Between The Covers (AU, M/L, MATURE) [COMPLETE]

[Heavenli24]

Winner Round 14






Banner by Hunter

Title: Between The Covers
Author: Heavenli24
Pairings/Couples/Category: M/L
Rating: MATURE
Disclaimer: The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended.
Summary: It’s Liz Parker’s first year at university; she’s learning new things and meeting new people…or rather, one person in particular – arrogant, annoying Max Evans, who just seems to be there practically every time she turns around.
Author’s Note: I started writing this about 6 months ago, but then it got put to one side in favour of writing my thesis and other stories, but I’ve gotten my inspiration for it back in the last couple of weeks and so have decided to start posting. For now, updates will be every Tuesday.
A/N #2: The plan was to post the Yule Log Sequel next, but although I have five parts written so far and it’s not going to be a very long story, my muse is not cooperating right now and I don’t want to start posting it until it’s finished (I want to be able to update regularly).


***


Part One

The cheerful smile slips from my face as two sweaty arms come round my waist and pull me backwards into an equally sweaty male body, urging me to grind against him.

Urgh. Yuck.

I make a face and not-so-gently extract myself from the groping guy’s arms, swivelling round angrily.

“Excuse me? What do you think you’re doing?” I cry in annoyance, my voice loud so as to be heard above the deafening music in the club. “Get off me!”

Without waiting for a reply, I stalk off the dance floor, away from Grope Guy, and head for the bar.

I shudder. Yuck.

What a great start to university life: getting drunk in a sweaty, smoky nightclub and being groped by horny boys wanting to get some so they can brag to their new friends about how many girls they pulled in Fresher’s Week.

I push through the throng of people at the bar and order a double vodka and coke. Careful not to spill the drink, I manoeuvre my way through the throng of people, back to the edge of the dance floor and scan the mass of bodies for my friends.

Great. They’re nowhere to be seen. That’s just perfect. So much for sticking together and making sure no one gets lost on our first night out in a new city. I look through the crowd in search of them as I weigh up my options.

One, I could spend the next 30 minutes trying (unsuccessfully) to find them in this crowd. Two, I could be a loser and stay here on my own, fending off unwanted male attention. Three, I could walk home on my own. Or option four, I could try to find a taxi home.

I quickly eliminate options two and three for obvious reasons, and as I try to decide between searching for my friends and calling a taxi, I feel another presence beside me.

“What’s a gorgeous girl like you doing standing over here all by yourself?” comes the cocky, almost amused, voice close to my ear. “Want some company?”

I force myself not to scoff at this guy’s lame attempt at chatting me up.

“I’m alright, thanks,” I reply stiffly, looking straight ahead, slightly uncomfortable with his close proximity to me.

“Aww, come on, I’ll buy you a drink?” he tempts, bringing an elbow up to rest on the edge of the bar, brushing the bare skin of my arm as he does so. A strange tingle shoots up my arm at the contact.

“I’ve already got one–” I start, turning to face him.

My mouth stops working as I find myself looking up into the most gorgeous pair of dark eyes I’ve ever seen. His smouldering gaze draws me in like a moth to a flame and the intensity in his eyes sends shivers down my spine. I’m staring; I can’t help it. Out of the corner of my eye, I see his mouth turn up into a knowing smirk and I quickly snap out of it, averting my eyes to the drink in my hand.

“Well, then,” he begins slowly, deliberately, as he runs his free hand through his unruly dark locks. I feel the colour rising in my cheeks under the weight of his gaze. It makes me uncomfortable. “If I can’t tempt you with a drink, how about a dance?”

I glance out over the dance floor to see a large mass of hot, sweaty students, moving and grinding against each other in the confined space. Not exactly my idea of a good dancing environment.

“I don’t think so,” I tell him, a hint of sarcasm in my voice, as I raise my eyes to his once more. “I have to find my friends.”

“Aww, come on,” he pouts, his handsome face suddenly appearing adorable, as his hand closes around my wrist. “For me?”

“I’m sorry,” I emphasise, trying very hard not to give in to his obviously exaggerated boyish charms. “I really should –”

“Fine,” he pouts in defeat, straightening up, but not releasing my wrist. “So, I guess asking you back to my place is out of the question, then?”

My eyes widen, as I nod in disbelief, “Um, yeah, you’d guess right on that one.”

God, who is this guy?

He may be drop dead gorgeous, but does he really think he can get someone to sleep with him within three minutes of meeting them?

Cocky bastard!

“Sorry, I gotta go,” I tell him more forcefully, as I extract my wrist from his hand and move away from him.

As I walk, I can feel the hair on my neck stand to attention and I can’t help but to turn and look back at him. What I see makes my breath catch in my throat. He’s watching me, his dark eyes glowing with intensity, lips pulled up in a smug smirk, as he raises an eyebrow in my direction. I shake my head and self-consciously tug at the short skirt I’m wearing as I continue to walk around the edge of the dance floor towards the other side of the club, as I keep my eyes peeled for my friends.

Eventually, I spot my new roommate, Maria DeLuca, and our next-door neighbour, Alex Whitman, sitting at a table in the corner, surrounded by several drinks.

“Lizzie!” shouts Maria happily. She nudges Alex, “Alex, it’s Lizzie! We found her!”

“Hey guys,” I say, taking a seat beside Alex, “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

“We’ve just been sitting here, with our free drinks,” states Maria giddily, as she sways on her seat while simultaneously trying to drink her cocktail and catch the attention of a good-looking boy at the bar. “This is what university’s all about. Clubbing, alcohol and fit blokes! Isn’t that right, Lizzie?”

“Yeah,” I agree distractedly, my gaze drawn to the dance floor where I see Cocky Guy apparently dancing with some bleach-blonde, snobby-looking girl wearing a rather revealing outfit. I say ‘apparently’ because from where I’m sitting, it looks more like mating to me. Cocky Guy has his arms around her from behind, his hands guiding her hips to move with his, moulding her to his body and she looks more than happy to oblige.

I watch with a raised eyebrow as the girl lifts her hand to cup the side of his face and then tilts her head to mutter something in his ear. A smirk appears on his lips and he kisses her greedily, before manoeuvring them both off the dance floor and towards the exit.

I roll my eyes in disgust and turn back to face the table as they disappear out of the club, suddenly very glad that I didn’t let myself get taken in by the good looks and charm he was presenting earlier. Obviously he was just looking for a good time – with whoever agreed to accompany him home.

“Hey, there you guys are,” chirps Isabel Stevenson, as she slides onto the empty stool beside me, a bottle of orange Reef in her hand. “You would not believe the guy I just pulled! Tall, blond and a great kisser; God I love university – there’s so many boys to choose from!”

Opposite me, Alex shuffles in his seat and looks around uncomfortably. The four of us have only known each other since we moved into halls two days ago, but I think Alex already has a bit of a crush on Isabel.

“Yeah, baby!” agrees Maria enthusiastically, as she waves and winks suggestively at a cute passer-by.

“What about you, Liz?” Isabel nudges me. “Seen anyone you like yet?”

“Me?” I shake thoughts of Cocky Guy and his bleach-blonde from my head. He’s so not worth it, Liz, I scold myself. “Um, no, not yet.”

“Come on, Liz, it’s Fresher’s Week! This is your chance to let your hair down before lectures start next week,” scolds Isabel.

“I know, I know,” I return, taking a gulp of my drink. “But I’m still getting used to this university stuff and besides, it’s only Monday; I have the whole week to pull,” I grin.

“Speaking of pulling,” pipes up Maria suddenly, “I think we should get out there on the dance floor and start looking.” She stands up, swaying slightly from the alcohol, and grabs my arm, pulling me towards the mass of bodies in the middle of the club, “Come on, Lizzie.”

Unable either to protest or extract my arm from her grip, I follow helplessly as she manoeuvres us through the crowd and into a tiny dance space between two groups of (very tall) guys. Despite the fact that the atmosphere is more than slightly claustrophobic, I actually begin to have fun, as the DJ turns to playing classic 80’s cheese music and Alex and Isabel join us on the dance floor, for some fun.

By the end of the night, I’ve all but forgotten about Cocky Guy, as we drunkenly stumble back to our hall, singing songs happily and stopping for sustenance of late-night burgers and kebabs on the way. As I climb into bed in my new room, the room I share with Maria, I can’t help but think that the next three years are going to be the best of my life.

***

“Okay, right,” starts Maria, standing in the middle of our room as she scans the Fresher’s Week Programme booklet. “Activities on the menu for today are: Bouncy Castle session in the Union Beer Garden at eleven a.m., ooh… free cream teas at four… aerobics taster session at five, the RAG Blind Date in the hall bar tonight at seven… what does everyone fancy?”

“Well,” I say from my bed, where I’m sitting next to Alex, “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m up for the bouncy castle and there’s a free ballet class for the Dance Soc at two that I want to go to.”

“I’m interested in watching the Martial Arts tournament in the Student Union at one,” pipes up Alex. “Maybe we could go to the bouncy castle thing first, then me and Liz can go do our things and we can meet up again for the cream teas?”

“Sounds good,” adds Isabel from her position in my desk chair. “I was hoping to check out that Arts and Crafts thing this afternoon anyway. Oh, and we need to buy tickets for the Fresher’s Ball in week three as well – maybe we could do that when we meet up?”

“Okay, sounds great,” grins Maria. “That was easy enough to figure out.” She looks at her watch, “It’s ten-fifteen now and the bouncy castle thing starts at eleven, so let’s leave here in about half an hour?”

“Sure,” Alex and I reply simultaneously, while Isabel nods.

“Hey guys,” comes a sleepy voice from the door. It’s James from down the corridor, wearing nothing but boxers and sport socks. He rubs his eyes and yawns as he looks in on us. “Anyone know what’s going on with the shower rota? No one’s crossed off their names - can I go in now, or is anyone else still waiting?”

“No, go ahead,” Isabel tells him with a smile, as she not-so-discreetly rakes her eyes over his half-naked body.

I have to conceal a smile at her obviousness; although, James does have a great body. In fact, the first thing I saw when my parents and I arrived on Saturday and were shown to my room was him parading down the corridor fresh from the shower in nothing but a towel.

“Great, thanks,” he grins, turning to leave and I can’t help but let my eyes follow his boxer-clad arse as he heads towards the shower.

“Uh-hum,” coughs Alex, from his position on my bed. “Excuse me, ladies, um… male present in the room.”

I blush and avert my eyes from the doorway, only to find Maria and Isabel doing the same thing.

”Sorry, Alex,” I apologise quickly.

“Yeah, sorry,” chime in Isabel and Maria, both trying to look remorseful but failing terribly.

They glance at each other, then at me and finally back at Alex’s woeful expression, before dissolving into giggles. Their laughter is infectious and I can’t help but join in, and within a few seconds all three of us are gasping for breath. Alex just rolls his eyes and manoeuvres himself off of the bed.

“Okay, that’s it ladies, I’m outta here,” he announces, looking at us as if we’re crazy as he heads for the door. “I’ll leave you to it. See you in half an hour for bouncy castle fun.”

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Okay it's Tuesday again... so time for an update .

Thank you for all your feedback - I love reading your thoughts and comments :

RiceKrispy - Thanks . It's not often we see college stories from outside the US, so I thought I'd help fill in the gap . The Yule Log sequel will be next, I'm just not sure when. And finally, you'll just have to read on and see who Cocky Guy is .

Lairabehr4 - Thank you, hun .

twilight - Thanks . I've found that the first week of uni, you tend to make friends with everyone and then as time goes on and you find your footing, you eventually spread apart into smaller groups of close friends(the first few weeks of my uni life was spent hanging out and socialising in a group of about 20 people!). I'm not intending for Isabel to be portrayed as a major Ice Queen here, since I want them all to be friends, although she may exhibit some of those traits on occasion. Michael will be making an appearance, but not for a couple more parts .

L-J-L 76 - Thanks . You'll find out what happens with Max and Liz as we move through the story and all of the characters you mentioned will be in the fic in some form or another (although some may have larger parts than others) .

Alien_Friend - Thank you - glad you're enjoying it so far... Cocky Guy's identity will be revealed in a minute .

tinie38 - Thanks .

begonia9508 - Thank you . As much as I'd like to keep you in suspense, you'll see who Cocky Guy is in this next part.

Natalie36 - Thanks .

sarammlover - Thank you .

Tamashii - Thanks .

veronica - Thanks .

Ms_BuffyAnneSummers - Thank you .

confusedfool - Thanks .

behrlyliz - Thanks, . It seems cocky bastard Max is popular here .

pookie76 - Thanks .


***


Part Two

“Breakdance Soc, Hackey Sack Soc… Pole Dancing Soc?” I murmur incredulously as I scan the Fresher’s Fair booklet, searching for the location of the Dance Society stall.

“Pole dancing, huh?” murmurs a smooth, masculine tone from over my shoulder. “I’d pay to see you doing that.”

I jump, clutching the booklet to my chest, as I whirl round to face the intruder.

“Shit, don’t do that!” I exclaim, freezing as my eyes meet his.

It’s Cocky Guy.

My heart suddenly begins to pound in my chest as I take in his appearance. His hands are shoved in his jeans pockets, jeans that fit just right I might add, and he’s wearing a short-sleeved, green-and-white-striped uni rugby shirt, collar turned up slightly for the full effect. His dark hair is mussed and a little too long, curling at the nape of his neck, and his golden eyes twinkle with amusement, as he looks me up and down, a smirk tugging at his full lips.

“Sorry,” he shrugs, looking anything but, “couldn’t help it.”

I don’t say anything, not really knowing what to say, but just watch him curiously as I wonder why exactly he’s here.

A moment later, the smirk becomes a grin as he extracts his hand from his pocket and holds it out to me, “Max.”

I glance down at his hand and raise an eyebrow. I don’t make a move to shake it. Why should I? Just a couple of days ago, this guy was trying to get me into bed and now he wants to act all civil and polite? I don’t think so.

“Okay…” he clears his throat and returns the hand to his pocket. There’s another silence, this one more awkward and I let my eyes travel around the crowded hall, in the hopes of spotting the Dance Soc stall.

“You a Fresher?” he asks then, the annoying smirk returning.

“What?” I turn my attention back to him for a second. “Oh, yeah, I am,” I reply distractedly, wishing that he would just stop talking and let me get on with signing up for societies.

“Max!” a female voice shouts from a few stalls away, saving me from any further questioning.

A tall, slim girl with straightened blonde hair and way too much fake tan approaches us and grabs his arm.

“Come on,” she tells him, her tone scolding, “You’re supposed to be helping, not flirting with random Freshers.” Her gaze flits to me as she speaks and I shift uncomfortably.

He turns away from me to speak the girl and I hastily make a quick exit, losing myself in the mass of people crammed into the hall before he notices that I’ve gone.

After another ten minutes of searching, I finally find the Dance Society stall. I smile politely as a couple of the committee members enthusiastically tell me all about the wide range of dance classes the society offers, the cheerleading squad they put together each year for the rugby matches, the annual RAG Fashion Show that is put on in March and the amazing drinking socials they organise every few weeks. They really needn’t have bothered hyping up the society so much though; I was going to join anyway.

I roll my eyes as I leave the stall and make my way down to the lower hall where I’m supposed to be meeting the others by the Cocktail and Beer Society tables. On the way, I walk through a room housing all the public speaking and communications societies and on a whim, I sign up for the Debating Soc. I’ve never been a big fan of public speaking, but from what I’ve heard, it’s a good skill to possess, so why not start with a good debate or two?

As I turn away from the stall with the intention of finally heading for the Cocktail Soc table, I walk right into someone and almost stumble over with the impact.

“I’m so sorry!” I exclaim quickly, as I look up at the person standing in front of me. Immediately, I straighten and frown, placing a hand on my hip, “You again? Are you following me or something?”

He smirks and scoffs, “Now why would I be doing something like that? I have better things to do with my time than follow around some naïve fresher who doesn’t know a good thing when she sees one.”

My eyebrow raises, “A good thing, huh? Bit full of yourself, aren’t you, Matt… Mark… whatever your name is?”

“It’s Max,” he clarifies smoothly. Of course, I know that – his name has been burned into my mind since our meeting earlier, along with those smouldering eyes of his; not that I’m gonna admit that to him, though. “And I haven’t had any complaints so far,” he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.

“Yeah? Well, judging by your taste in women, I doubt any of them even have enough brain cells to judge for themselves,” I retort. “You know, there are some girls in this world who have higher ambitions than becoming a WAG. Some of us actually care about intelligent conversation and relationships based on more than just sex.”

He looks down at me thoughtfully, making me shift uncomfortably under his intense stare, “You know, for a girl who doesn’t care, you presume to know a lot about me.”

“Yeah, well, it’s kind of hard not to notice when you parade it around in front of everyone,” I snap back.

He opens his mouth to speak, but I cut him off before he starts, “I’ve gotta go now, you know places to go, people to see.”

Steeling myself, I brush past him, heading for the exit.

“Hey, I still don’t know your name,” he calls after me and I turn back around, with a smirk on my face.

“I’m sure you can find it out if you try hard enough,” I smile sweetly, before turning my back on him once again.

I groan with frustration as I stride away, my head held high. God, can’t the guy take a hint?

***

“Hey, what’s up, guys?” I greet Alex and Maria with a smile when I finally reach them next to the Cocktail Society sign-up stall.

“Hey, Liz,” replies Alex. “Did you join all the societies you wanted to?”

“Yep,” I grin, “How about you two?”

“You bet,” smiles Maria. “I joined CinSoc, Folk Soc, Art Soc and Choral Soc.”

“Computer Science, Motor Soc, Net Gamers, Tolkien Soc and Rock Soc for me,” adds Alex. “I’m all sorted.”

“Great,” I grin. “So, where Isabel? I thought she was meeting us here too?”

Maria shrugs, searching the crowd for a glimpse of her blonde ponytail, “Dunno, she said she’d be here now.”

We wait a little longer for her and sure enough, two minutes later, an out-of-breath, flushed Isabel appears in front of us.

“Hey guys, sorry I’m late, I ran into my brother and I couldn’t get away,” she explains hurriedly.

“Your brother?” I ask quizzically. I don’t remember her mentioning that she even had a brother, let alone that he was here.

“Yeah,” she nods, “he’s a student here too – final year.”

“I didn’t know you had a brother,” pipes up Alex, his eyes trained on Isabel’s face.

She shrugs, “Yeah, well, he’s three years older than me and we don’t really get along that well, so I didn’t think it was that important.”

I’m tempted to mention that the fact that her brother is a student here too is kind of a big deal, since it’s not often that siblings attend the same university; after all, we’ve all been pretty honest about our backgrounds and family over the last few days and it seems a bit strange that she wouldn’t say anything about a brother, but I don’t think it would go down that well, so I keep my mouth shut.

“Oh, okay,” I say instead.

Maria gives me a weird look.

“‘Oh, okay?’” she repeats incredulously, before turning to Isabel, “Not important? Izzie, hun, I can’t believe you didn’t tell us you had inside info on this place! Your brother could tell us where the cool clubs are and which ones to avoid. Just think of the possibilities.”

Isabel looks around uncomfortably and I start to get the feeling that there’s more to this story than she’s letting on. I glance toward Alex, who seems to be sharing my thoughts. A mutual agreement passes between us, before he speaks up again,

“Stop hassling her, Maria,” he scolds. “The rate you’re going, you’ll know the ins-and-outs of this town’s clubbing scene by the end of the week anyway.”

Maria looks slightly offended, but Isabel prevents her from saying anything further.

“Thanks, Alex,” she smiles and then looks around at the rest of us, “So, who’s up for joining several alcohol-related societies, then?”

She doesn’t wait for a reply, but heads right over to the Cocktail Society table, leaving the rest of us staring after her in confusion. The girl seems to be in major avoidance mode today.

“What was all that about?” wonders Maria obliviously. “I was only pointing out how useful it would be to have someone around who knows the place.”

Alex just rolls his eyes, before heading over to the sign-up table and I shoot Maria a look, as I follow Alex’s lead.

***

“What are you going to wear tonight?” asks Maria, as she rummages through her small, wooden closet, wearing a floaty halter-neck top and boy shorts. “I can’t decide between these two,” she says, holding up a tiny denim miniskirt in one hand and a pair of sparkly, cropped trousers in the other.

“Wear the trousers,” I advise, as I pull out a pair of tight jeans and a purple sequinned top. “It’s October… way too cold for miniskirts unless you’re going clubbing.”

“Yeah,” she agrees, holding the trousers against her hips and seizing up her appearance in the mirror attached to her closet door. “I guess.”

She drops the skirt onto her bed and pulls on the trousers. I occupy myself with searching for a suitable paid of shoes to wear for our evening of karaoke at one of the bars in town.

“So, it’s kinda weird, right; the whole ‘Isabel not telling us she had a brother who goes here’ thing?” Maria blurts out a few moments later, while fastening her earrings. “I mean, I would have thought that was one of the first things you’d mention, seeing how it’s pretty relevant and all.”

“I don’t know, Maria, but it’s not really any of our business, is it?” I reply, as I pull on my clothes. “My advice? Just leave it alone.”

I may have only known her for a few days, but already I can tell that she has a tendency to take things a little too personally and perhaps stick her nose into other people’s business a bit too much.

“Fine,” she relents with a shake of her head as she changes the subject. “So, anyway, are you nearly ready to go?”

“Almost,” I reply, reaching for my cosmetics bag and heading towards the mirror above the sink. “Just have to do my make up first.”

“Okay, cool. Well, I’m done, so I’m gonna go see if anyone’s up for some pre-karaoke drinks in the kitchen,” she says cheerfully. “I bet Alex is around.”

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Hey, everyone, thanks for all your feedback :

twilight - Thanks . No, we don't know who Isabel's brother is yet... and I'm not got to spoil it by saying anything . And yes, Kyle will be in this story too.

RiceKrispy - Thanks . Yeah, Cocky Bastard suits him in this story, doesn't it?

Lairabehr4 - Thanks .

Ms_BuffyAnneSummers - Thanks . I'm not going to say anything yet... I'll just let you keep reading to see what happens .

Alien_Friend - Thanks . Yeah, as I mentioned in another page, Max is definitely not shy in this story - he's playing it cool with the hands in the pockets . Who is Isabel's brother? I'm not telling yet .

begonia9508 - Thanks . Yep, Max is certainly not used to rejection here!

sarammlover - Thanks . More about Isabel's life with be revealed as the story progresses.

xsuper_novax - Thanks - yep, Liz is not gonna fall for his attitude in this one. P.S. Thanks - about the avatar... I just started watching the season 1 DVD on Netflix - no idea why I didn't watch it on TV when I actually lived in the UK?!

Michelle in Yonkers - Thanks .

behrlyliz - Thanks . We don't currently know who Isabel's brother is yet. And yes, new update today .

Tamashii - Thanks . Yep, he will have to find out her name on his own . We will get answers to your questions eventually .

roswell3053 - Thank you .

pookie76 - - yep, there are lots of differences in US and UK English... and UK English can be very hard to understand sometimes because we have so many different accents and dialects in such a small area. You can travel as little as 20 miles away and find people using slightly different accents and have different slang words for things .

blink1lit - Thanks .



***


Part Three

“Hey, Liz,” greets Alex, as I slide into the free seat next to him in the Union coffee bar on Monday afternoon. “How was your first morning of lectures?”

“Eh,” I shrug, taking a sip of hot tea. “Not bad at all. The first hour was really just an intro to the course and then we had Biochemistry and Genetics, which were pretty cool. This afternoon I have a three-hour lab practical, though. How about you?”

Alex is reading Computer Science – a subject I don’t think I could ever get my head around – but from what I can tell, he’s really brainy; he got five A’s in his A-levels and is here on a scholarship.

“Not bad, not bad,” he nods, with an appreciative smile. “I think I’ve finally found my niche in the world.”

“That’s great, Alex,” I suppress a chuckle at his philosophical tone. “Good for you.”

“Yeah, I think so,” he agrees emphatically, but with a twinkle in his eye.

“So,” I say, between sips of tea, “where’s Maria this fine afternoon? I thought she was gonna meet us in here?”

“Yeah, she was,” replies Alex, “but she texted me a few minutes ago. She got held up in the Drama department and is going to Wetherspoon’s for lunch and a drink with her new coursemates, so she’ll see us for dinner at the hall later.”

“Oh, okay,” I nod in understanding. “I probably won’t see her until after dinner though, ’cause I have a street dance class at five-thirty.” I hold up a bag containing my dance clothes to show him.

“Oh, sure, okay. Hey, since they stop serving dinner at six-thirty, you want me to pick you up a sandwich or something when we’re there?”

“Yeah, that would be great,” I agree. “Thanks, Alex. I–”

My voice catches in my throat as my attention is grabbed by a sudden kafuffle at the coffee bar entrance. I look over to see what’s causing all the noise, only to lock my eyes on the one person I was hoping not to see again for a very long time.

Yeah, you guessed it… Cocky Guy.

Sorry… Max. Yeah, that was his name.

As if I could forget.

I frown as I watch him grin and nod at pretty much everyone he passes. Several guys greet him with a friendly slap on the shoulder, while the girls send him flirty smiles and suggestive eyebrow-raises.

I roll my eyes and suppress a groan into my cup of tea, “God, who does he think he is?”

“What?” wonders Alex, averting his eyes from the scene to look over at me. “You mean, Max Evans?”

“Max Evans?” I repeat, trying out the name. “You know him?”

“Well, no,” Alex shakes his head, “not personally, but I do know who he is.”

“Who is he?” I ask suspiciously.

“You don’t already know?” he frowns. “Didn’t you attend the compulsory orientation talks last week?”

“Most of them,” I reply sheepishly, “but not all.”

“Well, if you had been to the Sports and Recreation one, you would have been introduced to Max Evans, this year’s AU President.”

“AU President?” my eyes widen. “Him?”

Nuh uh. No way. A boy as smug and arrogant as him shouldn’t be allowed to be AU president. Surely being chair of the university’s Athletic Union involves seriousness, responsibility, brilliant decision-making and organisational skills, and most importantly, some kind of intelligence. From what I’ve seen of the guy so far, he possesses very few, if any, of those qualities.

“Yup,” nods Alex. “He gave a presentation on the offerings of the Athletics Union and how to get involved.”

“Oh,” is all I can think to say, as my gaze falls on Max flirting outrageously with a small auburn-haired girl. He gives a smirk and slides his arm around her shoulder as he whispers something in her ear. She giggles shamelessly and gives him a playful shove before standing up to leave his table.

My eyes narrow as I notice his eyes following her swaying arse as she struts out of the coffee bar. I snort into my tea at the sickening display.

“What’s up with you?” wonders Alex, a confused look on his face.

“Nothing,” I dismiss quickly. “Just not looking forward to the three-hour lab I have to attend in…” I check my watch, “…shit, in ten minutes!” I send him an apologetic glance, “Sorry, Al, I’ve gotta go. I can’t be late for my first practical.”

With that, I gulp down the remainder of my tea, now lukewarm and not particularly tasty, grab my bag and jacket and quickly make my way out of the student union.

As I leave, I get a prickly feeling on the back of my neck, as if I’m being watched, but I’m late and don’t have time to find out if it’s true; instead, I half-walk, half-run, across campus to the Biology labs.

***

By the time the practical session finishes at five pm, I am exhausted. They certainly don’t like to ease you into this university stuff. Within fifteen minutes of the start of the lab, I’ve been assigned a lab partner – a rather cute bloke by the name of Kyle, by the way – and an experiment to carry out and write up by five o’clock.

I arrive at the student union for my street dance class at five-fifteen and duck into the loo to get changed, before heading into the hall. There are a lot of people milling around, fifty, at least, and suddenly the whole thing seems a little daunting, but before I have a chance to change my mind about attending the class, a tall, athletic-looking blonde shouts over the din for us all to be quiet. She introduces herself as Sophie, the president of the Dance Society, then proceeds to welcome us all to the new term and introduce us to the rest of the committee and also our street dance teacher, Stephanie.

Stephanie looks to be in her late-twenties, but she has her long, strawberry-blonde hair pulled up into a high ponytail and is wearing a lycra sports top and tracksuit bottoms which make her appear younger. She greets us all with a wide grin and enthusiastic hello before beginning the energetic class.

By six-fifteen, my body is aching and I can feel sweat beading on my forehead as I struggle to catch my breath between routines. The class started off fairly gentle, with a warm-up, followed by a few simple dance steps, but it was when Stephanie began to teach us a routine to Justin Timberlake’s Rock Your Body, that the real challenge began. The dance style itself is really cool – we’re basically learning routines and steps right out of a music video – but it’s also fast-paced and requires very good coordination!

I sigh with relief at six-twenty-five when Stephanie finally decides we’ve done enough for today and leads us through a five-minute warm-down. As I drag my tired body over to the back of the room to grab my things, the society’s social secretary calls for our attention to promote the first social of the year, which is being held at one of the bars in town next Wednesday night.

“… and I expect all of you to be there,” she finishes with a mock-stern glare.

“Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?” comments the short, dark-haired girl standing beside me. “Do you think you’ll go?”

“Yeah,” I shrug with a small smile, “why not? Could be fun.”

“Yeah?” she questions. “Well, since neither of us seem to know anyone else here, you wanna meet and go together?”

“Sure,” I agree happily, glad I’m not the only one feeling a bit lost here. “That would be great.”

“I’m Serena, by the way,” she tells me, sticking her hand out in greeting. I shake it.

“Hi, Serena, I’m Liz,” I introduce myself.

“Nice to meet you, Liz,” she smiles. “Look, why don’t I give you my mobile number so we can arrange a time to meet up for this social?”

“Sure,” I say, reaching for my phone.

We swap numbers as we exit the building and then say goodbye as we head off in separate directions. As I walk back to my hall, I can’t help but smile. All in all, today has been a pretty good day: my lectures weren’t too bad, I have a nice lab partner and I’ve made a dance-soc friend. Not bad going, if I do say so myself.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Thanks for the feedback everyone :

Lairabehr4 - Thanks, hun , although I have to admit that I don't think I've said 'grand' in that context in my life, lol.

sarammlover - Thanks ... we'll find out more about Max as the story progresses. And I'm glad you like Alex in this - he's kind of based on one of my friends who is actually quite similar to Alex on the show .

begonia9508 - Thanks . Yeah, since there are so many different characters in the story, I can include Serena here as well .

DreamerM&L - Thanks .

Alien_Friend - Thanks . I couldn't resist setting this story in England .

tinie38 - Thanks . Yep, the first few weeks of uni are all about meeting loads of new people . I remember meeting a guy in my residence hall who turned out to be the son of my most hated teacher in primary school, lol! Also, amazingly enough, my next door neighbour was friends with my mum's best friend and the parents of one of the guys down the hall lived about 2 roads away from where I used to work back home!

Natalie36 - Thanks - glad you're enjoying it.

ForeignLoveMonkey - Lol - no it's definitely set in England, so you don't have to worry about recasting - your mental image is spot on . If I set my stories in the US, I try to make them 'American' and vice versa for the UK... it can be really hard to read a story 'set' in one country but where the characters use the 'wrong' language (I read a book once, set in England, where the main character was eating a US Klondike ice cream bar in the middle of London - you can't even buy those in the UK!)

roswell3053 - Thanks .

Michelle in Yonkers (x2) - Thanks . There's a little more Max/Liz interaction coming up .

Tamashii - Thanks . Yep, those first few weeks can be very busy .

veronica - Thank you - I'm glad you're enjoying it . Perhaps Liz is being stereotypical, but believe me, there were plenty of guys just like she assumes Max is at my university - it's kind of automatic that she might jump to the conclusion that he is cocky and arrogant .

behrlyliz - Thanks . Yes, Liz is just basing her assumptions about Max on what she's seen of him so far... I seem to remember that the AU President back when I was starting university had the same kind of reputation .

RonaldoC - Thank you .

Author's Note: Just a quick note about the AU President: Looking through some websites of UK universities, it appears that often the AU President is actually a sabbatical position, whereby a recently graduated student takes some time out before getting a job and gets paid to work for the university as the AU President for a year (this is not always the case, but since the job is pretty demanding, it makes sense for a non-student to do it). The position is elected by the student body and does not always have to be held by a man - the current president at my undergrad uni is female. The main job of the AU President is to liase with university administration and outside companies for support as well as overseeing the running of all the sports teams and societies within the university.


***


Part Four

Thursday evening is the first meeting of the Debate Society (or DebSoc or short). I rush to the Union from my hall after dinner and make it to the meeting room with just one minute to spare. When I arrive, I find everyone already seated, waiting for the first meeting of the year to start. I slip into a seat near the back of the room as the president of the society begins his welcome speech. I turn my attention to him as he tells us how the practice debate workshops will work and what we will need to do for them, but when he goes on to describe the structure of the weekly formal debates, a nervous knot begins to form in my stomach and I wonder why I ever decided to join this society – I’m really not a fan of public speaking.

A latecomer slips into the room and takes the seat beside me, but I’m kind of caught up in being scared about having to stand up and take part in a debate sometime soon and I don’t really notice him until…

“Well, well, fancy seeing you here.”

“What?” I spin round to face the newcomer… and make a face. “Oh, it’s you.”

“It’s me,” he confirms with an arrogant smirk.

“God, you are stalking me, aren’t you? Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

“Stalking? Who said anything about stalking?” he questions in amusement. “You know, not everything is about you, love. I’ve been a member of this society for the past two years, so if anything, I’d say you were stalking me.”

“Me? I don’t think so, mate,” I respond dryly. “I’m just trying to go about my own life in peace here.”

“If you say so.”

I choose to ignore him and turn my attention back to the front of the room in time to hear the society president finish his speech,

“Okay, so we have a practice debate sign-up list up here, so if you’d like to take part in a particular debate, you can put your name down for it at the end of the meeting.”

For the remainder of the evening, two of the committee members give interesting and thought-provoking arguments (at least, I think they’re supposed to be) regarding the current state of UK politics. I try to follow along with their points of view, but to be honest I’ve never really been that into politics. And it certainly doesn’t help that Max spends the entire meeting being incredibly annoying and trying every single cocky line he can think of to get my attention.

It doesn’t work, at least not in the way he’s hoping and as soon as the debate finishes, I leave my seat, sign up to defend the debate entitled ‘Adoption of Children by Same Sex Couples: Should gay couples be given the same legal rights as heterosexuals in adopting children?’, scheduled for week four and then escape the room – and Max – as soon as possible.

God, what did I do to deserve the torture known as Max Evans’ company?

***

“Come on, Liz, we’re doing a boys vs. girls Boat Race in the corridor. We need you to make up the numbers,” Maria appears in the doorway of our room, where I’m chatting to a couple of girls from the floor below the next evening.

“I’ll be there in a sec, Maria,” I tell her with a nod as I turn my attention back to the conversation.

It’s Friday night and the guys on our floor decided to have a party. This afternoon James and Alex persuaded Maria to drive them out to the large superstore just outside the city for a booze shopping spree. They came back with an entire car-full of alcoholic beverages and party snacks and then proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon and early evening setting up the staging area for the party (which is James and his roommate, Michael’s room).

I excuse myself from the two girls from downstairs and less than two minutes later I am standing in a line outside the party room with the other girls from our floor, a bottle of orange Reef in my hand. Beside us, the guys are standing in line, one behind the other, also with bottles of Reef in their hands.

“Okay, is everyone ready?” asks Jo, the designated adjudicator for tonight’s festivities. She’s the only one of us who doesn’t drink and so was the only feasible choice for overseeing the drinking games. “Three, two, one, go.”

At the front of the lines, Maria and James begin the race by lifting a bottle to their lips and downing the alcohol as fast as possible (which isn’t easy to do with a bottle of Reef – believe me). Maria finishes hers first – more practice, I guess, since the guys usually down pints rather than bottles – and places the bottle on the top of her head, holding it steady with one hand, an indicator that she’s done.

Behind her, Amanda, our next-door neighbour on the other side, takes this as her cue and begins downing her drink, again placing the empty bottle on her head, allowing me to get started on my drink. In case you’ve never played before, you should probably know that the point of the game is for each person to do this in turn until everyone has downed their drink. The first team to have everyone finished with their bottle held on their head is the winner.

There are a tense few moments halfway through the game, during which the guys and girls are neck-and-neck, but thank God for Tess, who’s standing two places behind me in the line – she might be a bit of a stuck-up, bleach-blonde slut (and I’m not being mean here, she’s admitted as much herself), but her ability to down a bottle of Reef in record time is a Godsend. Her effort puts the girls just slightly ahead of the boys time-wise and the rest of the line takes advantage of this. By the time the last person in our line, Isabel, begins drinking, we’re almost two people ahead of them.

“And the girls are the winners!” announces Jo a few moments later, when Isabel lets out a cry of ‘Done!’ as she places her bottle on her head.

“Yes!” shouts Amanda, pulling me into a slightly drunken hug “Take that, guys!”

“No fair!” shouts Michael. “I want a rematch – they cheated!”

“We did not!” exclaims Maria indignantly. “You just can’t accept that we’re better than you.”

“Yeah? Wanna bet?” argues Michael, advancing on Maria angrily. “Let’s go again, you and me. I’ll drink you under the table.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, if I were you, Guerin,” tosses back Maria.

I roll my eyes and duck into James and Mike’s room, where a few people are milling around. Maria and Michael have been at each other’s throats pretty much since the day they met two weeks ago. I’m not sure of the source of the hostility exactly, but I’ve come to the conclusion that they simply just rub each other the wrong way.

I head over to the drinks table and grab another Reef, although to be honest, I really don’t like the drink that much – it’s too sweet for my tastes – but as poor, struggling students, it’s pretty much the only thing we can afford.

“Cool party, huh?” asks a male voice from beside me as I lean against the table and take a swig of my drink.

I turn my head to see a good-looking, sandy-haired boy with bright green eyes grinning down at me.

“Hi, I’m Jake,” he introduces, holding out his hand for me to shake. “I live in B block.”

“Nice to meet you, Jake,” I say with a smile. “I’m Liz. I live down the hall,” I nod towards the doorway.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Liz,” he smiles, letting go of my hand. “So, what are you studying?”

Ah, the age old question; the one that seems to start pretty much every conversation the first few weeks of university. What are you studying?

“Biology,” I reply, taking another swig. “You?”

“French and Spanish,” he tells me, as he indicates a free spot on James’ small sofa and leads me over to it.

“Wow, sounds intense,” I comment as we take a seat. “I was never much good at languages at school.”

“Nah, it’s not too bad,” he dismisses. “If anything, I’d say that Biology was more intense.” At my questioning gaze, he elaborates, “I tried taking AS Biology in college, but soon realised it wasn’t my thing. Tell me, how do you remember all those long words for things? I could never figure it out.”

I chuckle, “Oh, you mean like, eukaryotic… saprotrophic… thylakoid membranes?”

“Yeah,” he grins and I can’t help but notice how incredibly cute he looks when he does that, “Like those.”

“Well, it’s not too bad after a while,” I smile. “I always found it much harder to conjugate verbs or differentiate between the perfect and imperfect tenses in French lessons.”

“And I always found that part easy,” he admits then, with a chuckle. “So I guess that makes us even on the academic difficulty scale then.”

“Yeah, I guess it does.”

We talk easily for a good portion of the evening, getting to know each other and joking around as the alcohol continues to flow. Strangely enough, the more I drink, the more I feel comfortable and happy in his presence and I realise I want to spend time with him, so when he places his current beer bottle on the floor beside the couch, lifts his hand to my hair and leans in for a gentle, if not slightly drunken kiss, I give into it immediately.

For several minutes, I don’t care about the people around us, or the fact that I can hear Maria and Isabel calling out, ‘Go, Liz!’ in the background, I just enjoy the feel of Jake’s talented mouth on mine, making me forget the rest of the world.

“Wanna go somewhere a little… quieter?” he murmurs, when he pulls away and notices several people watching us.

“Sure,” I grin in my inebriated state. “Let’s go.”

He stands and holds out his hand to me, I slip my hand in his and he pulls me upright. We head out of the room and into the corridor, careful not to slip on the puddle of water that has appeared on the floor. I groan; apparently some people (i.e. a certain Michael Guerin) have decided it would be a good idea to run the bath almost to overflowing and then all jump in fully clothed.

Jake frowns at the drunken bath revellers as we walk past the open bathroom door and he leads me towards the end of the corridor, where A block ends and B block begins.

“Come on, I’ll give you the B block tour,” he states softly.

“Sure,” I reply happily, but frown when I realise, “but doesn’t B block look exactly the same as A block? You know, grey brick walls, no carpets, cracked walls.”

He stops to think for a minute, “Hmm, yeah maybe you’re right.” But then he shrugs, “But you never know, maybe something changed since this afternoon… I think we ought to check.”

“Yes, I think we should,” I agree, nodding thoughtfully.

We make our way through the B block corridors, knocking on everyone’s door to make sure their room hasn’t changed in the last five hours and occasionally stumbling over each other in our haste to cover the whole building. Twenty minutes later, I’m standing on the bottom floor, outside Jake’s room as he fumbles with the key in the lock.

“Ah ha,” he cried out triumphantly as the door swings open a few moments later. “Welcome to my humble abode.”

“Thank you, kind sir,” I manage, my words coming out kind of slurred, as I step into the room. It looks pretty similar to the guys rooms on my floor – metal frame bed, wardrobe, desk with computer, sink in the corner, a few posters on the walls and a few clothes scattered on the floor.

He follows me into the room, almost tripping over a pair of jeans on the floor. I start to giggle, finding myself unable to stop, the situation suddenly hilarious, but when he stands up straight again and closes the door behind him, the laughter dies in my throat. I watch him carefully as he walks towards me, the atmosphere shifting as quiet falls between us. But it doesn’t last long because before I know it, he’s kissing me again, his arms around me, holding me upright so I don’t fall over. It feels good, being held by him, having his soft, warm lips pressed against mine.

This is great, I realise as his tongue begins to slide in and out of my mouth suggestively and I lose myself in his wonderful ministrations. This is just what I need to loosen up after the week I’ve had.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Hey everyone, thank you for your feedback :

begonia9508 - Thanks . Let's hope she does. Glad you like Max and Liz's interactions - I have a lot of fun writing them .

Lairabehr4 - Thanks, hun .

Alien_Friend - Thanks . Yep, Michael and Maria are hitting it off already . The Boat Race game was based on a time we played it in our hall, although I seem to remember that the guys won that one . Yep, it could be very interesting if Max and Liz have to debate against each other .

roswell3053 - Thanks . Keep on reading to find out what happens with Liz and Jake .

tinie38 - Thanks .

behrlyliz - Thanks . It could be possible .

dreamsatnight -

I love the way Liz and Max interact- it's so funny! And the party in the dorm is so familiar, we couldn't drink out in the open like that but we once had a water fight inside, a pillow fight another time, and conspired to make giant jumping pad... oh the dorms, haha

. I'll admit that it's kind of annoying to be living on my campus here in the US - it's a dry campus so alcohol is banned completely! There's no way you could persuade a UK university to ban alcohol... it's such an integral part of university life - plus, since the legal drinking age in the UK is 18, everyone is completely legal by the time they start university. My undergrad campus had a subsidised bar in every dorm, 3 other bars and a nightclub in the student union.

But given her previous luck with Max "stalking" her, why do I predict that Max just happens to be Jake's roommate and he'll arrive any minute now to interrupt any action?

There's not really much chance of that happening, to be honest, since usually only first year students are allowed to live in residence halls and we know that Max has been at the university for at least 2 years already.

Michelle in Yonkers - Thanks . I already posted a reply to you at the top of the page, so I'll just say thanks here .

jamy21 - Thanks

oooh that would be great lol. Mostly because we all know for Max to have a problem with it it would make him a huge hypocrit. Liz is just having fun. I think if anything, it'll make him want her more, because he'll realize she's not a prude, she just isn't falling over him for some reason, and it'll bug him.

Ahh, but will Max ever find out about it? Unless Liz tells him herself, he's not likely to ever know anything about it.

Oh college, I think I've already worn myself out from the college experience lol. And I still have my masters and ph.d to get. OH joy!

- I wore myself out from the college experience back in about 2003 or so, but I'm still going - got my first degree in 2005, my masters earlier this year and I'm doing a PhD right now !

Jbehrbabe - Thanks

But...Isn't Liz's sleeping with this guy the same as the girl she thought so poorly of for sleeping with Max at the club when she first met him? She has condemed Max but sleeps with a perfect stranger, same as Max. I don't see where she sees herself as being any better. She doesn't act cocky like Max and hasn't shown (yet) that this behavior is a regular thing but she doesn't seem to take having sex with a guy she just met all that seriously either, her thought process leads me to believe this. Max sleeps around and so does she it seems. I'm a little disappointed in her hypocrisy.

You do have a point, although to be honest, the situation is a little different here. With Max, he went to the club with the intention of finding someone to take home with him, he wasn't extremely drunk - he knew exactly what he was doing, and he didn't seem to care who he went home with, as long as he found someone. However, Liz was having a party with her friends, she was just there to enjoy herself with no expectations or ulterior motives, she just started talking to someone nice, they got drunk together and ended up in bed a few hours later. She didn't intend for it to happen, but it did.

twilight - Thank you .

I don't know it could be just me needing some much need sleep but Jake seems really creepy to me I don't know why. I was really disappointed in Liz I by no means think she's perfect but so far in this story she doesn't seem like the type of girl to sleep with some guy after just talking with him for a couple of minutes.

Oh no, Jake wasn't supposed to come off as creepy at all - granted, we haven't seen much of him yet, but he's just a nice guy who lives in the same building as Liz, who she got on with well. The thing is, Liz isn't the type of girl to sleep with a stranger, but she's just started university, she's experiencing new things... and she'd had quite a lot to drink. Also, they'd been talking for a couple of hours before anything else happened and it's likely to just be a one-off thing for Liz. After all, everyone makes mistakes/does stupid things when they're young.



A/N: Next week's update will probably be on Monday, because I don't think I'll have any time to do it on Tuesday - I have to proctor a final at 7.30am, grade said final, take an exam myself and then catch a flight to LA in the evening!

***


Part Five

I wake up with a groan, lifting my hand to my head in an attempt to lessen the unbearable throbbing in my temples. Oh God, how much did I drink last night? I should know better than to get so pissed – the very bad drunken experience I had in Newquay the summer before Year Thirteen ought to have taught me to know better. It takes a lot of effort to pry my eyes open, but the second I do, they slam immediately shut again. God, even the room is spinning – exactly how much did I drink at the party last night? Exhaling slowly, I force my eyes open again, expecting to see Maria asleep in her bed across the room. But she’s not there… wait, that’s not right. I’m the one who’s not there.

Shit, I’m not in my own room. Where the fuck am I?

A sleepy groan sounds from behind me and my eyes widen in shock as the events of last night begin to come back to me. The Boat Race game; meeting Jake; getting very drunk; water on the floor; kissing in his room; ending up in bed with him.

Oh fuck.

I just had a one-night-stand. I never have one-night-stands; it’s not in my nature. I only sleep with people I’m in a relationship with. And yet right now, I’m naked, squashed into a tiny single bed with a guy I’ve only known for a few hours, who by the way is also naked. Suddenly I feel nauseous. I have to get out of here before he wakes up. I don’t think I can deal with the awkwardness of the situation if he wakes up and I’m still here.

Slowly, I ease my way out of the bed, careful not to disturb his sleeping form and also not to throw up from the raging hangover I now have. I reach for my clothes, pulling the top over my head quickly and shimmying into the skirt. I grab my underwear and quietly slip out of the room, tiptoeing through the corridor and into the bathroom. Locking myself in one of the toilet cubicles, I sink to my knees, emptying the contents of my stomach into the bowl until I begin to feel a little better. When I’m finally capable of standing again, I redress myself, pulling my knickers on beneath my skirt and putting on my bra, before pulling my top back on.

I sneak out of the toilet and carefully head back to A block, all the while praying that no one sees me. As I climb the stairs, the weight of what I’ve just done sinks in. God, why did I let myself sleep with him? Did we even use a condom? I can’t even remember. Thank God I’m on the pill, at least.

I let out a sigh of relief when I quietly open the door to my room; Maria is still asleep. As stealthily as I can, I change into my pyjamas and climb into bed. Maybe if I’m lucky, I can convince her that I’ve been here all night.

***

Monday night and street dance class come around quickly, distracting me from a long weekend and a difficult lab this afternoon. When I arrive, I see Serena standing by the wall, so I immediately head towards her, dropping my bag onto the floor beside her.

“Hey, Serena,” I greet with a smile. “What’s going on?” I ask when I notice that everyone seems to be chattering excitedly about something.

“Oh, Sophie has just announced that they’re putting together a Cheerleading Squad to perform at the Varsity Rugby match next month. They’re holding short dance auditions for the squad after class today.”

“Oh, cool, that sounds fun,” I bite my lip. I’ve always wanted to try a spot of cheerleading. Of course, my enthusiasm has nothing to do with the fact that a certain annoying person I know is on the rugby team. Definitely not.

Class starts a couple of minutes later with a warm-up and then Stephanie goes over the routine we learned last week, before adding some more choreography to and then splitting us up into groups and getting us to choreograph a couple of bars ourselves. I’m not too great at inventing dances, but I have a go and within a few minutes I begin to get the hang of it.

Six-fifteen soon rolls around and we warm down, before Sophie thanks us all for coming and then asks for those interested in auditioning for the cheerleading squad to stay behind for a few minutes. She and a couple of the other committee members hand out numbers for each of us to pin on our chests and then they teach us a short, fairly simple dance routine.

Sophie splits us into three groups and then we have to perform the routine three times each, while the committee scribbles notes on pads of paper. However, the extra effort is all worth it in the end, when the team is announced a few minutes after and both Serena and I realise that we’ve made it onto the squad. Sophie congratulates us and then announces that they’ve arranged with the varsity rugby team to hold a joint social with them next Wednesday, which sounds fun, although I’m a little wary about what a rugby team social might entail, especially since the Social Secretary then adds an extra twist: the cheerleaders have to go in rugby uniform and the rugby team is required to wear cheerleading outfits. Oh ,well at least this cheerleading thing could be fun, I suppose.

I head back to the halls afterwards with a smile on my face, things are definitely looking up after the emotional weekend I had, recovering from my stupidness on Friday night.

***

“And the covalent bonds between the oxygen and hydrogen molecules in water have a bond angle of 104.5°,” states Dr. Harrow in the lecture on Tuesday afternoon.

I sigh, supporting my chin on my hand as I doodle senseless cartoons on my lecture notes. I never realised Biochemistry could be so boring. I mean, sure I love Biology as a subject, but my real interests are in the molecular and microbiology side of things, not Chemistry. I look at the clock on the wall…one forty-four pm. Only eleven more minutes to go. Thank god.

My gaze shifts around the large lecture theatre; there are about one-hundred-and-twenty students on the Biology course, the majority of us are female, with maybe around a third being male. I guess Biology isn’t considered a very masculine subject. Having said that though, on their journey back to my notebook, my eyes catch the gaze of Kyle Valenti, my lab partner. He shoots me a smile, mouthing a ‘hi’ as he gives me a small wave.

‘Hi,’ I mouth back, before stifling a yawn.

He grins and nods, indicating that he knows what I mean, before turning his attention back to the lecture. I smile to myself as I scribble down the chemical equation the Dr. Harrow has just written on the chalkboard. Granted, we’ve only spent three lab sessions working together, but I’ve already come to the conclusion that Kyle is a pretty cool guy. We have a laugh in lab and he comes across as friendly and easy to talk to.

“Hey, Liz,” he catches up with me after the lecture, as I’m exiting the building. “Fun lecture, huh?” he deadpans.

“Hey, Kyle,” I greet with a smile, before rolling my eyes “Tell me about it; I was trying not to fall asleep in there.”

“You know, I am so glad that the first year doesn’t count towards our degree at all. It means I can slack off until next year and then just work hard for the next two after that,” he grins.

I laugh, “Kyle, you do know that you still have to pass this year, even if it doesn’t count.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” he shrugs. He looks out of the window for a moment before turning back to me, “Look, we have an hour off before Microbiology, you fancy wasting some time and getting a drink in the Union or something?”

“Sure, why not?” I reply; after all, I was wondering what I was gonna do for the next hour anyway.

We walk down to the Union and get settled in the student bar. Kyle orders a pint, but since it’s cold out I decide on a hot chocolate rather than anything alcoholic. Actually, if I’m being honest with myself, I’m also a little wary of drinking since the whole Jake thing at the weekend. I’m still not quite over the shame and embarrassment of that incident; in fact, I almost can’t believe I actually slept with him – it’s so not a ‘me’ thing to do.

I almost got away with sneaking back into my room in the early hours of the morning on Saturday; at first Maria didn’t seem to notice that I had been gone all night, but then later in the morning Michael very kindly pointed out that he’d seen me go somewhere with ‘that blond guy’ at the party and that no one had seen me for the rest of the night, so I had to confess.

Maria was all over me for details for most of the day, but eventually I got her to calm down and was able to persuade her to leave it alone. So now, all I really have to worry about is the possibility of running into Jake again at some point in the future.

“So, what have you been up to since yesterday, Liz?” asks Kyle as we take a seat at a table in the intentionally dark, cosy-pub-style bar. “Anything interesting?”

“Not a whole lot, actually,” I tell him. “I had dance class after lab, auditioned for the new cheerleading squad they’re putting together, got into the team, then went back to the halls for dinner and just hung out in people’s rooms for the evening.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad at all,” he acknowledges with a grin. “Congrats on getting on the team, by the way. Your night definitely sounds better than my evening.”

“Why, what happened?” I ask, taking a sip of hot chocolate.

“I got roped into a blind date,” he states flatly.

“And from your tone, I’m guessing it didn’t go well?”

“You could say that,” he takes a gulp of his beer before turning to me. “Tell me, Liz, are all uni girls that shallow?”

“What happened?” I ask with a smile.

“Well, it was going well, at least I thought it was; she was pretty and she seemed nice, but god, she spent the entire night talking about herself!” he exclaims. “I got every detail, right down to how much her ‘Daddy’ spent on her 18th birthday party. It was like, ‘hello, aren’t we supposed to be getting to know each other here, not just you?’”

I hide a smirk behind my steaming mug, “Don’t worry, Kyle, we’re not all like that. It’s just that this university has a slight reputation for being full of kids with money – you know, the ones that are rich, but whose money didn’t quite get them into Oxbridge.”

“Oh, yeah, right,” he nods, making a face.

“I wouldn’t worry too much, Kyle, I’m sure you’ll find someone better if you keep looking.”

“Thanks, Liz,” he grins, gulping down some more beer, as I reach for a copy of the university paper from the stand behind our table and begin flicking through it, while we wait for three o’clock and our Microbiology lecture to come around.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Thank you for the feedback, everyone . I'm updating a day early because I'm not going to have any time to do it tomorrow and I'll be in LA from tomorrow night until Friday. I will try to update on time next week, but I'm moving apartments on Saturday and I'm not sure when I'll get internet installed - so I'll see what I can do.


Lairbehr4 - Thanks .

Alien_Friend - Thanks . Look out for part 7 in regards to cheerleading stuff . As for Kyle/Liz possibilities... you have to keep on reading to see if anything's likely to happen there or not.
I'm only gonna be in LA for 2 days (I'm meeting up with a friend who's stopping off in LA this week on route from NZ back to the UK after a year working there) - I have to be back Friday am to grade finals!

pookie76 - Thanks . I think I replied to your FB in the A/N on page 9.

paper - Thanks . Also wrote a reply to your FB on page 9 the other day .

begonia9508 - Thanks - I responded to your comments on page 9.

Natalie36 - Thanks .

sarammlover - Thanks . I'm just trying to show Liz as realistically as possible... she's just experiencing university life - and making the most of it. Re: Michael and Maria - I've never really read Candy fic, but I've been getting into a couple of M/M stories recently . If I hadn't decided to write this as Liz POV only, I would definitely have included more M/M scenes in the story.

DreamerM&L - - from what I've heard talking to my parents, the weather has been gorgeous back home the last few days . Yeah, Exeter is a pretty cool uni - it's a lovely campus (if you don't count the big hill) and a really nice town, but it can be expensive for accomodation - they've just built some brand new halls - all single, en-suite rooms with shower, heated towel rail and double bed - and some halls charge close to £150/week (I was paying around £80/week when I lived there). I'm doing my PhD in Geophysics... it's a lot of work though - I haven't had any time to write in almost 2 weeks now (the semester is over this week though so will hopefully have more time soon) .

roswell3053 - Thanks . Watch out for the next part (part 7) for some cheerleading-related fun .

kay_b - Thanks . Yes, what happens between Max and Liz is the big question... you'll have to keep on reading to find out how things progress .

twilight - Thanks . Yes, she made a mistake, one she regrets now - but all she can do is accept that it happened and move on.

Michelle in Yonkers - ...we're getting there...

Tamashii -


***


Part Six

“Hey, Liz, are you up yet?” Isabel calls from the other side of our door, knocking impatiently for effect. “Alex and I want to go down for breakfast.”

“Give me a minute, Iz,” I return sleepily, as I drag myself out of bed and reach for some clean clothes. I notice that Maria is not in bed, although her sheets are rumpled, and for a second I wonder where she is, but then I remember that she has an early class on Fridays and must have left already.

I pull on my clothes quickly, before heading for the sink, giving my hair a quick comb and my teeth a quick brush. I don’t bother with much make-up though, only enough concealer and powder to make myself look presentable (i.e. get rid of the dark circles under my eyes). After all, I don’t have a lecture until eleven am, so I can always come back up here and take a shower after breakfast.

“Okay, I’m ready,” I announce as I slip on my shoes and pull open the door to reveal an impatient-looking Isabel and a sheepish Alex on the other side.

“Finally!” exclaims Isabel. “Let’s go.”

“Wait!” I call as she turns to walk down the corridor. “I forgot my hall card.”

“Oh, for God’s sake,” I hear as I rush back into the room and grab the laminated picture card resting on my desk.

Everyone living in the halls gets one of these cards with their picture, the academic year and their hall of residence on it. It’s basically just an ID card for meals – we have to show it otherwise we can’t eat in the hall dining room.

“Right, let’s go then, shall we?” I ask, locking the door behind me.

We head downstairs together and outside, crossing the road to get to the main building of the hall, where the dining room is located. Alex is telling Isabel and I an apparently hilarious story about something that happened in his computer lab yesterday (apparently you had to be there), but about halfway through my attention is caught by something… or rather someone… else.

Oh shit, it’s him; it’s Jake – you know, from the party last week. I duck behind Isabel, attempting to hide from him, without much success. Thing is, I’ve been doing my best to avoid Jake for the last few days, and until now have been successful. But there’s no chance of escaping him now; he’s already spotted me. My heart lurches in my chest as he approaches us.

“Liz. Hi,” he murmurs, his expression unreadable.

“Jake?” I squeak, my nerves getting the best of me. I fight the urge to turn and run, to escape this awkward situation. “Hi.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Isabel and Alex exchange a look before quickly excusing themselves and quickly walking into the main building.

Thanks a lot, guys.

“So…” starts Jake, awkwardly, slipping his hands into his pockets, his shoulders rising in a sort-of shrug.

“So…”

“You, um, you were gone,” he states, before clarifying, “… in the morning.”

“Um, yeah,” I mumble, looking past him at… nothing in particular. Truth is, I can’t bring myself to make eye contact with him right now. “I, um… sorry about that.”

“I thought… well, I kinda expected that you’d still…” he shrugged, with a shake of his head. “Never mind.”

“Wait,” I say quickly, as he begins to turn away. He turns back to face me again. “I’m sorry, Jake. I didn’t mean to… it’s just that I’m not the kind of girl who sleeps with people I’ve just met. I’d had so much to drink that night and when I woke up and realised I wasn’t in my own bed, I panicked. So I just grabbed my things and left. I didn’t know what else to do. I’m sorry.”

“Okay…” he takes that in, before sighing, “I can understand that… I guess.”

There’s an uncomfortable pause during which neither of us seems to know what to say.

“Well, this is awkward,” I mutter a moment later.

“Yeah…” he’s looking at something above my head.

This isn’t going well. Not well at all.

I was hoping never to have to see him again, let alone have to have a conversation with him. If I’m being totally honest, I wish I could just forget it ever happened at all. But, well obviously I can’t, and now I have no clue how to deal with the situation. Jake was apparently under the impression that we had something that night and I… well, I don’t really know what I was thinking. Maybe if I hadn’t gotten so drunk or things hadn’t gone so far… but I think I’ve pretty much ruined any chance of anything more by having sex with him within three hours of first meeting.

“Well,” I utter, for lack of anything else to say. “I’d–I’d better go… um, get breakfast.”

“Yeah,” he mutters stoically.

“Bye,” I add quickly, making a hasty retreat toward the main building… toward safety.

I let out a shaky sigh when I finally get inside and away from him. That was the single most awkward moment of my life – and not something I wish to repeat any time soon.

I make my way through the old manor house, which now serves as one of the university’s halls of residence, and head into the dining room. There’s no queue, so I quickly grab some cereal and bread to put in the toaster and then head over to where Isabel and Alex are sitting.

At first it seems like they’re in some kind of deep conversation and I wonder if maybe they’re starting to get closer, something I know Alex would like very much, but when I get close enough to hear the conversation, I realise it’s not the case.

“…And then he has the nerve to call me up and tell me what a bastard my dad is!” cries Isabel, waving her mobile around in the air. “I mean, for God’s sake, he’s not my dad, he’s our dad. Why can’t he just accept that?”

“Hey, Iz,” soothes Alex, resting a hand on her shoulder in comfort as a tear rolls down her cheek. “Um, don’t cry.”

Uh oh, I think I just walked in on something.

“What’s wrong, Izzie?” I ask softly, as I slip into the seat opposite her.

“It’s just my stupid brother,” she sniffs. “He can be such a bastard sometimes.”

“What happened?”

She shakes her head, her gaze flitting round the room for a moment before, “I told you before that we don’t get on…” I nod in remembrance. “… Well, part of the reason for that is because he’s not actually my full brother, he’s my half-brother.”

“Oh?” I ask, not really knowing what else to say.

“Yeah,” she nods, “his dad died when he was a baby and then Mum remarried and had me. He and Dad have never seen eye-to-eye, even though my Dad officially adopted him when he was three and has raised him like he was his own. It’s just horrible, I mean, Dad loves him so much, yet he just doesn’t seem to want anything to do with him.”

“Oh,” I say again, although this time it’s more subdued.

She lets out a shaky breath, “He and I used to get on really well when we were little, but something changed when he was a teenager and now he hardly speaks to me either anymore.”

“I’m so sorry, Isabel,” my heart goes out to her. “If there’s anything I can do…”

She shakes her head again, “No, you’re all right. Look, I’m not really hungry anymore, so I’m just gonna go…” She stands up, “See you later.”

“Bye, Iz,”

“Bye, Isabel,” calls Alex, as we both watch her leave.

“Poor, Iz,” I say, turning back to Alex. “It doesn’t seem fair that she has to deal with her brother’s issues on top of trying to settle into uni too.”

“Yeah,” he mumbles, his gaze still fixed on the doorway she just walked through. “It isn’t fair.”

***

“No way!” exclaims Michael from his spot on James’ bed, pointing his half-empty beer bottle at Maria. “You can’t do that, it’s against the rules!”

“It is not!” she retorts indignantly. “Nowhere in the rules of Truth or Dare does it say this can’t be a dare.”

“I’m not doing it,” states Michael firmly. “Absolutely no way.”

“You are,” insists Maria, putting down her drink so she can stand up from the bed, grab his arm and pull him upright. “You’re the one who chose ‘dare’ – you can’t back out now. So, come on, get to it, Mike, we’re all waiting.”

“Maria…” he whines as she pushes him out of the bedroom door. We all get up from our seats and eagerly follow them through the corridor and down the stairs. I can’t help but giggle at Michael distraught expression; this is going to be fun.

The next few minutes are priceless: the whole of our floor, plus half of the floor below, turn out to watch ‘manly’ Michael Guerin attempt to chat up gay Tom in room A112. It only takes a second for Tom realise what’s going on when he opens his door, and with a discrete wink towards Maria and I at the front of the crowd, he plays along perfectly. Michael does his best not to turn and run away screaming from the whole situation, and he’s mostly successful, but the last straw for him comes when Tom invites him in to join he and his new boyfriend in a threesome. The moment the words are out of Tom’s mouth, Michael snaps and storms back upstairs in a fit of embarrassed anger, ranting and raving about ‘fucking Maria and her fucking dares’.

Everyone stares after him as he takes the stairs two at a time, but as soon as we hear the sound of Michael’s door slamming shut, we all burst into laughter.

“Great one, Maria!” calls out James from near the back of the crowd.

“Brilliant job, Tom,” shouts someone else. “You had him shaking in his boots!”

“All in a day’s work, folks,” grins Tom, taking a quick bow. “All in a day’s work.”

He heads back into his room and gradually the crowd begins to disperse. Maria orders everyone from our floor back upstairs again for more Truth or Dare. As we climb the stairs, I turn to Maria,

“That was so mean! I think you’ve scarred him for life, Maria.”

“What? No way,” she dismisses. “He totally deserved that. He’s always perving on the female population at this uni, I just thought I’d bring him down a peg or two.”

“Fair enough, I guess,” I say in reply, although I can’t help but wonder if perhaps she has some other reason for inflicting that dare on Michael Guerin.

Once everyone has gotten settled back into our bedroom, the game begins again – minus Michael, though, who is probably still sulking in his room – and we play for another hour, until Isabel suddenly announces,

“Hey, who’s up for Friday Night Breaks?”

Breakers or ‘Breaks’ is the name of the on-campus nightclub, which opens every Friday and Saturday night and is supposed to be THE place to go on the weekend. Personally, I’m not so sure about that, since all I remember from the last time I went – the Friday night of Fresher’s Week – is that the floor gets really sticky from all the spilled alcohol and it gets really hot and stuffy in there. However, everyone else seems to be in favour of the suggestion, so I decide, what the hell, I might as well join them at the club; after all, it’s not like I’d have anything better to do if I stayed here.

TBC…

Max will make an appearance in the next part... I promise

[Heavenli24]

Hey, everyone, thanks for your feedback . I’m still gonna have to wait until Sunday for internet in my apartment, but luckily there’s no one around in the department today, so I can go ahead and update with the new part – yay .


Lairabehr4 – Lol – thanks, hun .

Alien_Friend (x2) – Thanks . Luckily there’s now one around right now so I’m posting from campus. Yeah, it was awkward with Liz and Jake, but it had to happen sometime – after all, they both live and eat their meals in the same building! I’m not going to say anything more right now about Izzy’s brother, but we will find out more as the story continues .
My trip LA was good, thanks, but definitely too short – I could have done with a few more days there, lol!

begonia9508 – Thanks . We still don’t know for sure who Izzy’s brother is… but we do have some more info about him now though.

DreamerM&L – Thanks . Yeah, Michael did deserve it, didn’t he ? More Max coming up right now…

roswell3053 – Thanks . I’m not going to reveal any more about Isabel’s brother right now… but we’ll find out more as the story progresses.

twilight – Thanks . Yes, we can rule out Michael and Alex as Izzy’s brother, and you’re right about Kyle being a first year too (Izzy said that her brother was 3 years older) – so it could be Max… or it could be someone we haven’t met yet. I’m not giving anything away just yet though.

Aurorabee – Thanks . Yep, definitely awkward! More Max is coming up right now and we’ll hear more from Isabel and Alex soon .

Tamashii – Thanks . Max is on the way very soon…

Natalie36 – Thanks . Yep – I’m generally feeling annoyed at the moment because apparently the air con in my apartment is also not working correctly at the moment. Last night, the thermostat was at 85 degrees and I couldn’t get the room to cool down (the outside temps are in the 90’s here this week)!


***

Part Seven

“Hey, guys,” I greet as I knock on James and Michael’s door, “do either of you, by any chance, have a rugby shirt I could borrow?”

“A rugby shirt? Sure,” says James, getting up off his bed, where he was reading a textbook, and reaching into his wardrobe. “I have a couple,” he states, pulling out two shirts, “so you can take your pick.”

One is short-sleeved with white and blue stripes, while the other is long-sleeved and has white and orange stripes.

“I’ll take the blue one, if that’s okay,” I tell him.

“Sure.” He tosses it to me and I catch it before it hits my face. “What do you need it for, anyway?”

“Oh, I have that cheerleading social tonight, remember?” I say, holding the shirt up to me for size. “The cheerleading squad has to wear rugby uniforms and the varsity team gets to dress as cheerleaders.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right,” chuckles James, while Michael lets out a snort from his position the floor where he’s absentmindedly strumming his guitar. “Sounds, um… interesting.”

“Yeah,” I roll my eyes. “Not quite sure what to expect, to be honest. Thanks for the shirt, though.”

“No problem,” he smiles as he sits down on his bed again. “Let me know how it goes.”

“I will,” I reply, before heading back to my room to get ready.

***

I leave the hall at eight o’clock, clad in James' rugby shirt, a pair of Nike running shorts (courtesy of Maria) and my Nike trainers, and make my way down towards the building that houses Breakers on the weekends, outside which Serena and I have agreed to meet so we can walk into town together.

I see her immediately – she’s not hard to miss in a bright red shirt and blue shorts – and smile as I approach her.

“Hey,” I greet. “You ready to go?”

“Hi, Liz,” she smiles. “Yep, I’m ready.”

“Do you know where it is we’re going?” I ask as we start walking off campus.

“Yep, I checked the address before I left,” she informs me. “We’re meeting in Walkabout, at the end of the High Street.”

“Okay, great. I don’t really know my way around town yet, so…”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” she chuckles. “I’ve been so busy finding my way around campus, that I’ve barely ventured into town yet.”

“Me either.”

“Well, I guess we’re about to get to know it together then, huh?” she grins, linking her arm in mine.

It takes about twenty minutes to walk from campus down to the high street and then another fifteen minutes to get to the Australian-themed bar that is to be the venue for tonight’s activities. The place is almost packed by the time we arrive, but due to the nature of the social, the ‘cheerleaders’ and ‘rugby players’ are not difficult to spot. Serena and I make our way through the crowd of normally dressed people to the back of the bar where the social seems to be taking place. As soon as we reach them, a large glass of wine is shoved into our hands and we’re dragged into the group.

“Okay then, guys,” announces Sophie a few minutes later. “I think almost everyone’s here now, so let’s get started, shall we? First of all, does everyone have a drink?”

A chorus of cheers sounds from the guys, who look very… entertaining in their short skirts, tight tank tops and…wigs… as they raised their beer glasses in response, while the girls nod affirmatively.

“Right then, I hope everyone’s up for a good time tonight, because we’ve got some special activities planned for all of you.” A collective groan sounds throughout the group. “Okay, so we’re gonna get the evening off to a start with a little game of Round the World. Come on, into a circle everyone.”

I roll my eyes at Serena as we take our places in the circle, wine glasses in hand. Sophie starts the game off, by downing her glass of wine and then as the girl beside her starts doing the same, she calls out,

“Remember everyone, if I see anyone trying to get a head start on their drink before their turn, they’ll have to down the same again. Got it?”

“Yes,” we all reply, although while the blokes are enthusiastic about it, I know the majority of the girls are wondering how exactly they’re going to down an entire glass of wine in just a few seconds. The game begins without a hitch, but about a third of the way around the circle, Sophie catches one of the girls trying to take sneaky sips of her wine and makes her down two glasses as punishment.

After that, no one else tries to get ahead in the game and so when my turn comes around, I take a deep breath, lift the glass to my lips and tilt my head back, letting the alcohol flow down my throat. I almost gag halfway through (wine is really not meant to be downed in one), but somehow, not sure how exactly, I manage to down the whole glass without choking and grin triumphantly at Serena when it’s her turn.

The moment the last person is done, Sophie is quick to announce the next game.

“Okay, ladies and gents, for the next game I want you to partner up, one girl to one boy. You’ll stay in these pairs for the rest of the night, so choose carefully.”

Oh God. I’m not sure I want to know what ‘the rest of the night’ entails. I look around helplessly as people begin pairing up, Serena included, until I realise that there’s an odd number of people and that everyone else already has a partner. Crap, this is just great. I’m the odd one out, the only one without a partner. How embarrassing.

I stand there self-consciously, wondering what I’m supposed to do now, until Sophie sees I’m alone and says,

“Liz, isn’t it?” I nod. “You don’t have a partner?”

I shake my head, “No, not yet.”

“Okay, let’s see…” she scans the rest of the group, “I think everyone else is already paired off, so I’m not sure…ah, here we are,” she eyes light up at something behind me. “You can partner Max.”

Max? As in…?

No… no, I’m not doing that.

“Hey, Max,” she calls, waving her arm in the air, before muttering quietly, “always late for everything, that man.”

“Sophie, hi,” comes a smooth tone from right behind me. I don’t have to turn around to know who it is. “Sorry I’m late.”

“Never mind that now,” she dismisses. “We need you. Can you partner Liz, please?”

“Sure,” he murmurs, still standing behind me. “What’re we doing?”

“Games,” she wiggles her eyebrows suggestively and I have to resist the urge not to run far, far away. “I’m gonna leave you two to get acquainted.”

She walks off towards some of the other couples, leaving me alone with Max.

“So, it’s Liz, huh?” he asks, his breath tickling my neck as he moves round to my side. I try not to shudder at his close proximity. “I finally get to learn your name.”

I lift my head to tell him to get the hell away from me, but the moment I lay eyes on him, I can’t help but laugh.

“What?” he questions, slightly self-consciously.

“You…” I gasp. “You look…oh my God.”

He glances down at his outfit in confusion, which only makes me laugh harder. He looks ridiculous. He’s wearing a skin-tight pink Playboy bunny top and a short pale blue side-fasten mini-skirt… along with Adidas trainers. To top it all off, he has a long blonde wig on his head, arranged in pigtails, freckles painted on his cheek and red lipstick smeared onto his lips.

“I’ll have you know that a lot of time and effort went into this outfit, thank you very much,” he declares. I nod, humouring him.

The conversation is cut off though as Sophie calls us to gather round so she can explain the rules of the next game.

“Right then, everyone, this next game is one for the guys, although everyone will be playing, and it involves a few props…” she picks up a bag and begins to pull out several cans of… whipped cream?

Oh fuck.

“Okay, so how it works is, the girls are gonna lie down on the floor over here…”

Oh no, please tell me this isn’t happening.

“…and Jackie,” she indicates to the social secretary, “and I will spray some cream on you and it’s your partner’s job to lick it off. The person who finishes first is the winner.”

“No,” I shake my head, muttering under my breath. “No, I can’t do this.”

“Why, Liz, you’re not gonna let me down here, are you?” comes Max’s voice in my ear. I close my eyes. Why didn’t I just stay at home tonight?

As much as I want to leave, I know I can’t, so I suck in a breath and join the rest of the girls as they sit down on the floor. I catch Serena’s eye from across the room and she raises an eyebrow at me. I roll my eyes at her in response, showing how uncomfortable I feel right now.

I lie down on my back and try not to bolt when Sophie leans over me with a can of cream. She starts spraying and my eyes widen when I realise what parts of the body she’s aiming for. This is not good; I’m lying on the floor of a bar, with whipped cream on my rugby-shirt-covered boobs and strategically placed just below my belly button, and in just a few moments time, Max Evans – bane of my existence – will be licking it off with his tongue.

I want to die.

“Okay,” announces Sophie, when she and Jackie are finished. “Guys, get ready. On three; one, two, three!”

A split second later, Max is leaning over me, his wig gone now – presumably so it won’t be in the way – his face just a few inches from mine.

“Ready, Liz?”

“No,” I state, “but I don’t exactly have a choice here, do I?”

He grins, his tongue darting out to lick his lips mischievously as he lowers his head to the first mound of cream. I bite my lip, trying very hard not to squirm beneath him as I feel his mouth above my boob. This is so mortifying that I just want to die right now.

He licks up the last of it, raising his eyes to mine for a second, an indulgent grin on his face, before moving on to the second mass of cream. I struggle to stay calm as my breathing gets heavier in response to his closeness. My skin begins to tingle beneath my shirt, even though he seems to be doing his best not to get too close with his mouth, and I start to dread the moment when he has to lick up that last blob of cream.

“How am I doing?” he murmurs playfully, when all the cream is gone from above my breast.

“I–”

“You ready for the grand finale?”

“Um–” my breath catches in my throat.

He winks, before moving lower down my body, his thighs straddling my knees as he manoeuvres himself into position. I can’t stop the sharp intake of breath as his chin brushes my shorts, just below where the cream sits and suddenly all rational thought flies from my mind. I close my eyes. Oh God, please let this be over quickly; I don’t know how much more of this I can stand.

“Hmm, that was good,” announces Max after what seems like forever, but in reality was only a few seconds.

He rises up onto his knees and holds out his hand to help me up. I stare at it stonily, as I try to get my body to calm down and my embarrassment to fade. Eventually with a slight frown, he pulls it back and climbs back onto his feet. I pull myself up and stand awkwardly beside him.

“Okay, that was great, everyone,” shouts Sophie suddenly. “And our winners are standing right over here, congratulations Jemma and Dave!”

Everyone cheers for them and Jackie hands them a prize, while Sophie hands everyone another free drink. I take mine eagerly and take a big gulp, avoiding looking in Max’s direction as he readjusts his wig on his head again.

“Right, while you’re all having a drink and recovering from that game, I’m gonna explain the rules for this next one.”

There are a handful of groans.

“So, the challenge now is that you have to exchange clothes with your partner…” A few people scoff at this. “But that’s not all, you’re going to be tied together while you’re doing it.”

“What?!”

Oops, was that me?

“That’s right, ladies and gentlemen,” she confirms. “Each couple will be tied together with these,” she holds up a handful of ties, “and then you have five minutes to swap as many clothes as possible.”

“Um, how’s that going to work, exactly?” pipes up the tall brunette standing beside me. “If we’re tied together, how can we get the clothes off?”

“Okay, here’s how it’s going to work; you’ll effectively be three-legged, tied at the ankle, so whatever you can take off, you have to switch.”

Oh, this just keeps getting better and better.

I avoid looking at Max as Sophie and Jackie make the rounds, tying each couple together. I reluctantly step closer to him when it’s our turn, but I’m careful not to touch any other part of his body other than the point where we’re attached. I can feel him watching me as Sophie fastens a tie around our legs, but I refuse to give in and acknowledge him.

“Aww, come on, loosen up, Liz,” he states when I stiffen beside him, all too aware of his muscled calf pressing against my bare leg. “Anyone would think you weren’t enjoying yourself.”

“It is that obvious?” I shoot back sarcastically. “Here I am, tied to a man I can barely stand, forced to take part in these stupid games, what’s there to enjoy?”

“It’s not that bad, surely,” he wonders. “Is being in my presence really that terrible?”

There’s something in his tone that makes me turn my head to look at him, but when I do, all I see is that same annoying smirk that’s been taunting me for weeks.

No, it’s not, I think to myself and then wonder where that came from. Aloud I say, “Yes.”

He opens his mouth to reply, but doesn’t get a chance to speak before Sophie announces the beginning of the game.

“Okay, are we all ready? You all have five minutes to change clothes, and make it back here.” She looks at her watch, “Three, two, one… Go!”

Beside me, Max tries to make a run for the bathroom, which is apparently where everyone else is heading too, but he catches me off guard and I stumble, almost falling to the floor.

“Hey, watch it!” I cry angrily.

“Sorry,” he says unapologetically, before grabbing my hand and pulling me upright. I send him a glare and pull my hand out of his roughly.

He returns the glare, obviously beginning to get annoyed too. He takes a couple of deep breaths before attempting to walk again. I managed to step in time with him and we are more successful this time.

We reach the men’s bathroom a couple of minutes later. Max opens the door, quickly checking to see if anyone is in there, before nodding to me and we step through. The bathroom is littered with couples frantically pulling at their clothes and for a minute I think we’re gonna have to do the same, but Max finds an empty cubicle and pulls me inside.

“Okay, then. Let’s go.”

“Excuse me?” I ask, slightly offended.

“Take off your top.”

“What, just like that?”

He sighs, “Look, Liz we only have a couple of minutes here. We don’t have time for you to get shy on me.”

I roll my eyes, “Fine. But let’s do it together.”

“Sure,” he smirks, “I’d be happy to help.”

He reaches for my shirt and I slap his hand away, “Hey! What are you doing?”

“You said ‘do it together’, so that’s what I’m doing.”

I sigh, shaking my head in despair, “I meant, you take off your top at the same time, then we switch at the same time. Comprende?”

He’s the one to roll his eyes now, but thankfully he complies, tugging off his wig and pulling the pink top over his head. My breath catches in my throat as the top exposes a smooth expanse of taught, muscled skin. I quickly avert my eyes as I reach for the hem of James’ shirt and lift it upwards. Realising that there’s no time to be self-conscious, I quickly tug it over my head, very much aware that I am now standing in front of Max Evans in just a bra and shorts. I shove the rugby shirt into his hands, grab the top from him and hastily put it on. I can feel his gaze on me but at this point, there’s not much I can do about it.

I look up to find him just standing there in front of me, the shirt hanging from his hand, his eyes burning into mine. I gulp. I can’t handle this, I really can’t.

“Um, your shirt?” I prompt.

“What? Oh, yeah…” he averts his eyes and pulls the shirt over his head.

“And the skirt?”

“The skirt?” he frowns in puzzlement.

“Sophie said we have to exchange everything we can.”

“Right.” He quickly unfastens the skirt and takes it off, revealing a pair of rather short, thigh-muscle hugging rugby shorts underneath. Another gulp. “Here you go.”

“Thanks,” I take it from him and wrap it around my waist. “Okay, all done. Let’s go.”

There’s a slightly awkward moment as we struggle to get out of the cubicle without falling over, but then we get back into the hang of walking three-legged and head out to the bar area again. We’re not the first ones back, but luckily we’re not the last either.

Once everyone has returned and Sophie has announced the winners, she then informs us that we have to remain tied together for the rest of the night, except that we’ll be tied at the wrists instead of the ankles (for ease). I shake my head at this, but allow it all the same. Surely, things can’t get any worse… can they?

I have the answer to that question just a few minutes later when I realise two things: one, that the pink shirt I’m now wearing, carries the heady scent of Max’s aftershave, and two, the image of Max plus rugby uniform is very appealing indeed.

More than once over the next few hours, I wonder what the hell I am thinking. Max Evans is the most arrogant, annoying person I’ve ever met. Honestly, I want nothing to do with him at all… so why is it that I can’t stop thinking about the way the warm skin of his lower arm brushes against my skin where we are connected every time he moves, and the way my heart speeds up with anticipation every time I think about how close he is to me right now?

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone :

pookie76 – Thanks . Well, Liz’s body is definitely warming up to him , but as for her head… well, she still thinks he’s a jerk and doesn’t want to like him, so it could be a while before she starts coming round to him.

Alien_Friend – Thanks . The worst part of the events of that social is that for the most part, it all happened in real life!! I was on the ‘cheerleading’ squad (really just a dance team that performed at rugby matches occasionally) my first year and had to go to a rugby-cheerleading social just like this one… however, I was too chicken to actually take part in the games – especially the whipped cream one, lol.

roswell4life – Thanks, lol. Yeah, it does seem that Liz is into Max… only problem is, she’s determined to hate him instead.

Lairabehr4 – Thanks .

roswell3053 – Thanks . Yep, definitely some interesting games in there and Liz sure is lucky, although she kinda wishes she wasn’t right now!

DreamerM&L – Thank you . I couldn’t help but write Max dressed like that – definitely an interesting mental image there, lol.

sarammlover – Thanks – yep, some definite sexual tension going on there .

veronica – Thanks .

kay_b – Thanks . Wouldn’t we all like to exchange places with Liz, lol.

yayaliens – Thanks .

Natalie36 – Thanks .

Michelle in Yonkers (x2) – Thanks :

Wow. Weird -- I can't believe they expect this to help these groups to work together. And I can't believe people will go along with this just because one total stranger is telling them to do these things to another one.

Well, technically these groups don’t need to work together at all – the girls are just going to be performing a dance for the crowd before the varsity match begins, so they aren’t gonna have much contact with the players themselves. The social was just an excuse for the cheerleaders to a night out and a bit of fun with the rugby team. They go along with it because that what university socials are all about. If you’re not willing to get very drunk and do these kinds of things then you just don’t go along.

Female body chemistry usually tolerates alcohol much less than male -- so it certainly slanted towards the women getting drunk.

Since the whole event was organised by the dance soc girls, then yes it was geared towards them getting drunk, but the thing is that UK university sports teams (especially rugby) are known for their wild and excessive drinking habits, so it was much safer for the girls to have some control over the situation, otherwise most of the cheerleaders would have probably ended up in the hospital! Plus, most of the guys would have likely been drunk by the time they arrived anyway.

begonia9508 – Thanks . The games may have been stupid, but they actually happened in real life, too. I went to a similar rugby-cheerleading social once, and the part was based on that experience (although at the time I refused to take part in the games because I was too embarrassed, lol).

flyawayraven – Thanks .

Ms_BuffyAnneSummers – Thanks . Glad you’re enjoying it.

Tamashii - Thanks . It would be bad enough to have to do those things with a stranger, but at least you’d have that anonymity and the chance you’d never see each other again, but with Max it’s different; she can’t stand being around him and he likes to tease her – she knows this isn’t going to be something she can just ignore and pretend never happened, because he’s not gonna let her.


***

Part Eight

“Finally,” I sigh in relief as Microbiology comes to an end at last and Kyle and I leave the lecture hall together.

Usually I like Microbiology, but today the lecture seemed to last an eternity, although that could have something to do with the major tiredness… and hangover… I’m suffering from today. I have to suppress a groan as the events of last night flit through my mind yet again. I still can’t believe I spent five hours tied to Cocky Guy himself (bastard doesn’t deserve to be called by his first name) and actually lived to tell the tale.

He really is the most annoying, most up-himself bloke I have ever met, yet… oh God, I can’t believe I’m actually admitting this, but he is also the most gorgeous, most sexy bloke I have ever met. More than once in the last twenty-four hours I have found myself wondering what it would be like to… no, wait, I’m not gonna go there. Sure he might be gorgeous and sexy, with the most perfect set of abs I’ve ever laid eyes on, but as they say, looks aren’t everything.

Max Evans is definitely not the kind of guy you can hold serious conversations with, or spend quality time with, like you would a normal boyfriend; no, he’s too smug and arrogant for that. From what I’ve seen, he’s so busy looking good and flirting with any and every girl he meets, that he doesn’t have time to actually sit down and be serious about anything else.

And I don’t want to be wasting time on someone like that… no matter how hot he is.

“Tired, Liz?” grins Kyle, glancing at me as we walk across campus to grab some lunch from the refectory in the Union. “I wonder why that could be? Good night last night?”

I shoot him a look.

“Yeah, the best,” I deadpan.

I told him all about my upcoming fancy-dress social yesterday at the beginning of our Genetics lecture and he proceeded to spend the entire hour trying not to crack up into his lecture notes.

“First, we all got to lie on the floor while the guys licked whipped cream off our clothes and then we each got tied to one of them, had to swap clothes and then spend the rest of the night tied together.”

“Ooh, kinky,” Kyle wiggles his eyebrows suggestively, “So, who was the lucky guy you got to spend all night up close and personal with?”

I stare straight ahead, as I roll my eyes and scoff, “Max Evans.”

Out of the corner of my eye I see him frown in thought, before his eyes widen, “As in, AU President, Max Evans?” I nod reluctantly. “Wow, well, aren’t you the lucky one?”

“What?!”

Lucky? I don’t think so. Unfortunate, more like.

“From what I’ve heard, most girls round here would give their right arm to spend an evening tied to Max Evans. The guy’s a legend, you know. There’s a reason he got voted AU President over all the other candidates, or so I’ve heard.”

I look at him strangely.

“So, I live on a corridor with ten girls and only three other guys,” he defends, “I hear stuff.”

“Right,” I nod slowly. “Okay.”

“So I take it you’re not on the Max Evans bandwagon?”

I snort, “No way, the guy’s an arrogant bastard.”

“Right, okay,” he says, sounding slightly confused as we enter the refectory and head for the food counter.

***

“Hey, guys,” says Alex, knocking lightly on the door. “You two up for some pre-ball drinks in the kitchen?”

“Hey Alex,” I greet, as I concentrate on winding a strand of hair around my curling iron. “Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Wow, Alex, don’t you look handsome!” exclaims Maria from behind me.

I turn to look at him standing in the doorway. “Ooh, go Alex!” I compliment. “Dressed to impress – I like it.”

“Really?” he looks down at his formal tux. “Thanks.” He looks up at us again, “And may I say that you two ladies are looking very lovely tonight.”

“Thanks,” we reply simultaneously, catching each other’s eye and then sharing a grin.

Maria is adorned by a long black evening gown that hugs her body in just the right places, while my dress of choice a silky red ball gown with a pinched waist and a flowing skirt. I’m in the process of curling my hair, while Maria has chosen to pin her shoulder-length blonde waves up into an elegant twist.

“So, Alex –” starts Maria, but she’s cut off by the sound of loud male chants coming from the kitchen area.

“D-I-O, D-I-O, D-I-O!”

I roll my eyes and shake my head. It seems that James and Michael are being their typical selves and have got started on the drinking games already. In case you’re not up on the uni drinking game lingo, D-I-O is an abbreviation for Down (your drink) In One. I honestly don’t know how those two manage to drink so much and still stay sober enough to go to lectures. Oh wait, that’s right… they don’t.

“Oi, Alex, get your arse in here and start drinking,” shouts Michael from the kitchen. “You’re getting behind.”

Alex raises his eyebrows, as he leaves the room, “I guess that’s my cue to leave. See you in a minute, guys.”

“Okay, I’m done,” I announce a couple of minutes later, as I unplug the curler and run my fingers through my hair. “You ready yet, Maria?”

“Sure, in a minute,” she says distractedly, rummaging through her make up bag for something.

I nod, and leave the room, heading for the kitchen to join the others. As soon as I arrive in the doorway, a hand – James’ – grabs my arm, pulls me down onto the empty seat between he and Alex and then shoves a bottle of WKD Blue into my hand.

“Here you go, Liz,” he says. “Drink up.”

A couple of minutes later, Isabel enters the kitchen, looking absolutely gorgeous in a deep blue strapless dress, a wrap draped around her shoulders. Her hair is pulled up in a sophisticated mass of curls, with the odd loose tendril framing her flawless features.

“Wow!” whistles Michael as he notices Isabel come through the doorway.

“Go, Isabel,” murmurs James appreciatively, while Alex just stares at her, open-mouthed.

I feel a spike of jealousy in my chest as I take in her appearance. Isabel Stevenson is just one of those girls who makes beauty look like a piece of cake. Suddenly I feel very plain and ordinary next to her.

“Thank, guys,” she smiles, almost shyly.

See, that’s the great thing about Isabel, though; I’m sure she knows how attractive she is, but no matter how much attention she gets from the opposite sex, she doesn’t seem to like drawing attention to herself.

“Hey, Liz, you look great!” she exclaims as she moves further into the kitchen. There are no more free seats (for some reason, the university only provides 4 chairs in the kitchen for 12 people), so she perches on Alex’s lap.

I hide a smile when I see his eyes widen in response and he shifts uncomfortably beneath her.

“Oh, sorry, you don’t mind, do you, Alex?” wonders Isabel, turning hear head to face him.

“N-no, not at all,” he manages, his expression a mixture of surprise and awe.

“Great,” she smiles. She reaches for a drink, “So, what’s going on, guys?”

We continue to chat and drink until Maria finally appears and we can get going to the Fresher’s Ball. As we walk across campus to the Union and Great Hall buildings, I can’t help but wonder what the evening will hold. I’ve heard mixed reviews about the first-year ball – some say it’s the best night ever, while others have told me it’s a load of crap. Personally, I don’t think it sounds too bad – after all, the musical guest is Jools Holland and there’s a cheap bar and lots of activities to do. It may not be as big as some of the other balls I’ve heard about that take place during the year, but it sounds like it could be fun.

***

“So, I said to her, ‘I’m sorry, darling, but I really do have to be off; after all, they won’t be able to row without me, now will they?’”

“Hmm,” I paste a fake smile onto my face as I pretend to be interested in this guy’s story. He seems to be the most full-of-himself guy I’ve ever met. I wonder, not for the first time, how I ended up having to talk to him. I only came up to the bar to buy another drink and now I’ve been standing here for almost ten minutes while this rich-boy talks himself up to me. It’s sickening. “Look, I’m sorry, but my friends are waiting…”

I point in their direction, only to find that they’ve disappeared amongst the crowd. Great.

“But, I haven’t told you about the time I went sailing with Prince William yet,” the idiot says then, apparently unable to take a hint.

“Well, I’m sure it’s fascinating, but I really have to go now…”

He ignores me and continues to talk, but luckily I get a break when the bartender says something to him and he turns away for a moment. I grab my drink and make a quick dash for the crowd of people in the middle of the room. It takes a few minutes, but I finally find Isabel, Alex, Michael and Maria standing on the other side of the dance area, by the wall.

“Hey, guys,” I greet as I approach them. I frown, “Where’s James?”

“Over there,” nods Michael, indicating to a spot near the edge of the crowd.

I look in the direction he’s pointing in and my eyes widen when I see James. He’s dancing with a girl… except they’re not just dancing, her hands are somewhere inside his tux jacket and his are resting dangerously close to her arse, while his mouth is eagerly attacking hers. I make a face; I so don’t need to see that.

“I see,” I say as I turn away from the disturbing sight. “So, does this mean you’ll be sleeping on Alex’s floor tonight then, Mike?”

“Not if I can help it,” he mutters in annoyance, as his gaze fixes on someone in the crowd and he excuses himself to head over to them.

As we watch him start chatting to a tall, skinny brunette on the dance floor, the rest of us are left to wonder whether he meant that he was hoping James would end up back at his dance partner’s place or that Michael would be sleeping elsewhere and that sleeping in Alex’s room wouldn’t be an issue anyway. As I watch Michael slip his arm around the brunette, whisper something in her ear and lead her off the dance floor, presumably to somewhere more private, I decide he’s going for the latter.

“God, men!” exclaims Maria as she too observes Michael’s actions. “Do they ever think about anything else besides sex?”

I shake my head in response, “Welcome to student life, Maria.”

“Yeah, well,” she rants, but I don’t hear her as my attention is caught by a particularly good-looking dark-haired guy, who just happens to be looking right at me with a grin. I smile in return and quickly excuse myself from my friends and head in his direction. Maybe this night won’t be so bad after all.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Thanks for your feedback everyone :

sarammlover – Thanks . Yeah, unfortunately, it’s not likely that the dark-haired guy is Max since a) she wouldn’t voluntarily go up to him and b) the ball they’re attending is meant for freshers and as Max is not a fresher, it’s unlikely he’d go.

Lairabehr4 – Thanks .

DreamerM&L – Thanks . Sorry the update was so late for you – I’m 7 hours behind UK time here, so it was only mid-afternoon when I posted (I couldn’t update earlier due to the 4.5 hours of meetings I had to endure from 10am ). Unfortunately, the guy is unlikely to be Max (for the reasons I mentioned above), but I’m glad you like the Alex/Isabel interactions… I’m trying to include more of the other couples in this story since I realised that All’s Fair in… is almost entirely focused on M/L.

Michelle in Yonkers – Thanks . I posted a reply to your FB the other day, so here I’ll just say thanks .

Natalie36 – Thanks .

behrlyliz – Thanks . Yeah, since Liz was happy to meet the guy, I’d say it’s not Max .

lockheart – Thank you - It’s always great to see new faces leaving feedback . Although I’m basing a lot of this story on my own university experiences, I am also leaving out all the boring parts and perhaps changing a few things to make them more interesting, lol. Having said that though, the first year at uni in the UK generally doesn’t involve that much hard work (since only the second and third years count towards the actual degree) – it’s pretty much a time to go out drinking several nights a week, sleep in the next day, watch daytime TV and get used to living away from home. There’s none of the general requirements or maintaining a high GPA stuff that you have to worry about in the US, as long as you pass the first year with at least 40%!

kay_b – Thanks . Yeah, you’re right when you say it’s not Max, because we know she wouldn’t have approached him voluntarily.

Alien_Friend – Thanks . We all know that Liz isn’t likely to voluntarily approach Max and since she’s already seen the guy’s face, I’m gonna have to say that it’s not gonna be him .

Wow! That's crazy. I'm so sheltered in my university experience. Nothing like that has ever happened to me. I would totally be too chicken to do any of that either. But if there was a guy like Max eating off of me then well... lol I would still probably be too chicken but it's definitely a fun thought to think about.

That kind of stuff is really just part of being a student – that’s cheerleading social was rather tame compared to others that I’d heard about, lol. I actually didn’t go out partying all that much after my first term (apart from the socials which happened maybe 3 or 4 times per term) – I preferred just going to the pub or the movies etc.

Great part! That was a cute Alex and Isabel moment. I could totally picture his stunned face when she sat on his lap. lol They are all a good bunch.

Aww, thanks .

roswell3053 – Thanks . Sorry to disappoint but the identity of Isabel’s brother isn’t being revealed just yet .

begonia9508 – Yes, she was drinking, but Liz definitely isn’t going to choose to approach Max if she sees him and also isn’t likely to describe him as ‘particularly good-looking’ either .



***


Part Nine

“And plié and stretch, and plié and stretch,” calls Beth, the dance society ballet teacher. “Now, rond de jambe à terre, that’s it, and chassé forward and close.”

I comply with her direction, working my legs hard, feeling beads of sweat begin to form at my temples. Whoever said ballet was for wimps obviously never attended a real class. My teacher back home always told us that if we weren’t sweating by the end of the first exercise, then we were doing something wrong.

“Okay, great job, everyone,” announces Beth as the music comes to an end. “Right, we’ll do one more barre exercise before moving into the centre. Now, I want two battement tendus en avant, two en arriere, followed by four grand battement, again, two en avant and two en arriere, then four battement en cloche and then close for four. Eveyone got that? Okay, let’s go.” She flips the CD to the next track and the music begins.

This exercise seems to last forever, as Beth makes us go through the routine four times, turning around each time so we do it twice on each side. I sigh with relief when she finally claps her hands and calls us all into the middle of the JCR (junior common room) in the Union – the location of the weekly ballet class.

She starts off the centre work with some simple warm up exercises – port de bras, arabesques and plies, before moving onto the more energetic movements and jumps. Man, I must be out of practice, I realise, struggling to keep up with some of the other girls in the class. Before coming here, I hadn’t taken a ballet class in over three months and it’s beginning to show.

We spend the last twenty minutes of the class working on grand-jetés, pirouette piquees and chaînés, all of which travel across the room, and are my favourite steps… well, the grand-jeté and pirouette piquee are, but I’ve never quite been able to master the chaîné – that’s the one where you move across the stage, while spinning round and round en pointe; for some reason, I always end up either going in the wrong direction or not going anywhere at all, instead just spinning round in circles on the spot!

I leave the class feeling tired, yet also somewhat rejuvenated from the workout. I say goodbye to the other dancers and head out of the Union building. However, as I walk, it feels strangely like I’m being watched, but when I turn around to check, I see no one there. I frown, shrugging as I proceed outside and towards the halls.

When I arrive back at my room, I find it full of people. It seems Maria has invited everyone round for a night of DVD’s, pizza and booze.

“Ooh, Liz, you’re back,” she greets with a smile as I enter the room and try to make my way through the mass of people to my bed. “We were just waiting for you before we got started.”

“Cool, thanks, Maria,” I smile, as Alex makes a space for me on the bed and I take a seat. “What’re we watching?”

“Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is first, as per the guys’ request–” Michael and James give each other high-fives as Maria rolls her eyes. “–And then we thought we could watch a little Eddie Izzard after that.”

“Sounds good,” I reply, reaching for the bottle of beer that Alex offers to me and then taking a slice of pepperoni pizza from the box on the floor and settling back against the pillows as Maria starts the DVD.

***

I yawn, rolling my neck and shrugging my shoulders as I move along the queue for food in the Union coffee lounge, balancing my tray on the metal rail alongside the canteen window. My muscles are still sore from last night’s ballet class. When my turn comes, I order a tuna jacket potato with salad, grab a can of Diet Coke and pay for my food, before scanning the room with my eyes in search of a free table.

“Hey, Liz, over here,” calls out a voice from a table nearby. I shift my gaze to see Sophie, Jackie and a couple of other dance soc girls waving me over. “Why don’t you join us?”

“Hey, guys,” I smile, as I slide onto one of the bench seats surrounding the table. “Thanks.”

“So, how are you doing, Liz? Settling in well here?” asks Sophie.

I smile, “Yeah, pretty well. I’m really enjoying the Street classes and the Cheerleading.”

“Really? That’s great,” she replies with a smile. I nod as I tuck into the potato, overflowing with tuna mayo. “Yeah, the Cheerleading Squad is becoming quite a tradition now – we do it every year.”

“You’re on the squad?” asks the guy beside me. I look up and recognise him as Serena’s partner at the social last week.

“Yeah, I am.”

“Cool” he nods.

I smile and take another bit of the delicious hot-potato-cold-tuna combination in front of me.

“Hey, guys. So, what did I miss?” comes a new voice. A very familiar voice.

I look up from my plate to see Max Evans sliding onto the bench and sitting beside Sophie, his usual arrogant smirk tugging at his lips.

“Max, good to see you,” she smiles, turning to him, while Jackie and one of the other girls suddenly perk up and grin at him.

I discretely roll my eyes; it seems Kyle was right about Max’s reputation with the ladies. I really don’t understand the fascination myself though. I can’t deny that he’s attractive, possibly the most attractive man I’ve ever met even, but the problem is, he knows it. And not only does he know it, but he takes every opportunity he can to flaunt the fact; and that trait in turn causes him to become unattractive… at least to me, anyway.

Unfortunately, it appears that I might be the only one.

“You, too, Soph,” he flashes a devastating smile in her direction as he leans across to first kiss her, and then Jackie, on the cheek in greeting. He smiles at the other two girls, obviously not as familiar with them as he is with Sophie and Jackie, and then his gaze turns to me.

He raises an eyebrow, “Liz, fancy seeing you here.”

“Max,” I state flatly, before turning to concentrate on my food once more. I suddenly feel uncomfortable sitting here with all these people.

“Oh, that’s right, you and Max were partners at the social last week, weren’t you?” says Sophie, a moment later.

“We sure were,” smirks Max, sliding his arm along the back of his seat so it rests behind Sophie’s head as he relaxes backwards. “Good times, huh, Liz?”

“Yeah,” I mutter, not wishing to get into it with him right now, especially in front of his friends. “Good times.”

There’s a few moments of relative quiet around the table as I continue to eat, while Jackie and Sophie softly discuss some dance-related stuff, the other girls flick through a magazine and a few people call out friendly greetings to Max as they walk past the table. It’s so quiet and calm in fact, that I almost jump right out of my seat when the sound of Michael Jackson’s Thriller comes blasting out of someone’s mobile phone.

“Sorry, guys,” states Max, as he pulls the offending phone out of his pocket. “Back in a sec.”

He slides out of his seat as he flips open the phone and greets the caller with a, “Thompson, my man; how’s it hangin’?”

I let out an inaudible sigh of relief that he’s gone and find myself relaxing again as I open the can of Diet Coke in front of me and take a sip.

A couple of minutes later, Sophie excuses herself to go to some meeting for society presidents and Jackie decides to accompany her. Gradually everyone else starts making a move, as they have lectures to go to, so by the time Max reappears, I’m the only one left.

“Where’d everyone go?” he wonders as he takes his seat opposite me.

I eye him warily and am tempted not to answer, but I realise that’s kind of stupid, so I reply, “They had to get going, you know, for meetings, lectures, other things you do at university.”

“Oh,” he nods. There’s a moment of silence, before, “So, I guess it’s just you and me, then.”

He leans back and resumes his previous position, his arm outstretched along the back of the seat, as he sends me a lazy grin.

“I guess,” I raise an eyebrow, really not feeling too enthusiastic about that fact.

“You know, anyone would think you weren’t happy to see me.”

“How did you guess?” I mutter dryly, scooping up a forkful of tuna, potato and salad and lifting it to my mouth. I chew slowly, deliberately, so as to prolong the moment when I have to speak to him again. But I can feel his intense gaze on me and I shift uncomfortably.

“What?” I demand stiffly, suddenly feeling self-conscious as his deep, dark eyes burn holes in me.

His eyes narrow for a moment, relaxing again quickly before he replies, “Nothing.”

“Well, okay then,” is all I can think to say, as I take another sip of my Coke.

We sit in silence again, until, “So, um, what are you doing tonight?”

I narrow my eyes, “What business is it of yours?”

His eyes widen slightly and he holds up his hands in surrender, “Just trying to make conversation here.”

I shoot him a funny look. Can’t the guy take a hint? I don’t want to talk to him.

“Well, please don’t.”

“Geez, Liz, what crawled up your arse today?”

I exhale noisily, trying to stay calm, “Look, Max, I’m just trying to eat my lunch here, okay? And you being here is getting on my nerves.”

He just stares at me for a minute, his expression unreadable, before he shakes his head and relaxes back against the seat again, his eyes roaming the room instead. I shake my head in annoyance, before turning my attention back to the last of the potato on my plate.

“Liz, there you are,” comes a new voice from beside the table. “I thought we were meeting in the lobby?”

“Oh, hey, Kyle,” I smile up at him. “Sorry, I guess I’m running a bit late; I was just finishing my lunch.” I glare across the table at Max. I see Kyle follow my line of sight and give Max a funny glance. “Hang on a sec, and I’ll be right with you.”

I finish off my food as Kyle stands there awkwardly, his eyes on Max, while Max shifts, looking uncomfortable for a moment and then suddenly gets up, excusing himself to go and speak to someone across the room.

“What was all that about?” wonders Kyle as I dispose of my plate and tray and we head out of the coffee shop towards our afternoon lecture.

“Don’t ask me,” I shrug. “I was sitting with some of the dance soc committee and the guy just showed up.”

“Right,” he nods, leaving it at that, but glancing back toward the Union briefly before we turn the corner. “Okay.”

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Thank you for your feedback, everyone :

Lairabehr4 – Isn’t it just? . Although I don’t know I could ever think of Max as being creepy .

yayaliens – Thanks . If only he’d been able to get her to talk to him and Kyle hadn’t interrupted, huh?

Alien_Friend – Thanks . Yeah, who knows what Max was thinking when Kyle turned up? I think there needs to be some give and take from both sides – Max needs to ease up on the cockiness, while Liz really should take the time to find out more about him before judging his character.
Hope you have fun on your trip – where are you going, anywhere nice?

sarammlover – Thanks . Yes she does need to get over it, but then there where would we be with the story ? She is being bitchy, but Max just seems to bring it out in her – she can’t seem to help it when he’s around; he just rubs her the wrong way!

DreamerM&L – Thanks . Yeah, damn that Kyle for interrupting them! Could Max be jealous? He’s trying to play it cool if he is .

Ms_BuffyAnneSummers – Thanks . It definitely seems that Max is at least in lust with Liz right now, while Liz is desperately trying not to feel anything but hate for Max .

Michelle in Yonkers – Thanks (I posted a reply to your feedback on page 15).

begonia9508 – Thanks . That’s the thing; Max is so used to girls falling all over him that he’s confused at why Liz seems to hate him – he hasn’t really said or done anything different to her than to any of the other girls, so he doesn’t understand why she’s being so rude.

roswell3053 – Thanks . I think they could both do with calming things down – Max could do with being a bit less cocky and smug, while Liz needs to give Max a chance rather than judging him and assuming things about him.

behrlyliz - Thanks (I posted a reply on page 15 too).

lockheart - Thanks .

Wow sounds like my kind of first year! I guess then the difference in legal drinking ages makes it easier to uh, have fun? Not that it's impossible to get drinks but going to pubs is probably out of the question.

Yeah, exactly - drinking is such a major part of UK university life. The campus bars supply extra cheap drinks (because as a student, you generally can't afford to pay normal prices) and almost every social activity involves alcohol in some capacity . It was interesting to compare the student newspaper at UNM with my undergrad uni paper - UNM has all these articles on how to stop students from drinking/obtaining alcohol, while my UK uni paper had articles on how to get more alcohol for your money and where the best pubs were!

As for this part.....LMAO at Max getting pre-emptively shot down! Bet he hasn't worked this hard to impress a girl since.....forever. I like watching him sweat a little! Wait no, not like that. ........Okay maybe like that. hehe I'm loving this story!

Thanks . Yeah, Max is used to having girls chase after him, not the other way around .

twilight - Thanks .

Although, I don't think Max was about to ask Liz out I don't know why though because "What are you doing tonight?" does leads to the "Do you want to go out with me?" but I just don't feel it. It just doesn't seem like how their relationship/friendship/schoolmates(or whatever they are) functions.

Yeah, you're pretty much right there - to be honest, I wrote it as if Max really was just making conversation... and 'what are you doing tonight?' was the only thing he could think of .

I think (even though Liz has been pretty obvious about it) Max knows Liz doesn't tolerate him so he purposely does things (which aren't annoying except to Liz but I think she secretly likes him but won't admit it so she says she hates but she really doesn't) to annoy her so why would he ask her out?

I think you could be onto something there .

I love this and I especially like how things are different in the UK!

Thank you .



***

Part Ten

“Okay, everyone, we’re gonna run through the routine twice more and then we’ll call it a night,” announces Sophie, as Serena and I, along with the rest of the newly-formed cheerleading squad grab a quick drink of water between routine run-throughs.

“Hey,” Serena nudges me as I screw the cap back on my bottle of water. “You fancy going for a drink at ‘Spoon’s after this? A couple of the other girls are interested in coming too.”

“Sure,” I nod eagerly. “Sounds like a plan.”

We share a grin, as Sophie calls us to order again, and take our places in the dance formation. Despite being a cheerleading squad, our routine is more dance-oriented than gymnastic – mostly because, save for the odd cartwheel and handspring, the majority of us have never learned gymnastics, and so we’re really just dancing in formation while holding pom-poms. However, even though we don’t have to worry about big jumps or complicated moves, the routine is rather energetic, not to mention fast, leaving both Serena and I practically gasping for breath after just one rehearsal.

Thankfully, we only have to endure another ten minutes of it before Sophie finally lets us go and a group of us head down to the pub. On the way down, I decide I’d better call Maria to let her know what’s happening, since we were talking about maybe renting a DVD or something tonight. I apologise to her for the change in plans, but she’s quick to dismiss it and just tells me to have a great time instead.

So I do, and two hours, two bottles of wine and a shared helping of Wetherspoon’s chocolate fudge cake later, Serena and I decide to head back home, mostly because she has an early lecture in the morning and wants to sleep off as much of her impending hangover as possible in the hopes that she’ll be fit to attend.

We start walking back together, but say goodbye and split up once we reach campus, walking home separately as Serena lives in the halls located on the other side of the university. I walk back to my hall with a happy, slightly drunken gait, the wine really going to my head as I fumble for my keys and let myself into A block. However, as I climb the stairs to the top floor and make my way down the corridor toward my room, I get the strangest feeling that something’s not quite right. Unable to put my finger on it, I shrug and use my key to open the door to my room.

“Oh, my…”

I gasp, my eyes widening in shock as I take in the scene before me. I know I should turn and leave, making a quick exit before I’m seen, but my body is frozen to the spot. It takes a full ten seconds before I am able to pick my jaw up from the floor and leave the room as inconspicuously as possible.

“Well, that’s just great,” I utter under my breath. “Now what am I supposed to do?”

With a sigh, I turn, heading down the hall to the room at the end and knocking on the door.

“Come in,” calls a voice from inside the room and I quietly let myself in.

“Hey,” I greet with an apologetic smile. “Can I hang in here for a while?”

“Sure,” smiles James. He’s propped up on his bed, watching a DVD – ‘Goodfellas’ by the looks of it. “I take it your room is… otherwise indisposed?”

I nod.

“I think I’m in shock,” I blurt then. “I mean, it’s Maria… and, and…”

“Tell me about it,” he rolls his eyes. “They were in here when I came home earlier, but I had to kick them out in favour of actually getting some work done tonight.”

“When did this happen?” I wonder. “Where was I?”

He shrugs, “Only the other day, I think. I’m not sure really – they’ve been keeping it quiet, in any case.”

I shudder involuntarily as my mind recalls what I just saw. Don’t get me wrong, I think Maria and Michael make a pretty good match and good on them for realising that, but I really don’t need to see them in bed together. That’s just going too far.

“God,” I sigh as I sink down onto James’ bed and he shuffles over to make room for me. “This is just great. I’m tired and drunk and I just want to go to bed, but I can’t even get into my own room.”

“You wanna stay in here tonight?” suggests James, slipping a comforting arm around my shoulders. “You can take Mike’s bed, since I’m guessing he won’t be back any time soon.”

“You sure?” I ask, turning to face him.

“Of course,” he nods, “besides, where else have you got to go? All the other beds are taken.”

He has a point.

“Okay,” I nod. “Thanks.” Then, “Oh, but I don’t have anything else to wear – all my stuff is in… there.”

“No problem,” he grins, sliding off the bed. “I’m sure I can find something for you.”

I smile up at him gratefully as he rummages around in his cupboard, pulling out an oversized Reading festival T-shirt and a pair of black rugby shorts.

“Here you go.”

“Thanks,” I take the clothes from him and head down the corridor to get changed in the bathroom, before walking back to the room. I use James’ sink to wash my face and then use the age-old substitute of a toothpaste-covered finger instead of a toothbrush to brush my teeth.

James finishes watching the last few minutes of the DVD, while I debate my sleeping arrangements. While I’m sure Michael doesn’t have any gross diseases or anything, I’ll admit that I’m a little reluctant to get into his unmade bed. After witnessing what I did in my room just now, I have to wonder if anything I’d rather not know about has happened in here too in the last few days.

After a minute or two of deliberation, I decide to take the bull by the horns and just get in. In all honesty, I’m too tired to pass up the call of a (fairly) comfortable bed. As I get settled beneath the covers, James gets up to turn off the TV and get ready for bed. As he leaves to go to the bathroom, he tells me that he’s going to leave a note for Michael on the door, in case he does decide to return to the room at some point during the night.

I mumble a sleepy ‘Thank you’ as I feel myself rapidly drifting off to sleep, the wine I consumed earlier really working its way through my veins. I don’t ever hear James get into the bed or see him turn out the light because I am dead to the world by then.

***

“Well, I for one, don’t see anything wrong with it. It’s their choice; if they wanna get all dolled up and then parade around the stage showing off their body in a skimpy bikini, then I’m not gonna complain,” states Max, with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle as he takes a seat at one of the tables in the Union bar after tonight’s debate on the morals of beauty pageants has finished.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that I found out he’d signed up for that same practice debate I had back in week one and had spent the entire hour rebutting every single valid point I made earlier this week, now he has to do the same thing with the official weekly debate we’ve just witnessed upstairs.

A couple of DebSoc members head to the bar to order the first round of drinks, while the rest of us follow Max to the table. I slide onto a seat and then immediately regret it when I realise that I’m sitting exactly opposite him.

I make a face and snort in disgust in response to his statement just now, “Yeah, well you wouldn’t, would you?”

“I’m sorry?” he questions with that annoying, knowing smirk. The one that I refuse to acknowledge is making my knees go weak. “Were you trying to say something then, Liz?”

“No,” I plaster on a fake smile. “Of course not.” But I can’t keep quiet, “It’s just that stereotypically male chauvinistic comments like that are the reason why these girls get so screwed up – although, considering the source of the comment, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to hear it.”

“Excuse me?” he retorts. “You’re accusing me of being stereotypical? What about you and your uptight feminist attitude? If anyone is stereotypical here, it’s you.”

Uhh, ok-ay. It is me or did that just not make any sense at all?

“Whatever you say, Max,” I roll my eyes. “I just can’t believe you would still support these kinds of events after all those excellent points were made in the debate. I mean, all these beauty contests really are, are just excuses for horny men to ogle stick-thin bleach-blondes in bikinis. It’s degrading and gross. Not to mention, it portrays a completely unhealthy and unrealistic view to teenagers and kids of what it means to be beautiful. It’s disgusting.”

I let out a frustrated breath that I hadn’t realised I was holding, as I reach for the half of lager that has just been placed in front of me and take a large gulp.

“Wow, Liz, don’t get yourself all wound up there or anything, will you?” he grins cheekily, before lifting his own drink to his lips.

I suppress a frustrated growl as I feel the anger rising up in my throat. I hate him. I really do. The guy’s a complete and total pig; an self-important bastard pig…who just happens to be able to make practically anything he does look sexy, I realise, my eyes following the sexy bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallows.

“I just think that if the contestants are willing to take part, then we shouldn’t have to stop them,” he says then with a shrug. I avert my eyes from his sexy throat and quickly take another gulp of lager. “It’s not like they’re forced to enter the competitions if they don’t want to.”

“But that’s the point, Max. These girls think that they do have to enter beauty pageants in order to be considered beautiful. They end up feeling pressured into looking and acting a certain way because they think that’s what men want and because they think that beauty is only about the physical. It gives them a false view of the world!”

Max puts down his drink to observe me thoughtfully. It makes me uncomfortable and I have to resist the urge to look away.

“So you’re telling me that you wouldn’t be pleased or flattered if people you didn’t know came up to you and told you that you were beautiful?”

“That’s not what I’m saying,” I feel my face flush under his intense gaze and I take another drink as a distraction. “That would be a completely different situation – something I’d have no control over. Beauty contests, however, are specifically set up to parade girls around in front of men as if they’re cattle on display in a market. It’s extremely sexist!”

“Come on, Liz, I really don’t see it as being as bad as you’re making out here,” he rolls his eyes. “Every girl, no matter how young or old, likes to be told they’re pretty or beautiful once in a while. Even you, I bet, despite your protests to the contrary,” he shrugs and I look away. “I just don’t see the harm in appreciating a beautiful woman and also giving them a confidence boost in the process.”

That’s it. I’ve had enough. I can’t do this anymore. I stand up roughly, shaking my head in disagreement.

“It’s so much more serious than that,” I state tightly, trying to control my anger. “There can be serious repercussions to these kinds of contests. What about all those girls who don’t win? Or those who feel they can’t compare to their competitors? They can’t always just shrug it off and get on with their lives. They feel under pressure to change, to become more beautiful. They develop self-confidence issues, and eating disorders, and suffer from depression. It’s just not right.”

I’m so angry and upset now that I grab my glass, down the last of my drink and stalk out of the bar. I keep going until I’m right outside the Union, the cold air hitting my face and bringing me back to reality. At the bottom of the steps of the building entrance, I stop, my hands falling limp at my sides as I take a few deep breaths to calm down. I don’t know why I let myself get so worked up in there. While I do firmly believe that beauty pageants are degrading and disrespectful to women, I don’t usually let my emotions run away with me like that when I think about it.

As I start walking away from the Union and towards my hall, I realise that it wasn’t the argument itself that had got me so angry, but it was the person I was arguing with. There’s something about the way Max Evans looks at me, like he can see right through me, that I find very unnerving. It’s like he knows exactly what to do and say to wind me up, but instead of not doing and saying those things to spare me the discomfort, he goes right ahead and dives in.

And I hate it.

I hate him.

TBC…