The next morning, their first period teacher is gone so they have a substitute. He allows the kids to work in groups, so there's chatter around the class.
Sherlock sits alone in the corner, like he usually does, and John sits with all of his friends at a different table. Christina, their main suspect, is in the group. Sherlock sends John a text to remind him to talk to Christina, and John glares at him as soon as he reads it.
John does as instructed, though.
"Say, Christina," he gets her attention. "Is that a new coat?"
Christina nods. "It is, actually. An early Christmas gift from my mum."
"How nice," John says. "Looks expensive."
"Yeah, but…" Christina is obviously embarrassed by the observation.
John wants to make her feel comfortable again. "My mum's a single parent too, you know? Where does your mum work?"
Christina visibly loosens up. "Uhm, she just got a job as a receptionist at a clinic."
"Oh, really? That's neat." John looks around at their friends and takes a deep breath. "Kind of difficult to look at everyone's cool clothes and stuff when your mum can't afford much for you, huh?"
Christina looks at their friends, too. "Yeah, I guess."
"I try to help out, but sometimes I can't do much. You're the oldest, right? You probably know how it feels."
Christina bites her lip.
"Sorry, just hard to talk to people about this stuff when they don't understand. You know?"
Christina nods.
"One time," John says, quieter, "When I was about thirteen, I stole a watch from a kid to sell for some cash. My mum was able to make a house payment with it." It's a lie, but Christina is engrossed in his story. "You ever done anything like that?"
Christina bites her lip, and if John knew any better he'd say she looked guilty. "I guess once or twice…" she says, "I've stolen some food. Like candy and stuff, for my sisters."
John nods in understanding. "No big deal, you know? You gotta do what you gotta do."
Christina nods.
"Anything bigger? Man, I'm feeling bad about my confession."
She chuckles. "No, nothing bigger. But don't feel bad, John. I understand."
He smiles. "Thanks, Christina."
She leans over and hugs him quickly, then lets go when someone else asks for her attention.
"It wasn't her," John says as he and Sherlock walk to second period.
"How do you know?"
"I just know, Sherlock. She would have told me."
"You don't know that, John. She could be lying, she could be—"
"Look," John says, turning to Sherlock. "Her and I are a lot alike, ok? I told her a story about having to steal to pay bills for my mum, which, yes it was a lie, but she would have opened up afterwards. I just know she didn't do it, Sherlock. Alright?"
Sherlock disappointedly nods. "I guess I'd better tell Jenna."
"The case isn't closed yet, right? There's got to be more."
Sherlock nods again, then follows John down the hall.
They Skype with Jenna later that evening.
"Is wasn't her?" Jenna asks as disappointed as Sherlock was.
"Right," John tells her.
"Is there anything, absolutely anything else you remember?" Sherlock asks. "Did anyone agree with what Christina was saying?"
"Well, Christina kind of said it just to me, but my best friend Amy was sitting right next to me."
John and Sherlock look at each other.
"Oh man," Jenna says. "It was Amy, wasn't it?"
"Would Amy have any reason to steal your earrings?" Sherlock asks. "Family problems? Problems with you?"
Jenna shrugs. "I guess she's always kind of jealous of me, you know? She always borrows my clothes, but she usually gives them back."
"Usually?"
"Oh, like she's borrowed a shirt and has 'forgotten' to return it. I don't mind because she's my best friend, you know? I mean, I'm sure you two would do the same for each other."
John nods.
Sherlock shakes his head.
John's jaw drops as he looks down at Sherlock.
Jenna laughs at them.
Sherlock waves John away. "So, Amy, then? Was anybody else involved?"
Jenna shakes her head.
"You said they were in your locker," John starts, "Does anyone besides you have your combination?"
Jenna taps her chin in thought. "Well, about a month ago I gave it to Harvey Lucas because he needed to get some books from me. And at the beginning of school I gave it to Beverly Bryant because I was afraid I'd forget it. I thought I could trust her."
"So, Harvey and Beverly. Amy doesn't have it?"
Jenna shakes her head. "That doesn't mean she couldn't ask Bev for it, though, right? She's my other best friend, she wouldn't ask Amy why she needed it."
John and Sherlock nod in understanding.
"This is all very useful, Jenna," John tells her.
Jenna nods.
They tell Jenna they're doing their best, and hang up shortly after.
"So, Amy?"
"Yes," Sherlock replies. "She's in our math class, right?"
"Yeah, but so is Jenna."
Sherlock nods. "Can you talk to her at lunch?"
John sighs.
"You know what?" Sherlock changes his mind. "I'll talk to her. I'll solve this case a week earlier than I promised."
"You'll talk to her? And say what?"
Sherlock evilly grins. "I have an idea."
The very next morning, before school starts, Sherlock goes right on up to Amy to talk.
"Amy," he stammers out. "I was, uh, wondering if you have the notes from history class two weeks ago."
Amy stares at him. "Why? Doesn't John have them?"
"John and I had a row," he lies. "Anyway, I really need those notes."
Amy nods and rummages around her locker. Sherlock peeks inside, but the earrings aren't there.
"What was the class about? The Friday after last?" he curiously asks.
"I don't know," she annoyedly says. "It was a long time ago. I think we talked about the French Revolution, or something."
Sherlock knows that's not it, but he goes with it. "Oh, like what?"
"Oh, like how and why it started," she says, opening up a notebook and looking through it.
"What else?"
"Uh," she finds the page she needs and begins to read it, "It was between 1789 and 1799,.." she goes on about the facts she'd written from their lecture.
"Uh huh," he says as she's really stuck on her reading, "And did you steal Jenna's blue butterfly earrings?"
She doesn't stop gazing at her paper, still reading. "Yeah, but I gave them to Beverly."
Sherlock grins and turns to walk away.
"Hey!" she yells at him. "You tricked me!"
He waves back at her and continues walking down the hall.
He tells Jenna what he learned as soon as he can, and by their math class, Jenna and Amy are seated apart and glaring at each other.
Later, Jenna tells both of them that she confronted Amy and Beverly. She begins to cry as she tells them, so John comfortingly hugs her and rubs her back. It doesn't bother Sherlock, he knows Jenna is very upset.
"They said…" Jenna sniffles, "Something about needing to teach me a lesson, or something? I don't know, it was all really sad. They said I needed to learn what it's like to lose something. My dad gave those to me, and they sold them."
Sherlock coughs, clearing his throat. "I'm…sorry."
John glances at him.
Jenna pulls away. "It's ok, Sherlock. It's not your fault. And you solved it."
"Still," John says, rubbing her arm. "We're sorry."
Jenna wipes her eyes. "Thanks. I just hope my dad isn't too upset."
"Tell him everything," Sherlock advises. "He can't be upset that two mean girls stole them."
She nods. "You're right," she says, looking at him. Suddenly, she hugs him tight. This time, he hugs back. "Thank you, Sherlock. I knew I could count on you."
Sherlock cracks a smile. "You're welcome, Jenna."
Jenna pulls away and grabs her purse. "Here, let me…" she takes out her wallet and gets a few bills.
Sherlock waves her away. "No, no," he says. "I can't."
"Please," she says, "You solved it."
"I didn't even get them back," Sherlock tells her.
"Well, I owe you somehow."
"If anyone has any problems like yours, just tell them to come to me."
Jenna nods again and smiles. "Thanks, Sherlock. Really, thank you. And you, John."
John and Sherlock both smile at her, then they leave the school to go back to Sherlock's house.
After dinner, they're up in Sherlock's room laying next to each other, both ignoring each other for their laptops.
It's been bothering Sherlock all evening how physical John is with other people. Sure, John hugs him, but he doesn't like the way he feels when John hugs someone else. So he decides he needs to ask about it.
"John," he says.
"Hmm?"
"Why do you…" Sherlock pauses and thinks about changing his mind.
"Why do I what?"
"Uhm, why do you hug other people?"
John looks up from his laptop. "What do you mean?"
"Like…yesterday you hugged Christina, and today you hugged Jenna a lot."
"Jenna was hurt," he say, "I hug you when you're hurt."
"I know, but—"
"Remember that time I accidentally shot you with a pellet gun? I hugged you afterwards for, like, an hour."
"Yeah, but you like me."
"I didn't like you that much when we were eleven."
Sherlock chuckles.
"Is that what this is about?" John asks, sitting up. "You think I like Jenna?"
Sherlock moves his laptop to give John his full attention. "I don't know, John. I just…I felt jealous, ok? Jealous that Jenna was hugging you."
John moves up the bed to kneel next to Sherlock. "I don't, Sherlock. I promise; I've never liked anyone besides you. Even before I realized I like you I didn't like anyone. Ok?"
Sherlock nods. "Ok, John. I believe you."
"Good," John says, leaning forward and cradling Sherlock's chin. "I love you."
"I love you too," Sherlock says, closing the gap and kissing John.
Their kiss quickly turns heated, and John tries to pull Sherlock so Sherlock will (hopefully) push John onto the bed.
But Sherlock pulls away before he can. "My dad's coming!" he whispers, pushing John away from him.
The bed's quite large, but John is caught off guard and falls so far back that he falls of the bed. He lands with a loud thump as Sherlock grabs his computer and covers his lap with it.
In seconds, Clement throws the door open. He takes one glance at John and begins to laugh. "What happened here?"
John sits up and glares at Sherlock. "He pushed me."
"Sherlock," Clement pretends to scold. "Play nice."
Sherlock just smiles at John and his dad.
"Twenty minutes, ok, John? It's nearly midnight!" Clement exclaims, turning to leave the room. "Door stay's open."
"Ok!" the boys call.
John stands and kneels back on the bed. He grabs a pillow and hits Sherlock with it. "Wanker."
Sherlock throws the pillow back and grins.
Twenty minutes later, John leaves, but not before telling Sherlock how proud he is and how much he loves him. Sherlock just smiles, knowing John absolutely means everything he's saying.
Sherlock falls asleep that night with a very happy smile on his face.