Cinder could see the sunlight through her eyelids, she could feel the warmth of her quilt and the sensation of her top that was askew from her tossing in turning in the night, though she was still tethered to her dreams. Back and forth the sensations switched, of being tangled in her sheets and looking up into chandeliers. Of taking a deep breath, shoving her face deeper into her pillow and taking the hand of a beautiful woman. Of clouds that passed as shadows over the sun and the giggling of her and a dark-skinned girl with brown eyes.

Suddenly a sharp cold sensation startled her awake. She opened her eyes to Iko, her robotic hand inches away from her shoulder.

"Good morning," Iko said, over-enthusiastically as another cloud passed over the sun and Cinder felt sleep clutching her as the roomed dimmed. "You slept through your alarm again." Iko pointedly moved her sensor towards Cinder's alarm clock; which was unplugged. Cinder vaguely remembered tearing it out of the wall as soon as it made a sound at 5 am. Shit, the sun was very out meaning it was definitely not before 7 . . . and she had a class at 8.

"Damn it! Iko what time is it?" Immediately Cinders heart started racing as she pounced out of bed and tore through her closet.

"It is 7:37," She noticed the time in her retina at the same time Iko said it. Her heart dropped and she stopped looking for a cute first day of class outfit and grabbed some sweats and a tank top.

"Did Pearl and Peony already leave?" She scanned the room for her backpack and put on her clothes.

"Yes, and they took the hover" She almost snapped at Iko and ask her why she hadn't woken Cinder up earlier. But she knew that wasn't a fair question, her stepmother keeps Iko busy in the morning. Though it does seem like Iko is a little busier on school days.

Cinder glanced at the blankets and pillows and she found herself reminiscing in her dreams; so warm, so safe. She found herself moving towards her bed. Cinder scoffed at herself, focusing on fantasy, how stupid of her to be intoxicated by those . . . illusions. She needed to focus on school so she could move out as soon as possible. If she missed this class, she could be stuck here another semester, she turned around back to panicking as she tried to get her stuff together.

She stopped in her tracks, her hand hovering over her backpack and took a deep breath. This is not the time for panicking and conspiracy theories, it's no way to start the morning on her second day of school. She closed her eyes and purposely relaxed her body, making a plan in her head. The hover is gone so she'll have to take public transit, which would take longer and she would really be late for class. But it was the first meeting for the Tuesday/Thursday of Modern International and Interplanetary Politics. A mouthful but an essential class for her BA in, Politics and Government. If she missed the first class she could lose her seat. Her heart started racing again.

"Can I help you in any way? Want me to grab your things for school?" Iko rolled up behind her, an androids need to feel useful, Cinder was sure it was overwhelming Iko seeing Cinder like this.

Cinder let out a sigh

"Yes Iko, thank you that would help a lot" Cinder pulled her backpack off the hook on the door and handed it to Iko. "I need to put my shoes on." Cinder grabbed her port screen, looking up the next train to Beijing U as she sat down to put her shoes on. It was leaving in a couple minutes the next one she could take was leaving at 8, it took 45 minutes to just get to the campus and she still didn't know where the class was. She let out a groan. Iko stopped putting things in the backpack and pointed her sensor towards Cinder.

"Will you make it?" Iko asked

"I won't make it on time for sure, but hopefully I'll get there before the class is over." She finished lacing her shoes and stood up. Iko handed her the backpack, now much heavier. "What did you put in here?"

"No time to check! Hurry or you'll miss the train!" Iko's cold hand pushed Cinder by her butt out the door. Cinder dug her feet into the ground.

"Wait! I forgot something." Cinder skipped back towards her nightstand, picked up her gray sweatband and pulled it on her arm, over the line that shows where fake skin and real skin meet. She hated sweatbands, but it was too hot to wear a jacket in late August here in Beijing where it was 90 degrees and humid. She started charging towards the front door, but stopped just before the living room and listened for her stepmother.

"She went to the market, go!" Iko startled her again pushing her towards the front door. "Have a good day at school!"

"Alright, alright!" Just before slipping out the door Cinder made sure the yell "Thank you for waking me up!"

. . .

Cinder was waiting for her stop on the train as she flipped through the news feed on her phone. She could just look at the newsfeed in her eye but when she wasn't looking at a phone people felt there was an opportunity to talk to her, and she liked to keep a low profile. Always afraid someone would find out she was a cyborg, though all the proof was covered up by her clothes. Her eyes caught on one headliner asking a question,

"Where is Prince Kia Going to School Now? As his favorite professor was fired from his preppy private school some speculate that he will follow his new found mentor just about anywhere and rumors are circulating he hasn't reregistered at Xi'an Jiaotong University. Question is, where is this Professor X?"

Cinder rolled her eyes. This wasn't news, it was gossip. How do they know about the Prince's registration? She was sure only official people at the palace had access to those records, besides who really cares about where the Prince is going to school when there was so much else to worry about. Like updates on a Letumosis cure and the increasing tension between Earth and the Lunar Queen just to name two. Even covering the truth about the other person in the story would be more relevant. Professor X, an alias to protect his identity but the story has been fleshed out detail by detail.

He started to teach about the atrocities the ancestors of the current monarchy has committed and the ties Prince Kia's great great grandfather had with the very same elite who owned Xi'an Jiaotong University and was quickly fired afterword for some bs about not filing some paperwork correctly. Did Kia really make this professor his mentor? For a second Cinder speculated if the Prince could end up at her University, but Beijing U was a public school and she doubted the state would want to pay a professor who trashed their legacy. But Cinder was heartened to think that her future emperor might question the status quo.

"Next stop, Beijing University" A calm robotic voice chimed and Cinder got up to stand next to the doors with many other people her age doing the same. She looked up to the spread of the school, all the glass of the buildings a golden yellow in the morning sun. She noticed the time behind her eye. 8:52. If she walked really fast she could make it to the last twenty minutes of class and beg the professor to let her keep her seat. As the train slowed to stop she heard some students behind her talking about the headline she saw earlier.

"I bet you he went to another country"

"Why would the Prince learn about Government in another country, that's just dumb."

"He's a Prince! He can do whatever he wants."

The air from the doors hissed as they slide open.

And Cinder booked it to the Sociology Building.

. . .