D.A. Smith: Bienvenue Microsophie,ScootinJackMcCue, veiieen, Allytsuki and greeklilly to this little fanfiction! Thanks to those who have reviewed, also! You are the best! Hope you all reading this like this chapter J

CHAPTER 7

I walked around the room trying to figure out what possibly could have been stolen. My money was still in my drawer. I counted it. It was complete. Why would someone rob a room but not take money? That was weird.

"They didn't take money, right?" Sherlock asked, looking at my desk in detail.

"No."

"Yeah, your laptop is still here." He said. "Strange. Have you found out what they stole yet?"

I shook my head. I couldn't think of anything else worth stealing. Maybe jewelry? I checked the box in the closet. It seemed to be all there. "Maybe it was just vandalism?" I suggested.

"Why go through all this trouble just to vandalize?"

I shrugged as I went through my jewelry box. "Revenge?"

He smirked. "Anyone desires revenge against you?"

"Yeah," I replied sarcastically, "Lots of people. Jealous girlfriends, jealous ex-girlfriends, jealous people in general."

He sort of laughed but I could barely hear him as a shiver filled my body. It was gone. The ring that had come in the mail a few years ago. The one that guaranteed I could have a higher education. It was gone.

"I know what's missing." I muttered, still trying to find it.

"What?" He asked, standing up and getting closer to me.

I looked at him wide-eyed, my hand still inside the small box. "My scholarship ring."

He seemed confused. "What the hell is a scholarship ring?"

"There is this scholarship where if you win it, you get a ring with your name on it as a gift besides the actual scholarship. And it's gone."

He still looked at me as if I wasn't making any sense. "Why would they take something so useless?"

"Hey!" I said a little hurt by his words. "It's valuable. It's like a symbol of how I don't have to worry about tuition."

At first he shook his head, but then he stopped, opened his eyes wide, yelled "That's it!" and ran out of the room as two policemen and Lila entered. I sighed.

"Who was that?" A policeman asked, looking back to the running image of Sherlock.

"No one. Just a …friend." It was weird saying he was my friend. That word tasted different in my lips. I mean, he'd been referred to by other people as my friend, but I hadn't actually considered him one. Until then, I guess.

"He looked awfully lot like that kid who organizes the files and insist on we should look on stupid things."

The other policeman laughed. "Oh, yeah! Like the shoelace thing! Yeah, I know who you're talking about."

Lila and I exchanged glances. She shrugged.

"Anyway, have you found what has been robbed?" One of the policemen asked. "Not found, but, you know, figured out?"

"Yes. A scholarship ring."

"A what?" He replied, clearly confused. I quickly explained. "No, sweetie. Something valuable."

"It's valuable to me, and it's the only thing missing." I insisted. Lila looked at me as if I was crazy, too. The policemen didn't seem to believe my story, but proceeded with the "investigation" anyway. They took pictures of the room, walked around, looked around and then left claiming they would find the culprit of this act of vandalism.

"You're not the only ones. Other rooms have been vandalized, too."

In my mind, I was shouting at them It's not vandalism! It's a robbery! But I kept quiet and just nodded, saying in a mumble, "Thank you officers."

They left, leaving behind our messed up room containing an angry Molly Hooper. I actually felt better that Sherlock was "on the case". I hadn't felt those two officers had been of any help.

I stared at the roof far longer than I had expected. It was three o'clock in the morning and I hadn't been able to close my eyes to rest a little bit. And I felt itchy in the weirdest places, so I had to keep scratching. I didn't feel safe anymore. Where had the thief come from? We were on the fourth floor and the lock had not been forced. It was unlikely the robber climbed through the window to steal a single ring.

I heard footsteps outside the room. Nothing unnatural. People came and went all the time, but this time, I could see below the door a sort of shadow. It didn't move. It just stood there, both feet facing the door waiting. I sat up in my bed. Could it be the robber? Again? And if it was, what could I use to defend myself? I could get my Harry Potter wand replica and poke his eye or something. I immediately regretted that idea. I didn't want my wand to get dirty with eye stuff. Maybe the lamp? A water bottle?

Oh my god, did I lock the door? I did….did I? I stepped out of my bed, looking at the door intently, my palms sweating as I got closer to it. I picked up Lila's high heeled shoe on the way. There was a soft knock on the door. A creepy knock. Probably just to make sure nobody was home or that we were both sleeping so he could come in and make a mess and rob another thing.

"Who is it?" I muttered, my voice getting lost with the fright.

There was no response, but another knock on the door. Knock knock knock. "If you are the robber," I said, trying my best to sound threatening but failing. "I have a weapon, and I totally know how to use it. Plus, there is a big, black belt dud in our room who will kick your ass…and I'll use my weapon." I sounded like a mouse threatening a cat. Not that I have heard any…because the threat wasn't convincing enough to make the cat go away.

"Seriously?" I heard someone mutter on the other side of the door, more like he was laughing than feeling threatened.

"Yes. Yes. A big, muscular, black dude here. He's sleeping but I can totally wake him up." What the hell was I saying? It sounded ridiculous, even to me.

"Molly, it's Sherlock. No need to wake up the big, black belt black dude."

Frowning, I opened the door, recognizing the deep voice through the door. He smiled at me as if trying to contain his laughter, his lips inside his mouth. I immediately lowered my defense mode and said, "Seriously? You scared me!"

"I can see that by the shoe." He said, looking at my "weapon". I sighed. Wrong shoe. This was a sandal.

I stepped out the room and closed the door behind me, suddenly conscious that I was on my jammies. Great, I thought.

"Nice pijamas," He said pointing to my white T-shirt featuring the TARDIS.

"Thanks. So, what's up? What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

"Wondering if I should knock or not. I didn't know whether or not you were asleep."

"It's like three o'clock in the morning. What do you think the probability would be?"

"Well, considering the fact that you have been just robbed and, statistically speaking, a person can't sleep properly after being robbed, I imagined you were in fact just staring at the roof counting how many hours you would sleep if you fell asleep at that precise moment."

I was actually doing that, but I didn't tell him so. "Anyway, you wanted to knock because…"

His face suddenly changed. He seemed genuinely excited. "All the robbed rooms have a scholarship recipient residing in them. I was looking at the police computer, thanks for entertaining those two, by the way, and I found out all of them share the same scholarship. Your scholarship."

"And you couldn't wait until tomorrow to tell me?"

He shook his head. "Plus, tomorrow is Thursday. I don't see you tomorrow."

I thought about it for a moment and found out he was right. Tomorrow I had my electives, and I didn't think he would be taking Creative writing. "I guess you saw that on the computer, right?"

He nodded. "Sorry, I needed to know what you and the other victims had in common. I thought maybe a class, so I checked the schedules. Anyhow, you should be careful. Lila is alright, but you…you are a scholarship recipient, and I'm afraid this is just the beginning."

"You think whoever's doing this is only targeting those with scholarships?"

"Yes, and also, I believe it's more than one person."

"And you couldn't tell me tomorrow?" I asked again, scratching my shoulder.

He groaned. "I don't see you tomorrow. And I think better when I'm talking out loud. If I talk to myself people look at me weird."

"Since when do you care?" I asked.

"There are levels of craziness, Molly. And you weren't asleep, anyway, so I didn't bother you."

I couldn't help it. I smiled. "Got me." I just didn't want him to think I was available around the clock. Least at three in the morning. I scratched the back of my neck. "Well, see you tomorrow."

"I don't see you tomorrow" He groaned again, as if I just didn't understand his point. Like a child explaining to his mom why a toy was necessary for everyday life.

"At the Dining Hall, dork." I smiled at him as I scratched my wrist.

He frowned. "Molly, are you okay?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"You are scratching too much." He got closer to me, looking up and down. "Can I see your wrist?" That was a weird request, but I stretched my arm out to him. There was a weird, red pimple in it. "This wasn't there before, was it?"

"You know, pimples come and go out of nowhere so.."

He circled me, examining my back. "I guess spots of blood also come and go?"

I frowned and stretched to see what he was talking about. There were small spots of red on the back of my white t-shirt. "Huh, that's weird."

He opened the door, turned on the light and entered as if it was his own dorm he was coming into. "Hey!" Lila exclaimed but went back to sleep immediately. Lila. She's kind of a sleepwalker. Those kind of people that can act as if they were fully awake, even carry a whole conversation, but is actually sleep.

Sherlock looked at my twin bed, specifically, my sheets. There were small spots in there also. "Bedbugs." He said and I wanted to faint. Those things, I'd heard, where the nastiest things ever. They lived on human blood and were extremely difficult to get rid of, since they could go into the mattress. "Wow. This people really want to mess you up."