This chapter is a bit short- I have serious writer's block at the moment. Hope it's ok, though.

xxxxx


Molly had been avoiding Irene all this time, but when she bumped into Kate in the girls' bathroom, there was no escape.

Kate strategically stood in between Molly and the door, making sure nobody could get in or out.

"Looks like you didn't listen to our friendly warning, did you?" she said, teasingly.

"Sherlock and I are friends." Molly said, definitively, emphasising the word 'friend'.

As if she could call it that, though. She'd been talking to him almost every day for about two weeks, every day growing more confident and getting to know him slightly better. But he was distant and independent. Although she knew he respected her, he clearly did not consider her as a 'friend'. Because Sherlock Holmes didn't have 'friends'.

"Just back off." Kate said, fiercely.

"Leave me alone." Molly moaned, "I can talk to who I want."

"Not if you're getting in Irene's way."

"I'm telling you, we're friends." Molly said, braver than she felt.

"You'll regret it." Kate muttered, and walked away.

Relieved, Molly made her way to the canteen and looked around for Sherlock. At least, when she was around him, there was nothing Irene could do to her.

"Hi." she said, as she sat down.

"Hi." Sherlock replied.

That's an improvement, thought Molly; he usually never greeted her back. She glanced around the canteen and caught Irene's eye, making a mental note to avoid her on her way to class.

She looked over at his notebook, but it was blank.

"What's on your mind?" she asked kindly. By now, she knew him well enough to know that something was wrong; he was usually busy sketching bees or scribbling furiously in some sort of secret code. But today, he was sitting there, staring into space. He clearly had something on his mind.

Sherlock looked at Molly.

"Nothing." he said, even though he knew she wouldn't believe it, "I don't know. It's just, my parents are..."

He didn't finish his sentence.

"I don't really want to talk about it."

Molly smiled sympathetically. She knew he often struggled when it came to expressing emotions.

Maybe that made her special. She was the only one who he ever spoke to. Or maybe she was just over exaggerating, as usual. She wanted to believe that there was some sort or relationship between them. But it seemed like the somewhat friendly lunch-time conversation was as far as they'd ever go.


Thank your support. I'm not going to beg for reviews, because that's not what I'm writing this for.

Next chapter focuses on Kate and how she feels about everything.