Mr. Hudson snorted and looked around wildly for a moment before he realized where he was. His cell phone alarm had gone off at 5, and he pretended not to notice the smirks on his students' faces.
"5 o'clock. Off you go!" He said gruffly, folding his newspaper and collecting his papers into a small brown briefcase.
Sherlock was out the door before he even looked up, while Joan collected the homework she had been pretending to work on slowly. As she walked through the door of B221, however, she almost ran directly into Sherlock, who was standing there, waiting for her.
"Want to see something cool?" Sherlock said, a slightly mad gleam in her eye.
"Always." Joan grinned.
"Excellent. Follow me." And Sherlock sped off down the corridor, Joan following at her heels. The taller girl, dressed in black tights, a short black skirt, and a purple top, was full of energy, and Joan, wearing a striped sweater-dress over leggings, had to take two steps for every one of Sherlock's long-legged strides.
They rounded the corner and slipped into a large classroom with several big tables, all containing Bunsen burners and lab equipment. Chemistry classroom, Joan assumed. Sherlock opened up her book bag and pulled out what looked like a torn piece of a white tablecloth, except it was stained with red patches that disturbingly resembled blood.
"They had me clean up the crime scene as punishment." Sherlock informed Joan. "So I took some evidence with me. I've always wanted to do an Ouchterlony test, but never had a reason for it." She smiled deviously, placing the blood-stained cloth into a beaker containing a clear liquid. She continued fussing with two Petri-dishes, making small holes in the solidified material in the dish, mixing liquids from different vials, adding drops of it here and there. Joan was fascinated and completely clueless as to what was going on. She had an interest in science, even wanted to become a doctor some day, but whatever Sherlock was doing was well beyond her reach. Finally, Sherlock seemed satisfied.
"We have to stash this somewhere until tomorrow before I can analyze the results."
"What exactly are we analyzing?" Joan asked.
"I don't think Howard is dead." Sherlock replied.
That didn't exactly clarify anything, but Joan didn't know what else to say, so she kept quiet while Sherlock carefully placed the Petri dishes behind some lab equipment on the shelf above the counters.
"I'm in detention again tomorrow," Sherlock said. "But we'll check the results afterwards."
"We?" Joan asked.
Sherlock grinned. "Do you have something better to do?"
"I don't suppose so." Joan frowned. To be fair, she was quite relieved to have made this strange new friend.
The next day, time seemed to move at an unbearably slow pace. Joan kept checking the clock above the blackboard, only to discover that the long minute hand had barely moved since the last time she had looked at it. She wondered if she was stuck in purgatory. Ms. Gregson was droning on about trigonometric functions and proofs, writing complicated formulas on the board, completely unaware that not a single person was listening. Joan had just begun zoning out again, when a wad of crumpled up paper hit her on the head. She turned to see where it came from and was met with the dark eyes of a short and skinny girl with beautiful, long, brown locks and pouty, bright red lips. Joan had noticed the brunette before, mostly as the star student and every teacher's pet. Jill was her name. Jill mockingly blew a kiss at Joan before returning to her apparent note-taking. Slowly, Joan unfolded the piece of paper that now lay on her desk. It was a remarkably good drawing – in full color – of a disemboweled hedgehog, signed JM.
Time moved even slower after this incident, but finally the bell rang. Joan wondered if anyone had ever been as excited about detention as she was that day. She tried not to let the excitement show, as she slowly gathered up her belongings and was among the last to leave the classroom. In the hall, her eyes met the dark brown eyes of Jill Moriarty yet again. Jill smirked and looked away, continuing to talk to a tall, dark-haired boy. The boy turned to look at Joan, and for a brief moment, Joan could feel blood rising up in her face at the sight of his angular jaw and piercing green eyes. She hurried away to room B221.
Sherlock was already sitting in her usual spot, completely absorbed in the illegible diagrams she was scribbling into her notebook. Joan suddenly felt very awkward, and sat quietly next to her strange friend.
"The question is," Sherlock said as though continuing an ongoing conversation. "How did she unlock the cage?"
"The… the hedgehog's cage?" Joan wondered tentatively.
"Obviously." Sherlock seemed annoyed. "She already knows we're onto her. We have to act quickly."
Mr. Hudson entered the door and cleared his throat. "Ahem. There will be no talking please," he announced.
Under the desk, Joan passed Sherlock the hedgehog drawing. Sherlock seemed utterly unfazed and continued scribbling in her notebook. After an hour of intensely willing the clock's hands to move faster, detention was finally over, and Mr. Hudson shuffled out of the room sleepily. Sherlock clapped her hands together, jumped out of her chair, grabbing her things, and sped off down the hall. She was back before Joan had time to dejectedly collect her things.
"You coming?" Sherlock inquired restlessly, and Joan ran after her down the hall to the chemistry lab.