Food. Need food. That was the mantra in Reid's head after a six-hour coding jag. His right hand ached across the knuckles, but that was more about how hard he'd hit the bag, last night than the keyboard. Should take better care of his hands. Needed them. Running, lifting, kickboxing would be safer. Food. Need food.

He stepped out into the day and shut his eyes as the sun blinded him. When was the last time he'd stood in the sun? Months. Before the semester began. He'd been toting roof tiles, trying to pay attention to what he was doing so he didn't step off a beam and go through the insulation, land in some unlucky householder's kitchen covered in plaster dust and itchy fibers.

It smelled good out here. Air that wasn't tainted by the odor of stale coffee, rotting fruit peel and a pile of laundry that needed doing. That didn't smell of two students working in a small room with no window not designed as a workspace.

"Hey man, you going to move?"

He shifted to let a group of students get through the door and tipped his face up to the sun, feeling it prickle on his skin and filter though his body, forcing a groan out of his mouth. He should get more sunshine. It was affordable, a quick fix, for aches and pains and a spirit lifter. Not that his spirit was low. This was where he was meant to be.

His stomach growled. Food. He'd come out for food, because he couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten, there was no more of the curry Dev made and he'd started to feel lightheaded.

Now he felt hot and lightheaded.

Where was Dev anyway? He'd been there, on the other side of Reid's desk and then when Reid next looked up, he simply wasn't. He hadn't heard him go.

A girl brushed his arm as she went past. That's when he realized he was standing on the walkway like an idiot while the rest of Stanford navigated around him. But that's because his head wasn't here, it was back in his room, trying to figure out why that code hadn't done what he'd wanted it to do. His stomach however was most definitely standing in the sunshine and rumbling.

Twenty minutes. That's all he should need. Find food. Eat food. Go back to his room and get that fucking code to work. At some point he had to hand in an assignment, because he still needed to graduate, in case he couldn't crack the unicorn idea and crash out of school to do a Gates/Zuckerberg.

So far the unicorn code cracking had been a giant stinking ball of shit. There was a job search somewhere in his future and it was dumb to resent that. Having a decent job in the IT industry meant he'd never have to go back home and work as a roofer, do odd laboring jobs again. He still resented it. He didn't want a job. He wanted to moon walk, do something no one else had done before.

He just wasn't sure how he was going to get anyone to believe he was capable of being anything more than a crack programmer, an ace engineer.

Except Dev.

Dev already had him fitted for moon boots.

And there was something disturbing about how that made him feel. Like it might legitimately be possible to be something more than the weird, awkward loner whose study was part funded by a church scholarship, who forgot to eat, and stood numbly in the sunshine making people walk around him.

One foot in front of the other, heat on the back of his neck. He should've shaved, probably. Needed a haircut. Needed a new logic that . . .

"Watch where you're going?"

"Huh."

"Lughead."

Short people. They were a hazard. They had no idea how easy they were to walk into.

It was the short people who alerted him to Dev. He'd have walked past otherwise. He almost did anyway. Dev was talking to a chick, lots of hair and big sunglasses. They sat on the lawn and whatever Dev was saying made her laugh. Dev was good at that, making people feel at ease. He was a kind of savant. It was no effort at all for him to make other people smile, laugh, want to spend time with him. That Dev wanted to spend time with Reid was one of life's mysteries but he'd come to accept it like he accepted alien life existed without proof. It had an internal logic he trusted.

Reid squinted at them. If he went back the way he'd come, he could avoid them. He'd see Dev later and he didn't want to interrupt. Maybe Dev was trying to score. He should watch, it might be instructive. Hah.

Nope. Total distraction.

He swung around to go back the way he'd come. He had enough to worry about without some chick messing with his head. Once, he'd let that happen once. That had been instructive. And sex, half his class were out of their heads chasing tail and getting laid. Someone was always crying in the corridors, smack talking in the gym. Who needed the hassle of that?

"Reid." Dev was on his feet, calling across the lawn. Anyone else, he'd keep walking, but he couldn't do that to Dev. There was a possibility he might actually starve without Dev bringing him food on the regular.

He lifted his hand, a half-hearted wave. "Check you later."

"Sandwich." Dev lifted a paper bag and waggled it.

He was so hungry his stomach was stuck to his ribs and he could taste bile. Will socialize for food. He picked his way across the lawn to Dev.

"Sarina Gallo, this is my lab partner, Reid McGrath."

Sarina smiled up at him. She patted the grass beside her. "Sit. You're blocking the sun."

He sat. Dev handed him the paper bag. He scarfed the sandwich while Sarina asked him questions to which he alternatively nodded and shook his head until she said, "When was the last time you ate?"

He shrugged. Dev said, "When was the last time you slept?"

"Sleep is for pussies," he mumbled, but the food, the sun, he could sleep, right here on the lawn. "I'm close." Too close to stop now.

"He's written this algorithm," Dev said, "It's genius." Reid tuned out, letting the sun and the calories trickle thought his body, as Dev explained what they were trying to build.

"Your own start-up. Impressive," Sarina slid her glasses off. "I should get a picture of you both so I can say I knew you before you were rich and famous."

"Just the code so far," said Dev.

Not even. The code didn't work, and Reid wasn't naïve enough to think the code alone was a business.

"But it's a start. Reid has a vision."

He had a headache. He should get a pair of cheap sunglasses if he was going to sit around in the sun wasting time. He didn't so much have a vision, he had an obsession and he couldn't think past it to achieve basic health and hygiene. He looked around the lawn: groups laughing, dude with a guitar, a couple making out. A different experience to the one he was living. Did he want to sit on the lawn trying to look cool with an instrument or argue about which superhero was primo, like the two losers to his left? Not a fucking chance.

"So out with it?" Sarina said.

She didn't really want to know, no one outside the lab did, but Dev was grinning at him so maybe this was part of the mating ritual he didn't grok, and he didn't want to fail Dev, so he told Sarina he wanted to revolutionize the way people worked in teams, make it more efficient, logical, create time saving tools and mechanisms to allow for creativity, for handing work off and allowing deep collaboration, and the surprising thing is she took her sunglasses off and her eyes didn't glaze over.

"That's it," he said, knowing he struggled to find the right words to express himself clearly and probably sounded insane using words like revolutionize. "Don't expect you to get it."

"He doesn't mean to be rude. He's nutrient deficient," said Dev.

Sarina laughed and put her glasses back on. Reid squinted at her. Mostly people didn't laugh at him. Mostly they avoided him. He needed to get back. He had work to do. He didn't have the luxury of sitting around in the sun like a loser.

"I know your type," she said.

"Type? Are you one of those social sciences majors who think we're all motivated by the same core values or character traits or some crap?"

"What if I am?"

"You're going to put a label on me and expect me to behave like a text book cut out. "It's bullshit."

"Reid," Dev hissed. "Play nice with the other students."

"Vague experimentation and subjectivity. Never made anything happen. Waste of time."

"I'm sorry, he's so, he's so . . .he can't do people," said Dev.

Sarina looked at Dev. "You don't have to apologize for him, but it's cute you want to."

If Dev could see his face—pink, and nothing to do with the sun. "I'm out." Reid got to his feet. He could eat again, but he'd rather be working.

"Won't surprise me if you do it," she said.

"Do what?" He'd almost forgotten her existence. Dev looked at her as if she was the reason there was a sun.

"Break things. Make new stuff happen."

"Why would you say that?" He'd been rude to her and she didn't care.

"Because I'm one of those social science waste of time majors and you have a way about you that makes me think your part bulldozer."

"Usually that's a complaint."

"You're not trying to dig the usual hole."

"I have to go." He turned to pick a path across the crowded lawn. What were all these people doing out here in the middle of the day? Didn't they have classes to attend?

"I'm keeping, Dev."

He swung back around. Dev had never worn a smile so freaking enormous. "What does that mean?"

"He tripped over me. He's smart and funny and I like him."

Dev batted his big cow eyes at her. "You do?" Fricking hell, now he'd be useless. There'd be time wasted. There'd be crying and smack talk.

"I do." She looked up. "I might like you too, Reid, if you gave me a chance."

"I don't need to be liked."

"You don't need to win a popularity contest, but if you want to change the world you're going to need people who believe you can do it to come with you."

"I've told him that," said Dev.

She shoulder-bumped Dev. "He's not a good listener is he?"

Traitor. "I listen to you, Patel."

Dev shoulder bumped Sarina back. They were both looking at Reid. "He's selective."

He stared them down. "There's too much noise, too many blowhards."

"I agree," Sarina said.

She was right, and it annoyed him. He couldn't do what he wanted to do alone and Dev had been telling him this.

"I could help."

"She could, Reid. She knows people."

He gestured between himself and Dev. "Why would you want to help us?"

"Because you are a mess." He grunted at her and she went on. "Introverted. Socially awkward, deeply hidden inferiority complex, massive ego. But stubborn, focused, intelligence to burn."

All that from him blocking her sun and mauling a sandwich.

He shifted his eyes to Dev. "What did you tell her?"

"We didn't talk about you, doofus."

He went to his haunches. "Is this some kind of party trick?"

"Yes, it's how I pay my tuition. I go around using my bullshit social sciences major to guess people's underlying motivation and my grateful subjects throw money at me."

"Fuck off." He wanted to laugh, but Dev was doing enough of that for both of them.

She shoved his knee so he tipped back on his ass and sat. "You are hard core. I already like you."

"Are you high?" She had to be. Likeable was something he'd never been. Scary, weird, obsessive, loner, he had a lock on those attributes, but likeable was a whole other state of mind. You didn't need to be likeable to succeed.

"High on sunshine and intellectual curiosity and perfectly serious about wanting to help you both get a business up."

"Why?"

She smiled. "Why not?"

"Because I'm a mess apparently."

"But Dev's not and he believes in you. And I can introduce you to other people who will. And then I'm in on the ground floor when you start your revolution."

Mercenary, not hearts and flowers. That he could understand.

"Do you know Owen Lange?" Sarina pointed to a blonde guy. Preppy. Aviator shades, bright white Colgate smile, about Reid's height. He stood with a group at the other side of the lawn.

Reid didn't know anyone outside of the guys in his own stream and no one he could call a friend other than Dev, who took one look at this Owen guy and tried to swallow his lips. Trouble in paradise already.

"Finance major. His family is big in casinos. Wants to start his own business so he can get out from under his dad."

How nice that must be. Come from money and want to make more like it was an optional extra, up-sizing to large fries. "Good luck to him."

"You know how to write a business plan then? How to find backers."

No, but he'd find out. How hard could it be? "What's your point?"

"The network effect works with people as well."

No, it didn't. The network effect was about scaling up new technology, like how a phone was useless unless you knew someone else with a phone and the more people with a phone you knew, the more useful the phone was. He frowned. Oh, wait.

Sarina tapped her temple. "Now he's got it. The more people you know, the more likely to find the people who share your way of looking at the world."

"And that guy."

"Owen."

"You think he might think the way I do?" Fat chance that guy worked as a laborer over spring break. His band t-shirt was probably more expensive than Reid's whole wardrobe. That guy didn't need to make his own revolution happen, it was just a nice to do.

"I don't think anyone quite thinks the way you do. But I think you're smart enough to know you have failings and you'll need to fill in the gaps."

"Consulting your crystal ball again?" It was scarily accurate.

"No, I take cloud readings."

"Funny." He didn't laugh. Dev did.

Reid knew he was smart, worked hard. He also knew where his failings were, he'd planned to bluff past them. "I'm not in the market for partners." Easiest way to get ripped off.

She slapped his knee. "You'd be an arrogant prick if you weren't so insecure."

"Jesus."

"Plus your fly is undone."

"Shit." He shoved his hand over his crotch. It was entirely possible he'd been exposing his Pikachu undies to half the college. But his hand closed over a safely zipped dick.

"Made you look," the two of them chorused, then high fived each other.

"What is this, junior high?" He got his feet back under him and stood again. "How long have you two known each other?"

"We just met," said Dev at the same time as Sarina said, "Forever."

His algorithm, when he got it to work as a web based service, plus Dev, plus this Sarina chick he didn't intimidate, plus her blonde friend, Owen, who could work a business plan plus make sure Dev didn't have a reason to get distracted over a babe and end up crying when there was no way he could pull her anyway. It was something better than a bluff.

"What's your business called?" Sarina said.

"Plus," he shot back, as if he'd thought about that for more than a second. She'd said it first and it was a good fit. He could change it later if he had a better idea.

Behind Sarina, Dev made a face. "Didn't think you had a name for it."

"I do now."

"I like it." She grinned. Did she guess he'd plucked it from her? "Simple, easy to remember, descriptive."

"What happens now?" He'd have to find some way of explaining the software to people who didn't code. Was this even a good idea?

Dev got up and gave Sarina his hand. She took it and stood. He didn't let go while she slipped her shoes on. She had a hoop through her eyebrow. She had a nice smile. She'd said stuff that made sense. She had Dev hanging on her every word. Reid had left his keyboard and come outside for sustenance, because he couldn't keep working without it.

"We see how we go becoming friends," she said.

Not what he'd expected.

"Don't make that face. You need friend's, Reid. You need them for when everything goes great, plus," she made finger quotes around the word, "when it all turns to shit."

He'd come looking for food not friends, and his face no doubt was made of horror show.

"I'm not good at friends. Dev will tell you."

"You're in college, it's all about learning new things."

"I'm only interested in Plus."

She studied him. He didn't know what she'd make of his worn jeans with the white paint stains, his faded tee, filthy runners. He rubbed his chin. Last shave was days ago. But at least he'd showered because he never went a day without hitting the gym so a wash was mandatory. She'd see he wasn't put together and personable like Dev, or a junior tycoon with daddy issues like Owen. But there was nothing he could do about that. He was an arrogant prick and he was insecure and that was the best of it, no point pretending he was slumming it. It's all he'd ever known and she'd see it straight up. Witch.

"We'll see," she said.

He looked over her head at Dev. What the fuck did that mean? Dev just grinned as though it was pay day at the restaurant where he worked. "You could do with having some fun, Reid."

Fun. He wasn't here to have fun. Plus was his ticket to something better. He didn't know this chick and he didn't understand her motives, and fuck, his head thumped, his hand ached. He wasn't hungry anymore but he could sleep for days. People were out in the sun and the fresh air, screwing around with guitars and other people's private parts, having a life. The best thing about the last year had been his friendship with Dev. What if he had two Dev's in his life, three.

"It's just friends," said Sarina. "Start there and who knows what could happen. It could be better for you."

Better together instead of alone.

"I have to code." He waved a hand at Dev. "You run interference with friends."

He'd walked off before he realized he hadn't said goodbye to Sarina. He turned back to find her watching him. She was a cool chick. He'd be lucky to have her as an acquaintance let alone a friend. He gave her a salute because he was a dumbass, but she saluted back, coming to attention and snapping off the gesture as if she was military, while Dev fell about laughing. He rubbed his eyes. If they hadn't been talking about him before they sure would be now.

He liked Sarina's pierced eyebrow. He liked she didn't flinch. Her friend Owen had seen Reid check him out and instead of ignoring it or projecting aggression, he'd given a smile and a nod. Reid knew nothing about business plans and sure, he could learn, but it'd take time he didn't have and he only had so much time before someone else had the same ideas he had. He was a singular near friendless weirdo but he wasn't idiot enough to think isolating himself was the way to win.

Plus. Friends. Potential business partners. Fun. Better Together.

He didn't know what it all meant yet, certainly didn't trust it, could turn out to be a unicorn, an alien abduction experience, but as he hunkered over his keyboard in his musty dorm room, it tasted like nourishment and felt as warm and healing as sunshine, and that was food for thought.

The story continues in Offensive Behavior, Damaged Goods and Sold Short