- The first time we meet Colin, he's in the bath, freshly dumped and super depressed about it. The girl he was with was named Katherine, and—get this—she's the nineteenth (yes, 1-9) girl with that name to dump Colin.
- So it's no surprise the guy is a downer, sitting in his bathtub alone.
- We also learn that Colin is a child prodigy, and that he wants to have his own eureka moment. He remembers reading that Archimedes made a big discovery in the bath and cried out Eureka!, and he desperately wants to have that moment for himself.
- After he gets out of the bath, Colin's parents want to talk to him. Uh-oh—this can't be good… parents never ask to talk if they want to share good news. Colin hopes Katherine has called anyway, but knows she won't.
- It turns out Katherine has called, but not for him. Instead, she called his dad and said she's worried about Colin. They want to make sure he's okay since he doesn't take break-ups all that well.
- His parents are shocked Katherine broke it off; Colin can't understand it either, and he just wants to be alone.
- Then he decides to give the old yearbook a gander. He got it a whopping four days ago, and decides to read through everyone's inscriptions. There's the usual stuff (stay cool) and a bunch of references to pupillary sphincter… Shmoop has no idea what that means, but is sounds important and we're hoping Colin'll explain it later on to us.
- Then he comes to Katherine's inscription which says that she loves him and she'll be his forever. Yeah right, Katherine.