OK, so this is happening. I thought. 

The girl from my dream had just transferred into my school and I was trying my best not to freak out. What is she doing here? How'd she get here? Did I hit my head on a wall or something? What the hell is going on!? I thought.

My eyes slowly followed her as she went and sat down in one of the empty chairs. The more I looked the more I was sure that it was her that I had been seeing. But it just couldn't have been. Either it was some big coincidence or I was insane. Those, deep, blue eyes that seemed to go on forever like a bottomless pit, that blonde glossy hair, that soft and sensitive looking skin and those pearly white teeth. No, it was all too similar to be just a coincidence. Right? 

Was that dream I kept having actually real? Have I been sucked into another universe where dreams become a reality? Wait, is this a dream? Have to calm down! All these things and more were jumbled up in my brain as I tried to somehow gain control my thoughts. 

Without realising it I found myself turning my whole body round just to get a glimpse of her, my mind was still fried and was having trouble figuring out what was real and fake anymore. I couldn't seem to take my eyes off her, in fact, the majority of the lesson was just me staring at her like some creepy pervert. I was in a completely different world from the rest of the people around me. I'm not even 100% sure what happened while I was in this state of shock, but all I do know is that when I came out of it I was looking up into the beady blue eyes of Mrs. Davidson, and she didn't look too happy to see me.

"Daydreaming are we Josh?"

"Huh...Um...No Mrs. Davidson." I said sheepishly when I finally realized where I was and what was going on.

"Oh Really? OK, since you've been paying so much attention, please tell the class the answer to question two." She said.

I looked up at the board and I was face to face with a bunch of algebraic equations, letter, numbers and complicated symbols, and I knew practically none of it.

"Um well... Is the answer..." I sat there searching, staring into space and hoped the answer would just come to me like in the movies, but alas no such luck.

"Is the answer..."

"We haven't got all day Josh." She frowned at me impatiently as all eyes turned to face me.

"3x?" I said.

She exhaled, her brow creasing even further. "No Josh 3x isn't the answer. Would anyone else please tell Josh what the right answer is?"

Victoria raised her hand up her and answered. "4y-2x miss."

"Correct, see Josh if our new student can do it and she's only been here two minutes then you, who's been here two years should be able to." Mrs. Davidson said and as a result, my cheeks turned a light shade of red and a few sniggers could be heard from different parts of the classroom.

I lowered my head back to my workbook for a while, before lifting it back up again after a few minutes to get a better look at this new girl. There had to be some sort of rational explanation for this, because as far as I knew dream characters weren't supposed to suddenly become reality.

Though I was relieved at the end of the class to find that nothing strange had happened and Victoria seemed like your average girl. She got on with the work and answered questions given by some kids, you know the new girl treatment. Then before I knew it the bell had rung for next lesson. In the end, I just decided to leave it until I had some real time to look into it. So I waited until most of the class had gone to leave the room and I was almost out the door when I felt a tug on my arm, I swiveled around and was just about to have a go at the person behind me but the face my eyes met stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Um, Josh is it?" Victoria was stood right in front of me twiddling her thumbs, it was obvious she was nervous.

I really kind of didn't know what to say. I mean, well what do you say to a person who you are convinced is just a figment of your imagination? It took me a while to answer her in a way that didn't make me look like a total nutter.

"Yeah and you're the girl from m- I mean Victoria." I stopped myself mid-sentence thankfully, after all, it would look pretty weird if I just straight up asked her all like, "Hey I'm Josh, some random guy you've never met before. Can you please tell me why you look like the girl I keep dreaming about and how you managed to get out of my head and into the real world?" 

Yeah. No.

"Did you want something," I asked as calmly as I could.

"Well, I was just wondering if something was wrong, ever since I got here all you've done was stare at me." She said fidgeting a little.

Great, now I look like some sort of weirdo I thought.

"Oh no, I, you see...You just reminded me of someone I know and I thought you might be them." I replied. It wasn't the full truth but it wasn't technically a lie either. 

"Oh OK, that's good to hear. I wasn't sure if it would have been a good idea to talk to you since you seem like the thuggish type of person who'd rather be left alone." She then instantly covered her mouth in realisation to what she just said.

"I'm sorry." She quickly apologised before I could say anything, staring at her feet she had gone bright red.

"Thuggish huh? Really, I've been called a lot of things but I've never heard that one before." I answered scratching my head. There was a long awkward pause after that.

"Well, then I'm glad we cleared that up... So I guess I'll see you around then." Victoria eventually said.

"Yeah...I'll see you..." I trailed off but she had already left.

***

The next lesson was science, another lesson I was horrible at. But honestly, when in my life would I ever have needed to refer back to the periodic table of elements? Anyway, Victoria didn't seem to be having problems at all, she answered every question she was given correctly and practicality breezed through the worksheet on atoms we got that day. Meanwhile, I looked down at my sheet and groaned because as usual, I had no idea how to work it out.

I was in the middle of freaking out when suddenly I heard a psst from my right-hand side I thought I was just imagining things until I heard it again only a bit longer this time psssssst.  Yep, it was Victoria and while the teacher wasn't looking she handed me a note.

"R u stuck?" It read. 

I didn't really know what to think when this happened, didn't she just call me a thug like ten seconds ago? And now she was using her time to help me with science sheet? 

I didn't know how to respond at first, should I have ignored it since it was against school rules to pass notes anyway or just accept the kind gesture. I sat staring at the rushed handwriting and crumpled the piece of paper in my hand. 

Quietly I thought about it for a while. It couldn't hurt to ask what she wanted, so I quickly scribbled out a reply before the teacher decided to check the class. 

"Why?"  I wrote and quickly threw it over to her. I watched as she then scribbled out another note and handed it back to me within the next minute. 

"You look like you need help, and think of it as a sorry gesture for calling you a thug earlier. Sorry." 

I admit I was still a bit suspicious, I still couldn't be sure if I could trust her. She was new and looked exactly like the girl in my dreams, it was uncanny. I should've really still been freaking out. But it would've been rude to just refuse the offer wouldn't it, and I did need the extra help...

"Yeah, I'm completely stuck,"  I replied after a while.

It took her a while to write what she did next, but basically, she gave me a clear explanation on how to work everything out. I stared at it for a second then mouthed "are you sure" at her, she just smiled and nodded. Well, I figured if she insisted it would be rude not to, so I used her notes and I was pretty surprised with the results, seventeen out of twenty. Even though I still got some wrong, I actually got my first good mark in a long time.

By the time the class ended, I was a lot less suspicious of the new girl, she didn't seem all that weird or out of the ordinary. I was beginning to believe I was just being stupid and an asshole for judging her. Plus without her, I would've definitely failed the worksheet. Unfortunately, my few moments of thinking was cut short when I heard Mr. Smith  say, "Josh Carter and Victoria Williams please stay behind."

I froze, as a feeling of dread worked its way into the pit of my stomach. Sir had caught us passing notes. We were going to get in trouble and on Victoria's first day. I started to silently panic in my head and I didn't know why. After all, Victoria was the one who gave it to me in the first place, and she technically didn't give me the answers to any questions, just a clue, but of course my mind hadn't registered that. I stood there for what felt like hours figuring out how to get us both out of trouble, but me, being me, couldn't think of one and so came up with the only solution I thought possible. To come clean.

In less than a few minutes after the bell rang for break, Victoria and I were the only ones left in the classroom.

"Could you two come here please?" Mr. Smith beckoned us over, making a come here motion with his finger, and it was creepy as hell. 

Quite reluctantly we both came up to his desk, and Victoria was giving me a worried glance.

Time to put the act into action, I thought.

I stood up straight and took a deep breath in. Then, just as Mr. Smith was going to open his mouth I blurted out.

"Look, sir, I know what we did was wrong and against the school rules but technically we didn't cheat because Victoria didn't give me the answers. Also, she's new so doesn't know what the school rules are. I really hope you don't have to punish us but if you have to punish someone you can punish me. Unless you don't want to of course in which case forget about what I just said."

Both Victoria and Mr. Smith gave me a weird look.

"What on Earth are you on about now Josh? What I was going to say was that since you two seem to be in most classes together, I was told you should be Victoria 's monitor to help her around and show her the school...Now, what was that about cheating?" 

And the prize for the most paranoid guy ever goes to Josh Carter! *Crowd claps*

How could I have been such an idiot? I had and jumped the gun and as a result made a fool of myself, again, and to make matters worse all of this happened in front of Victoria who I could see out of the corner of my eye with a big smile on her face and I went red for the second time that day.

"Um, it was nothing sir I didn't say anything," I answered awkwardly before almost sprinting out of the classroom. The second we both left, Victoria started chuckling under her breath in an attempt to hide her laughter.

"It's not funny." I scowled at her as her laughter died down a bit.

"I'm sorry but, your reaction..." She giggled again.

I sighed.

"I'm sorry, you seem like a cool guy, taking the blame so I would get in trouble, even if there was no trouble to begin with. I'm glad I decided to talk to you. I think you and I will become good friends, especially if you're always this weird." She beamed at me. 

I didn't know why, but I felt my heart start to soften at that comment and I instantly felt a whole lot lighter. A feeling of warmth spread across my entire body replacing the coldness that once laid there. I couldn't explain this sudden surge of happiness, it just came out of nowhere, like a mini ray of sunshine had just come out from a rain cloud. 

Never, since the divorce of my parents had I had a normal conversation that didn't end in the other person leaving. It was a change from the tense atmosphere at home and the name-calling at school. I had never had someone say something nice to me in a long time, I didn't know how to react at first. But then eventually, I felt a smile tug at the corners of my mouth and I soon was smiling broadly back at her.

"You're welcome. Glad I could help?" I laughed in disbelief.

It's weird how things had happened, the last lesson I barely knew her and then I still had no clue who she was or why she looked like the girl from my dream. But just then she and I became friends, just like that. For a long time, I'd forgotten how nice it felt to have a friend by your side. 

I hadn't known it but with that one conversation my new life began, and it was about to get a whole hell of a lot more interesting.  

Keep reading for the next chapter...

Chapter 4: Friends