After a full three hours of introductions and first-day-of-school games, the teacher ushered everyone down the hall to the lunchroom. Sherlock (for now, that is what he would prefer to be called) searched the room for Mycroft. He didn't see him. Disheartened, he allowed John to lead him to a table, empty but for one quiet, brunette boy. "Do you mind if we sit here, James?" John asked. He muttered his assent into his book.
Before John and Sherlock could take out their lunches, a girl, giggling, was nudged towards their table by a group of her friends. "Hi, I'm," Here she broke into a fit of laughter. "I'm Molly. Could I, um," More laughing. "Could I sit with you?"
"Sure, go ahead." The appearance of Molly at the table caused James to look up from his book with a bit of a smile.
"I'm James Moriarty. Lovely to meet you." He winked, in an obvious attempt to look cool, but dropped his book in the process. Reaching down to pick it up, in a matter of seconds, James formulated a concise plan to get Molly as his girlfriend and get rid of Sherlock, her obvious crush, in the process.
Between mouthfuls, Sherlock and John chatted.
"So, what's your favourite football team?" John asked.
"Oh, I'm not a fan of… sports." He said the word the way one might say 'rotten eggs'. "Um, do you have any pets?"
"I had a hedgehog. His name was Martin."
"Had?"
"He died this summer. Do you have any pets?"
"I wish! I want a dog more than anything almost."
This amiable chatter carried on for a bit until the bell rang, declaring that it was time for recess. On the playground, Sherlock searched for his brother. Finally, his eyes landed on him. Not waiting for John, he ran towards him, with Molly close at his heels. "Mycroft!" he yelled out. Mycroft sighed and kneeled down, now eye-to-eye with his young brother.
"You can't hang out with me, okay? These are my friends. You go play with your little friends, and leave me alone."
Sherlock started to turn away, when an African-American girl, nearly as tall as Mycroft, came towards them with a group of friends in tow.
"Aww. Is the little baby okay? Do you need your mummy?" She laughed at him, but was cut off when Molly stamped on her foot with all the strength she could muster.
"Leave him alone!" she yelled at the much older girl.
"Oh, and who are you? His girlfriend?"
One of the girl's friends nudged her and whispered something into her ear. The tall girl huffed in response.
"Harriet's right, Donovan," Mycroft ventured. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
"D'you mean like you?"
"I said leave him alone!" Harriet burst out. "I've a brother that age, Sally. Oh, speak of the devil."
"What… did… I… miss?" John came running to see what was happening.