Flat nine are essentially a frat party, and flat eight are all studying Computer Science. That’ll come in handy when my predictably unpredictable laptop breaks down. As long as our fourth is like-minded, we’ll be a happy little flat for the next year, I think.
The three of us leap up from our various positions on the floor and head to the hall as someone announces themselves again.
‘Hi,’ an incredibly pretty blonde says in a cut-glass accent. ‘I’m Oli.’
Boy Ollie has had a few drinks and says in a friendly voice, ‘Nope. That’s me. I’m Ollie.’
‘Oh … er …’ she says, ‘I’m Olivia.’
‘Maybe you can be Liv then,’ Ben suggests.
‘I don’t think that’s how it works,’ I tell Ben, ushering her into the flat. ‘You can’t just give someone a new name.’
‘Oh, I don’t mind a new name,’ Olivia/Liv replies genially. ‘I can be Liv, if it makes things easier.’
‘That’s very big of you,’ boy Ollie says. I think he might be drunk. I’ll encourage him to eat some more crisps in a moment.
‘Well,youcan’t exactly be Liv, can you?’ she says with a tinkling laugh.
‘He cannot,’ Ben declares. ‘Welcome, Liv. Welcome. We’ve hung back for you and then, when you’re settled, we thought we’d go and join the block party.’
‘Oh, fab! Thanks, guys,’ she says and looks as if she really is grateful. ‘Although I’ve just come from the block party, as it sort of barred my path on the stairs. I’ve met some nice people and some of the Computer Science boys carried my luggage up here for me, which was so sweet. Flat nine are nice, aren’t they? I don’t think they’ve got real names as they introduced themselves to me collectively as “flat nine”.’
We welcome the newly christened Liv into our midst; Ben hands her a drink, Ollie smiles as if this is the best day of his life, while I attempt to get him to eat some more crisps to soak up the booze. And as we talktoandateach other and laugh at each other’s jokes and slowly, tentatively begin forging friendships, I know – I justfeel– that the four of us are already forging something special. And in a freshly drunken haze I know that even though university is what unites us now, and even if we drift gently in and out of each other’s lives over the following years like the ebb and flow of a tide, the four of us are going to be unbreakable.
Or maybe I am really drunk.
CHAPTER TWO
‘Don’t get a credit card,’ Ollie tells me. He’s hovering over my shoulder at the Freshers’ Fayre, which is essentially an overwhelming number of stands, with various companies coming in to flog us stuff. In addition the extracurricular clubs and groups run by students are pleading their cases as to why we should join the chess club or the eco-activists.
Ben is lamenting the lack of a rowing club, but in landlocked North London I’m not sure why he was expecting one.
‘Oxford has one,’ he mutters before moving off.
I’m nodding politely to each club, accepting various leaflets and goody bags. I’ve already got quite excited about going through the contents later. Liv and I have picked up leaflets about the different nights on at the uni bar, already planning our Old Skool outfits of shirt, ties and short skirts with ripped tights in a couple of weeks’ time.
I’ve lost Liv to the film-club people, while I’ve made a beeline for a bank offering a very low interest rate on one of their credit cards, if I apply there and then. I’ve never been old enough for a credit card before. Growing up in a house with no money and only ever spending what I had (because what other option was there?), this looks rather exciting.
‘Don’t do it,’ Ollie says, like an angel on my shoulder.
But I’ve already committed, filling out my details on the corporately decorated table and handing in the form.
‘I’m on a student loan and I’ve got some savingsandI intend to get a job, so I might not even use it,’ I tell him, not quite believing my own words.
He frowns at me. I don’t know how we all managed to get out of bed in order to make it here. I was worried I wouldn’t sleep, being away from home properly for the first time in my life. But I’d drunk so much I slept like the dead. In the end none of us even ate any dinner. We’ve eaten all the crisps and biscuits, though, and I’m quite looking forward to going shopping for food as a gang.
It’s only our second day and we don’t have lectures yet this week, but we do have a whole heap of social activities going on that we can dip in and out of. Thankfully this Freshers’ Fayre was scheduled for 2 p.m., which meant that after we all crawled out of bed at about half-past twelve Ollie made us a fry-up, which we ate at our little kitchen table before we went off to our rooms to shower in our tiny en suites. Ben took an age, but we waited for him because we’ve silently agreed we’re a foursome now. We’re sticking together.
I approach the union-bar people and sweet-talk my way into a job interview. I’ve never pulled pints before. Never been old enough, but I’ve fetched and carried, waitressed and washed up and I don’t mind hard work.
Ben, excitedly, thinks if I get the job I can palm everyone free drinks.
‘The drinks are already so cheap,’ Liv says as we’re sitting in the too-bright and airy, near-neon-decorated StudentUnion nursing our hangovers with cans of Coke and more crisps. ‘Why do you need drinks for free? Aren’t you loaded?’
Ben raises his eyebrows. ‘Myparentsare loaded. I want all the free shit I can get my hands on. I’m on a very tight allowance.’
‘Allowance?’ Ollie narrows his eyes. ‘Like … from your parents?Moneyfrom your parents?’
