J silently sat back down, watching the two men bicker like oil and water. She didn''t dare say a word. "No wonder," she thought. "Mr. Schwartz is quite a bit older than Juniper. Mr. Steele must not be happy about that."


    "Juniper!" Seeing her, J rushed over as if she''d been rescued.


    "Let''s eat," Juniper said, patting her head. "The test results are out today, right?"


    The Era City school district was efficient; it only took two days to grade the exams and calcte the rankings.


    "Yeah." J sat across from her, feeling a knot of nervousness in her stomach. She felt like she''d done well, but she wouldn''t know for sure until she saw the


    scores.


    "Eat first," Juniper said, and J moved to sit beside her.


    Throughout the meal, Shanley was constantly putting food on Juniper''s te, so attentive he almost seemed to want to eat for her.


    Seeing this, Melvin picked up an egg, peeled it, and ced it on J''s te. "Eat it while it''s warm," he said softly.


    J just stared at the egg, her fork and knife still.


    "What''s wrong?" Melvin asked nervously. He had been trying to imitate the old fox- peeling the egg gently, speaking softly. It seemed to work on his own sister.


    "Melvin," Juniper said after finishing the egg Shanley had peeled for her. She swirled her orange juice. "J''s allergic to eggs."


    "...Is that so?" Melvinughed awkwardly and picked up the milk carton. "Then..."


    "Melvin," Juniper cut in again before he could finish. "J is alsoctose intolerant. She can''t drink milk."


    Melvin froze, his face flushing then paling.


    Shanley couldn''t help but chuckle. It seemed his girl was much easier to please.


    At Aurora High School, Juniper walked into the ssroom and went straight to her seat in the back row She took a piece of candy Shanley had packed in her bag and popped it into her mouth, the sweetness chasing away some of her


    drowsiness.


    "Why is it so quiet today?" Juniper tossed her bag under her desk and started twirling a pen between her fingers.


    "The results are out. Everyone''s pretty nervous," Queenie mumbled, taking a sip of water, her voice tight with anxiety.


    "Oh?" Juniper propped her chin on her hand and blinked. "Is it that big of a deal?"


    "Yeah," Queenie nodded. "Our school didn''t do very well on thest exam. I heard the principal, Salma, even got called into the district office for a reprimand."


    It wasn''t that Aurora High didn''t


    have good students. But Salma had a big heart and epted many "underachievers" who had been rejected by other schools. These students weren''t bad kids; they just learned at a different pace But because of their low scores, they were often looked down upon by teachers and shunned by other schools. Salma couldn''t stand it so she put out the word: anyone who wanted to learn was wee at Aurora High. But with more students came a lower school-wide average. On thest mock exam, Aurora High ranked deadst.


    "If we''rest again this time..." Queenie sighed, feeling dejected. "Salma will probably get yelled at again."


    "That won''t happen," Juniper said with azy smile after hearing Queenie''s story.


    "What makes you so sure?" Queenie tilted her head, looking at Juniper with curiosity.


    "Because. Juniper''s smile vanished


    as she enunciated each word clearly,


    "if anyone dares to fail after using my study guides, I''ll personally crack earth and every one of


    open."


    "Eek!" Queenie instinctively covered her head.


    rheads...


    Just then, Qadir burst into the ssroom, shouting, "The scores are posted!"