D.A. Smith:So, after writing The Return, which had a lot of flashbacks and back-stories, I decided to just extend Sherlock and Molly's backstory and showed them in their college years. This would serve as a prequel to The Return but don't have to necessarily read The Return to be able to understand it and vice-versa. Hope you like it, though! And review! :)
CHAPTER 1
My name is Molly Hooper, and this is the story of how I met, got to know, and ultimately fell hopelessly in love with a mysterious man called Sherlock Holmes. Most things were good in life. I was in college. That was good. I had friends. That was good. The only thing ruining my good mood every day when I was twenty-one years old was that my father had left last year. Cancer. (Fuck you, cancer)
He had suffered a long while, and as bad as it sounds, I was relieved to see him go and be at peace. No more hurt, no more pain. His loss took away a part of me. Still, after a year, I had learned to live with the pain. My mother learned to live with his absence. She moved on too quickly for my taste. And I was mad at her for that. After all, it had been only a year. I wanted her to move on, just…not as quickly.
It was my junior year in college and I had known my way around campus for a while. Let me just say, I'm a little clumsy. I'm the kind of person that would crash into a wall because I was thinking about something else. That first day of junior year, it wasn't a wall. It was a person. I was so embarrassed. I had almost spilled my coffee on his blue scarf! I said sorry and ran, trying to run away from the shame, to my next class.
That first class passed swiftly. I enjoyed it, actually. I was very much looking forward to this class. Next class was Biochemistry. I checked my schedule for the room. Bell Hall 243. Ugh. I hated that building. It was so….dark. Anyhow, nothing to do here. I walked to my new classroom and sat in the middle-back.
I took out my notebook, three pens and grinned like an idiot. I was really excited. There were a lot of people in this room, so much so that the seats were quickly filling up. I looked around to my new classmates. I didn't know anyone, or, at least, didn't find anyone I knew.
I heard a sigh behind me and a guy sat down on the seat at my left. He was kind of tall, (taller than me, but many people were taller than me), had ruffled, dark black hair and piercing blue eyes. His skin was really pale, which made me wonder if I placed him against the sunlight, would I be able to see through him?
Then I saw the scarf. Blue scarf. Damn it! It was the guy I crashed into this morning! I looked away as my phone vibrated, my face completely red. Text from my mom. I left it open and ignored it. The guy to my right looked at me, his collar up and his arms crossed as if realle bored. He leaned back.
"You were homeschooled, weren't you?"
I wasn't sure if he was talking to me. "Are you…talking to me?"
"Yes. You were homeschooled. A family member just died, probably your father. You are still mourning him, but are really mad at your mom for moving on too quickly. You just hate her new boyfriend."
Totally shocked, I replied "How did you know all that?"
"I knew you were homeschooled because you seem really excited even though this is a junior class. No one above sophomore is that excited to take a class unless it's still really new to them or they are passionate about the subject. Your notebook implies you haven't studied the second option is not plausible.
I knew your father died because you have his picture as a wallpaper. How did I knew he was your father, you ask? Well, he looks like you. Can't be a brother. And how about your mom? Well, the text she just sent said, 'Please sweetie, don't be mad at me for moving on.' "
I looked down and saw my nokia cellphone displaying my mom's message. "That is…amazing." I said.
He looked at me, seemingly surprised. "You think that's amazing?"
"Yeah. You have talent. Kind of like…a detective."
He huffed. "A detective. No one does that anymore. It's not a good career. I would be a good one though. I bet I would be the best."
"Not modest at all." I commented, smiling to the front of the classroom. The professor had just come in and asked for the class's attention.
"Good morning class." The professor started, his glasses sparkling, reflecting the light of the room. "I'm Professor Clark and for the next semester we will be studying the fascinating subject of Biochemistry. First, though, let me tell you about myself. I graduated from Cornell and just moved to England. I have a wife-"
"Not for long." The guy to my right said, a little too loudly.
The Professor ignored him. "Two kids-"
"She will gain custody."
Professor Clark seemed annoyed at this early interruption and decided to address it, probably so no other student would interrupt him later in the semester. "I'm sorry, do you have something to say about my life?"
"Actually," the guy said, elevating his voice, "Yes. The folds on your shirt say you haven't ironed it in a while. Well, you haven't. Your wife was the one who usually did it, but she hasn't been paying much attention to you lately. Your glasses, your eyes and your shoes, they all tell me lack of attention at home and you haven't had sex in weeks, judging by your leg's movement and constant shift of balance side. You are impatient. You suspect you are being cheated on, and let me just reassure you. You are being cheated on. And, yes. With the mailman."
I gaped. The guy had said all of this in a really fast speed. So fast you could barely hear his explanation. Professor Clark looked at the guy and simply said, "Get out."
"But.."
"Get out!"
The guy picked up his stuff and left the classroom, his collar up and his walking dignified. Professor Clark jumped to the subject and didn't want to speak about himself anymore. I could see he was beginning to make associations in his head, as he ended class early and ran, calling his wife on the way outside.
I walked out of the classroom and saw that guy sitting on a bench, his feet up a table and his hands behind his head. I approached him. Even though I thought it was funny the way he said his deductions, it didn't mean he had to say it in front of the whole class. He made the professor embarrassed.
"I know I said you have amazing abilities but, really, you are kind of a jerk about them."
He turned around, looked at me and said, "Oh, it's you." He turned back around and looked.
I walked around the bench and faced him. "Really. You shouldn't have said that in front of everyone."
"And you shouldn't be walking with hot coffee without paying attention. Hot coffee can burn."
I sighed and said, "You should apologize to him. Just saying. He could hurt your GPA."
He looked at me with those deep blue eyes and replied, "Well, that's kind of my thing, Molly. I have amazing abilities, but people generally think I am an asshole."
I was about to come up with an answer to that when I noticed something. "How did you know my name?"
"It's on your bag. Molly H."
I smiled. Way too obvious. "You know my name. What's yours?"
He looked at me with those bright blue eyes and said, "Sherlock Holmes."
