I wasn't sure what to expect, to be honest. The only information I could gather about what was about to happen was from books and films, which really aren't synonym for real life. I hadn't really been new before.

"Sherlock Holmes? Who the fu...sorry, who is that? Is she here?"

Oh, joy. My new form teacher thought I was a girl.

"Here, miss" I said, ignoring the smirks and glances as I sat down at the back of the class, away from everyone.

"Oh, sorry. You're a boy. This is Sherlock, he's new. Well done for finding the class, by the way. This school is a bit of a maze" she said. I shrugged. I really couldn't care less.

"Victoria Hopson?"

"Here, miss" shouted a tall, blonde girl near the front of the class. I kind of tuned out after that; I didn't try to learn the names of the kids because I wouldn't have lessons with most of them, I only had to sit through a quarter hour registration with them. The teacher handed out the timetables- I was in tutor group five. My class had science first. I smiled. It was the only subject I found relatively interesting.

The bell rang for first period, and I realized I had no idea where Lab 12 was.

"Er hey, do you know where Lab 12 is?" I asked a short boy with sandy blonde hair. He looked friendly enough.

"Oh, yeah. I've got science first period too, we must be in the same class. Want to walk with me?"

I shrugged. Walking with this kid had to be better than walking there myself and getting lost.

"John Watson."

"Sherlock Holmes, although you already know that."

"Watch, you might get called Shirley." Said John, grinning at me. I half-smiled back. He was being nice. If I was going to survive here, I needed to at least get on with people.

"So, why'd you move?"

"I got permanently expelled."I said. He looked shocked.

"What did you do?!"

"I blew up a science lab...purposely."

"Oh god, how did you manage that?"

"I went in at lunch time, raided the stock of potassium, and added water to it."

"Don't they lock that stuff away?!"

"Well yes, but that was no problem." I laughed as I watched the expression on his face. "It actually looked excellent- it makes purple smoke. It was about a thousand pounds worth of damage, but it was no more than the school had coming to it." John laughed.

"Well, I'm keeping you away from all the potassium in this school. I don't want blown to bits."

"Fair enough."

"So, are you boarding?"

"Yes."

"We'll be in the same dormitory, it's done by house." I was kind of happy about this. At least I would have someone to talk to.

We arrived at the science lab a minute before the late bell. The whole class looked at the white board as they walked in. Drawn on it was the seating plan. Luckily, John and I were opposite each other on a table of four; I was next to a girl called Molly, he was next to a boy called Greg. John was happy about it; they were his two best friends.

Molly was unpacking her bag as I sat down. She looked up briefly, and then continued to take out her pencil case. Greg and John fist-bumped after he sat down.

I took out my pencil case. It contained two pens, two pencils, an eraser, a sharpener, a scientific calculator and a pair of scissors. Enough, provided I didn't loose any of it.

The teacher told the class to be quiet several times, and eventually he yelled at us to shut the hell up. We did.

"I'm Mr. Fryatt. Be good, please. I really can't be arsed to shout at you every day." he said, as he handed out text books and exercise books. When he got back to the front of the class, he wiped the seating arrangement off the board with the sleeve of his blazer and began to write down what we should put on our exercise books:

Name
9.5 Science
Lab 12
Mr. Fryatt

I copied it down, tempted to write Name instead of Sherlock Holmes just to annoy him.

"Our topic this term is chemical and physical reactions, or rather, the differences between them. Can anyone give me an example?"he asked. I put my hand up, feeling people stare at me. I really didn't care.

"Yeah, you?" he said, looking at me.

"A chemical reaction can't be reversed, when a physical reaction can. You can tell when a chemical reaction has occurred because there might be a color change or a gas given off. Examples of physical reactions include melting, freezing and evaporation, which are changes in state. In chemical reactions a new substance is always formed, but in physical reactions a new substance is not formed, which is why it is not reversible. Also-"

"Okay, I think that's enough, Professor. I asked for one example." I looked away, feeling embarrassed. What a wonderful start to my first day.