Deerstalker - a Sherlolly story

Acing it

"Molly, could you wait a second? I'd like to talk to you for a minute." Molly heard Mr. Abott's voice call out behind her, as she tried to exit the classroom. It had been another Sherlock-less chemistry lessons (a Sherlock-less day actually) and that had made her slightly agitated.  

"Sure," She replied as she turned around to face her teacher. She wondered what he could possibly have to discuss with her, chemistry was one of her best subjects. 'At least he doesn't look angry', she thought. A content smile was plastered on his bespectacled face.  

"Please, sit." He instructed her and pointed to a chair in front of his desk. Hesitantly Molly did as she was told, while Mr. Abott bend down to retrieve something out of that black bag of his.

"Molly," He began, putting down a stack of printed papers in front of him. She immediately recognized it as the report. This was going to be interesting. "I just finished grading your report on salts and precipitation reactions and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. This is excellent. So, I would like to congratulate you miss Hooper, because you just got an A+." He smiled triumphantly, as if he had just awarded her with an Olympic medal and simultaneously won one himself.  

"Thank you, sir." Molly replied relieved and somewhat surprised. She had looked into the work Sherlock had done, but hadn't realized it was that good. Probably because things other than his work related to that boy had occupied her mind at the time.  

"Really, you can be proud of yourself. But that's not the only reason I wanted to talk to you," his smile slowly fell into a serious frown. "I have to ask: Was this work really done by you and Sherlock Holmes?" 

Ow. Crap. Off course he would never believe they had worked together. How was she ever going to explain this?!

"Well... Sherlock and I both...uh...divided the tasks between us and we both did our part. He and I...We worked together quite well, actually." Her cheeks were glowing, as the words came out as a stuttering mess. She was a bad liar and was painfully aware of it.

"That's what I thought I already. I just wanted to be sure," He replied, his eyes glowing behind the thick glasses. What?! "I mean, I don't expect you to write a sentence like 'In an unsurprising turn of events the liquid in tube 3 turns white. There is an explanation for why this happens, but the text books doesn't cover it and therefore it is not deemed as necessary knowledge for this report.' " Mr. Abott let out a small laugh, upon hearing his own hilarious recitation. Although slightly uncomfortable, Molly couldn't help but smile a little as well. That was definitely Sherlock.  

"Anyway, Miss Hooper. The point I'm trying to make is that I have never seen Sherlock actually deliver work like this. He's a brilliant boy, no doubt, but until he worked together with you he never bothered to do anything in my class. Or any class, for that matter. And right now he's skipping class more than ever. I worry about him. He's incredibly talented, you know, probably has a bigger brain than the average PhD student. Yet, he's throwing all that away. That's why I want to ask you, Molly, since you are the only person who he seems to like somewhat; could you tell him about his good results and maybe let him know that going to school is still quite a good idea? You don't have to....I just....just don't know what else to do with this boy."  

It was then that Molly realized she had been completely wrong about Mr. Abott. He wasn't just some kind of wacko chemistry enthusiast, he knew extremely well what was up. And he really seemed to care. Something that was rare when it came to Sherlock.  

"I understand, sir. And I will." She replied, before leaving the classroom. A+ in hand.

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