Chapter 8

Wednesday felt very normal for Andrew with his morning exercise routine, a quick bowl of soup at the Café and then early breakfast at Hall. He, Matt and Malcolm walked down to their respective Departments, Architecture being right in front of the Engineering building.

“We never really talked about last year. I saw you got a First.”

Andrew nodded.

“Did you?”

“Yes, all four of us did.”

“How do you know?”

“For someone so bloody studious some things completely pass you by. They post the results so that everyone can see them.”

“Oh.”

“So yes, I checked yesterday and saw that all of us got Firsts. But the best thing was, you know that braying loudmouth fool, Johnno? The one that didn’t want to have Liv at his lab bench.”

Andrew was already smiling.

“Desmond.”

He laughed out loud.

“It will be interesting to see how he spins that, or if he shuts up this year.”

He was less of a braying fool, but was still bullshitting about it being unfair, or a bad day, or he was on the blob. Most people rolled their eyes and did the same as Andrew, ignored him.

As for the morning of meetings and preparation, it was a real bucket of cold water. The volume of work across all disciplines of engineering was daunting. That doesn’t really do it justice, it was an astonishing amount that they were going to get through. The first day back vibe was gone by the end of the morning, and this was the calm before the storm. The four of them sat having lunch, not down but definitely subdued.

“Look at us, the course has not even started yet.”

Keith was the designated cheerleader.

“I am going to do what Andrew did in first term last year, put the effort in every week, work hard to stay on top of things.”

Olivia sounded resigned, but determined. Matt looked over at Andrew.

“What did you do, hours wise I mean?”

Andrew sighed.

“About 45-50 in Michaelmas, a little bit more in Lent and then a lot more in Easter.”

Matt joined him in sighing.

“Full days Monday to Friday gets you more than 40. It is not like English or some of those Arts courses where you have to read constantly and write essays, that takes a lot of discipline. We have to be here before 9.00 four days a week or else.”

That was a key point. They still had externally imposed discipline, classes and labs that they could not be late for. Helena had none of that and had got Andrew to make sure she was awake and up every day during term time. The sciences were much more structured that way than the arts courses. The four of them split up and Matt and Andrew headed back to Trinity for the afternoon sessions with their Directors of Studies and Tutors.

“When were you going to tell us?”

Andrew looked at Matt, confused.

“About what?”

“The asterisk.”

“I wasn’t going to mention it. You know what I am like.”

Matt shook his head.

“There are nearly 250 of us on the course Mac, and you came top, joint top, whatever. Are you not pleased?”

“Yes, I am Matt, but I also am not the kind of person who shouts about stuff like that. When I realised on Monday afternoon that I had come top, I lay on my bed wondering if I had been too compulsive in my studying, was I missing out on part of the student experience by being so focused on the course? So I will accept that I did well last year but you saw this morning. ‘What have you done for me lately?’ was pretty evident in their approach. It means nothing in terms of passing 1B.”

“Yeah, that is true. And I know you are not one to brag. Hell, it was your quiet example that got the rest of us studying as hard as we did, and as early as we did. It just seems odd that you would downplay something so impressive. What is Cannon going to say?”

Professor Cannon was Andrew’s Director of Studies.

“I don’t know. I met him four times last year, beginning and end of Michaelmas, and at the end of the Lent and Easter. I don’t know about yours but I got the sense that he wasn’t very interested in 1^st years. He had an attitude of ‘show me what you can do’ and was pretty remote. But I did all the work, was ready for all the supervisions and generally was low maintenance. Maybe he gets on the backs of other students. I will find out shortly.”

First, Andrew had to meet Dr. Wakefield with the other four students that he was Tutor to. Andrew had nothing bothering him that fell remotely within his Tutor’s area of support and so sat and drank a cup of tea and let the hour pass. As they were all leaving Wakefield held him back for a second.

“Well done Andrew. When are you meeting Professor Cannon?”

“4.30, sir.”

“To come top of your course is an impressive achievement, Engineering is the largest Department of the University. How many are in your class?”

“Approximately 250, sir.”

“You should understand that the College looks upon these achievements with pride. It was an easy Senior Scholarship to award. It is good to come to the attention of the authorities for the right reasons.”

He had the ghost of a smirk upon his face.

“Thank you for letting me know how importantly the College takes this. My own temperament is to downplay it, but that is not because it is not something I value, just my personality.”

“I will see you next Wednesday at the ceremony.”

As Andrew descended the staircase from Wakefield’s office he pondered his words. Andrew was a student of the Engineering Department of the University of Cambridge, but was a student of Trinity College as well. The collegiate system made a lot of aspects of Cambridge life more complex. Not complicated necessarily but it added a layer of complexity. And the inter-college rivalry was fierce, especially academically. An hour later he was in Professor Cannon’s office.

“Congratulations McLeod, excellent performance.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Your Civil paper was remarkable, you have an aptitude there, yes?”

He meant civil engineering.

“Thank you, sir. I have an interest in structural engineering, so it is the course I most enjoy. I am in the Royal Engineers section of the OTC and have attended several Sappers camps. Engineering in action, quick but robust, problem solving under pressure, that sort of thing.”

“Excellent. Are you leaning that way for your final two years?”

“Leaning that way but definitely not decided. It was one of the main differentiators when applying, the broad multi-discipline approach to engineering for the first two years. But yes, it is where my interest is lying at the moment.”

“How did you find this morning?”

“What have you done for me lately, I think would be the best way to describe it. Stop patting yourself on the back and get ready for new challenges.”

“Interesting. An accurate summation in many ways. You were an easy student to supervise, on top of your work, always prepared, and not a constant whinger.”

Andrew looked at him in surprise.

“Yes, there is a lot of whinging. Anyway, I would like to see you a little more frequently this year, so we will have a short meeting mid-term as well as at the end.”

Agreeing was the only option.

“Anyway, well done for your performance last year. I will see you at the ceremony next week.”

And with that he was done. The Scholarship Ceremony was the last event and then finally 1^st year would be over with and Andrew could focus on 2^nd year. He lay on his bed and listened to some music, his mind busy but not really focused on a particular thing, just busy. He sat up and decided to do a quick review of his goals, something he had not done for several months.

University and studying were clearly going well. Fitness was almost on autopilot and just two mornings back into his routine had made Andrew understand the importance of his standard exercise routine. Career was still a mystery, but there had been some glimmers of ideas. Structural engineering was one but the surprising one was he had been told he would make a good policeman. Becoming a cop had never crossed Andrew’s mind before and so it at least deserved consideration. Balance, as long as he did not study too hard, was good. A good group of friends at both the Department and at the OTC. Friends at College, both male and female, and a promise to see his friends at home as well. He would be back out to Addenbrooke’s the following Monday night to start his regular weekly shift. That was his main karmic effort, modelling no longer counted, it was a regular thing as opposed to helping some students out of a jam. Finally making a difference was moving forward, and seemed more manageable and under control. The summer had been too busy but Andrew was well set up to have a good year at Cambridge. He was late to dinner and was sitting on his own when Pedro arrived.

“How was today?”

“A wake-up call. Get ready for a shitload of work starting tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. We all came in happy and chatty and by the time they were done everyone was just stunned.”

“Exactly the same with us. It was the coldness of it. You are here now, we don’t care about last year any more, get ready.”

The two of them sat and bemoaned their lot in life, tone deaf in moaning about first world problems.

“Any plans for tonight?”

“Maybe go to the bar later, depends how busy it is.”

“I’ll be there, deploying my Spanish charm, tempting fair maidens with my Mediterranean good looks and wit.”

They both laughed.

“I know, I made myself throw up in my mouth with that one. I’ll be flirting with women in the bar.”

Pedro stopped and appraised Andrew.

“What’s with you and Abigail? She never talked to you last year and this year I see her with you all the time.”

“We are all in New Court. Familiar face at the start of the term.”

Andrew shrugged. Pedro just smiled.

“Next summer you need to come to Madrid. You and I will be legends.”

Andrew snorted.

“In our own minds maybe.”

Any chance he had of Pedro believing him went down the drain as Abi came over and sat down beside them. Pedro kept a calm countenance but Andrew knew he would be hearing about it later. With no pretence at subtlety Pedro was off leaving the two of them alone, well alone with 20 pairs of eyes watching them.

“Today was brutal.”

Looked like it was university wide phenomena.

“Pedro and I were just discussing it. Our courses too.”

“It is one of the things that I want to talk to you about. Do you mind getting out of here, I feel like there are a bunch of people staring?”

As they walked the same route as the day before Abi started.

“I am glad you went to OTC last night, it gave me a chance to think. About me, about you, well us but I’ll try and explain.

“It started after you and Matt left and almost immediately several guys came over, typical based on last year. But I was different, both in how I thought and how I acted. I don’t know exactly why having sex with you made me more confident with other people but it did. I was very passive, both in my final year at school and last year here. For whatever reason, last night I pushed back. It surprised some of those jackasses and it felt good. And best of all it was me, on my own, not hiding behind you or anyone else.