Another Date

After class, Link packed up his things and asked Peggy, "This week's classes are over. What are your plans for the weekend?"

"I want to go to Disneyland. Will you take me tomorrow?"

Link hesitated slightly. Pasadena, where California Institute of Technology was located, lay in the northeastern suburbs of Los Angeles, and one of the shooting ranges where he practiced was between the two. According to his plans, he was going to the shooting range early tomorrow morning.

Then, on Sunday, Link had an appointment with a combat instructor. Robert had introduced him to this instructor, who was supposedly Robert's former comrade-in-arms. He lived in Pasadena and was now coaching at a boxing club. Link had arranged to meet him at nine thirty in the morning.

After thinking it over, Link said, "I still have to practice shooting tomorrow morning. I can only take you there after lunch, so we probably won't have much time to play."

Peggy knew about Link's schedule, but she had already made a plan. "You can take me with you to practice shooting in the morning. I won't tell Mom. That'll also save you the trouble of coming back to pick me up."

However, Link still shook his head. "You're only eleven. The shooting range owner wouldn't dare let you in. We don't know anyone in Pasadena. You aren't planning to get me into trouble with child protective services, are you?"

Hearing this, Peggy could only nod. With that settled, the two of them prepared to leave the classroom.

As they passed the podium, Link had wanted to say hello, but Sophia was still lowering her head and busy with work, so he did not speak.

But just as Link turned around to leave the classroom, he heard Sophia's voice. "Link."

Link stopped and turned around, then watched Sophia pick up her folder and walk over to him. "Are you pretending not to know me?"

"I was going to say hello, but you looked busy." Link did not want to dwell on the subject, so he said, "Your outfit looks great."

"Thanks." Sophia's expression improved somewhat. Then she turned her attention to Peggy beside him and asked, "Who's she?"

"This is Peggy. She's a freshman like me. Peggy, this is Sophia, a third-year physics student." Seeing this, Link introduced them.

"She's a freshman too?" Sophia froze for a moment, then looked at Peggy. "How old are you?"

"I'm already eleven this year." Peggy frowned. "There isn't necessarily any connection between how much knowledge someone has mastered and their age, is there?"

"I'm sorry. You're just so young." Sophia suppressed her surprise and apologized. "Nice to meet you. Are you and Link friends?"

She knew geniuses existed. In fact, anyone who could get into California Institute of Technology had above-average intelligence, and there were quite a few geniuses among them. Link was only seventeen, which was considered relatively young, but this was the first time she had met someone as young as Peggy.

"We're both from Texas. He's my neighbor, and we've known each other for years." After saying that, Peggy asked, "How did you meet Link?"

"Well, we met at a party." Sophia said, "Do you want to have dinner together later?"

"Sure." Before Link could say anything, Peggy agreed, and the two sides settled on a meeting.

After Sophia left, Link said helplessly, "You're joining in too?"

"Don't worry, I won't interrupt your academic exchange with her tonight." Peggy said, "Mom won't let me stay out too late anyway. I just wanted to confirm that your taste is as consistent as ever."

Link knew he could not treat Peggy like an ordinary eleven-year-old girl, but he did not want to talk to her too much about these things, so he quickly changed the subject.

He first took Peggy back to the dorm. Since Peggy sometimes came to Link's dorm to rest at noon these past few days, Lang knew her too.

But seeing Link straighten his clothes, he asked, "Going on a date?"

"We're just having dinner together." Link said casually as he bent down to tie his shoelaces.

Lang nodded. "I'm going to a club activity today. I won't be back to sleep."

"Thanks!" Link nodded as well. Once he had finished getting ready and felt that the time was about right, he headed to the meeting place with Peggy.

On the way, Peggy asked, "Did you sleep with Sophia at that party?"

Caught off guard by the question, Link did not answer. He merely shrugged.

Pursing her lips, Peggy said, "Wasn't it the same in high school? A different woman came to your room every few days. I'm already used to it."

Link did not know what to say. Peggy had entered high school early, and unlike Sheldon, who severely lacked emotional intelligence, she had indeed seen many things already. Combined with the atmosphere in the United States itself, it was not strange for her to mature mentally a little earlier.

The two of them had a tacit understanding. Peggy would not interfere with his academic exchanges with pretty girls. She was only tagging along for a meal. Otherwise, Link would have long since found a way to send her back to Linda first.

They did not wait long before Sophia appeared. She wore an off-white cropped T-shirt on top and skinny jeans below. Her outfit was simple, but it brought out the youthful vitality of her age to the fullest.

Link was not particularly short on money. He had already accumulated a substantial private stash in high school, more than six thousand US Dollars, most of which he had deposited in the bank.

Later, during the motel incident, he had taken out that group of people. Many of them had been quite wealthy and carried two or three hundred dollars in cash each. Together with the cash from the motel, it was also a considerable sum.

By this calculation, he now had more than ten thousand US Dollars on hand. Moreover, he had not only received a full scholarship, but also a generous grant.

As long as he did not spend recklessly, he would not have to worry about money for the next year. After all, it was still the nineties, and the US Dollar was extremely strong.

After their brief contact, Link had confirmed that Sophia came from a very well-off family, though he could not fully estimate just how wealthy it was.

The three found a decent restaurant near the school. It was not the kind of place that cost several hundred US Dollars, but its overall decor and atmosphere were quite nice.

After ordering, Peggy took the initiative to chat with Sophia before Link could say anything.

Although she had enrolled in the mathematics department like Link, Peggy also had a deep understanding of physics. After chatting for only a short while, Sophia felt completely overwhelmed by her academically.

Noticing that Sophia did not look too good, Link lightly squeezed Peggy's hand and interjected, "Judging by your accent, Sophia, are you from California?"

"That's right. My family is in San Francisco." With Link changing the subject, Sophia secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

As a California Institute of Technology student, she had confidence in herself. Being academically suppressed in her own field by an eleven-year-old girl did not feel good. For a moment, she even felt as though she were questioning her entire life.

Fortunately, under Link's guidance, they stopped discussing academic topics, and the atmosphere gradually became relaxed and pleasant.

After dinner, Linda came to take Peggy home, and Link invited Sophia to see a movie.

After their brief interaction, Sophia found that Link did not reveal any sense of an age gap during their conversations. Instead, he seemed more mature than she did.

The mismatch between Link's age and his life experience made Sophia even more interested in him.

In the dark movie theater, the two sat side by side. First, their hands unconsciously found each other. Then, when a tender kissing scene appeared in the movie, their lips tangled together like those of many other couples in the theater.

Link had not tasted meat for several days, but as an experienced man, he still had enough patience. After the movie ended, he suggested going to a bar.

Sophia had just turned twenty, still below the legal drinking age in the United States, let alone Link. The United States explicitly prohibited anyone under twenty-one from drinking, but that law was basically an empty statement!

The drinking culture across the Pacific Ocean did indeed have a long history, but from what Link knew, Americans clearly loved alcohol far more.

At gatherings and parties for American high school and college students, alcohol was indispensable.

Adults were even more so. After work, having a drink with three or five friends was one of the most common forms of entertainment in the United States.

For young Americans' nightlife, bars were the first choice. Nearly every bar required people to line up on weekends.

The bars around California Institute of Technology were equally packed on weekends. Link and Sophia checked two places in a row, only to see long lines outside both.

Link did not have the patience to wait outside. He went to the entrance and muttered a few words to a security guard, then returned and led Sophia through the back door into the bar ahead of everyone else.

Once inside, they quickly saw many young people, driven by the DJ music and throwing off their inhibitions, dancing wildly on the dance floor.

They played at the bar until midnight, then Link took Sophia by the hand and prepared to return to his dorm.

Sophia was not a conservative girl. Otherwise, at the previous party, she would not have gone back to Link's dorm with him the first time they met and spent the whole night fighting alongside Chris.

In fact, Sophia still deeply missed how she had felt that day. It had been a wonderful feeling unlike anything she had experienced in all her years, and she knew that once a girl had experienced it, no one would refuse Link.

The next morning, because he had to hurry to the shooting range to practice, Link woke up early. He suppressed the urge for some morning exercise, said something to the still groggy Sophia, and then left the dorm.

He wasted several hundred rounds at the shooting range that morning, took Peggy to Disneyland in the afternoon, and met the instructor Robert had introduced the next day. For the friendly price of fifteen hundred US Dollars for three months, he secured the man's promise to coach him one day every weekend.

Do not think that price was expensive. This instructor was extremely famous in the field, and countless people came to learn from him. If not for Robert's connection, even double that price would have been considered a bargain.