For the next couple of days, Daniel had been persistent on pestering Robyn. He would always accompany her in the cafeteria or around the campus grounds, actively chattering away. One time he went with her to the library, but that was the only time he had kept quiet: out of respect for Robyn's studying time. To Robyn's surprise, she had found it easy to get used to being around Daniel. Granted that he could be ridiculously annoying, but he proved to be a good friend. He made her laugh: something she realised she didn't do very often.
However, that Thursday was one of those days when he was being excruciatingly unbearable.
"But you have join a club! You must! I refuse to take no for an answer!" he whined that morning while they were sitting under an old oak tree in front of the cafeteria.
"I just don't see the point, honestly. It would just hog up precious time I can use for private study," Robyn defended.
Daniel rolled his black eyes at her, "Being part of a club is part of the whole university experience! It's part of your educational experience in general. Have you never joined a club in high school?"
Robyn sighed, "It never caught my interest,"
"That is just so sad," Daniel grimaced, leaning his head back against the tree.
Robyn remained quiet, hoping that this was the end of the discussion.
Daniel scratched his head in frustration, then turned to Robyn.
"Please join a club? Any club?"
Robyn furrowed her eyebrows, annoyance rising.
"No," she said sternly.
"Please? For me?"
"Danny, how man-" Robyn was about to retaliate, only to be caught off guard of what she saw the moment she turned to Daniel.
He was pouting, his lower lip jutting out and quivering. He was giving her a stare so intense that Robyn was so sure she saw his eyes glimmering like a black pool under a full moon. He kept drawing his face closer to Robyn's as she stared back at him in a silent shock. Never in her life had she seen a person pull a face like that - it was something she had only seen in Japanese cartoons.
Daniel looked like a moe. Robyn couldn't help but to crack up until her stomach began to ache.
"Alright, alright! I'll do it. I will join a club," she surrendered.
Daniel beamed.
"So which club are you in?" Robyn asked.
Daniel shook his head violently, "Not telling. You might not want to join that club if I told you I was in it,"
Vexed that this was true, Robyn's eyes narrowed at Daniel in contempt.
"Fine," she said acidly, admitting defeat.
~~~
The campus ground was packed the next day. As huge as Cambridge University was, it was still overwhelming to see a plethora of students in one common area all at the same time. There must have been over a thousand of just the freshmen alone.
Daniel excused himself to go to the library: leaving Robyn wandering about on her to look for a club she wanted to join. They both agreed it was better if she had gone on her own, without Daniel yapping right behind her every time they passed a booth.
Not that it made much difference.
It was raucous: there were fraternities and sororities marching around, chanting; club representatives stood in their respective booths whilst calling out every passerby to join their club - every now and then there would be heated arguments between any two or more clubs over which one was the better; different music clashing onto each other from the various musical clubs that ranged from acapella singers to orchestras to rock bands (Robyn swore she could hear classical music on her right ear and metal on the other).
