“I understand.”
“But, if you were to guess that a student had purchased an identical flash drive to yours, mailed it to a programmer at Google who created a special program to make Marathon go haywireandcreated the student’s contest submission too, then swapped it out with your drive the day of the competition, then swapped itbackto your original flash drive when he got Marathon to stop going crazy so you assumed it was your program…” Professor Chertok caught his breath. “Well, you would be a very good guesser.”
Matty’s eyes burned with anger. He had never met a bully quite like Kelvin, someone so dead set against him. He sort of pitied Kelvin for hating him so much. Matty didn’t mean to be the center of his universe.
“How did you find out?”
“Your friends came to me with proof. An email trail, the flash drive in question, and Amazon receipt for the flash drive.”
“My friends?” That was a new concept for Matty, that phrase associated with him. He couldn’t believe that others would stand up for him.
“Quite a few of them! They were adamant that I give you a second chance, especially one person in particular. He would not let up.”
“Who?”
Professor Chertok shrugged his shoulders. “He was definitelynotan engineering student.”
Matty had an inkling of an idea and found a smile slip onto his lips.
“This competition wasn’t part of the curriculum. You understand that, correct? It was a completely optional part of class and has no effect on your grade.”
Matty nodded.
“However, we have the final coming up. If you do really well on that, it should counteract that failed quiz from a few weeks ago.”
“And I will. That curve won’t know what hit it.”
“Good. That should get your grade up to an A-minus.”
Matty never thought he’d be so elated to receive an A-minus. He would just ignore the minus part.
“Also, I have a colleague who’s working on an interdisciplinary project in the School of Public Health about the future of home health care workers. I think he might like to see your program.”
“Really? You thought it was good.”
“I thought it was nice,” he said. “I believe there’s an opening on this research project for undergraduate assistants. If you’re interested in applying, I would be amenable to writing you a recommendation.”
Matty went speechless. Professor Chertok laughed at the site, possibly the first time he’d ever laughed on record. He slapped Matty on the back and left the lab.
* * *
When the highof today faded, it was back to the grind. Matty couldn’t rest on his laurels. He was back in the library that night, at his usual, deserted table. Finals were just around the corner. But he couldn’t completely concentrate. He had written so many drafts of a text to Coop, thanking him for what he did. He sent none of them. His responses were all lacking. Matty wanted to do more than thank him, but he didn’t know how to say it. He wasn’t used to people going out of their way to help him.
The loudspeaker rustled to life. “Attention,” the librarian droned. “Attention. We have a special presentation tonight.”
Matty hated these announcements. Nobody ever went to these presentations unless they were trying to suck up to a professor.
More rustling came from the loudspeaker until a voice became clear. “Wassup Browerton Library.”
Matty’s ears perked up. He wondered if that voice sounded familiar, but it must’ve been static. Matty shook it off.
“Gettin’ your studying swerve on for your big, bad final exams? Well, it might be time for a study break.”
His head bolted up again. He stared at the ceiling, letting his ears do all the work. The sound of beatboxing came through the scratchy speaker. He was bobbing his head without thinking. He knew that beat.
I know that beat!
“You’re sittin’ at your table. Not a person in sight/Got your books and notebooks and everything just right/But now I’m hoping that you’ll want to take flight/Cuz I’m just the guy to take you out for the night.”
