If asked to describe her life up to this point, Lucy would most probably have said boring or average. The eldest daughter, her parents had been happily married for over 25 years. Her father was an accountant, her mother a primary schoolteacher. Her sister was 2 years younger than Lucy and although, like all siblings they argued occasionally, on the whole they got on and in unguarded moments would even describe each other as their best friends.
Overall Lucy had enjoyed, as much as any child would, her school years. She had grown up in a small rural town and although there had been the odd issue with drugs and alcohol and one girl had got pregnant at 15, most of the big issues that many children in inner city schools faced passed Lucy and her friends by. Lucy had been popular at school, not one of the 'in crowd' but liked enough to be invited to most parties. She had a small group of friends she'd known since primary school and had also had a couple of boyfriends. Neither had lasted very long and if Lucy was honest she wasn't that interested in boys of her own age or sex.
She had played sports for the school, always in the team, but never the star. Lucy liked to her keep herself fit and took pride that her body was slim and toned. She never had to worry about wearing a bikini at the beach. Academically she had held her own and managed to get a good set of results, which was why she was now standing in front of the mirror, preparing to go to her first lecture at University.
Lucy had always assumed she would go to Uni after school. She and a couple of friends had toyed with the idea of taking a gap year and travelling, but one by one they dropped out, so just a few months after leaving school, Lucy found herself in a big city for the first time in her life. Her parents had dropped her off at the halls of residence and after a few tears, Lucy had managed to persuade her mum that she would be fine and would call her every night. Freshers week had been ok. The halls of residence were divided into flats and Lucy got on with her flatmates. She went out most nights and again if honest had been surprised at what some of the girls in particular, got up to and were prepared to do with boys after only knowing them for a couple of hours, if that. Lucy didn't regard herself as a prude, but was starting to realise just how sheltered her life had been. She had a couple of snogging sessions during the week, but was really put off by the drunken slobbering and groping and so got away as soon as she could.
She was really looking forward to her course. She had long had an interest in Psychology, studying it at 'A' Level and in the back of her mind thought she might want to be a psychiatrist one day. With that in mind, she had forgone another night out for an early night so as to be ready for the lecture in the morning. Lucy left her flat with plenty of time to walk to the University Campus about a mile away. She arrived early, found the lecture hall and got herself settled in. She was careful not to position herself at the front or in the centre as she didn't want to attract the lecturer's attention. Although she had done well in her 'A' levels, some of the people she had met so far at Uni had intimidated her and she wasn't feeling as confident as she should. So she a picked a seat near to the back and a couple in from the aisle. She was one of the first to arrive and so watched as the other students arrived and took their places. Most seemed to be on their own, although there were a couple of small groups who seemed to know each other. Several people slid past Lucy on their way to their own seats, but no one sat next to her. A geeky looking guy in front of her turned around and introduced himself, but quickly ran out of conversation after asking her name and where she was from and not knowing where it was when she told him.
The lecturer arrived and was about to start when an beautiful young woman burst through the double doors at the top of the lecture hall, bounded down the steps and slumped into the seat next to Lucy.
'Thank fuck I made it before he started,' she panted, 'hi, my name's Hattie, what's yours?'
Lucy was stunned, so much for not drawing attention to herself, 'I'm Lucy, I think he's about to start.'
'Oh good, we'll let's hope he's interesting,' said Hattie with a big smile.
The lecture started with providing an outline of the 1 st year course, rules about assignments, who the students could ask for help if they were struggling etc. After about 45 minutes the lecturer then said 'right it's about time you lot start to get to know each other, because you are going to be spending a lot of time together and will most probably at some point study each other, so I want to turn to the person setting next to you, tell them who you are, where you come from, why you are here and why you are have chosen Psychology. I am going to give you 15 minutes.'
Little did Lucy know, but those 15 minutes were the start of a transformation that would take boring average Lucy on a very different path to the one she thought she would be taking.
Lucy had never met anyone like Hattie before. She was a couple of years older than Lucy, from a city and had a black father and white mum, which she said made her upbringing interesting. She had dropped out of the same course last year because of a family crisis, but was now back and ready to make the most of Uni second time around. In Lucy's mind, she looked exotic, like a supermodel. She
was stunningly beautiful and although what she wore seemed extravagant, she managed to carry it off. Lucy, like most of her fellow students had just gone for the jeans and T-shirt look, with minimal make-up, whereas Hattie looked as she had just stepped out of a fashion show. Hattie was also interested in Lucy and managed to get more out of her in 15 minutes than her flatmates had in a week. Lucy was disappointed when the 15 minutes was up, but was thrilled when Hattie asked if she wanted to go for a coffee after the lecture.
The lecture went on for another hour, by which time both girls were desperate to leave and get a coffee. They found their way to the student coffee bar and after getting their drinks settled down on a sofa.
'Now,' Hattie began, 'let's get to the good stuff ... have you got a boyfriend?'
'No.'
'Wow, I'm surprised a good looking girl like you, bet you get plenty of attention?'
'Not much,' replied Lucy, getting a little embarrassed, 'I've not really been that interested in boys.'
'Are you into girls then?'
'Oh no, nothing like that, it's just ...'
'Have you had a boyfriend?'
'Yes a couple, but they didn't last long ...'
'Have you done it?'
'What?'
'Had sex?'
Lucy started to blush, nobody had ever been this direct with her before. She and her friends at school had often talked about sex, but it was always one of the conversations Lucy had been on the outside of. Now as Hattie began to probe she started to get a tingling feeling between her legs and knew she was starting to blush.
'You're a virgin aren't you,' exclaimed Hattie, way too loud for Lucy's liking.
'Sshh ... I'm not, but there's no need for the whole Uni to know.'
Hattie was now laughing and smiling at Lucy, not in a horrible, but friendly way, 'well young lady, you must tell me more ...'
'I really don't want to talk about it.'
'I'm only going to keep pushing ... come on, spill the beans.'
Lucy was now turning a brighter shade of red and wanting a big hole to open in the floor to swallow her, 'not here.'
'OK, what are you plans for the rest of the day?' Hattie asked.