Stitches (Charlie Jones)

Chapter One

“I’ll miss you so much,” my mother told me, giving me yet another hug. “Yep. I’ll miss you too,” I replied, humouring her. “Call me when you’re all settled in, okay?” she questioned and I nodded. She gave me one more hug before stepping back towards the car. I pulled the handle up on my suitcase and gave her one final smile. “I’ll see you soon,” I said before turning on my heel and looking around at the hundreds of students saying farewell to their families.

A young woman walked towards me with a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other. She looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old. Her blonde hair had been straightened and it fell just below her shoulders. She had a dark blue polo shirt on along with black, skinny jeans and black converse. “Good morning. I’m Caitlin, one of the ambassadors here. What’s your name so I can check you in?” she asked, not as fake and enthusiastic as I’d expected. “Katie Johnson,” I answered, gripping onto the strap of my rucksack.

“Ah, okay, got you. You’re in the B wing, dorm six. Your roommate has already checked in. I’ll take you to your room now,” Caitlin told me. “Okay, thanks,” I replied, following her towards the large buildings ahead of us. The dorms were in what looked like old houses. Ivy crept up each of the buildings, giving it a homey look.

Caitlin headed towards the smallest of the four buildings. The front door was being held open by a guy wearing a dark blue polo shirt identical to the one Caitlin was wearing. He smiled at us both as we walked towards him. “Good morning,” he said, giving Caitlin and acknowledging nod. Once we were both through the door, he let it shut behind us.

There were two large rooms at either side of us with big glass doors. Ahead of us was a large set of stairs and a hallway which lead to the back of the house. Caitlin took my rucksack from me and walked up the stairs and I followed suit. It was a struggle getting my suitcase up the stairs but when I finally made it, Caitlin led me along the carpeted landing to the white door at the very end. She knocked twice before opening it.

The room was bigger than I’d expected it to be. There were two three quarter beds at either side of the room and a large, light blue rug on the floor in between them. There was a small chest of draws at the end of each bed and a large wardrobe taking up the whole of one of the walls. Sat on the bed furthest away from the door was a girl. She had ginger, curly, untamed hair and striking green eyes. She smiled at me and it seemed to light up the whole room. “Hi, I’m Ruby Foster,” she told me, standing up and walking towards me. She held out a hand and I looked down at it before shaking it. “I’ll leave you two to it then. If you have any questions there’ll be an ambassador about somewhere. My room is downstairs at the back of the house if you ever need anything,” Caitlin explained and I nodded before saying, “Thank you.”

Caitlin gave me my rucksack before leaving us alone. I pulled my suitcase into the room and placed it by the chest of drawers at the end of the bed. “I’m Katie Johnson,” I told Ruby as I dumped my rucksack on my new bed. “It’s nice to meet you,” she replied with a huge smile on her face. “If you need any help unpacking just let me know,” she told me and I smiled gratefully.

I laid my suitcase on the floor before unzipping it and pushing it open. “So why did you decide to start here? I assume this is your first year because I haven’t seen you before,” Ruby asked me. “I just fancied a change,” I told her as I pulled open the top drawer of the chest of drawers. I started piling my already folded clothes in the drawer while Ruby and I got to know each other.

“Don’t take too long unpacking. We need to go to the activities fair,” Ruby told me as I finished packing the drawers full and moved onto the wardrobe. It didn’t take me much longer to finish unpacking.

I grabbed my sunglasses and headed out of the house with Ruby. It was oddly sunny for September. The activities fair was busier than I’d expected it to be. Everyone was making new friends and joining clubs. Ruby walked straight up to the first table and wrote her name down on the signup sheet. It was a music club. She grinned at me and said, “You should join. I bet you’re really good at music.” I used to play the piano but I hadn’t played since I was diagnosed. So it’d be good for me to get back into it.

I shrugged and nodded before writing my name down. “Ruby!” someone yelled from behind us. I turned to see two boys and a girl walking towards us. “How was your summer?” the girl asked. She looked to be the same age as me and Ruby. She had brown, wavy hair which she had in a half-up-half-down style. She looked quite small next to her two male friends. “It was great, thanks,” Ruby replied. She turned to me and smiled. “This is Katie. She’s my new roommate,” she told her three friends. “Katie, this is Ellie, Toby and Charlie,” Ruby introduced. I smiled at them all and they returned it. Toby had black hair and dark eyes and he looked to be quite close to Ellie so I assumed they were dating. Charlie was slightly taller than Toby. His hair was styled into a quiff and he had beautiful blue eyes.

The three of them signed up for the music club before wondering round the rest of the activities fair with Ruby and I. “Is there anything you’re interested in?” Ruby asked me, looking around at all the tables. “Not particularly,” I answered. “Great. Let’s grab some food then,” she replied with a smile. The five of us went inside a huge dining hall which was filled with students.

Ruby grabbed a tray and I followed her lead. The selection of food on offer was a lot better than I’d expected. Ruby chose a chicken tikka and salad wrap and a bottle of water. I got some tomato pasta and a bottle of orange juice. I loved orange juice. I followed Ruby to a table and we sat down, shortly followed by Toby, Ellie and Charlie.

For the duration of time we were sat there, the four of them talked about people and subjects I didn’t have a clue about. Ruby did try to involve me in conversations but Ellie seemed to avoid including me. Eventually, I tuned out and thought about what my family were doing.

“So do you want to go now?” Ellie asked Ruby who nodded. “Charlie, are you coming?” Ellie asked but Charlie shook his head. She shrugged and said, “Suit yourself.” I had no idea where they were going but I was a little annoyed that Ruby was about to leave me.

Ruby, Ellie and Toby left the table, leaving me alone with Charlie. “So it’s your first year here?” he questioned and I nodded. “Yeah, I wanted a fresh start,” I replied. He smiled, his blue eyes lighting up as he did so. “Well, I’ll be around if you need anything. It sucks being the new kid and not knowing where anything is,” he told me. “Thank you,” I replied with a smile on my face. Maybe this new start would be better than I’d hoped.