In Halls

Labs

"Someone's happy today," said Ed.

He was right. I was smiling broadly as I bounced down the road into campus, wearing a bright yellow t-shirt with the slogan Powered by Plants framing a cheerful little leaf. Elizabeth's messages along with my morning swim had contributed to erase some of my worries, and we were finally getting towards the part of Uni I'd been most looking forward to.

"It's the first day in labs. This is what I'm here for," I replied.

"You mean it wasn't the hedonism of Fresher's week or the access to government loans that you'll spend your whole life repaying?"

"No, ugh, definitely not," I replied. It utterly baffled me that I had heard multiple classmates so far this week telling me that they had mostly come to Uni for the parties.

"Ellen, you know that was a joke?" Ed said, one eyebrow raised. I frowned back at him. He didn't have to mock me.

"I mean I want to be in the lab, be studying things, examining things, figuring out how they work. That's what I want my life to be," I said.

I was gushing, but that was a side effect of feeling optimistic about the day. Freshers had dragged me down somewhat, Christopher and Tara had just generally sucked, but this was going to make it all worthwhile.

"Wow, you're really gunning for the whole mad scientist career path?" he asked. It was cold enough this morning that his leather jacket was half-zipped, and he had his hands balled up in his pockets.

"Ha ha," I said, sarcastically, "Way to go mocking your own degree choice."

Ed squinted up at the cloudy sky for a moment.

"Oh, I didn't really choose this."

I paused, turning to look at him.

"What? You didn't?"

Take on thousands of pounds of student debt and four years of study for a degree you hadn't chosen? Now that was something worth mocking. But I wasn't really in a mocking mood. "What are you doing here then?"

"I don't know. I was always supposed to be going to med school, but then... I kind of flunked things in college and this was my best option really."

"You flunked college?" I didn't mean to sound quite so incredulous, but there it is. Our university was one of the highest ranked for this course. It was well-rated for research, teaching, and employment opportunities. The grades to get on the course reflected that.

I pushed open the door of the Faculty of Biology building, and held it open for Ed. He cast a final gaze up towards the sky before following me in.

"Maybe not academically, but you know, there's all this voluntary shit you have to do for med school and I didn't do any of it in the end. I just went swimming instead."

He didn't say it exactly like he was talking to me. It was more like he was lost in nostalgia, a daydream of his time swimming away his life goals, and I just happened to be there. Well, the kind of self-absorption that meant that he chose swimming over volunteering didn't surprise me, coming from Ed.

"So what, you just wound up on a biochem course?"

Ed shrugged.

"Seemed like the best available option. I had to do something."

We reached the door to labs and scanned the seating plan of bench allocations. I found my name quickly, on Bench Three, opposite someone called Ayesha Albayoumi, hopefully the nice Ayesha from my seminar group, and next to someone called Eduardo Carter. I secretly hoped Eduardo would turn out nice, a decent distraction from Christopher. I just needed some new friends who were not in my flat, who had nothing to do with all the drama there. My lab bench had to be the place to find them.

We stashed our bags in some of the remaining lockers, picked up tatty old lab coats from the hooks by the entrance, and Ed followed me again as I pushed through the lab doors, into the bustle of students finding their seats.

"What are you here for, if not for the labs?" I asked.

Ed gave me a wicked grin as I headed for Bench Three.

"Obviously the hedonism."

Seriously? At least I was getting rid of him now. I climbed onto my lab stool. This was going to be my new home, the students on this table would be my new crew, and Ed could take his hedonism elsewhere.

Ayesha was already sitting opposite me, colourful stationary carefully laid out around her bench space. She managed to make her off-white lab coat look like a fashion statement. I smiled to see her, and put Ed out of my mind.

"Hi," she said with a cute wave, "I'm so glad we're on the same bench. Isn't all this so cool?"

She gestured around the lab. Row on row of high, creamy coloured benches spread down the room, surrounded by a hubbub of people meeting one another. Our benches were equipped with deep sinks, ports for gases, microscopes and other paraphernalia. At each space, a lab book and pack of safety goggles sat waiting for the student, along with a clip-on name tag.

"It's amazing," I said. "I'm so excited to get started."

Ayesha grinned back. She had a radiant smile, and from her enthusiasm I felt my good luck. We'd be sharing every group project for the next year with this bench, not to mention many class hours. I'd seen from our seminar group that Ayesha knew her stuff and was not afraid to contribute, cropping up with the answers while the rest of the group bit their fingernails and avoided eye contact with the tutor.

Around us, people began to take their seats. Other spaces on our bench began to fill, and Ayesha greeted all of them with equal enthusiasm. I picked up my lab book to check the first page, and noticed that Ed was still hanging around next to me. He'd even sat down, and now copied me by flicking through the lab book.

"Ed, seriously, this is about to start." I gestured with my book, waving him away to wherever he was supposed to be.

"I know," he said. Deliberately being infuriating.

"Well, don't you think you should get to your seat? Eduardo's bound to show up any minute."

I pointed at the name tag. Ed didn't reply. He just looked at me like I was an idiot.

After a few seconds, the penny dropped.

As Ed picked up his name tag and fastened it to his shirt, I fought the urge to bury my face on the desk.