In fact, from the second Paige walked in, Sheldon was on high alert.
Maybe it was their rocky history, or maybe it was the fact that they were the same age with the same off-the-charts IQ, but Sheldon felt a serious threat to his dominance.
"Your bowtie looks sharp today," Paige said casually, seemingly oblivious to his hostility.
When it came to social skills (EQ), she was definitely on par with Missy. You could even say Paige was like an upgraded software patch that combined the best features of Sheldon and Missy into one efficient program.
That was exactly why Sheldon always felt like he was losing ground to her.
"Thank you," Sheldon replied stiffly. He sat bolt upright, bracing himself for her next "attack."
But Paige had already moved on. After greeting Sheldon, she turned her attention to Mike, who was sitting next to him.
"Mike, what have you been up to lately? Oh, and how was your Halloween? Did you do anything fun?" Paige asked, clearly ready to chat.
"I've been learning some instruments and studying music theory," Mike replied with easy conversation. "As for Halloween, I went to help out at the church…"
Hearing that Mike had dressed up as an angel and helped a girl through a confession made Paige envious.
"Your Halloween sounds actually meaningful," Paige said, before sighing with a complaint. "I actually dressed up as Marie Curie and wanted to go trick-or-treating. But my mom stopped me at the door. She was too afraid it was dangerous for me to go out at night…"
Although Linda's intentions were good, stripping her daughter of the right to just be a kid didn't seem entirely fair. You could see the resentment lingering on the girl's face.
"That's a shame. But hey, there's always next year," Mike said comfortingly.
"Next year? Maybe," Paige said, thinking about the state of her household. She didn't feel very optimistic about the future.
This was the burden of high IQ and EQ; smart people tend to see further down the road than others, and a super-genius like Paige saw too much.
Sheldon, who had his ears pricked up, was waiting for Paige to challenge him. Instead, he overheard her "secret."
Thinking back to his own Halloween—where he was actually recognized (as Spock)—a victorious smile crept onto Sheldon's face.
Feeling like he had won this round by default, he looked down and went back to flipping through his brochure.
[Main Attribute: Intelligence +1]
Sheldon, having gone from stressed to smug in record time, successfully generated a stat orb for Mike.
Wait, did Sheldon just figure out how to farm his own loot?
Mike quietly collected the light orb, glancing at the boy beside him who was now quietly reading his magazine.
He didn't know why Sheldon had suddenly dropped an attribute orb, but Mike was sure of one thing: sticking close to these two little geniuses was definitely the right move.
"Mike, do you have any other fun stories?" Paige asked, pulling Mike's attention back from his thoughts.
Fun stories? Well, Georgie's failed love confession certainly counted.
But Mike wasn't about to gossip about that. After thinking for a moment, he shared the story of Mr. Randy's "Seven Deadly Sins" theater skit. Mike felt that Randy was a genuinely interesting character.
"From the way you describe him, this Mr. Randy sounds like he has a real gift for the arts," Paige commented after listening to the story.
"Randy is definitely talented. And brave, too," Mike added. "He's out there trying to make it big now, determined to direct a classic film."
"Must be nice, doing exactly what you want to do," Paige said. Under her mother's strict control, she yearned for that kind of freedom.
"By the way, Paige. Professor Sturgis has a new physics research project coming up. He wanted me to ask if you'd be interested in auditing it," Mike said, relaying the message.
"A university research project?" Paige looked interested for a split second. But her expression quickly dimmed. "Please thank Professor Sturgis for me, but I probably won't have time to go to UT Austin for a while."
The messy situation at home left the girl feeling lost.
"Is something wrong? You can talk to me," Mike said gently.
He knew a bit about her family situation. If he could help, he would give her a hand.
Looking into Mike's sincere eyes, Paige stayed silent for a long moment. She weighed her words, then started, "I..."
Unfortunately, just as she was about to open up, a female lecturer in her forties walked briskly into the lecture hall, clutching a stack of files.
"Look at this turnout. I guess Natural Sciences are quite popular after all," the lecturer joked as she reached the podium.
When she spotted Paige and Sheldon sitting on either side of Mike in the front row, she looked surprised. "Young man, did you bring these two with you? We actually have a designated waiting room for children, you know."
Clearly, she misunderstood the dynamic, assuming Mike was babysitting.
"No, ma'am. I am here to attend the lecture on Carbon dating," Sheldon said, frowning. He hated being treated like a child.
"Me too," Paige chimed in. She didn't want to be ranked below Mike.
"Actually, they are both high school students," Mike explained.
"Oh, my apologies. I misunderstood," the lecturer admitted warmly, accepting the correction. She smiled and added, "It seems my class doesn't just have a handsome young man, but two child prodigies as well. May I ask, how much do you two know about Carbon dating?"
As mentioned before, people who attend these specialized lectures usually have some background knowledge. Asking was a sign of respect.
"I read your brochure," Sheldon said, holding up the magazine in his hand.
"Very good," the lecturer smiled, though she mentally noted that Sheldon probably didn't know much beyond the basics.
Just a kid after all, she thought.
She turned to Paige. "And you, young lady? What do you know?"
"I read your thesis on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry," Paige said confidently. "I found some of your perspectives quite fascinating."
"Interesting," the lecturer said, her interest piqued. "Before we start, could you tell the room what Carbon dating is?"
"Of course," Paige answered fluently. "Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5,730 years, which can be utilized as a geological time scale."
"An excellent answer." The lecturer's smile became much more genuine. She looked back at Mike and Sheldon. "Do you have anything to add?"
"No," Mike shook his head. His knowledge was strictly limited to what was in the brochure.
The lecturer smiled, expecting as much. She looked at Sheldon again. "And you, little friend? Anything to add?"
Sheldon was stunned by Paige's knowledge. Not wanting to lose to her, he thought for a second and tried a tentative angle.
"Maybe Carbon dating could be used to figure out exactly how old my Meemaw is."
Obviously, Sheldon's improvised answer had nothing to do with the academic topic.
His absurd comment drew a wave of laughter from the audience. After all, the people here were semi-experts in the field.
"Alright then," the lecturer chuckled. She knew she shouldn't have expected too much from a child. She brought the room back to order. "Now, let me walk you all through the science of Carbon dating."
As the lecturer began her presentation, Mike looked at the stone-faced Sheldon. "Sheldon, you okay?"
Most normal people would feel pretty bummed out after being laughed at by a room full of adults, even if it was good-natured.
"I've discovered another one of my virtues," Sheldon whispered. "Aside from my high IQ, I'm also naturally gifted at comedy."
Right. Mike realized he shouldn't have worried about Sheldon's mental state.
The kid's wiring was definitely different from everyone else's.
"As long as you're happy," Mike gave an awkward laugh.
Whether Sheldon truly believed he was funny or was just too stubborn to admit he lost to Paige, it didn't matter.
He lived in his own world.
And for a young genius like Sheldon, being a little self-absorbed was probably a good thing. It acted as a shield, protecting him from the outside world.