After more than ten hours on the flight, Juniper''s back ached, and she felt almost numb with exhaustion, refusing to move a muscle. In the end, Shanley had to carry her on his back to the car.


    On the way home, Juniper finally checked her constantly buzzing phone. The group chat with Qadir and the others had umted over a thousand messages. Toozy to scroll through everything, she read thest few messages to get the gist. The exam results were being officially released tonight.


    Had it really been a couple of weeks? Time flew. That meant Shanley''s birthday was just a few days away, too.


    Qadir: [Hey, guys, you won''t believe this. My dad has two things waiting for me when the resultse out.]


    J, Queenie, and Dolce all responded with question marks.


    Qadir: [A new set of car keys, and a club thicker than my arm.]


    If he did well, he got the car. If he failed... his dad was definitely capable of breaking


    his legs.


    Qadir: [The suspense is killing me! Why are there still two hours left?]


    Queenie: [Stop shouting! I wasn''t nervous until you started this.]


    Dolce and J remained silent, just refreshing the screen, terrified the results portal would open early like it had before.


    Qadir: [Where''s Juniper? She doesn''t seem worried about her score at all.]


    J: [?]


    Queenie: [?]


    Dolce: [?]


    Was her score something a genius should even be worried about? The ones who should be worried were the top universities, wondering which one she would choose.


    After skimming the chat, Juniper tossed her phone aside and habitually leaned into Shanley''s embrace.


    "Go to sleep," he said softly, draping a nket over her. He watched her sleep soundly, his gaze full of affection. Still... he was genuinely curious how she had scored.


    When they arrived home, Juniper copsed onto the bed and was asleep in moments.


    Shanley nced at the time. Less than half an hour until the results were released. Well, it could wait until morning.


    After a restful night, Juniper woke up at ten in the morning. Shanley was already gone. After washing up, she remembered to check her phone. As soon as she turned it on a flood of messages and missed


    notifications bombarded her. Qadir had gone crazy; most of the messages were from him.


    Juniper frowned and scrolled through the chat history. Oh, their scores were out.


    They were about what she''d expected.


    Juniper sent a single question mark into the group.


    Qadir: [My savior, you''re finally online! We were worried sick when we couldn''t reach you!]


    He was afraid she had done poorly and was taking it hard.


    Qadir: [Good thing J saw Mr. Schwartz carrying you homest night. Ahem, did we interrupt anything?]


    Queenie: [What are you talking about!]


    Qadir: [I meant their rest! What were you thinking?]


    Queenie blushed.


    J: [Juniper, how did you do?]


    Juniper: [Haven''t checked yet. I''ll do it after breakfast.]


    Haven''t checked? The other four gave her a virtual thumbs-up. As calm and collected as ever.


    “Good morning, Ms. Payne,” Dana greeted her cheerfully as she came downstairs. "Breakfast is still warm."


    "You go on, Dana, I''ve got this,"


    Shanley said, closing hisptop. He got up and sat across from Juniper. As he sat down, he began to meticulously peel an egg for her.


    "Not going to check your score?" he asked softly.


    “I will,” Juniper mumbled, taking arge bite of the egg. "I forgot where I put my


    exam admission ticket. I''ll have to find it."


    She was starving. Food first, everything elseter.


    "Alright." Shanley smiled faintly, not


    rushing her. He poured her a bowl of Soup and ced it by her hande "Have you thought about which university you want to attend?"


    "Any of them," Juniper replied casually as she drank her soup. "Whichever one calls


    first, I''ll go there."