Clary closed her tired eyes for a moment, attempting to remember the mysterious dream she had last night. All around her, the other students are finding their seats and excitedly discussing their weekend plans. But this morning Clary doesn't want to join in, so she filters out the sounds of their voices. Watching the colours flickering against her eyelids, she remembers seeing a young man's face. His blue eyes softened when they met hers. Although she does not recognize him while awake, in her sleep she instantly understood that she was in love with him. He was beautiful. While lovingly running his fingers through her hair, he began to frown. She feels a sharp pain through her chest knowing that she may have caused that pain. This will never work between us, he said and Clary felt herself nod in agreement. He turned away from her and she woke suddenly, struggling to catch her breath.
That very same dream, without a single detail ever changing, has plagued her sleep for the past week. Last night she lay awake for hours trying to decipher it. Was her subconsciousness trying to tell her something? Surely, it's not possible to dream of a face she has never seen before. She strains to remember where she has seen him before; did he work at the local café or did they go to a summer camp together as children? Her roommate saunters into the classroom and her seductive red lips form a playful smile as she spots her friend. She taps Clary on the shoulder.
"Hello? Earth to Clary!"
"Isabelle!" Clary opens her eyes and instinctively slides her handbag off the chair beside her. She motions for her friend to sit down and Isabelle happily slides into the seat next to her.
"Are you alright? I didn't see you at breakfast this morning."
"I'm sorry, Izzy. I've been really sleep deprived lately, I just wanted to get this first class over with."
"Are you having that spooky dream again? You know...the one about the cute boy?" Isabelle curiously raises her eyebrows.
Clary gently nudges her friend with her elbow and laughs. "Maybe…"
"Oh Clary, how exciting! You'll have to draw a sketch of him for me sometime, I'd love to meet him in my dreams myself!" She pauses for a moment to imagine the mysterious blond man that Clary has described to her in detail many times. She sighs and flutters her eyelashes dramatically, knowing well how to tease her friend. "I think this is too much of a coincidence. Has the thought ever crossed your mind that he might be your soulmate?"
"Don't be silly, Isabelle. It's only a dream. I don't believe in fate, anyway."
Their lecturer darts into the classroom, flicks the nearest switch and slams his stack of notes onto the podium. The two girls straighten their backs and the classroom falls silent. He fires up the projector and the wall in front of them is illuminated by images of stones and ancient symbols.
"I welcome you all to your first class. Today I'd like to talk a bit about what we're going to cover in this module. Runes..." he begins, "Are an ancient Germanic alphabet-" and in that moment he is interrupted by the sound of the old, heavy classroom door reopening. A boy with floppy blond hair, dressed completely in black, enters the room and for a moment the projector casts light onto his face. Clary's eyes widen in shock, she instantly recognises that face. Keeping his head down, the boy walks right past Clary and Isabelle and takes a seat right behind them. Their lecturer waits patiently for him to take his seat and continues.
"Here are some examples of the runes we will be studying this term…"
Clary leans over to her friend, as close as she can get to her ear, and whispers, "That's him."
"Who?" Isabelle whips her head around.
"No, shhh! Don't make a scene!" Clary grabs Isabelle's hand to draw her attention away from the newcomer. "The boy who just sat down...it's him."
"The boy from your dreams?"
Clary nods, everything she wants to say is caught in her throat. The two girls slowly turn their heads to take a quick glance at the blond boy, who is vigorously taking notes and oblivious to their interaction.
"Well things have certainly gotten interesting," Isabelle whispers and flashes her friend another cheeky smile.
"Thank you all for attending, I hope to see you all next week," their lecturer bellows at the end of the class as he scoops his notes back into his arms and leaves the room just as swiftly as he came in.
Clary and Isabelle are frozen in their seats, unsure how to react. They spent the entire class in silence. The boy, quite literally, from Clary's dreams is sitting a few inches away from them. Butterflies of excitement had formed in Isabelle's stomach throughout the class as she pondered how she would introduce the two to each other. Of course, it would have to be her who would initiate things, she decided, as Clary was far too shy. Anyway, Isabelle was more than happy to partake in a bit of matchmaking, what an exciting way to start the year.
But the opposite kind of butterflies had formed in Clary's stomach. She was convinced, now more than ever, that she had seen him somewhere before. That was the logical explanation. But that didn't quell the sickly, anxious sensation that was swirling around her stomach- there was something strange about this. Why did she dream of him on the nights leading up to seeing him? Clary wonders briefly if she should say something to him, if she should introduce herself. But that would make things even more strange, how was she supposed to do that? Hi, I've been dreaming of your face for the past week! No, that would be inappropriate. Before either of the girls have a chance to even open their mouths, the blond boy slips out of his seat, without even looking in their direction, and walks confidently out the door.
"Are you sure?" Isabelle finally asks, breaking the silence between them.
"Now that I've seen his face with the lights on..." she turns to her friend to look her in the eyes, "I've never been so sure of anything in my life. Let's go, I have to show you something."
Their conversation shifts as they walk back to their apartment together. Isabelle is very carefully planning her outfit for an upcoming party, she was keen on making a good first impression among her fellow students and she coerces Clary into wearing something other than her usual jeans and t-shirt.
"Wear your short skirt, the faux leather one. If you don't have anything to pair with it, I can help you out. Oh, and of course your hair! Well, you'll have to wear it down for once. Don't worry, I'll figure out something to do with it. Anyway, what was it that you wanted to show me?"
Clary tosses her bag into the corner of her room as they enter the door. She immediately walks over to her desk and rummages through a pile of old sketchbook pages. Finally, at the bottom of the pile, she pulls a page from beneath the rest and takes a moment to study it. An icy sensation pulses throughout her body as she realises that she was, in fact, correct about the boy being the one from her dreams. She sighs anxiously and hands it over to Isabelle. Isabelle takes in every detail on the sketch she was handed, a portrait of the blond boy that was sitting in their class. It was so detailed that it almost looked as if Clary had drawn it during the class. For a while, she is unable to form a sentence from the amount of thoughts that flowed through her mind. This time, it is Clary who breaks the uncomfortable silence.
"I drew this last night when I couldn't get back to sleep. It's the reason why I'm so tired."
"Wow, that's spooky. It looks just like him." Her expression changes to one of excitement as she hands her friend back the drawing, "I knew he was your soulmate!"
"Isabelle! There's a better explanation for this, I must have seen him somewhere else. There's no possible way I could have dreamt of his face without seeing it in real life."
"Come on, it's the first week of term. Where else could you have possibly seen him before?"
"Maybe he's from Brooklyn too?"
"Sure, that's possible…" she pauses to shrug her shoulders, "But the difference between you and I, Clary Fairchild, is that I believe in fate. I believe that there are are things out there that don't have a simple explanation, things that are beyond our control. I've experienced it first-hand. I can tell that you don't believe your own explanation, I can tell that you believe in something supernatural too."
