Sheldon swallowed while was coming to the entrance of the place in which that stupid meeting was going to celebrate. He wondered for the umpteenth time why do the hell was he there. Ah, yes, to prove himself that he had overcome all his traumas with school bullies. The young physicist pursed his lips and stopped. Oh, of course ... He had done it like Raj had overcome his pathological shyness to talk to women or Howard his dirty and perverted thoughts. Suddenly he felt a gentle hand pressed his stiff arm. He looked down. Penny was giving him her delightful smile and a look of encouragement, still clutching his arm. The young man tried to smile back, but judging by the laughter that the girl was about to release, maybe he have not achieved it completely well. He started to say something, but she interrupted him.

- Come on, Moonpie. Batman is not afraid of anyone. - whispered with a wink fun.

He gritted his teeth. That was very true. He stared at the crowd, took a deep breath and started walking, trying to show his pride and hide that bloody terror. She smiled and followed him, her arm on his and looking around.

- Wow ... this is gorgeous. - said the girl, feeling pleasantly surprised.

True, this was not bad. It was an outdoor party and they had set up a tent with lots of lights and lamps. In the background was a stage with instruments already prepared, while the musicians seemed to come and go. There were numerous posters commemorating the twelfth anniversary of the promotion, plus photos of old students. The music began to sound. Penny smiled happily, unable to avoid following the rhythm of music with foot. Suddenly a murmur seemed to rise from people. At this time, Sheldon wished that teleportation truly were real. Almost everybody was looking at them, perplexed and incredulous. Especially at Penny, who seemed to have own light, with that wonderful blue dress and her hair, falling like a golden waterfall in her back. Sheldon could feel how his old classmates looked at him, absolutely surprised, and then, they looked at Penny in such way that, for a moment, Sheldon wanted to kill some of them. Fortunately, Missy saw them and immediately went to meet them.

- Hey, guys! - greeted with a cheerful smile. - I'm so glad that finally, the ogre of my brother brought you, Penny. – she said, winking at the blonde girl. Penny smiled back, amused. - Come, come... Would you like a drink?

Penny released Sheldon's arm for a moment to approach the table where Missy was already serving a drink. The young physicist followed them, somewhat resigned. For a moment, he thought that maybe getting drunk was not such a bad idea ... but he discarded it immediately. He did not want to end saying physical jokes and take the risk of losing his pants. In addition, his neurons were too valuable to kill them in alcohol.

- Honey, what would you like? - Penny asked, turning to him.

- A free Cuba virgin will be fine. - said with a raised eyebrow and a rare grimace between joke and concern.

Penny giggled, but she served what he asked. Then the girl came to him, taking him by the arm.

- Come on, Sheldon, calm down. All is okay. See?

- Disasters are often preceded by excruciating calm. - said, looking around with undisguised apprehension.

The girl shook her head.

- Look, imagine that ... There is no one else but you, me and Missy at the party ... - she suggested.

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Before he could answer, a voice interrupted him.

- Cooper? Is the "smartass" Cooper here really?

The young physicist swallowed. His eidetic memory could never forget that voice. Jack Larry, the most famous quarterback of the high school. And also who had the most repulsive mixture of arrogance and stupidity. He was the typical bully in the complete meaning of this word, but to make matters worse, he was so stupid that Sheldon always believed that his brain had suffered some kind of trauma as lack of oxygen at birth or undiagnosed phenylketonuria. They had known since kindergarten. Yes, indeed Sheldon remembered perfectly that at first day that he had been separated from his mother to stay in that awful place, at age of two, Jack welcomed him biting his hand to steal his lunch. And since then, he had suffered that curse until, thanks to his prodigious brain, was able to leave school at age of twelve.

- Hey, come on, wormie, do not you remember me? I'm talking to you.

Sheldon closed his eyes briefly and turned to face him. Yes, his face still showed that he had numerous chaotic neuron synapses. Penny frowned, looking at the stranger with the face that Nebraska farmers used to deter wrongdoers. Missy tried to calm him down.

- Larry ... How many drinks have you had? - asked the brunette.

- That doesn't matter. - He said, still staring at Sheldon. - Come on, Cooper, do not you remember me?

Sheldon turned his gaze colder.

- This is one of those times when I would love not to have eidetic memory and could "enjoy" a very short-term memory like you. But unfortunately, that is not possible.

Penny stifled a giggle, seeing that Larry looked at Sheldon with a stupid expression, without understanding anything. Missy tried to say something, but Larry seemed to react.

- Do you know...? I wonder what you're doing here ... - he said, holding his beer.

- Me too ... - Sheldon muttered to himself.

- Larry, Sheldon is also in our promotion. - Missy intervened.

- Aaah ... - he laughed stupidly. - And ... he has come to remember old times, right? - said with a laugh that turned stomach to Penny. - Like when we locked him wearing only his underwear in the girls' locker room...

- Hey, let it go. - Missy started to get serious.

- Oh, come on Missy, you also laughed a lot when we did.

Sheldon glared angrily at his twin sister's. Missy gulped seeing the furious blue eyes of his brother.

- Hey, I'm his sister and I am the only one who has the right to mess him. - Said, frowning. - Also, this is a party and we're here to have fun, not to put on a show. You are already old for that, Larry.

The nasty aforementioned chuckled.

- Your sister always have to defend to you, huh, "little girl? - said, looking contemptuously at Sheldon. - Why have you come? You've never been part of us. We were not even worthy of being in the same class as you ... because of course, the "smartass" Cooper already knew everything.

Sheldon swallowed. He could see that almost everyone seemed looking at him in the same way that Larry. He gritted his teeth. Suddenly, millions of photographic images bombarded his brain. In these images, he was the victim of all the mischief of their peers. He was pale. It was like he could see with great detail how they had destroyed his beloved project to produce an automaton with integrated circuits, melting it with a blowtorch while he was crying inconsolably. He squeezed her eyes and tried to stop the torrent of bloody memories. He thought he had forgotten them ... but of course ... Damn eidetic memory! Penny felt something broke inside her, seeing Sheldon's face. She glared the idiot.

- Hey you, does he have the fault that you're an idiot? - the blonde girl stood in front of Larry, her fists clenched and dedicating her most furious gaze.

Larry looked surprised at the girl. How had he not noticed her before?

- Hey ... Who are you, baby? - approached her, looking lasciviously.

- I'm Penny, Sheldon's girlfriend. - she said, squinting dangerously.

Everyone seemed to be silent. Larry blinked puzzled. Then he began to laugh out loud.

- In addition to beautiful, you're really funny. - said, laughing. - I like you. - smiled wickedly.

Penny put her hands on her hips and then, without saying a word, walked over to Sheldon, hung from his neck and kissed him passionately. That seemed to be the only thing that could stop the horrible memories of the young physicist. He tried to keep his breath, but Penny was literally devouring his mouth, kissing him with a mixture of anger and desire. Then she let go and turned to face Larry, while other people whispering perplexed. He looked incredulously at the beautiful blonde girl and at Sheldon.

- Hey, Cooper, how much did you pay for this little bitch to pretend to be your girlfriend tonight? Because ... if it's not much, I do not mind doing the same...

Sheldon felt that something beat his chest, ripping the lungs and heart, at the words of that motherfucker. Penny froze, as if she still could not process the insult. Before she could react, Sheldon was facing him.

- Do you know? I think to answer I could build a speech logical enough so that you did not understand a word. So I will answer your question in a way that you will understand perfectly.

At that time, Sheldon's brain gave control to his deeper limbic system, releasing his always controlled feelings, and one of them completely took over him. For the first time in thirty years, Sheldon closed his fist and brought it with unexpected force against Larry's face at an angle perfectly calculated. Larry fell to ground, his nose broken and bleeding. There were almost cries of surprise. Missy and Penny looked at Sheldon with their mouth open. The young physicist stood with his hand extremely sore from the blow. Then swallowed, looked at Penny and without saying a word ran out of there.