Juliana Taylor said in a cold voice, "Speaking of Cara Preston's essay, I was truly disappointed. Both its central idea and its argumentation were merely average."
She then looked at Vera Xavier and said, "Vera Xavier's essay, however, was a breath of fresh air. It had a clear concept, a distinct theme, a logical structure, and concise, polished language. The teacher who graded it, Cooper, originally wanted to give her a perfect score. He only deducted two points to keep her from getting arrogant."
She looked at the entire class and said, "If any of you are interested in their essays, I'll post them next to the blackboard after class. You can read them for yourselves."
Elise Langdon pouted at Cara Preston. "With that dumb look of hers, there's no way Vera Xavier could write a decent essay. What a joke!"
Cara Preston had been slapped in the face twice in a row today, so she didn't dare speak out of turn. She even tugged on Elise Langdon's sleeve. "Elise, stop."
