As John stepped into English class, the first thing he noticed was a tall, old man with a huge grey and white beard sitting at a desk in the corner of the room. It was the most stereotypical old man he had ever seen: the hunched back, long beard, wrinkled face, and hands that moved slowly and shook every few moments. He wore a blue button up shirt with thin white strips going up the body and wore not a tie nor a bow.
For some strange reason, he has a very long stick resting against his desk. It was too long to be a walking stick, but who the heck halls around a staff, right?
As John looked for a place to sit, he found Sherlock sitting in the desk farthest away from the teacher's. John sat at the desk next to Sherlock who had his head in a book. John noticed it was the same book he had seen him in earlier. He put is binder on his desk just as the bell rang. The class room had filled itself and the teacher rose from his desk.
"all right," he boomed, shocking John quite a bit. Such a strong, powerful voice came from that old man's body, it was unbelievable. "My name is Mr. G. This is English class. When I call your name, make sure you say "present" loud and clear, all right?"
John straightened in his seat immediately. Mr. G began to list off the names alphabetically. He had called out 4 names before he called out John's name.
"Bilbo," mr. G's voice hitched. Mr. G peered over the paper and looked directly at John. "Baggins."
Oh god, that stare was brutal. John gulped before saying, "I prefer to go by John. And I am present."
"ok, John Baggins," Mr. G said, before calling the next name. John looked around the room nervously. He didn't like his first name. It just sounded so jolly, like some kind of Christmas elf. His middle name, John, was a much better alternative. Though he is required to put his legal first name on the application paper, he wished to be identified as John.
John saw a little smirk on Sherlock's face.
"what?" John demanded.
"your name-" Sherlock began to chuckle.
"I know, it sounds childish-"
"-no, you are named after a fictional character." That halted John's reply.
"what?" John said again, this time in the tone of an actual question.
"Bilbo Baggins is the name of a fictional character in a book," Sherlock said, his eyebrows beginning to furrow. John stared at him blankly.
"have you never heard of a novel called The Hobbit?" Sherlock question. John shook his head, feeling stupid doing so.
"really? I have never come across a person not knowing of this. It has been a very popular book for decades. Even movies are being made for them," Sherlock explained.
"really?" John said quite quietly. "you were named after a fictional character too!"
"nice try, John," Sherlock said dismissively.
"I'm serious! Ever heard of Sherlock Holmes, the famous detective?"
"ooh! I like the jingle of that-"
"Mr. Holmes!" Mr. G shouted. John and Sherlock turned to the front of the class where mr. G was snarling at them both. The rest of the class was silent and looking back at them. John wanted to turn into a turtle and crawl into his shell. Sherlock looked at the teacher expectantly.
"do you care to share your conversation?" Mr. G said.
"no," Sherlock said so innocently it was almost cruel. Mr. G ignored Sherlock and began his lesson.
Sherlock gave John a sideways smile. John smirked back, then directed his attention to Mr. G. Just a few seconds after, he heard Sherlock murmur something.
"pardon?" John whispered, keeping his face towards the front of the class.
"mr. G is going to make us read the hobbit," Sherlock whispered back, keeping his face to the board as well.
"you're pulling my leg," John said, turning to face Sherlock.
"you better believe it," Sherlock said, snapping attention to John. John gave Sherlock a disbelieving raised eyebrow.
"prove it," John said. A slow, giddy grin weaseled across Sherlock's lips. John felt them both hold their breath for just a brief moment right before Sherlock said, "when I walked in the classroom I saw him reading a book. It was small and on the thinner side of novels. I assumed it was a children's book. It was old, judging by the binding. The matterial was fraying and degrading. When I walked past, I saw that the font was rather small so I knew it wasn't a young children's novel, it was a preteen novel. Then a word caught my eye. The word "Elvish". What kind of story writes the word elvish? So let us have a recapitulation: preteen reading level, old, medium length, and the word elvish. Lord of the rings. But lord of the rings is thicker. I looked at the cover of the book and only managed to see the first three letters of the title: HOB. Then it was obvious. It was the Hobbit."
John blinked. "but wouldn't it have been easier to look at the cover when he put it down on his desk?"
"well, what fun is that?"
"MR. HOLMES."
John and Sherlock looked back to the board. Mr. G scowled at them.
"what did I just say?" mr. G question.
"mr. Holmes," Sherlock answered.
"before that!" mr. G shouted.
"you were telling us that we are going to write a book report on The Hobbit."
Mr. G pouted. He silently stared at Sherlock.
"and?"
Sherlock went silent, staring blankly at Mr. G. The whole room was silent. Mr. G gave Sherlock time to answer. They stared at each-other intensely.
Then, Sherlock said, "this is a pair assignment."
Mr. G tilted his head down, continuing to stare at Sherlock.
"very good. As I said, we will work on this in pairs. Here is an outline of the assingment," mr. G walked over and grabbed a stack of papers from his desk, then handed a pile to the front desk of every row. John looked to Sherlock who was smiling to himself contently.
"It was just a guess," Sherlock told John. John chuckled and turned back to his face his row.
"amazing," John mumbled. They got the papers and mr. G began to explain the assingment.
"so, what you are going to do is read the book, together. Then, write a 2,000 word paper about the moral of the story, each. In total, you should have a paper of 4,000 words. Support your reasons, whatever they may be. Here is the catch, you must. Get a perspective of three outside people. Outside meaning people who are not in this assignment. I would like at least one of these people to be an adult. Watching the movie does not count as reading the novel. If I find that you have done this, as it wil be obvious by your write up, your paper will be burned," Mr. G explained. "questions? Oh, and this will be most of your term 1 mark, I believe it was 80%. And you can choose your own partners. Begin."
The class began to bustle with chatter as kids got up to pick their partners. John began to feel confused about how he was to find someone to work with, until Sherlock tapped him on the shoulder.
"partners?" he asked. John nodded with a smile.
"if you need the book, you can borrow one for the assignment. They are at the board in an open box," Mr. G yelled over to voices of student. John went to grab a copy. They were all brand new with shiny covers. As John walks back to Sherlock, he sees him talking with a girl. For what he could see, she had long, black hair and she wore a fitted white shots leaved blouse. She was facing away and John examined Sherlock's expression. His face was neutral but intensely gazing down at her. A little prong of emotion stabbed in Johns gut. It felt bad, as if he were jealous... But he wasn't. And he couldn't. Because he didn't.
"excuse me," he said as he slid past the girl and stood between them. He looked at Sherlock for a moment, then handed him a book.
"ok, I guess we should start reading now-"
"you're new," the girl said rather bluntly. John turned to her. He was trying his best to ignore the fact that she was even there.
"yes, I am," John replied as politely as possible, pretending to not be annoyed by her statement. It obviously didn't work on her. She devilishly sneered and her eyes saw right through him.
"I will leave you two, then. Text me, Sherlock," she said before turning on the balls of her feet and trotting off across the classroom. John swore she saw her make kissy lips directed in Sherlock's way before she left.
She made god damn kissy lips.
John looked back at Sherlock who's gaze was following Irene. His face was blank and John didn't know what to make of it.
"so, the book," John said, breaking the silence between them. Sherlock snapped back and his attention returned to John.
"yes, I will begin," Sherlock offered, swooping up the book and deftly opening it to the first chapter. As he began to read, John began to feel tingly, like dad-long-leg spiders were crawling up him. Sherlock did have that narrative voice, but John was surprised that his body reacted so. Sherlock read about 10 pages, then asked John to read. As John picked up where Sherlock left off, he still felt that tingly sensation.
Sherlock's eyes began to float away from John. John looked up, still resisting the words from the page. Sherlock's eyes were looking over John's shoulder. John suddenly felt a prang in his gut and blurted, "who is she?"
Sherlock was taken aback by John's bit of sass in his tone. They stared at each-other intensely. John waited impatiently for an answer as Sherlock just stared.
"Irene is a friends," Sherlock finally answered, then looked back down at the book.
"are you sure?" John questioned. Sherlock looked up, again, quiet amused by the fact that he didn't understand what John ment.
"I am positive," Sherlock said.
"you know what? Just be quiet smart ass. It's your turn to read."
Sherlock shook his head in confusing, his curls bouncing around before resting in their places.
Then, he began. That tingling feeling came back to John again. His feet itched. The temptation to take off his shoes was so strong.
"ok everyone, enough for today!" mr. G shouted out of the blue. He stood up quickly from his desk, as if he had a phobia of chairs.
"everyone is dismissed," he announced. John and Sherlock began to pack up when he added, "except for you two." as he pointed at Sherlock and John with one of his bony, old-man fingers.
"I have a few things to say to you two."