Chapter 6: Cereal, School, and a trip to the bookstore.

A/N: I don't own Sherlock BBC and its affiliates. I am teenage girl who would rather spend time on Tumblr than socializing. I own Elise and her story.

Happy Reading!

-TheCurlyGal6218

/

Elise rummaged through the kitchen cupboards, looking for her favorite cereal. She was far from what you would call a morning person, always grumbling at her alarm clock when it awoke her. Even with a full nights rest, she was less than tolerable at an early juncture. You could only imagine what she would be like now, running on a measly six hour sleep. Only caffeine and her favorite breakfast would coax her out of her reverie.

Finally locating the sugary morning meal, she pulled it free of the cabinet and sat down at the messy kitchen table. She removed the plastic bag containing the delicious morsels out of the colorful box and began eating the cereal dry.

No sooner than she did, heavy footsteps traipsed downstairs. John bustled sleepily into the kitchen, his blonde hair slightly mussed and his pajamas crumpled. He muttered a greeting and went to fix himself breakfast.

"Sleep well?" he asked conversationally.

Elise shrugged and stuffed another handful of cereal into her mouth.

"I wouldn't call it 'well' but I'll manage. I just need to get some coffee in my system." She covered her mouth while she chewed. "How about you?"

"Not bad. Could do with a few more hours but like you said," He sat down across from her. "I'll manage.

She smiled and yawned loudly. The pair sat in content silence for a few moments.

John blew on his drink to cool it down. "You drink coffee?"

Elise nodded in reply.

He cocked his eyebrow. "How old are you again?'"

"Thirteen," she answered. "I'll be fourteen in a few weeks."

John nodded. He didn't think that someone as young as Elise should be drinking coffee but it wasn't his place to tell her not to. If Sherlock saw no problem then what could he do? Besides, coffee consumption was one of the least worrying things she could be doing.

He brushed it off and instead looked at what she was eating. Dry Fruit Loops cereal.

Elise noticed him looking and swallowed the crushed up rings.

"I don't like milk." She explained. "I used to when I was younger but my dad ruined it for me."

She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

That sparked his interest. "How?"

"When I was five, our school took a field trip to a dairy farm to see how they milked cows. It was rather fun actually. We got to try it and everything. Well I came home all excited and chattering about it while he was doing something for a case. Long story short, he got annoyed and told me that a liter of milk contains over 200 million somatic cells."

John almost spit out his drink. "Pus?"

Elise nodded in disgust. "After he explained what somatic cells were, I never drank milk again unless I absolutey had to. It really freaked me out."

John snickered. "Sounds like him. From what I've seen anyway."

"Believe me, you have no idea."

Elise and John chatted some more while they ate their breakfast. He told her some stories about his time in Afghanistan and she talked about some of her favorite books. She found his tales fascinating and a bit sad while John marveled at the frizzy haired girl's intelligence. He had never met a child who liked to read so much! Most kids Elise's age couldn't be bothered to read for school much less for recreational purposes. John himself wasn't much of a reader when he was younger. It was nice to see her genuinely invested in literature.

Once they had finished, Elise stood up from the table to take a shower.

"Do you want me to make you a coffee?" he asked.

Elise shook her head no. "That's ok. I'll make one myself once I'm done."

"Alrighty then."

She set off towards her room to retrieve her uniform for school. Thankfully, that was among the things she had unpacked yesterday so she wouldn't have to dig for it today. It was a rather ugly thing. The horrid plaid skirt was far too short on due to her lanky frame and the black blazer didn't even meet her wrists. Sometimes she was glad for her dad's genes making her so tall. She never had trouble reaching high shelves, she was on the top row for picture day, and her long legs were extremely useful when it came to running track in the spring. None of this helped her when it came to dressing for school.

With a resignated sigh, she took her clothes into the bathroom to shower and change.

/

John put his his used mug into the sink to wash later. He had planned to make some breakfast but there was nothing in besides cereal and eggs, neither of which he fancied eating at the moment. As he debated whether or not to make a quick trip to the store, Mrs. Hudson came trotting in with a tray. On the tray sat three plates with servings of sausage, bacon, and pancakes.

"I thought you three might like some brekkie."

John beamed thankfully at her. "Ah, Mrs. Hudson. You are a true gem, ya know that?"

"Remember dearie, I'm not your housekeeper. I just noticed you didn't really have anything in. Cant have you going hungry now can we?"

She set tray down on the table and together, they unloaded the plates and cutlery.

"Has Elise left for school already?" The old woman asked. "I didn't think she went in this early."

John shook his head. "She said she was going to get ready."

"Oh! Has she already eaten?"

"She was eating some cereal earlier."

Mrs. Hudson tutted. "She's such a sweet girl but with the oddest of tastes. I've never seen someone eat cereal dry like that for breakfast. I cant imagine its very filling. Its her father's doing though. Told her some horrible things about it when she was a tot. Can't really blame her I suppose."

John grimaced at the thought. "She was telling me about that." He sat down as they set up the last fork. "Where is Sherlock anyway?"

"I don't know dearie. Last I saw of him he was in the sitting room."

John twisted his mouth. "Well he's not there anymore."

Mrs. Hudson shrugged. " Must've gone out. He's always dashing about like that. Eat."

John nodded and begin to devour his meal. The food was gorgeous, as expected. The landlady proved to be an excellent cook. After months of not eating any homemade meals, it was nice to have someone who would cook for him.

As he was working on his last sausage link, the door downstairs slammed closed.

"That must be him now." The woman muttered. "He really needs to quit slamming my doors."

Footsteps pounded against the stairs, growing louder as the detective approached. The kitchen door swung open and in came Sherlock, a plastic shopping bag in tow.

"What've you got there?" John asked curiously.

"Elise's anxiety medication." He answered briskly. "She only had a few doses left so I picked up her perscription."

John nodded. "What does she take?"

Sherlock dropped the bag on the table and shrugged off his coat. "Prozac."

Mrs. Hudson pointed to Sherlock's plate on the table. "I made breakfast."

"I'm not hungry."

"Sherlock…"

"Mrs. Hudson, I'm perfectly capable of undersanding my body's dietary needs and seeing that they are met. I will eat when I deem it necessary."

The elderly lady sighed. "I suppose I can wrap it up for later. I'll wrap Elise's up too since she ate already."

"Mmm."

Sherlock sauntered into the living room and grabbed his violin. He maunevered the instrument under his chin and readied the bow across the strings. With a drag of the long stick, a melodic tune filtered through the flat.

John was quite impressed with his musical capability. Although he wasn't a big fan of classical music, he thought that the sound of the violin was absoulutely beautiful. The high notes rung through the air, penetrating the ears of anyone nearby. These mixed with the lower ones until they merged in a perfect harmony, builing up into crescendo before richocheting down. Not wanting to disturb him, he quietly walked into the living room and picked up the paper, listening as he read the headlines.

Elise came bustling into the room15 minutes later dressed in her regulated outfit, the white dress shirt untucked. Her curly hair was slightly damp from the shower water. She fiddled with the tie around her neck until it was nice and proper.

"Where did you go, daddy?" she asked. "You werent here when I got up."

He put down his bow a moment. "Chemist."

She rolled her eyes. "I still had a couple days left before I ran out."

"Why run out when you can stock up?" he defended, resuming his session.

"Fine. Christina's mum is taking us to school. She just texted me."

"Mm."

"We're going to the bookstore after school."

"mm."

She sighed in exasperation.

"Dad!"

"What?"

"You could at least pay attention!"

Sherlock's put his violin down again and squirmed in his leather chair.

"Yes! Fine! Be home by 7 o' clock."

She mumbled something under her breath and stomped over to her room. Half an hour later, she emerged fully dressed. Her black curls were pulled into a ponytail, a navy blue headband on her head. She had tucked in her shirt neatly and a black blazer was buttoned at the middle. A blue back pack slung across her shoulders.

She walked over to the table and shook two pills from the small plastic bottle, downing them quickly with a glass of water.

"Alright, I'll see you later." She walked over to her dad and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Bye Daddy. Bye John!"

She walked over to Gizmo's cage and petted him fondly whilst checking his food and water supply. Satisfied with its contents, her nose nuzzled the animal's pink one. "Bye Gizzy."

With that, she raced out the door and to the awaiting car downstairs.

/

Christina grinned warmly at Elise as she clambered into the backseat.

"Morning Loser." Elise teased cheerily. "Did you already drop your Ben off?"

Christina stuck out her tongue and nodded. "Mom dropped him off first."

Benjamin- or Ben as he was called by family and friends- was Christina's younger brother. He was an ok little boy, a little on the loud side but not terribly obnoxious. Well, not as obnoxious as a 6 year old boy could be.

Elise smiled at Ms. Bentley through the rearview morror. "Good morning Ms. B."

The blonde woman smiled distractedly, not taking her eyes off the road. "Hello Elise. How's the move going?"

"Not bad. We started unpacking yesterday. Our flatmate is nice."

"Well that's good sweetie. Christina, is your cellphone charged? I want you to be able to call me when your at the shop after school."

The blonde teen exchanged a glance with Elise.

"Yes mum. Fully charged."

Both girl's were fully aware how protective Ms. Bentley was of her children. As a single parent who worked almost everyday, you wouldn't expect her too be. Nevertheless, she had had been this way for as long as Elise could remember and showed no signs of ceasing. It was annoying at times, but also kind of sweet. She was glad that Sherlock didn't smother her as much as Christina's mom did.

"I have mine too." Elise added. "No need to worry."

The woman nodded fretfully. "Ok girls. You know how I get. Come straight home when you're through."

"We will."

Christina turned toward Elise. "How did the case go yesterday."

She grimaced at the thought. "I'll tell you at lunch." She discreetly glanced at their sensitive driver.

The blonde teen seemed to get that Elise didn't want to share in front of her mother and skillfully changed the topic.

"So I was planning on picking up this fantasy book-"

/

Elise picked her fingers as Mrs. Clark droaned on about The French Revolution. It was a repeat lecture from last week and nothing that she hadnt heard before. The notes had been copied into her journal along with doodles she had drawn in the margins of the paper. She had seriously considered skipping this class and staking out in the library, but she hated lying to Ms. Jennings. The young librarian had always been kind to Elise and pulled enough strings as it was letting her in whenever she pleased. Besides, she could stop by after lunch anyway.

Elise shared a bored look with her best friend across the room. Christina had her head propped against her hand and squinted disparagingly at her desk. Her blonde hair fell in front of her face, making her lazy expression seem even more comical. Elise stifled a giggle and turned back around.

Mrs. Clark finally ended her speech, much to the joy of the students. If she had continued for even another minute, there was a 99% chance someone wouldve fallen asleep.

"Read Chapter 13 section B for homework tonight. You will have a quiz over it tommorow.-"

The bell rang, successfully cutting her off. Students began standing up to leave for their next class but the History teacher interupted their efforts.

"The bell doesn't dismiss you. I do."

A collective groan rang throughout the group of adolescents. What was the point of bells if they didn't dismiss them? Ridiculous. Then they complain when we are late!

"Now you may go."

Chairs scraped against the dusty tile as kids bolted for the hallway. Elise strode quickly out of her second period and made her way to the science building. As much as she loved the subject, Christina didn't have it with her so it wasn't as fun as it couldve been. Nevertheless, she tried her best to make the most of it with the people she did know.

Elise felt like she was being watched as she walked down the cluttered hallway. Even with the knowledge that no one was, it didn't help the growing knot in her gut. The same knot that tightened when she felt anxious, the one that she despised with every fibre of her being. That was the trouble with her disorder, no matter how brave you think you are, it never truly goes away. Perhaps it will hibernate for a while, give you peace for an hour or two. Then you go to a place like school and it all comes back. Ignoring it, she continued walking towards her next class, eyes trained firmly on the books in her hands. she didn't think that making eye contact with her fellow students would help by any means.

She entered the Science room and took her seat, opening her notebook to do her warm up.

As she begin to answer the question, someone sat down beside her.

"Hey hot stuff."

Elise put down her pen and raised an eyebrow at the boy beside her.

"Seriously Leo?" she said tiredly.

The dark skinned boy grinned bashfully at her. "Did it work?"

Elise scoffed and shook her head. "Nope. The day that works on me is the day that my hair goes permanately straight."

He shrugged. "Worth a try. Have you talked to blondie?"

"By blondie do you mean Christina?"

"Who else?"

"Well yeah. Her mom dropped me off this morning. Why?"

"Just asking." He scratched the back of his neck nervously.

She looked at him suspiciously but said no more. She knew he was hiding something from her but didn't know what. Even though she had only met him at the start of the term, he had become a fairly decent friend of hers. It was only natural for her curiousity to be peaked when he was being secretive. Time for deductions.

Out of the corner of her eye, she raked over Leo's body in search of clues.

Shirt untucked and jacket unbuttoned. He was in a rush this morning and never fixed his clothes properly before heading out. Slight crust around lips suggests he snuck food in his last class since he didn't have time for breakfast…

She frowned when she didn't find anything else. Well, nothing that would tell her what he was hiding. The fatigue mustve been really getting to her if she couldn't make simple deductions. All we would be well in time.

And sleep. Sleep was good too.

/

"So you had a gun pointed right at you."

Elise and Christina sat at one of the small tables near the Young Adult section, sipping their decaf in the fairly vacant bookstore. The curly haired teen had already found a few books that she was considering buying while the latter was dead set on buying the one she already found. It was supposed to be fairly good, better than most of the romance garb Christina ate up.

"Not a real gun. I thought it was at first but my dad figured out it was fake."

"He's good."

"No kidding."

She took a swig of her coffee and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Were you scared?"

"Oh no. A homicidal nutter with a fake gun trying to kill us didn't frighten me at all. In fact, I was the epitome of zen."

Christina rolled her eyes and flipped through the novel in her hands. "Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit."

Elise smirked. "You sound like Mycroft ."

The other girl widened her eyes comically. "Why that was low Holmes. You just compared me to your uncle. He's bloody scary!"

"Oh, he's not that bad." She defended casually.

"Not that bad? He's like a snake."

Elise giggled. "A fat snake."

They laughed and read their books in content silence, taking breaks to sip from their warm beverages. Through the large windows on their left, the sun had begun to set. The people of London traversed the concrete streets, most commuting home or to the pub. Some highschool kids loitered in the park with skateboards.

Christina checked her phone. Then she pushed her chair out from the table.

"I've got to go. My mom wants me home for dinner."

Elise stood to. "I'm going to stay a bit longer. Dad said I didn't have to be home till seven and it's only six o'clock."

"Ok." She walked over and gave her taller friend a hug. "Text me when you get home so I know you havent been murdered."

"You do the same."

"Bye loser." The blonde girl teased before walking away.

Elise shook her head though she was smiling.

Since she herself didn't have to be home till seven, she decided to browse a bit longer before she made her final purchases. Even though she had already chosen three to buy, there were still more to look at. If she didn't add another one to her stack then she could always get it another time. Her fingers skimed the spines of each book in turn as she passed. She picked up one with an intriguing cover and opened it to read the synopsis.

"Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but -terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augu-"

She sighed and put the book down. It sounded like a depressing cancer love story. Not what she was looking for. She put the book downand turned on her heel to checkout.

Wham!

The stack of books in her hand colapsed to the ground. Thankfully, she herself didn't lose footing and only stumbled. She looked up to see what had caused her trouble. Well it wasn't a what, but a who.

"Really Leo." Elise blustered angrily, cheeks rising in color.

The boy who had bumped into her looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Well that's ironic."

I swear I'm going to kill him.

"What are you doing here Leo?"

Elise bent down to pick up her books. The books that this rude specimen had made her drop.

He picked up the book that Elise had put back. His stubby fingers tracing over the title thoughtfully. His mouth twisted into something alin of a smirk as he looked at the dark haired girl who was rapidly losing her patience.

"The Fault in our Stars. Augustus and Hazel met the same way."

"How is this of any relevance too me? We go to school together you twit." she sighed.

He smoothely put the book back and patted her on the head.

"Find out. Read the book."

"Why are you here?" she swatted away his arm.

"Cant a guy enjoy some fine literature?"

She cocked an eyebrow at him disbelivingly.

He sighed and finally caved. "I wanted to see you."

"Why? You just saw me earli-"

He walked right up to her and gave her a bone crushing hug. All she could do was stand there in shock. Finally, he pulled away and grimaced at the floor.

"Have fun."

Before she could make another comment, he had walked away. Elise stood there, dumfounded. The remains of her choices littered on the carpet. She had no idea what to do with herself. This was all too weird.

After she had cleaned up the mess and composed herself, she gingerly grabbed the novel out of curiousity.

What the hell was going on today?

/

Sherlock was curled up in his armchair when she returned home. He held his violin in one hand, absentmindedly plucking the strings with the other. John sat in the chair opposite him, eyes fixed on the telly program. The veteran looked worn, expected after a day with her father.

"Hey daddy." She greeted. "Did you go to the Yard today?"

"Yes."

"How did it go?"

He sighed. "It wasn't terribly dull."

"Mm. Hello John."

The blonde man looked away from the screen to smile at the young girl.

"Hi Elise." He straightened up in his chair. "Good day at school?"

"It was ok." She said with a shrug. "I got to go to the bookstore after. Got four new ones to read."

He nodded and turned back to his program. "Well that's nice. I noticed how much you like them."

"Yep."

She walked over to the guinea pig cage and smiled at the furry pet. He came out of his igloo immediately, sensing his owner's prescence. Gizmo waddled up to Elise and nuzzled his nose against her hand, a sign that he craved attention.

"I'll be right back." She unhooked the water bottle on his cage so that it could be cleaned and refilled. Then, she took out his blue food bowl to restock the pellets and vegetables. After a quick trip to the kitchen, both his food and wtaer had been replenished and the black and white cavy munched happily on a cucumber wedge.

John and Sherlock still longued in the Living room. Mrs. Hudson was probably in her flat downstairs. Elise cooed over her small, black and white pet.

All was well in 221 Baker Street.

For now.

/

A/N: Oh you readers are going to absolutely hate me. You'll find out why soon enough.

Thanks for reading! Please review!