When Ms. Victoria pushed open the classroom door for the eleventh grade with Mike, a math class was in session.
The female students in the classroom all gasped when they saw Mike enter.
"Quiet down, this is your new classmate Mike…" Victoria suddenly seemed to get stuck and turned her head to ask, "Oh, what's your full name?"
Mike: "Mike Quinn~"
"Very good, Mike Quinn. Go find a seat for yourself." After arranging Mike, Victoria nodded to Ms. Ingram, the math teacher on the podium, and said, "Ingram, I'll leave it to you here."
With that, Ms. Victoria left the classroom as she had arrived, on her own accord.
At American high schools, students did not have fixed seats in class.
Those students who were just coasting naturally occupied the back rows; most people chose to sit in the middle of the classroom, a less conspicuous spot; and students who wanted to study well would sit a bit closer to the front.
And in this class, the special existence of Sheldon sat alone in the very center of the front row.
Also, due to his "personality," several adjacent seats next to him were completely empty.
Mike glanced around the classroom, and under the expectant gazes of the girls, who were looking up with their chests out, he walked to the seat on Sheldon's left and sat down.
This action of his also caused a wave of "wailing" among the girls in the class.
Ms. Ingram, the math teacher, was a plump woman in her thirties who looked very gentle.
After the students in the class quieted down, she verbally welcomed Mike, then turned to continue explaining trigonometric functions on the blackboard.
Mike's intelligence now exceeded 140, placing him among the top 1% of high-IQ geniuses worldwide. Looking at the trigonometric function formulas on the blackboard and then at the example problems, he felt that all this content was super simple.
Moreover, having gone through a barrage of problems, Mike could easily come up with several solution approaches for the problems on the blackboard.
Just then, Ms. Ingram had finished explaining a classic example problem. She then wrote down another advanced math problem with a similar approach and asked, "Can anyone tell me how to solve this problem?"
Sheldon, who was sitting ramrod straight in the front row, had been waiting for this moment. With a confident glow on his face, he instantly raised his hand.
With Sheldon's IQ of 187, the current high school knowledge posed no difficulty whatsoever.
He treated answering questions in class and finding the teacher's "mistakes" as a form of entertainment.
Just as Ms. Ingram was about to call on Sheldon, the only one with his hand raised, to answer the question.
Beside him, another large hand slowly rose.
…
"Wow~ It seems our new classmate is not only handsome but also very smart." Ms. Ingram's gaze shifted to Mike, and after a joke, she continued, "Then Mike, you tell us how to solve this problem."
[Intelligence attribute + 2]
He picked up an attribute light group from the exasperated Sheldon.
Mike's lips curved slightly, and only then did he stand up and use two different solution approaches to solve the practice problem on the blackboard.
"Very good, Mike's answer is completely correct, and he also provided us with a completely new solution approach…" Ms. Ingram praised Mike without reservation.
On the other side, Sheldon looked at Mike, who had finished solving the problem and sat back down, feeling a sense of loss as if his beloved toy had been snatched away.
To reclaim his "toy," Sheldon looked at the function problem on the blackboard again, and in his mind, various formulas and analytical combinations continuously decomposed, combined, and evolved.
Finally, with a flash of inspiration, he indeed found another way to solve the problem.
With an arrogant look, Sheldon raised his hand again.
"Sheldon, do you have something else?" Ms. Ingram asked.
"Yes, Ms." Sheldon raised his small head and stood up, saying, "I thought of another way to solve that function problem."
"Is that so, Sheldon, you're amazing." Ms. Ingram first habitually praised Sheldon in a coaxing tone, then said, "However, in this class, students only need to learn the most basic solution methods from the textbook… "
Seeing that Sheldon seemed a bit disappointed, Ms. Ingram comforted him, "Sheldon, if you're interested in finding new solution approaches, you can discuss it with Mike after class."
Ms. Ingram thought she was being kind, but she didn't know that after she finished her comforting words, a small light group dropped from Sheldon.
[Intelligence attribute + 1]
It must be said that Sheldon was truly a qualified "sheep," having learned to produce "wool" himself.
Mike happily collected the light group again.
Next, Sheldon seemed to fall into a vicious cycle.
Whenever the math teacher posed another question, he was always the first to raise his hand, but each time it was Mike who answered.
This was nothing unusual, as Mike was a new student, so handsome, and so enthusiastic about learning.
Ms. Ingram naturally wanted to give the new student more opportunities to shine.
Here, Ms. Ingram could guarantee: she absolutely did not intentionally neglect Sheldon because he had "provoked" her multiple times.
However, Sheldon didn't think so; he believed that Ms. Ingram was being biased, that it was "tyranny," as he had raised his hand first.
Finally, when the dismissal bell rang, Sheldon, having failed to get a chance to answer questions throughout the entire class, burst out a large light group.
Watching Ms. Ingram's retreating back, he angrily chased after her.
…
At Sheldon's insistence, Ms. Ingram could only agree to an arrangement: from now on, during math class, a rapid-fire answering system would be implemented.
On the other side, Mike hooked his hand and grabbed that large light group.
[Intelligence attribute + 5]
Mike happily took the attribute, wondering where to have a good lunch to treat himself.
He looked up and saw that Sheldon had returned at some point, now staring at him expressionlessly.
"Is something wrong, Sheldon?" Mike asked.
"I'm here to inform you that from now on, in math class, you won't be able to snatch any more opportunities to answer questions from me," Sheldon declared solemnly.
"Is that so?" Mike smiled, deliberately patted the other's shoulder, and said, "Then good luck~"
However, this time, Sheldon did not contribute any more attributes to Mike.
Watching the other's retreating back, Mike shook his head and walked out of the classroom as well.
Who knew, as soon as Mike reached the door, several girls from his class who had been constantly watching his movements quickly followed him.
Birds of a feather flock together: factors such as wealth, status, personality, and even appearance can divide people into different camps.
And these camps, in turn, form small groups.
Here, the campus life of high school students can be said to be a microcosm of society.