Simple Revelations

University was never on the cards for me. I was planning to leave school and travel - that's what my twelve year old self believed anyway. But alas, here I am months after leaving school packing my belongings to head off to Glasgow for my first year at University.

I applied for a Law course back in January and was told I had to achieve an A and B in my end of year exams if I was to be able to attend the Uni. I got the grades and my life seems to be going exactly the way I planned.

"Right, I have the rest of your stuff in the car waiting, just these last two bags and then we're good to go." My mum, Anne, grabs one of the bags and turns to take it out to the car.

I lift the remaining bag and take one last look around my now, mostly empty room and try to convince myself I'm going to be fine. Moving from York in England all the way up to Scotland is a big change and I'm not going to know anyone at all but I have to remind myself that's why I'm doing this. There's nothing left for me in my home town anymore. I need to have a new start and meet new people.

Making sure to close and lock the door behind me I make my way towards my mum seated in the drivers side of the car waiting for me.

"Ready?" My mum turns to me and gives me her most encouraging smile. Which isn't very encouraging at all. It's more of a concerned grimace.

"Yeah, as ready as I'll ever be." I reply, throwing my bag into the backseat.

"OK then, let's go."

*****

After an hour and a half of driving I have given up on any attempt at sleep and instead I've started singing quietly along to the radio while my brain works over time and brings out all my worst fears. What if I never make any friends? What if I fail my exams? What if I don't even like the course I've chosen?

All of those questions are bobbing around in my head when my mum announces we're stopping for something to eat and for more petrol.

"I'll just park over there and we can pop into that McDonald's across the street for food then I'll fill up on petrol before we start driving again." She says.

"Ok, but can we not take too long I really want to just get there and get the first day over with." My mum shakes her head and laughs.

"The school isn't going anywhere Lavina, don't worry." Easy for her to say. I'll end up being the last one there and everyone else I'm sharing a room with will be friends already and I'll be shunned. Ugh, this is going to be terrible.

As we make our way over to McDonald's I check the time. 1:06 pm, that's quite early I suppose, we can have at least an hour to recharge. Upon entering the fast food restaurant I notice it's practically empty. There's a young couple sitting near the window to the left, two older men just behind them and a family of five sitting to the right at a group table. I tell my mum I'll order the food while she goes to the toilet and then finds us a seat.

After ordering and being given the food I turn to realise my mum is nowhere to be seen. Guessing she's still in the toilet. Holding back a sigh of annoyance I start to make my way over to the back of the restaurant where there seems to be no one sitting. However, just as I turn the corner, bam, I'm on the floor with coke, 7 up and fries with bits of cheese and lettuce all over me.

"Shit! I'm so sorry." I take my eyes away from my soaked through t-shirt to give the person who just made me fall flat on my ass a glare.

"Yeah, whatever." Wiping myself down I stand up and let one of the staff clear up while I apologise to them for making a mess.

"Don't worry, it's my job. I'll just clean this up and then I'll have someone bring you over a new meal." She smiles sympathetically at me as she notices my appearance and hands me some paper towels to try and dry myself off with.

"Thank you." I start to dab my shirt with the paper towels, praying it won't stain.

"I'm really sorry. I was on my phone and I never even saw you coming towards me." I turn to the sound of my assaulters voice ready to give them a piece of my mind but the words get caught in my throat as I allow myself to take in a better view of him. The boy who stands in front of me is literally taking my breath away. Dark brown hair, bright green eyes that immediately draw you in, tall with a slight frame and black rimmed glasses - he's beautiful.

After waiting for a minute or two on a response that hasn't came he apologises again. Using all my effort to look at least slightly casual I shrug and try to clear all emotion from my face."It's fine. I should have been looking. It's as much your fault as it is mine."

He smiles slightly in obvious relief that I haven't started screaming at him in the middle of McDonald's. "Yeah but you're the one with coke and food all over you."

At the mention of my wet and food covered clothes my face heats up and I realise how terrible I must look. This is embarrassing.

"I guess you're right."

Just as the silence starts to turn uncomfortable my mum comes through the toilet door and immediately stalls as her eyes take me in.

"Jesus Lavina, what the hell happened?" I stumble over my words trying to explain but the boy beside me decides to do it for me.

"I'm sorry, it's my fault. I bumped into her and everything went everywhere." My mum looks to him startled, only just realising he's standing there.

"OK then, we'll need to get you dried off before we leave."

"I know. They said they'll get us new meals so I'm gonna go over to the car and find some dry clothes to change into while we wait for them." I turn to flee the scene but before I can escape I feel a tap on my shoulder.

"I know you said we're both to blame but I just wanted to say sorry again." The attractive boy smiles at me and it's quite disarming to say the least.

"Well... thank you."

"No problem, I should probably get going, everyone will be wondering what took so long." I nod and wave as he walks through the front doors of McDonald's back to his life and then I make my way to the car to grab a change of clothes while the boys sea green eyes linger in my mind.