1 Not Class Again <:

The morning sun flooded through the window, leaving an effortless shifting pattern on the sleeping girl's face. The girl had warm honey-brown hair and dusty pink lips. Her eyes were tightly screwed together, and she had one bead of sweat on her forehead as if she had just experienced a bad dream.

Robin rolled over, wishing the night would last a minute longer. As she lifted one deep emerald green eye open, she realized with astonishment that this wasn't her room! Robin sat up like a bolt and scanned the room.

The room's walls were painted in a seashell blue color, and there was a wardrobe and a chest of drawers in the room, and a large dirty mirror that seemed to take up most of the wall. The room was very cluttered, with clothes strewn everywhere and bits of makeup smeared all over the mirror. The bed was covered in a mess of blankets instead of a duvet. Robin ran to the window, threw open the dark pink curtains, and found herself staring out over a beautiful city that sprawled out effortlessly beneath her. She gasped. How could she not remember being here? She tried hard to think of the night before; it was foggy. How did she end up here?

"Robin? Are you ready? We have to leave soon class starts in half an hour"

CLASS!!!? That couldn't be right. Robin was a graduate. She had recently started working for her dream publishing house in the city. She was 27, and her school days were finally behind her. Then it clicked, this was just a dream; otherwise, why would she be going to class?

Breathing a sigh of relief, she opened the door carefully. She was unsure what to expect; standing on the other side, looking frustrated, was a pretty girl with dark chestnut eyes and thick black wavy hair that fell just below her shoulders in small tight curls.

"Robin, are you okay?" The girl seemed concerned and a little agitated, "I don't want to be late again; you might be top of the class, but I'm not, and I don't want Mr. Thomas pulling me up again; he can be so scary sometimes!"

"I...I...I," Robin stuttered; the girl with the chestnut eyes rolled them and continued to get ready to leave herself. 'Well, I suppose if this is a dream, I might as well play along with it.' Robin thought to herself.

Quickly, Robin discovered that the wardrobe was filled with beautifully patterned dresses and some VERY short skirts, something that Robin would not ordinarily wear. She picked out a long-sleeved tangerine dress that fell just below her knees. She brushed and pulled her hair into a loose, messy bun, and within minutes, she was ready to leave. She left her room to discover she was in some student accommodation; the flat seemed to consist of four bedrooms, a small kitchen, an okay-sized lounge, and a couple of bathrooms. It didn't seem like any of her other flatmates were in.

She met her flatmate at the door; she couldn't get over how beautiful she was. The girl wore a simple green dress, a brown cardigan, and pale white shoes. However, these small, simple clothes hugged her figure, showing off her curves in such a flattering way that the girl could have been dressed for the Oscars. 

"Are you alright, Robin? What's with all the staring?"

"What's.... your… name?" Robin asked, still clueless as to who this person was. The girl looked shocked and then giggled, her face lighting up with amusement.

"I have no idea what you did last night, but I'm IVY. You know we have lived together for nearly a year," she said, slowly pointing at herself and grinning mockingly.

Ivy drove the pair to college in her small blue beetle; during the drive, Robin remained quiet while Ivy talked about the impressive weekend she had with her partner. It sounded to Robin like Ivy had a loving boyfriend whom she couldn't bear to be apart from.

At least the people in her dreams were happy!

The college was a tall ivory-stone building with three towers. Some of the stones had been worn away and replaced with gravel and cement. On top of each of the towers were three iron wind veins. Each one was shaped like a different animal; the one closest to the front was a lion, behind the lion was a wolf, and on the last vein stood a cat proudly. Every window was decorated with stained glass images of flowers and other animals. The establishment was breathtaking, a work of art in its own right.

At the gate, a tall man with disordered brown hair and piercing silver eyes came towards them, smiling. As he got closer, Robin realized he was very handsome; she blushed as her eyes fumbled over his chest, which was slightly showing as his shirt was not buttoned up well.

"Little sister, I've been texting you; where have you been?" The man swung his arms around her and hugged her for a friendly hug. While locked in his embrace, she could have sworn he pinched her bum, but she must have imagined it because why would you squeeze your own sister's bum!?!

Robin pulled out her phone; oddly, it was her phone; it unlocked instantly with her passcode. Browsing through her messages on her phone, it seemed that she had received some texts from a 'Ryan' asking if she wanted to meet up after class. She quickly put the two together and identified the messy-haired man as Ryan. The man grinned at her before asking again, 'So shall I pick you up here?' Robin nodded. I mean, it was a dream. What was the worst that could happen? She was enjoying herself and wanted to see where the dream would take her.

She followed Ivy through the college after confirming that they had the same class together this morning – thankfully, Robin didn't want to have to try and find her way to class in such a huge building. 

The class was English literature; Robin felt blessed that it was not only a class that she liked but also something she excelled at. Judging the room was laid out, and the look of her classmates Robin guessed that she hadn't gone back many years and was still in university.

The classroom was full of whispers as many of the students took nervous glances at her before burying their heads back into the books on their desks. 

As an older man dressed in a smart tweed green suit walked into the room hushed, it was clear from the tension in the room the man was the professor. He had short golden blond hair and bluish-green eyes; underneath his suit was a well-pressed white shirt. Again, he was beautiful, maybe not quite as beautiful as Ryan, but still cute enough to make Justin's heart thump as he walked in.

"Today I'm going to talk to you about 'The Toad with a Death Wish,' " the teacher began; Robin cursed. Here was the classic Dream trope of putting her on the spot with something she knew nothing about. She had read many books and was pretty sure this one did not exist.

For the rest of the class, Robin waited nervously on the edge of her seat for the moment when the teacher would ask her a problem that she wouldn't know the answer to. She knew at this point class would start howling, and then she would realize she was butt naked and then wake up. However, it never came, though, to her surprise and joy, and she managed to spend the entire lesson without getting naked!

"Think about the use of color the author J.J Wake used to describe the feelings of the princess toad, analyze this, and put these feelings into your writing." The professor advised as he commented on the work he wanted the students to finish for next week; he then dismissed the class, casting his gaze over to Robin as he did so.

Robbin smiled back at her professor, trying to ignore his gaze as she did. His gaze felt hot, and she felt her skin prickle – there was something uncomfortable about it. As Robin was about to leave, she heard the professor call her name. She stopped and turned to him; her heart was racing. This was the part of the dream where he would criticize her for not knowing enough about that darn toad book!