Sherlock: The Next Generation

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

It took Martin a few moments to realise where he was when a sharp ringing pulled him from his rather uneasy sleep. He blinked his deep blue eyes groggily, sitting up slowly. A strand of hair fell in front of his face and he blew it away. A glance to his left let him see that Robbie was also sitting in his bed, contemplating what to do. After a few moments Martin pushed himself up and opened his drawers, pulling out the uniform he needed. He plopped himself back onto his bed, pulling around the curtains that could be used to separate it from the rest of the room. Then he changed.

"I'm not sure I can cope with the early mornings," Max grumbled as they headed over to the main school building for breakfast, schoolbags slung over their backs so they wouldn't have to go back after eating. The air was crisp but not all that cold. After all it was only the end of August, going into September. Not yet time for the cold weather to set in.

"Could be worse," Martin replied quietly with a shrug.

"My mum would wake me up at seven in the morning on Saturdays to go with her on a run," Dan put in from behind them were he was walking with Robbie and Louis.

"That sucks," Max glanced back with a slight grin. "Really sucks."

Max and Martin ended up sitting beside each other at a small table with their breakfast while the other three boys went off to sit with and socialise with some of the girls in their year. Martin pushed his cereal about in the milk, not really eating any of it, when a girl sat down opposite Max. She was reasonably pretty if on the short side, with blond hair and deep brown eyes.

"Hi, Max," she smiled at him and then Martin, her eyes twinkling.

"Hi," Max grinned back before turning slightly to face Martin. "Martin, this is Ellie. Ellie, this is Martin. I went to the same primary school as Ellie."

"Hello, Ellie," Martin stated in an almost whisper, tilting his head.

"Nice to meet you, Martin," Ellie nodded before turning to look at Max. The two of them were soon in a deep conversation about the clarinet (which she seemed to play) and various other things to do with music. Martin decided to not join in, continuing to pick at his food without eating it.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?" Max seemed to have decided to turn his conversation back to Martin. Only then did he realise that Ellie had been joined by another girl and was chatting amiably.

"I'm not really hungry," Martin shrugged. "Don't eat much. Runs in the family." Max scoffed at that.

"You have to eat at least something. Just a little bit. For me?"

"Okay." Martin tilted his head and glanced at his friend. He quickly put a spoonful into his mouth. And a few more. He ended up eating half the cereal as Max watched in an almost scrutinising manner.

"Good!" Max grinned widely. "Wouldn't want you to starve. How about we find our classroom? Then we can get the best seats."

"Sure," Martin stood up and followed Max out of the dining hall. In the end they were glad they had left before the bell rang due to the fact it took them quite a while to find where they were meant to be. They'd ended up going the wrong direction and had had to ask an older pupil for directions when the bell rang and they panicked. So even for leaving early they were among the last into the classroom. The classroom was reasonably small with plain walls of white and blue. All the desks were organised in rows, put together in twos. Martin and Max slipped into chairs beside each other in the second row after a sheepish sorry to the teacher who promptly called for quiet.

"Good morning," the teacher smiled at them all. "I am Mr Green and I will be your Mathematics teacher. As your first teacher of the day for your first year I have to go over a few things. First of all the majority of your classes will be taken in this classroom. If a class is in a different room it will be written on your timetable. Now, if you would come up and get your timetable when your name is called out." He picked up a register and began to read off it. "Maxwell Adams."

Max grinned as he stood up and went up to get his timetable. He came back and instantly began to look over it, head tilted. There were eleven people between Max and Martin on the register, Max being first and Martin being last.

"Martin Watson-Holmes." Martin nervously stood, moving over to get his timetable before quickly darting back for his desk. A quick comparison told Martin that he had pretty much the same timetable as Max. Though he was sure that everyone had the same classes as each other, being a rather small year. First thing was Maths up until break, which Martin was already dreading. Then it was Art and English before lunch then French and Chemistry after lunch. Along with their timetable they had all got a sheet of paper with all the extracurricular activities they had signed up for. Martin quickly scanned his with narrowed eyes.

He had Strings Orchestra today, Monday, after classes. He assumed that was with his Violin. Tomorrow he had dancing, no specification as to what type. Wednesday he had both his piano and oboe lessons. Thursday was extracurricular art. Friday was orchestra and it was noted down that he would be playing with his violin in that. Saturday he had more dancing in the morning and then his violin lesson. He was rather worried about the latter. He had only ever been taught by his dad. It would strange being taught by someone else. Sunday evening was labelled band, in which he would play the oboe.

"Do you have strings orchestra today?" Max whispered, glancing at Martin's timetable. Martin replied with a nod. "Awesome. I wonder if we will be playing the same part." Martin just shrugged. Mr Green silenced the class after a few moments of letting them talk.

"Today we will be doing a small Maths test so I can place your skills and see what you need to be taught."

Martin couldn't help but groan, face paling. He hated Maths. He really couldn't do it. His eyes widened as a paper was place in front of him. The first question looked pretty hard. And generally that was the easiest! He was going to fail this... Everyone would realise how stupid his was! Biting his lip, Martin began.

"Well that was easy!" Max chirped breezily, earning a look of shock from Martin as they left the classroom to go outside for break.

"That was terrible," Martin tugged at his black curls. "Really hard."

"Really?" Max tilted his head, looking almost confused.

"Yeah. I just don't understand Maths, I guess."

"Hey, don't worry. I'm terrible at English. I'm such a slow reader."

"I love English."

"Well I love Maths. How about you help me with English and I'll help with Maths?"

"Ok. That would be good." Max grinned at Martin's reply.

"Great! We'll both get better by helping each other. Because we're best friends."

Martin blushed slightly at that. Best friends. Martin had a best friend.