In Your Dreams

Chapter 16: Biology

I rush across campus to the university's absolutely gorgeous science building, which glitters like a crystal ball in the sunlight. I push past the all-glass doors, my eyes drawn to a sparkling fountain in the centre of the atrium. I can't keep the grin off my face, and think again of how much a swimming scholarship would mean to Aunt Lindsey after all the tuition she's paying to help me live my love of science.

It takes a few minutes to figure out where I'm supposed to go. I avoid the elevators and instead opt to climb the black and silver staircase that snakes all the way up the middle of the atrium. I march as fast as I can, a decision I regret the instant my quads strain with the effort. Maybe I'm pushing myself too hard; I need to keep my strength for swimming. And maybe the relay team. My stomach does a flip flop. 

I finally reach the third floor and enter the massive room where I'll take my favourite course: biology.

"Jessie!"

I scan the crowd, stopping when a right hand with a black watch catches my eye. Chris stops waving and points to the seat next to him.

Bewildered, I hurry up to the fourth level and squeeze my bag in close, shimmying down the row as students push in their chairs to give me room. I slide into the chair next to Chris.

"When we said we'd meet up later, I didn't know we meant here," Chris jokes.

I tuck my swim bag under the table. "Neither did I! What are you doing here?" I shake my head. "I mean, duh, clearly we're both taking this class."

"I'm as surprised as you are. But maybe I shouldn't be—we seem to be running into each other a lot."

"Yeah. First we find out we're dreaming together, and next thing you know we'll find out we can summon each other in real life too."

Chris taps the table with his pen and laughs. "That would be cool. But I was on the doctor path a long time ago."

I grab my water bottle from my bag. "You want to become a doctor?" That makes sense—Chris loves helping people.

"Yeah." I think I detect an edge to his voice, but it lifts with his next question. "Do you know what you want to do?"

Before I can figure out how I want to answer, a man breezes in through the doorway, and our group is stunned into silence. I'm trying hard to focus on the professor's long white lab coat or receding blond curls instead of what's keeping us all quiet—the mass of shredded skin that stretches like wrinkled tape across his left cheek.

The professor walks purposefully towards a desk at the front of the room, sets his phone on the middle of the desk and breaks the silence with a booming voice. "Welcome to biology 101, the amazing study of living things. I think this class is the most important one you'll take at this university." He grins. "Though I'm sure all your teachers are telling you that."

A collective chuckle fills the room.

The professor brings his hands together. "So, why study biology?"

Unlike in high school, several hands go up. "To become a doctor," someone says. I sneak a peek at Chris, who's nodding.

"I have to take a science course for my general knowledge credit," someone admits.

The professor nods. "Okay. How about reasons that are less personal? Why do we need biology at all?"

The girl next to Chris pipes up, "So that we can protect and preserve life."

The professor gestures for her to continue. "And we do that by..."

"Understanding the world around us?"