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stolen drone and got my exam thrown out,” he said, and Summer grinned.
    â€œSorry about the migraine last night,” Summer said brightly.
    Peri shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. You do what you need to do to save your anchor, the hell with the rest. If nothing else, I’ve got a big list of what not to do next year.”
    Allen cleared his throat, clearly not sure if she was being sarcastic or not. Silas was betting she wasn’t.
    â€œAnd what would you have done?” Allen asked as he took his glasses off and dropped them in his shirt pocket. “There were six agents on site and one goal.”
    Peri beamed. “There was one retired agent on site,” she said, and Allen froze when she reached out and tightened his tie. “Watching six students and one lab rat trying to play pin the tail on the box of chocolates.”
    Lab rat?
    â€œIf it had been me,” Peri said as she dropped back from Allen, his ears now a flustered red, “I would have gone into Professor Milo’s office the night before and replaced the chocolates in the box with fuzzy troll babies.”
    Silas chuckled, smile fading when three couples took their table, pushing their used glasses to the front, where a waitress whisked them away.
    â€œYeah?” Allen said antagonistically as Summer began casting around for another table, but the place was full.
    â€œYeah.” Peri cocked her head coyly. “It’s a win-win either way. If I got the box on task, I win. If I didn’t get the box on task, it’s still a win because I already have the chocolate.”
    It made sense in a warped and twisted way. Just the thing a retired, bored Opti-agent-turned-schoolteacher would find amusing. “And if you got caught in Milo’s office?” he asked.
    Peri smiled as she turned to him. “I’d still call that a win. I’d probably be put on suspension, but I’d have the kudos for trying.”
    There was that, and Silas’s hand tightened around Summer’s waist.
    â€œI hear you all have to wait six months to retake,” Peri said. “If someone tried that with me, I’d trash the grading computer so everyone had to retake. They won’t make everyone wait to graduate, and if they run them again . . .” Peri smirked, turning to the jukebox to make another selection.
    â€œThat’s not a bad idea,” Allen said softly.
    Suddenly wary, Silas stopped looking for another table. “What,” he said flatly.
    â€œWe could do that!” Allen said with wide-eyed enthusiasm. “We could break into the registrar’s office and wipe out everyone’s grades for the semester.”
    Summer began to laugh. “Allen, love. They back those up,” she said, and Silas frowned, wishing Allen would let it go.
    â€œSo we put the system in a death spiral instead,” Allen said, waving his arms and inching into Peri’s personal space. “It will have the same effect. If they can’t reboot, they can’t post grades. Silas knows how to do that.”
    â€œAnd everyone on campus knows it,” Silas said as Peri pushed Allen right back with a stiff finger. Silas hid a smile, enjoying how the woman was reading everyone quickly and correctly. His smile faded. Something had hurt her in the past, something that made her good at assessing people fast. But most drafters were like that.
    â€œWhich means nothing if they can’t prove it was you,” Allen persisted. “It will take months to rebuild. Win-win,” he said brightly. “Either we do it and they let us graduate with everyone else due to the general disarray, or we fail and deserve being held back.”
    Summer gave Silas a weary look. Silas agreed. Allen’s expression darkened upon seeing it. “What are they going to do?” Allen said. “Kick us out of the program? We’re too valuable.”
    Well, Silas was valuable, and Summer, being