The Young Link

May 14, 1988, Madford Town, Texas, USA. The weather was hot and stuffy this evening. Students were playing basketball on the school playground, while others were practicing baseball and American football. The scene was quite lively.

Cheerleaders were practicing, their white crop tops and red pleated skirts attracting the attention of many male students. They gathered not far away, pointing and arguing about who was the prettiest.

These beautiful girls, full of youthful vitality, were always the most popular with the boys at school.

In the white four-story building, on the third floor by the window, Link Bennett glanced at the cheerleaders busy practicing downstairs, his gaze not lingering for too long.

There was no particular reason, it was just that the girls on the playground were still a bit green.

Even though girls in Europe and America generally developed earlier, he was currently only in middle school.

Middle school in the US only had two years, seventh and eighth grade. Most of the girls here were only fourteen years old. In comparison, the girls in high school were more worth looking at.

Of course, he was about to graduate from eighth grade and enter ninth grade, which in the US also meant entering the truly colorful high school life. Many American campus movies Link watched in his previous life, depicting enviable lives, happened during this stage.

Middle school in the US was two years, while high school was four years. These four years were when teenage hormones exploded, especially since Europeans and Americans developed earlier.

Supervision in this regard was relatively less strict, especially after tenth grade. Driven by hormones, many things Link envied in his previous life happened during these years, which also made him slightly look forward to the upcoming high school life.

At this moment, there were over forty students in the same classroom as Link. Link quickly shifted his gaze back to Ms. Susie, who was teaching physics.

Her hair was already white, and she always wore the same black-rimmed glasses on her nose, looking a bit harsh. She was considered one of the most disliked teachers by many students at school, but in terms of dedication, she surpassed most teachers at the school.

When the bell rang, the students quickly dispersed and left the classroom. Link packed up. As Link walked to the front of the classroom, Ms. Susie, who hadn't left yet, spoke up: "Link, how are your preparations for the SSAT Exam going?"

"It should be fine," Link nodded.

The SSAT, or Secondary School Admission Test, was divided into lower and upper levels. Students could use their scores to attend better schools and increase their chances of getting scholarships. Link was already planning to use his SSAT scores to get a scholarship, as his family's finances were not particularly well-off in this life.

"I know this shouldn't be difficult for you, after all, you've already learned the material in the current curriculum," Ms. Susie nodded and said:

"I've already discussed the recommendation letter with the principal. He can write one for you. You know, the principal's recommendation letter is more convincing than ours as teachers.

I believe as long as your SSAT score is good, getting a scholarship won't be difficult."

Compared to most of his classmates, Link got along well with Ms. Susie. When he first came to school, he was Ms. Susie's student. Because he was smart enough, studied well, was willing to participate in activities, and had a good personality, he naturally earned Ms. Susie's favor.

It was precisely because of this that Ms. Susie was willing to help more when Link asked her for a recommendation letter.

These past few days, because of the recommendation letter, Link had asked several familiar teachers to help put in a good word, and had even personally met with the principal.

Several teachers and the baseball coach had already agreed to help him write recommendation letters. Now that he had received even better news from Ms. Susie, he was immediately a little happy and smiled:

"Thank you, Ms. Susie. I will never forget your help."

Nodding, Ms. Susie didn't say anything more. She knew Link's concerns. Link's father's income was not small, but he had to support three children.

Especially since there was an older sister who would need to go to college in another year and needed to prepare for college expenses in advance, the family was not well-off. It would be difficult to afford for Link to attend the expensive private school in Houston, which was a bit further away. Choosing Lola High School was understandable.

However, Lola High School was also very good. With Link's grades, getting a scholarship was practically guaranteed, and it was also closer to home.

"Alright then, since you've made up your mind, the recommendation letter is here with me. Come and get it!"

"That's great," Link smiled and nodded. After getting the recommendation letters from Ms. Susie and the principal, Link left the teaching building with his backpack and headed to the school parking lot. He quickly saw a sports car in the familiar spot, with a woman who looked to be around thirty years old sitting inside.

The other party saw Link and directly greeted him: "Hi, Link, Lena isn't here yet, so you'll have to wait a bit."

"No problem, Mrs. Dent," Link nodded, opened the car door directly, and sat in the back seat.

Mrs. Dent drove to pick up her daughter. Most residential areas in the United States are relatively spread out, which is one of the main reasons why many young Americans receive a car as a gift after they come of age.

Of course, the quality of the car largely depends on the family's financial situation. Some rich kids can even drive high-end sports cars to school at the age of sixteen.

But since the students are not yet of age, even rich kids need to be picked up or take the school bus. For example, Mrs. Dent was here to pick up her daughter, Lena, to go home.

The reason he knew her was because he had taken a small part-time job a few months ago, which was to help Mrs. Dent's daughter, Lena, with her studies after school.

He only needed to spend two hours after school each day to earn $15, which was $75 for five days a week. In terms of the purchasing power of the US dollar in 1988, this was an extremely well-paid job.

After all, other kids helping with lawn mowing or odd jobs could only earn two or three dollars. Delivering newspapers, getting up early at five every day and working hard for several hours, they earned even less in a month than he did in a week.

Looking at the car, Link said, "Is this a new car, Mrs. Dent?"

"That's right. This is a limited edition Porsche I ordered two months ago. It just arrived today. Isn't it lovely?"

"It is indeed very beautiful." Link nodded. "It suits you very well."

"Thank you!" Mrs. Dent said with a smile. "Speaking of which, Lena chose the blue color. I prefer red, but she's my precious baby, so..."

After chatting about the sports car for a few minutes, Mrs. Dent changed the subject. "Oh, by the way, Link, I heard you're also preparing to take the SSAT Exam next month. Have you decided which school you're going to?"

"If nothing unexpected happens, it should be Lola High School," Link said.

"That's great," Mrs. Dent said after hearing this. "Lena is also planning to go there. This way, you can help her with her studies in high school too. We hired tutors for her before, but she didn't like them at all. However, she said she really likes you tutoring her."

"Thank you. Maybe it's because I have more common topics with her," Link replied, but he didn't think so in his heart.

She didn't have to study, someone helped her with her homework, and even before the exam, someone helped her guess the questions and prepare cheat sheets. Of course, she liked it very much.

In fact, this was the condition Link used to persuade Lena to ask him for tutoring.

Another point was that Mrs. Dent was very lenient with Lena. According to her, she was a very 'cool' mother and wouldn't put too many restrictions on her daughter.

Lena's bedroom was even the parents' master bedroom, which shows how much she spoiled her daughter. This was also an important reason why Link's so-called part-time job could last so long.

Of course, this was a good thing for Link, meaning that he didn't have to do jobs like helping with lawn mowing or being a community paperboy just to earn a pitiful amount of pocket money, unlike most American kids.

After chatting casually with Mrs. Dent for a while, he saw a girl dressed exquisitely come over. She hugged Mrs. Dent, who had gotten out of the car, greeted Link, and then sat in the passenger seat.

The girl had blonde hair, slightly naturally curly, blue eyes, long eyelashes, fair skin, and a slender figure, which fit the Western aesthetic. She was considered a well-known beauty at the school.

In schools like this in the United States, even in middle school, there were many students openly pursuing her, and some even fought over her. Link could also tell that she herself enjoyed this feeling very much. It could be said that she was a femme fatale at a young age.

In terms of looks, Link also thought she was good, but she was the epitome of trouble, and she was still a bit immature. Link didn't deliberately get close to her. Even though he helped her with her studies every day, their relationship could only be described as neither close nor distant.

According to Lena's direct evaluation, although Link wasn't a bookworm and was even a star pitcher on the baseball team and very handsome, for some reason, he was clueless, didn't speak nicely, and was completely a straight man. Being with him was not as interesting as being with others.

Link could only shrug his shoulders at this. As a transmigrator, his values and habits had already been formed over thirty years in his previous life.

Even after experiencing another life, he would never be like those chuunibyou teenagers.

His way of thinking was completely different, and the things he was interested in were different. The things that those chuunibyou teenagers found interesting or cool, he would find very ordinary or even childish. It was inevitable that he would be considered uninteresting.

More importantly, he wasn't interested in the still immature Lena. All his actions naturally became "straight man syndrome" in Lena's eyes.