Transfer Schools

Attending Wilmott Academy for Gifted Children would clearly offer better prospects. It had better teachers, whose standards far surpassed those at public high schools, and there was much more to learn. They even taught material from many university courses.

At the same time, the students there either possessed above-average intelligence or came from very good families. That would be of great help to Link in the future, and his various attributes could also be improved more effectively there.

Of course, Link felt somewhat reluctant to leave. After all, he had only spent a few months freely enjoying his youth at Lola High School. Still, he believed he could have an equally wonderful high school life at a brand-new school.

Two days later, Link and Sheldon each said goodbye to their familiar friends. Leaving aside how Sheldon bid farewell to his friends, when Peggy heard the news while playing chess with Link, she said:

"Really? You're going to school in Dallas? That seems rather far away."

"It's not that far. It's a little over three hours by car, so I'll be staying there from Monday through Friday. The school has arranged for me to stay with a host family, and I'll come back every weekend."

"That sounds nice." Peggy said, "But I might miss you. Being with you is much more interesting than being at school. There are many topics I can only discuss when I'm talking with you.

"In fact, there are many things I can't discuss with any of my classmates at school, except Sheldon."

"I know. You've told me about him before. He's a very smart kid too. Come to think of it, I'm curious about just how smart he is. You actually said he was as smart as I am."

"Perhaps you'll get the chance to meet him someday," Link said. "Of course, there's one way Sheldon differs from you: his emotional intelligence is worse than yours."

"Emotional intelligence?"

"This is a concept that psychologists John Mayer and Peter Salovey have only just proposed. It mainly refers to a person's qualities in terms of emotions, willpower, tolerance for setbacks, and so on.

"It differs from IQ. Simply put, it is the ability to control one's emotions freely, understand others, and get along with them. Overall, there are no obvious innate differences in emotional intelligence between people. It is more closely related to later development."

"That's an interesting concept. I can look up some related papers later. Also, is that Sheldon really so bad at getting along with people?"

"You could say that. Your emotional intelligence clearly isn't a problem, but Sheldon's is obviously much worse. I have to say, you're a very perfect girl."

"Thank you. That's an important reason why I like spending time with you. I like feeling smarter than other people, but if I show it, my classmates treat me like a freak. You, on the other hand, never do that. You even praise me."

As she moved a chess piece, Peggy said, "Come to think of it, I feel like you've gotten smarter again. Or rather, ever since I met you, you seem to get a little smarter every so often. For example, if we were playing chess two years ago, I would have checkmated you already."

"Is that so? Perhaps spending so much time around smart people has made me wiser too. Otherwise, I wouldn't have earned a scholarship from Wilmott Academy for Gifted Children, though it doesn't include a living allowance like Sheldon's."

"That really is impressive, but... checkmate, you lost! Hahaha... Perhaps that's why I like being smarter than other people."

"..." Watching Peggy snicker, Link helplessly reached out, pressed down on her head, and vigorously ruffled her hair. "Perhaps I should revise my earlier assessment of you!"

After the two played around for a while, Peggy finally said, "All right, no matter what, I'll miss you. After all, I've grown used to seeing you every day."

"Of course. I'll miss you too."

After completing all the paperwork, Link's family and Sheldon's family drove to Flora's home that weekend. They also met her husband, and Link and Sheldon toured Flora's house.

The house was nicely decorated, and they could ask Flora and her husband questions at any time. Link was satisfied with every aspect of it. The only headache was having to discuss the division of bed space, bathroom schedules, and so on with Sheldon.

This made Link realize that Leonard's ability to put up with Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory had truly not been easy. After only a few hours, Link already had the urge to give Sheldon a thorough beating.

After dinner, Sheldon prepared to go to bed early according to his schedule, while Link borrowed Principal Flora's study and did not return to the room to sleep until eleven thirty.

But he quickly discovered that Sheldon had not fallen asleep at all. Instead, he was lying there with his eyes open. Seeing this, Link asked, "What are you doing, Sheldon? Didn't you say you were going to sleep early? Yet you're still awake!"

"Because I could be decapitated at any moment!" Sheldon pointed at the ceiling fan, then continued, "And there's a dust cover on the bed in this room, which has made me uneasy. A dust cover means there's dust here!"

"Sheldon, I think you're worrying too much."

"I'm not. Do you need me to tell you how many people die every year because ceiling fans fall down? The answer is..."

At that moment, Link felt that perhaps he had made the wrong decision. He should not have chosen Sheldon as his roommate. After all, he was not Leonard, who had been forced to endure a mother with the same personality since childhood and had grown accustomed to all this.

"Simply worrying won't make things better. Besides, if you think it's dangerous, you can suggest to Flora tomorrow that she remove the ceiling fan. For now, just go to sleep."

After saying that, Link ignored Sheldon and lay down to sleep. However, he was soon awakened by noise. Coach George had come over in the middle of the night to take Sheldon home, because Mary missed Sheldon too much.

Although this meant that Link would have one less useful helper during the coming school years, he did not feel the slightest regret at that moment. In fact, he felt extremely fortunate.

He had truly experienced how being Sheldon's roommate was a century-old problem. Leonard really had not had it easy.

In just a few days, Link adapted to his new school and life at Flora's home. Although he had left Lola High School and lost Sheldon, his source of experience, the rate at which his knowledge increased not only failed to drop, but actually rose slightly.

Because of his entrance test scores, Link was assigned to Class A, which, in the terms used across the Pacific Ocean, was an honors class. He had also started directly in eleventh grade.

Considering that the school year was nearly over, this meant that after the summer break beginning two months later, Link could enter twelfth grade. In a little over a year at most, he could graduate from high school.

There were not many students in Class A, only a little over twenty in total, but every one of them possessed some degree of intellectual talent. Therefore, the courses taught were much more advanced than those at ordinary high schools.

Moreover, it was said that once they entered twelfth grade, they would directly begin taking foundational university courses. Grades from some of those courses were even recognized by many famous universities.

The teachers responsible for instruction were highly capable. After returning home, Link could also ask Flora and her husband for guidance. The principal and her husband, who both had many years of teaching experience, were far better than Sheldon at teaching others. They could explain many problems in ways that Link found easier to understand.

Of course, as a top private school, its management was also very strict. It was completely different from the extremely relaxed public high schools, and the heavy workload could rival that of schools across the Pacific Ocean. Studying at such a school gave Link an inexplicable sense of familiarity and warmth.

With so many advantages, Link did not choose to return to Lola High School. Even if Sheldon was the protagonist of The Big Bang Theory, that did not mean Link had to revolve around him.