Sorry this update took so long,
A few hours later John had a five-page formal write-up on the characteristics of different elements. He sat back with a sigh of relief in the beanbag chair. Though John seemed exhausted and overworked from working 4 hours straight, Sherlock seemed totally unfazed. "Thank you so much, geez what would I do without you."
"No problem, I didn't have anything to do anyway. Now what?" Sherlock responded gleefully.
"I dunno, oh wanna play multiplayer Minecraft! You gotta see what I built." John perked, standing up then realizing his legs were asleep flopped back down.
Sherlock chuckled. "Yeah alright." He said and pulled out a portable laptop. John took it, opened up the game flopped onto Sherlock's bed while the other pulled up the tab on his monitor.
Tuesday brought heavy rain. Thick clouds blocked out most of the sunlight, not that one could see much through the thick sheets pouring down.
John woke up to the steady white noise to see Sherlock puttering about getting ready for school. John groaned. Sherlock smirked.
"I got all your things ready, change your clothes and we gotta go. I let you sleep in."
John sat up, looked outside, groaned, and heaved himself to a standing position. He dressed and took a cab to the large school. Getting drenched on their way in, the morning had a very uncomfortable feel to it. Sticky and wet and tired.
"Pop quiz!" Mrs Pinord yelled as she walked into the classroom. John was already done with today. "Separate your desks, get out only a pencil, calculator and eraser."
John reluctantly did so but Sherlock squeezed his hand before separating which gave John enough energy to recall the lesson Sherlock reviewed with him the previous night and power through the quiz. 'Not half bad' John thought as he handed his paper to the teacher. He was even one of the first ones done, after Sherlock of course.
Science was better, now that John got his marks up and handed in homework on time Mr T has come to respect John. And with Sherlock as a lab partner, they always got experiments accurate and approved.
"John can I speak to you a moment?" the teacher inquired at the end of class. John gave his boyfriend a look, but he just shrugged. John nodded, and Sherlock left the classroom with a last glance. Getting used to their silent conversations, John collected himself and approached the teacher's desk. "John you seem to be doing better in class, participation and social wise, you seem happier, fuller, I understand you've rejoined the football team and have entered a new relationship."
John nodded, a bit uncomfortable and not quite understanding where this is going.
"I'm glad, John. Was something going on that I should have been worried about?"
John replied, "No, sir, I just didn't have anyone to rely on at the time, hadn't had a real friend, but I'm good now. Really."
Mr T hummed and reluctantly nodded. "Alright, you may go."
John quickly gathered his things and left the science room, which felt like it was closing in on him. Off to English, John remembered that Sherlock wasn't in this class with him. This put a damper on his mood big time. No one to laugh with, share answers, talk to, hold hands under the table with, and rely on to explain things. To make things worse, the bullies were in this class.
Bummed, John walked into the English room, no windows were here but the faint sound of gushing water from outside still remained.
"Alright everyone, today we're doing dramatic readings of Macbeth in groups." She walked to the back of the room and started sorting people. "John, you can come over here and work with these boys. David go and work with Peyton and Jacob in the hall." She continued to call people but John's heart was beating too loudly to hear her. You can already guess who.
"Hey, Watson! Come join us here. In the corner, bring a chair." An act. The teacher bought it, smiled at the boys, then John and went back to her desk. John felt like crying but dragged a chair over anyway. Hey, hey John, John hey, guess what." One boy taunted him.
"Leave me alone James. I already apologized for what happened with Sherlock, what do you want from me." John's voice was shaky but he held eye contact.
James stood up and slowly, while crouching down into John's personal space, said "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
The teacher clapped and praised him, "Jim that was fantastic! John, why don't you try the next part?"
To say it nicely, English was horrific, filled with snide comments from vile people getting away with whatever they want.
Finally, it was lunch. Finally. John met Sherlock at their usual spot, the bench right outside the front door, protected by a large overhang. The rain was still coming down hard but it suited John's mood so he didn't mind. Sherlock immediately noticed something was wrong.
"John? What's wrong? What happened?" He said but John just hung his head, forehead leaning against Sherlock's chest. Sherlock placed a hand on the back of John's head and the other rubbing his back protectively after guessing what happened. "People are jerks, John. I'm sorry."
John pulled away and sat down on the bench, bringing his knees up to his chin. Sherlock sat next to him and sat silently with his arm around his friend, in silent understanding and comfort.
Nearing the end of lunch, John finally spoke. "I don't want to go to football after school."
The statement surprised Sherlock but he all the same tightened his grip and said "Okay. Do you think you'll be fine for history?"
John nodded sullenly and stood up, nodded again for good measure and went back into the school, leaving a worried Sherlock sitting on a bench, arm suspended in mid-air, surrounded by the sounds of rain.
