Come Back...Be Here - Charles Leclerc

Chapter 1: End of a chapter

🎶 Home — Edith Whiskers 🎶

I slipped my last dress from its hanger in the cupboard standing in my student accommodation at Christ Church College in Oxford to put it in my already crammed suitcase. Four years of law school have flied, four years full of studying, but also finding wonderful new friends and growing up.

Our graduation ceremony had already taken place two days before and I took out my phone to scroll through the pictures taken that day. Looking at them filled me with so much joy and pride again, so I decided to post one on Instagram to commemorate this big day.

tagged: val.the.great, anniewoods
mary.wright98 Graduated from the best Law School in the world. Thank you Oxford for the memories. Now ready for my big girl job and even more, for summer 🌞

After putting away my phone I tried to scramble together an outfit for tonight, I was going out with my friends for one last hooray before we all flock out into the big world. At 6pm sharp my best friend Valerie knocked on my room door.
"Hey girl, how are we... Oh my, what happened to your room Mary?"
"Oh Val, I've already packed everything... I'm leaving early tomorrow to spend some time at home before our trip."
I winked at her. This trip has been our dream since we started our master's degree 10 months ago. And before our final exams we booked our tickets to mainland Europe to spend the whole of July there. Hiking in Austria, eating pasta in Italy, enjoying the Greek sun, shopping in France, we have it all planned out. And I really can't wait. I graduated with high marks, have a traineeship at a renowned law firm lined out starting in September in London, so I deserve a break.

Val and I chatted a bit while putting on some make-up and our clothes. I finally settled for this:

Val went all the way and put on a tight black mini dress. She looked like she was on a mission and I knew what it was about. Christian Green. He was the typical rich English countryside kid and she wanted to hook up with him before leaving uni for good.

At 8pm we entered our groups' favorite pub, the Cricketers Arms, to find already Anne, who was with some guy, Tania, Charlotte and... Christian sitting at our usual table in the back left corner.

We greeted our friends, Val slipped on a place on the bench next to Christian and started talking to him animatedly while I sat myself on a chair between Tania and Charlotte. The two girls both had studied finance and we met in second year in a finance law class we took together. They asked me about my and Val's summer trip.
"Nah Mary, I'm so jealous! I start my job on Monday and have not even had a day in peace to relax from exams!"
Poor Tania, she starts at a Big Four company in Manchester already in a few days. She tried to postpone her starting day to August but they threatened to give the post to another one, so she obliged. Finance is tough. Again, I am happy that most law traineeships start in either September or February...

The rest of the night was filled with laughter, drinks, lots of drinks, reminiscing in memories... and Val finally going home with Christian.
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The next day I awakened surprisingly fit, considering the amount of alcohol I consumed last night. Before getting up I checked my phone for embarrassing pictures which might have landed on Instagram or any possibility of having sent a risky message to someone.
But who am I joking, my last relationship was in first year with a guy I met at lunch. We went out for two months but then he ghosted me all of a sudden. I have seen him once again in third year in a corridor but as soon as he saw me he changed his direction and ran away. Up until today, I still don't know what I have done wrong. Since then I went on a few dates, but a relationship never blossomed. I concentrated on my studies and on rowing.

After going to the bathroom and washing my teeth I put on a comfortable outfit for traveling, closed my suitcases and left my room without looking back. I was ready for real life.

I packed all my suitcases and other stuff I had gathered in my mom's car which she kindly left here after my graduation ceremony. My family went back home by train.

I connected my phone to my car, started the "Roadtrip" playlist on Spotify and took on the 3 1/2 hour drive to my family's summer home in Salcombe, Cornwall.