What Happens in Glastonbury

London

          Firstly, let me introduce myself, I don't think we've met.

I'm Olivia, but most people call me Olly. Now we're acquainted I'm going to take you back to 2003.

London.

I was a young care-free student living my best life as they say, I was 20 years old and after a gap year spent trying to figure out what to do with my life, I was in my first year studying at The University of Arts in central London, it sounds fancy, but I was studying special effects for film and TV which, and my parents agree, doesn't really sound like a real thing people study! Ugh, parents!

But hey, I was there, and I was loving London, having grown up in a sleepy Somerset village, London was, uh, different shall we say.

There were people EVERYWHERE! Surely all these people couldn't afford to live in London? I mean you needed a lottery win to own a single brick there! The house next door to us just sold for an ungodly amount of money, luckily our little house was a repossession and was an absolute shit hole when we moved in, so the rent wasn't too bad, well it only wasn't too bad split three ways!
But anyway, back to the people, I'd never seen so many people in one place in all my life before I moved to Soho back in August, three months before my story takes place.

Life had been crazy ever since I got there but I had no idea how crazy it was about to become.

So fast forward to December 5th, it was a cold Thursday evening, I had just got home from a full day of lectures, we had had a really cool seminar learning how to create realistic explosions using a green screen, I was starting to see why my parents kept saying it wasn't a real thing to study, but anyway, I must have got home around 5.30pm, it was dark already. I lived in a small, three storey townhouse with two girls who were also first years at the same uni. Jiya was studying fine art; she was an amazing artist. I was really jealous of her talent, she often sat painting in the kitchen, and I'd just stand behind her watching in awe as she put paint to paper and effortlessly created something beautiful and spectacular.

Jiya, or Jee as we called her was half Indian, with gorgeous dark skin, long black silky hair and big dark brown eyes, she was as beautiful as the works of art she created, Jee had moved up from Devon, I felt an instant connection with her coming from the South West too, we were both country girls moving to the city, we formed an instant friendship and I felt less alone having Jee there, it also meant when we went home for the holidays we could travel most of the way together which was great considering my travel phobia!

Our other roommate was Zoe, Zoe had only moved from 20 minutes outside of London so she had become our tour guide, Zoe would arrange everything, all our nights out, parties, pubs and clubs, Zoe had been frequenting them all for years, so we followed her around like lost puppies most of the time. Zoe was the smart one, she was studying architecture, an actual real profession (those were my Dad's actual words when I introduced him to Zoe for the first time!)

Cute, bubbly, and blonde Zoe was the most confident of all of us, she never had any problems with talking to anyone, she would see a guy she liked in a club and ten minutes later she'd be snogging his face off! She would ask for directions if she was lost, not that she ever got lost, she would talk to people sitting next to her on a bus (who does that?!) She was just that kind of person, she liked people, she liked to talk to new people and ask questions, I guess she was inquisitive and genuinely enjoyed learning about people. I, on the other hand definitely did not! I wasn't good with talking, I avoided small talk and any conversation with strangers, it just wasn't my strong point.

So, back to my story. Like I said, I arrived home around 5.30pm, Zoe was in the kitchen cooking and Jee was sat at the breakfast bar watching Zoe stir spaghetti Bolognese on the hob, they had the radio on, and Zoe was dancing as she stirred, intermittently lifting the spoon out of the Bolognese and using it as a microphone, dripping sauce all over the kitchen side, much to the annoyance of Jee's OCD.

"Hey girls" I smiled as I walked into the open plan kitchen.

"Hey Ols, how was your day?" Asked Jee

"Yeah good" I replied as I dropped my bag down onto the counter and struggled like a child to get my arms out of my coat.

"I wanna go out!" Groaned Zoe

"Out where?" I asked

"Dancing! I want to go to Hanson's" she replied, moving away from the hob to give herself a bigger dance floor.

"Really? It's so cold out!" I replied, I really couldn't be bothered to get ready and go back out in the cold. The only thing I wanted was some food and my pyjamas!

"Don't be boring! A few drinks and you'll be warmed up!" Zoe replied, putting her microphone spoon back into the pan.

I looked at Jee, she didn't look overly enthused about the suggestion either.

"Come on! It'll be fun, stop being old ladies!" Groaned Zoe.

Begrudgingly we were talked round, Zoe was very persuasive, and I don't think either me or Jiya thought we were actually going to stay in from the moment Zoe mentioned it, Zo always got her own way. We ate some Spaghetti Bolognese and went to get ready. I couldn't be bothered to dress up for a Thursday night, with lectures in the morning I couldn't stay out too long, the effort didn't seem worth it.

I had a quick shower and straightened my long, wavy dark brown hair. I put on a pair of skinny jeans with black ankle boots and found a top I liked in the wash basket!

(I smelt it; it was fine.)

- Note to self: maybe stop neglecting the washing and get it done so you actually have decent clothes to wear out!