Miss Davis was ecstatic that day. She had in her hands a heavy craft envelope, and hurried her students to take their seats.
"Chop chop! I have a surprise for you!" she said with a smile.
"What can we possible get in a Spanish class? A ham?" Amy laughed as she asked her friend Lisa.
"Or paella!" Lisa replied with a huge smile.
"Ssh!" Miss Davis silenced them. "I have in my hands a pile of letters from a high school in New York City. Each and every one of you will get a pen pal. You'll choose randomly the letter then you will write a letter back to the person in perfect Spanish. These are due back to me next week. John, we will start with you. Come on up and pick a letter." Miss Davis instructed. A tall, dark haired boy stood up, walked to the front of the class and picked up his letter. He wasn't thrilled. Miss Davis called all the students in the class. When it was Amy's turn, she stood up, looked at Lisa and winked at her friend.
"May the force be with you." Lisa whispered. This made Amy giggle on her way to the teacher's desk.
She picked a letter from the reduced stack and went back to her seat, her long curly hair swaying in her back. Amy Farrah Fowler was not the most popular girl in the high school, very far from that actually. She was in the math, chess and science club. She got a perfect score in every subject all the time. Actually, she was supposed to skip a couple grades but her mother insisted on keeping her daughter as normal as possible. She even wanted to get her contacts instead of glasses so she would look less "nerdy". Amy really liked her copper framed glasses. They made her emerald eyes shine with intelligence and wit. She also loved her long hair, even if her mother wanted her to get a more fashionable cut. Amy's relationship with her mother was tense, even when she was little, but got even tenser after her father left them when she was five. Constance Fowler put an incredible amount of pressure on her daughter. She wanted her to be a brilliant English teacher one day, just like she was. Amy was way too afraid to tell her mother she was planning on becoming a neurobiologist. She loved all science, but she fell in love with biology when she got to dissect a pig during her sophomore year in high school. She knew her mother would disapprove of her choice. Her mother always told her that science and math were for men. Amy thought her mother was crazy to believe this since the schools were always looking for girls that were good in those subjects.
Amy looked at her friend Lisa with a worried look. She had in her hands a letter from a stranger, a boy or a girl that she would probably never meet, and whom she didn't know anything about. She didn't know why, but she felt a wave of panic all of a sudden. Her palms were moist, her mouth went dry and she could feel her heartbeat going faster and faster.
The handwriting was impeccable. The quality of the paper was way classier than the other letters written on a notepad. Everything was perfect about the letter, and she felt like everything would be perfect about the author himself. She started to read, anxious and eager to know more about her mysterious pen pal.
Dear stranger,
My name is Sheldon Lee Cooper. I am 17 years old, and I am a senior at St. Gabriel's School in New York, more precisely, in Brooklyn. I have an IQ of 187, I do not belong in a public high school. I should have graduated with at least a master's degree by now, but my silly mother wanted me to stay "normal". I have been told by my teacher that I had to tell you more about who I was and what I liked. That's how you build friendship apparently. So I will concede to such juvenile requirements and say three things I like: Star Wars, Star Trek and Science. And three things I don't like: germs, whistlers and food stealers. If you are looking for a friendship, please do not reply to this letter. If you are planning on telling me more about yourself, please do not reply either. If you think you can explain string theory, or if you are Stephen Hawking, which you could be since I am writing to someone in England, at least that is what my teacher says, I will write you back. And finally if you have the script to upcoming Star Wars movie, I'll gladly concede to reading your letter.
Hope you have a wonderful day.
Bazinga, I don't care.
Sheldon Cooper, someday Dr. Sheldon Cooper, BS, MS, MA, PhD, and ScD. I know OMG right?
Amy had to read the letter three times to let everything sink in. She was ready to fire back at him with such passion that her words would burn the paper. She was outraged by the audacity of this boy "Sheldon" but also found herself fascinated by him. He was rude, condescending and so full of himself. It was everything Amy hated in people. She was fuming, shifting in her seat uncontrollably and wiping her palms on her denim skirt.
"You okay?" asked Lisa, worried.
"Not really. My pen pal is a jerk." Amy replied, showing her letter to Lisa.
She watched silently as her friend read the letter, her face twisting from surprise to anger.
"Amy." Lisa said after a while.
"What?" Amy snapped, still fuming.
"I think you've met your match." Lisa replied, looking straight into the young brunette's emerald eyes.
Amy froze in her seat.
"Excuse me?!" she exclaimed a little bit too loud to Miss Davis' taste.
"You heard me. Look me straight in the eyes and tell me you didn't find him…fascinating." Lisa challenged her. She locked eyes with Amy for about two seconds before the brunette shied away.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Amy mumbled. Lisa could read her like a book. Lisa winked at her and nudged her on the shoulder. Amy just rubbed her shoulder as it was a bit too hard for her taste.
Later that day, as Amy was organizing her locker after lunch, Lisa jumped on her, holding a notepad and a bunch of colorful markers.
"Geez Lisa you scared me!" Amy said.
"Oops sorry!" Lisa replied.
"What are you doing with these?" Amy asked, pointing at the Sharpies in her friend's hand.
"We're going to reply to that sexy pen pal of yours." Lisa replied, smiling at Amy with a gleam in her eye.