Another semester in college, another half year to ponder what was the meaning of life.

Tom nearly dragged his feet as he walked in the hallway. He wasn't being lazy; heck, he was so looking forward to this semester's subjects. He could finally have some action! But he was finishing his essay last night, and what he thought would be just one or two hours of clanking away turned out to be almost five.

Having a class at 8 didn't help him at all. He didn't have time to get a cup of tea.

"Hey, loup fou!" Someone tackled him from behind. He nearly fell, only to be held back by his tackler. “I see the holidays haven't killed you."

“Mart, the heck!"

“We have French this semester! I'm gonna ace all the marks!"

He turned around, his tail wagging in mild annoyance. “Mart, you're French. You don't get French class."

“Exactement, mon pote!" Martin stood proudly. Tom only chuckled at him.

The wolf pulled his fallen bag and walked next to the fox. “If you don't beat my French class final exam score, that'd be a disgrace, wouldn't it?" He said, flicking the fox's ear and earning a yelp. “Don't get yourself behind me."

“As if." Martin laughed and put his hands behind his head.

Tom chuckled. “That reminds me, though. We also have German this semester."

“Don't remind me." Martin groaned. “I hate German."

Tom bumped him. “Heh, ready to be at the bottom of the class?"

“Tch, peu importe."

They opened the door to their class. It was nearly eight, yet there were only a handful of students in the class. Tom looked around as he opened his jacket and put it on the hanger beside the door, he didn't recognise anyone. There were only new additions. “Remind me to make a note about the subjects we have this semester."

“Remind me to remind you to do that."

“Yeah sure." They sat down on the available seats. Tom took his textbook out from his bag and opened it.

The lecturer arrived not long after. The class immediately went quiet as the lecturer went inside and prepared the class. Tom glanced at the clock, the class would start soon yet he could count the available students with his hands.

Martin's muffled yawn was audible in the room.

“Good morning, students." The lecturer started and everyone absent-mindedly answered. “I'm your lecturer for Introduction to Public Relations. I'm going to punch the hell out of your mind about PR."

The students all groaned.

“I know, I know. It's not going to be as bad as you think." The lecturer chuckled. “While we're waiting for the remaining students to arrive, open your textbook to the first chapter. We're going to talk about what is PR. Looks like the class will begin at 08.30."

Tom pulled his phone when the lecturer was busy with his laptop. He opened his class group chat to find that most of his friends are still on the way, even some had just woken up. He chuckled and typed “the lecturer's arrived. the late ones will be punished".

He muffled his laugh when he saw his friends replied 'WAT'.

Several minutes passed and he was deep in his textbook, not noticing the other students coming. His tail wagged, and Martin flicked it off when it brushed his hand.

This subject might not be his favourite, but this was an important one if he wanted to graduate. His previous lecturers said before, this is the most crucial subject in Public Relations, as it forms the basis for the next concentration subjects.

Sometimes he wondered if he made the right decision for choosing Public Relations concentration instead of FTV or Journalism, but he thought he'd manage. Besides, there were some International Relations subjects he thought might be interesting. Language classes were nice.

“Okay, everyone!" The lecturer said. Tom looked up from the book. “So, as you know, I don't think an introduction is due as we've met in several subjects before, but I see new faces today."

Tom looked around. He did see a lot of new faces today.

“My name is Jonathan C. Beck, but you can call me John or Mr Beck. I'm gonna be your lecturer for this subject, Introduction to Public Relations. Before we start," Mr Beck walked to the front of the class. “we need to assign the class captain."

Almost all of the students replied. “Tom!"

The wolf deflated. He didn't want to be a class captain for yet another class. If he was in this class, the rest would follow. Sometimes he hated his friends like that.

Next to him, Martin laughed. He just shoved him off to shut him up.

“So, Tom," the deer said, “you up for it?"

No, I'm not. “I guess I am." he looked away and silently cursed his friends. He caught sight of some of them giving him two thumbs-up as an encouragement.

That didn't help.

“Sir, I think he deserves a medal for keeping up with us." Martin joked. The entire class laughed.

The deer chuckled. “How about you, Martin? I'll give you an A if you become the class captain."

The entire class laughed again as Martin sank into his seat in embarrassment. Tom dumped the fox's book into his lap and grinned.

“So, as the class captain, I'll send all assignments and textbooks to Thomas, like in previous classes. Everyone can ask him later. I've just sent you some for our next meeting—"

Tom glanced at his beeping phone with a new email alert. He then pocketed it back.

“just a short material and some case studies. Please be sure to share it, Tom." he winked at the wolf.

“Yes, sir."

“Well, let's begin. As you've already known, Public Relations is a branch of Communications focusing on..."

As the lecturer began lecturing the materials, Tom was instead fascinated with the textbook. He had just read the first chapter a few nights ago after all, so he already knew the basics. He opened the next chapters, reading the important points as a preparation for his next sessions.

What was that? Communication channels yada yada yada. Why did everything seem to just flow in his head, going into his left ear and out of his right ear? He wondered whether it was because he had read the materials before or because he was going to sleep on the table any minute now.

The book was starting to look very comfy.

He heard some laughs, then the professor wrote something on the board and the class went silent again. Glancing at the clock, he saw it was almost 09.15.

His tail wiggled in contentment.

“Tom!"

He jolted awake. Martin had punched him quite hard and his upper arm was sore. He frantically looked around and saw almost the entire class looking at him while laughing.

Sinking into his seat, he squeaked softly. “Yes?"

Everyone laughed.

“I know it's the first day of the semester but come on." The prof chuckled.

“Oh, uh, sorry." He replied sheepishly, his ears flattening themselves. “I was finishing the essay for the provincial conference last night."

Martin clapped his hands. John followed and the entire class did so. Tom sank deeper into his seat.

The professor sat down on his desk. “I can see you're very excited about the conference, Tom. I want a pizza when you win."

The wolf laughed quietly. “Will do, prof."

Mr Beck closed the book in front of him. “Okay everyone, class is finished. Be sure to open the case studies because next week we're gonna talk about them."

Everyone packed their stuff. Tom glanced again at the clock above the board. It was 10. Did he really just sleep through the class? That should be a record for him. He never slept through any classes. How long did he write that essay last night again?

He closed his book and put it into his bag. Before he could close his bag properly, Martin was all over him, laughing like a madman.

“Loup, seriously, I've never thought you'd fall asleep in a class!" he guffawed. “And they call you booklover!"

“Shut up. Get off." Tom shoved him, but that only made Martin laugh even more. As the wolf walked out of his seat, he saw one corner of the class filled with people and asked no one in particular. “Wonder what's going on there."

Martin caught up with him and swung his hand over the wolf's shoulders. “Oh, there. Apparently, the football star is here."

“Football star?"

“Yeah. Max, if I remember correctly. The super famous guy who also happens to be last year's football captain. Or the year before, or semester, I dunno."

Tom just shrugged and led the fox out of the class. He was just about to take his jacket when he heard someone call his name. His ears swivelled to the voice and he turned his head. “Ye…s?"

Behind him, stood someone even taller than the shelves right next to him. He had to look up just to meet his eyes. The stranger was a brown German Shepherd, as big as or even bigger than the uni jocks he saw during any sporting event. He was wearing an open bright blue sleeveless jacket with a tight white t-shirt inside, one that didn't seem to be comfortable to wear at all.

The stranger's ears were pointed upwards, and he was smiling friendly at him. He could even hear his tail swaying behind him.

He heard Martin whisper. “Mec, quoi?"

“Hey, sorry for the rush. You're the class captain, right?" The German Shepherd put his hands into his jacket's pocket. “Can you add me to the class group? I'd like to get all the materials for this subject."

Tom didn't hear him. His eyes were fixed on the dog's big, big arms attached to wide, wide shoulders and a set of solid pecs. His mind was too busy admiring the sight before him. And the fact that he was so devilishly handsome didn't help.

“Uh, dude?"

The wolf looked up at his face. If he weren't mistaken, he saw a slight grin there. “Uh, ya?" he stuttered. “Er, what was it again?"

“Can you add me to the class group?"

“Oh, uh, yeah. We use WhatsUp, though." He pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“Fine by me." Stranger just shrugged. “My number's +3 17 990 2331."

“W-wait."

Tom put the numbers in and looked up again. “Who's your name?"

That visibly startled the stranger. His ears pointed up in surprise. “Excuse me?"

“Um, who's your name?"

The stranger stared at him as if he was a new species he'd just discovered. Tom replied the stare curiously.

He then chuckled nonchalantly. “Robert M. Kleinschmidt, but you can just call me Max."

“Ah, right." He put the name in and added him to the group and wait wait wait wut

He heard a ding and Max took his phone out. “Thanks, Tom!" He then reached out his hand and smiled brightly. “Looking forward to the classes."

Absent-mindedly, he took the hand and shook it. It seemed too large compared to his own. Max then put his cap on and winked at him, “Also, your bag's still open." He then walked out of the class.

Tom's mind was still not working. Wait wut just happened? He stared into the large retreating form of the dog and said to himself. “What just happened?"

Martin then pulled his right ear, earning a groan. Tom caressed his poor ear and rasped. “Thanks."

“Dude, you were just rekt." Martin closed Tom's bag. “You were just. Fucking. Rekt. You have just got Max's number. Max's! As in, Max the football star's number! People would kill to just get his number!"

“Really?"

“You did, man! Congratulations!" Martin pulled him again into an embrace and pulled him from his frozen spot next to the hanger and shelves. “So, which chick are you going to give that number for a night or two?"

“Mate, shut up!" Tom shoved his side. “Sooner or later you'll have his number anyway! He's our classmate now."

Martin instead laughed.

Tom looked down, well wasn't that a nice view. When else was he getting that view, so close he could even touch him? If only his mind weren't so sleepy right now, that could be a nice material for an even nicer self-reflection time.

Self-reflection. He chuckled softly; Mr Beck could be so smart with euphemisms.

Now, though, all his plans for getting a nice sleep were gone. Max was on his mind and he could do nothing to make him go away.

“Anyway, loup, you up for lunch?"

Tom let out a sigh as they opened the door of the Humanities faculty building. “Guess not. I'll go sleep instead." He lied. Time alone in his room wasn't all that bad anyway, since it looked like he couldn't focus on anything at the moment. “We don't have any more class for today anyway."

“'Kay then." Martin tapped his back. “If you decide not to be a zombie, I'll be in the west canteen, or the computer lab later this afternoon."

“Sure." He waved at him as he walked away.

That alone time seemed really tempting right now.

Notes: