A University of Love and Pixies

Besties 4ever

They're coming for her.

Millions of hands grasp her, slashing at her clothes until the alien fur squirming all around her body is completely exposed. They tear and burn her, until Violet is screaming, begging for death and they laugh and chant weirdo, weirdo, weirdo...

Violet awoke with a gasp, jerking up in bed and breathing rapidly. Just a dream, she reminds herself, it was just a dream. Twisting, Violet stared at her back, freshly shaved and clean, not a trace of any fur. She sighed and put her head in her hands. Pull yourself together.

Flinging back the covers, Violet placed her feet steadily on the thin divide between her bed and desk and retrieved her warm hoodie from where it lay. A last-minute argument with Helen had delayed Violet's trip to the train station, meaning she had not arrived in Nottingham until late in the evening. So instead of taking the time to carefully unpack all her belongings, Violet had simply off-loaded the contents of her load suitcase onto the floor.

At that point, Violet would have been content to go to bed, but wisdom dictated that she had to go and get to know her flatmates. Marching into the kitchen, Violet had chatted with Nick and Kenny until one o'clock in the morning before retiring for the night. They had seemed nice enough, and none too subtle in staring at her chest. The notion made Violet chuckle.

Violet checked her watch and was surprised to see it was only just after nine. The waking power of nightmares, better than any alarm clock, she thought, exiting her room. As she approached the kitchen, Violet could hear slight humming noises. Already thinking of a tease, she strode in and was disappointed to see, not one of the boys as she had thought, but the small dumpling of a girl that was her other flatmate.

The girl was standing by the sink, bubbles floating up as she diligently scrubbed some pots. Upon hearing Violet's footsteps, the girl looked around and seemed to flush. "Hello," she said in a small voice. Her long blond hair looked limb and unwashed while the girl's face was not improved by the thick rimmed, round framed glasses. She also wore a thick pink jumper, all fluffy and repulsive. Want it attached to your body, Glasses?

"Hey," Violet said tonelessly, not bothering to look in the girl's direction as she opened up the fridge. None of the food in there was technically hers, but she was starving so her needs outweighed anyone else's at that moment. She located some orange juice and held it up so Glasses could see. "Is this yours?"

"Erm," Glasses stammered. "Yes, but you can have some."

"Cheers." Violet promptly chugged a load of the juice, savouring the sweat citrusy taste swirling down her throat. She drank until it was half empty and then sat the bottle and herself down on the table. The girl observed it all in silence, and then returned to her washing up.

Okay, maybe that was a bit unnecessary. Feeling a bit regretful, Violet fished her brain for the girl's name but turned up blank.

"What was your name again?" Violet said, so suddenly the girl actually jumped. After a moment, Glasses looked Violet in the eye and said, "Niamh."

Niamh. "Cute name," Violet said. At that, the girl just muttered something under her breath. Violet decided to ignore that.

"What did you come here to study?" Violet asked.

"Maths," Niamh replied, and then added, "I thought about astrophysics, but it just seemed a bit, you know, out there." She flung her hands out bizarrely. "What about you?"

"Sociology," Violet said, "It was, like, the only course that would accept me with the piss-poor results I ended up with."

"Oh... What did you get?"