- Colin is still wallowing in self-pity when his buddy Hassan comes over. Hassan has to pee but is disgusted when he finds Colin's puke in the bathroom. He's outraged that Colin could forget to flush when it comes to something so gross (and frankly, so are we).
- Hassan's a Muslim and always slipping in comments about what is and isn't haram, which is an Arabic term meaning something is sinful.
- The two guys chat for a while, and their conversation basically consists of Colin saying he wants to die because Katherine left him and Hassan telling Colin to get over it.
- But Colin doesn't get over the break-up that easily, though we suspect this has more to do with Colin in general, and less to do with Katherine specifically.
- We get us a little back-story on Colin's life: he's a prodigy, which means he can learn very quickly, and he's really interested in the distinction between prodigies and geniuses… and he is most certainly, absolutely a prodigy, not a genius.
- What does all this have to do with Katherine? Colin feels like he was special when he was with her, like he mattered, and now he feels like he's just a washed up prodigy with no girlfriend, no nothing.
- In short, Colin just wants to matter, and right now he thinks he doesn't.