Chapter 74: Childish Ghost
"Data shows that when the temperature approaches absolute zero, the moment of inertia changes, and the solid becomes a supersolid, an unknown substance..."
Leonard droned on at the podium, occasionally glancing at his crush in the audience. Unfortunately, Penny was nodding off and snoring so loudly that even Ron in the back row could hear it.
So Leonard had to raise his voice to drown out Penny's snoring and save her from further embarrassment.
"How's he doing? Is it going okay?" Ron whispered to Sheldon, who was sitting next to him.
Sheldon scowled in dissatisfaction: "It's absolutely terrible!"
"So what are you gonna do?" Ron had a sneaking suspicion that the drama was about to unfold, but he didn't expect it to happen so soon. Leonard finished his presentation, thanked the audience, and then asked recklessly from the stage:
"Does anyone have any questions?"
"Yeah, what the heck was that?" Sheldon's hand shot up, and Ron immediately pulled out his phone with a grin, switching to video mode.
Leonard spotted Sheldon, and his small figure looked somewhat embarrassed at the podium: "Any other questions?"
"I am Dr. Sheldon Cooper, lead author of this paper," Sheldon removed his disguise and looked around, but everyone just seemed surprised without giving him the applause he expected. He said irritably: "Thank you."
Sheldon pointed his finger at Leonard and stormed toward the podium: "Sir, you completely skipped the most important part. I was walking through Central Park and saw kids playing on the merry-go-round. That got me thinking about inertia..."
"I didn't skip it! I said it was just an anecdote, not science!"
Leonard suddenly found the courage to interrupt Sheldon's statement, which was rare for him. It was because Penny had woken up and he wanted to look good in front of his crush. Ron clearly saw Penny lift her head and the snoring stopped.
Unfortunately, he had no idea an even more embarrassing scene was about to unfold.
"Oh, so that's how it is!" Sheldon's tone was incredibly sarcastic, continuing his aggressive attack. "So the apple falling on Newton's head was just an anecdote?"
"You're not Newton!"
"No, no, no, of course I'm not Newton. Even without the apple falling, I would have figured out it was Earth's gravity." Sheldon put his hands on his hips. If Ron were Leonard, he probably would have smacked him upside the head with his shoe.
But Leonard was more restrained. "You can't be so arrogant."
"You're still underestimating me, dude!"
Ron rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath. "What are you waiting for? Get on with it! Let that arrogant jerk learn his lesson."
Just because Sheldon was Ron's little brother didn't mean he approved of his behavior. Sure, he was brilliant, but that wasn't an excuse to be a total ass.
Ron had every reason to believe that if Sheldon hadn't been raised by their mom Mary, a woman with the patience of a saint, he would have ended up like those mad scientist villains in the comic books he collected.
Bullied at school, he'd develop a revenge complex, using his evil genius to wreak havoc on the world. That's when Ron would have to, with tears in his eyes, put him down with his .44 Magnum.
Of course, don't get me wrong—those would be tears of laughter.
"Look, if you didn't want to hear my presentation, you should have come up here with me," said the usually mild-mannered Leonard, finally losing his cool.
"As I've explained repeatedly, I'm not like you. I don't need validation from people who are intellectually inferior to me," Sheldon said, turning to address the crowd, "No offense."
No offense? So he was being offensive on purpose? Ron had no doubt that if Sheldon stayed here and continued his outrageous remarks, he'd be torn apart by the other 25 scientists.
Thinking about this, Ron couldn't help but worry...would he even get to enjoy dinner tonight?
"I've had enough of your arrogance!" Leonard exploded. "Maybe I didn't start college at 11 like you, and maybe I got my PhD at 24 instead of 16 like you! But you're not the only person in this room who's smarter than average!"
Leonard pointed at the audience: "No big deal."
The scientists in the audience: What the hell?
"I'm clearly not the only one here who's insecure and desperate for validation!"
"So you admit you're an attention seeker?" Sheldon seized the opportunity and quickly counterattacked.
"Yes," Leonard turned to face everyone. "I, Dr. Leonard Hofstadter, was never good enough for my parents, so I'm trying to get my self-worth back from you strangers."
Harsh, harsh! Ron could clearly see the fists of the scientist next to him clenching. Ron figured that if these two didn't start throwing punches soon and let the audience get their entertainment, they'd get beaten so badly their own mothers wouldn't recognize them.
Leonard continued his tirade against Sheldon, "But he's even worse!"
Sheldon responded by placing his fingers to his temples in a mind-control gesture. Leonard swatted his hand away, "Enough! Cut it out!"
Ron stepped forward a few paces, phone in hand—a fight was about to break out, and he couldn't miss this show.
"You can't make my head explode with your mind!"
Sheldon continued his childish gesture. "Giving you a brain aneurysm will do just fine."
"Stop it!" Leonard knocked Sheldon's hand away.
Sheldon was outraged and complained to the audience about Leonard's behavior, "He hit me! You all saw him hit me! Jeez! Video games and violent movies are making him aggressive!"
"You were trying to give me a brain aneurysm first."
"So it worked?" Sheldon exclaimed excitedly.
"No way, you're completely nuts!" Leonard raged.
"Then let's see who's really crazy." Sheldon continued his mind-control pose, remembering to warn the front row: "Duck and cover, people in the first row—this is the blast radius!"
"Stop it!" "I won't!"...
One of them kept making exaggerated mind-control gestures while the other frantically tried to stop him.
"Hahaha..." Ron was practically dying with laughter, his hand shaking so much he could barely keep the phone steady.
Penny looked concerned: "That's your brother—are you sure you don't want to step in?"
"It's fine, Sheldon's always been a smart cookie~" Ron replied, then continued recording.
Penny had to turn to Howard for help, confused: "Do you physicists do this often?"
Howard was also busy filming, not even looking up as he continued recording the spectacular scene: "More often than you'd think."
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