Part One: First Year

Chapter 1: Complications

Monroeville, England, 1969

Helen Livingston opened the door of the Humanities and Arts Department with a grunt. For a forty-seven year old music professor, she tended to express her emotions in the same manner as the pupils she was always complaining about, as many of the faculty of Monroeville University liked to joke. Slamming the three books on music theory she was already planning on teaching on the antique desk, she now placed her hands around her face and finally let out the sigh of frustration she'd been holding in all morning.

"Very funny, Helen," she heard Daniel More, professor of Journalism, saying with a smirk. "Classes haven't even started yet and you've already had a bad day."

Helen just shook her head. "You would be having a bad day too if you've seen how horrid those first year girls are," she complained.

"Helen, you've said that every single year for the past five years," Daniel said, on the point of making the reflections which always stood out amongst his students. "Now, I'm not very fond of people under thirty myself. The majority of the professors secretly feel this way too, as a matter of fact, but there's always at least one pupil who manages to impress me. Young minds are always full of frustration, but they eventually find their niche at some point and either forget what was frustrating them so much or come up with their own methods of putting an end to that frustration. We were both like this at one point, after all, and look where we are now."

"Yes, but at least we had some sort of reason for our frustration, Daniel. There was a worldwide depression, people were unemployed and starving all over the place, and our politicians couldn't do anything about it without going into another world war. These young people we're seeing at our university today are part of what's probably the most privileged generation Britain has ever had, and they feel the need to protest and berate us just because we don't let them have hair so long it makes them look like bums or go around in skirts so short they show off their knickers."

"So, was that the cause your bad temper today?" Daniel asked with a laugh. "Another girl walking around campus in a miniskirt? You really are ridiculous sometimes!"

"If that had been the only issue, Daniel, I would only be moderately irritated," Helen went on. "This girl I saw was not only wearing one of those disgusting skirts, but was also smoking a cigarette in the hallways as comfortably as if she were in her own home. But worst of all, when I ordered her to throw the damned cigarette out, can you guess what she said to me?"

"It wasn't a compliment on that nice old dress you're wearing, that's quite certain," Daniel responded sarcastically.

"She said, 'You're not my bloody mother, you old hag! If I want to smoke in here, I'll do it wherever and whenever I want to!' And since insulting me wasn't enough, she blew smoke into my face before walking off again. Quite an enlightened generation, indeed!"

Daniel shook his head. "Poor thing, as if you didn't see dozens of older chaps smoking a fag every day in the lounge during dinner."

"You don't understand at all," Helen said even more stubbornly than before. "These are young ladies who will be either bringing up families or getting careers where they'll have to be respectable if they want to make it. When I found out who that girl was, it made matters even worse. It's Violet Kingston Price, daughter of Ambassador Jonathan Price and niece to two prominent Conservative Party members. If a girl coming from such a family can behave so wildly, what's there to say about any of the others? And here's the part which will probably please you the most, she's going to be in my Introduction to Music Theory course."

"How wonderful for you, Helen. You had the privilege of meeting your first student for this term," Daniel remarked. Then, opening up two large envelope containing the names of all of his and Helen's pupils for the term, he added, "And since we're talking about our student's families, why not take a look at some more of the infamous relations of the class of 1973?"

"Daniel, please. It's been hard enough without one of your little investigations," Helen complained. Daniel More always had an ear out for all the latest gossip, and he could list up to twenty of his students' family members based off dozens of conversations he was able to overhear on one day, not to mention his love of looking through local papers and personal documents which some students and professors accidently left behind.

"Okay, let's see," Daniel began, looking through Helen's list first. "Amelia Laurence. Her father, Sam Laurence, hasn't paid taxes since 1959 due to having some savvy knowledge on finances and fraud. Rumor has it she had a personal tutor complete every assignment she ever had in secondary school and sixth form, who was paid by none other than Sam Laurence himself."

"All right. Two bad apples in my classes. Can't you just stick to opinions on politics and war for once, like everyone else in your department does?"

"Good gossip beats Vietnam and the Middle East any day," Daniel replied dismissively. "Now look at this old chap here. Eugene Jackson. His mother was reported to have run off with a grocer for three years, and his father lived with a supposed prostitute throughout the whole time she was gone. The divorce that followed upon his mother's return was as bitter as it may be expected, and that boy isn't heading in the right direction, as his disciplinary record seems to indicate."

"Seriously, Daniel, how do you know all of this?" Helen said, wondering if Daniel really was such an eavesdropper, or whether he had some other methods of obtaining information which she had no idea about.

"And now, for my pupils," Daniel went on, scanning through his own list of students. "Here's another interesting case. Sarah Jane Smith. Her grandfather, Charles Smith, is said to have been responsible for leaving hundreds of workers in his manufacturing company without work during the depression, which he did to make the company more profitable, and therefore, keep himself as posh as ever. Left his first wife after ten years of marriage due to his inability to remain with one woman at a time, and to make it all worst, he didn't leave a shilling to either the wife or to Lavinia and Edward, the two children he had with her, and upon his death in 1961, everything became inherited by only two of the four children from his second marriage. Sarah Jane's father, Edward, was never able to succeed in business himself, and Lavinia, who grew up to become a virologist, ended up having to help him out financially over the years, and at one point, even had has daughters living with her after he had a nervous breakdown."

"Goodness," Helen said in shock. "That certainly sounds like a very dysfunctional family." She happened to have heard of Charles and Lavinia Smith before, the former because his actions had gained a lot of attention through the news during the depression, and the latter because she happened to be one of the most well-known women in her field of work, having even visited the university five years before. However, for some reason, she had the feeling that Daniel knew more about this student than any of the others, not just because of all the information he was letting her in on, but because of this look which seemed to come across his face as he spoke of the girl's family. He not only looked extremely interested, but also somewhat threatened, as if there was something in particular which he didn't like about them.

"Sarah Jane also went to private school along with Violet Kingston Price," Daniel continued, "where she was good student without any disciplinary issues. Those two girls weren't friends, but something, supposedly the death of one of their classmates when they were thirteen, made others turn against them and somehow brought them to form some kind of alliance. Something which only girls in their adolescent years can understand, I suppose. Sarah Jane was also taken care of by her grandmother since she was an infant, especially after her mother's death when she was only a year old. The grandmother, Jane Harris, had to deal with many difficulties herself, mainly arising due to rumors that she was engaged in some kind of black magic…"

After saying this, Daniel shook his head with a bitter look on his face. "What the hell am I doing? Sorry for wasting your time, Helen. I have three lectures to prepare for, and here I am bumbling on about a bunch of students who I haven't even met yet. I should get going right now." And with that being said, he dropped the sheet of student's names he was holding onto her desk and left in what seemed to Helen like a very hurried manner.

Helen simply shrugged and went back to organizing notes, yet kept thinking about this conversation for a long time.

…

Upon returning back outside for the third time after repeated trips to her dorm in order to place all her belongings, eighteen-year-old Sarah Jane Smith was able to take her first good look at the group of students with whom she'd be spending time with for the next four years.

It seemed as if everyone except herself had been able to blend in easily already. In one corner, a group of girls were huddled together, sharing the interesting bits of their summer holidays while looking over the autumn issue of Vogue. Around the area where she was walking around, groups of students were dancing all over the place with a transistor radio belting out the Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend Some Time Together". When noticing that Sarah Jane was standing alone while observing them, one of the girls took a guy by the arms and started kissing him a little too passionately as she continued tapping her feet along to the music. Sarah Jane simply responded by shaking her head and walking away from the scene. However, as she was making her way out, the girl's displeased voice ran through her head, and Sarah Jane was able to hear this unpleasant thought:

What a pathetic girl. She's probably one of those types who sits alone at the dances and wishes she was snogging the most handsome boy in the room. Best to avoid them as often as possible.

There was a time when Sarah would have been devastated by such nasty thoughts aimed towards herself, to the point where she would either run off or start crying for what would appear to onlookers as going on for no reason. But after years of hearing these things nearly every day, she now saw them as quite silly, even funny. As her grandmother liked telling her, everyone had nasty thoughts sometimes, but if all you ever heard coming from a mind was such negativity, then you should worry more about the thinker than the person who was the subject of such negative thinking.

"Sarah Jane!" she suddenly heard her aunt Lavinia calling out. "Sarah Jane, are you still there?"

"Here I am, Aunt Lavinia," Sarah called back, coming up to where her aunt and older sister Rebecca were standing. Dressed in a dark red suit and with her brown hair tied up in a bun, Aunt Lavinia could easily have been mistaken for a professor at the university, especially since she'd come over there to give lectures several years ago.

"I thought we were done getting all my stuff in my room. What more could you possibly want?" Sarah demanded, wishing she could be left alone for at least a while.

"We need to know where Lucy is. One minute, she was with your sister and me, going through some your clothes and books, and the next, she takes off to who knows where."

Rebecca, dressed just as formally as her aunt in a blue, long- sleeved blouse and a long plaid skirt, looked at her sister with a more understanding expression on her face as she said, "The sooner we can find Lucy, the sooner we can head off, Sarah Jane. Just try to help us out for now." Having started university herself two years before, Rebecca perfectly understood the need to get off on the right foot, but because she appeared to be the only one of the Smith girls who was able to come close to Aunt Lavinia's high expectations, she was always doing her best to please her while also trying to help make things easier for her sisters.

"But I haven't seen her at all, Rebecca," Sarah tried to explain. "I'm pretty sure that the last time I saw her, she was still in the dorm helping you two put…"

"Hold on, girls. I think that's her over there," Lavinia interrupted, starting to walk into the large crowds which surrounded the busy campus.

And there was Lucy, chatting away with a tall boy in athletic gear as three other girls watched her rather enviously. Unlike Lavinia and Rebecca, she was dressed as casually as any other girl would be in the summer, in a pink, short-sleeved blouse and white shorts which showed off her legs a little too much, and with her cheeks outlined in pink makeup which she'd spend half an hour putting on before they'd all left in the morning. There was a bright smile on her face which her family almost never saw while she was at home anymore, but which Sarah and her grandmother knew still managed to attract the attention of any stranger who caught a glimpse of her whenever she went out.

"Lucy, get over here right now," Aunt Lavinia demanded firmly, trying to get a hold of the seventeen-year-old's hand. "We'll be leaving very soon."

As soon as she saw her aunt, Lucy's smile seemed to vanish instantly, replaced by a small blush and a dark scowl. "Can you wait a while?" she asked in an angry voice. "I was just talking to a boy who seems really interested in me right now."

"All the more reason why you should come with us," her aunt responded with indifference. The boy and the three girls were staring at them very uneasily as they walked away, but Lavinia didn't seem to care. "If you just come up and talk to anyone you feel like in a place like this, you're just asking for trouble. And seeing as how you're not even in university yet, you shouldn't go about trying to draw this much attention to yourself."

"How the hell were you able to find me, anyway?" Lucy responded, appearing to look more upset every second. "Did Sarah Jane detect my presence again, as she's always able to do?" And with that, she shot a look of deep contempt towards Sarah, who looked back at her with that troubled expression which Lucy despised with a passion.

"Watch your language, young lady," Aunt Lavinia scolded. "And don't go around blaming your sister for things once again. I found you all on my own, as a matter of fact."

"It doesn't matter," Lucy yelled scornfully. "If you hadn't been able to do it, then Sarah Jane would have done it sooner or later!"

"Shut up, Lucy," Rebecca finally spoke up angrily. "If you go on with that nasty little temper of yours, I'm going to be telling both Dad and Grandma how you were acting up once again." Of everyone in the family, Rebecca was probably the one who showed the least tolerance towards Lucy's behavior. It never failed to sadden her grandmother, upset Sarah, make her father anxious, or to have her aunt take up the role of disciplinarian when needed, but it was Rebecca who was incapable of either forgiving or forgetting. As far as she was concerned, Lucy had become rotten to the core, and there was nothing that could be done about it.

"I think I should get going right now," Sarah said, knowing that the sooner she left her family's presence, the better it was for them all.

"Go ahead, dear," Aunt Lavinia responded. "I hope all goes well for you, but don't forget everything I've told you. Since neither your grandmother nor I will be around to help you with schoolwork anymore, be sure to find someone who can help you with your harder courses if it becomes necessary. And as your grandmother has said, be careful over whom you trust. Not everyone here is like family, Sarah. If they became aware of what you're able to do, they might never leave you alone, perhaps trying to look for some way in which they could take advantage of you. Understand?"

"Yes," Sarah responded with a nod, and started walking off once again. The last she saw of her family at the time was the sad look on Rebecca's face and the dark one coming off from Lucy. Those who knew about her were going to be left behind for a while, as she was now setting foot into the unknown, where she would have no idea whether those she was soon to encounter would be friends or enemies.

As she started thinking about this, she found herself stepping on three music sheets which had been left on the sidewalk.

"Oh no," she said to herself, stepping aside and hoping no one noticed this.

But before she could leave, a friendly voice called out to her, saying, "No problem there. You can blame me for that, since I always seem to be leaving my most important papers in the worst places possible."

Looking up, Sarah Jane noticed a boy who was certainly in either his first or second year stepping up to pick the sheets up. He was of average height, looked a little chubby around the legs and waist, had messy brown hair, and was dressed in what was probably the shabbiest clothing Sarah had seen anyone in the university wearing so far, with an old brown shirt, wrinkled, slightly torn trousers, and shoes which appeared to be covered in dirt. And yet, he seemed to be the most approachable person she'd seen so far.

"Hello," Sarah found herself saying shyly. "Who are you?"

So, that's the first part of Sarah Jane's adventures at university. As you could probably tell, Daniel More and Helen Livingston are certainly not Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright in terms of their attitudes towards teaching and concern for their students, but they will take up similar roles as they did during this story, even though their motives will be extremely different.

I also had to change several parts of this after doing some research on the differences between university life in the UK and that of the US, especially in terms of the UK having students focus on their area of study throughout their whole time at university, while students in the US must study other subjects in order to complete their degree, as has been my own experience with college so far. If you notice anything else I should change or add in on university life in the UK, let me know through your reviews or a PM.

Next, we'll learn the identity of the boy whom Sarah Jane has just met, and whether or not he'll end up being the first friend she makes at university.