"John….John! Helloooooo? Is anybody in there?" John blinked his eyes a few times and focused on Molly. They were sitting together at a small round table in the corner of the cafeteria, as all the other tables were taken. In front of them were rectangular trays filled with bad food, and a little cardboard container of milk. Molly had been trying to get John's attention for the last five minutes, but his mind was elsewhere.

"Yeah, sorry, just uh, spacing out a bit. Tired."

"You've been spacing out all day. Even in Mrs. Hudson's home ec class! You love Mrs. Hudson! What's going on with you?" Molly seemed genuinely concerned.

John sighed, "I'm fine, Molly. I just got a lot on my mind, you know, last year of school and all that. It's a lot to take in." Molly nodded in understanding.

"So, I never had the chance to ask how you like our new teacher? It's a shame we only have a few classes together this year." As always, Molly somehow knew exactly what John wanted to talk about. He hadn't been spacing out all day because it was the last year of school, he was spacing out because his thoughts were focused on the new teacher. John was so accustomed to boring people that meeting someone as different as Professor Holmes had completely rocked his world. He found himself wishing that every class he went to was his chemistry class. Compared to it, every other class just seemed so, well, dull.

"I like him. He is a bit intense but he is definitely interesting-"

"And handsome! Don't forget handsome!" John rolled his eyes at Molly. Her face flushed red as she mentioned the Professor's good looks. She was so used to the average looking boys at their school, so he couldn't really blame her. "I just think he's wonderful!"

"Oh man, I hope you're not talking about that new teacher!" John and Molly looked up from their disappointing school food to see Sally Donovan, Greg Lestrade, and a few other randoms that John had never taken the time to know.

"So what if we are?" John asked, almost defensively.

"The guy is a total FREAK SHOW! Not to mention a complete arse! That man is ANYTHING but wonderful!" Donovan scowled as she spoke, as if the Professor were right in front of her. She and Greg took a seat at the table, and their friends went off to sit somewhere else. They probably had been listening to Donovan bitch about the same things over and over and didn't want to hear it again.

"I actually found him to be quite brilliant," John mumbled, shoving some flavorless food into his mouth.

"Brilliant? PLEASE! He's a fraud!" Donovan leaned in forward and lowered her voice a bit before she continued. "Mr. Anderson told me that he didn't even finish university. The man doesn't have a teaching degree and he's going around demanding we call him Professor? What kind of sociopath does that?!"

"Oh will you please just shut it, Sally!" Lestrade finally said, cutting Sally off from her major rant. "Mr. Anderson is just mad that Professor Holmes took his classroom, and he only told you that because he knows you're a gossip and would spread it around. So just knock it off. Besides, you only think he's an arse because he called you out on your weird love affair you have with Mr. Anderson that everyone knows about but won't talk about." With that, Greg stuffed his mouth with food and was quiet again. Greg never really was a big talker unless he felt strongly about something. Standing up for Professor Holmes was his way of saying that he liked the chemistry teacher, without having to outright say it.

Sally's eyes were huge, and she raised her voice back up as she said "Mr. Anderson would never lie to me! That freak only got this job because his brother is the Headmaster!"

"Oh, is that so, Miss Donovan?" Sally froze, and slowly turned around to see the Headmaster himself. He towered over her, his dark eyes staring down at the speechless student. As Donovan stumbled over her words, he spoke over her. "Because if you are implying that I am incompetent enough to hire an educator without said educator having the proper credentials, simply because he is my brother, then you are also implying that I am incompetent enough to let a relationship between a student and a teacher go unpunished." A wicked grin spread across the Headmaster's face. "And my dear, your implications would be entirely incorrect. Now, come with me, I believe phone calls to your parents and the authorities are in order."

John and Molly looked at each other in shock. Almost every student had known about Donovan's ongoing, gross relationship with Mr. Anderson, but Sherlock Holmes finally put an end to it! As they watched Sally leave with Mr. Holmes, John leaned toward Greg and asked, "How did Professor Holmes know about her thing with Mr. Anderson anyway?"

"Sally asked him the same thing. He said he didn't know, he noticed. Whatever the hell that means. I'm just glad he put a stop to it. It was seriously starting to gross me out." John could only nod in agreement. John would have to ask Professor Holmes what he meant by "I didn't know, I noticed." It could be the same reason why he instantly knew John and Clarence had switched seats this morning, and how he knew that it was Clarence who had taken John's seat, not the other way around. It would also explain how he knew that Clarence was physically strong to hide emotional weakness, if that was true. Maybe he was some sort of super genius?

The three teenagers ate the rest of their lunch in silence. John's thoughts were buzzing all around his head. The more he learned about his new teacher, the more mysterious he became. What if Mr. Anderson wasn't lying to Sally? What if Professor Holmes really didn't get his teaching degree? Sure, the Headmaster himself said that it was false, but would he really admit it if it were true? Ultimately, John decided that it didn't matter. All that mattered was that something finally interesting was happening at this school, and he couldn't be happier about it.

"For Christ's sake, Sherlock, you need to be more careful! Enough showing off! You're supposed to be keeping a low profile!" Sherlock smirked as he listened to his brother prattle along. He was so funny when he was upset.

"For Christ's sake? Mycroft I'm surprised that you'd think the sake of an imaginary deity would matter to me in the slightest." Mycroft sighed heavily, which pleased Sherlock. There was nothing he enjoyed more than annoying his dear brother. "Besides, you asked me to do this for you as a favor. As long as I'm doing my job you can't exactly complain about how I do it. It's my first day and I'm already uncovering dirt for you!"

"I had to fire one of my most loyal teachers because of you!" the elder of the Holmes brothers exclaimed.

"No, you had to fire one of your most loyal teachers because he was sleeping with a student. Honestly, Mycroft it was right under your nose, how could you not know?" Mycroft stopped his pacing around his office and finally sat down in one of the seats in front of his desk, as Sherlock had already taken the seat behind the desk and put his feet up, showing no sign of moving anytime soon. Mycroft learned that sometimes it was better to just compromise with Sherlock than to argue with him.

"Anderson knew you don't actually have a teaching degree, Sherlock. You're supposed to be undercover and-"

"I am undercover. Anderson was just trying to spread rumors, he had no way of knowing they were actually true." The two brothers sat in silence for a moment, staring each other down. In the end, it was Mycroft that broke eye contact first.

"As long as you are positive that no one knows why you are actually here, then we don't have a problem."

"Good," Sherlock said, standing up from his seat. "Now if you will excuse me, I need to put together my lesson plan for tomorrow."

Mycroft sighed as he watched his younger brother exit his office. He didn't particularly like working with him, but he knew that Sherlock was his only hope...