Another Date

After class, Link tidied up his things and asked Peggy, "Classes for the week are over. Do you have any plans for the weekend?"

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

Link hesitated for a moment. Pasadena, where the California Institute of Technology is located, is in the northeastern suburbs of Los Angeles. A shooting range he planned to go to is between the two. According to his plan, he was going to the shooting range to practice shooting tomorrow morning.

And the day after tomorrow, Sunday, Link also had an appointment with a martial arts coach. This coach was introduced by Robert, who was said to be his comrade-in-arms and lived in Pasadena. He currently worked as a coach at a boxing club. Link and the coach had agreed to meet at 9:30 in the morning.

Therefore, Link thought for a moment before saying, "I still have to go practice shooting tomorrow morning. I can only take you after lunch, so I'm afraid we won't be able to play there for long."

Peggy also knew about Link's plans, but she had already planned ahead: "You can take me with you to practice shooting in the morning. I won't tell Mom, and it will save you the trouble of coming back to pick me up."

However, Link still shook his head and said, "You're only eleven years old. The owner of the shooting range wouldn't dare let you in. We're new to Pasadena. You don't want me to get into trouble with the Child Protective Services, do you?"

Hearing Link say this, Peggy could only nod. After discussing this, the two prepared to leave the classroom.

As they passed the podium, Link originally wanted to say hello, but seeing that Sophia was still busy working with her head down, he didn't speak.

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

Link stopped and turned around, then saw Sophia pick up a folder and come in front of Link, saying, "Are you pretending not to know me?"

"I was going to say hello to you, but I saw you were busy." Link didn't want to dwell on this topic, so he said, "Your outfit is very nice."

"Thank you." Sophia's expression improved slightly, and then she shifted her attention to Peggy next to her, asking, "She is?"

"This is Peggy, a new student like me. Peggy, this is Sophia, a junior in the Physics Department." Link introduced the two when he saw the situation.

"She's also a new student?" Sophia was startled, looking at Peggy and asking, "How old is she?"

"I'm already eleven years old this year." Peggy frowned and said, "There's no necessary connection between the level of knowledge and age, is there?"

"I'm sorry, you're really too young." Sophia suppressed the surprise in her heart and apologized, "It's nice to meet you. Are you friends with Link?"

She also knew about the existence of geniuses. In fact, those who could enter the California Institute of Technology had above-average IQs, and there were also many geniuses among them. Link, for example, was only seventeen, which was on the younger side, but she had never seen anyone as young as Peggy.

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

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

"Okay." Before Link could speak, Peggy agreed, and the two made an appointment to meet.

After Sophia left, Link said with some helplessness, "Are you still going to join in the fun?"

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

Link knew he couldn't treat Peggy as an ordinary eleven-year-old girl, but he didn't want to talk about these things with her, so he quickly changed the subject.

First, he took Peggy back to the dormitory. Because Peggy sometimes came to Link's dormitory to rest for a while at noon these days, Lang also got to know Peggy.

However, seeing Link tidying up his clothes, he asked, "Going on a date?"

"Just having dinner together." Link said casually while bending down to tie his shoelaces.

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

"Thanks!" Link also nodded. After tidying up and feeling that it was about time, he went to the agreed location with Peggy.

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

Caught off guard by the question, Link didn't answer, just shrugged his shoulders.

Peggy pouted and said, "It was the same in high school. Basically, every few days, different women would come to your room. I'm already used to it."

Link didn't know what to say. He had started high school early, and unlike Sheldon, who severely lacked emotional intelligence, Peggy had indeed seen a lot of things. Coupled with the atmosphere in America itself, it wasn't strange for her to be psychologically precocious.

The two of them had a tacit understanding. Peggy wouldn't disturb his "academic exchanges" with those pretty girls; she would just join them for a meal. Otherwise, Link would have found a way to send her back to Linda's place long ago.

They didn't wait long before Sophia appeared. She was wearing a cream-colored crop top and slim-fit jeans. Although her outfit was simple, it maximized the youthful vitality of her age.

Link wasn't short on money. He had accumulated a substantial nest egg in high school, totaling over six thousand dollars, most of which he had deposited in the bank.

Later, during the hotel incident, he had taken care of that group of people. Many of them were quite wealthy and had two or three hundred dollars in cash on them, plus the cash in the hotel, which was also a considerable sum.

Adding it all up, he had over ten thousand dollars in funds. Furthermore, he had not only received a full scholarship but also a generous grant.

As long as he didn't squander it, he wouldn't have to worry about money for a year. After all, it was still the nineties, and the dollar was still very strong.

After a brief interaction, Link confirmed that Sophia came from a very good family. Of course, he couldn't fully estimate exactly how good it was.

The three of them found a decent restaurant near the school. It wasn't the kind that cost hundreds of dollars, but the overall decor and atmosphere were good.

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

Although she had enrolled in the math department like Link, Peggy also had a deep understanding of the physics department. After chatting for a bit, Sophia felt completely suppressed academically.

Seeing that Sophia's expression wasn't good, Link gently squeezed Peggy's hand and interjected, "Listening to your accent, Sophia, are you a California native?"

"That's right, my home is in San Francisco." Relieved that Link had changed the subject, Sophia sighed inwardly.

As a student at California Institute of Technology, she had her own confidence. Being suppressed academically by an eleven-year-old girl in her own field of expertise didn't feel good. For a moment, it even made her question her life.

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

After dinner ended, Linda came to pick up Peggy and take her home. Link then invited Sophia to go see a movie together.

After a brief exchange, Link's conversation with Sophia didn't show any age gap. Instead, he appeared more mature than Sophia.

The sense of dislocation between Link's age and experience made Sophia more interested in him.

In the dark movie theater, sitting side by side, their hands unconsciously found each other. Then, when a warm kissing scene appeared in the movie, the two of them, like many couples in the theater, their lips intertwined.

Link hadn't tasted meat in a few days, but as an old hand, he had enough patience. After the movie ended, he suggested going to a bar to have some fun.

Sophia was exactly twenty years old, which was not yet the legal drinking age in the United States, let alone Link. There was a clear law in the United States that prohibited young people under the age of twenty-one from drinking, but this law was basically an empty phrase!

The drinking culture on the other side of the Pacific Ocean was indeed long-standing, but from Link's understanding, Americans' love for alcohol was clearly far greater.

Alcohol was the most indispensable element at American high school and college gatherings and parties.

Needless to say for adults, going out for a drink with three or five friends after work was the most common form of entertainment in the United States.

Bars were the preferred place for young Americans' nightlife. Almost all bars required queuing on weekends.

The bars around California Institute of Technology were also very popular on weekends. Link and Sophia looked for two bars in a row and saw long queues outside.

Link didn't have the patience to wait outside. He went to the bar entrance and whispered a few words to the security guard, then turned back and took Sophia through the back door, entering the bar early.

After entering, they quickly saw many young people letting loose under the guidance of the DJ music, dancing wildly on the dance floor.

They stayed at the bar until midnight, then Link pulled Sophia along, ready to head back to his dorm.

Sophia wasn't a conservative girl; otherwise, she wouldn't have gone back to Link's dorm with him the first time they met at the last party, fighting alongside Chris all night.

In fact, Sophia still deeply missed the feeling of that night. It was a wonderful feeling she had never experienced in all these years. She also knew that once a girl experienced it, none would refuse Link.

The next morning, because he had to rush to the Shooting Range to practice shooting, Link woke up early. He resisted the urge for a morning workout, said goodbye to the still groggy Sophia, and then left the dorm.

He wasted hundreds of bullets at the Shooting Range in the morning, took Peggy to Disneyland in the afternoon, and the next day met the coach Robert had introduced. For a friendly price of fifteen hundred dollars for three months, he secured the coach's promise to guide him one day every weekend.

Don't think this price is expensive. This coach is extremely famous in the circle, and many people seek him out to learn from him. If it weren't for Robert's connection, even double this price would be a discounted rate.