“Keep hope alive. For me.”
Rafe’s lips quirked, as if maybe some of what Coop said actually got through.
Coop felt a tap on his shoulder. He swiveled around to find all three Catan guys.
“Hey, guys.”
“Hey, Coop! We haven’t seen you around. We wanted to see how Matty was doing,” Akash said.
Coop glanced at Rafe for support in this awkward conversation. “Well, Matty and I…we broke up.”
They looked visibly upset. Coop was glad to see people cared about them.
“That sucks,” Tim said.
“Matty was the better Catan player anyway,” Coop said. He wanted to keep hanging out with them. They were good guys, but he didn’t know how that worked in break-ups. They were Matty’s friends first.
“Don’t be a stranger,” Tom said. “You definitely livened up our game.”
“Thanks.” Coop flashed back to him and Matty trying to trade with Tom, the heat of competition and attraction burning between them. At least he got to keep the good memories. “I’ll see you guys around.”
But something stood out in Coop’s head over what Akash said. He caught up to them by the coffee cart.
“Why did you ask me how Matty was doing?” Coop zeroed in on Akash. “You haven’t seen him?”
They all shook their heads no. They were Matty’s closest friends.
“Is he okay?” Coop asked.
“We’ve tried texting him, but he doesn’t respond,” Akash said. “We wanted to see how he was doing after the video.”
“What video?”
The Catan guys traded nervous looks. Coop wanted to know their secret.
Rafe joined their circle, just as worried as Coop. “This one. I just found it.”
He handed Coop his phone. Matty was on his screen. He was in the lab for that competition probably. It was a full house, and Matty was in his element showing off his algorithm. Coop wondered if he won. Not like Matty would let him know.
“So?” Coop asked at the video.
They all gestured for him to keep watching. Coop felt the color drain from his face as he watched the robot go completely berserk.
“Holy shit.”
“Look at the comments,” Rafe said, with caution in his voice.
Worst student ever.
He should be arrested. He turned that robot into a weapon!
#Frankensteinfail
“The video’s gone viral in engineering circles all over. My friend at Carnegie Mellon showed me the link,” Akash said.
Coop wanted to reach through the screen and surround Matty in a hug and make this all go away.
“You should see how he’s doing,” Akash said.
