Ch. 3 Introductions

Sherlock took a seat at a desk mid-row by the window. He didn't sit at the very back for he noticed that his teacher last year frequently picked on those in the last rows to make sure they were paying attention, and he didn't want to sit at the very front for the same reason. Nobody picks on the kid in the middle he thought, and of course he liked the window so he could observe the people outside.

He paid little attention to those who sat around him as he took out his one pencil from his pack and placed it on his desk neatly.

"Is that all you've got?" asked a voice. Sherlock turned to see a stocky boy had taken the desk next to him, breathing heavily as he chewed on a granola bar.

"What do you mean is that all I've got?"

"You've only got one pencil. Mum got me at least ten, and some pens, and paper. Can't your mummy afford to give youmore than one pencil?" he spat, saliva oozing in his mouth as he continued chewing. Sherlock looked at him with disgust, happy there was an aisle space between them.

"And why is his hair so weird?" chipped in another boy, this one skinnier with a pointy face. He was sitting in the seat on the other side of the stocky boy, in the next aisle. The stocky boy looked at Sherlock's hair and laughed, "Oh yeah, it's so messy like his mother doesn't have a comb either."

Sherlock glared at the two boys and was about to retort when someone walked by and inadvertently whacked the stocky boy in the back of the head with his bag. The stocky boy cried out, "Hey! Watch it or I'll whack you." The child with the bag turned around to apologize, and in doing so, smacked the other boy in the face as well. Sherlock noticed the force with which this child was swinging his pack around and knew it wasn't accidental. Sherlock also noticed that it was the tiny blonde boy with the brother named Harry.

"Oh, sorry." The tiny blonde boy said simply before quietly taking his seat at the very front.

Sherlock continued to watch him in curiosity as the teacher finally came in to settle everyone down.

"Alright, alright, I know everyone's excited," their teacher announced, "please, everyone take a seat. We're all going to be friends here." The boys beside Sherlock quieted down as they rubbed their heads.

"First days are always exciting," their teacher said, rubbing her hands together. Sherlock noted that their teacher was young, younger than his mother at least and she liked the colour green as both her long skirt and cardigan were an olive shade. "It's exciting to gather together in a new class because you never know who you are going to meet. So, let us all meet one another shall we? Let's all introduce ourselves."

Sherlock rolled his eyes and felt the pit of his stomach fall slightly. He didn't want to publicly talk about himself to people who didn't want to be friends with him. He didn't want to speak to a room full of people who didn't care.

But one by one, the students went up and told the class their name, their birthday and something interesting about their families. The stocky boy told the class his name was Winston, that his birthday was in August and his mother was 'the boss of all the people at the office'. Sherlock learned that the pointy faced boy's name was David.

There was one girl who had a difficult time talking aloud in front of the class, and she just shyly stood at the front not saying a word. She had auburn hair in pigtails and Sherlock noticed the bracelet on her hand that said 'peanut allergy'. The teacher tried to politely prompt the girl into saying her name, but to no avail. She then approached the girl, and knelt down to her level, speaking to her quietly. Eventually, a small voice emerged that said, "My name is Molly, my birthday is in July and my dad is a vet." The girl then ran back to her desk and buried her head down in her arms.

"Ok, that was Molly Hooper…" the teacher said, "next up is Holmes. Sherlock Holmes!"

Sherlock sighed and slowly got out of his seat. He could feel everyone's eyes on him as he walked up and he faintly heard the snickers of laughter from Winston and David. When he got to the front, he stared at the ground and said monotonously, "My name is Sherlock, my birthday is in January and my father is a chemist." He said all this very quickly and was about to make his escape back to his desk when he heard,

"What's a chemist?"

Sherlock stopped and looked up to see the small blonde boy sitting in the front, looking into his eyes with curiosity. Sherlock was taken aback by the question and didn't know what to say. The teacher then chimed in and said, "Yes, Sherlock, can you tell us what a chemist is?"

Sherlock looked into the blonde boy's blue eyes and said, "Um, it means my dad does a lot of experiments and stuff…"

The blonde boy didn't say anything further, so Sherlock went to take his seat. "Thank you very much, Sherlock." The teacher concluded.

Sherlock listened to the other children drone on about themselves but he wasn't really interested. He was only interested in who the blonde boy was and so was waiting for the moment when he would introduce himself. Finally, after everyone had gone up the teacher called out the last name on the list.

"Watson, John."

The little blonde boy quietly slipped out of his seat and stood at the front of his class, his head just below the level of the chalkboard. His voice was suitably small, but clear, indicating a subtle confidence that was unexpected for a boy his size.

"My name is John Watson, my birthday is on July seventh, and my father is a soldier."