Knock knock.
The first thing the Fowlers heard once they knocked on the door was the bickering within the family. Arguing over clothes, cleaning rooms, etc. After a moment of awkwardly waiting out front, the door opens with kind smiles.
"Welcome, welcome!" Mary invites them in, acting sweet after having just yelled at her oldest to put his pants on. "Come on in!"
The new family walks in hesitantly. It's a smaller family, at least smaller than theirs, with the parents and a child. No siblings or anything.
"Thank you for having us over," Mrs. Fowler starts, "It's been hard adjusting." Mrs. Fowler looks down at her daughter, who's practically clinging to her leg, and nudges her a little. "This is Amy."
Amy speaks, in a shy, soft voice, "Hello."
Mary smiles, crouching down and shaking Amy's hand. She then stands back up, turning to her own children.
"These are my kids, Sheldon, Missy, and. . ." She looks around, trailing off from her sentence. "Where's Georgie?"
Sheldon looks up at his mother, unphased. "He's hiding his dirty magazin–"
Georgie shouts from the other room, cutting off Sheldon. "Nothing!"
Mary sighs, turning back to the guests with an uncomfortable smile, gesturing to the kids. "You three go play while the adults talk, alright?"
Missy and Amy stay in the twins' room talking about horses, magazines, Little House on the Prairie, just anything that came to mind, while Sheldon was in the garage with his trains. He had no interest in meeting the new kid whatsoever. He's never liked new people, anyway. They hadn't even exchanged a word yet and he can already tell how superior he was to her. Anyone who talks about ponies and boys with Missy already is on Sheldon's 'Do Not Talk To' list.
Meanwhile, Missy and Amy lay on the bed, talking.
"So," Missy starts, "Any boys you like?"
Amy replies with a scrunched face, somewhat appalled that she'd ask such a question. "No, not at all. If I risked Mother knowing about boys, I'd just end up in the Sin Closet."
"The Sin Closet?"
"Yes, the Sin Closet. Jokes on her, though," Amy's voice hushes a little as she leans toward her, "I can still see the TV through the slats."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Why?"
"Your mom puts you in a closet."
"Yours doesn't?"
Missy's eyes widen a bit as she shakes her head.
"Oh, I see."
Silence falls before them for a moment. After what feels like an eternity, Missy turns to Amy. "Well, if you could have a crush, who would it be?"
Amy thinks for a moment. She's never really thought about it. "If I had to choose, Micheal Landon."
"Isn't he, like, mega old now?"
"Not when he was on Little House on the Prairie."
Sheldon walks into the room, having gotten bored of his trains and now searching for a book, opting for that sweet nectar of science.
"Hey, Sheldon," Missy starts, "Thoughts on Micheal Landon?"
Sheldon glances at her, almost a glare. "Isn't he dead?"
"Yeah, but what do you think of him?"
"Why would I care for him?" Sheldon can feel Amy's judgemental view on him once he says that, though he pays no mind to her.
Amy sits up, brushing her blouse off. "I liked him. He was a good Charles Ingles."
Sheldon doesn't pay any attention to the comment, rummaging through his bookshelf. Amy looks back over at Missy, the both of them exchanging a look.
"Hey, Sheldon," Amy starts, "What are you looking for?"
"Nothing that concerns either of you."
Amy glares at Sheldon, deciding he's not worth her time. Sheldon pulls out a physics book, sitting on the bed and flipping through it.
Missy nudges Amy before sitting up. "What's that book? Nerd stuff?" Missy snickers, though Amy doesn't find it funny. She mostly doesn't understand why it'd be funny, but she's hanging out with a popular kid, so she might as well take it rather than leave it.
"I weirdly miss when your insults and harassment were original. Now they're just regurgitated observations with a pessimistic look to it."
Missy rolls her eyes. "Nobody understands you when you talk like that."
Amy looks over at Sheldon, then back at Missy. "You don't understand what he meant..? I thought it was clear."
Sheldon turns his attention to Amy. Most people in east Texas can't understand basic geometry or even the simple things he says. His family just nods and smiles when he talks. Amy was different. Intelligent. Still inferior, but intelligent. Maybe she'd earn herself a spot in his list if he had a tree-fort (he has lots of lists)."You know what I meant?"
"You know what he meant?" Missy echoed Sheldon, more confused than excited. Maybe even a little disappointed.
"Of course," Amy starts, "It was clear as day. He was simply saying that you should come up with better insults if you were aiming to make a negative impact on his emotional state."
Sheldon stops, closing the book. He then smiles, sitting down onto his bed. "What's your opinion on trains?"
Amy stands by in the garage, keeping to herself. Partially because Sheldon had scolded her when she tried to touch his train set, but also because he's new to her. It's new having friends in general. She's zoned out, thinking as Sheldon goes on and on about train models.
All of a sudden, Sheldon clapped his hands together, "Quiz time!"
Amy groans, leaning against a counter. "Really? A quiz? I didn't catch half of what you said."
"Oh, that's alright. So, this is the model HO scale, which is the most common model. It–"
Amy sighs, leaning back as he starts talking again. "Uh, that's alright, Sheldon. You don't have to tell me anymore. I've got the gist."
"Oh? Alright, then." He sets his train down, his eye twitching.
Amy blinks, noticing his eye. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I don't know what you're talking about." His eye twitches again as his nose scrunches.
"Your eye."
"Nope. Nothing's wrong."
Amy looks at him skeptically. "Are you sure..?"
"I'm sure! Everything's fine. AY-OKAY."
Amy gets up, circling over to him. He looks like he's about to explode.
"Uh, do you want to tell me more about the trains?" She barely finishes her sentence before he starts talking quickly, not even stopping for a breath.
"This is a Nickel Plate Fast Freight from the LEGACY set. It has the newer boiler tooling and is the more accurate rendition. It has these wonderful front and rear operating knuckle couplers and is one of the most realistic trains in my set! It even has realistic sounds." Sheldon smiles joyously at the train. "Of course, it's not as realistic as the real train I have." He suddenly gasps for breath, leaning on the table that holds his trains.
Amy gave Sheldon a look of dumbfoundment before he did a breathy chuckle.
"Bazinga. If I had a real train it would be hard to fit in this garage. What's life without a little whimsy?"
Amy nodded. "Ha, you got me there, Sheldon. . . but, that was a lot of information you just dumped out. . . are you okay?"
Sheldon nods, sighing as he catches his breath.
"Alright, then. . ."
