"What did they say?" The other teachers'' hearts were pounding.


    "Don''t be too discouraged. There''s still another month," one saidfortingly.


    "That''s right, the kids have been working really hardtely. If they keep it up, their scores are sure to improve."


    "Remember what you always tell us, Salma? Don''tpare ourselves to others, only to ourselves. Our goal is just to get these kids into college, no matter how well other schools do."


    "Yes, it was the district office," Salma said, her expression a little dazed. "The head of academic rankings called to tell me... that Aurora High didn''te inst."


    A smile finally broke through her worried expression, a hint of excitement in her voice. "Not only were we notst, but our ranking jumped by more than ten spots."


    "More importantly, we used to have only one student in the top 100 in the state. Now, we have one in the top 50, and over a dozen in the top 100." She continued, "Queenie''s score is better than many students in the honors program at Era High. In fact, she''s not far behind the top scorer in the entire state for this mock exam."


    "Really?"


    A wave of relief washed over the teachers, their faces breaking into brilliant smiles. They immediately started patting themselves on the back. "See? I told you my math ss would pull up the average!"


    "Oh, listen to you," the literature teacher retorted. "My poetry section added five points to everyone''s score. And we guessed the essay prompt correctly!"


    Another teacher chimed in, "Alright, alright, take all the credit. Ahem, but who taught the student who ranked third in the state? Was it you? Or you? No, it was me! Ha!"


    The boisterous bickering came to an abrupt halt when they turned and


    saw Juniper quietly enjoying her


    candy. They had been showing


    front of the master. How


    off in


    embarrassing!


    "Actually, the real credit goes to Juniper," the math teacher said with a sheepish grin.


    "Exactly," the literature teacher agreed. "Thanks to her study guides, our jobs were much easier."


    "Yes, Juniper is truly amazing..."


    After a sufficient amount of praise, the math teacher changed the subject. "By the way, Juniper, do you have any more of those amazing study guides?"


    "I do," Juniper said after a moment''s thought, a yful look on her face. "But on one condition."


    "Name it!" the teachers chirped, craning their necks like a flock of hungry baby birds.


    "From now on, I don''t want to do any homework," she said softly.


    The truth was, Shanley did all her homework for her, and she couldn''t sleep until he was done. It was


    affecting her own rest. So, to


    get


    more sleep, she had to make this


    deal.


    Yes, it was purely for her own sake, definitely not because she felt bad for Shanley.


    With the mock exams over, most students had tasted the sweet fruit of theirdabor and were now studying harder than ever. When they weren''t gating or sleeping, they were glued to Juniper''s study guides.