Chapter one – Late

Clarissa was running late. It was Monday morning and instead of sitting in tutor with her friends she was rushing her morning shower. There was no way that she could leave without having a shower, her hair was a tangled mess after a particularly bad fight with her father. She only had minutes to enjoy the warm water cascading over her body as she attempted to sooth her battle wounds. By the time she had finished in the shower and dressed into a simple black dress, a blue blazer and blue trainers with heels. She walked to school faster than usual with her bag weighed down with books.

First period was physics with Mr Holmes, Clarissa didn't knock on the door before entering. Instead she pushed the door with more force than necessary and stepped into the classroom. All eyes focused on her immediately.

"Nice of you to join us" Mr Holmes commented from where he was sat behind his desk. He was sat straight backed with a pen in his hand while he marked the pile of books on the table, the students were doing some work from an activity book. Clarissa sent him an apologetic look before making her way to the seat at the front of the class. She had hoped that he would leave it at that but instead he continued, commenting further in his usual bored if not annoyed tone. "I'm sorry we've disturbed your sleep Miss Johnson, I thought your education was more important than your morning shower but apparently I was wrong."

A few sniggers went across the classroom but nothing enough to embarrass her further. "Sorry" she said calmly. "I overslept" she lied before opening her book and beginning on her work.

"Hmmm" was all the response she got. After a few moments of silent work while ignoring the questions from her friends who are aware that she would never oversleep Mr Holmes spoke again. "Clarissa see me after class please."

Clarissa sighed but nodded in response knowing he would be looking at her. She just continued with her work instead. By the time the bell rang she had almost finished her work and vowed to finish it when she had some free time. It wouldn't take her more than ten minutes, she slowly packed up while the other rushed out of class. There was no reason for her to rush when he wanted to talk to her anyway. She had just packed her books away and slung the bag over her shoulder when the door closed leaving the two of them alone in the room.

Mr Holmes was stood now, leaning against his desk. Clarissa tried not to notice how tight the white shirt was on his lean body or how the top two buttons were left undone showing his pale neck and chest. Instead she focused on his face, it was tight like usual. Lips pursed as he often did before speaking, the pale skin stretched over his cheekbones, blue eyes wide beneath his long lashes. His hair like always was unruly falling over his forehead with a small gap as guidance to where a parting should be if his hair was combed off his face.

"Why were you late?" He asked, blue eyes hot on her own.

"Overslept" She lied, her eyes flicking to the floor as she spoke.

"Your alarm didn't wake you because - " he trailed on expecting an answer, crossing one hand over his torso while bringing the other to rest on his chin.

She finished for him "the batteries ran out, I forgot to change them. It was my own fault."

Mr Holmes pursed his lips again before pressing on, obviously sensing that she was lying. "Didn't you parents wake you?"

"My mum's dead" she said quickly, ducking her head down again. "My dad was sleeping, it was my own fault really."

"Fine" he said with a nod of his head but it was clear that he wasn't satisfied with the answer. Clarissa pushed herself off her desk and moved towards the door. "What happened to your legs?" he asked raising his eyebrow at her as she turned to face him again.

Clarissa looked at her own legs, noticing the various shags of bruises all over before looking back at him and shrugging. "I probably just bumped into something, I'm clumsy like that." She added a smile to sweeten the deal slightly.

"You need to go and see your tutor. He'll sort out the detention with you and you'll have to make up the time with me after school as well." He said in his usual baritone. Clarissa just nodded in response. "When are you free?"

"Tonight" she suggested.

"That is agreeable" he responded before sitting down at his desk once more. "You are dismissed, go to your next class."

Clarissa nodded before leaving. Once outside the class room she just lent against the wall and breathed deeply. She hadn't even noticed the bruises on her legs and hiding them now would be impossible, she scolded herself for not having a story prepared. She went to her next lesson.

An hour later she emerged from her lesson and decided to go and find her tutor. Dr Watson was in his joint office with Sherlock. They were both sat at their desks, Sherlock with a book in his hand and feet on the desk while John was reading the paper with a cup of coffee in hand. She knocked before going in, sending them a smile before walking towards Dr Watson.

"Sorry" she apologised. "I came for my detention."

"Yes, why were you late?" John asked with a slightly disapproving look as he folded his paper up and placed it on his desk.

"Overslept, no real excuse for it Sir so I will graciously accept my detention. I have already apologise to Mr Holmes" she glanced at him "and am making up the time after school."

"You apologised?" Sherlock repeated, his raised inflection showing it was a question.

"Not in so many words" she admitted "but it was subtext to the explanation."

John just chuckled before reaching for his detention pad and filling it in. "When else are you free?"

"Tuesday is good for me if it is for you." She said ignoring how suggestive that sounded.

"Tuesday will be fine" he said amused, obviously picking up on the suggestive note. "We can go over your coursework if you like, make sure it's the best it can be."

"I spent the weekend tweaking it and making sure the sketches were as accurate as possible, I'd love to see what you think of it." She admitted with a cheery grin.

"Remind me what your plans are for next year, university?" John handed her the detention form and lent back in his chair.

"Hopefully" she admitted "I really just want to get out of this place, go to London and just live my life."

John nodded. Clarissa blushed and nodded back before quickly exiting, calling "goodbye" over her shoulder before shutting the door behind her.

Clarissa walked down the hall without looking back towards the office.

John glanced at Sherlock who was wearing his 'I'm not 100% satisfied face' which in John's opinion meant that he was going to start digging deeper until he discovered the truth. John could tell by the way his brows were knitted and his lips pursed tightly that he was not going to let this go easily.

"Please can we not do that this time" John breathed.

"Do what?" Sherlock asked innocently, leaning back in his chair and sorting his collar out like nothing is wrong.

John sighed in disbelief. "You obviously do not believe her and are readying yourself to figure out why she is lying."

Sherlock lent forward, resting his elbows on the desk. "You cannot believe that she simply overslept."

John ran his right hand through his hair, dishevelling it slightly. "Well, it doesn't seem likely that she overslept. I've been her tutor for six months and she hasn't once been late…" he paused pursing his lips. "Her grades have also started to drop. She used to be an A grade student, now she's just scraping C."

"I trust you noticed the bruising on her legs" Sherlock commented.

"Yes" John sighed. "Hard to not notice -"

Sherlock cut in "The bruise patterning suggest offensive in nature, likely gained in defending oneself from an attacker –"

John cut in this time with a wave of his hand, raising his voice as he began. "WE don't know anything yet. Yes, the bruises do look like they were gained from defending herself from an attacker, but" he added with extra emphasis to keep Sherlock silent for a while longer. "We cannot just dive into a student's home life withoutreal cause. We cannot help unless she comes to us and you know that Sherlock."

"I know" he huffed.

Neither one of them wanted to let it go nor would they that easily.