University Life - First

CHAPTER EIGHT...

'Golly, it looks amazing, doesn't it?' Lorna gasped as she looked round the hall. The university had hired the hall of the museum next to the Wills Memorial building and it was really spruced up with beautiful red, gold and green decorations and strategically placed mistletoes.

'Can't wait to find the first mistletoe and have a good ole' snogathon.' Lorna giggled at her friends.

'You best be hoping it's me you're having your 'good old snogathon' with, missy!' Matt mock-growled at her and bent to nip her neck playfully. She giggled and shrugged away from him.

Kainene smiled fondly at the two of them. Ah, long lost love. She turned round to Mykelos and Viola. 'Lorns' right. It looks wicked.'

'And yummy too,' Mykelos slyly added. Kainene and Viola turned to look at him askance. Yummy? Kainene started to ask what he meant then noticed what, or rather who he was staring at. There was a very fit, albeit slender looking boy standing next to the punch table.

'You're such an unapologetic whore, Mykelos.' Kainene shook her head and cuffed his head playfully.

'And don't you forget it, my dear girl. Now if you gorgeous ladies will excuse me, I have a date with a hunky man and the...my stars how fortuitous, exceptionally welcome mistletoe he's standing under.' With this unabashed comment, Mykelos sidled away.

'How on earth does he do it? And what if that guy's not gay and Mykelos gets punched in the face?' Viola asked worriedly.

Kainene laughed loudly, 'I doubt that's actually gonna happen. Mykelos just has this innate...I dunno, gaydar or something. He always knows who's gay and who's not. And he's so cool and whatever that even if the guys he chats up are straight, I bet he could turn them gay or bisexual at the very least.'

Viola stared at Mykelos who was now laughing and touching the other guy's arm slightly. Then she saw him lean over and plant a quick but proper kiss on the guy's lips and noticed the way the other guy's eyes widen with pleasure.

'Talk about macking.' She half-whispered impressed.

Kainene nodded, 'Told you. He's amazing to watch in action.'

They both heard some loud cheers behind them and turned around to see what the commotion was all about.

Rufus had come in with a few guys and all the rugby players were happy, it seemed.

'When will these people ever grow up and stop acting so immature?' Viola muttered a bit irritated. Then she hastily added, 'Excluding Rufus, of course.'

Kainene turned her head to look at Viola at that comment, 'Oh my God, Viola. I don't care about him anymore so don't worry about dissing him. I'm not going to jump down your throat in any sort of defence. Trust me.'

Viola looked sceptical at this but refrained from making any comments.

Kainene rolled her eyes and looked back at Rufus and his friends. Clearly her friends still thought she was hung up on Rufus when she so was not. Liar, liar, pants on fire, a voice chanted in her head and she hurriedly pushed it out.

She was about to turn her head away when Rufus suddenly looked up and caught her staring. She told herself to look away, but she couldn't. She felt like she was caught in the glare of headlights making its way towards her. She stared and kept on staring as Rufus told his friends something she could not make out then started walking towards her. She gulped audibly and glanced round to talk to Viola. Viola shook her head with a little knowing smirk on her face then whispered, 'You were saying?' Before letting out a tiny laugh and walking away, leaving Kainene alone.

Kainene turned back and saw that Rufus was now standing in front of her.

'Hey.' He said softly.

'Hey,' She replied in a forced gay tone. 'Wow, how are you?'

'Alright. Yourself?'

'Wonderful. Amazing actually. It's my first ball, so I feel kinna like Cinderella, you know. Like the clock's gonna strike midnight and I'll leave one of my glass...well not glass, slippers, or shoes behind and scuttle off. Although that would be incredibly stupid of course, as I'll have to walk for hours before I get back to Stoke and the whole midnight concept will be pointless. But that's why we have cabs, innit? So that's sorted. Best I call one for 11:30 or 11:15 as that way I get home before midnight, innit? And I shall stop rambling now before I combust here with utter shame and stupidity.' She ended breathlessly. Oh ye gods, make the floor open up and swallow me whole. Then cough me out in some faraway land like...Antarctica.

But with nice warm clothes.

Rufus laughed and shook his head, 'No, that was actually a very interesting tale. Would make a delightful modern Cinderella story, actually.' He smiled again and ran a hand through his gorgeous hair. 'I never got to say sorry for how things turned out. Or rather I did, then I ruined it by speeding off in a stupid burst of temper. I'd like to apologise for that as well. For everything actually.'

'Oh no, you have nothing to apologise for honestly. I was the stupid one who walked off and left you, understandably fuming. I'm the one who never gave you a chance to explain and I apologise for it as well. I'm the one who has to be sorry, really.'

Both of them stood there for a second looking apologetic, then they burst out laughing. 'Bloody hell, talk about awkwardness averted.' Kainene snorted as she pressed a hand to her side. This had been funny. It was like they both had to win a 'who can apologise best and last' competition.

'We should probably just wipe the whole stupid slate clean and start all over again. Friends.' She stuck out a hand.

'Friends.' He replied with a grin and shook her hand firmly. Then he added, 'But I would really like to explain about the whole Minty situation...'

'Remember, wipe the slate clean. That includes Minty stories. I don't wanna hear, lalalala.' She pretended to stick her fingers in her ears.

Rufus laughed and nodded, 'Okay then. Slate officially wiped clean. No more Minty stories. Hell, who's Minty?'

They both laughed at this. 'So, I take it you're sat with your friends, the red-haired one and Viola.'

'Yeah, I am. And some other friends too. Why?' She asked confused.

'Oh, just wondering. I could have possibly squeezed you in on my table. Or booted someone off.' He replied, grinning.

She laughed at this, 'That's extremely sweet of you, but no thanks. Don't want one of your rugby buddies using my head as his ball some day.'

They smiled at each other and lapsed into comfortable silence. Then, someone from Rufus' gang yelled out, 'Hey, Rufus. Get your skinny arse back here, mate. Ladies' man!'

Rufus blushed and gave the guy the 'V' sign. He turned back to Kainene and muttered, albeit jokingly, 'Stupid tosser.'

Kainene giggled, 'Well, guess it's time for you to go back to your mates. See you around then.'

Rufus smiled at her gently, 'You'll definitely be seeing me around, Nens. Starting tonight. I'm gonna have the first dance with you later.'

'Wow, aren't we cocky?' She teased him.

He looked at her with a twinkle in his eye, 'Ladies man, at your service.' He doffed an imaginary hat. 'So, are we settled, then? First dance?'

She nodded with a sultry pout, 'Well of course. Since you asked so nicely. You shall most definitely have the first dance, young sir.'

Rufus arched an eyebrow and picked up her hand to place a gentle kiss on the back of her palm, 'Now that I take my leave, I hope I've left your heart all a-flutter.'

Kainene giggled, 'Oh piss off with you before your friends hurl a bottle at my perfectly coiffed curls.'

Rufus laughed and walked away towards his table, turning back to give her one last smile.

'Ooooh, check you out, smoky lad-aay!' A voice slyly cooed behind her.

She whirled around to see Lorna and Viola giggling and clutching each other excitedly.

'Oh my God, please tell me you weren't eavesdropping.' Kainene groaned in embarrassment.

'But we had no choice, young sir.' Lorna simpered.

'We had to know what was getting your heart all a-flutter.' Viola added cooing.

'Oh Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Naff Off!' Kainene cried, burying her flaming face in her hands. 'Why aren't you with Matt under a mistletoe or something, Lorns? And Viola...aarrgghh!' She ended with a scream.

The other two just laughed as they jostled each other playfully. 'Whatever, Nens. So, I take it we shall be seeing some amazing dance action later on tonight?' Lorns nudged Kainene slyly.

Kainene shook her head making her curls flutter around her, 'No you shall Not be seeing any amazing dance action and that's because it's mostly gonna be Christmassy and cheesy songs. Therefore, no amazing dances, but lots of hands flying and legs jumping.'

Lorna giggled at that. 'What apt descriptive skills you have, Nens...and 'therefore'? Golly, Nens, are we still being all old and proper with ourselves? Hearts a-flutter?'

Viola burst into a fit of giggles as Kainene mock-choked Lorna. As they laughed and joked about, a bell sounded and they looked up to see the waiters all lined up ready to serve.

'Oooh, food time!' Mykelos said behind them as they whirled round at his voice.

'Trust you to be back once you see food. How do you stay so fit with all you consume?' Lorna said in a frustrated tone.

Mykelos rubbed his washboard abs happily, 'I'm just blessed, mate. Now let's go sit down and tuck into some Christmas grub.'

They all walked to their table to join Matt who had been looking around for them.

***

Kainene stifled a burp as she stared at herself in the mirror. Viola was re-applying some mascara and Lorna was in the ballroom with Matt. Kainene got out her lipgloss to put some back on. The food had been superb, especially the starter of baked goat cheese. She loved her cheese. Now, she had to gather up the courage to dance with Rufus; luckily, some of the nice red wine they had been served was working through her system and said courage was being gathered as she thought.

Viola turned to look at Kainene, 'So, are you ready to have your 'first dance'?'

Kainene let out a sheepish smile, 'You guys are clearly not gonna let me off on this stupidness.'

'Not in a gazillion years,' was the quick reply.

Kainene laughed and shook her head, 'Yup. I'm as ready as I can ever be. Although I don't know why we're making such a big deal out of it. It's just a dance with my new friend.'

Viola rolled her eyes at her, 'Uh-hunh. Just a friend. Let's not kid ourselves, darling. Rufus cannot be 'just a friend' especially when it comes to you. You guys already have this chemistry thing going on with you and anyway, he is too bloody fit to be just friends with any girl.'

Kainene shrugged good-naturedly, 'We'll see. Come on, let's go downstairs and dance!'

A few minutes later the girls were back in the ballroom and were looking round for familiar faces. Mykelos danced towards them, his tie askew. 'Ahoy there, ladies. Where've you lot been hiding? Come on, Viola, let's go dance.' Viola giggled as she was dragged away by Mykelos.

Kainene smiled gratefully at Mykelos as he turned round and gave her a surreptitious wink. Mykelos was a lifesaver. She had been a bit worried about Viola and if she would feel left out if she was dancing with Rufus and Lorna was with Matt but now the problem was sorted. Time to sort out the other problem, like where on earth was...

'Been looking all over for you.'

Kainene spun round and saw Rufus with a playful smile looking down at her. She smiled back, 'Well, now you've found me.'

He tilted his head to study her for a long second and Kainene got a bit flustered, 'What's wrong?'

Rufus shook his head with a soft smile, 'Come on, let's go dance.'

Soon they were dancing and laughing happily along to The Vengaboys.

'Oh my God, I can't believe this song is still being played. I used to love it loads when I was a kid.' Kainene grinned as she waved her hands above her head.

Rufus chuckled, 'Yeah so did I...okay I lie. I actually hated them. Same as the Barbie singer.'

'Aqua? How could you?' Kainene mock-gasped and stared singing in her tuneless voice, 'I'm a barbie girl...in a barbie worrllldd...'

Rufus laughed and placed a hand over her mouth to stifle her off-key warbling. 'Stop. You're killing me.'

Kainene laughed as well, her breath tickling his hand. As they goofed about, they did not notice the dark looks that were being thrown at them from the corner of the dance floor.

A few dances later, Kainene was exhausted and pretty sure she was sweaty. She placed her palm on her forehead and wrinkled her nose as she felt the moisture there. She raised on her tiptoes to shout in Rufus' ear above the music, 'I'm just gonna go freshen up in the loo. I feel eeky.'

Rufus grinned at the word 'eeky'. She was so cute. 'Fine. I'll go get us drinks if you like. Or would you rather the marshmallows from the chocolate fountain?'

'Oooh...that would be wicked.' Kainene widened her eyes with joy. She loved marshmallows...and the combination of that with chocolate...yum!

She smiled at him then walked off quickly to the loo to re-apply her makeup.

As soon as she got in, she opened her bag and got out her lip gloss and some Kleenex ready to attack her face. The door opened and she saw some girls come in, Araminta and Heather right behind them.

She groaned inwardly, this was what she needed, the sight of the perfect bitches of Headington.

She tried to ignore them and concentrate on her makeup but it was futile as Araminta stood right next to her in front of the mirror.

'Aah, Nens is it? Fancy seeing you here.'

Kainene rolled her eyes to herself, 'It's the Christmas ball, Araminta. Why would you be surprised at my appearance?'

'Oh, never mind. Lovely dress, by the way.' Araminta replied airily waving her mascara in the air.

Kainene pursed her lips and nodded an abrupt 'thank you' at the 'compliment.'

She placed her lip gloss back in her purse and made to leave the large toilet and the next thing that happened shocked her to the core. Araminta turned at the same time with her full glass of red wine and 'accidentally' tipped it down Kainene's dress.

Kainene gasped as the cold liquid penetrated through her dress down to her skin. She looked down and saw the large stain spreading from the top of her bosoms to her waist. Her eyes grew teary in horror. This gorgeous dress was ruined. And it was outrageously expensive and was not even hers. What was she going to do? And poor Viola. She looked up at Araminta and saw as the spiteful girl tried to hide a smirk.

Araminta said in a false sympathetic voice, 'Oh dear, clumsy me. What on earth was I thinking? How extremely clumsy of me, do forgive me darling. Whatever are you going to do now?'

Kainene just stared at her as she tried to hold back her tears. Why were they so hateful? She tried her hardest to stay away from them yet they always sought her out to terrorise her.

'I hope you are pleased with yourself.' She said in a quiet voice.

'Excuse me? Araminta replied shocked.

'I said I hope you are pleased with yourself. It's extremely shocking the way you behave. One would think you'd be classier seeing that you went to public school and whatnot, yet you continue to act like a spoilt baby.'

Araminta turned red, 'How dare you? It was a stupid accident, if you want I can get it dry cleaned for you or, better yet, buy a new dress. I mean, you probably used your life savings to afford this and I can write a cheque out for you right now...no skin off some people's backs.' She ended snidely.

Kainene just shook her head as the tears threatened to spill.

Araminta noticed how watery her eyes were and cooed falsely, 'Oh dear, you're not going to cry are you? How simply awful for you, would you like some tissue? It's lavender scented.' She held out a tissue she got from her purse and Heather tittered behind her.

Kainene could not hold the tear that slipped down one cheek and she pushed past them and the small group of girls that had been staring and ran out of the loo. This was all too much. Could she not have uninterrupted fun for one day? Just one day. She shook her head as the tears fell. She pulled out her phone and rang a cab number. She was going home. Thankfully, it would not cost a lot to take a cab home and she did not particularly care anyway. She just wanted her bed. In fact, she really wanted her bed back home in Hackney. She slipped outside unobtrusively not wanting to alert anyone to her disappearance and she got in the cab and went home.

***

'Hey, have you seen Nens anywhere?' Lorna asked Viola. She had been looking for her for about thirty minutes.

'No. The last time I saw her, she was dancing with Rufus so I didn't really pay any attention. Why?' Viola replied.

'Because I can't seem to find her. And she's definitely not with Rufus 'cause he just asked me where she was. He said she went off to the loo some time ago and she's not been back.'

'Bloody hell, where could she have gone off to?' Viola asked worried as the two girls hurried to the toilet to check for her.

She was not there; she was not anywhere.

The girls were more than worried now and walked back to the dance floor looking around frantically. Matt spotted the scared look on Lorna's face and walked towards her quickly, 'What's wrong, babe?'

'It's Nens. I can't find her, and before you ask yes I've checked everywhere.' Lorna asked practically wringing her hands.

'Have you tried ringing her?' Matt asked

'Oh crap, I'm such a numpty. Why didn't I think of that?' She said rifling through her purse to find her phone. She dialled Kainene's number and waited for it to ring. It rang for a while then went straight to voicemail. She dialled it again but this time it went straight to voicemail without ringing.

'It's not going through.' Lorna said dropping the phone back in her bag.

Mykelos came up to them, a tad tipsy and slurred slightly, 'Why have you all got funny looks on your faces? You look like you'll took a dump down the wrong hole.'

Lorna glared at him as Matt shook his head warningly at Mykelos to lay off, 'This isn't the time for your stupid jokes, Mykelos. Nens is missing and I can't seem to get through to her phone.'

'Oh.' Mykelos sobered up a bit, 'Well did you check the loo? I saw her go in there.'

Lorna opened her mouth to say that she had indeed checked it, but Mykelos continued, 'Although it was pretty funny though, some blonde girl who looked like she had serious beef with someone hurried in after her with some American girl. Thought it was a bit funny the way they stared at Nens so intently.' He wrinkled his brow as he remembered.

Lorna swore angrily, 'Oh bugger-fuckeries-wank.'

'Lorns!' Viola gasped as the boys stared at her in shock.

'Oh lay off, I'm pissed off. I can swear if I want to. It's bloody Minty. And her stupid sidekick. They must have said something utterly horrendous to poor Nens and God knows where she is now. Probably gone back home. I'm going to have words with that skank-whore. She needs to be put in her place.'

She marched off leaving the trio staring at her in confusion. She looked around for Araminta and, as luck would have it, saw her laughing with Heather and some other girls by a secluded corner of the ball room. She glared at them and walked purposefully to where they were standing.

'Araminta, right?'

Araminta turned and saw Lorna. She raised an eyebrow and drawled, 'Yah, do I know you?'

Lornan gave a shudder and replied, 'No, thank the Lord. I just wanted to ask where the fuck you get off bullying my best friend?'

Araminta looked puzzled, 'What on earth are you talking about?'

'Nens. That's who I'm talking about.'

'Oh,' Araminta rolled her eyes and shrugged, 'For fuck's sake I said I'd pay for the dress, it was a stupid accident.'