Chapter 2

Adam’s lectures began two days later. He sat at the back of a small lecture theatre, empty seats on either side of him, and readied his note pad.

“Anyone sitting here?” A striking dark-haired girl gestured towards the seat on Adam’s right.

He shook his head. “No. No one.”

“Do you mind?”

“Not at all.”

She sat on Adam’s left. “Thanks. I’m sorry for being so forward, but I don’t know anyone here and you look sort of friendly. I’m Kim. Kim Gaiman”

She offered her hand, which Adam shook. “Adam Smith. Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

They watched the room slowly fill as the top of the hour approached. Adam guessed that there were between sixty and seventy students in the room. He knew they would all be taking variations of the English Literature degree. Some, like him, would be adding The Classics, others would choose American or European Literature. The lecturer arrived right on time. She put a big black briefcase on the desk at the front of the room, took out some papers and stood in front of them, ready to begin.

“Good morning. I’m Dr Hilary Banks. Welcome to the English depar—” There was a knock on the door and someone pushed it open. Dr Banks turned to look. A whispered murmur swept around the room as the person entered.

“I ... Erm ... I’m sorry,” said the newcomer. She looked terrified. “I ... I couldn’t find the room.”

“That’s understandable. I got lost on my first day too,” Dr Banks replied with a kindly smile. “It’s Miss Goodman, isn’t it?”

She nodded. “Chloë.”

“Okay, Chloë. Well, if you’d like to take a seat, I was just about to start.”

Chloë sat on the end of the front row and quickly took a notepad and some pens out of her bag.

“How tragic for Little Miss Movie-Star,” Kim whispered to Adam. “I’ll bet she didn’t get lost. I bet the chauffeur got stuck in traffic. Either that or she wanted to make a grand entrance. ‘Go around the block again will you, James!’” Kim laughed at her own joke and, although he didn’t find it particularly funny, Adam smiled and chuckled politely.

Dr Banks walked up the stairs at the side of the theatre and handed out bundles of papers to the person sitting on the end of each row, instructing them to pass the papers along until everyone had a bundle. “Right then, let’s get started,” said Dr Banks, when she had returned to the lectern. “In your bundles, you will find a timetable of lectures and seminars for this year’s modules. Obviously, your first task following this lecture will be to draw up an individual timetable based on the modules you have chosen. You’ll also find a reading list for each module. You should already have had this and hopefully have already purchased most of the books you’ll need. If you haven’t then there is an excellent second-hand bookshop on campus that is usually well-stocked. You can get them there.”

Kim leaned towards Adam and whispered, “Like Miss movie-star will need second-hand books. She’s probably got hold of mint condition first editions of each one.”

Dr Banks was still talking. “There is also a list of seminar and tutorial groups. Seminar groups are usually six or eight students and never more than ten. Tutorials are three or four and never more than five. While seminars are timetabled, compulsory and linked to a module, tutorials are not timetabled or module linked. However, they are still compulsory. You’ll need to co-ordinate with the others in your tutor group and your tutor to set a time for your meetings.”

Adam flipped through the bundle of papers to see which group he was in. “Hey,” Kim said, “we’re in the same tutorial group. Cool, huh? I’ll know someone. Oh, Miss movie-star is in our group too. Damn!”

Adam grunted. He was staring with disbelief at the paper. There was his name, in black and white, right below Chloë’s. Dr Banks continued with her lecture, talking about the structure of the course. At the end of the lecture, she indicated that all those students she would be tutoring should wait behind. When the rest of the students had left the room, she called her charges to the front.

“I’ve got six tutor groups this year, which is quite a workload on top of everything else, so I’d like to meet every other week if that’s okay with everyone.” She looked around the room but there were no objections. “Good. This way I can see three groups per week, which should make things easier to fit in. Let’s see when I’m free...”

Neither Adam, Chloë nor Kim indicated a preference for the three time-slots that Dr Banks offered and ended up with a session on Friday morning. Their first meeting would be in three weeks. Dr Banks asked Chloë to wait behind for a chat while the remaining students trooped out of the room.

“I wonder what that’s about,” Adam asked.

“Banks is probably giving her a telling off for turning up late. You know the sort of thing—just ‘cause you’re famous it doesn’t mean you can flout the rules.”

“I guess so.”

“Say, do you want to go get something to eat?” she asked. “I’m starved. We could go to the canteen in the Student’s Union.”

Over lunch, Adam agreed to meet up with Kim and her flatmates for drinks that afternoon. His flatmates agreed to go along too when he suggested it. They met up in the Student’s Union bar, which was much quieter than the first time Adam had visited.