Don't Mess with the Girl with Candy novel Chapter 373

Juniper stared at Shanley, waiting for him to elaborate.

“It’s nothing,” he said with a helpless sigh, his lips twitching into a faint smile as he met her clear, star-like gaze. He decided to let it go. He hadn’t truly won her over yet, so any talk of making their relationship official was premature. He had time.

“Just relax for a bit. I’ll go make you some soup,” Shanley said, patting her cheek. He stood up, a hint of disappointment in his posture, but was stopped as she suddenly grabbed his hand.

“What is it?” he asked, his voice softening as he looked down at her.

“It’s not the right time,” Juniper said, tilting her head back to look up at him. Her voice was quiet as she spoke. “Are you sure you want people to know that the ‘old man’ is you?”

Shanley froze, not quite understanding. Then, Juniper released his hand, revealing the emblem on her uniform—the Aurora High School crest. If their relationship became public, the backlash wouldn’t just be about him being an ‘old man.’ It would be a full-blown scandal.

The sight of the crest was a sobering reality check. He’d been too hasty. But it was fine. The final exams were less than a month away. He could wait thirty days. He could wait thirty years if he had to.

...

On Monday, the moment Juniper set foot in school, she was met with stares from every direction. The superstar’s sister was a student at their school. Aurora High was really moving up in the world.

“Juniper, here are the results from this week’s exam,” Dolce said, handing her a thick stack of papers as soon as she sat down. “There are 230 students across all five classes. Here’s the list of everyone who improved…” Dolce chattered on. “By my rough calculation, we’ll need about 1,000 of Mr. Tate’s autographed photos.”

Juniper, who had just taken a sip of water, nearly choked. “Weren’t the weekly exam questions supposed to be difficult?”

She had offered the photos as an incentive, but she never expected this many students to succeed.

“They were!” Dolce nodded emphatically. “But everyone has been studying day and night for Mr. Tate’s autograph. The results were amazing this time. The teachers are apparently ecstatic.”

Juniper rubbed her nose, feeling a pang of guilt. A thousand photos. She wondered if Jimmie would regret acknowledging her as his sister.

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