The scratch of chalk on the blackboard made Sherlock feel sick. The professor didn't seem to notice the suffering of his class. But, then again, it was only Sherlock's sensitive ears that were suffering. He needed to talk to the professor about a case, but 10 minutes of class lecture remained. He gritted his teeth. The professor drew a long line; chalk shrieking.
"Enough!" Sherlock stormed to the front of the lecture hall, grabbed the chalk from the teacher, and threw it into the trash bin across the room. "Have some respect for our ears, Professor." Sherlock knew his disguise would keep him safe and these stupid Americans didn't know who Sherlock Holmes was anyway. Why he had let himself be dragged to America with Mycroft, he didn't know. Probably because he'd been promised cases and more freedom than London. Also, he had a chance to find out if Moriarty's network here was cause to worry.
"Excuse me? Who are you?" The professor was spluttering.
"WHY DID YOU MURDER ANDREW BLAKE?! TELL ME!" The professor jumped and started gibbering like a rabbit about how he didn't do it, it was his brother and he'd been threatened and…Sherlock hit record on the device in his pocket. When the professor finished, Sherlock swept out of the room without a word. He grabbed the last piece of chalk and dropped it in the trash as the door slammed behind him. Dead silence followed him down the hall.
John grit his teeth as the doctor giving the lecture scratched a word on the board. The man drowned on about new policies and health procedures. John stifled a yawn and then shuddered at the scratch of the chalk. He took a deep breath. The doctor started drawing a diagram and John finally gave up. His ears hurt. He gathered his things and fled the room. In the hallway he leaned against the wall, trying to forget the shrill noise ringing in his ears. He never could stand that noise, even when he'd been younger. Feeling better after escaping another hour of torture, John decided to go visit Molly. She was so lonely nowadays. The smaller man started walking to her flat. He never noticed the CCTV camera watching him and never knew of the frantic phone call warning Molly to do something about Sherlock. Molly decided it would be a good idea to "meet" John accidentally on the way. This was also when Mycroft decided to get a second flat for Sherlock and Molly to live in.
John continued down the street, the scraping of the chalk growing more distant in his mind, never knowing how close he came to seeing his best friend alive.