed in concentration. "I haven''t had a chance to check the answers for the long-form questions yet." But to finish all the multiple-choice questions in just a few minutes, and get them all right... even she couldn''t do that.


    Just as the teachers were puzzling over this, Juniper, halfway through the literature exam, suddenly stopped writing and looked up. "Excuse me, sir—"


    Her sudden voice startled the teachers out of their reverie, especially the Dean. "What is it?" he asked, standing up and looking at her with a frown. Surely she wasn''t giving up already?


    "May I have some water?" Juniper asked, licking her dry lips. She really wanted some candy, but that would be rude during an exam. Water would have to do to calm her restless mind.


    Water? Now of all times? Wasn''t she worried about running out of time?


    "Y-yes, you can," the Dean stammered,pletely thrown by her request.


    "Thank you," Juniper said with a polite nod. She unzipped her backpack and took out a pink water bottle. She unhurriedly unscrewed the cap and took several long gulps before cing the bottle on the corner of her desk, within easy reach.


    The teachers stared. Why wasn''t she panicking? They were panicking for her! After her drink, Juniper set the literature paper aside and started on the math exam. The teachers were baffled. What was she doing? Did this mean she couldn''t solve the remaining problems?


    In reality, Juniper was just getting sleepy. If she didn''t switch things up, she was afraid she might doze off.


    ...


    On the other side of the school, the sports car pulled to a stop. Felton and Flint opened both car doors.


    "Boss, Ms. Payne is retaking the exams in the Dean''s office."


    "I see." Shanley and Salma got out of the car and walked swiftly towards the administrative building. As they passed the security office, he caught a glimpse of the monitor. The screen showed duniper, head down, taking. her test while the teachers watched her intently, the atmosphere thick with pressure.


    Any other girl would have been in tears by now. But Juniper was writing with her right hand while idly twirling her pen cap with her left, asionally staring into space for a second, lookingpletely at ease. She didn''t look the least bit scared or nervous. In fact, it was the teachers who looked tense, their faces growing darker by the minute. An outsider might have thought Juniper was the one in charge.


    "She''s in the middle of her exam, so I''d rather not disturb her," Shanley said in a low


    voice. "We can watch from here."


    From the security office? Salma


    paused for a second, then agreed it


    was a good idea. A student might


    get nervous with a “guardian”.


    present, and they didn''t want to affect her performance.


    "She just started not long ago, so we might have to wait a while," Salma said, having someone bring them coffee. “Please, have a seat, Mr. Schwartz."


    "Thank you." Shanley sat on the sofa, turning a transparent coffee cup in his hands, his deep eyes fixed on the girl on the screen.


    Finishing early and getting a perfect score... she was clearly brilliant, yet just the other day, when he had offered to tutor her, she hadn''t refused. Was she ying him for a fool?