CHAPTER 3: The Shopping Trip:

It was now 6pm, and Amy just entered her college dorm. She felt really good but also nervous about the day she just had. Many people had tried to be friends with Amy in the past but it was only to fool her or to get her to do their homework, how many times a guy had made eye contact with her just like Sheldon did just to be able to ridicule her.

So Amy was scared, why all of a sudden, one of the most beautiful person in her class wanted to talk to her. If she had wished, she could have said something to her at the beginning of the school year. Amy was confused, she really liked those people and they seemed so honest, but again so were the ones who fooled her.

Amy sighs. Her day has already been exhausting and she was stressed about the next day but on top of that Amy was worried about the people she just met, combined with the thought of sadness she felt just thinking about her past and the people bullying her.

And just like that, she could feel it, the way her chest began to constrict painfully as her panic was rising. Amy was no stranger to this feeling, in fact she was feeling it almost constantly, however this time, for new reasons, she felt worse; and that frightened her. She didn't want the thoughts that were creeping inside her head to be there. All she wanted was to feel okay; she didn't want to be scared over everything. But here she was in the middle of a panic attack; scared again.

Amy was trying to catch her breath when she heard her phone ring. Amy looked over at the kitchen table to see the notification. When she saw it was an unknown number Amy was confused and then she remembered she had given her number to Penny and Bernadette. She could feel her panic rising again but this time she blocked it and read the message.

Hey Amy, it's Penny I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping with Bernadette and me this weekend? Penny

And Amy relaxed a little; at least Penny was approaching her and not ignoring her.

Hey Penny, this weekend is fine for me. Amy

By now, Amy had calmed down and was now trying to concentrate on her homework.

Before going to bed Amy took a long shower; she was under the hot spray, relaxing her muscles and washing her worries away.

She then snuggled in bed under the cover and tried to find sleep. She knew that her first class of the next day was biology class, and she also knew that she will have to work in group and she feared that this was the moment Bernadette will choose to embarrass her.

Amy finally found sleep at around 1:00 in the morning; she knew she would be tired tomorrow.

At 6:30, Amy's alarm went off. She really wanted to press the snooze button, but she didn't. Instead she left her bed and went to grab breakfast.

Amy arrived at her biology class at 7:55am and Bernadette was already there. She could feel her anxiety level rising but she made nothing of it. She just smiled and said "Hello".

Bernadette smiled back and said "Good morning, how are you today?"

"Fine, a little tired but apart from that, everything's right. What about you?"

"I am fine too thanks. So I got a text from Penny telling me that shopping this weekend is fine, that's great!"

"Yeah, it will be fun to go out a little."

"So, today we're working in groups would you like to do it together?" Bernadette asked.

"Oh of course I would love that"

"Great"

The class began and so the girl sat together waiting for the instructions.

At lunch, Amy sat with the gang after being called again by Bernadette and she got to know them a little better. Amy began to relax about her new friends, if she could call them that.

The rest of the week passed in a blur for Amy and before she knew it she was waking up on Saturday morning.

Amy got ready to meet the girl at the mall; they decided to eat there so she had to arrive around 12am.

Amy got to the mall at 11:55am, not wanting to be late, so she waited for the girls to come. She was nervous that the girls suddenly decided not to come.

After a little while, Amy could see the girls approaching. It was only then that she saw that they weren't alone. As the figures came nearer, she could see that the girls had brought their significant others. So Amy was going to be the fifth wheel, well, that's the story of my life, Amy thought.

Penny and Bernadette were now standing in front of Amy.

"Hey Amy sorry we had to take the guys with us because we couldn't have a lot of time together this week. But don't worry you won't be alone with us; Sheldon and Raj will be here shortly." Penny explained.

"Oh okay no problem"

Amy was a little nervous about seeing Sheldon again; he was constantly giving her those looks that made her weak in the knees.

She didn't have a lot of time to reflect on that because she heard Sheldon and Raj walking toward the group. When she looked up he was already staring at her so she just smiled in greeting and to her surprise, he smiled back one of the most beautiful smile Amy had ever seen. The knots in her stomach tighten a little, she didn't feel panicked only nervous.

The minute they entered the mall the girls were already in a clothes store. Amy didn't usually go to stores if it wasn't because her clothes were too old or damaged so she let Penny and Bernadette lead her from store to store.

After a while Amy heard Bernadette gasp and asked Penny to come see. They then looked at Amy and present her with a beautiful outfit. She didn't really understand the look the girls were giving her so she just asked.

"What's going on?"

"Can't you see?" Bernadette asked.

"Um, no, not really…"

"This outfit was made just for you."

"You really think so?"

"Absolutely"

"I guess I can go try it on"

"Yes let's gooooo !!"

Amy entered the cabin and looked at the pants, shirt and blazer in front of her. She never wore pants and was scared of being uncomfortable nevertheless she was curious and so she tried them on.

She looked at the mirror and saw someone different, but she liked the person she saw and surprisingly those jeans weren't uncomfortable at all.

Amy went out of the cabin to show the girls and they saw her, they gasped.

"Amy, you're stunning!"

"Yeah, you really are!"

"Do you really think so?"

"Yup, this outfit is perfect for you"

Amy bought the clothes and the girls exited the store. Over the course of the hour, Amy purchased more outfits. They decided to grab lunch at 1pm.

After that, groups began to form; the girls stayed with their significant others and Raj was following Howard and Bernadette in a puppy-like way; it was clear he was missing his best friend quite a bit.

So Amy ended up alone with Sheldon. There was tension between the two of them but Amy still felt comfortable. Amy was the first to break the silence.

"So what is your dream job?" Amy tried.

"I want to be a theoretical physicist"

"Wow that's a complicated job, you must be really intelligent." Amy praised.

"Of course! I am a genius."

" Really?" Amy asked a little baffled by his arrogance.

"Absolutely, I have an IQ of 187." Sheldon said puffing his chest a little.

Amy giggled quietly and Sheldon gave her a look.

"What?"

"Well, my IQ is pretty close; it is 185."

"That's impressive for a biologist"

"I beg your pardon?" Amy nearly shouted.

"What? With an IQ like yours you could do great things"

"Biology is great for me."

"But…how? …it's the study of yucky and squishy stuff."

"I want to study the brain, argot, I want to understand what is going on and which hormone is released when you're experiencing an emotion. And on top of that I want to help people to live better lives by curing mortal diseases. It is way more than 'the study of yucky and squishy stuff'". Amy said passionately.

Sheldon saw the sparkle in Amy's eyes and smiled a bit.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you."

"Don't worry about that. Although I have a question, how did you remember that I wanted to be a neurobiologist?"

"Oh that? I have an eidetic memory."

"NO WAY"

"Yes way actually"

"Wow I am more than impressed. You know you would be an excellent subject of study."

"I guess I would." He replied smiling.

"So you said you had siblings, are they as intelligent as you?"

"THEM?!?" Sheldon burst into laughing.

"What?" Amy was really confused.

"They're really dumb."

"That much?"

"Yeah"

"Huh, I wouldn't have thought."

Sheldon chuckled.

"You have siblings too. What about them."

"They're smart. My sister is an HR lady. But they both are successful in their private lives, they are married to really good people and my brother has a beautiful five-year-old son." Amy's eyes sparkled in a way that Sheldon found fascinating.

"You seem close to them."

"I am, honestly I miss them really much."

"Why? I like to be away from my family very much."

"I…I wouldn't." Amy said with tears welling up in her eyes.

"Why are you crying?"

"It's difficult for me to be so far away from my family. I mean it's been a long time since my brother and my sister left the house and fund their own but I don't know, I guess, when they moved out I, I felt empty. I felt like I didn't really matter, like instead of leaving the house, they left me. I was the only one with my parents since last year. I've never had any friends, usually people hate me. And school is so hard, like I feel I won't be able to do it. It's too much for me to take." The tears already falling down her eyes.

"I'm sorry" Sheldon said sending her an apologetic look. "You know sometimes I feel it too; the insecurities, like I'm highly intelligent but I sometimes worry that I'll fail or that I won't be enough. People have always criticized me for being myself, for having an opinion that they either didn't want to hear or that they didn't understand. It's hard not to feel hurt or excluded when it happens but why I am saying that I wouldn't miss my family is because it has mostly been my brother and my sister that were bullying me because I wasn't like them; like it always hurt more to know that even with my family I couldn't be myself." Sheldon said with his own eyes moist.

Amy chuckled, "Look at us, it is the first real conversation we have and we're crying."

"Hey, I am not crying!" Sheldon said defensively.

"Don't lie I can see the tears in your eyes." Amy laughed.

"Well, I guess you're right I am crying but just a little" Sheldon said defending himself and Amy just laughed.

A bubble formed between the two and a comfortable silence fell upon them. But right at that moment the others came back.

"What happened here? Why are you guys crying?" Penny questioned surprising Sheldon and Amy.

"OH, huh, we just…talked and well…" Amy replied looking down a little ashamed of her display of emotion.

"Did he say something offending to you? No, because if he did he doesn't mean it, it's just that he doesn't really understand that what he said could hurt." Bernadette replied.

"No, he did not." Amy frowned, she didn't understand what the girls were talking about, Sheldon seemed pretty harmless to her."