* * *
Matty spentthe rest of the week working on his algorithm and getting more than caught up on his regular classwork. He felt more focused than ever, and Coop was his biggest cheerleader. He would swing by and drop off a snack, and they’d take a walking and other-fun-stuff break. Matty would come back to the lab refreshed and recharged. He had unlocked some part of his brain that made him smarter, faster, and stronger.
On the day before the competition, the pressure could be cut with a butter knife in the robotics lab. They were all in the zone. Kids uploaded their programs to Marathon to test them out. Matty didn’t test anything in front of his classmates. He didn’t want to risk giving anything away.
“Hey, Matty.” Kelvin had an air of shadiness about him. Nobody was smiling in the computer lab on a Sunday night except him.
“How’d you do on the latest quiz?”
Matty wasn’t intimidated. Kelvin could learn a thing or two from his childhood bullies. They had more panache. “Fine.”
“Since when is a C-minus considered fine?”
Matty’s head bolted up, eyes blazing open with shock.
“You need to be better about zipping up your backpack. I saw it peeking out. That’squitea grade.”
Linh bobbed up from her screen. “Kelvin, please stop talking. We’re trying to concentrate.”
Matty stood up from his computer. He wouldn’t get bullied in a science lab. It was pretty much his sanctuary. “Kelvin, go back to your computer. I’m busy working on my project. Stop trying to snoop. You’re bad at it.”
Other kids at the computers looked up from their screens, their ears tuned to hear a fight. Kelvin noticed the extra attention.
“I’m just asking you how you’re doing. Geez, Matty, why do you gotta be such an asshole?”
“I’m not. I’m working. Maybe you’re the asshole.”
Mouths gaped open. Nobody was used to hearing Matty talk like this, least of all Matty. But it felt good. It was something he wished he got to do growing up.
“Calm down.” Kelvin plastered on a smirk, very aware of public perception. “Sorry for interrupting you. You don’t need to jump up my ass.”
“Yeah, I got a C-minus on a pop quiz. Deal with it. I am.”
“You were a lot more fun at my party. Maybe you still need lessons on making friends.”
Matty tried to tune him out. He should’ve sat back down, but he wasn’t going to let Kelvin have the last word. “What do you know about friends? The only reason anyone likes you is because you throw parties in your parent’s swanky apartment.”
A few people audibly gasped, and Kelvin’s face burned with rage. Matty worried for a second that he was going to throw a punch, which would be very out of character for an engineering student. The glare he shot Matty would’ve made him piss himself if Matty weren’t giving him the same look back.
But in an eerie turn of events, Kelvin broke out into a smile, a knowing smile. “People actually like spending time with me. Unlike you Matty, I don’t have to pay people to be my friend. Or boyfriend.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I shouldn’t say anything. It’s not my place. You guys are such a cute couple.” Kelvin’s eyes shined with delight, like he was on some bullying sugar high.
“What are you talking about?” Matty asked—no, demanded.
“How much do you know about Coop? Really?” Kelvin walked around the room like he was a star prosecutor giving his summation, and their classmates were the jury.
“Plenty.”
“Did you know that he hires himself out as a date to formals?”
Matty crossed his arms. He wanted to ignore Kelvin, but suspicion made him keep playing along. “Yes.”
“You know what they say. ‘Everyone has to make a living.’”
“But only you have to be a scumbag.”
