"Is that how your ''ident'' happened, Juniper?" Tucker asked, his voice tight with disbelief.


    "Well..." Juniper blinked, her voice shrinking as she tried to exin, or rather, bluff her way through. "I just thought your code was brilliant, so I submitted it on a whim. And what a coincidence, it took first ce!"


    "On a whim?" Tucker looked like he was about to faint. Hisputer, aputer science professor''s machine, was protected by a top-tier firewall. Had a first-year student really bypassed it so easily?


    “But.....” His mind was a mess. He frowned, shaking his head. "Even if I did enter, there''s no way I could have won."


    He didn''t say it outright, but Juniper understood what he meant.


    “About that,” she began, pressing her lips together. “It seems the judging in previous years wasn''t exactly fair, so I wrote an anonymous tip to the organizers. They brought in a whole new panel of judges."


    She continued, "This new panel doesn''t really know Byron, so they judged objectively. It''s only natural that you won."


    “A tip?” Tucker stared at the young girl in front of him, scarcely believing his ears. First, she''d hacked his firewall to register him, and now she was telling him she''d reported the judges? She had told him she didn''t know much aboutputers. Who in the world was this girl?


    “I have to get back to ss,” Juniper said, ncing at the time. “You should take a moment to process your win. And maybe start thinking about which project to use for the internationalpetition." She gestured with her chin. "Don''t forget to eat the snacks."


    With that, she bolted out of theb, not daring to look back at the stunned expression on his face.


    Tucker sat frozen in his chair, Juniper''s words echoing in his mind. It was finally sinking in. This girl was a true prodigy!


    To avoid beingte, Juniper ran all the way back to the ssroom, arriving just in the nick of time. Unfortunately Byron had arrived early, and his mood, already foul, darkened considerably upon seeing her.


    "Do you not know my rules?" he snapped, ring at her without a shred of consideration for her feelings "Showing upte for ss is a sign ofplete disrespect. Stand outside. I don''t want to see you."


    The other students looked up, their faces etched with sympathy. She had walked right into the line of fire.


    "Mr. Byron, Juniper didn''t do it on purpose," Hattie spoke up, unable to stay silent. "Yeah, Mr. Byron, please let it go this time."


    “Besides, she wasn''t even reallyte. She was right on time..."


    Others chimed in, all defending Juniper.


    "What''s this? Are you all suggesting I''m wrongly using her?" Byron''s anger simmered, and he swept a cold gaze over the students, his tone dripping with


    sarcasm.


    The students bit their tongues. They all thought so but didn''t dare say it.


    “Isn''t that exactly what you''re doing?” Just then, Juniper slowly lifted her head. Her eyes, framed by thickshes, were clear and bright as her cool voice cut through the tension.


    "What did you say?" Byron was taken aback. He couldn''t believe Juniper had the audacity to talk back to him in front of the entire ss.


    "Hah." A bitterugh escaped Juniper''s lips. She gave him a sardonic smile and repeated, her voice sharp and clear, "You heard me. You are wrongly using me. I wasn''t date. On what grounds are you punishing me. Not Standing."


    She delivered thest few words with such force and conviction that the other


    students stared, their eyes wide with awe.