Nora and Sophie had been best friends since first grade. This year they were a team in the school robotics competition, and for six weeks they spent every afternoon building a small robot that could follow a line on the floor.
Three days before the competition, the robot stopped working. Nora wanted to change the program. Sophie wanted to change the wheels. They argued for an hour, and finally Sophie shouted, "Fine! Do it alone, since you always know best!" She took her bag and left.
That night, Nora couldn't sleep. She tried to fix the program by herself, but nothing worked. She realized that the robot had never been only hers. Sophie had built the body, and Nora had only written the code.
The next morning, Nora waited for Sophie at the school gate. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't listen to you. Let's try your idea." Sophie was quiet for a moment, and then she smiled. "Let's try both," she said.
It turned out that both of them were partly right: one wheel was loose, and there was a small mistake in the program. On the day of the competition, the robot followed the line perfectly. They came second, but they didn't mind. They had something more important than a prize — they still had each other.