Down the Sidewalk

Chapter Five

Sherlock's stomach flipped. He'd only been in the cafeteria the few times John had dragged him there. He never would've dreamed of going in by himself. There wasn't any reason to. He could steal off to the library or the lab during his lunch period, and no one would notice.

Sherlock stood in line with his tray like the rest of the imbeciles that inhabited his school. About half of them ignored him, but the others glared at him obviously and made snide remarks to their friends. Sherlock gritted his teeth and kept moving.

Another reason Sherlock never went into the cafeteria was because the food was absolutely disgusting. He was a genius, and he couldn't even tell what the school was serving. It looked like some sort of pasta mush with... were those peas? Whatever it was, it made Sherlock want to gag.

The only reason he was there was because Molly had invited him to sit with her. The problem with this was, however, that Sherlock couldn't seem to find her in the sea of students. He took his tray and sat at an empty table near the doors, Three of the four tables around him were unoccupied. He thanked whatever deity had graced him and pulled out a book. Sherlock completely ignored the food, instead focusing on his English homework.

"You're not going to eat that?"

"Molly. Hello," Sherlock greeted, looking up at her. Her hair was in a low bun, and she had lip gloss on again. His heart stuttered, and he frowned at it. That wasn't supposed to happen.

"Is everything all right?"

"Er, yes, but... what is this, Molly? It's rancid."

"Don't you know? Never get the pasta," she replied. "The sandwiches are much less horrifying."

"Because I would know that."

"I thought you knew everything," Molly laughed, settling down across from him.

"I know everything important," Sherlock replied, poking at his serving of green beans with great distaste. "It's why I'm a genius. I don't save room for the unimportant things. Where's the value in that?"

"You've got a point."

"Of course I do."

Molly laughed again. Sherlock loved her laugh. Wait. What?

"Where are your friends?" Sherlock asked, shaking the thought out of his head. "Are they not joining us?"

"Er, no," Molly said. "I didn't really want them to..."

"Oh. Of course."

Yes, of course. Molly didn't want Sherlock near her actual friends. Who would? Sherlock would say something the wrong way, and the others would flee. Mostly, all it took from Sherlock was a look. Molly would lose either Sherlock or her other friends, and Sherlock wasn't confident he knew whom she would choose.

"They're loud and more than a bit irritating," Molly remedied. "I don't want them bothering us."

"Oh. All right, then. I suppose that's okay."

"I'm glad you approve," Molly giggled.

"Do you have history homework you need to go over?"

"That'd be great, yeah," the girl replied. She dug a notebook out of her bag and opened to a page almost completely covered with words.

"Why is this space blank?"

"I don't know the answer."

"It's really quite simple."

"What did we tell you, Holmes?" Jim asked, grinning. "Stay away from Molly Hooper."

"Sherlock!"