As he passed Ynda, his frustration boiled over into a burning re. If it weren''t for this imposter, the top scorer might have been theirs.


    "Juniper, there''s no rush to choose a major. Take your time," the admissions officer from Era University said, beaming as he clutched the signed documents and headed for the door. His gaze fell upon Ynda, still sitting shell-shocked at her table, and his smile vanished. Because of this fake, they had almost lost their prize to Sundale. How could a student like thise from Era High School? Not only did she impersonate someone else, but she''d also called in a horde of reporters. The girl must be desperate for fame.


    After receiving two withering looks, Ynda felt as if she had plummeted from heaven straight into hell. She looked at the reporters and saw that they were all stealthily changing their article titles to feature Juniper''s name, chasing the new clicks.


    The inte was now flooded with news of Juniper, the top scorer, joining Era University''s Genius Program. A significant portion of the conversation was also dedicated to mocking Ynda, calling her out for her pathetic and shameless attempt to steal the spotlight.


    A few minutester, Juniper and her four friends casually walked out.


    The reporter who had been smugly taunting Juniper earlier now couldn''t even bring himself to look up.


    "Rufus?" Juniper nced at his press badge, a cold smirk ying on her lips. "Trying to be a voice for justice?"


    The man named Rufus turned pale, unable to speak. He had been the first to champion Ynda as the top scorer and had been the most sarcastic toward Juniper. When he realized his mistake, he tried to delete his posts, but hisputer mysteriously froze. After the truth came out, his social media was flooded with hundreds of thousands of angryments.


    "You''re really not cut out to be a journalist," Juniper said with a chillingugh before casually turning her gaze away, sweeping past the broken figure of Ynda as if she were nothing but air.


    She didn''t even bother to speak to her.


    "Juniper, aren''t you going to deal with Ynda?" Qadir asked as they left. "She''s always stirring up trouble. She was the one egging on Jolene and Yelena to go after you."


    "Just a little longer," Juniper replied, a cold edge to her voice. "They''re about to run out of the goodwill my grandfather left them."


    Once that debt of gratitude was paid in full, it would be Ynda''s turn to pay.


    Her friends didn''t press the issue. They knew how much Lemuel


    meant to Juniper, and Ynda was his granddaughter. Juniper was loyal and alway repaid kindness


    But she also never forgot a grudge. If Ynda kept pushing, her end would be a miserable one.


    Meanwhile, just as the news of


    Ynda''s deception broke, Era


    High School had confidently hung up banners celebrating their


    UT


    top-scoring student. For fifteen consecutive years, the top scorer on the university entrance exams hade from a school in Era City, and they assumed this year would be no different.


    Who would have guessed the top scorer wasn''t from their prestigious school, but from a small, obscure private high school in the middle of nowhere? Aurora High School''s previous best result was 126th in the state. This year, they not only produced the state''s highest scorer, but a perfect-score top scorer. And this student hadn''t even finished high school? It sounded too absurd to be true.


    Could Aurora High School have cheated to avoid losing its reditation? People could ept losing to other top schools, but a bottom-tier school like Aurora? A perfect score? Who would believe that?