The Writer | #4✓

Chapter 1

"Come on guys, I'm sure you can walk faster!" Halimat yelled, turning so that she could wave to the people who'd fallen behind. They groaned but made to catch up with the rest of the floor members. It was about midday, and the sun was shining brightly, making everyone have a permanent frown on their face as they squinted.

"If this is hard for you, wait till two of your lectures are on each end of the campus. Get used to walking folks," she said, making her partner, Shaun, laugh beside her. 

"Listen to her, she's saying the truth," Shaun said, smiling at Halimat who'd decided to so a mini spin before she continued leading us about campus. 

We were taking a campus tour. Other floors were doing the same, and the whole place was flooded with people in their base camp T-shirts. I didn't think the school would be this big, considering it was a school focused on one faculty, but I had been wrong. Each department seemed to have its own building, and I was sure to forget where everything was once we headed back to the residence building. 

Shaun ran up to Halimat half an hour later. She paused in her tracks, making everyone else stop since we were following her. She looked a tad ridiculous holding on to the tour sigh as well as the pamphlets she had tucked under her arm. She talked to Shaun, and after a while, they both turned to us.

"Hey, guys!" Halimat said, waving her hands in an indication that we should look towards her. We did, most of us turning our pamphlets into sun hats. "It's twelve in the afternoon, so if you want to grab lunch you can head to the student union building I showed you, there's a food court there. Alternatively, you can follow me and Shaun back to the residence building and eat at the food court there. Anyway, we should all meet back here at two PM, okay?"

Everyone started muttering to themselves, and I noticed that some people had already gotten attached to others. I always wondered how people made friends so fast. 

"Hey," I heard Ollie's voice say as a hand touched my shoulder. I turned to me met face to face with him. He smiled, looking from me, to Halimat. "We should go to the student union building together," he said before looking down at his phone. 

"To be honest I've forgotten where that is," I said, earning a small laugh from Ollie. 

"That's why google maps is a thing," he said, waving his phone in front of my face before turning. I smiled, huddling close to him as I watched him look for the directions. 

Soon, our group split up into unequal halves. one half followed Shaun and Halimat, and the other half split up as we tried to find where the student union building was again. After walking around for what seemed like ages, Ollie's GPS eventually lead us to the building. It was a red brick one, but it had an upper layer with wall-length windows that made everything going on inside visible from the outside. 

"Come on," Ollie said as he made to jug to the building. I followed him, and we both headed inside. Finding exactly were the food court was located was another hassle on its own, and when we did find it we discovered that it was crowded. 

"Oh my God," Ollie laughed, shaking his head as we looked at the lines in the food court together. "I thought only first years were back, why is it so crowded?" he asked no one in particular as he let out a short whistle. 

The food court was large, with about ten eateries attached to it, and a largish cafeteria to eat at was attached to the center. 

"I think we should find a spot to sit down first, then we can worry about actually getting food,"  I said, watching as Ollie nodded before looking around the sitting area in the food court. 

"That sounds like a plan. I can keep our seats while you wait in line," he said, making me nod in agreement. He told me his order, before heading into the crowd of seats, tables, and people while I attempted to join the huge line at one of the many eateries positioned in the court.