"And your final exam will be in a few months. Revision of everything we studied in the past year is necessary if you want to pass at the very least. Class dismissed" the professor informs us. College is no easy thing, believe me. What you see on TV about teenagers running around trying to find themselves and freelance sex every afternoon, all television. In the real world there is no time for any fooling around, well that applies to me. I've been living with my grandmother, Agatha, in London for a year studying my final year of medicine at Oxford University. I hold a permanent position in the local dance crew, Danz, and that is my only pastime out of class.

I neatly fold the necessary notes and slot it into my file. My books are closed and placed into my navy bag with only my black portfolio in my hands as I walk up at least a dozen steps and into the bright college corridors. I pull out my cellphone to check the time and its 12:30. I have a fifteen minute break before my next class. I have been in three different classes since five this morning and all I've had to eat was a pretzel and a coffee.
The nearest coffee shop was a two minute walk from the edge of the parking lot so I chuck my single bag strap up my shoulder and trek towards the coffee shop. I pass dozens of shiny and not-so-shiny convertibles surrounded by the twenty-year-olds who own them. A few glance up at me as I pass them but I don't pay any attention to them. I remember one of the many things I mom always told me before she died, 'Never bring attention to yourself, Sam. Good or bad, you will regret it'. Obviously, what she meant by it and what I understood of it were different but nonetheless, had the same principle.
At the very end of the car park there are four girls giggling about something around a red Mercedes. Their laughter only heightens as I get closer but they look down. I'm used to this, bullying or being laughed at never really got to me. I pull out my iPod and put the ear buds in after pressing shuffle. A random song by Owl City starts playing and I hum softly along to the tune.

I have purchased a blueberry muffin and another coffee and am on my way back by 12:36. The four girls are still around their car but this time, they're texting. I make my way to an empty wooden bench and cross my legs beneath me as I sit. I begin nibbling on my muffin as I pull out my phone. A slight chirp startles me because it sounds so near. My head turns to see an adorable little bird flapping its wings in an attempt to take off but he can't.

"Hey there, little guy" I whisper to it smiling.

It looks up at me and cocks its head to one side. I detach a tiny piece of my muffin and place it carefully in front of him. He looks at it for a few seconds but begins nibbling away in no time. I give him a second piece and finish off the muffin. I get up and throw the wrapper away when I realise I can't just leave him there, if he's still a baby he will need someone to take care of him because I see no nests in any nearby trees.
The four giggling girls from the red Mercedes are walking towards me, probably to use the bin.

"Hey, Susan right?" The blonde one asks me.

"Sam. Why?" I answer looking at my phone screen looking for the number I desire.

"Would you like to go to a party this weekend? Its at my house" I look up at them and the blonde one is looking blankly at me. Obviously not much is going on in her head either.

"No thanks" I respond

My answer seems to have caught them off-guard. Whatever their plan was after I would have agreed could not happen now.

"W-what do you mean?" A red-head asks me

"Exactly what I said" I say

They snort and raise their noses so high up I think they're testing the oxygen levels in the air. Suddenly the blonde is paying attention to something behind me and a large smile appears on her face along with a slight red colouring her cheeks. She looks down at the ground and takes a deep breath. Who the Hell is behind me? Oprah?
My head rotates to see what is fascinating brick-head and I'm not entirely surprised at what I see. Its a guy, about mid-twenties with an untidy quiff hairstyle. Various tattoos litter his right arm and I see slight black writing on his chest because of how deep the neckline of his white t-shirt is. He's wearing blue jeans and Converse while standing in front of the large marble water fountain. I can see that his eyes are a light blue as we aren't standing very far apart, he is actually very handsome but obviously Miss Blonde has the hots for him and I don't want a part in any drama that may unfold. Besides, guys who look like him and girls like me don't mix. At all. He is looking at the screen of his phone but looks up at us as if he senses something, his eyes widen when he sees me and his lips twitch slightly. Our gaze locks for a full fifteen seconds but I look away first, still feeling his eyes on my back as I turn back to face the girls who are full-on dumb, twirling their hair with their finger and chewing bubblegum like cows. I laugh softly and go back to my phone.
I smile as I see my granny's name appear on my contact list. The girls are already walking away, behind me towards the mysterious hottie behind me. I press 'Call' and she answers at the third ring.

"Sam?" Her voice is soft and worried.

"Hey, Nana. I have a favour to ask" I say to her. I turn to face the bench again and find the little bird still there but this time he's managed to make his way to my bag and is sitting snuggly in a slight dip in the fabric.

"Sure, honey. What's wrong?"

"Nothings wrong. How long will it take for you to get here?"

"About.................five minutes. Why?"

"There's a baby bird here on campus. I don't see any nests nearby and his wing is injured. I want you to please come get him and take him home"
While I'm speaking I glance around my surroundings, up in the treetops but still don't see any nests. I eyes fall back down to the ground and land on the same guy at the water fountain. He is looking rather uncomfortable at the constant attention of the four females in front of him and I take slight pity on him. He looks up at me again and its as if he's trying to tell me something, his expression is full of question and he raises his eyebrow at me. I look away immediately.

"Of course. I'm leaving right now. Shouldn't you be in class?"

"I have about seven minutes"

"Oh, well I better hurry then. See you in a bit"

I hang up and sit back down on the bench next to the baby bird.

"Aren't you a naughty little fellow?" I laugh at the little guy who is looking up at me with his head tilted to one side. He is flapping away in the tiny bed he made for himself. I laugh at how comical he looks.

"Who are you talking to?" A deep voice asks me. I see a pair of Converse sneakers standing before me. My eyes travel up to meet the blue eyes of the fellow from the fountain.

"A bird" I answer looking at the bird. I didn't do anything, why is he here? See, this is why staring at strangers is rude.

"Is he yours?" He takes a seat next to me on the bench and I shuffle uncomfortably. I'm not accustomed to this, I definitely feel like a fish out of water.

"N-no. I found him about three minutes ago" I smile up at him.

He looks at the tiny brown creature on my bag but looks back at me quickly. His eyes were extremely blue, almost the shade of the iceberg from Titanic. The thought makes me laugh.

"What's so funny?" He inquires with his eyebrow raised.

"Nothing, it was nothing" I mutter

"Oh come on, tell me" he smiles at me.

"I was thinking that your eyes were very blue, almost the shade of ice" I look down embarrassed. The courage that made me say that had evaporated and I am sitting here all alone.

"Well, thank you. Your eyes are the same colour as mud, I like mud" he grins at me when I look up at him. My breath gets caught in my throat and a blush creeps its way onto me face.

"Gee, thanks"

"Remember that mud which is sand and sand is earth and we cannot live without the earth" he smiles innocently up at me.

"Since we've accelerated to eye colour, I think it'd be nice if we knew each other’s names", I sit up straight and hold out hand to which he laughs at, “I’m Samantha Hunter. You can call me Sam"

He grips my arm and I gasp when a slight shock travels up my arm. He shakes my hand with a little less of a smile; I guess he also felt the shock.

"Louis Tomlinson. You can call me Lou" he winks at me and the blush renews its place on my face.

"Where are you from, Sam?" He asks me. His accent is Northern British, maybe Yorkshire.

"You have no idea how much I want to say Narnia but no, I'm from South Africa. You?"

He laughs loudly at my response and it spooks the baby bird. He jumps a little and lands on my lap. I remain absolutely still waiting for the bird to move but he just nestles back down in the slight dip between my thighs. Lazy bugger.

"Doncaster in Yorkshire. He looks comfy" Louis comments about the mischievous bird on my lap.

"He sure does" I glance down at the bird and his eyes are closed. I grab my phone and take a picture of him with the flash off. I will set it as my wallpaper later.

"What's his name?" Louis asks me

"Cheeky. Definitely Cheeky"

Louis laughs again before he responds.

"You're going to name him Cheeky?"

I just smile at him and look back at Cheeky who's fast asleep.

"You seem good with animals. Do you have other pets?" He asks. Despite Louis being a total stranger, he seems like fun to be around and he's so easy to talk to. Although I wasn't an idiot, no matter how sweet a person seems I always keep up my guard.

"Two dogs, Romeo and Juliet" I laugh. My grandma had chosen their names.

I spot my best friend, Ella jogging up to me. I met Ella when I first came to London and she has never left me in peace ever since. I couldn't survive without her. She is out of breath when she reaches me.

"Sam, class is cancelled" Ella would never lie to me and Oxford would never cancel a class so you can imagine how confused I am.
As if to answer the question I was about to ask she hands me a white notice sheet that indeed says the class is cancelled. Joy erupts through me as a smile appears on my face. I love classes and enjoy studying - I'm not kidding or being sarcastic - but I needed sleep, an uninterrupted snooze for about 8 hours.

"You gonna have that?" Ella points to my coffee

"You can have some" I hand it to her.

I realise that Louis isn't next to me anymore. I look around the campus but the white t-shirt is nowhere in sight.

Nana arrives in record time to take the little bugger on my lap home.

"Hey, Sammy. Hey, Ella" She smiles at me

"Hey, Aggie" Everyone - besides me - called her Aggie, short for Agatha that is her birth name.

"Where is he?" She looks at me expectantly. In her hand is one of my shoe boxes from home.

I point to my lap and ask for the shoe box. She hands it me and I place it next to my lap. Soft fabric lines the inside of the box and a few sunflower seeds are sprinkled all over.

"How did you get here?" I ask Nana.

"Taxi. There was no traffic" she answers.

I pull out a pen from my pencil case and punch several holes all over the box. I cup the little guy in both my palms and place him carefully into the box. He grabs a seed with his beak and munches away.

"Class is cancelled, Nana so I'm coming home with you now" I inform her and close the box. I grab the strap of my bag and sling it over my head. My portfolio and Cheeky's box are both held by my right arm.

"My car is here, I can drop you both off" Ella offers.

"Thank you, if you wouldn't mind" Nana says to her

"Of course not. Come on" she hops off towards her car.

When my parents had died, I moved to London to live with my granny and study at Oxford. It was a long and hard struggle because my parents died two years ago; I had nobody else so I immediately began applying to all the colleges in London so that I could live with Nana. I was accepted into a few and chose Oxford, it is my dream college and I get to study my final year here.
My parents had left me everything they had and everything had been shipped here with me. The Volvo C30 they had bought me for my 25th birthday last year was rarely used. I loved the cool air of London so I would walk everywhere except if it was late at night.
The dance crew, Danz met every Sunday to run routines and the studio was no more than a ten minute walk from our two floor home.

"So, how was school?" Nana asks me as we walk to Ella's car and get in.

"Fascinating. We learnt about the spinal cord and that our exams would entail everything we studied this year." I stick my tongue out at her

"Awesome" whenever she said awesome I would laugh and this time was no different. Nana was the granny I always wanted and now she is all I have.

We got home at 12:50 and I unlocked the door to let Nana in before I dumped my books on the bench in the passageway and headed through the glass doors in the lounge to the garden.
Romeo was a German Shepherd that we adopted from the shelter when I first got here and Juliet was a husky that came to England with me from South Africa. The two gelled immediately and have been inseparable ever since.
The second I step into the garden, the two hounds run to me and bark in greeting.

"Hey Rom and Jul" I say without bending down to hug them.

I walk over to the windy house that stands in the far corner of the lush green lawn and yank the door open. Romeo and Juliet aren't allowed in so they stand obediently at the door. Cheeky is inside the house still in his box. I look at all the shelves of bird houses that Nana built whenever she was bored. I grab one that's about the size of an A5 page and as tall as a pencil standing up. I take it with me as I exit the windy house and finally bend down to hug my darling canines. I stride across the lawn and re-enter the house, Romeo and Juliet were only allowed in the house when it was raining so they never entered otherwise.

I gather my things again and head up to my bedroom.

"Dinner will be ready at seven" Nana screams after me.

She knows I will sleep through lunch and only wake up in time for supper.

"Oki doke" I leap up the stairs two at a time.

I push open my white bedroom door with my hip and toss my bag on the floor and portfolio on the bed. My room has white walls and light blue curtains; the bed spread has blue, purple and green flowers on it. My desk is dark wood and is situated at the foot of my bed against the wall and a large glass window was directly above that, I had a perfect view of the street.
When Nana heard that I was coming she had gone the extra mile and had a secret room done for me. I had a walk-in closet with only two large cupboards in my room and if you opened the second cupboard door from the right you would find a single mattress placed at knee-height on a solid block with a few shelves at the foot of the mattress. I had taken a pillow and blanket in there many times and fallen asleep every time. Nana had another large window put in for me in that hideaway where the view was our neat garden.

I placed the shoe box on my desk and opened it; Chucky was curled up in the corner asleep.

"Hey, Cheeky. Wake up" I whisper.

I make sure the birdhouse is clean and fit to be rented by Cheeky. It didn't have a roof but a thin sheet of plastic on top instead. The little door was big enough for my hand to fit through. There was a soft fabric that covered the inside of the house and instead of walls, there were tiny wooden palisades. It even had a balcony where I could feed Cheeky.

I don't hang up the birdhouse but instead place it on a small coffee table near the glass door that leads out into an actual balcony from my room. I cup Cheeky in my palm and place him in the house. He spends a whole five minutes inspecting the construction but eventually decides he likes it and settles down inside the house. He is knocked out in less than a second.

"You're welcome" I whisper to him.

Tomorrow is a Saturday and I make a mental note to take Cheeky to the local vet and have him checked and to find out what breed he is.

Notes

If you enjoyed this please check out Chapter 2 and so on, if u did not then feel free to send me feedback on Twitter (@MissSingh98)

Stay Awesome
Suman