Why Sheldon Hated Geology for Life

After meeting Sheldon, Link, Kevin, and Dan's original trio became a group of four. At the same time, their lunch spot shifted from the school cafeteria to the library.

In public schools, the library was definitely the kind of place students did not welcome. Link and the others found it peaceful there, and they could often discuss questions freely.

"Link!"

One morning on the way to school, Link had just gotten off the School Bus when Sheldon's mother called out to him. He immediately greeted her, "Mrs. Cooper, are you here to take Sheldon to school?"

As he spoke, Link looked around again but did not see Sheldon.

Before he could ask, Mary Cooper said, "Yes, but he already went inside. I wanted to ask you about something."

"What is it, Mrs. Cooper?"

Mary looked somewhat worried. "Link, you're Sheldon's good friend, and you've always been mature and sensible. I noticed that he's been getting very close to a high school girl lately. When he gets home at night, he talks to her on the phone for over an hour at a time..."

Hearing that, Link already knew what was going on. He smiled and said, "You mean Libby, right? She and Sheldon have been discussing geology-related knowledge quite often lately."

"Yes, that girl Libby. You know, even though Shelly is in high school, he's still only nine years old. I'm worried..."

"You really don't need to worry." Link smiled. "They've been talking a lot lately only because Sheldon has developed a strong interest in geology. Libby wants to become a geologist in the future and knows a great deal about geology. They're just having purely academic exchanges."

"I know." Mary said, "Shelly isn't Little George. He doesn't need me worrying about him, but..."

Mary clearly had not been completely reassured. Link could roughly understand what she was thinking. Mary paid extremely close attention to Sheldon.

In Mary's eyes, her precious youngest son should go to school to learn, then come home afterward and be her sweet little baby. Now, a woman had suddenly appeared, showing faint signs of disrupting the close bond between mother and son. Naturally, she felt worried and more than a little unhappy.

Link thought for a moment and said, "Mrs. Cooper, if you're really worried, you could talk to Sheldon and meet her in person. Maybe that would help."

Hearing Link's suggestion, Mary immediately said, "That really is a good idea. Thank you, Link."

Recently, the four of them had been having lunch in the library, and Libby had indeed joined them. She mostly discussed geology with Sheldon.

Link was not very interested in those topics. Most of the time, he was digesting the mathematical knowledge he had just gained from Sheldon. That could improve his intelligence too. After all, besides listening to others explain things, understanding them himself was also an important part of learning.

"You mean without geology, there would be no theory of biological evolution?"

"Charles Lyell told Charles Darwin that the Earth was much older than people imagined, so Darwin had the courage to discover that all species had undergone billions of years of evolution."

"Well said. I can use that example to humiliate the Sunday School pastor."

With Sheldon at school as another source of experience, and Peggy helping him improve his intelligence during breaks after school, Link's intelligence had quickly risen to 14.3 points just two days earlier.

Ever since his IQ had surpassed 140, Link had experienced an unprecedented sense of joy and fulfillment in learning. Meanwhile, Kevin and Dan had also turned their attention to Libby.

The restlessness of adolescence had given both boys a strong interest in Libby. After all, unlike Link, the popular figure at school, they did not always get the chance to talk to pretty girls.

In fact, the pretty girls at school had little interest in bookish Kevin and Dan. At most, they gave them a smile while asking about Link. Otherwise, they basically ignored them.

Now that there was finally a girl who was not bad-looking and willing to talk to them, the two began competing. For example, Dan forcibly cut into the conversation at that moment.

"I don't know which is more beautiful, your mind or your eyes."

"Please, Dan, we're eating." Sheldon and Libby both looked at Dan with disgust.

Sheldon disliked him for interrupting his exchange of knowledge with Libby, while Libby simply had no interest in Dan at all.

Libby rolled her eyes dramatically at Dan, then said to Sheldon, "Did you know? This week, the National Science Museum has a movie about the space shuttle. It's in IMAX, with a really huge screen, and there's also a pretty good geology exhibit."

"That's in Houston, right?" Sheldon said. "How are we supposed to get there?"

Libby shrugged. "I'll drive."

Libby was already in twelfth grade and had her own driver's license. Hearing that, Link also considered getting his license during summer break. After all, in the United States, having a driver's license made many things much more convenient.

Kevin hurriedly said, "I'll come too. I'm really interested in IMAX."

Seeing that, Dan quickly blurted out, "Count me in. I really want to go to the movies with you."

Only then did Sheldon ask in surprise, "Don't you need permission from your parents?"

"No," Kevin and Dan answered firmly at the same time.

"Good thing you're not my sons," Sheldon quipped, then turned to Link. "What about you, Link?"

"I have plans this week. I can't go."

Link had already arranged to take Peggy out that weekend, in exchange for her lending him the professional books she had bought for her home.

All kinds of professional books in the United States were not cheap. Link's family was as wealthy as Peggy's, with a limited budget, and he did not have much spending money of his own. Naturally, he had to find ways to save in that regard. Most of the time, he read books from the school library, while he borrowed more specialized books from Peggy.

Besides, Link was not very interested in geology. Recently, listening casually to Sheldon and Libby's discussions and learning the basics had been enough for him. His IQ was still not comparable to Sheldon's or Peggy's, so he had to arrange his time more carefully.

So he said, "I already have plans this weekend. Have fun."

Seeing this, Kevin and Dan both gave Link approving looks, then looked at each other. Link figured that if this were a comic, flames of battle would be shooting from their eyes.

After Sheldon went home and told Mary about it, she refused without hesitation. Sheldon became extremely angry and began venting by thoroughly cleaning the house.

Mary felt terribly sorry for him. Remembering what Link had said earlier, she agreed to meet Libby first. If there was nothing wrong with her, she would allow Sheldon to go with her.

The next day, Libby came to Sheldon's house. After calmly meeting Mary's conditions, Mary reluctantly agreed.

Libby also seemed to notice that Mary worried too much about Sheldon, so she added, "Mrs. Cooper, you really don't need to worry. I have years of babysitting experience."

But the mention of babysitting hurt Sheldon. He had believed he and Libby were equals, only to find that Libby saw him as a child. That was absolutely intolerable to Sheldon, so at that moment, he decided to end their friendship.

When lunchtime came the following Monday, Libby did not appear again.

After Link asked, "How was your weekend?" Sheldon immediately replied in a sharp tone, "It wasn't very interesting, and now I feel that geology isn't a real science at all. It's more like a hobby. Collecting rocks is really kind of childish."

Link remembered how Sheldon always looked disdainful whenever geology was mentioned in The Big Bang Theory. Aside from the scientific world's hierarchy of contempt, where physicists and mathematicians looked down on geologists, this experience was probably related to it as well.

Dan remembered being firmly rejected at the movie theater, but for the sake of his pride, he covered it up. "I agree with Sheldon. On this trip to the movies, I realized Libby was interested in me, but I still think we're better off as friends."

Normally, Kevin would definitely have mocked Dan and exposed him. But he had also been firmly rejected, so he was not in the mood. After thinking for a moment, he said hopefully, "In that case, we're back to four people again. Link, do you think we should go back to eating in the cafeteria..."

"I object." Sheldon spoke up. "The library is an ocean of knowledge, and it's much quieter than the cafeteria. We can absorb knowledge more effectively here without worrying about all those girls who keep coming over to greet Link interrupting us..."

Watching Sheldon ramble on, Kevin's expression turned ugly. Link figured Kevin had probably already imagined killing him countless times.