Friday 23rd September 1999
Dear Diary,
Toby the Maths genius came to sit with me at dinner last night. He did most of the talking. As unlikely as the friendship might seem, perhaps it isn't so strange considering both of us are slightly abnormal from the perspective of our peers. Toby is from a state funded school in the east end of London where few pupils get into university let alone Oxbridge, whilst I am socially awkward, to put it mildly.
"I made the local papers" he said through a mouthful of chicken "first in the 'ole 'istory of the school to come 'ere"
I nodded, forced a smile and put a piece of carrot in my mouth.
Listening to Toby the Maths genius talk was a good way to distract myself from thinking about the food I was eating. I still want to be well and eat, but I've found that the bad thoughts I spent so long pushing back have been reappearing thick and fast. They're not overwhelming yet, but they're there, like sleek black cats prowling around my mind waiting for the perfect opportunity to pounce. I just need to keep an eye on them for now. But I must say it does make a conversation more difficult to follow when you're constantly looking over your metaphorical shoulder expecting to see claws out, teeth bared, hissing, spitting, anger, hatred.
"You know what I mean?"
"Mmmm"
"So anyway, fancy going down the pub tonight? The King's Arms isn't far"
The King's Arms was a nice enough place. Just down the road from the Bodleian Library. Toby continued to talk, and after half an hour or so we were joined by a couple of girls and a boy who had just moved in to Trinity College. Lucy is a tiny little thing, barely reaching my shoulder. She reminds me slightly of a blond squirrel, with big round eyes that blink a lot and a high ponytail that bounces as she walks. She too is terribly talkative, but in contrast to Toby the Maths genuis, she speaks at the speed of light without much pause.
"I mean, it's so exciting isn't it? To actually be here at last! I mean I've wanted to come here since I was a little girl and so it's a dream come true or something. I mean, not here this pub, here this Uni" She laughed a high pitched jarring laugh and turned to me. "So what are you studying... is it Sherlock? What a great name that is by the way. I mean you don't hear of many these days do you? Lucy's fairly common, though my real name is actually Lucinda. Imagine that! What did you say you were studying Sherlock?"
"Chemistry. I'm at University College with Toby"
"Oh, I bet you're a whizz with all that Sciency stuff. Not really a numbers person myself. I'm doing Enligh Literature."
The other girl, Mandy, spoke a little when she could get a word in, but she mainly laughed and smiled. She speaks with an American accent, Texas I think, though I could be wrong. A couple of times I caught her looking at me and there was an embarrassed giggle. I don't really know what to make of her. She's taller than Mandy the squirrel, and broader. Bigger. Not fat, but well covered and quite curvy. She seems relatively plain, with shoulder length curly brown hair and no make up.
The boy that came over with them never said a word, but was introduced as Tom. He sat next to me and smiled and laughed with the conversation but he didn't tell us a single thing about himself. I'm not even sure what he studies, though it's likely to be Classics judging by the backwards Latin printed on the edge of his hand where he must have smudged it writing. At the end of the night, silent Tom shook our hands and nodded to us before leaving, and Lucy the squirrel and American Mandy promised that we would meet again soon. For once I'm actually looking forward to a social occasion.
Sherlock Holmes
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