Chapter 48 The Class 3 Guarantee

Chapter 48 The Class 3 Guarantee
When Julie finally stumbled back into her dorm room, she was actually sweating.
On this incredibly rare night without evening study hall, most of her roommates had gone to hang out in other rooms. Only Tania was curled up in bed, playing on her phone. Seeing Julie walk in, she looked up. "Why are you back so late?"
"Don't even ask."
Julie hadn't expected the night to be this chaotic. The more she thought about it, the harder she laughed.
Especially when she remembered the utterly indescribable, horrified expression on Warren's face. The comedic value was completely off the charts.
She laughed to herself for a solid minute. Worried that her sweat-dampened clothes would make her catch a cold, she waved her hand. "I'll tell you everything in a minute! I need a shower first!"
Seeing Julie practically buzzing with joy, and hearing her softly humming a song from inside the bathroom, Tania couldn't help but smile. Is going on a date really that fun? Did they hold hands?
Since nobody was waiting to use the shower, Julie took her absolute sweetest time.
When she finally pushed the door open, steam billowing out behind her like she was stepping out of a fantasy wonderland, her cheeks were flushed bright red. She quickly threw on her thick pajamas, filled her hot water bottle, and shoved it into her freezing bed. Peeking over, she saw Tania's bed looked incredibly warm and cozy. A mischievous idea hit her. She lunged forward, aggressively diving straight under Tania's blankets.
Tania was completely helpless against her. She could only sigh and scoot closer to the wall to make room.
The two girls squished together in the tiny, narrow bunk bed, smiling at each other.
"Keep going," Tania prompted, remembering what Julie had said before her shower. "What were you going to tell me?"
Julie burst into another fit of laughter. "Tania, you completely missed out tonight. It's a massive tragedy you left early."
Tania smiled but didn't say anything. If I hadn't left, what was I supposed to do? Stand there forever? I'm not a literal lightbulb.
"When we were walking back to campus, we walked straight into a massive, theatrical masterpiece." Julie's eyes were practically sparkling. When it came to gossip, she had infinite energy. In her past life, she had heard so much insane industry gossip, but she could only ever share it with her oldest, most trusted friends. Tania was absolutely number one on that list. "A brutal love triangle between two girls and one guy. I'm telling you..."
As she talked, she went completely off-topic. "Warren was so incredibly funny. Honestly, he really deserves that 1500-meter medal. He runs so insanely fast!"
Tania listened quietly. Watching Julie throw her head back and laugh with pure, unadulterated joy, Tania couldn't help but smile too. Alright. If Julie says it's funny, then it's funny.

Maybe it was because she had spent the entire night aggressively gossiping with Tania before bed, but Julie—who normally slept like a rock without any dreams—had an incredibly vivid dream. In the dream, she was running. She was running across an endless, open field, along a pristine white beach, under a sky completely filled with flashing stars.
She could feel someone running right beside her, chasing her, staying perfectly in step. But they were running so fast she couldn't clearly see the person's face, which was already blurry to begin with.
When she woke up, before she could even try to analyze the dream, the very first thing she heard was Lara aggressively reciting the biology study guide the teacher had handed out.
Julie groaned in pure agony, violently covering her ears. She finally understood. The "person" chasing her in her dream was the impending exam!
—
For Julie, this monthly exam didn't bring any massive shocks, but it didn't bring any massive miracles either. The senior year teachers operated with terrifying efficiency. They finalized the grades at lightning speed, and the ranking sheets flew into the students' hands like a blizzard.
Having survived three exams now, Julie was a hardened veteran. She didn't violently cover her eyes in terror before looking at her score anymore. But if you asked her if she was completely calm, that would be a massive lie. Last time, she had prayed to the Buddha. This time, she had desperately prayed to the Virgin Mary. It turned out the cultural barrier was too strong; from now on, she was strictly sticking to the Buddha.
She hadn't done incredibly well this time. Rank 21. It was terrifyingly close—she had only beaten Rank 22 by exactly two points.
Her core subjects—AP Literature, Math, and English—were solid. English was especially strong. Her fatal, bleeding weakness was still the comprehensive science exam.
Damn it all to hell!
Physics, Chemistry, and Biology... I hate you all!
Even after months of relentless, agonizing effort, she had barely managed to claw her way up to the middle of the pack. But the days were violently ticking down. She genuinely wanted to hijack the school broadcast system and blast the song "I Really Want to Live Another Five Hundred Years" at maximum volume.
Warren walked in from the hallway, his eyes immediately darting to her desk.
She was currently resting her face in her hands, aggressively poking her own cheeks, her eyebrows knitted together in deep, agonizing distress.
When it came to bad grades, Warren was spectacularly terrible at comforting people. Back in elementary school, Hugh had completely bombed a test, missing points on several massive questions. Hugh had been so furious he was literally gritting his teeth to hold back tears. Unable to watch him suffer, Warren had offered a few words of comfort that were unfortunately rooted in brutal, objective logic. Hugh got even more furious and screamed at him to shut up.
Should I tell her it's not her fault, and that the teachers just made the test ridiculously hard this time?
Before he could figure out a game plan, Dan slid into the classroom. Like a true hero, he delivered the terrifying warning to the class. Miss Bell is coming, and she has her machete ready. God knows whose head is going on the chopping block today. In a split second, the classroom went from loud chaos to a dead, frozen, terrifying silence.
Bell walked in, her face completely expressionless, holding her thermos.
She slowly swept her gaze over the terrified students. Her eyes stopped and lingered for several agonizing seconds on Julie, who had her head bowed so low it was practically touching the desk.
"I assume you've all seen your scores?" The occupational hazard of being a teacher meant Bell's throat was always raw in the autumn and winter. Fortunately, the class was so dead silent she didn't need to yell. "I won't say too much. You take a lot of tests, but you cannot allow yourselves to grow numb to them. Every single exam is a stepping stone helping you cross the river. You need to know exactly which direction you need to push yourselves next."
Julie was screaming internally.
How am I going to survive this?! I literally wrote 'Rank 20' on my guarantee letter!
Oh my god, Bell is actually going to murder me...
"Alright, enough of that," Bell stopped before she ruined the mood entirely. She smoothly changed the subject. "I have some good news. You'll probably want to hear this. Save your tears for the Gaokao. Everyone, heads up and look at me!"
The terrified little chicks who had been aggressively bowing their heads in repentance instantly snapped to attention, their eyes glowing with desperate hope.
Good news??
How good? Are we getting a month off?!
"The school board is highly concerned about the seniors' mental health," Bell said. "Originally, seniors were banned from participating in the New Year's Gala. But the teachers held a massive meeting and decided that to help relieve the pressure, all senior classes will hold their own private New Year's parties during evening study hall on the 30th."
The bright light in the students' eyes instantly dimmed.
A New Year's party...
Who cares about that? Just give us the day off!
"We'll hold it right here in the classroom. We'll use the class funds." Bell paused. "I want this party done right. Keep it relaxed. The main goal is for you all to actually have fun. If the class funds aren't enough, I'll personally cover the rest. Julie Carven, how about you take charge of organizing it?"
Suddenly being called out by name nearly caused Julie's heart to permanently stop beating. She snapped her head up in pure terror, making direct eye contact with Bell across the room. She was completely paralyzed. "Me?!"
Am I hallucinating?!
She wants me to run it?! But I'm not a committee member! And I'm definitely not Warren!
In that exact second, Julie became the absolute center of attention.
Every single student in the class turned to look at her. Some looked judgmental, some looked surprised, and some looked absolutely thrilled.
Warren unapologetically used the cover of the crowd to turn his head and stare directly at her. Out of all the eyes in the room, his gaze was the most intensely focused.
"You did an incredible job running logistics for Field Day." It wasn't just Andrew Cantu; even Bell had privately kicked herself for not realizing sooner how passionate, energetic, and highly capable Julie Carven was. "I want to hand this over to you. Are you willing to do it?"
Before Julie could answer, Bell looked at the rest of the class. "Or, does anyone have a better recommendation?"
"Miss Bell, I highly and aggressively recommend Julie Carven for the job!" Andrew Cantu shouted instantly, terrified that if he hesitated for even a millisecond, this massive headache would fall directly into his lap. When he first became a committee member, he had been thrilled and full of ambition. But after a few years of this garbage, he felt like he had aged twenty years.
With Andrew leading the charge, the rest of the class looked around. Honestly, they genuinely couldn't think of a better person for the job than Julie.
They all still clearly remembered how perfectly she had handled Field Day.
Everyone started chiming in—
"Julie is perfect for it!"
"Yeah, way better than the actual committee members..."
"Shut up! Do you want to die?!"
Seeing the vibe in the room was so incredibly positive, the bold and fearless Vincent Judge shouted, "Julie! If you're going to take pictures again this time, you have to warn me in advance! I need time to go get my hair styled!"
Bell smiled with terrifying benevolence. "What kind of style are you going for, Vincent? Is your curly mop not enough of a disaster already?"
Vincent desperately tried to defend his honor, wisely choosing not to correct Bell that he was rocking a highly fashionable tin-foil perm. "Miss Bell, it's a natural curl! It's purely genetic!"
Beth and Dan were practically vibrating with excitement. Both of them were aggressively whispering at Julie to accept the job. When one person ascends to heaven, even their chickens and dogs get to go with them!
Julie was incredibly tempted. But she maintained her composure, deciding to put on a show of humble hesitation. "Miss Bell, I've never organized anything this big before. I literally have zero experience."
Bell completely waved off her concern. Out of pure habit, she looked directly at her ultimate right-hand man, Warren Gale. Knowing her top student's personality, she joked, "Warren, I'm handing the New Year's party over to Julie. If she doesn't know how to do something, I expect you to step up and help her. Any objections?"
Gary Blacker was biting his lip so hard to hold back his laughter that he was practically developing an eight-pack.
Objections?!
If that kid actually objected, the sky would literally fall. Seriously, is Miss Bell blind?! How can she not see the massive, uncontrollable smile currently fighting to break out on Warren's face?!
Warren absolutely hadn't expected the conversation to suddenly aggressively pivot to him. Before he could even pull his gaze away, Julie looked right at him. Caught completely off guard, the two of them locked eyes across the sea of students.
She was smiling at him, fully, 100% confident that he would back her up.
Whether it was from nervousness or pure panic, the pen Warren had been spinning slipped through his fingers and clattered onto the floor. He didn't even bother picking it up. He coughed lightly. "No objections. Whatever she wants. Yeah, I can do that. Sounds good."
Bell made the final call. "Then it's settled. Julie, do a great job. If you hit a wall, go find Warren."

For the rest of the class, the New Year's party might not have been the greatest news in the world.
But for Julie, suddenly being handed this massive project made the painful reality of her Rank 21 score feel completely irrelevant!
As for her best friends, they were even more hyped than she was.
Beth grabbed Julie's hands, her eyes burning with ambition. "We are going to make this massive! We are going to build an empire!"
Dan seriously backed her up. "Time to usurp the throne!"
Julie: "? Hold on. Whose throne are we usurping exactly?"
Beth and Dan, practically foaming at the mouth with ambition, both turned their heads in absolute perfect synchronization to stare directly at a specific desk where a certain boy was currently scuffling with his desk mate.
Julie followed their gaze.
As if he could physically feel the sheer weight of their stares, Warren casually turned his head. In that exact second, Gary found an opening and brutally punched him in the shoulder. Thankfully, Warren's legs were long and his core was solid, otherwise he would have violently crashed to the floor. He calmly straightened the violently crooked hood of his sweatshirt, acting like absolutely nothing had happened, and flashed Julie a soft, reassuring smile.