Hello there! This is my first fanfiction so please be gentle but feedback and helpful criticism is welcome. I've always wanted to write a Doctor Who fanfic and now I finally have the courage to publish this.

And yes i know, there are many stories out there with a fan waking up in the Doctor's world. But i wanted to write one the way i wanted to see it done so here it is. I hope to give this story heart and reality, and not be cliche. It isn't always fun to travel with the Doctor and with the character's knowledge of series 8 & 9 I want to explore the emotional conflicts of keeping that knowledge a secret and knowing when to use it, and what to change. I will not be afraid to change some stuff that happened in the TV show during the course of this story with my character. I hope you enjoy. Please leave reviews as they will be helpful.

I must note: I do not own Doctor Who or the characters apart from Lauren Raven, all rights go to the BBC.

Chapter 1 – The Unexpected Arrival

Lauren Raven was a young adult from our universe, a universe where alien life had yet to be confirmed, time travel was not real, and magical adventures were only in stories. So Lauren was rather surprised to find out that her favourite TV show called Doctor Who which involved a time travelling alien and his companion flying through space and time fighting monsters, and saving the day in a big blue box, was real… In another dimension.

Needless to say she was even more surprised and scared half to death to find that she had woken up in the actual Whoniverse rather than in her bed. However she was even more confused, if not slightly embarrassed that, she had not just appeared in the Doctor's world, but in a classroom. And not just any classroom with noisy pupils chatting around her – this was Coal Hill School.

The sound of the door opening and heeled footsteps signaled the arrival of the teacher; followed by the dulling of noise as the pupils lowered their voices, their attention now to the front. Lauren's attention wasn't to who entered the room, she was still looking around in a daze at her surrounding wondering if this was a very realistic dream of being back at school. She failed to notice the looks of amusement from the other teenagers at her strange behaviour.

It was only when she heard the voice of the teacher wishing everyone in the class good morning did Lauren Raven finally turn her attention to the front, where she was greeted with the sight of Ms. Clara Oswald herself.

In that moment Lauren knew she'd gone mad. But in reality this was only the beginning.

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When Lauren woke groggily from sleep she knew something was wrong. First of all she was not lying horizontal in a soft bed, instead she was awkwardly slumped in a sitting position with her forehead pressed against something cold and hard. Wood. Second, there was a lot of noise, people chatting loudly. Did they have no respect? She was trying to sleep here! Eyes blinking rapidly as she tried to force the sleep away and focus on what was around her; Lauren suddenly bolted up straight in her seat as reality set in.

She winced as the sudden movement caused a stab of pain in her neck, she brought her left hand up to massage the sore area of muscle at the back of her neck to relieve some of the tension there.

A creak to the neck, she must have sat here for hours judging by it she thought warily. But the main problem was that she shouldn't have been here sleeping for hours, in fact she shouldn't have been here at all. Unless this was a very detailed dream. Yes, a very, very realistic dream of being back at horrid school… With their horrid blue uniforms…

Wait a minute Lauren thought, the school uniform she was wearing wasn't blue, it wasn't her school uniform that she had worn for seven years, she was wearing black! Lauren looked around at some of the few other students already in the class, they were wearing the same black uniform with the crest. The crest! The crest was different too, that wasn't her school crest – and the name, she realised.

Lauren turned back to her own uniform again and with shaking hands pulled the material just below where the school crest was stitched on, angling it up towards her face so she could read the words better as she looked down at it.

There was no mistaking it. Even at a slightly upside down angle the words were clear against her disbelieving eyes. It read:

Coal Hill School

Lauren felt her chest begin to tighten as panic began to grip her. This couldn't be right, Coal Hill School didn't exist, well, not that she was aware of… Maybe there could have been a school called that in her world but Lauren knew a school with this name existed in a world which was not real. A world that was just a show on television, a show she loved since she was a child.

"This can't be happening, this cannot be real," Lauren whispered, fully aware there were other people in the room. However the few teenagers in the room barely gave her a passing glance, too engrossed in their conversions, or texting on their phones to care about the new 'student' in the room she noted.

Lauren looked down at her hands now tightly gripping the small square shaped wooden desk which was covered in marks and writing – doodles, a student's phone number, who loves who and just plain scribbles. All the things custom to a school desk. Lauren found a strange comfort in the familiarity of that, which was an even more an absurd idea she thought idly.

Her palms were sweaty so she wiped them down on her skirt, as she moved her hands back up to the desk she accidentally touched a piece of chewed gum stuck to the underside of wood.

"Eww…." Lauren said, disgusted. Of course, what was a school desk without chewed gum? That was one familiarity she did not find comfort in.

At the sound of the door opening and more student piling in and starting to fill the empty seats Lauren was reminded of the problem at hand. She really shouldn't be here. If her feelings were correct. It. Was. Impossible. Unless her whole life was an entire lie.

No, there had to be a logical reason, just because of the school name, uniform, classroom looks somewhat familiar doesn't mean she was in the world of Doctor Who. No of course not, Lauren scoffed at herself mentally. She wished, Lauren thought jokingly.

There were many times she wished as a child and teenager that Doctor Who was real, that she was a part of that universe; wishful thinking. Maybe that's what this was, wishful thinking, a dream to keep her happy, maybe she was dying in her bed and her mind was trying to keep her happy. Or she was really high and this was a hallucination. Lauren did however hold onto the belief that the Doctor was real in a different dimension, but that idea always made her sad at the thought of that she was born in the universe where the Doctor was just a TV show.

Lauren tried to control her breathing and force herself to remain calm, think logical thoughts. She must be here for some reason so she must find answers. She needed more proof than the name of the school to suggest she was in the Doctor Who universe, or to suggest where the hell she was in general because Lauren shouldn't be at school, but at university instead.

She was twenty years old for god's sake! Although she could get away with being a sixteen year old, she had the small height and youthful face. But that didn't matter because she already done her GCSE's and A-levels and got into university. She wasn't from England, she wasn't English she was Irish. Everyone here had London accents, Coal Hill School was in East London if she remembered correctly. Ok, she was currently studying in England at Liverpool Hope University, first year here moved from Ireland but London was a far cry from Liverpool.

If there was a logical reason for this Lauren couldn't think of one at the moment.

A young girl with light dark skin and long black hair tied into a ponytail placed her school bag on the desk beside Lauren in the front row.

"Sorry, hello, hope you don't mind me sitting here but this is my usual seat," the girl said politely as she began to take out her books.

"No, not at all. I hope you don't mind me sitting here. I didn't know which seats were taken, usually the back rows are." Lauren spoke feeling slightly guilty of taking the girl's usual spot. Though she seems friendly enough and Lauren realised she could get basic answers from her to understand what was happening.

"Yeah, some of the boys claim the back four tables on the right," the girl replied before turning towards Lauren. "You're new here yeah?"

"Yes." Lauren agreed.

"Explains why I've never seen you before. Don't look so scared this place isn't so bad compared to what people say," the girl gave her a reassuring smile and offered her hand. Lauren took it and smile timidly back wondering briefly what people say about this school. "I'm Rena, you?"

"Lauren. Nice to meet you."

Good, now she could ask questions. However she couldn't ask any weird ones otherwise Rena would think her mad or stupid, and she could easily move to a different seat if she got uncomfortable. So small baby steps thought Lauren. She decided to ask the first simple one on her mind after looking at the time on the clock: 9.30am.

"Class should have started by now where are the rest of the students? There's a few empty seats, and the teacher isn't even here yet."

"We had an assembly," said Rena just as the rest of the missing students filled the remaining seat.

Lauren nodded. She took a glance at the books Rena took out and her heart skipped a beat. Those were English books, this was an English class. Her mind went immediately to one particularly small English teacher.

Lauren took a deep breath and swallowed the lump raising in her throat as she asked Rena a very important question, "Um, j-just who is the teacher for this class?"

"Oh Miss Oswald, she's nice I'm sure you'll like her."

Lauren forgot how to breathe. Her body tensed and her heart surely did just stop at the words she just heard. Lauren immediately screwed her eyes tightly shut telling herself this was not true; blocking out her surroundings because everything was false.

THIS CANNOT BE REAL

JUST A SILLY DREAM

Lauren tried in vain to think logical, clear thoughts when her mind screamed at her at what was happening – what has happened to her. She was scared, more scared than she realised she ever has been in her life. A part of her was angry that she was scared, and a small voice in her head whispered that she should feel happy that she was here. But Lauren still denied the facts in front of her.

No, there must be more, must be something she was missing, she needed more proof that she was in the Whoniverse. Lauren desperately looked around the room for something she was missing, something that was wrong; to give her a clue as to what was really going on. Were there any hidden cameras? Maybe this was a prank on a Doctor Who fan for TV and she was the victim chosen. Although if this was a prank why was she at school? That part didn't make sense.

Screw it she was high! Yup, that's the reason she thought. She's really high on those drugs and hallucinating all of this. But she didn't take any drugs the night before.

Rena looked at Lauren concerned at the fact she'd gone very pale and was beginning to shake. Lauren just looked at everything in a daze, not registering the sound of the door opening and closing along with heeled footsteps, and the quieting of students signaled the arrival of the teacher. The only thing Lauren was aware of was that the classroom was a small, tight, confided space despite the windows at the back wall behind her.

Then she heard her voice. A voice she knew very well, a voice of a person she has never met but she knew so well from a TV show. A voice wishing everyone good morning. Lauren Raven finally turned her attention to the front, where she was greeted with the sight of Ms. Clara Oswald herself.

Lauren stared at her with a mixture of numbed awe and shock. The small voice in her head quietly admitted the truth. Lauren had the proof she needed to know, she knew where she was now, but that still didn't mean she wasn't mad.