Chapter  304

XENOIS The kids had been at it for twenty minutes now, tag--teaming their argument with the kind of coordinated precision that would have been impressive if it wasn't being used to manipulate me and Lumina into letting them stay after school. "It's a robotics club," Ollie was saying, his eyes bright with excitement that I hadn't seen enough of lately. "They meet twice a week and build actual robots that can do stuff. Sarah said last year they made one that could play basketball!" "And it's completely supervised," Riley added, his tone more measured but no less determined. "Mrs. Henderson runs it, and there are always at least two teachers present. We'd literally be in a classroom full of adults the entire time." "Plus it's exactly the kind of normal kid activity you've been saying we should do," Lake chimed in, crossing his arms in a way that reminded me uncomfortably of myself when I was digging in for an argument. "You can't tell us to act like regular children and then say no when w