Before long, the conversation at the dinner table shifted to Mike joining the school's math team.
Curious as everyone was, Mike gave them a brief rundown of how things went with the math team that day.
After dinner, Sheldon pulled Mike aside.
"Mike, can I borrow that math competition workbook and take a look?" Sheldon's focus was always unexpectedly specific.
It actually made sense. Ever since he lost to Mike on that math test, Sheldon had been looking for another chance to compete with him.
This workbook was the perfect opportunity to prove himself. If Sheldon could master the material in it before Mike did, that would show he wasn't any worse.
"Sure, but you'll have to wait a couple of days," Mike said casually, not quite following Sheldon's train of thought. "I need to finish working through the problems first before I lend it to you."
That wasn't the answer Sheldon wanted at all. His eyes darted around as he thought, then he said, "How about this—during our regular classes in the morning, you lend me the workbook. When you go to math team practice in the afternoon, I'll give it back to you. That way we can see who learns the material faster."
"Is that so?" Mike finally caught on. Sheldon clearly hadn't given up on competing with him.
Still, considering Sheldon had already mastered everything up through eleventh-grade math, learning some competition math on top of that wasn't a big deal.
"Alright," Mike agreed. "I'll bring it to you tomorrow morning."
…
A week flew by, and both Mike and Sheldon had thoroughly mastered the material in the workbook.
After testing each other multiple times, they more or less ended in a tie. Neither of them could stump the other on any of the competition topics.
It had to be said—Sheldon really was gifted when it came to academics. Mike was only able to keep up because he had Ms. Sharon guiding him behind the scenes.
That evening, since George still hadn't found a suitable job, he cooked one of his specialties again—his homemade roast beef.
After dinner, as soon as Sheldon left the room, Mary mysteriously called everyone else together. With a serious expression, she asked, "Have you noticed that Sheldon's been acting a little strange lately?"
"Isn't he always strange?" Georgie said dismissively.
Mary shot her oldest son a glare, silencing him, then explained what she'd noticed.
That morning, when she walked Sheldon to the door, she discovered he had a layer of foam padding hidden under his clothes.
So Mary suspected someone was bullying her youngest son.
"That is kind of strange," Mike said, thinking back to Sheldon's awkward way of walking earlier that day, and nodded.
"I knew it," Mary said firmly. Skipping over Georgie entirely, she turned straight to Mike. "Can you think of anyone at school who might be bullying Sheldon?"
Mike thought for a moment and shook his head.
At school, Sheldon used to have George and Georgie looking out for him, so no one messed with him. Now he still had Mike and Georgie watching his back. There shouldn't be anyone picking on him there.
Mary kept thinking. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "If it's not happening at school, then it must be on the way to school…"
That made sense. Sheldon used to be driven to school by George. Now that George was busy job-hunting, he couldn't manage it anymore.
"How about I walk with Sheldon from now on?" Georgie suggested immediately after hearing his brother might be getting bullied.
Even though he usually acted like he and Sheldon didn't get along, he genuinely cared about his little brother.
"That's… not a long-term solution," Mary said firmly. "If we want to fix this properly, we need to find out who is bullying Sheldon."
Whenever it came to Sheldon, Mary took things very seriously.
George, on the other hand, looked less interested. His attention was focused on finding a new job, and he felt that kids running into problems was just part of growing up.
It was something every boy had to go through.
"So how do we figure out who's bullying him?" Georgie asked, surprisingly seriously.
"That's where you and Mike come in," Mary said, carefully explaining her plan.
Starting tomorrow, she wanted Georgie and Mike to quietly follow Sheldon on his way to school and find out who was bothering him.
Both Georgie and Mike agreed without hesitation.
The next morning, not long after leaving the house, Georgie ducked behind a small tree and whispered excitedly, "I knew something was up!"
About thirty feet ahead of them, Sheldon was bundled up tightly, walking while constantly glancing around. He looked extremely cautious.
It was hard not to think he was dealing with some kind of trouble.
"Seriously? That little tree isn't hiding you at all," Mike said, watching Georgie fully commit to the act and feeling too tired to complain.
Honestly, Georgie sneaking around like that made him look more like a criminal than a detective.
"Heh, force of habit," Georgie said awkwardly, stepping out from behind the tree.
In truth, they didn't need to do much—just follow Sheldon from a distance.
The more normal they looked, the better.
"Something's happening!"
After only a few steps, Georgie suddenly gasped as if he'd discovered something huge and immediately hid behind another tree.
Mike looked ahead. Sure enough, Sheldon had also hurriedly ducked behind a small tree, looking like he'd just encountered a natural predator.
Seeing the brothers mirror each other so perfectly, Mike rubbed his forehead in resignation.
The roadside trees weren't even thick enough to hide a person. What they were doing was basically covering their ears and pretending they were invisible.
"There he is—there he is!" Georgie whispered excitedly, following Sheldon's gaze. "It's Herschel!"
Sure enough, just as Sheldon hid, their neighbor Herschel stepped out of his house.
The Herschels lived next door to the Coopers. As the man of the house, Herschel was about the same age and build as George.
The difference was that while George had put on a bit of weight, Herschel looked more solid and muscular.
"It's probably not him," Mike said, shaking his head.
"How can you tell?" Georgie asked.
"Look at Sheldon," Mike said.
When Herschel appeared, Sheldon was still peeking out cautiously, but there was no fear on his face.
From Sheldon's reaction, it was clear Herschel wasn't the one bullying him.
"Then it must be Billy. I knew that kid liked picking on Sheldon," Georgie said again.
Behind Herschel, a chubby nine-year-old boy stepped outside.
Billy, the neighbor kid, sometimes brought over eggs from his family's chickens—but he also had a history of messing with Sheldon.
That made Georgie suspicious.
"Not him either," Mike said, shaking his head again.
The reason was the same as before.
"Then who is it?" Georgie asked, discouraged after being wrong twice.
Just then, Sheldon—still hiding behind the tree—suddenly screamed and bolted out, running awkwardly down the street.
Mike and Georgie hurriedly looked ahead and saw their six-year-old neighbor Barbie grinning, clearly pleased with her successful prank.
"It's… Barbie…"
After Herschel drove his kids away, Georgie stepped out from behind the tree, staring in disbelief.