The slight knock on her door woke her from her dreams. Strange dreams she couldn't quite remember, but left a disconcerting feeling that she couldn't quite shake. She stretched lightly, remembering someone was at her door, and padded over.
"Good morning," smiled Molly. "Do you want some hot chocolate?"
She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and smiled back sleepily at Molly, the latter knowing her fondness for the warm steaming beverage. It was a cool, overcast morning, and the two girls sat there having a girly chat session over hot chocolate, while time seemed to grind to a standstill. One of those times where it was comfortable to merely sit and talk and not notice the minutes passing by. But as time invariably does, the conversation came to pass and she reluctantly had to get ready for her first lecture. She could never quite fully wake up these mornings.
A quick search for her notes reminded her that they were in Chris's room, due to the study session the night before. It was a crisp morning, and she shivered slightly at she made her way down to Picken A. Chris had that slightly surprised look he tends to get on early mornings as he answered the door. She made herself comfortable as he messed about in his room, thinking how much like a little innocent boy he tended to look. And smiled inwardly, knowing how less likely a notion it was, after going through the barbed innuendos and loaded jokes of the night before.
"We're just waiting awhile for Greg."
The dew was still glistening from the leaves of the trees outside and the rays of the sun was just about to poke through the clouds. She loved mornings like these... Quiet, as if waiting for the day to start. Chris rummaged through his closet, looking for a jumper to wear, complaining about his lack of clothes. She teased him about getting better clothes, as she always did. He rolled his eyes, as he always did. The easy banter she had gotten used to.
"Good morning!" Greg made his not-so-grand entrance while the two of them were bantering about. They walked to the lecture in companiable silence, Chris and Greg talking about something or other, she herself lost in her thoughts. Wrapping her arms protectively around her body as if to ward off the chill.
It was 5 minutes past 10 and the lecture theatre was half full. She supposed that everyone was feeling the same effects of being forced to wake up from their warm beds on a chilly morning. Concentrating during lectures was getting easier, due to the stress of the exams, she supposed. It was even getting into a bit of a habit, hitting the library in between lectures. They didn't really get too much work done, truthfully. They just talked a lot. The announcement in the library came as a bit of a surprise, having never heard an announcement through the building before. It was even a bit of a novel experience, being forced out of the library due to the librarians taking part in some strike. Another lecture came to pass, and by then her stomach was demanding lunch.
The cold persisted throughout the day, and sitting on her bed after lunch, she couldn't quite resist cuddling underneath the sheets as she flipped through the pages of the X-Men comic she had borrowed from the library. Much to her folly. Sucked into the world of superheroes and mutants, warm underneath the covers, she read quietly and steadily, only her eyes betraying the emotions the comic evoked in her. She had always felt an affinity with the characters. Felt the hope and disappointment and the sense of occasional alienation. Sympathized with Cyclops and the never-ending saga of Madelyne and Jean Grey. Felt for the ongoing conflict all the X-Men had to go through, conflicts she sometimes could relate to, and for her, therein lay the attraction. She could not put down the comic until she was done, despite the three hundred odd pages.
And after the emotional rollercoaster wrought by the struggles of the mutant superheroes, she succumbed to the warmth of her bed and slept. Slept until the clock chimed for dinner and she guiltily woke up. Guilt because she missed her dissection practical. The niggling guilt at having wasted precious hours at doing nothing of consequence. The typical thoughts of a strained medical student before the exams. Thoughts that bugged her throughout dinner as she tried her best to not obsess.
Then, as she sat in front of her laptop blogging, a quote came to her mind. "Time you have enjoyed wasting is not time wasted." And she smiled.
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