Watercolour

Seven

Alex's P.O.V

Harvey had gone to meet his group on the other side of the hall and I wandered around, trying to spot mine. It didn't take me long to find them... everyone was there. I handed Lucas the water bottle that I'd bought and sat down between him and Dan. I was sat across the small table from Alana, who was talking to Jemma and Rachel about something to do with her school.

Alana wasn't someone that spent ages deciding what to wear but she always looked effortlessly great. No matter what she was wearing. No matter what she had or hadn't done with her long brown hair. Today it was out of its usual ponytail, with her slight natural waves shining in the autumn sunlight and her deep blue eyes had been lightly outlined by a thin streak of eyeliner. Normally, she wore black but today she was wearing her high-waisted blue jeans, her maroon hoodie with her maroon converse for a change and her backpack was slung over her shoulders.

After sitting waiting for about another half an hour or so, a lady stood on a raised platform with a microphone and got our attention.

"Welcome to Middlesex University... today there will be a range of various activities for all of you to enjoy. We have paired up different youth groups and you will be working with each other throughout the day. When your group is called, stand up and go to the table that you are directed to where you will be given further instructions."

We all looked around at each other and I caught Alana's eye... she widened her eyes and raised her eyebrows.

"So now for your groups..." the lady announced. "Abemore and Brenthworth, Kyombe and Kethstan Bridge." After a few more pairings we heard our group being called. "Newford centre and Northfall."

We all stood up and I immediately looked over to the other group and saw Harvey heading our way. We all made our way towards a table with a number 7 stuck on the wall behind it. Dan was then handed a piece of paper and he read out the plan for the day and the smaller groups that were going to be working in.

"Okay guys," he said, motioning for everyone to gather round. "There are two groups for task 1 and 2 and two new ones for after lunch. So, for the first half we have - Alex, Charley, Harvey, Jemma, Joe, Nathan, Penelope and Sophie. And - Alana, George, Jace, Justin, Lily, Lucas, Lucy and Rachel."

We all shuffled around until we were with the right people and we were then taken to a different part of the university. My group were told to go into the room at the end of a corridor and Alana's group into the room opposite. We wandered into the room and there was one table in the centre of the room. It had a mixture of pictures, text and old toys on it. We sat down at the table and then a slim woman walked in, introduced herself and gave us our task. Essentially, it was matching task and we were finished in almost no time at all. We still had 10 minutes left until we switched activities so we just chatted amongst ourselves.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the time and saw that I had a message from mum.

You're staying over at Lucas' tonight aren't you?

I sighed and shook my head. I'd told her about tonight so many times in the last week and she still felt the need to check with me again.

Yes, maybe Sunday night as well... I'll text you to let you know tomorrow.