"The scores are out!" Mr. Peterson shouted before the ringtone stopped ringing. "Which one?" Elsa asked, fork paused over a slice of watermelon. "City results. Somebody said they posted them online. Hold my phone." He darted for the living room, slippers scrambling, the screen lighting his face. "Don't make a scene," Mrs. Peterson said, but she already had her tablet up and her fingers moving. "Elsa, smile if you have good news." "Can I finish my watermelon?" Elsa said. "No. Get up." Her father shoved a chair toward the hallway. "Raymond's calling too. It's the whole school." The phone screamed again. Mr. Peterson snatched it and answered before the second ring finished. "Hello? Raymond? Now?" His voice flipped between panic and hope. "Mr. Peterson, is this a bad time?" Raymond's voice came through steady and too formal to be joking. "I needed to confirm before the school office posts the final list." "Confirm what?" Mr. Peterson leaned over the sofa, eyes wild. "Elsa Peterson—number one at Riverside High. 699." Raymond sounded both proud and slightly amused. "Top of our school. A-University is already asking for a meeting." There was a long silence on Mr. Peterson's end. Elsa set her fork down. Her parents stopped moving. "Did you say six-nine-nine?" Mrs. Peterson asked like the numbers might change if she repeated them. "Yes. Six hundred ninety-nine. It's a city-wide thing too. The district's screenshots are rolling in." Raymond laughed