Somewhere between Leda kicking me in the ribs and Penelope’s flashing pad light, I did manage to fall asleep. Somewhere in there, I began to dream.

Lucid dreams weren’t extremely uncommon for me. They tended to manifest in times of acute stress, so I wasn’t sure why one was happening to me that night. On top of that, usually the lucidity of the dreams developed gradually until I was able to control my motions and analyze what was happening in the moment. This dream wasn’t like that at all. I was aware of the dream the moment I was aware it was happening.

***

I stared down at my own reflection in my polished, black shoes. They were brand new and I hadn’t been able to wear them around at all yet because my mother didn’t want me to get them mucky running around in Lacadaemon. I could see my mother’s face over my shoulder, grimacing as she braided two red ribbons into my hair.

“I know the dress code says your ribbons should be amaranthine, but these will have to do,” my mother said as she finished the knot.

***

I remembered this part from when we had bought the clothes a month earlier.Dozens of topside school uniforms ended up scavenged and resold in Lacadaemon, so a green plaid shirt, white button down shirt, and knee high socks had been easy to find, even if they did but a dent in my mother’s pocket. The shoes were a gift from our neighborhood’s satrap since he wanted to sleep with my mother. We couldn’t for the life of us, however, track down an amaranthine ribbon. We didn’t even know what ‘amaranthine’ was and neither did anyone else we spoke too.

***

“Why do I have to go to school?” I whined as I tossed my braids over my shoulder. “None of my friends have to go to school.”

“Because if you ever want to leave this place, you need to learn how to read and write,” she said.

“What if I don’t want to leave,” I argued. “It’s not like I’ve ever needed to know how to read before. I can just look at the pictures.”

“I’m not forcing you out,” she said as she forced my arms through the straps of my backpack. “I just want you to get some more perspective on the world before you decide you want to stay here forever. Maybe get a sense of what you’re missing out on.”

“Why can’t my friends come too?” I asked. I remember this being a very big issue; whether or not I would have any friends at my new school.

“We got very, very lucky that someone was able to sponsor your tuition. Most people down here don’t get that lucky.”

“But—” I wanted to argue more.

“ How about when you get back home, you can teach your friends about what you learned. Maybe when you all are older, their parents will get very lucky too.”

“Fine, I grumbled.” I stared at the ladder that led topside. “Do you think people will stare at me like they did last week?” We had done a dry run of the path too school and people looked at us like we were diseased.

“Nonesenese!” My mother smiled. “You look just like a real topsider.”

“Gross.” I wrinkled my nose.

“Go. Have a good first day,” she kissed my furrowed brow. “I’ll be waiting for you to get back.”

I turned and climbed my way into the topside.

The most striking thing between Lacadaemon and any neighborhood topped was how bright it was during the day. The Xorosian sun was allowed to filter through the habitat barrier and cast a rosy, golden hue over everything. The air up here moved and was cycled through purifiers every hour rather than remaining stagnant. The topside didn’t smell like anything but air until I approached the school.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The path to Korinthea Academy was paved with brick and designed to be walked by children. There were great, tall trees almost six inches around that cast some shade and shops that sold pastries and pre-packed lunches. Skytrams flew silently overhead, ferrying people who lived too far away to walk. In the distance, the towering buildings of Corinth, proper seemed to shimmer and blink like they were made out of the stars themselves.

I was early, so there weren’t many other families of the foot path. Those that were stayed far away. Even as polished as I thought I was, I must have still looked like a street rat.

I considered, for a moment, skipping school and finding a nice place to eat good food and read a good book, even if neither were real, but I didn’t want to miss what happened next.

The gates to Korinthea were decked with climbing roses. Until then, I had never seen a flower and didn’t really believe the color pink could appear in anything that wasn’t man made.

“Are you going to go in?” A bright voice asked behind me.

I turned to look, just like I did back then, even though I already know who it was. “Uh…I guess,” I said.

“Are you sure? You look pretty scared.” She said. Her thick glasses were crooked as she cocked her head. “My name’s Briseis, but you can call me Bri. I think I’m going to help you.”

“No way!” I closed my arms in front of my chest. “I don’t need your help!” I certainly didn’t want to owe her anything.

“You’re not even wearing the right uniform,” Bri said.

“Not true!” I said. “My mom checked off everything on the list.”

“See? No ribbon.” She tugged on the tail of a purplish, red ribbon that was tied around her neck, under her collar. “The dean of students will get really mad if you’re not wearing the right color and he’ll get super mad if you’re not wearing one at all.”

“I don’t need it,” I took a step back. “I’ll just use the ones in my hair.” I remember blushing so hard because neither me or my mother even considered for a moment that a ribbon could go anywhere else.

“Don’t worry about it.” Bri said, looping it around the back of my neck and tying it in a neat, crisp bow. “My mom doesn’t care if I get in trouble like that at school, as long as I’m kind.”

“Thanks,” I grumbled. “I’m Cressida. I’m new.”

‘What grade are you in?” Bri asked. She grabbed my wrist and dropped me over the a wooden bench underneath a tree with fan shaped leaves.

“2nd,” I said. It was simultaneously a humiliation and an accomplishment. I was eight years old, which meant I should have been in 3rd grade, but I had never been in school before, so I should have started in kindergarten or 1st grade. Mom and I worked really hard so I could test into the closest grade to my age that I could. “I’m a little old.”

“That’s great!’ Bri said. “Me too! I was worried I’d be the only one!”

I knew the rest of the conversation by heart. I asked why she was older and she said her teachers thought she needed to emotionally mature before she could be promoted. We found out a few years later that she was autistic, but we didn’t know that then. More kids would come, and she’d tell them it was rude to stare at me. The school bell would ring, we’d meet our teacher and he’d make her sit in a corner for an hour for not being in proper dress code. I heard other kids whispering that the punishment was only supposed to be thirty minutes, but because she ‘was dumb’ and repeating the grade, he made it longer since she should know better. I threw my handwriting book at his head. He called my mom.

I wasn’t anxious to go through all of that again, so instead a leaned in and whispered to Bri, as if we were already best friends. “Do you want to ditch school and cause some trouble?” I asked.

“Ditch school?” Bri said, making a face like I shot an admiral. “Why would we do that?”

“I’ll let you in on a secret,” I said, bumping her shoulder with mine. “We’re in a dream, and this isn’t real. We’re already best friends, and we can do whatever we want.”

“Oh,” Bri said, looking around, confused. “I thought this was all a bit wrong.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. I pulled her to her feet and walked towards the school building.

“I can’t really put my finger on it,” she said. “It’s almost like I feel too little.”

“That’s weird,” I mused as I pushed open the big, oaken door. “These types of dreams don’t normally work like that.”

“Is it okay that this is a dream?” Bri asked.

“I mean, I think so,” I said. “I…don’t get to spend much time with you anymore, so even just a couple hours is pretty nice, even if it’s not necessarily real.”

“Hm…where is everyone?” She asked.

I looked around and found that she was right. Even though class was close to starting there were almost no students or teachers in the halls.

“I must just not care about them,” I said. “Because this is a dream, I get to control what happens because it’s all in my head.”

Bri hummed again. “Do you know why I feel scared, then?”

“You got in trouble because Mr. Larson dress coded you and then I got in trouble for throwing a book at him. That’s why I don’t want to go to school today.”

“So you want to go cause trouble anyway?”

“Yeah, the fun type of trouble.” I smiled. “I heard that General Martin’s going to give a recruitment speech to the high schoolers today. Why don’t we go check him out?”