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Chapter Two

Hours passed and the gathering in room ninety five had grown somewhat. Joey was pleased to have made friends so easily and so far, everyone seemed really nice. She had particularly clicked with Brax, Aden and Angel. Shane seemed like a nice guy but he hadn't quite looked at anyone but Angel yet, which Joey thought was quite cute. Three young women, Rachel, Martha and Leah had also joined the party, as had two cousins, Hugo and Jack.

"This party's all a bit too dry for me," Brax decided. "Who's up for a trip of the student bar?"

"It's likely to be a home away from home," Joey admitted. "So I'm in."

Rachel and Leah eagerly agreed, turning to Martha for confirmation, only to find that she was daydreaming. Rachel nudged her.

"Sorry, what?" Martha squeaked, embarrassed at having been caught looking at a couple of the boys.

The cousins had both caught her eye and clearly she had failed not to be obvious about it. Joey chuckled to herself. Everyone seemed to be so hormonal already. She could envisage lots of love stories on their corridor. She just hoped that she might be part of some of them. University was very much her way of starting again and breaking out from everything she knew. And her first port of call was to have the courage to explore her sexuality after so long in the closet.

"Shall we invite other people?" Nicole asked, trying to look less timid than she felt.

Back at home, she had always been the girl with attitude and bravado but suddenly she felt very small in a big crowd.

"We could do," Angel agreed. "Maybe knock on some doors."

"Okay," Joey said decisively. "Everyone go and knock on someone else's door and invite them to the bar and we'll all meet down in the lobby."

Nodding, everyone got to their feet and scattered. Joey held back and watched everyone leave. She paused to run a brush through her hair, took a deep breath and left her room. Turning right, she knocked on the room next door.


Charlie jumped when she heard a gentle tap on her bedroom door. Her heart raced a little and she considered pretending she wasn't in. The knock came again, although no less timidly. Taking a deep breath, Charlie stood and answered the door, coming face to face with a beautiful brunette.

"Yes?" she said, rather more abrasively than she meant to.

"Uh..." Joey struggled, a little taken aback. "We were all heading out to the campus bar across the street. Would you like to come?"

"No thanks," Charlie said quickly, shutting the door and returning to her bed.

Joey stared at the number on the door for a moment, shook her head and then ambled back down the corridor. Inside her bedroom, Charlie flopped onto her bed, cursing herself for being so rude to someone she essentially had to live with for a year.


Rachel, Martha and Leah headed down the stairs with Jack and Hugo, having not quite been brave enough to interrupt anyone else's moving in day. They were already making new friends with each other, after all.

"So, what are you girls studying?" Hugo asked, making conversation as they arrived in the lobby.

"Medicine," Rachel said. "I'm training to be a Doctor."

"Wow!" Jack said, obviously impressed.

Martha tried not to feel jealous over his enthusiasm, although she wasn't sure which boy she quite preferred yet. Rachel could have the other one if she wanted once she had decided.

"I'm doing Engineering and Business Studies," she said.

"Oh, I'm doing Business Studies too!" Hugo said. "But I'm doing it with Environmental Science."

"That's an interesting combination," Leah commented.

"Well, my over all plan is to start my own diving business," Hugo explained. "So I kind of need both sets of skills."

"That's really cool," Martha encouraged.

"What are you doing?" Hugo asked Leah.

"Catering and Hospitality," she replied.

"What about you, Jack?" Martha asked, deciding to keep her options open.

"Sociology," Jack said. "I have no idea what I'm planning to do with my life afterwards!"


Wandering along the corridor, Joey bumped into Liam, Belle and Aden who were hovering near room one hundred and one.

"What's so exciting?" she asked.

"There's a girl in there but we're shy," Aden admitted.

"Trust me, the worst that can happen is rejection and I already experienced that," Joey commented, pushing forward and knocking on the door.

"Hi," she said. "I'm Joey. I'm in room ninety five."

"Hi, Joey," a beautiful blonde girl replied. "I'm Bianca."

"We're heading out for drinks if you want to come?"

"Sure!" Bianca enthused, thanking her and happily leaving her room.


Brax and Nicole were about to head down the stairs together when they spotted two guys sitting in room ninety four. They knocked and invited them both to the impromptu party. Introducing himself quickly, Angelo was eager to join them, as was Miles. They'd run into each other earlier and decided to make friends in a bid to ease themselves into student life without too much loneliness.

"Cool," Brax said, leading the way to the stairway. "Everyone should be downstairs by now."


Joey followed everyone further down the corridor when she paused, spotting a young woman sitting anxiously in her room. She immediately invited her. The girl looked like she had just been offered a million dollars and leapt off the bed in excitement. Joey grinned and introduced herself.

"I'm Georgie Watson," the girl said, shaking her hand. "But everyone calls me Watson."

"Pleased to meet you, Watson," Joey said, smiling broadly at her.

Watson smiled, feeling suddenly shy. It was not lost on her that Joey was stunning. Suddenly moving away from home and starting up in a student corridor didn't seem so bad after all.


"Hey, are you guys all from the top floor?" Shannon asked the gathering crowd in the lobby.

She, Curtis and Selena had gone out exploring but were eager to make new friends if they could.

"Yep," Angel replied. "We're going drinking. You're welcome to join us."

Shannon beamed at her.

"Sounds great," she accepted.


"I'll just be a sec," Joey said when they passed room ninety six.

Watson nodded, a little unwilling to part company as Joey hung back from the crowd. Not entirely sure why she was bothering, Joey knocked on the door again. The occupant opened up quickly.

"Sorry to bother you again," Joey said politely. "But are you sure you don't want to come and hang out with us?"

She expected the girl to snap at her and slam the door in her face again. Instead, she hesitated.

"It's just across the road," she said. "You could come back any time you like. But we're all new here and trying to make friends so maybe...?"

"I'll come for a little while," the girl said awkwardly.

Joey smiled at her but didn't receive the same gesture in return. They began to walk along the corridor together.

"I'm Joey, by the way," Joey said conversationally. "I'm in the room next door."

"Charlie," the other woman replied rather stiffly.

"Pleased to meet you."

Charlie nodded, feeling like her whole body was going to combust from nerves. Trying not to think her too rude, Joey closed the gap between them and the more friendly people on the corridor. She'd done her bit by inviting the rude woman out. And if Charlie was going to be friendlier then she'd make more of an effort but if she was just going to be grumpy then Joey had plenty of other people she wanted to get to know. Charlie watched Joey hurry ahead and briefly debated leaving them all to it. Just play nicely, she instructed herself. Make an effort. Don't be a failure for your whole life. Jogging to catch up with Joey, she touched her shoulder and forced a smile.

"Thank you for inviting me," she said earnestly.

She was rewarded with a smile.

"No problem," she replied. "It's really scary pitching up somewhere new when you don't know anyone. So if we're all in it together then I think everything will be fine!"

Making sure Charlie didn't get left behind, Joey joined the larger group.


Next time… Nicole reveals she is giving her baby up for adoption and several people divulge their sexuality…