"Students, Let me introduce you to your new classmate. Meet John Watson. Would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself, John?" Sherlock rolls his eyes as the teacher trying to convince the young boy to speak. How daft could she be? He's obviously in a military family- one glance at his hair and right pocket in his book bag could tell her that.
"Um… My dad just got relocated here, and because he's gonna be here more than two years, my mum and I moved with him…." John says quietly. Sherlock notes how he's confident and mostly unafraid for a seven year old boy in a new school; probably not his first move then.
"Alright, thank you, John." She glances around the room briefly, picking out the empty desk right next to… "Sherlock, do you mind if John sits by you?" He considers answering no, just to discover Mrs. Hudson's expression, but the look she's giving him tells him he'd be spending all recess in timeout. He can't afford that- He's got an experiment going with the flowers in the garden out front.
"I s'pose." He answers, bored now. He returns to where he was attempting to perfect his sketch of yesterday's experiment, however flower petals are ridiculously difficult to draw accurately. He vaguely registers the new kid sitting in the chair next to him. The entire room was arranged to support partner work. Disgusting.
"Hello." John says politely, when the teacher has begun her lesson. Intelligent or Overly Social? "Sorry if I'm bothering you. I learned this a month ago at my old school." He says when Sherlock doesn't reply. Intelligent then. Very promising. He did need someone to watch his back as he attempted to transplant his flowers.
"How do you feel about Hydrangea's?" Sherlock asks John suddenly. The new boy gives him a funny look. Curiously he doesn't look creeped out like the other boys- the boys like Anderson who called him creep and freak before stepping on his tulips.
"Wassat?" He asks. His voice is no higher than a whisper- he doesn't want to get in trouble on the first day of a new school. Sherlock laughs quietly. He wondered if he'd ever get tired of knowing all these things about people no one else new.
"A hydrangea is a type of flower. It changes color based on the acidity of the ground. I've planned an experiment to see if my theory of one side of the playground being more acidic is true." He explains under his breath. He easily solves the practice math problems Mrs. Hudson has put on the board throughout his explanation.
"Sounds… interesting. Is it true?" John is more fascinated that Sherlock knows these facts than by the facts themselves. Sherlock studies him as he also sets to work solving the same problem- a fairly beginner addition problem.
"Of course it's true. It'd be pointless to lie. To set up a fake experiment. Boring and a waste of time." John bites the tip of his pencil as he struggles to remember what eight plus five is, but he soon scrawls down his answer- it matches Sherlock's perfectly.
"So what are you doing to test this idea?" John asks curiously. He's new, he's happy to be making a friend, and happy to have something to do other than just review old math problems.
"I plan on moving the plant to behind the jungle gym, where it can't be seen. I'm going to take care of it for a week to a month depending on how long it takes to be sure of the results. Watch it to see if it changes color."He replies.
"Why?" John's inquisitive- so that's a point in his favor. Sherlock continues to study him as he works. He's picked up the pace- obviously remembering how the problems worked. He's gotten every single problem right- though not at any amazingly fast speed. And of course, by amazingly fast, Sherlock means as fast as himself.
"Why? Because I'm bored. Recess is the worst time of the day- nothing to learn. I can only spend so much time getting fresh air." He complains. In truth, he needed something to keep him away from the bullies. He didn't care what they said. They were stupid, but they got in his way and knocked his books out of his hands. John nods knowingly.
"Yeah. Sometimes recess is just a bit too long." He smiles. "Well, I'd be glad to help you with your flowers." He turns back to focus on the teacher as she starts in on a new lesson.
Finally, after Sherlock has complained his way through a geography lesson and story time, Mrs. Hudson sends her class to lunch. They walk to the cafeteria in a semi-straight line- Anderson has once again won the illustrious spot of line leader by being a tremendous suck up. Sherlock sulks at the end of the line with John.
"Anderson's a…. Well, Mycroft called him a git. I'm not entirely sure what it means, but my mum yelled at him afterwards." Sherlock says.
"That's not a nice name, Sherlock." John chastises kindly. "My dad's a soldier so a lot of his buddies swear around the house. Mum doesn't like it very much- so you shouldn't say things like that. I'm sure he's not half bad." Sherlock frowns but ignores John's silly 'rule abiding attitude'. He'd find out how much of a jerk Anderson is eventually.
"Well, here- I sit over here… if you want to sit with me, I mean." Sherlock asks shyly. He doesn't want to lose the first semi-interesting kid to be in his class so soon. At the very least not before the hydrangeas.
"Sure." John shrugs and follows him to a bench in the corner. No one else sits down with them- at least not from their class. A ten year old boy walks up to them, sitting politely a few seats away with his friends.
"Hello, Sherlock." He says kindly. "Who the bloke?" He points at John.
"S'John." Sherlock replies, not at all showing the initiative to introduce John to older friend.
"My name's Greg." The older boy replies, he seems used to the moody and weird Sherlock. "Greg Lestrade. Don't mind Sherlock, he doesn't mean to be rude; he just never learned how to be polite. Sherlock you are supposed to introduce your friends."
"S'Lestrade." He replies crankily. He bites his peanut butter and jelly sandwich savagely. He doesn't like Greg's superior attitude or his condescending tone. He glares down his juice box as John and Lestrade shake hands briefly.
"What's your problem?" John asks patiently. "You were fine a minute ago."
"Oh, don't mind Sherly." Anderson appears behind Sherlock. "He's just a child. Skipped a grade. The teacher probably just got sick of his constant complaining. Obnoxious, this one."
"Oi!" Greg says from the other end of the table. "Leave 'im alone and go back to your own table, you overgrown brat." His friends snicker. John realizes that Sherlock sits by this older kid to protect himself. Otherwise he gets bullied constantly.
When Anderson finally stalks off under the threat of being pummeled by some intimidating older kids, the rest of the lunch passes uneventfully. Sherlock asks John about life in a military family, hoping to gather more information for his detective uses, and John asks Sherlock questions just to see if he knows the answers. They are fast friends, and the recess bell hadn't even rung.
A/N: This is the first chapter in hopefully a long an successful story. Or a rambling failure of KidLock feels. We shall see. Reviews are love and improvement.