His housemates were in the kitchen, the parents had all left and Tucker had taken charge and was asking everyone their name. One girl caught Ernest’s eye, Vyn had an unusual hairstyle and looked rather intimidating. The new housemates spent around an hour sitting and chatting and Ernest hardly said a word but listened to them all and in the end he was glad to escape to his room. He left them chatting and from the sound of things they were up quite late.

 

  

The next morning he rose early, dressed and splashed water on his face to help himself wake up and then walked to the kitchen to get himself something to eat.

 

He was expecting to be alone in the kitchen for breakfast after the late night the others would have had and so was surprised to see Vyn sitting eating her breakfast and reading avidly. She looked up, smiled and said “Hi” when she saw him and then went on with reading her book. He made himself a tea, poured out some cereal and in a moment of bravery asked her “Do you mind if I sit with you?” She closed her book and shook her head smiling.

 

 

She said “You made a quick getaway last night” and he replied “I wanted to be up early to go to the library, I am not really good at social gatherings.” She replied “I left soon after you, you gave me the courage to say good night and go to bed, I had been wanting to for ages.” He looked surprised at her, he had taken her for a party animal and someone who would fit her studying round her social diary and yet she appeared to be very different. She asked “Do you mind if I tag along to the library?” “No, not at all.” He said smiling back. Ernest had made his first friend.

They spent a lot of time together over the next few months and he settled into his life at University well. Most of their time together they spent studying, but Vyn did convince him one evening to go out ice skating. Ernest wasn’t a natural and spent a lot of time sitting on his bum, while Vyn confidently skated past him but it made a nice change to the inside of his room or the library.  

Vyn did have the way of looking at him oddly at times when she thought he wasn’t looking, but he guessed it must mean there was something wrong in his appearance and she was too polite to say anything. The first year passed so quickly with Ernest coming top of his class and before he knew it the second year was upon him.

http://wintersmith.wordpress.com/2007/08/19/chapter-3-%e2%80%93-creating-a-well-rounded-student/