Nervous. That's how John felt. First day in a new school. No friends. No acquaintances. Nothing to look forward to. He just had to get through this day and then he would be fine.
Hopefully.
He picked up his science textbooks off his bedroom floor and zipped up his backpack, sighing as he did.
"John! You're going to be late for school!" he heard his mother's voice calling him from downstairs.
"Yeah John! Get your lazy arse down here!"
"Piss off Harriet!" John shouted back angrily. She was probably pissed already anyway.
"John Hamish Watson! We haven't got all day you know!" his mum really did sound annoyed so he began to make his way out of his room, albeit slowly. When he finally reached the bottom of the stairs he glanced down to his watch. 08:30. School starts at 08:45. Shit.
"Bye Mum! See you later! Love you!" he shouted down the hallways as he ran out of the house, slamming the door behind him as he began to run. Right. He had 15 minutes to do a 30 minute journey. And he didn't know where he was going.
"Well this is just great! Late and lost on my first day, fucking hell" John mumbled to himself.
He looked around to see if there was anyone from his school. Nope. The only person he saw that looked remotely his age was at the other side of the road, striding along, with a knee length black trench coat that swept behind him in the wind, and a blue scarf wrapped tightly round his neck.
It was worth a try.
He crossed the small pedestrian street and began to jog to catch up with the boy.
"Hey! Hey wait up!" John shouted, holding his shoulder and breathing heavily. The boy stopped but didn't turn around. John stumbled up to the boy and stood in front of him.
"Hello, do you go to Lakeside High School?" John wheezed, breathing heavily. The boy looked down at him, almost surprised, as if he hadn't acknowledged John was there.
"Yes. Can I help you?" he replied coldly, seemingly bored with John already. John nodded, still catching his breath.
"Yes, do you mind if I walk with you? It's my first day and I don't know where I'm going you see"
"Fine. As long as you keep up" the boy sighed heavily.
He began to stride again, leaving John almost jogging again to keep up.
"I'm John by the way. John Watson" he said when he reached the boy, holding out his hand for him to shake.
"Sherlock Holmes" he replied.
When they reached the school gates Sherlock stopped abruptly, making John walk in to his back. John mumbled a 'sorry' before walking forward to go through the gate.
"Wait" Sherlock said, holding John's arm "I need to say something before we go in" John turned around confused. Sherlock sighed before continuing.
"When we step into that building, you don't know me, you don't know who I am or where I live and you have never even heard of the boy with the name of Sherlock Holmes. Don't ask and questions, just do it" Sherlock began to fast walk towards the front entrance of the school; leaving John confused standing outside the gates.
He glanced down to his watch. 08:46. Shit.
John sprinted towards the entrance, pulling his timetable out of his blazer pocket. Seeing he had Biology first, he started walking in the vague direction he thought the science block may be in. He was going to be in so much trouble.
10 minutes later he found himself outside the right classroom. He took a deep breath, ready for the shouting, and knocked on the door. A woman's voice shouted "Come in!" from the other side of the door and John slowly opened the door to the science lab.
"Ah, finally, Mr. Watson you have decided to join us! It's about time" a middle-aged woman with her brown stringy hair pulled back from her face into a tight bun, thick rimmed glasses and an extremely strange sense in clothing stood in front of him with her hands on her hips, looking up at him from under her spectacles. He heard a few sniggers from the students but tried to ignore them as much as possible.
"I'm so sorry Miss. It's my first day and I got los-"
"Nope. I don't want any meaningless excuses. Unlucky for you there's only one seat left in here and it's next to the freak. Make yourself comfortable" she smirked.
John looked around and found the seat free was next to the only person he knew. He felt anger boil up inside of him at the thought of her calling Sherlock a freak. John smiled friendlily at Sherlock to which he received a surprised look and then a scowl, before making his way to the very back of the classroom, students laughing and whispering as he did.
When he reached his seat he placed his bag on the desk before sitting down.
"Hey Sherlock" he said happily, glad he had been sat next to the boy, despite what he had been told earlier.
"John, what did I tell you, don't talk to me!" Sherlock whispered almost angrily, before shaking his head and looking back to his textbook, answering question after question.
"Fine. I was just trying to be nice, but if you can't be arsed to do the same then I don't want you to talk to me" John replied, equally as angry. The rude git. He was only trying to help and that's what he got in return. He glanced back to Sherlock, but quickly turned his had away and ignored him for the rest of the lesson.
He didn't see the sadness in his eyes or the tear escape.
The end of the day couldn't come quick enough for John. 5 lessons and 1 awkward hour of sitting on his own at lunch. People seemed to avoid him for some reason. He felt awful for doing so, but he had a feeling it had something to do with the mysterious Sherlock Holmes.
When the final bell rang at the end of the day, John felt himself sigh in relief. All in all it hadn't been a bad day but he still couldn't wait to get home.
As he began to walk out of his English class he heard a voice calling him back in.
"John, can I talk to you for a moment please?" his teacher's voice came from the other side of the room. He rolled his eyes but turned around and smiled all the same.
"Of course Miss, how can I help?"she smiled and gestured to the chair across from her. John took the hint and took a seat.
"I assume that you have heard about somebody today. A boy in your year and all of your classes"
"Are you referring to Sherlock Holmes, Miss?"
"Yes, that's him. John, I'm sure some people have told you bad things about Mr. Holmes, but I am begging you to not think the same way. He is extremely miss-understood. He really needs a friend, John. And maybe I shouldn't be telling you this, but everyone treats him like a freak and I really don't want you to think the same" she finished. John nodded before replying.
"I understand Miss, and I guarantee you that I am not one of those people. He helped me get to school this morning you see and I really don't understand why people call him a freak. I will try to befriend him; I just hope he doesn't dismiss me like he did earlier".
"You just have to keep trying, John, and he will crack".
After his 10 minute talk with Mrs. Lancaster, John finally reached the other side of the school gates. It was quiet now, and not a single student was in sight- except those who had after school detentions.
He noticed a tall figure on the street corner he was approaching and felt his palms begin to sweat. Ever since the attack he had been extremely nervous around strangers and this was no exception. As he got closer, however, it became apparent that this wasn't a stranger at all.
"Hello John"
"Hello Sherlock" John replied, continuing to walk, Sherlock tight on his heels.
"John, don't walk so fast" Sherlock exclaimed. John sighed angrily, which Sherlock noticed, "You're angry with me aren't you?"
"What do you think?" John replied stopping, as they entered the park. Sherlock looked down and John could have sworn he saw a tear, but it was gone as quickly as it came.
"I think that what I said earlier has provoked anger in you, only adding to the anger of something that happened earlier. Maybe an argument with a member of your family perhaps. You have obviously just moved here, why else would you be starting mid-term? By the way you were gripping your shoulder this morning; it was because you had sustained some kind of injury. Not an injury playing sport or something of the sort. No. Why would your whole family move for something like that, no you were attacked, which explains the way your hands were sweating and the look of fear in your eyes when you saw me on the corner" Sherlock finished, leaving John gaping "and now you know why they call me freak".
"No…that was bloody brilliant! How did you do that?" John exclaimed, now smiling slightly. He noticed the look of surprise and confusion in Sherlock's eyes.
"Really?"
"Of course! I don't understand, how did you know all that stuff about me? Everything was right!"
"I didn't know, I observed"
"Well then that's even more incredible!"
"That's not what people normally say"
"What do people normally say?"
"Piss off"
The two boys burst into laughter and carried on walking home, together.
A/N:
Hello. I'm back or another one. Johnlock this time. Thought I'd try a spot of Teen!Lock. Feel free to tell me what you think and I hope you enjoy it!
-HC