The young detective

There was a lot of lively babble. Some students were chatting away merrily while some were just gaping at the teacher trying to “unravel” what he said. The bookworms had their nose buried in books as usual, but the mischievous ones were busy flying paper planes and throwing pieces of chalk at one another.A girl with brown hair and specs entered the classroom. Quite used to this, the girl ignored them and moved on to her desk but found it already occupied.“Excuse me Frank,” she said. “This is my seat.”“But I came first,” came the reply from Frank, who was in deep conversation with another boy.“So what? I always sit here.”“Oh come on! Can’t you please sit on the next desk? I have to discuss my project with Dennis here,” said Frank resuming his discussion.The girl had no choice but to sit with a girl whom she had never seen before. Probably a newcomer, she thought. The new girl’s eyes were very rare. They were the vivid violet of an amethyst. They glowed mesmerising under her raven-black bangs. She had long straight raven-black hair with a purplish hint, tamed by a hair band which matched her eye colour. She wore a shirtwaist with multicoloured spots.The girl with specs had just slumped beside her when somebody said. “Hello Alexis! How are you?”Alexis wheeled around. It was the newcomer girl who spoke. Alexis was both confused and surprised. She had never met that girl before but she knew her name. Anyway, she tried to find her voice and managed to say falteringly, “Er… me… well… I am fine. How come you know my name?”“Simple reasoning,” came the vague reply.“It means you guessed it? Eh?”“No! Not guessed. I deduced it,” the other girl corrected.“Did-used? What is that? And what else can you did-use?” Alexis asked dumbly.“A lot! For instance; your name is Alexis O’Day. I can also perceive that your dad is a cop.” The mesmerising violet eyes started to scan her.“Sorry to say this but you seem to be very bad at cooking. Despite this you cooked today’s breakfast as your mom is ill, that’s good! And… hmm… let me think… yes! You had orange juice after breakfast!” Alexis was totally baffled at the end of it.“Blimey! How… on… earth? Are you a relative of Sherlock Holmes?” she asked with her eyes wide.“No. Well, didn’t I tell you before that it’s nothing but simple reasoning? I noticed that somebody had carved “Alexis O’Day” on the desk on which now Frank is sitting and you said that you always sat there. But I wasn’t sure enough; anybody else could have sit there and carved it. But the locket you are wearing has the initials A.O. It confirmed that you are Alexis,” the dark haired girl explained.“And how did you know that my father is a cop?” she asked interested.“The Self-defence Techniques book you are carrying is only available to a police officer; your dad! He probably gave it to you so that you can protect yourself.”“What about me being bad at cooking and my mother being ill?” she continued to question.“Well this was a hard nut but I managed to crack it. I noticed that your hands had a few burns and a good amount of red patches of skin; a recent attempt at cooking! Now anybody good at cooking can’t get so many burns. And why would a mother let her daughter cook who, she knows, can’t cook? It will only happen because either she is ill or away from home. But the doctor’s prescription poking out of your pocket eliminated the latter option.”“Whoa! That’s quite a mind work. How did you know that I had orange juice after breakfast?” she asked.“You wiped your lips at the back of your cuff after drinking it. The stain is still there and there is no mistaking in the particular orangey colour.”“It seems very simple now. Looks like even I can do that ‘did-use’ thing. By the way, you didn’t tell me your name!”“Well you can try to did-use it!” said the young detective.