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point?’
    â€˜The point is no one gets on the plane! They see your list but they don’t choose a name. And then they don’t even come back to the site.’
    â€˜And that’s their problem!’
    â€˜It’s not their problem, Andrei. It’s your problem. If you want them to use— Oh, sorry.’
    They had stopped as they argued, and a couple of girls wanted to get past on the pavement. They stepped back and let them through.
    â€˜Put in a gender filter,’ murmured Kevin, as they watched the two girls go.
    â€˜It’s not a dating site!’ cried Andrei in exasperation.
    â€˜Look, the gender filter’s not important,’ said Ben. ‘It’s the sense of journey. And the sense of being … wanted. I don’t know. Somehow, if you can get that, maybe you can do something with this.’
    Andrei was staring after the girls.
    â€˜Andrei?’
    â€˜You like one of them?’ said Kevin, glancing at the girls walking away from them. ‘The one on the left, she’s kind of hot.’
    â€˜I …’ For a moment Andrei continued to stare. Then he turned.
    â€˜Hey!’ said Kevin. ‘Aren’t you coming to eat?’
    Andrei was heading back to the quad.
    â€˜You want us to bring you something back?’ called out Ben.
    Andrei had broken into a kind of run. He turned a corner, and was out of sight.
    â€˜Well that was … odd,’ said Kevin.
    Ben nodded.
    â€˜Should we go after him?’
    â€˜Why?’
    Kevin shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’
    Ben punched him on the shoulder. ‘Come on. Let’s eat.’
    They went on to Ricker. Inside, they picked up trays and joined the queue. A few places ahead of them in the line was Dan Cooley. It had become second nature for them to glance at Dan Cooley’s feet whenever they glimpsed him.
    Three stripes!
    Kevin and Ben looked at each other, expressions of incredulity breaking out on their faces.
    â€˜Hey, Dan,’ Kevin said, taking a couple of steps forward, around the queue. ‘Nice sneakers.’
    Dan nodded.
    â€˜When did you get them?’
    â€˜I just bought them.’
    â€˜Cool. But aren’t they Adidas? You like Nike, right?’
    Dan looked at Kevin curiously, his mouth gaping a little, wondering how Kevin Embley, who he had spoken to maybe twice in his entire life, knew about that.
    A few other people in the queue and at nearby tables were grinning.
    â€˜Don’t you like Nike?’ asked Kevin.
    â€˜I … changed my mind,’ said Dan. The look of confusion on his face had grown deeper. He glanced around. Quite a few people were laughing now. A whisper was running around the dining hall. ‘What’s going on?’ he said.
    â€˜Don’t you know, you butthead?’ yelled somebody from a table. ‘Kevin’s the guy you’ve been talking to sneakers about!’
    Cooley stared. Now there was utter silence in the dining hall.
    â€˜Are you Jeff?’ he murmured.
    Kevin stared back at him.
    Dan Cooley dropped his tray. ‘There are rules here against that kind of thing, you know!’ he yelled, and he ran out of the dining hall in his new Adidas sneakers.
    There was laughter again.
    â€˜Dude, is there a rule against that?’ whispered Kevin.
    Ben shrugged.
    Kevin glanced around. People were looking at them now. ‘Shit,’ he whispered. ‘This doesn’t feel good.’

5
    SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED inside Andrei’s head on that walk to Ricker. The arguments and conversations that had been brewing for so long inside his mind had formed a thick, fermenting mist that had seemed to be getting denser and darker, but suddenly all the murk and muck were blown away in one gigantic, cleansing explosion and he was left with pure, piercing clarity.
    He got it. He absolutely got it. A gigantic list of names was way too impersonal, and way too intimidating. People wanted to connect with people .