After parting ways with J, Juniper followed her admission ticket to find her exam room on the third floor, at the far left end of the hall.


    "It''s Juniper!"


    "Look, it''s Juniper!"


    "Jimmie Tate''s sister!"


    Whispers followed her down the corridor. People stared at her, their excitement palpable.


    "She''s so talented in her own right," a girl with short hair said, full of envy. "The music video she choreographed went viral. I heard a bunch of agencies tried to sign her, but she turned them all down."


    "I wonder how she does in school, though?"


    "Not very well, I think..." another girl whispered, covering her mouth. "They said she only went up to freshman year, then came back for just three months of senior year. And before that, she was at some school in the mountains."


    “A school in the mountains, you know what that means,” a long-haired girl added, sharing all the gossip she''d found. The teachers there were probably not even as knowledgeable as the students at Era High. How good could their students possibly be?


    "She probably skipped thest mock exam because she was afraid of dragging down Aurora High''s ranking."


    "Really?" The others gasped. “With so many people watching her, it would be a disaster if she did poorly."


    Not only would she get dragged, but Mr. Tate would be pulled into it as well. Was she going to bring him down with her? At that thought, the gazes of the onlookers- both passersby and fans-began to change.


    Juniper''s head was already pounding, and the constant buzzing in her ears was making it worse. She whipped her head around to re at them. The chattering students instantly scattered in fear.


    Juniper pursed her lips, annoyed. People really loved their drama, gossiping even at a time like this.


    After finding her exam room and passing through security, she located her assigned seat number 17 the first desk in the second row. Just as she was about to sit down, Yelena and Ynda appeared at the door.


    Juniper frowned. What a small world.


    BUMS


    Yelena and Ynda saw her at the same time.


    Ynda immediately looked away, pretending not to see her as she quietly made her way to a seat in the back.


    It seemed her little lesson had been effective. Whether Ynda was still plotting in secret or not, at least she didn''t dare confront her openly.


    Yelena, however, was a different story. As she walked past Juniper''s desk, she


    leaned in and said with sharine sarcasm, "Good luck."


    Juniper shot her a nce before turning away,pletely unfazed. She needed to conserve her energy, not waste it arguing with a fool.


    At precisely nine o''clock, the bell rang, signaling the start of the exam. Juniper


    picked up her pen and began to write, yawning repeatedly.


    From where Yelena was sitting, she had a clear view of Juniper''s condition pale, sleepy-eyed... and she was filling in the answer sheet directly without even using scratch paper. While other students were stiffon the third multiple-choice question, Juniper had already finished the section and moved on to the ssical literature portion.


    "She must be guessing," Yelena and Ynda thought, exchanging a look of relief. They had initially estimated she might get a couple hundred points, but now, it seemed they had overestimated her.


    ...


    Her head was spinning. After finishing about half the exam, Juniper closed her eyes for a short nap.


    The proctors Saw her but didn''t say anything. To fall asleep during such an important exam meant one of two things: you were either supremely confident or hadpletely given up. To avoid disturbing the other students, they chose to ignore her. Afterall, exams were a way of weeding people out.


    With only forty minutes left, Juniper opened her eyes, picked up her pen, and began


    to write.