"No, I might have other plans that day," Mike resolutely refused the overly enthusiastic Math Olympiad team captain.
If nothing unexpected happened, he would be bailing out the girls from The Plastics that day.
"That's a real shame. I even wrote a rap specifically for our group..."
Unable to pull the handsome Mike into his "Cool Boys" group, Kevin showed a look of regret.
However, very quickly, his gaze went back and forth between Mike and Cady beside him several times, revealing a smile that all men understood, and said, "So that's it. I've disturbed you..."
Ever since the flyer incident, the rumor of Mike's close relationship with the girls from The Plastics were no longer a secret at school.
On this side, Kevin, with an "I get it" expression, raised an ambiguous eyebrow and no longer bothered Mike and Cady.
On the other side, in the school library, Sheldon, after finishing his lunch, looked at Tam opposite him and asked, "Tam, do you think I'll be lonely for the rest of my life?"
It was clear that "lonely for the rest of my life" had a great impact on him.
Even with Mike's guidance, Sheldon still wanted validation from his other friend, Tam.
Tam, who had also just finished his lunch, was currently looking with envy at the other students playing in the hallway.
After hearing the question, he withdrew his gaze, looked at Sheldon's face for a while, and then said, "People like us, who don't fit in, probably really will be lonely for the rest of our lives."
Tam, who was pessimistic about life, gave his answer.
In fact, as a foreigner, Tam's family lived a very difficult life in Texas. Not only did they not enjoy various local benefits, but because of local protection laws, the procedures required for their family to buy their own house through hard work in Texas were very complicated.
This situation also made Tam very unoptimistic about his future.
"How can this be?" Sheldon, upon hearing Tam's answer, began to worry again.
"Actually, your situation is better than mine," Tam calmly analyzed. "As a local, you can easily make more friends. If you're willing, this Christmas party performance might be a good opportunity..."
"Opportunity? You want me to participate in the Christmas performance?" Sheldon thought about the cost of making friends by participating in activities and refused, "That kind of meaningless socializing is too much of a waste of time for me."
In truth, Sheldon knew in his heart that with his personality, actively trying to make friends would likely be a wasted effort.
"Then there's nothing to be done," Tam, as if he had seen through everything, smiled and said, "It seems we can only be lonely for the rest of our lives."
Facing Tam's open-mindedness at this moment, Sheldon was also infected by the other's emotions.
At this moment, with someone accompanying him, he felt that being lonely for the rest of his life didn't seem so terrible anymore.
Soon, it was afternoon.
When Ms. Sharon entered the Mathematics Study Room, she immediately saw Mike who had returned to report.
She nodded slightly, then, following the normal procedure, distributed the test papers to the team members.
Seeing the Math Olympiad test paper again, Mike picked up his pen and began to answer confidently.
His performance also made Ms. Sharon, who was observing him from the podium, nod in satisfaction again.
Ten minutes later, Mike finished all the exercises.
It was evident that this test paper, intentionally designed by Ms. Sharon, had a much higher difficulty.
However, for Mike, whose IQ reached 183, it was still not a big problem.
He even found some unique enjoyment in the process of solving the problems.
On the podium, Ms. Sharon carefully reviewed the test paper Mike had submitted and said, "Very good, Mike. Your Math Olympiad level hasn't dropped during this period."
Her main purpose in calling Mike back this time was to observe his condition.
From the results, Mike had clearly passed the test.
Guessing Ms. Sharon's intention, he immediately asked, "Teacher, can I leave now?"
To be honest, Mike, whose IQ was now higher, didn't think he could learn anything useful in the Math Olympiad team anymore.
Rather than wasting time there, he preferred to take the time to go to the small classroom and guide Regina and the others in learning musical instruments.
Yes, besides Cady, the other three members of The Plastics had temporarily stopped their afternoon school group activities.
For the Christmas performance, they all brought their respective instruments to school, wanting to use the afternoon time to practice.
In the Mathematics Study Room, Ms. Sharon looked at the perfect score test paper in front of her, then looked at Mike, thought for a moment, and said, "Given your level, you can leave now. However, after Christmas, I hope you can come back and study for a while."
After Christmas, the college Math Olympiad league was less than a month away.
Clearly, Ms. Sharon wanted to conduct some intensive training for the team members during that time.
"I'll definitely be there," Mike, who had once again guessed the other's intention, immediately made a promise.
Afterward, he waved to Cady, who was diligently working on her problems, and in the envious gazes of the other Math Olympiad team members, he Chicly left the study room.
"Ms. Sharon, can we leave after we finish the questions?" In the Mathematics Study Room, Kevin, seeing Mike's successful example, tentatively asked with a hint of longing.
He also needed time to practice his rap for the Christmas party.
"No—" Ms. Sharon first refused outright, then thought for a moment and continued, "If you can reach Mike's level in Math Olympiad, I'll agree to let you leave."
Her words seemed very fair.
However, upon hearing her words, Kevin pulled a long face and joked, "He and Sheldon are both freaks. How could I possibly compare to them...?"
The other team members had all witnessed Mike and Sheldon studying in the Math Olympiad team before.
Within a month, not only did the two learn new knowledge quickly, but even more terrifying, their accuracy rate in answering questions reached 100%.
This was not something an ordinary person could do.
Even though Kevin was very confident in his IQ, he clearly knew that he was not on the same level as true geniuses like Mike and Sheldon.
"It's good that you know the gap," Ms. Sharon ignored Kevin's antics and said seriously, "Since your talent isn't as good as theirs, then you need to work harder..."
These words seemed to be directed at Kevin, but in reality, they were also sharing life experience with the other members of the Math Olympiad team.
After all, talent is something others cannot envy. And for ordinary people, effort only pays off.
...
On the other side, Mary, who had returned home from church, had a worried expression.
The reason for this situation was that she noticed her period was more than half a month late.
Other than pregnancy, this had never happened before.
Mary, feeling very uneasy, immediately went to find Connie.
After hearing her situation, Connie asked, "Do you think it's possible that you've reached menopause?"
"I'm very anxious right now, so please don't joke around," Mary, who was only in her thirties, glared at her mother.
"Alright—" Seeing her daughter's serious expression, Connie also put away her joking mood and asked seriously, "Have you told George about this?"
"I didn't even think about that before..." Mary shook her head and said.
"Alright, let me calculate," the more experienced Connie calculated the days and then asked, "Around Halloween, when you and George were intimate, did you use protection?"
"I think there was one time we didn't," Mary's expression became complicated.
Hearing her daughter's answer, Connie knew that she was probably pregnant. So, she suggested, "Let's go buy a pregnancy test first to see what the situation is."
Connie couldn't help but take this matter seriously.
"That's the only way," Mary responded with a complicated mood.