Okay, so I have played with timelines and ages and things so characters old and new are all eighteen and about to start University. This chapter introduces the whole corridor but of course, the central focus will be Charlie and Joey. I'm hoping this will be quite different and I very much hope you all enjoy it. Love, IJKS xxx
Freshers
Chapter One
It was Saturday morning and Rachel Armstrong was nervous as her brother, Brad pulled into the car park outside the University halls of residence that was to be her home for the next year. At eighteen, she was nervous but excited about becoming a student. It was the first step towards become a Doctor, which had been a lifelong dream.
"Ready?" Brad asked, parking the car.
"As I'll ever be!" Rachel replied nervously.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the car door.
"I don't know why I'm doing this, Granddad," Martha McKenzie sighed.
Her grandfather, Alf Stewart, the man who had been the centre of her universe for the last few years when she'd finally found him, stopped on the stairs and looked into her eyes.
"You'll be fine," he assured her. "This is going to be wonderful for you."
Martha sighed, unconvinced.
"I should have just done an apprenticeship or something," she said, following him as he made his way up the stairs. "There was no need to come away to Uni. I'm not bright enough..."
Alf stopped abruptly, forcing her to look at him.
"There is absolutely nothing you can't do," he said firmly. "I believe in you. I always have."
Leah Poulos's room was crowded to say the least, not to mention noisy. Sitting on her bed on the top floor of the building, room ninety two, Leah watched her parents and two brothers fussing with trying to help her unpack.
"Do you think she'll be warm enough in here?" her mother asked her father. "Maybe we should go and buy her extra blankets..."
"I am here, you know," Leah said quietly.
Her overbearing family continued to ignore her, settling themselves, more than her, into her new home.
Next door, Angelo Rosetta was facing a similar problem. His parents were also overpowering and very loud as they settled him into his room. His younger brother, Paulie quietly mocked him for choosing to go away to study instead of agreeing to their parents' wishes and becoming part of the family business. Angelo was criticised regularly for trying to go his own way, especially as he had no other clear direction to go in.
"I'm going to check out the kitchen," he decided, hurrying out of the room.
Miles Copeland was just walking down the corridor towards his room, number ninety four when another student bumped into him.
"Sorry!" the boy said.
He had short hair and a very seriously expression on his face.
"No problem," Miles said politely. "Are you moving in?"
Angelo nodded and extended his hand, introducing himself.
"I've just moved into ninety three," he explained.
"I'm ninety four," Miles said, pointing to the door through which his twin sister, Sally had just disappeared. "And my name's Miles."
Angelo studied his face. He had wild, curly hair and a constant look of amusement in his eyes. He smiled.
"Pleased to meet you," he said.
Joey Collins sat in the bedroom next door, pulling faces at her pitiful number of belongings. Everyone moving in around her seemed to have lots of stuff and lots of family but she had nothing and nobody. Kneeling on the bed, she peered out of the window. Below her, was the car park where various people were transferring bags and boxes between cars and the building. She spotted a pretty brunette around her age, attempting to load herself up with her belongings.
Out in the fresh air, Charlie Buckton struggled to pick up a box from the boot of the car.
"If you're going to be a cop like me, you're going to have to build your muscles up," her father, Detective Ross Buckton commented.
"I know," Charlie said. "I'm going to join the gym first thing on Monday morning and start the training regime you've set for me."
Ross nodded and took the box from her.
"Give Ruby something light to carry and you can both follow me up."
Charlie watched him go and then opened the back door.
"You want to help Mummy move into her new house?" she asked the five year old sitting on the backseat.
"Yep!" the little girl chirped, leaping out of car.
Chuckling, Charlie led her round to the boot, loading her tiny hands with the lightest bag she could find.
"Hey," said a voice.
Joey turned away from the window to find a stocky man with a handsome face standing in her open doorway.
"Hey," she said a little cautiously.
"Everyone else seems to be here with family and stuff but if you're not, do you want to hang out?"
Joey weighed her options. Starting University was about making new friends as much as anything else and if this guy was going to live in the same corridor then she figured she had nothing to lose.
"Sure," she said, smiling brightly. "I'm Joey."
"Brax," the man replied. "I'll be your next door neighbour but one."
"Nicole!" Roman Harris barked.
He stood just ahead of his daughter, holding her bags and feeling both impatient and unnerved. The blonde teenager forced her gaze away from the well built guy in someone's doorway and followed her father towards her room. She was meant to be living in room ninety eight and she was a little nervous about this new experience away from home.
"I'm coming," she insisted, trotting along the corridor to catch up with him.
"Do you really think you should be lusting after boys in your condition?" Roman asked, pushing open her bedroom door.
Nicole looked down at her pregnant belly and sighed heavily. Nodding, she followed him into her room and shut the door. She'd considered deferring for a year and getting the baby saga over and done with before she attempted to study. But her desire to keep living was strong and she wasn't keen on putting everything on hold when she wasn't even going to be a mother at the end of these nine long months.
Angel Brooks had finished organising her room, starting with rearranging all the furniture to how she liked it. Now, she strutted down the corridor from room ninety nine. Turning right, she entered the kitchen and immediately claimed a cupboard of her own, padlocking it, as per the advice of the University manual. Having then checked out the toilets and the shower and a particularly used looking bath, she walked back the way she came. She passed a gorgeous blonde guy, lugging far too many boxes than was good for him. He stumbled a little and very obviously checked her out. Amused, she chose to ignore him and carried on peering into people's rooms.
"Hi," she said, when she saw two student looking people in room ninety five. "Have you guys just moved in?"
The guy looked her up and down and then nodded, introducing himself as Brax.
"I'm Joey," said the pretty, dark haired girl sitting cross legged on her bed. "We're putting the world to rights if you'd like to join us."
Angel smiled broadly, introducing herself and sitting backwards on Joey's desk chair.
"So, have you two just met or did you come here together?" she asked.
"Just met," Brax said. "Are you here on your own?"
"Yeah," Angel said. "I feel a bit jealous of all these people who have families to move them in!"
"Families are overrated," Joey said certainly.
"Friends are the family you choose," Brax added.
Shane Parrish was already in lust. He and his older brother, Nick dumped the last of his bags in his room, exhausted from the trip up the stairs.
"You all set?" Nick asked. "Do you want to do a grocery run before I leave?"
"Nah," Shane replied. "I'm all set. And I think I'm going to have a lot of fun here!"
"You do know you're here to study, right?" Nick pointed out, still somewhat recovering from the shock of his layabout brother opting for further education.
"I know," Shane insisted. "But it doesn't mean I can't enjoy myself while I'm here! Now, there's a hot girl in room ninety five so..."
"Okay!" Nick said. "I get the message. I'll leave you to it."
The brothers shared an awkward hug before the eldest sibling headed for the exit. Grabbing his keys, Shane headed back into the corridor and knocked on Joey's door.
Bianca Scott was desperate to say goodbye to her family and start meeting her new housemates. But her five year old sister was already busy unpacking for her and making everything just so and perfect. April was not dealing well with Bianca's decision to go away to University to study English Literature and train to be a teacher. Their lives so far had been unpredictable to say the least and April clung onto her desperately, the one constant in her life. Bianca felt bad about it but at the same time, she was keen to start afresh and get out on her own again. She peered out at two guys passing her bedroom only to realise they had gone too far. They walked back the other way. Sighing, Bianca turned back to her mother and sister, trying to make the best of their attention.
Hugo Austin and Jack Holden let themselves into their separate bedrooms. The cousins had made the decision together to go to University. It had been expected of Jack. He was the academic type with a zest for life and a thirst for education. But Hugo had been as surprised as everyone else with his own decision. In fairness, he was largely studying in a bid to follow his cousin to University. After a car accident that had been his fault and killed his teenage sweetheart, everyone had believed that he was going off the rails fast. Sick of Jack being 'the good one', Hugo had wanted to show everyone what he was made of. He wanted to prove everyone wrong about the kind of person he would turn out to be.
Georgie Watson sat on her bed feeling shy and awkward. Her family had been and gone and she knew there was a small group congregating in one of the bedrooms. She wanted to join in and make herself part of the gang early on but she couldn't quite pluck up the courage to knock on the door. Sighing heavily, she began to unpack instead.
Belle Taylor finished putting her room, number one hundred and five in order and then wandered along the corridor to where all the laughter was coming from.
"Ooh, sorry!" she said when she bumped into a good looking, if rather unshaven guy.
"No worries," he replied. "Are you a fresher too?"
She nodded and introduced herself, shaking his hand politely.
"I'm Liam," he said.
Glancing behind him, he looked at the small congregation of people in the opposite room.
"Looks like there's a party," he said.
Belle followed him as he knocked on door ninety five. They were immediately welcomed in.
"We're doing the rounds of introductions," one of the girls said. "So, I'm Joey Collins and I'm studying History and Business Studies."
"I'm Darryl Braxton but everyone calls me Brax," said one of the guys. "And I'm doing Business Studies."
"I'm Angel Brooks and I'm an Environmental Science girl."
"I'm Shane Parrish and I'm doing Engineering."
Everyone looked at the last boy in the room. Sitting beside Joey, he looked like his confidence was merely a facade.
"I'm Aden Jeffries," he said lazily. "And I'm doing Geography, although I don't really know why."
He pulled a face. Belle gazed at him a little longer than the others and she and Liam took seats on the floor. Liam introduced himself as doing Music and Belle as a wannabe journalist with a penchant for creative writing on the side.
At the other end of the corridor, Curtis and Shannon Reed sat with their friend, Selena Roberts. All three were desperate to start a new life, having all grown up in foster care. Curtis and Shannon had been known as brother and sister for a long time but with no blood between them and a close relationship, romance had quickly developed. People in their small town had judged them so they were keen to get away from it all and start again. And Selena, in a separate foster home, had been eager to join them in their new start. She loved her foster mother, Irene, dearly and she had assisted them all in moving in. But it was time to see what was out there in the wider world.
Charlie, Ross and Ruby all walked past noisy room number ninety five and into the one next door. Silently, Charlie fretted that this was going to be an irritating party house. She hoped her neighbour wouldn't make too much noise. As far as she was concerned, the next three years – and several more years after that – were all about work. They were about education and qualifications, earning the right to provide for her daughter and start their lives together. It was not about fun.
"Okay, Ruby, time to say goodbye," Ross said abruptly.
Ruby's face fell and so did Charlie's.
"Mum, why can't I live with you?" she asked.
"We've had this conversation," Ross said tiredly.
Ignoring him, Charlie sank onto her knees and held onto Ruby's hands.
"I will be with you every single weekend, okay?" she said. "And I'll be back with all sorts of presents and stories. But the thing is, while I'm here, I'm going to be working really hard so there won't be anyone to look after you. But Grandma and Granddad have got you into a fantastic school and they've got more time to take care of you."
Ruby pouted.
"But I want to be with you," she said.
"I know, baby," Charlie said gently. "And I want to be with you too. But it won't be long, okay? And like I said, I'll talk to you on the phone every day. And I'll visit at weekends. So the time we do have together will be amazing."
She smiled, hiding her own pain. It had been a big fight between her and her parents over whether to bring Ruby with her to University. She'd wanted to but Ross had insisted that it wasn't practical. And as ever, she had given in. Although it made sense in a lot of ways and she wouldn't be all that far away, she knew she would miss her terribly. All she could hope was that her daughter didn't feel abandoned.
Next time… Martha is smitten with both Jack and Hugo and Joey attempts to befriend Charlie…
