Andrea dealt easily with her first challenge. After reading the book twice, which she managed only in quite some time, even though she was a fast reader, she felt confident enough to skim through the other one, the novel. What could Sherlock possibly want from her with that? Surely he wasn't going to let her read a simple novel.
The sun started to come up again, light gently shone into her room, which was small and nearly empty but still better than nothing. Yawning Andrea cuddled into the sheets and slept for the two remaining hours. Her alarm was set at 6.50am, she knew she had never needed more than ten minutes to get up. Always pushing snooze? That was something her sister would do, not her. She awoke practically as soon as her mobile started vibrating. Sherlock looked far more awake than she was, but then again, she had spent the night learning.
"What is a patephylisia" Sherlock started in a monotone voice and Andrea smirked. "Nothing, you made that up"
Without any sign of approval Sherlock nodded and continued a few randomly selected questions, all of which Andrea passed easily. After a while he closed his book and looked at her.
"Everybody with a little motivation to learn could have done that" Andrea shrugged, although she felt a little hurt. It had not been nice to stay awake the whole night just in order to drill herself on a subject she didn't even care about.
"So what's the second challenge then?" she asked.
"Remember the novel", Sherlock answered smoothly. "I'll ask you numbers, page numbers, and you are going to tell me which word is the first on that page"
Andrea swallowed hard but didn't let her expression change.
"Til when?" she simply asked.
"5pm, today"
When Andrea left the room John Watson, who had only been able to witness the last part, since he had always been a heavy sleeper, sat down next to Sherlock.
"What on earth do you think you are doing?" he asked his friend.
"I'm educating a spoiled child to stop believing" Sherlock replied.
"Don't". Watson insisted. "Please, Sherlock, for the sake of god, please don't take this girls dream! Couldn't you have just told her, that we don't need an assistant?"
"We don't need an assistant, John" Sherlock said slowly, his mind already on something else. "I don't need an assistant as well, but I do appreciate a little fun".
"So?", John asked, anger starting to boil up. "So what's so funny about shattering a girl's image about herself?"
Smiling, Sherlock replied "Oh, I don't want to shatter her image" Relieved John sat back. "So you're going to tell her .." he stopped, because Sherlock had his typical bemused look on his face, the look that said "John, you are missing something". "What?", he asked, annoyed.
"I'm not planning to shatter her image about herself. I am going to shatter her existence. John, I'm going to break her" Bewildered John stood up. "Now you have gone completely crazy" Shocked and irritated he continued to walk around "Sherlock, please tell me you still have some piece of humanity within your soul"
"Do I have a soul?", Sherlock asked, curiously.
"Don't worry, tough, John, she needs that crash".
Without another word John left. It was sometimes better to leave his roommate than to continue trying to pick up a fight with him. Watson thought about warning Andrea, who he could see through the glass door sitting in Mrs Hudson's small basement, fanatically scribbling down numbers and words. Poor girl.
But his friendship to Sherlock was too deep to be betrayed for Andrea, who knew, maybe Sherlock was right about her after all. There was something odd about her, definitely. So maybe he knew how to handle that situation. Maybe he was just acting out and not really planning on hurting her. John just hoped, that Sherlock was capable of knowing, that a person could also be hurt emotionally.