Hi everyone! Thank you so much for the positive feedback to chapter one! :D I really was surprised that so many of you instantly enjoyed my idea...

And here is the next chapter, I hope you'll like it...

From now on it'll be from Sheldon's POV (but Missy is still going to have some cameo appearances throughout the whole story, because young Missy is just the BEST, haha)


-Chapter 2-

Sheldon Cooper was not amused.

"Make some friends, Shelly." his mother, Mary, always said before she did something unpleasant like setting up play dates for him. Her most recent try in socializing her genius son was a bleach-blond, know-it-all of a girl named Paige. Sheldon stubbornly claimed that he never encountered someone who was so arrogant and irritating. He fussed about the unwelcome guest until Mary made her leave again.

Sheldon thought that would teach his mother that it was easier to leave him be. But now, merely a few weeks later, she already arranged for another girl to be dragged into his world.

It was all Missy's fault, of course.

Missy met this girl in school and couldn't shut her clap-trap about her. Now his mother has made it her mission to get them to know each other. As if smartness was an automatic catalyst for bonding. How smart can she even be when she's in Missy's class? Everyone would look smart compared to her, Sheldon thought grumpily.

"Why did you have to tell Mom about that girl?" Sheldon whined to Missy on that ominous Saturday morning; the day of the meeting. "Now she won't leave me alone about it. You know that I prefer to work in solitude."

Missy groaned about her brother's yammering. "Believe me, I don't like it either. Amy is my friend, not yours. She's the first girl I've met that is honest and won't tell mean things behind my back."

"Well, by all means, you can keep her." Sheldon grumbled, cleaning his already spotless part of the twin's room for the play date.

Missy let herself fall backwards onto her bed, already tired of cleaning up and obviously knowing that Sheldon would do all the work for her anyway if she only waited long enough. "Ugh… why can't Mom see that you don't want to have any friends? What makes her think that Amy can make any difference with you? That's totally hopeless; you're a lost cause, brother."

Sheldon scrunched up his face and started picking up some of Missy's clothes that were scattered on the floor. "I can assure you if someone is a lost cause, it's you, sister. But I agree with you in one point; meeting some allegedly smart girl isn't going to change the fact that I rather be on my own."

"Don't you talk like that, Shelly." came the voice from their mother who stuck her head in a second later. "You never know, you might like her. It's good for people to have friends."

"You seem to forget, Mom, that I'm not just people." Sheldon emphasized. He could practically hear Missy rolling her eyes. "I'm a Homo Novus and I don't care for featherbrained individuals others refer to as smart. I cannot be held to those standards."

Mary cocked her head to the side in the way she always did when she struggled with finding the right answer to her son's arguments. "Very well, Shelly. I just want you to keep an open mind about it." she said and left the twins alone again.

Missy kept staring at Sheldon from her position on the bed, propped up by her elbows, her eyebrows raised. "Sometimes I really believe that you got abducted by aliens as a baby."


It wasn't very long after that when Mary called for the twins because Missy's friend and her mom had arrived.

Mary grabbed the beer bottle from George Sr.'s hand and hissed at him to look respectable. He pouted and slunk out of the living room toward the garage, where Georgie was up to who knew what.

Then Mary opened the door with a big smile. "Oh, welcome! You must be Karen Fowler. I'm Mary. Oh, and you dear, you must be Amy. Missy told me so much about you. Come in, come in…"

Mary stepped aside to let the guests in and Sheldon was able to see them to for the first time. Mrs. Fowler was a prim looking lady with reddish-brown hair, an old-fashioned long dress and a small line for a mouth pressed together to form what Sheldon assumed must be a very strained smile.

To her left stood a little girl with straight dark-brown hair and black-rimmed glasses. She wore a knee-length skirt and an unsure expression on her face. Almost as if she was afraid. Upon Mary's invitation, Mrs. Fowler ushered her daughter in with a not-so-gentle shove. She complied, timidly smiling at Missy as she passed her.

Well, if that's my opponent, Sheldon thought, I will have no troubles in showing her what a real genius is.

They all sat down on the couch for a bit. Mary offered cookies to the kids and while Sheldon and Missy each grabbed one in eagerness, Amy looked up to her mother first to silently ask for permission and then nibbled carefully on the baked goodie.

"I'm so glad you decided to come." Mary smiled warmly.

"Well, my daughter didn't leave me much of a choice, really." Karen Fowler said with a disparaging look down to her right where Amy was sitting. "I'm not used to her being so eager to meet children her age. That's why I wanted to come along to see for myself if this environment is suitable for my Amy." She leaned in to speak quietly to Mary, but the children heard her, nonetheless. "Unfortunately, she tends to choose the wrong crowd to meddle with and that has caused some tears before. You know how those kids are today."

"Sure." Mary smiled warily, but she couldn't be diverted so easily from her mission. "Well, you will see that our family is pretty normal and nice. We go to church every Sunday and we're keen on teaching the children to be respectful and accommodating towards each other. You don't have to worry about your sweet little girl."

Unlike Missy, who was already bored with the adults, Sheldon was able to follow the conversation's context. So, while he listened, he also intensely studied the reaction of the girl sitting across from him. He didn't like it when his mother talked about him while he was still in the room and based on the look on Amy's face, she couldn't stand it, either. Her brows were scrunched together and her cheeks reddened.

Must be a sign for distress, he guessed. Or maybe she's just warm, who knows?

Sheldon certainly wouldn't be surprised with all the layers she was wearing. He understood that she was obviously new in town, but if she was as smart as Missy said, she would know that the temperatures in humid East Texas could easily reach over ninety degrees.

He was also bothered by the fact that his mother addressed Amy so excessively sweet and showed so much interest in her while all she did was smile shyly and didn't dare to look Mary in the eyes. Sheldon didn't like it. His mother should be cooing about his brilliant mind, not that girl's lack of one.

His twin sister proved to be on the same side as him for once, impatiently breaking up the conversation. "Mom, can we go play now?" Missy asked, swinging her legs back and forth at the edge of the couch.

"Oh, of course you can, honey. Show Amy your room while her mother and I talk."

The girls eagerly jumped up and raced out of the living room while Sheldon stayed rooted on his spot on the sofa.

"Shelly?" Mary asked. "Won't you go with them?"

"No." Sheldon said strictly. "I prefer to stay here and talk with you. It probably won't challenge my brain in the way I hope for, but your conversation is at least way more pleasant than whatever awaits me in my room."

Mary smiled at Karen who threw her a questioning look and then turned her head towards her son with a full intimidating scowl. "Sheldon, go play with your sister and be nice to Amy."

"Mom, you know my manners are always impeccable, yet I'd rather stay here and—"

"Go, now!"

At that order, Sheldon had no choice but to do as he was told. Like a reflex, he jumped up and hurried up the stairs towards his and his sister's bedroom from where he could detect faint giggling.

Sheldon rolled his eyes. And onto a tedious waste of my precious time…


The giggling stopped briefly when he entered the room and Sheldon had that sinking feeling that the girls were laughing about him. Sullenly, he plopped down on his bed and made a motion with his hand.

"Proceed. I have no intention of joining you any time soon." With that he picked up a comic book and started reading while Missy continued to explain the names of her dolls to Amy and which one of them she liked best.

After at least an hour of having to listen to the girls' banal chit-chat, Sheldon observed something interesting.

Even though the execution of a tea party for Missy's lifeless dolls was absurd, that bespectacled, shy girl provided some fascinating and correct information about the Boston Tea Party and its significance for the American independence. And Missy didn't even tease her about it. Amy's language was proper and grammatically flawless; he had never heard any other ten-year-old talk like that. Well, except for himself, of course.

Sheldon came to the conclusion that this Amy really couldn't be compared to his sister's intellect, but more to his own. Not on his genius level, obviously, he was sure of that, but he had to admit she seemed to be very bright.

That fact raised an even more baffling question that Sheldon asked aloud: "I have a query for Amy." he announced.

"A what?" Missy asked with a confused curl of her lip.

"He means a question." Amy answered for him.

"Oh… then why didn't you say so?" Missy rolled her eyes. "No one understands you if you talk funny like that."

"Au contraire, Amy understood." Sheldon pointed out. "That's actually part of my query… I mean my question." He added impatiently upon Missy's annoyed frown.

"You did it again, dumbo." Missy deadpanned.

"What?" Sheldon frowned.

"You used another funny word. Why can't you talk like a normal person?"

"Why can't you be smarter?" Sheldon immediately shot back. "Which word did you stumble over? Is it 'actually'?"

"I believe it's 'au contraire'." Amy again spoke up timidly while Missy's face quickly darkened in anger. "It's French and means 'on the contrary'."

"And that's my point exactly." Sheldon stated obviously, but, as it often was the case, he only received questioning looks in return. He explained further. "Why on earth should someone who has apparently above average intelligence waste her time with the inferior and purposely sink to their level when her time can be spent much wiser?"

Missy gritted her teeth, breathing in to reply, but Amy beat her to the punch… literally, Sheldon assumed, if Missy's balled fists were any indicator.

"Because I choose to do so." Amy said bluntly, suddenly not at all shy about her statement. "Missy is my friend… my best and only friend." she added after some consideration. "She's nice to me and I like having friends. Something that you're understandably short on, given your poor behavior."

"Excuse me?!" Sheldon exclaimed, standing up from his bed. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Amy stood up, too, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Oh, I'm sorry, am I using words which are too hard for you to understand?"

"Oh, damn!" Missy hissed excitedly, a pleased grin growing on her face.

Sheldon's cheeks turned red. How dare she? "Nothing's wrong with my behavior and I certainly don't want to get involved with anyone hindering my ambitious goal in life. I'm going to win a Nobel Prize one day and I don't need any friends for that!"

"Good. Because I wouldn't want to befriend someone who is so mean to my bestie!" Amy stated, chin held high.

"Fine! I don't want to befriend you, either. You're just as dumb as Missy after all." Sheldon claimed angrily.

Now, that made Missy join the fight. "Hey, leave her alone!" she yelled, jumping up to stand right beside her new best friend. "Amy is much smarter than you will ever be. She has me and you are going to be alone for the rest of your miserable life… weirdo." She hissed deviously and took one step towards Sheldon, daring him to do the same.

Sheldon knew better than to start an actual fight with his sister. For a girl she was surprisingly strong and she always wins. "Don't call me that." he demanded.

"She's right, though." Amy said, smiling like she was about to say something naughty. "You are weird."

Missy smiled proudly and laid an arm around Amy's shoulder.

Sheldon's cheek-color changed from red to purple. He stormed out of the room, yelling, "I'm telling Mom!"

"Oh, no, you won't!" Missy called back and hurried after him, tagging Amy along.

The twins barged into the living room in a flurry, yelling and pointing fingers at each other. Amy tried to get a word in, too, but she stood no chance against the loud Cooper twins. Finally, Mary raised her voice above everyone.

"Okay, enough now, you two! We have guests in our house. What is going on? Shelly?"

"Missy and her new friend ganged up against me and they called me weird!" Sheldon complained.

"Only because Sheldon was mean to Amy and me." Missy defended herself. "He didn't shut up about how he's better than us."

"How is that my fault? I was simply stating the truth." Sheldon shot back.

"Enough!" Mary exclaimed again before the bickering could start all over. "Sheldon, I repeatedly explained to you that other kids don't like it if you make them feel small. And Missy, you don't call your brother any names no matter what happened before. I'm terribly disappointed in both of you. That's not the way I raised you to behave in front of guests. You're both going to apologize to Amy immediately!"

"But Mom—" Sheldon uttered, not one to ever apologize to anybody.

"Sheldon!"

The twins looked down, grumbling. Their flushed faces turned from angry to embarrassed as they both pressed out a little, "Sorry."

Karen Fowler, who observed the scene in shock, now spoke up. "Amy… I can't believe you let yourself be tempted to act so uncourtly. I taught you better."

"B-But I didn't do—" Amy stuttered quietly, as if she suddenly wasn't any bigger than a tiny, grey mouse.

"Don't you disagree with me, little lady." Karen warned. "The boy said you joined the name calling."

"Ow!" Sheldon hissed when Missy jabbed him in the ribs.

"Great, now you got her in trouble you idiot." Missy hissed back through clenched teeth.

"Missy!" Mary scolded, giving her and Sheldon the angry eye. "We're going to have a talk later."

"You know, Mary," Karen said. "You might as well have that talk now. I think it's better if Amy and I go home."

"Oh." Mary voiced her disappointment. "But we had such a nice chat. I hope this doesn't affect the way you think about us as a family."

"As a matter of fact, I'm not entirely sure anymore if this is the right contact for my daughter."

"Mom…" Amy protested weakly.

"Oh, no! Please, Mrs. Fowler," Missy drowned her out with her much bolder voice. "Amy and I are friends; you can't blame us for Sheldon's—"

Mary laid a hand upon her daughter's shoulder before she could continue with whatever insult she was about to voice. "Mrs. Fowler, I understand that Amy is an only child, but siblings sometimes fight with each other. I can assure you that neither of them purposely wanted to hurt each other or your daughter and I'll make sure that it won't happen again." She eyed them again meaningfully.

"I can guarantee it won't happen again if I'm no longer forced to participate in their childish games." Sheldon stated matter-of-factly.

"Sheldon!" Mary hissed again, warningly.

"No, I must agree." Karen said thoughtfully. "If Amy insists on coming back here, I would at least feel better if she is not around boys any more than necessary at her age."

Sheldon and Missy scrunched their brows together, looking at each other in equal confusion, while Amy blushed a deep shade of red.

Mary cocked her head to the side, wondering. "Oh… uhm, I mean, I am keen to teach my children the Christian way of life, but… they are just children after all."

"Oh, Mrs. Cooper…" Karen murmured cryptically. "But soon they're getting older."


As always, please continue to review! I can't wait to know what you think about Shamy's first meeting! :)