Epilogue

His hand is warm in my own as we cross the road from the coffee shop, a happy grin on my face as I turn to wave to Gavin...my new co worker!

"I'm so glad Gavin's boss gave you the job Haze" Dan says as we walk towards the music shop that is luckily not too far from our destination.

"Me too! This way you'll be the heroic life guard and I'll be like the girl next door working at the local coffee shop! The perfect cliche!"I say, giggling at just how pathetic it sounds out loud.

Dan rolls his eyes but laughs anyway, loudly, and it makes people turn and stare at us.

A familiar elderly woman in a purple hat stands in front of the pet shop window, one hand against the window glass and the other on her golden Corgis lead.

"Morning Mrs Green!" Dan yells and she turns abruptly to smile and wave.

"Morning love birds!" She replies in a sing song voice.

My cheeks immediately heat and she chuckles before raising a fragile hand at us in a wave, I return the gesture as we continue our morning stroll.

Once at our destination, we stop and Dan suddenly looks nervous, his hand squeezes mine harder than before and I feel my hand go numb.

"Come on, you made my dream come true, please let me do this for you" I say

He frowns, his forehead creasing as he turns to me, his hand feels sweaty all of a sudden but I still don't let go.

"I really don't feel comfortable with you doing this Hazel"

I shake my head at him.

"Nonsense! Think of it as me buying you a gift in return to this necklace which you won't tell me the price off" I say lifting the anchor charm from the top of my mint green dress.

He sighs and I begin to grow impatient, the feeling making the small smile on my face fade.

I pull him into the shop, the smell of dust and old rotten wood hits me, but it smells nice, I think nostalgically of my Grandad's old shed.

A small bald man with a thin black moustache that stretches over the start of each cheek appears from behind the counter, a twinkle in his eye as he smiles softly at me.

I release Dan's sweaty hand and I wipe it on my dress, I proceed to meet him half way as he jumps down from the slightly higher platform where the counter is.

"How may I help you today miss?"

"I'm here to purchase a guitar"

Dan groans from behind me.

"Hazel-"

"No Dan, I'm doing this"

He folds his arms and rests against the fading yellow wallpaper, he raises a hand to run it through his dark hair.

"Sorry" I whisper to the man.

He nods and then motions me towards another room, his movement twitchy and quick as he disappears into another room.

"Come with me" he calls, his voice echoing in the room he stands in.

"Dan" I urge, looking over my shoulder at him and lifting both eyebrows.

He slowly follows me into another dimly lit room, I can barely see the man and all I can see of guitars are odd dark shapes

"Oh I told Barbara that these display lights were ridiculous" he says angrily, flicking a switch and plunging the room into darkness before switching another one.

The room is now fully illuminated and there are a dozen guitars to be bought, each wall is jam packed with posters pasted down, each containing an advert for old singers from the 50s to the 90's.

"Well Dan, which one do you like?" I ask as we move to the centre of the room, my feet shuffling on the burgundy carpet.

He glances at the man who smiles and nods, before he looks back to me, his eyes look somewhat guilty and his hands are buried deep into his pockets.

"Hazel I can't accept this-"

"You agreed before hand"

"I didn't know what you were buying"

"I'd do as the lady says young man" the owner says, idly twisting his moustache around his finger.

I nod my thanks to him and smile slyly at Dan.

"Two against one" I say, motioning my hand to myself and the man.

He groans again and then makes his way over to a traditionally light brown one, I watch as he looks at them curiously, he passes a red one, a chocolate coloured one, a white one, a orange one and dark blue sparkly one.

He stops suddenly and I rock on my heels and I stand in the eerie silence of the room, the only sound I can hear is my heavy breathing.

He retreats his steps to the chocolate coloured one and I watch the smile appear on his face.

"Um...what colour would you say this is?" He asks, turning to the man.

"In this light it looks almost chocolate coloured, but it's actually a hazelnut colour"

"Hazelnut you say?"

Dan's eyes meet my own and a warm feeling spreads in my stomach, I smile at him and he nods in confirmation.

"I'd like this one" he confirms.

"Okay, I'll meet you at the counter then, I'll go and fetch it for you"

Dan gives me a look as the man leaves.

"This isn't right Hazel"

"Yes it is, now please I'm done arguing"

"But I don't even know how to play!"

"Yes I know, I've arranged that with Mrs Green's husband, Bert"

"He plays the guitar?!"

"Oh yeah, he was in some band or something when he was in his twenties"

"How is it you've only been living here a couple of days and you already know my neighbours better than I do?"

I shrug and he shakes his head in disbelief.

He follows me to the counter where the man awaits with a black guitar shaped bag, his fingers tapping on the base of it as he patiently waits for us.

"How much?" I ask grabbing for my new purse that Dad bought me recently, it clicks open and I push my hand into the fabric pocket, pushing around for my purse.

"£350"

"Hazel" Dan urges from the corner, his voice reflects the fact that he is completely against this.

"Dan for crying out loud!" I say, tired of just how many times in the last quarter of an hour I have argued with him.

"Give me a minute" I say to the man, I latch my hand onto Dan's arm and pull him out of the owners ear shot to a part of the shop where a series of brass instruments stand in cases, their polished structures making them gleam.

"I've been over this with you. Between my parents, Laura, and James we have split the left over money so we have £20,000 each. It's a lot I know, which is why pretty much all of it is in the bank, except for £600 which is the money I have used to decorate my room, buy new clothes and buy this guitar for you! I won't be able to access the rest of it until I am 18"

"I still don't feel comfortable"

"Well tough luck, I'm buying it"

I storm out of the brass room and back to where the man stands looking confused.

I pull out my debit card and slot it into the machine where I quickly type in my recently memorised pin.

"Okay so the price covers this case as well" he says.

I nod.

"Okay thank you very much"

"My pleasure"

I turn to Dan and he raises an eyebrow, his arms still folded and his mouth forms a straight line.

"Arms out"

"Why?"

"Just do it please" I say irritably.

He holds them out and I slip the straps over his arms, the motion gives me the excuse to touch his vaguely muscular and well built shoulders. I smile to myself and suppress a giggle by biting my lip and I step away from him.

I walk out of the music shop and he follows me into the busy street, my feet carry me down the road.

***

"I'm proud of you Haze"

"Thanks James"

I hug my brother goodbye and I turn to follow Dan down the large cobbled path and through the gates, the campus isn't quite as big as I thought but still there are over 5,000 people here, I guess there are only so many people on the island.

"New students this way!" Says an older looking man, waving his hands around with a yellow folder in his hands. He is probably a student earning extra credit or something.

Dan and I follow the crowd of anxious looking people to a large hall that consists of rows and rows of green cushioned chairs that all slant downwards to the stage.

We are each given a timetable with our names on it and a small introduction speech from a grey haired man at on the stage who claims to be Mr Erson, the man who wrote to me, he talks about the same things you would expect, courage, pride and achieving your goals while having fun.

At the end we are all told to go to our first class and we each rise from our seats and begin to pile out of the lecture room, I still remain nervous and I slowly walk behind Dan who stares at his mini map that he discovered was stapled to the timetable.

"Excuse me?" says a deep male voice behind me.

I turn to see Mr Erson, the nerves get worse and I force a smile.

"Hazel Robinson?"

"Yes?" my voice sounds small and high pitched and Dan pats a hand on my shoulder to try and steady me.

"Oh hello there! I just wanted to say that I was truly touched by your story"

"My story...?"

"Yes! About why you are here! Now what class have you got? I wish to escort you and...oh you are Daniel Foster?!"

"Yes sir" Dan says shaking his hand, a tiny smile evident on his face.

I smirk at his immediate formal approach, but I turn back to Mr Erson.

"Great to meet you! According to your timetable I see that you have English Literature first. You too Daniel! Follow me"

He leads us down two crowded staircases and a few corridors with light white and blue walls to a dark brown door with the number 23 stuck to the door in golden letters.

"

"You will have Mr Gore , a truly wonderful man! Good luck!"

He opens the door and we step in to find a large cluster of students talking amongst themselves, some look up in surprise that the head has turned up with a pair of random students. But when I catch their eyes they turn away.

A flaming red head of hair catches my eye in the far left corner.

"Kirsty!"

She turns and waves frantically and we walk over to where she, Josh and Ollie are. Ollie leans against a desk while Josh sits on one, his legs dangling under it as he swings them slowly.

"You're all doing English lit?" Dan asks

"Yeah" they say

"It's so boring, but it will give me a good grade!" Says Josh

"Hmmm" says Ollie with a doubtful expression.

"It hurts that you doubt me" Josh says in mock hurt, holding a hand to his chest and pouting.

"It isn't boring in anyway!" Kirsty defends, glaring momentarily at him before she is cut off.

"Quiet class!"

The chatter dies and we all turn to see a tall man standing at the front with an energetic smile plastered across his face, he like Josh sits on his desk.

"If you could all take your places with the reference of the seating plan I have drawn on the white board"

I look up to the purple line diagram that is drawn on a whiteboard.

I walk over to my second to front double desk in the third row where a pretty girl leans against the desk behind her. She curls a thick strand of her straight dark hair around her finder and her blue eyes seem smile with her as she smiles at me. Her small hand grip the black metal of the chair.

"Hi, I'm Emma!" She says bubbly.

"My name's Hazel" I reply smiling back.

We take our seats and I open my black and white notebook for the first time.

This is the place I will learn to call a second home over the two year study period, my future will begin here and as I look around at the people who remain in the same position as me I feel weirdly excited.

A was of screwed paper hits the side of my head and Emma gives me an odd look.

I slowly unfold it to find unfamiliar scruffy handwriting scribbled over the blue lines on the paper.

Hazelet is a dork.

I frown and turn to find Josh leaning back in his chair innocently two rows away from me, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Idiot" I mumble.

I watch Dan roll his eyes from a table that is a row across but a desk back from me, so technically he is diagonal to my right if I look over my shoulder and then watch as he hits Josh in the arm gently.

"Don't mind them, they're friends of mine" I whisper to Emma.

"Oh right...um... excuse me being nosey but you look like you don't come from round here" she says, her cheeks tinting red in embarrassment.

"Yeah, I'm from Kent, I moved here recently"

"Any particular reason why?"

I stare out of the window at a couple laughing on a a bench next to a grey and ancient looking fountain that spurts crystal water, my eyes move to a girl who sits looking very upset leaning against a tree and dabbing her eyes.

"Well...It's kind of a long story..."

~THE END~

Authors note —->