"Juniper..." Ynda called out, deliberately raising her voice to make sure she was noticed. She feigned surprise. "Are you here for the WKL event too?"


    Juniper, who had been talking to Hattie, turned at the sound of her name. A sh of annoyance crossed her face, but she ignored Ynda and turned back.


    "Wow," Ynda said, undeterred. She shed the ticket in her hand with a sickly sweet smile. "Did your whole sse? Did you all manage to get tickets? Where are you sitting?"


    "How could they possibly have tickets?" Ferdinand chimed in with a sneer, his voice dripping with contempt. "My dad said the tickets sold out the day they went on sale. He had to pull a lot of strings just to get these two for us."


    He looked down his nose at theputer science students. "Are you guys here as the off-site cheer squad or something? I have a group chat, you know. I could add you and stream it for you if you want."


    "We have tickets, and they''re VIP!" someone with a quick tongue shot back, unable to stand their smug attitude.


    VIP tickets? That was even moreughable than the idea of them being an off-site cheer squad.


    "Pfft—” Ynda couldn''t hold it in and burst outughing. They couldn''t evene up with a believable lie. She really had to question the intelligence of theputer science students and wonder how they''d ever gotten into Era University.


    "Not only are we in the VIP section, we''re in the front row!" another student dered defensively.


    "Tsk.” Ferdinand rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "If you guys are sitting in the front row, then I guess I''ll be sitting on the stage."


    As they argued, a staff member walked over.


    "What''s all this?" he asked impatiently. He was young, with a staff badge and a walkie-talkie in hand. "If you have tickets, get inside. If you don''t, stop blocking the entrance."


    "Of course we do," Ferdinand said, seizing the opportunity to humiliate Juniper and her ssmates.


    "And not only do they have tickets," he added, pointing at them, "they''re for the front-row VIP section."


    Front-row VIP The staff member


    of


    immediately looked at the group of students. They were just a bunch broke-looking kids. Management had given strict orders that the front-row VIP seats were reserve? for very important people. There was no way these students were V.I.P.s.


    "You should probably check," Ferdinand urged, fanning the mes. "If they''re esteemed guests, you


    should escort them inside. But i et


    they don''t have tickets... well, maybe you could get them to move so they''re not blocking the way for everyone else."


    "You say you have front-row VIP seats. Do you have tickets?" the staff member asked, thinking Ferdinand had a point. He eyed a male student suspiciously.


    The student couldn''t produce a ticket and looked helplessly at Juniper.


    Juniper frowned. Why would she need physical tickets? Shanley had said someone would be here to meet them.


    "Pfft—” Seeing Juniper''s reaction, Ynda let out another snort ofughter. "If you don''t have tickets, then stop putting on a show. Just get out of the way."


    "You''re just making a scene," the staff member said, his patience wearing thin. Seeing that none of them had tickets, he assumed they were just delusional fans trying to cause trouble. "Go on, moveat. If you don''t have tickets, stand over there and stop blocking the entrance


    the actual audience."


    For


    Besides, the real V.I.P.s would be arriving any minute, and he couldn''t afford any screw-ups.


    No one moved. Instead, they all stared anxiously at Juniper.


    What was going on? Hadn''t Juniper said everything was taken care of? Had something gone wrong?