\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGreat white, beautiful fish,\u201d said Billy Olson.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks,\u201d said Mark Zuckerberg.<\/p>\n
*<\/p>\n
\u201cWho should we send it to first?\u201d Eduardo asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cDwyer,\u201d said Dustin.<\/p>\n
\u201cNeal,\u201d Chris suggested.<\/p>\n
*<\/p>\n
\u201cChris, the first thing you can do is get us a story in the BU student newspaper,\u201d said Mark. \u201cIt\u2019s the Bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey hate<\/em> doing stories about Harvard,\u201d Chris complained.<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n Dustin was coming back from his economics class. He had hours of homework to do today, and all he wanted was to sit in front of the TV and watch something good and long to get his mind off of it. Maybe he could goad Mark and Chris into watching Star Wars again for the umpteenth time. Or Gladiator.<\/p>\n Chris was on the couch when he got home. He was already watching something. Dustin threw his bag onto the couch and flopped down beside him.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatcha watching\u2019?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n Chris nodded toward the TV. \u201cShark week\u2019s on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n They watched for a while. It seemed to be an endless episode (it was about forty minutes long.) Dustin soon got bored and went to bother Mark about something.<\/p>\n Chris continued watching.<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n Facebook was expanding. It was always expanding, and Mark couldn\u2019t be happier that he\u2019d put Chris in charge of social and events. Not only did Chris have the friendly boy-next-door look, but he always managed to rope in good conversations and interviews. Mark was pleased with how fast Facebook was spreading.<\/p>\n He came into Chris\u2019s room, fiddling a pen between his fingers. It was March and spring break was next week. \u201cThink we can hit NYU before next week?\u201d he asked Chris.<\/p>\n Chris was reading a magazine article about sharks.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t look up, but Mark took that as a yes. \u201cDo we have a meeting with Washington Square yet?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n Chris finally looked up. \u201cThey hate<\/em> doing stories about Harvard,\u201d he emphasized to Mark.<\/p>\n Mark rolled his eyes. \u201cThis is something they\u2019re gonna want. We\u2019ve got Columbia already; WSN should be begging to have an interview with us.\u201d<\/p>\n Chris flipped a page in his newspaper.<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n The suite was lively when Eduardo came in. Dustin was blowing stuff up on the Xbox. Mark was tapping away at his desk.<\/p>\n Chris was sitting next to Dustin on the couch. He was on the phone, talking to someone.<\/p>\n \u201cHey, what\u2019s up?\u201d Eduardo asked, balancing himself on the armrest. He glanced at Mark, as per routine.<\/p>\n \u201cYo, Wardo,\u201d said Dustin, mashing buttons furiously on the Xbox controller, his tongue sticking out. \u201cWhat\u2019s new?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJust a club meeting.\u201d Eduardo shook his head.<\/p>\n He glanced to the other end of the couch. Chris was laughing quietly into his phone, saying something.<\/p>\n \u201cWho\u2019re you talking to?\u201d Eduardo asked him.<\/p>\n Chris mouthed, \u201cNeal.\u201d<\/p>\n Eduardo nodded, and then shrugged to himself. Mark didn\u2019t move from his room, typing furiously, before stopping every once in a while and reading over whatever he had just done. He usually ignored anyone who came in, including Eduardo and Billy Olsen.<\/p>\n And Neal. If he ever came by. Whoever he was. Eduardo had never met him before.<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n Facebook moved out to California. Chris stayed at the house for the second half of the summer, because unfortunately he had to spend the first half with his family, back at home. He\u2019d rather be in California. It was near the sea. Sharks lived in the sea.<\/p>\n They didn\u2019t film Shark Week here, though\u2014that was in Maryland. Chris wondered idly if he could persuade his family to visit Maryland.<\/p>\n They said no, but when he arrived at California, it turned out that Dustin had gotten him a whole box set of Shark Week as a greeting present. \u201cSince that\u2019s all you seem to watch,\u201d he\u2019d chortled.<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n Dustin was coding away at his desk, but he could hear Chris chuckling in the other room.<\/p>\n \u201cWho\u2019s he talking to?\u201d he asked Mark who was sitting on the couch. Mark had his head rested on a propped elbow and didn\u2019t respond. He\u2019d probably accidentally dozed off.<\/p>\n Neal, Dustin figured. Chris was always talking to Neal. And watching Shark Week. (It was the only thing under \u201cTV Shows\u201d on Chris\u2019s Facebook profile.) Dustin wondered if Neal had a Facebook page.<\/p>\n Inspired, he went to Chris\u2019s profile and loaded all his friends, before doing a quick find for anyone named Neal. Nope. He tried the other spellings too, even though he\u2019d seen the caller ID on Chris\u2019s phone before.<\/p>\n Nothing came up. Dustin was stumped. He made a mental note to tell Chris to this Neal guy\u2014who went to Harvard, they all knew that\u2014to make a Facebook. Everyone did.<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n Sean Parker had met the rest of the Facebook crew\u2014young kids filled with energy, ready to guard the site at any second. Mark\u2019s head programmer was easily distracted but just as focused as Mark, and all the interns were loyal and stayed up to odd hours to make sure that the site was functioning while implementing new features. Sean couldn\u2019t have been prouder.<\/p>\n The only person he couldn\u2019t quite figure out was Mark\u2019s PR guy, Chris Hughes. He was a nice guy, sure. He wasn\u2019t even bad looking, another plus.<\/p>\n But\u2014<\/p>\n Sean was unceremoniously shoved off the couch one evening, when Chris came him and wrested the remote control from his hand without even looking at him. Of course, Sean wouldn\u2019t put up with this nonsense without a fight, so he tried to grab it back. Chris just pushed him to the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cHey!\u201d Sean demanded. \u201cWhat the fuck, dude?\u201d<\/p>\n Chris didn\u2019t look at him, changing the channel with the remote control. \u201cShark week\u2019s on,\u201d was all he said.<\/p>\n Sean glared at him, hoping that Chris would look at him again and cower in fear. When this didn\u2019t happen\u2014Chris seemed much more interested in the sharks gliding about on the TV screen\u2014Sean huffed and headed to the back, with all the interns and programmers.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s up with your PR guy?\u201d he asked Mark, who had been eating Red Vines and talking very fast with Dustin about the Wall.<\/p>\n Mark glanced up at him. \u201cWhat about Chris?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe just\u2014!\u201d Sean gesticulated wildly. \u201cHe just shoved me off the couch! For fucking Shark Week<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh yeah,\u201d Dustin laughed. \u201cHe does that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe does that<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cChris is\u2026\u201d Mark and Dustin looked at each other, exchanging some sort of telepathic communication in the way you do when you\u2019ve lived with a guy for over a year and want to talk about your third roommate without actually saying anything.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s Chris,\u201d said Dustin assuredly.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t worry about it,\u201d said Mark.<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n Stanford hadn\u2019t hated doing a story about Harvard. They\u2019d loved it, actually, making Chris\u2019s life easier. He visited toward the end of the summer, and the Stanford Daily were delighted to see him again. Most of them even remembered his name.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I heard you guys got Cambridge and Oxford, too,\u201d their editor-in-chief, Leah, said.<\/p>\n Chris chuckled and sloshed along the beer that he\u2019d been given. \u201cThey hate doing stories about Harvard,\u201d he told them.<\/p>\n Everyone else laughed.<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n Mark had stopped telling Chris what papers and colleges to go for, but that was mostly because even though he was back at school, Chris was capable of managing it himself.<\/p>\n He was eating lunch with Eduardo, except he was doing more texting than eating. Eduardo was poking thoughtfully at his string beans. After several minutes, he asked Chris, \u201cWho\u2019re you texting?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNeal,\u201d Chris said without looking up.<\/p>\n Eduardo sighed.<\/p>\n Chris continued tapping away at his phone.<\/p>\n Eduardo ate a string bean, before asking, \u201cDidn\u2019t we get, like, Loyola the other day?\u201d<\/p>\n Chris chuckled, still texting. \u201cThey hate doing stories about Harvard.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course they did.<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n After Eduardo had walked out of Facebook, it had effectively put a strain between himself and Chris. Chris talked to Neal about it. Neal was quite supportive of him.<\/p>\n Eduardo knew that Chris was going back to Facebook for at least another year, despite everything. They hadn\u2019t touched the whole world yet. There were still loads of schools and countries they had to tackle. Most of them would probably hate to do a story about Harvard.<\/p>\n But during graduation, Eduardo gave Chris a present before hugging him and leaving. On the plane ride to California, Chris finally had time to take a break and open it up.<\/p>\n It was a Shark Week mug.<\/p>\n Chris beamed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n