Meemaw was delighted to see little Sheldon and Paige.
After learning why they had come, she prepared some snacks and tea for them before going to wake Mike up.
Waking up on a weekend is never fun, and Mike was a bit grumpy at first. But as he groggily walked out and saw the two sitting in the living room, he instantly perked up.
"Hey, Sheldon, Paige. Welcome," Mike greeted them with a smile.
Then, he casually looted three [Intelligence +1] orbs from them—two from Sheldon and one from Paige.
He didn't know exactly how the mechanics worked, but clearly, when a mini-genius like Sheldon hung out with an even bigger genius like Paige, the useful stat drops were more frequent.
Realizing their purpose, Mike decisively cancelled his plans to hang out with Katie and the other girls. He chose to stay home with these two super-geniuses instead.
After all, I can grab a burger anytime, but Intelligence stats don't drop every day.
"Sheldon, why don't you show Paige around for a bit? I need to go wash up," Mike said, heading toward the bathroom with a messy head of hair.
Paige didn't seem to mind Mike's unkempt look; in fact, she found it kind of amusing.
Of course, it helped that it was Mike. Even with bedhead, he didn't look sloppy—he had that effortless, messy-chic look going on.
"Can you show me Mike's room?" Paige asked with interest.
"I don't think that's appropriate," Sheldon said, looking torn.
In his mind, a bedroom was a private sanctuary. Entering someone's personal space without express permission was the height of rudeness.
Meemaw, watching the kids' expressions from the side, chimed in, "It's fine, Shelly. Mike said to show Paige around, and that includes his room."
Meemaw occasionally tidied up Mike's room when she had free time, so she knew there wasn't anything strange hiding in there.
"Is that so?" Hearing his Meemaw's logic, Sheldon thought for a moment.
He quickly rationalized it: Mike hadn't explicitly forbidden a room tour.
So, Sheldon led the curious girl into Mike's room.
"It's neater than I imagined," Paige said, nodding in satisfaction as she looked around.
Paige didn't know what a typical high school boy's room looked like, but she had an eighth-grade sister. Her sister's room was a disaster zone, which had left a lasting impression on her.
Compared to her sister's chaos, Mike's room was practically sterile.
"We've seen Mike's room. Can we go now?" Sheldon urged.
Even though he had agreed to bring Paige in, deep down, Sheldon still felt that bringing a girl into another boy's bedroom was a violation of social protocol. He was feeling a bit guilty.
"Fine, let's go check out the rest of the house," Paige said. Having satisfied her curiosity, she didn't want to make things difficult for him.
Next, Sheldon took Paige on a tour of the rest of Meemaw's house.
"Mike actually bought his own computer? That's cool," Paige said, stopping in front of Mike's setup in the den.
For a high schooler with no obvious income, buying a computer worth around five thousand dollars was a huge deal. That was a big chunk of an average family's annual take-home pay.
Sheldon, however, didn't care about the price tag. He casually remarked, "Mike rarely uses it. Most of the time, he lends it to Meemaw and me..."
In reality, it wasn't that Mike didn't like computers; it was just that the hardware specs of this era couldn't handle the games he actually wanted to play.
With that free time, wasn't it more fun to hang out with Katie and the girls?
Ironically, after Mike taught Meemaw how to play games on it, she was the one who got addicted for a while.
Sheldon continued, "The internet access is very useful. I used it yesterday to look up information on Quantum Chromodynamics. It wasn't actually that difficult."
Yes, after being stumped yesterday, Sheldon had come back and furiously studied the subject on the computer.
"Is that so? Then did you see my research paper on 'Quantum Chromodynamics at High Temperatures'?" Paige asked with a smirk, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly.
Sheldon had, of course, seen the report. But he refused to be outdone by her in this field. "Actually, Mike and I also have published research. It's regarding rocket launches. You can find it on the NASA official website."
"Interesting. Can I see it?" Paige asked.
Eager to regain some ground, Sheldon quickly booted up the computer and navigated to the NASA webpage.
"'Rocket Launch 2.0.' Fascinating topic," Paige said. Knowing he wasn't lying, her expression turned serious as she sat down to patiently read the data.
The report on rocket launches included theories on multi-stage propulsion and booster recovery protocols that were incredibly forward-thinking. As a super-genius herself, Paige obviously picked up on this immediately.
"This is excellent research," Paige said, skimming the report quickly, a look of amazement on her face.
Seeing this, Sheldon lifted his chin slightly, thinking he had finally scored a point.
"Can you tell me specifically... who came up with the multi-stage propulsion theory and the recovery protocol? Was it you or Mike?" Paige asked.
"Mike proposed those..." Sheldon answered truthfully. "He was very helpful in allowing me to complete this report."
In Sheldon's view, Mike had merely suggested two theories. The massive amount of data calculation and integration in the report had been done independently by Sheldon.
Therefore, having done eighty percent of the work, Sheldon felt justified in believing he was the more useful partner in this project.
Paige, however, didn't see it that way. She clearly placed more value on Mike's cutting-edge theories.
Seeing Sheldon's proud, smug look, Paige's eyes twinkled with mischief. She smiled and said, "So, you were just riding on Mike's coattails? You only got co-author credit because you were his assistant?"
Seeing his hard work dismissed, Sheldon was furious. He forcefully pointed out, "Didn't you see the data? I calculated all of that..."
"So?" Paige gave him a provocative look. "That doesn't prove you were more useful than Mike on this report. In fact, it looks like he's smarter than you."
"That is impossible!" With his intellect questioned, Sheldon finally snapped.
In other areas, Sheldon might be willing to back down, but when it came to IQ, he would never admit to being inferior to anyone.
Besides, based on his long-term observation, he had determined that Mike wasn't actually that "smart."