"No thanks, I've got other plans that day," Mike said, shutting down the overly enthusiastic Mathlete captain.
If everything went according to plan, he'd be busy saving the day for The Plastics.
"That's a real shame. I actually wrote a rap verse specifically for our group..."
Captain Kevin looked disappointed that he couldn't recruit the school heartthrob into his "Cool Boys" crew. But then, his eyes darted between Mike and Cady standing next to him. He flashed a knowing grin—the kind shared between guys—and said, "Ah, I get it. I'll leave you to it..."
Ever since the flyer incident, the rumors about Mike being close with the girls from The Plastics were an open secret around school.
Having given his "I understand completely" look and a suggestive eyebrow wag, Kevin didn't bother Mike and Cady any further.
---
Meanwhile, in the school library.
Young Sheldon finished his lunch and looked across the table at Dan. "Dan, do you think I'm going to die alone?"
It was obvious that the concept of "dying alone" was weighing heavily on him. Even though Mike had tried to talk him through it, Sheldon still wanted verification from his other friend, Dan.
Dan, who had also finished his lunch, was looking wistfully at the other students playing in the hallway.
Hearing the question, he pulled his gaze back, studied Sheldon's face for a moment, and said, "People like us who don't fit in? Yeah, probably."
Dan, ever the pessimist, gave his honest answer.
The reality was that as an immigrant family, Dan's life in Texas was tough. They didn't qualify for many local benefits, and due to protectionist zoning laws, the paperwork required for his family to buy a house with their hard-earned money was incredibly complicated.
This situation made Dan hold a very bleak view of his own future.
"Why does it have to be like that?" Sheldon asked, his worry deepening after hearing Dan's answer.
"Actually, you've got it better than me," Dan analyzed calmly. "You're a local. You can make friends easily. If you wanted to, the Christmas gala performance could be a good opportunity..."
"Opportunity? You want me to perform at the Christmas show?" Sheldon calculated the cost-benefit ratio of participating in an event just to make friends and rejected the idea. "That kind of meaningless social interaction is a waste of my time."
Deep down, Sheldon knew that with his personality, trying to actively make friends would likely be a wasted effort anyway.
"Well, nothing we can do then." Dan smiled as if he'd seen through it all. "Looks like we're just destined to die alone."
Facing Dan's sudden philosophical acceptance, Sheldon actually felt a bit influenced by his friend's mood.
In that moment, having someone to accompany him made the idea of dying alone seem a little less terrifying.
---
Time flew by, and soon it was afternoon.
When Ms. Sharon entered the Mathlete study room, she immediately spotted Mike, who had returned for the session.
She nodded slightly, then followed standard procedure and handed out the test papers to the team members.
Seeing the math problems again, Mike picked up his pen and started answering with confidence.
His demeanor made Ms. Sharon, who was observing him from the podium, nod again with satisfaction.
Ten minutes later, Mike was done with every problem.
It was obvious that Ms. Sharon had intentionally ramped up the difficulty of this test. However, for Mike, whose IQ had hit 183, it still wasn't an issue. In fact, he even found a unique sense of fun in solving them.
On the podium, Ms. Sharon carefully reviewed the paper Mike handed in. "Excellent, Mike. Your skills haven't gotten rusty at all."
Her main reason for calling Mike back was to check his current form. Judging by the results, he had clearly passed the test.
Guessing her intentions, Mike asked, "Ms. Sharon, can I go now?"
Honestly, with his heightened intelligence, Mike didn't think he could learn much more from the Math team right now. Instead of wasting time here, he preferred to head over to the small classroom and help Regina and the others with their instruments.
Yes, aside from Cady, the other three members of The Plastics had temporarily paused their afternoon school activities. To prepare for the Christmas show, they had brought their instruments to school, intending to use the afternoon to practice.
In the study room, Ms. Sharon looked at the perfect score sheet, then at Mike. After a moment of thought, she said, "Given your level, you may leave now. But after Christmas, I expect you back here to really buckle down."
After Christmas, the High School Math League would be less than a month away. Clearly, Ms. Sharon wanted to put the team through some intensive training during that window.
"I'll be there, for sure." Mike, guessing her plan again, immediately gave his guarantee.
He waved to Cady, who was still working hard on her test, and breezed out of the study room, leaving the other Mathletes looking on with envy.
"Ms. Sharon, can we leave when we finish the questions too?" Kevin, seeing Mike's success, tentatively asked.
He desperately needed time to practice his rap for the Christmas party.
"No," Ms. Sharon rejected him flatly. Then, after a pause, she added, "If you can match Mike's score on the math test, then I'll agree to let you leave."
It sounded like a fair deal.
But hearing this, Kevin pulled a long face and whined, "Him and that kid Sheldon are total freaks of nature. How am I supposed to compete with them..."
The other team members had seen Mike and Sheldon studying together before. In a single month, those two hadn't just absorbed new knowledge at lightning speed; what was more terrifying was that their accuracy rate was consistently 100%.
That wasn't something a normal person could achieve.
Even though Kevin was confident in his own intelligence, he knew perfectly well that he wasn't in the same league as true geniuses like Mike and Sheldon.
"It's good that you recognize the gap," Ms. Sharon said seriously, ignoring Kevin's theatrics. "Since you don't have their natural talent, you need to make up for it with hard work..."
While she seemed to be addressing Kevin, she was sharing a life lesson with the rest of the team as well. Talent isn't something you can wish for. for ordinary people, rewards only come through effort.
---
Meanwhile, Mary had just returned home from church with a worried look on her face.
The cause of her distress was that she noticed her period was over two weeks late. Aside from pregnancy, this had never happened before.
Feeling uneasy, Mary went straight to Meemaw.
After hearing the situation, Meemaw asked, "Is it possible you're just hitting menopause?"
"I'm really worried here, don't joke around," Mary, who was only in her thirties, glared at her mother.
"Alright, alright." Seeing her daughter's serious expression, Meemaw put aside the jokes and asked seriously, "Have you told George yet?"
"I haven't even let my mind go there yet..." Mary shook her head.
"Okay, let me do the math." Meemaw, speaking from experience, calculated the dates. "Around Halloween... were you and George careful?"
"I think there was one time we weren't." Mary's expression became complicated.
Hearing her daughter's answer, Meemaw knew there was a good chance she was pregnant. She suggested, "Let's go buy a pregnancy test first and see what's really going on."
Meemaw was taking this seriously now.
"I guess that's all we can do," Mary replied, her emotions a tangled mess.