Samuel was dreading his return to university now that the holidays had ended. He sat on the train to London feeling sick to his stomach with worry. He found himself nervously fiddling with his tie as he thought about it. It wasn’t because he hated his course, in fact, he was the star pupil on the English Literature degree. The real problem was that for some reason he had been placed in halls of residence with nine other young men who shared nothing in common with him. While Samuel was happiest sitting in his room, reading a good Dickens book, or listening to a Mozart concerto, the other boys preferred to go out drinking at all hours, play loud horrible music, go to the gym, play football, invite girls round, or just spend their time being generally rowdy. Samuel hated all of those things, and the other boys knew it, meaning that he was often taunted by them in return. It was like living in some kind of mental asylum, and he couldn’t bear to think about what situation he would encounter on his return. It could literally be anything, and Samuel hated uncertainty.

Suddenly Samuel received a text message on his outdated phone. It was from his Mum, and it said, “Have you eaten the special sandwiches yet?” Samuel sighed, his Mum had made him some ‘special’ sandwiches for his journey, which he had actually forgotten about. He couldn’t believe she was actually checking if he had eaten them. He had no idea what she had put in them, but he was feeling a bit peckish, so he took them out of his bag and started munching. They tasted kind of weird.

A short while later, the train arrived into London, and Sam disembarked and boarded the London underground. He caught his reflection in the glass of the train windows and found himself slightly adjusting his fashionable hairstyle. He wanted to make sure he looked good, before meeting up with the lads later. He plugged his headphones into his new iPhone and started listening to his favourite indie music. An attractive girl walked down the carriage. She and Sam caught each other’s eye and they exchanged a slight smile before she continued walking. “Still got it,” whispered Sam to himself. He was used to that sort of thing, thanks to his good looks, great fashion sense, and gym fit body.

Sam relaxed into his seat and started to feel excited about his return to university. He couldn’t wait to meet up with the other boys from the halls – they were all such good mates. He’d probably go straight to the pub and meet them there, or perhaps they’d have a game of football on the sports pitch first. Sam loved the fact that he never knew what they’d be doing next, it made life exciting. If only he didn’t have to do that boring English Literature course. He couldn’t even remember why he chose it in the first place now, he hated reading! Perhaps it was time to switch his degree to something more suitable like Sports Studies.