Page 5 of Oar Than Friends

‘According to my sister, two of the girls were kicked off the crew for fraternizing with the Oxford boys. Mary Heston lodged a complaint.’

‘Who’s that?’

‘She’s just been made women’s president, and takes her duties very seriously. She’d probably have you kicked out of the university for so much as looking at one of the Oxford boys.’

My eyes widened. ‘Seriously?’

‘Don’t get on her bad side,’ Ivy muttered from her seat at the end of the table.

It soon became harder to keep up with the conversation flying around the table, which is when the yawning occurred.

‘Ugh, poor you,’ replied Imogen sympathetically, ‘I hate jet lag. It’s much worse when you’re flying from west to east too, the overnight is a killer.’

I nodded, though I had nothing to base that nod on seeing as the first time I’d flown anywhere was two days ago.

I was unable to stifle the next yawn, ‘I think I’m going to go back. I’m pretty beat, but this has been awesome. Let me know if you want to go down to the river in the morning.’

Imogen stood up and wrapped me in a warm, friendly hug, ‘I’ll knock on your door tomorrow. Sleep well, Kate.’

Imogen’s hug was followed by Hannah’s who, unlike Imogen and me, wasn’t studying medicine, she was studying physics, then Sarah, the two Annas and Ivy. The hugging took almost as long as it did to order another round of drinks, which arrived just as I left. I was certain I’d never been hugged so much in my life by people I barely knew, though I could also admit that I kind of liked it. A lot.

I pushed my way out through a throng of revelling students who’d returned from their vacations glowing with rest and summer tans, into the still-warm, late-September air. Making my way up the cobbled street, lit with the kind of tall ornate lamps you saw in Charles Dickens movies, I pulled my phone out and hit speed-dial on the one person I knew would want to hear my voice, trying hard to swallow down the lump of homesickness in my throat as she answered.

‘Hi, Mom.’

‘Baby, hi, I was just thinking about you. How was your first day?’ she sing-songed, like I wasn’t 3,000 miles away and she hadn’t said I could only attend Cambridge if I promised to call home a minimum of once a day.

‘It was good, I met some girls from the boat club, and we went to the pub.’

‘The pub? Oh, you’re sounding English already. Has Mr Darcy whisked you off your feet yet?’

She didn’t see my eye roll, but she heard the soft laugh I let out. ‘Not yet, Mom. Don’t hold your breath either. Between study and rowing, I’m not sure there’s time for Mr Darcy. It’s going to be busy.’

‘There’s always time, Katey, my girl. Romance makes time.’

I waited for a bicycle to pass by, then hurried across the road and along the passageway leading past the Business School and up toward Downing.

‘How’s your day? How’s Dad?’

My mom paused, and I braced myself for the worst. ‘He’s okay, he had a rough day today. It’s quieter around here now you’re both gone.’

I stopped walking, waiting for the searing pain in my chest to subside as I tried to swallow down a new lump which had appeared in my throat. I shouldn’t have had that second glass of wine; it wasn’t helping the guilt or the control I usually had over my emotions when it came to my big brother.

‘I know he can’t wait to hear about how you’re doing, he’s so proud of you, Katey. We both are. Jake would be too. It’s a wonderful thing you’re doing, everyone thinks so.I was down at the bakery yesterday and they were all talking about it.’

‘Thanks, Mom.’ I pinched the end of my nose, trying to hold in the sniff I desperately needed to make.

I wanted her words to make me feel better, but they didn’t. Cambridge was a stupid idea. I should have stayed home, I should have gone to UConn and studied there. Travelling this far away was selfish when they needed me.

Then I remembered why I’d come here in the first place, and the pain twisted so hard it was near excruciating.

‘Mom, I’ve got to go, but I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?’

‘Okay, baby. I love you.’

‘I love you, too.’ I managed to choke out before I hung up.

Whatever had been stuck in my throat barrelled up with the force of a freight train, culminating in a loud, rasping sob which had me doubled over and falling back against the wall I’d stopped next to.

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