Chapter 3

There she found herself in a crowded classroom. Spotting an empty seat in the back of the class, she stumbled her way there and finally managed to occupy the perfect seat: in the back of the class with a beautiful view of the outside landscape. The landscape could have been more colorful, but, even as dull as it was… it still kept its charm. It seemed like all her colleagues were a bit too enthusiastic for such a morning.

On her left there was the group of probably future boring teachers. They were always dressed formally, considering themselves so great. Yet, they were nothing more than little girls trying to seem much older than they actually were. This was a pity. They didn’t realize that people have too little time to enjoy youth and the life without many obligations. But Amy knew she would only try in vain to explain that to those early aged girls. 

In the first rows there was the group of fancy mannequins. If anyone wanted to be part of the group, they should necessarily be updated with the latest gossips, trends, not to add the fact that excessive skinniness was a must. Their image was actually sad. They seemed to Amy like some empty shells, that were painted beautifully. Their world was so shallow, that they could not see behind their mirror… or deeper in their mirror. Their judgment was dictated by the headlines in the newspapers, while their choices were not their own. So easily manipulated… so easy fooled by the false glitter of a fabulous world.

Being in that room felt more like being at the theatre. It was all a grotesque show with plastic dolls performing. And those masks were so cheap. Here and there the mascara and lipstick cracked, revealing a dark grey plastic basis, under which was nothing more than emptiness. It was actually funny how you could arrange the dolls, only by their aspect. Yet, they all had one thing in common: the empty inside.

Five minutes later, a childish girl, with a huge jacket and a lilac woolen scarf, joyfully entered the class. It was Anna, her friend. Her frozen rosy lips cracked in a large smile, when seeing Amy:

“Morning, sunshine! How you feelin’ today?”, she asked while unwrapping her scarf from around her neck.

“Mmm, well… Could’ve been better. This is actually making it pretty acceptable, to be honest”, replied Amy, while pointing at her coffee and then taking such a sip of it, as if it were the best taste in the world. “And you? Haven’t seen you so energetic in weeks…”.

“Let’s just say that I had a great time this weekend!”, she said with her brown eyes glowing with joy. “Oh, it seems that the teacher’s here… Couldn’t she possibly have waited just for a little longer?”. Then lowering her voice, she continued “I can’t believe that after such a weekend, I have to come to this class! Why is attendance so mandatory.. I mean.. (“indeed, a great weekend. So many things happened. In my mind only.”), how is this course going to even help us in the future (“if we have any…”). I think we are wasting time here, listening to all this nonsense… (“this is only a part of the price we have to pay for dreaming…”, Amy thought).

It was a free creation class. Indeed, as in any university, anything is served with tons of theory, and neglects your opinions and creativeness, yet this class was about to be the spark for Amy’s fire. Almost two hours passed without actually finding any useful sense in the lecture and yet, Mrs. Matthews, the teacher, decided that a project for the end of the semester would be much more appropriate than an actual exam. The project would be free writing a story, based on dreams.

Then, Amy finally felt like she didn’t dream that much for nothing. It could actually mean, that for once, her fantasy could materialize into something more touchable.