Chapter 2: Pasadena

Missy rubbed her eye, oddly enough you get tired after driving all night; but it was all worth it for what came at the end. The Los Angeles skyline broke into the night sky and lit up the darkness. It was finally time to have the ultimate summer. This was the city of beaches, celebrities, and wild parties. She checked out a map she found in the glove compartment and looked for somewhere to go. She only had ten dollars in her wallet so she'd also have to find a way to get more money. However she didn't really care, all she could think about was all the parties and events across the city. Where to first?

Where to first? Sheldon looked around at the extensive campus, ok well he'd have to drop his stuff off at his dorm first before checking out the labs and library, and of course getting his student ID. He went there and was in awe at having a room all to himself for the first time. After that he went through the poster sale to use the $10 his foster parents gave him to find a great poster for his room. He wanted one of Professor Proton (a tv scientist Leonard and him liked) but they didn't have any, so he decided on a Back to the Future poster (though he still needs to see that movie sometime) and now it was already time to head to some of his projects.

"WOOO" girls cheered as they entered the night club

Missy was waiting her turn to get in excited to dance and get a lot of bragging rights to shove in her friends faces. She made it to the front of the line and waltzed right-

She was halted by the bouncer "ID"

"Oh I didn't think I needed one"

"Your not getting in without ID" the bouncer said pushing her out of line

Missy simply tried more nightclubs but it was all the same thing, either she wasn't let in because of ID or they took one look at her and wouldn't let her in. She decided to focus on making more money, but how?

She approached a random guy "Skews me sir, do you know where LAX is"

"Well no but I have a map" he said before pulling a map out of his glove compartment "here it is" he showed Missy and she took a picture of it with her camera

"Thank you" she said as the guy got back in his car and drove off. She counted to four in her head before pulling out his wallet and finding eighty dollars in it. She saw his driver's license and a light went off in her head, all she needed was an older girl's ID and she could get into some parties. Now where would she find- she saw some guys with Caltech shirts heading towards the suburbs. At a college party she could kill two birds with one stone. Looks like she was going to her first frat party.

After exploring the campus and getting pictures of every lecture hall Sheldon arrived at his first real college experimental project with Dr. Mathews and Dr. Hunter. The project centered around boosting signals to track possible tachyon movement, basic stuff like that. He arrived slightly early and observed both doctors work

Sheldon had an epiphany "Hey what if we-"

"Son we'll take care of it" Dr. Mathews said in a degrading tone

"I just thought-"

" you have nothing to worry about we can figure it all out" Dr. Hunter said silencing him

At his next experiment about creating a pocket sized DNA sampler it was the same thing whenever he tried to give input he was always assured the project was in better hands. "Why did you let me in if you didn't want my help"

"Mr. Hofsteader you're the most important member" insisted "when investors hear that a fifteen year old prodigy is legally apart of our experiment then we'll get five times as much in funding" she said before suggesting he get some dinner

"I'm…I'm fourteen" Sheldon corrected

"That's nice"

Sheldon left insulted, he was not proud of it but he was one to throw the occasional tantrum. He went back to his dorm room and punched his mattress once….. Even he thought that was pathetic. He needed a way to show off rebellion and spite without actually breaking any of the rules. He checked the dorm's bulletin board and saw a frat party happening tonight. Looks like he was going to his first frat party.

Sheldon starred down this deadly fortress known as a frat party. Did he go back to his dorm and go to bed at the appropriate time or was he going to enter this dragon's den purely out of spite… I think you all know the answer. He entered the party and tried to not draw too much attention to himself

"HEY EVERYONE PEE WEE'S AT OUR PARTY" a frat boy announced

Well that didn't work as people were chanting 'pee wee' at Sheldon, apparently hell does exist. He continued walking through, locking and unlocking his elbow repeatedly to mimic their dancing. He looked at everyone socializing and having fun, while he'd never admit it he did somewhat envy them in a way. Sheldon approached a random college girl "hello" he had to really speak up because of the loud music

"Hey"

"I really admire you boldly applied makeup" Sheldon 'complemented'

The college girl scrunched up her face and left, why'd she leave? He thought he did a great job. Maybe a more receiving approach rather than offering, he looked around and noticed a girl who looked closer to his age, like suspiciously close, she was over in the corner looking through her wallet (pretty irresponsible in a party) "Hello"

"Hey" she said

Remember receiving end "how are you doing"

"Good, this is an awesome party" she said putting the wallet away

Sheldon needed to ask "hey how old are you"

She looked around "do I not look eighteen"

"Oh I'm really sorry I'm only fourteen" Sheldon said before turning

"Wait what? No no I lied I'm actually fourteen" she said grabbing his shoulder. Sheldon would usually point out that he was right and he knew all along but whenever he does everyone gets annoyed with him for some unknown reason. "I'm Missy by the way"

"I'm Sheldon"

She chuckled "what kind of name is Sheldon"

"What kind of name is Missy"

"Touche"

"Did you know the phrase touche actually comes from the sport of fencing and swordsmen would say it when they lost the fight" he said as Missy seemed more confused than interested.

The music was getting louder and louder and they had to speak up "so what is a fourteen year old doing here"

"Wait that girl is fourteen-

And after three whole minutes in the fortress he and Missy were kicked out, still a record. She glared at him before walking away, again a record for the amount of time a girl knew him before doing that, truly a productive night.

Missy opened her eyes as she caught some of the light of day, the first time she got to sleep in for a long time. For her own safety she put some distance between her and the car by sleeping in a playground tunnel. She pulled herself out and stretched, before cracking her back in a really painful way only getting like three hours of real sleep. LA in the day is far from LA at night, you can actually see the litter and smog.

She checked out her new school ID, her name was Miranda Tyweld apparently. She also scored a hundred and twenty more dollars last night, but maybe this Tyweld girl had a meal plan that she could use and didn't have to use her cash.

Missy made her way into Cowtech and looked for some cafeteria or some- Missy sighed as she noticed the weirdo who got her kicked out of the party last night, and she didn't find anything else the rest of the night. A part of her wanted to give him a piece of her mind, another just wanted to ignore him, but she decided that she also technically got him kicked out and should apologize. "Hey"

He turned to her "hello" he said noticing her

"Look I'm… sorry about getting you kicked out last night" Missy apologized

"I'm sorry too" Sheldon said

Missy started to get confused "so wait are you actually fourteen?" she asked and he nodded "then what are you doing here"

"I'm a student here, and working on summer projects" Sheldon explained

"Ugh that's kinda ridic-" she was cut off when he showed his student ID "-ulous".

"Is that why you're here, are you a prodigy too?"

"No just visiting LA" Missy explained "I'm sorry how'd you get into college at fourteen"

"Oh well when I was younger I considered being a train engineer, or a hobo, but my foster parents are both scientists and I do love the thrill of physics so it made sense"

"Oh you're adopted, no way so am I" Missy said finding something in common

"Oh that's interesting, where are you from?" Sheldon said building conversation

"Well I grew in Modesto but I was actually born in Texas"

"Really? So was I" Sheldon confirmed "not the Modesto part, I grew up in New Jersey but I was also born in Texas"

The moment became awkward, even Sheldon could tell that. "Just to make it less creepy, do you know what part of Texas?" Missy asked

"Galveston" Sheldon stated

"...so was I" Missy said creeped out "well that's a pretty big coincidence" Missy said in complete denial, so close to walking away "ugh…..what's your birthday"

"February 26" Shedlon hesitantly admitted

Missy was silent and couldn't get words out. "Same" she finally got out

Sheldon looked through his bag and pulled out his mom's photo, and tried to see if this girl looked like her in any way. She…she kinda did, they were both brunettes at least.

"What's that?" Missy asked

"Ugh.. it's just.." Sheldon caved and showed Missy his mom's photo. She was almost mesmerized by it. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a folded photo herself, opened it up, and layed it next to his photo. It was an old picture of a man in front of… A similar house. Missy pushed both pictures together and they matched up, they matched up perfectly. They looked at each other is both fear, revelation, relief, confusion, a lot of emotions

Missy looked back at the whole photo "Shit"