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: