Coffee Scented Kisses

Chapter 1

Average, if there was any way to describe me, it was with that word. From my messy brown hair to my spindly legs – I was average. And that was how I’d always been.  Average Arwen, who lives in the plain little town of Lillington. That would all change soon though. I would change my life for the better, meet interesting people and have amazing adventures.

The University of Queen Mary would be my first stop; I was finally leaving to go to the bustling capital.

I say my goodbyes to my family, my mum starts crying, my dad kisses me on the forehead and rustles my hair – my sisters just happy she gets my room.

The train journey is long, but I end up sleeping for most of it. I’m only awake for forty minutes or so, and during that time I read – I love books, placing yourself in a world of adventure and enchantment. In books you never know what’s coming; even if you’ve read them a hundred times over you can always find some new detail. They’ve always been my getaway.

The book I’m reading at the moment is about a girl with schizophrenia; I find it very sad, how she refuses to trust anyone and refuses to love anyone either. I reckon in the end she does fall in love and get better; after all you can’t have a story without a happy ending, can you?

When I reach my last stop, It dawns on me how different this is going to be. The station is crowded and it looks like there is barely enough oxygen to go around. People are crammed together and moving around is very difficult and awkward.

I take a huge gulp of breath as I finally get out of the crowd and onto the elevator, which seems to go up for miles and miles, I guess this is going to take a while as people are reading newspapers as they stand. I try reading over someone’s shoulder but they give me an icy glare and I look away.

Almost everyone seems to be dressed for business and almost everyone seems to be angry at anyone who looks there way. Then again, if someone barged into me like the people do here I wouldn’t be very happy either.

The street is a lot calmer and to be out of the stuffy station is so nice. I try my best to follow the map but the city is so big and confusing I get lost very quickly, and everyone you try to ask either gives you a whole new set of directions or ignores you completely.

I keep telling myself

‘It will be okay when I know my way around’ and ‘you’ll make friends soon’ though I’m not too sure of either, especially the last one.

Bored of waiting, I call a cab to pick me up from a little café near the station. It gets there fairly quickly and it turns out the Uni was literally around the corner.