At Era University, Juniper strolled through the ssroom door with her bag just as the bell rang.


    Byron pushed his sses up his nose, simmering with an anger he couldn''t vent. He had been looking for a chance to knock Juniper down a peg, but so far, none had presented itself. But today was a practicalb session. He would finally get to see how his students were progressing. And if someone couldn''t answer a question, or got it wrong, a little scolding was perfectly normal, wasn''t it?


    With that thought, Byron shot a cold re at Juniper before turning back to the lectern to begin his lecture.


    "Hi, Goddess." As soon as Juniper sat down, students around her greeted her warmly.


    "Hey," she acknowledged with a slight nod. As she went to put her bag away, she discovered her desk cubby was overflowing with all kinds of snacks.


    She shot Hattie a questioning look.


    "Everyone in ss pitched in. They know you like snacks," Hattie whispered, hoisting up arge bag from the floor. It, too, was packed to the brim. “Here, all for you."


    Juniper leaned over and rummaged through the contents, silently giving a thumbs- up. Nice. Whoever brought the spicy beef jerky deserved a specialmendation.


    "Pay attention,” Byron''s sharp voice cut through the air as he noticed Juniper''s distraction. He tapped the ckboard for emphasis. “Don''t think you can ck off just because you did well on the entrance exam. That score means nothing to me. Plenty of people want to studyputer science, but very few actually seed."


    He paced in front of the ss, his voice dripping with disdain. "All of you, obsessed with food and fun. How many of you are actually focused on your studies?"


    The cheerful mood in the ssroom instantly soured. The students'' faces fell as they listened to Byron''s passive-aggressive tirade.


    Was this even aputer science ss? All they ever heard from him was how useless they were.


    They much preferred Professor Tucker, whose sses were engaging, humorous, and far less stressful.


    "Open yourptops!" Byronmanded, his hands sped behind his back as his cold gaze swept over the freshmen. "Today, I''m doing a spot check on your progress."


    Progress? A collective groan rippled through the ssroom. They had only been learning this for a few days. How could he spring a pop quiz on them without any tinge review?


    "A few days ago, we went over the C programmingnguage..." Byron began, already calling on a student.


    The student stood up, their face pale and their heart pounding. Luckily, the question was simple, and they answered it in a few sentences.


    The next few students also answered their questions correctly.


    "Next..." Byron''s eyes scanned the room, finallynding on Juniper. “Juniper, please stand up and answer a few questions."


    Juniper put down her pen and dutifully stood up.


    "Listen carefully to the question..." Worried that his bias might be too obvious, Byron made the first question exceptionally easy.


    "...and that''s about it," Juniper answered, her response quick and concise.


    "Second question..." Byron increased


    the difficulty, staring directly at her. "I mentioned this in a previous


    lecture. If you were paying attention,"


    You


    should be able to answ


    "The reasonputers can perform automatic calctions is due to the stored- program concept," Juniper cut in, answering before he had even finished his sentence.


    Her answer was perfectly urate.


    Though it was a basic


    freshman level question,


    remembering it verbatim was


    impressive, especially since it was a minor detail Byron had only


    mentioned in passing.