Chapter 4

I awoke at promptly 5.30am to the sound of birds chirping and water flowing as though I was in a rain forest sitting alongside a slow flowing stream, I opened my eyes, a little confused about my surroundings, assuming I had been dreaming for the past 24 hours, only to find that I was still surrounded by my beautiful bedroom and lying comfortably in my cloud like bed, much to my amazement the walls had changed from their brilliant white into a moving screen of the rain forest with all the birds flying from branch to branch, there was in fact a slow flowing stream trickling down along the forest floor, exactly what I woke up hearing was right there in front of me. It was so beautiful I felt as though I could just step out of bed and into it, I could even smell the damp ground and fresh air and flowers. Just then the walls went blank again as Principal Rose's voice sounded over the intercom;

"Good morning Whimsy High, I trust you all slept well, please note that the breakfast hall will be open at 6.30am and will close again at 7.30am, classes will commence at promptly 8am. Thank you and have a delightful day"

I decided I should get up and have a quick shower before I head down to breakfast, and just as the thought came to mind I heard water come to life from the shower in the bathroom, "I could definitely get used to this" I grinned as I said it to myself. Just as I hopped into the shower, I realised that I hadn't brought any of my toiletries with me, and just as I thought I would have to quickly run out to my toiletry bag, whilst avoiding slipping to my untimely death on the wet tiles to get my shampoo, a big blob of it immediately appeared in my hand. I started laughing and continued with my shower, my thoughts conjuring up conditioner and body wash as well. I quickly dried off and headed to my suitcase to pick an outfit for the day, "winter denims, winter sweaters, winter stockings, winter beanies, aaaargh!" Had I known the weather here was going to be so darn amazing I would have packed something a little less warm! And as if it should have surprised me at all, my closet drawers and doors flew open displaying a magnificent variety of clothing in each, almost every item, or probably literally every item of clothing I had ever seen and wanted for as long as I can remember were right there in front of me, ready for my picking. I went with a simple pair of knee high denims, a white cotton tank top and a pair of flip flops.

Stepping out into the hall I knocked on Parkers door, hoping she had the sense to wait for me before heading down to breakfast, almost instantly "Mila! I am so glad you were waiting for me" Parker said as she opened the door, "How awesome are our rooms? It's like it knows everything about us! I woke up thinking about my mom bringing me my morning tea, and all of a sudden a cup appeared on my coffee table. Then it ran me a bubble bath, and then it gave me the most beautiful clothes to choose from. I mean, why did our parents even make us pack a bag?" she was saying at a pace of twenty words per second. "I know right?" I said, "This place becomes more and more intriguing with each second that passes"

We sat down at our designated table and chatted for a few more minutes before conjuring our breakfast. I went for a full portion bacon, eggs, mushrooms, tomato, hash brown, toast and grated cheese breakfast, and good old Parker, as she does, had an English muffin with fruit salad and yogurt on the side. It's a wonder she isn't the size of a house, I thought as I laughed to myself. "Hi Mila" a familiar voice said just as I had forced a fork full of each ingredient into my mouth, "how are you enjoying your stay so far? I hope you have been happy with your accommodation?" Alicia said with a big grin on her face, I swallowed hard almost choking on the amount of food, taking a second to make sure I wasn't in fact choking, "Hey Alicia, I can honestly say that I have never been more pleased with any accommodation in my life" I said, still swallowing down my mouth full. "This is my best friend Parker, we practically grew up together." "Pleased to meet you Parker, I hope you will enjoy it here, and if there is anything you need, Mila knows where to find me." She said through a warm smile, "Thanks so much, I will definitely keep that in mind," Parker said returning her smile. "She seems sweet, who is she?" Parker asked, "She is the girl that lead me to the boarding house, she really does seem sweet doesn't she?"

After breakfast we headed up to the first floor and made our way right to the end of the hall to the first term class room. I'm not sure why, but I had expected to see desks and chairs and workbooks and a black board and all of the usual items you would typically find in a classroom, but of course that was not the case. The entire room was made of glass, the sky outside swirling in a multitude of different colours, and there were about twenty five domes, or igloos, you get the idea, spread out along the floor. It almost looked as though we were on another continent, maybe sitting under the Northern Lights in Norway, It was undoubtedly beautiful and I found myself becoming more and more eager to get started on this adventure.

"Good morning class, I am Miss Smallwood and I will be your guide and tutor for the duration of your first term at Whimsy High" She said, she was a woman of average height and age, probably no older than forty years, she had hair as white as snow and eyes bluer than the sky, and a very alluring aura about her. "Good morning Miss Smallwood" the class said in unison. "Today we are going to begin our class by getting in touch with our inner Whimsy, as you all know, you have been specially selected to attend this school because you were all born with the gift of moulding dreams into reality, this is called - the gift of Whimsy, there are very few people still alive today who have this gift, and it is our duty to our fellow human beings and the world we live in to learn how to properly control these powers in order to make this world a better, happier and safer place for all who live in it. In this, your first year, you will not be manipulating reality in any way; you will first and foremost learn how to do so. So class, to begin, I would like you to all choose a dream dome, this dome will belong to you and only you for the remainder of the year, so pick wisely." Of course Parker and I raced to the two domes closest to one another; they were at the far end of the class against the window facing a beautiful weeping willow tree, as our hands touched the domes our names appeared on them. We gave each other a quick fist bump and grinned at our personal triumph before we continued to listen to our next move. "Perfect" Miss Smallwood said, "now, I would like you to say "Enter Dream Dome" as we did so, the dome disappeared and inside was a reclining seat, not much different to the one you would find in a first class plane cabin. There was also a small work bench or fold out tray if you could call it that. "Ok class, now I would like you to take a seat in your dream dome and get to know the surroundings and make yourselves comfortable" I got into my seat and it automatically started adjusting until I was completely comfortable, this has got to be the sweetest classroom desk I have ever had, I thought to myself.

"Now say "Activate Dream Dome" as we did so the domes returned and I found myself alone, nothing but me and my little dome. Just then my dome sprung to life, as though each segment of the dome was a television screen, images flashing on each one. "As you will notice class, your domes are showing images, these images are an archive of actual dreams. What we will be doing in this class is learning to turn these dreams into reality, they will however only be conjured up into our classroom, and once they have been conjured, I will erase them. This task will allow you to realise which dreams should be accepted and transformed, against those that should be left to forever remain a dream, this is the most important task to learn, because as you can imagine, not all dreams are realistic or logical for our world, and some are not dreams at all, but nightmares. Just as you have been advised to do for your daily meals, all that is required of you to conjure a dream is that you keep an open mind, and you focus on the dream to become real. Obviously the more complex the dream is, the harder it will be to mould, and our powers can be extremely tiring if we do not control them properly, that's all we have time for today class, we will begin our first conjuring lessons in class tomorrow. For now you may all say "Exit Dream Dome" and excuse yourselves for the afternoon."