Then came a tap on my shoulder. Once. Then again.

I sighed. "I'm really not in the mood to deal with this right now…"

But then I heard her soft laugh, the one I knew too well. I lifted my head slowly, and there she was, Jane my seat partner and my best friend. She didn't have to say anything to make things feel a little lighter. Just her being there was enough.

She was like a silent breeze in the middle of all the noise, constant, soothing, and quietly reassuring. She was always there for me to listen without judging. That's what made her feel like home in a place that never really did.

She sat down beside me, her brows furrowed just slightly.

"Did I miss something?" she asked under her breath. "Why does it feel like everyone's been switched to fast forward and everything's going over my head?"

I smiled faintly, glad to know I wasn't the only one feeling disconnected.

"There's a new guy joining us today," I replied, "and everyone's excited to meet him, apparently he's handsome."

Jane rolled her eyes. "Brilliant. Just what we needed before our exam. But how do you know he's handsome?" She gave a teasing, curious look.

I pointed at Tina with tired eyes and she knew what had happened.

"Oh! So that's how you know." We both broke into laughter.

Stressed but finding comfort in each other's presence. Sometimes, that was enough.

Just then the door creaked open and the room fell silent. Our teacher entered our class holding a register in one hand and exam papers in another. Behind her, walked in someone.

The new student.

He carried a simple black bag over his shoulders and his expressions, unreadable.

He looked calm, almost too calm, may be he was just the silent type. But it wasn't just the way he looked, it was the air around him, quite and distant. 

He didn't smile. He didn't look around nervously like new students usually did. He just stood there.

Teacher started introducing him, "This is Aizen, from today he'll be joining our class..."

I barely noticed the introduction. My eyes were stuck on one thing.

The keychain.

It was on the side of his bag, a simple "A" shaped metal piece, shining faintly in the light as the tiny stones embedded in it caught the sunlight passing through the window. It was the same keychain by which I got scratched on my way to school also the exact one I'd seen in my dream. He was the boy I had bumped into.

And then… he looked up.

I froze for a second, his eyes, they were same ones I couldn't forget from my dream. But they looked different now, cold and indifferent unlike the dream which appeared sad.

I wasn't sure what I was seeing. They were unmistakably the same eyes just with a different expression. And it was the same keychain.

Was I confused and remembering things differently or was he actually the same person from my dream?

I leaned towards Jane and whispered, "Is it possible to dream of someone before you even know them and then actually meet them in real life?"

She gave me a puzzled look. "What?"

I shook my head lightly. "Never mind. It's nothing."

Then his eyes met mine, I panicked and within seconds I put my head down realising I overreacted and now it felt even weirder.