chapter 2

(John's POV)

'Sherlock, what an odd name I thought to myself,' but then again I'd rather that than John, it's so common' I thought as the teacher told me where to sit.

I looked up to where the teacher was pointing, the very back of the class. I walked up the steps taking them two by two, when finally I sat down, getting a good look at my partner. He wore a suit, I wasn't quite sure why but he looked mean... he looked like a bully. He had icy blue eyes that looked as though they could kill. His hair was thick, dark and very curly, his skin was pale, the palest skin i had ever seen, as I looked closer I could see the faint marks of bruises around his eye and a cut that had almost healed on his lip. This wasn't obvious but I was training to become a doctor so I was supposed to be able to see this.

His sleeves were buttoned down to the cuffs, but it was nearly summer and far too warm to be wearing a shirt and blazer, I felt like I was going to melt in the jumper I was wearing but he seemed to be shivering. Perhaps it was genetic.

He was on his phone, I sneakily looked over to see who and what he was texting, much to my surprise he was texting in a different language, I think it was german or something, he was texting someone called mark, I couldn't tell what they were talking about but he had his phone quite close to his person, so obviously he didn't want anyone to see and...I could' damn it john, this poor guy doesn't want you to see this, you idiot' I scolded myself.

I took out my phone to see if I had any texts, several missed calls and a text all from Harry, I quickly locked my phone and tucked it away. I didn't need to talk to her right now.

I decided enough time had gone by and leaned over and said "hi I'm john, and you are?" I knew his name but he didn't seem very talkative and I couldn't think of something he would talk about. He looked at me as though I were crazy, I guess I was a bit, I just wanted this gorgeous man to speak, I wanted, no, I needed to hear his voice.

He replied in a smooth baritone voice" hello John, I'm Sherlock but you already knew that, you just wanted to hear my voice, correct?" and chuckled before turning back to his phone.

I sat there speechless, how could he know...how...there was no way "sorry again, how did you know I wanted to hear your voice?"

"I know a lot more than that John, you have a brother who's worried about you, but you wont go to him for help, you want to be an army doctor and your father died in action "Afghanistan or Iraq?"

Stunned I said "Afghanistan, how did you know about, well, all of that?"

He replied in his smooth, soothing voice "the way you stand says military, so you go to all of those army summer camps, your back ground on your phone is of you and an older man in uniform, obviously your father, he looked too similar to be an uncle or friend, then your brother"

"the text" I interrupted

"Yes, your phones new but you're a scholar, and can't afford to get into this phone, so it's a gift, he wants you to stay in touch but you have 12 missed calls from him so you wont let him help you, most likely because he's an alcoholic."

"How can you possibly know about the drinking" I managed to quietly stutter.

"Shot in the dark, good one though, the socket for the charger is covered in scratches, never see a sober man's phone with them, but never see and drunk's without them."

" That was astounding."

"Did i get anything wrong?" he asked taken aback by my reply.

" Yes, but only one thing, you weren't to know, Harry is short for Harriet." I almost felt guilt in saying that.

"Ah i always miss something" he seemed genuinely annoyed at himself.

" Still that was amazing" I reassured him, and it wasn't a lie.

" You really think so?"

" Yeah, it was fantastic"

"Not what people normally say" he said.

" Yeah, and what do people normally say?" I asked intrigued, if not in this way how could people react to such a magnificent representation of skills.

" Piss off" he said sadly, but I laughed to lighten the mood, he joined in too and it was lovely, his laugh was deep but a little shaky like he didn't laugh often.

When we finally stopped laughing one person started shouting"freak has a friend" and the rest of the class chorused "freak, freak" and threw scrunched up pieces of paper at the thin boy next to me. The confidence i had seen only seconds before had vanished and he sank lower in his seat, allowing me to see how thin he really was. Even through his shirt and blaze i could see the outlines of his ribs, it was shocking to say the least.