Inside Regina's music room, with the girls gathered around watching, Mike hand-wrote the sheet music and lyrics for "We Wish You A Merry Christmas."
Amid the girls' gasps of admiration, Regina grabbed the sheet music, looked it over a few times, and exclaimed happily, "With this, The Plastics are totally going to steal the show at the gala!"
"Hmm? You can read sheet music now?" Mike asked curiously.
The question actually stumped her.
A flash of embarrassment crossed Regina's face before she quickly smiled and said, "I trust your skills, Mike. I'm sure it's a great song..."
The girls' learning abilities weren't quite on Mike's level. After nearly a month of studying music theory, only Cady and Gretchen could read simple scores. As for Regina and Karen—the two "airheads" of the group—they hadn't even grasped the basics yet.
But, as always, just because Regina couldn't read the music didn't stop her from thinking Mike was amazing.
Seeing Regina trying to bluff her way through it, Mike shook his head and said, "Alright, now that we have the song, I'll demonstrate how to sing it. Once you guys have the vocals down, we'll head to the studio to record a demo..."
With Amy handling logistics, Mike didn't have to worry about the recording process at all. The real bottleneck was how fast the girls could learn the new song.
"What about instruments for the performance? How should we choose those?" Regina asked, concerned.
The "Queen Bee" hadn't forgotten that The Plastics were pivoting to become a band. And if they were a band, they needed to play instruments. It was obvious she wanted her group to make a splash at the school's Christmas party.
"Don't worry about the instruments yet. Let's wait until the master track is done..." Mike didn't want to look down on The Plastics, but given their current musical proficiency, there weren't many instruments they could actually pull off.
Seeing the reality of the situation, Mike added, "Relax. With me here, your Christmas performance is guaranteed to be a hit."
With his "Perfect Pitch" ability, he had plenty of confidence in producing a high-quality track.
After reassuring the girls, Mike sat down at the piano, playing and singing to teach them the new song.
The entire afternoon was spent in practice.
"Okay, you've seen the whole song now. Practice a bit more on your own, and I'm sure it won't take long before you're ready to record the demo," Mike told the girls as evening fell and the lesson wrapped up.
"Mike, you want to stay for dinner? I can have Amy whip up a feast," Regina offered, sensing Mike was about to leave.
"No thanks, I've got people waiting for me at home," Mike declined.
He had severely overestimated the learning curve of Regina and Karen. He had spent so much energy that afternoon just keeping those two on key that all he wanted to do now was go home and recharge.
"Alright. I was actually going to ask if you had any more singing tips, but since you're in a rush, we can discuss it tomorrow," Regina said. For someone with limited aptitude, she was surprisingly active when it came to wanting to shine in the spotlight.
"Yeah, I'll organize some tips tonight and we can go over them tomorrow..." Mike waved goodbye without missing a beat. "See you guys tomorrow."
Seeing Mike leave, Cady and the other girls decided to head out with him.
---
Over at the University of Texas research lab, young Sheldon, determined to bond with Dr. Link, had spent the afternoon sitting in and constantly looking for opportunities to ask questions.
Yes, asking questions was the strategy Sheldon had come up with to get closer to Dr. Link.
However, Sheldon was unaware that his constant pestering had essentially harassed Dr. Link all afternoon, leaving the doctor feeling incredibly annoyed.
So, the moment work hours ended, Dr. Link turned and headed straight for the exit.
"Wait for me, Dr. Link!" Sheldon, believing he had successfully made a friend over the course of the afternoon, chased after him down the hallway.
Chatting as if they were old pals, Sheldon said, "Dr. Link, can I join the research team as a researcher now?"
"Why would you say that?" Dr. Link was still not used to Sheldon's overly familiar style of communication.
"It's just a small request between friends," Sheldon said with a smile.
As mentioned before, Sheldon had unilaterally decided that he and Dr. Link were friends. And between good friends, granting a small favor was perfectly reasonable.
"Friends? Me and you?" Dr. Link finally realized why Sheldon had been acting that way earlier.
He stared at the boy and said seriously, "We have never been friends, and there is no possibility of that happening in the future. Stop wasting time on me. I will not agree to you becoming a researcher on this project."
With that, Dr. Link strode away on his long legs, leaving Sheldon behind.
Just then, Professor John Sturgis, who had come out a moment later, saw Sheldon in the hallway. He asked with concern, "How did it go? Did you convince Dr. Link?"
"No. His personality is indeed very difficult," Sheldon said, feeling a bit depressed that his plan had failed.
Seeing Sheldon's disappointed look, and worried the boy was discouraged, Dr. Sturgis encouraged him, "Don't give up. You'll have other chances in the future."
Dr. Sturgis meant "the future" in a broad, general sense, not specifically regarding this physics project. After all, Dr. Link was stubborn; once he made up his mind, he rarely changed it. So, it was almost impossible for Sheldon to get that researcher spot back from him.
"Don't worry, I won't give up!" Sheldon, despite the disadvantage, clearly misinterpreted Dr. Sturgis's words.
He thought the Professor was encouraging him not to give up on "battling" Dr. Link.
Dr. Sturgis shook his head but didn't say anything more about Sheldon's sudden burst of fighting spirit.
Later, on the ride home with Meemaw and Paige, Sheldon was still brainstorming ways to get that researcher spot from Dr. Link.
Not long after, Karen, who had given Mike a ride, pulled up to the Cooper house just as Meemaw and the kids arrived.
"Mike, what did you do this afternoon?" Paige ran over to Mike after watching the wavy-haired Karen drive away.
"Nothing much, just helped someone write a Christmas song," Mike replied honestly.
"You know how to write songs?" Paige asked in surprise. "Can I see it?"
"Sure." Writing a song wasn't something to hide, so Mike agreed and reached to pull out the manuscript.
"Mike, Paige, it's freezing out here. Get inside. Mary probably has dinner ready," Meemaw interrupted them.
It was dark, and the temperature had dropped significantly. Mike said to Paige, "Let's go inside first. You can look at the song anytime."
Paige watched Mike head toward the house. Although she was a little annoyed at the interruption, she obediently followed him inside.