Flatmates

Chapter One

Annabelle’s arms were about to drop off. Literally. Well…ok, maybe not literally. But her shoulders were stiff, her arms were sore and her hands were red and covered with patterns of dented lines. Earlier, when the Student Guides had smiled at her outside the building which she was now to call her home for the next year, she had thought it was genuine smiles. As if they knew a great secret that she would also soon be the keeper of. No. It turned out the only secret they knew was that she would be exhausted after lugging all her stuff up three flights of stairs, and would probably sleep for a good fourteen hours afterwards, thus missing out on any excitement that might happen on the first night. On her first night of university life.

She stopped to take a break after making her third journey, dropping her third bag of clothes and radio on the floor. She sat on the bare mattress, trying not to think, trying not to throw up the Weetabix she’d had for breakfast earlier. She was nervous. Well, that was a slight understatement. She was petrified. All those weeks before and she had been so excited – new friends, new experiences, a new life. But now she was finally here, and she just wanted to get back in the car with her parents and go home. Snuggle up on the sofa with her hot water bottle and mug of hot chocolate and watch re-runs of Friends.

Annabelle couldn’t think about that anymore. She got up, took a deep breath, and made her way back down the stairs on what would hopefully be her final journey. She passed her dad on the way, who was red faced and sweating.

She made it to the boot of the car, where her mum was standing, “supervising”, as she called it. It was only because she’d just got her nails done the day before and didn’t want to ruin them. Annabelle smiled as she saw that only her box of books and CDs remained, and thankfully that box had handles. She hauled it up, and made her way across the pavement, her trainers scraping against the gravel. When she finally arrived at her room, her need to collapse on the bed had already been taken by her dad, who had his face down on the coverless pillow. Annabelle sighed, and moved his legs over so she could sit at the end, trying to calm her heavy breathing. It was complete. The transfer of old room to new room. Now she just had to sort out where it was all going.

Her mum appeared in the doorway. “Your kitchen is not very big. And there’s not much space left in the fridge or the freezer,” she said, inspecting her nails for invisible flaws. Annabelle eyed the two large bags of food that were still in her room.

“I’ll sort it out in a minute,” she answered, flopping back so she was leaning on her dad’s knees. Her mum sighed, and walked the two steps to her bed, before carefully sitting down in the space next to Annabelle. In the silence that followed, Annabelle took her phone out of her pocket to check the time, and to see if her friends had sent her any messages. Four fifteen. No messages. She sighed, replaced her phone into her pocket, and directed her view towards the ceiling, her eyes tracing the paint strokes and the odd bump. There was a bare light bulb in the centre of the ceiling, which for some reason had been turned on and was sending out a harsh bright light into the room. Annabelle, unable to take the brightness anymore, stood up and walked over to the light switch, flicking it off. There was only a slightly noticeable change in the light levels; the window still provided enough light for the room, with the sun only just starting its descent into the sea of houses which her window looked out on.

Her dad, who was now sitting up on the bed next to her mum, was also looking out the window. His face was beginning to return to its natural shade, but he still had to move his glasses back up his nose, which kept slipping down from the sweat gathering under his eyes. He breathed out, then turned to look at Annabelle, who remained standing awkwardly in the centre of the room.

“Would you like us to go now?” he asked her. Annabelle’s heart clenched at his words.

“No, no, it’s ok. I still need help putting all my stuff away. But first, you can make the bed, whilst I put the food away,” Annabelle said, and before her dad could reply, she picked up the two bags and left them in the room. The kitchen was down the right of her corridor, thankfully close but not too close for her room. She opened the door, and was slightly pleased to find it was empty. But her mum had said the cupboards and fridge were nearly full. Did that mean the rest of them had already made friends and were out? Annabelle tried to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach, as she pondered if it really was the case that she’d only been here an hour and already she was a loner. No, that couldn’t happen. She had come to university to change her life. Not to stay in the same one.