Miranda sat in the high school computer lab typing like mad. It was 8:30 a. m., and her 1,000-word report on The Catcher in the Rye was due at 9:00. For the past hour, she had been flipping through the ratty pages of the old paperback trying to discern the major plot points and then typing out a few sentences that she hoped were logical. The only reason she was able to get into the lab that early was because she was one of Mrs. Brody’s assistants, but a couple of hours in the lab didn’t make up for weeks of zoning out in English class. Miranda could kick herself, but she was too busy skimming through her notes and attempting to remember something—anything!—that Mr. Giuffreda had talked about. Mr. Giuffreda was a tough grader, and Miranda did not work well under pressure—not a great combination. On top of all that, Miranda could hear her mother’s voice in her head: “One more bad grade in English, young lady, and no more soccer team.” Miranda failed to see the relationship between soccer and book reports, but she also knew her mother wasn’t kidding. When she had slacked off in geometry last semester, her mother had taken away her cell phone for a month. Another time, when Miranda had missed her curfew—again and again—she had gotten grounded for two weeks.

Still typing, Miranda thought about Mr. Giuffreda. He expected nothing but the best—and then some. He never gave extensions unless someone had a family emergency, and he had a terrible habit of brushing off even the most creative excuses. Anyway, Miranda didn’t need an extra day or two. She needed time to read the entire novel again. Miranda ran a word count—361. She checked her watch—8:45. She flipped to the end of the book trying desperately to remember the ending, but nothing was coming to her. Why hadn’t she paid attention?

At 8:55, she had a whopping, miraculous 402 words. The homeroom bell had rung five minutes ago, and students were filing into the lab for first period. Miranda’s fingers were still flying, but by 8:59, Mrs. Brody asked Miranda to leave so she could start class on time. Miranda saved her work on her USB drive, collected her pages from the printer, and slung her knapsack over her shoulder. Then she trudged down the hall to Mr. Giuffreda’s class as slowly as possible, even though she knew she would be late and would probably get detention.

Based on the passage, what will Miranda’s mother probably do?
A.
ground Miranda for the next two weeks
B.
find someone to tutor Miranda in English
C.
understand that Miranda tried her best
D.
force Miranda to quit the soccer team