Haven

The droplets flowed heavily out of the sky, completely soaking my coat. The cool breeze hit my skin, probably decorating my cheeks with a rosy colour. My doubts from minutes ago weren't in vain. Wearing my red rain coat but freeze, or wearing my brown Corduroy coat, get wet but stay warm? Neither were practical in this case.

I sighed, it was whatever. The rain never failed to fascinate me for some reasons, and that took my slightly annoyed thoughts of being cold away.

Walking over to the immense building in front of me, I noticed that the words 'University of Bradford' were decorated cheerfully. Lightbulbs that were plugged around them were switched on as it was already dark, seeing it was Autumn, the clock just hit eight pm.

Once I reached the building, I looked up in amazement. It was so crowded, so immense. I hadn't thought many people would show up to this boring information lecture. Guess I was wrong.

I wanted to turn to the left to enter the building, but the girl beside me had the same plan, except she was rushing, successfully bumping against me. My brand new blue Herschel bag fell into a puddle, the girl's face paling.

"I'm so sorry," She gulped, picking up my bag that was probably dripping heavier than the rain that was bursting out of the clouds.

Shrugging, I gave her a smile. "It's okay. I was in the way," I chuckled, my cheeks heating up as I realised I had been staring at the building for a while.

"It's huge, isn't it?" She asked nervously, clearly still feeling bad about her previous action. "Anyway, I think it's starting, and I need to find my cousin. He's waiting for me. See you around," She nibbled on her bottom lip, turned around in a swift motion and rushed her way through the crowd of students.

"Oh! Okay.." I frowned, then shrugged, staring at her black hair that almost reached her waist. I stared at my own, brown, shoulder length hair, wondering why it seemed like it didn't grow after I had cut.

Finally entering the building, my eyes widened. It was even more crowded inside.

The windows were fogged due to the humid weather everyone brought inside, drops dripping down everyone's coats, dampened hair being shaken out. I was a little overwhelmed by the warmth, but recovered quickly, searching for an empty chair.

But before I could actually sit down, though, a guy stopped me, almost shoving a tray with drinks into my face. "Hi! Welcome to the University of Bradford." He smiled, a few blonde curls falling over his blue eyes. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Uhm," I chuckled, startled by his way too enthusiastic behaviour. "Sure, thank you."

He handed me a fuzzy looking drink, pointing at it. "Carbonated elder Flowerdrink, without the effect of watering eyes."

What?!

"Okay.." I hesitated, taking a sip.

"We experienced with our study; Chemistry." He stated proudly, a wide grin visible on his face.

I wanted to spit it out, but swallowed and faked a smile instead. Was this even safe to drink? "It's good," I said, actually liking the taste, though, my eyes still watered because of the bubbles.

The guy noticed and his face fell, "Oh," he said, shrugging. "Oh, well. Practice makes perfect, right? See you!" He was gone as fast as me shoving the drink underneath my chair, still hesitating if it was safe to drink or not.

I sat down on the uncomfortable, green colored chair, looking up when I recognized the voice from the girl that dropped my new bag into the puddle.

She whipped her long black hair to the right side of her head, raising her eyebrow at the guy that was sitting next to her. "Were you actually crying?" She asked, staring at the guy who was wearing a beanie, black, messy, hair peeking out at some places.

I couldn't see him clearly as he looked down, nor could I hear him properly. "No, I was not."

"Yes you were!" The girl exclaimed, sighing. "Your cheeks are wet. Don't lie to me. Why do you literally cry about every little thing?"

"It was- was the rain!" He exclaimed back, although he still stared at his lap as he fiddled with his fingers.

The girl rolled her eyes, "Whatever," she mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest as she moved her attention to something else.

I frowned as I watched them, wondering why she would act the way she did towards him, as he was apparently her cousin.

"How'd you come here, anyway? Did your dad bring you?" She questioned, her left eyebrow still raised. The guy simply nodded, everyone looking up as a slightly older man started to talk.

"Good evening, and welcome to the introduction of the University of Bradford!" The short, grey bearded man spoke, smiling widely as he looked at the immense crowd in front of him. "Speaking for our University, we're amazed at the amount of students that, again, applied for our school this year."

The man raked a few fingers through his white hair, sighing in amazement. I chuckled. He seemed to be more excited about this than most students probably did here.

"This evening is to orientate and gives you an opportunity to learn about your chosen degree. Don't hesitate to approach the staff members for help and meet some of your peers." The man started up a neat Powerpoint presentation and started his speech about the university.

First some historical facts about the built, how it had grown throughout the years, photo's of now and then, and later on he talked about practical things, such as student services.

"Student services provides advice and support to our students. About specific things, such as information about health and wellbeing, funding, and graduation." The man spoke, showing a photo of a small room with what looked like a typical counselor in front of it.

"It can be that you experience psychological, emotional or practical issues during your studies due to certain reasons. Don't hesitate to reach out to us, as we are happy to help any of you with that." He elaborated. "Also when it comes to learning support, disability and mental health services,"

The girl in front of me nudged her cousin's shoulder. "Pay attention, this information is meant for you." She teased, to which the boy simply sighed.

I frowned again, wondering if he was just tired of her lame jokes, or if something else was going on. Not paying attention to them anymore, I moved my attention back to the man that was still speaking, oh so, enthusiastically.

"If you feel the need and like to help other students with their learning process, other students are also more than welcome to sign themselves up as tutors in this project." He smiled, gaining my attention a little more as I had always liked helping other people.

It wasn't like I was doing extremely well in every subject, but a little help wouldn't harm anyone, would it? Searching for a learning style that was most suitable for me, was quite a process, but now I knew how to search for it- I would like helping other people with it.

I'd have to think about it later, as I didn't even know if the new subjects we would get would be difficult or not.

After a while, the man stopped the presentation and motioned for all of the students to stand up again. "Alright, time to meet some of your peers! Don't hesitate to retrieve more information about your own study, either. Each study will have its own individual stall with flyers and students who are enlightened to tell you their own experience."

Calling the different studies, I was relieved when he mentioned mine after a while, as there were a lot of different studies you could, apparently, follow here. "Philosophy, over there, the grey and green stall." He instructed as he pointed at the, indeed, grey and green stall.

Walking over to there, I noticed more students had gathered around the place. Smiling, I stepped over to one of them, stretching out my hand. "Hi! I'm Haven, who are you? Are you going to study here too?" I questioned curiously, already wanting to meet as much people as possible, because that would only make the first day easier.

Besides, I never really had trouble approaching new people. I could be a little socially clumsy, as I had times where I blurted things out before even thinking about it, but I loved meeting new people, especially from other places or even neighborhoods.

The girl with red curls looked at me with a slight frown on her face, ignoring my hand. "Somebody's excited to study here. And obviously, why would I come here if I wouldn't be studying here anytime soon?"

My smile faltered a little, rosiness creeping upon my cheeks as I realised I probably sounded as excited as the man with the white hair, kinda understanding why she couldn't quite appreciate it. "Fair point," I mumbled, stuffing my hand- that was still hanging between us to be shaken- in the pocket of my denim jeans.

Suddenly, I noticed the girl with the black hair. Smiling again, I walked over to her, though my hand stayed into my pocket this time. "Hey, I'm Haven! What's your name?"

"You're doing it again," The girl with the red curls sneered, giving me an annoyed look.

I simply shrugged it off, turning my attention back to the girl with black hair, who had previously soaked my new bag into that dirty rain puddle.

"She's been sneering at me too, don't worry about it." She smiled, stretching out her hand, which I gladly accepted and shook. "Ittarah,"

"Haven, again." I chuckled awkwardly, a smile curling onto my lips instead. "Nice to meet you. You've got a nice name. You're going to study Philosophy?"

"Thank you, you too. And yeah, what about you?" Ittarah smiled, staring down at my bag. I noticed her gulping lightly, and I wondered why but when I looked at my bag as well, I noticed that the water had caused several pens to leak, ink decorating itself in huge spots, all over the bottom part.

I pretended not to have seen it, as I didn't want to upset her. It was just a bag, after all. Even if it was rather expensive and had to save for it. "Yeah, me too! Are you excited to study here?"

"Yeah.." She mumbled, giving me a smile before turning around and walking over to the guy with the grey beanie. I still couldn't see his face, and for a split second I wondered if he would be as attractive as she seemed, as she was rather beautiful.

I also wondered if something was wrong with me, as everyone seemed to turn away when I only wanted to make new friends. Was that so bad? He told us to meet your peers, yet no one seemed to actually want it.

Sighing, I simply walked over to the flyers, secretly wondering if my two brothers were right about the fact that I was too cheerful at times, which people couldn't always quite appreciate.

Reading in silence for a while, I quickly turned around when I heard a loud thud, people shrieking and taking steps back as panic engulfed them. Frowning, I dropped the flyer on the table and walked over to the circle of students that were surrounding something that was still quite unclear to me.

"Where's the First Aid Worker?!" Ittarah panicked, her head turning as she tried to gain the attention of some teachers. "Can anybody help?! I don't know what's happening!"

I was now in the circle of students, suddenly seeing the guy with the grey beanie- her cousin- lying on the floor, his body convulsing and eyelids twitching, hands and feet cramping.

Think quickly, I thought, my eyes staying focused on him. This seemed familiar to me, but how? Think, Haven, think.

And then I knew it. Epilepsy. I had done a huge report on how Epilepsy and Autism connected, in High School.

Crouching down beside him, I told the other students to make space for him and shoved a few chairs away that were dangerously close to his head, grabbing my phone to time his seizure.

Looking up at Ittarah, I questioned, "Does he have Epilepsy? Did he say anything about how he felt?"

"He said he had a headache but I thought it was because of the warmth. He has Epilepsy, yeah." She swallowed, crouching down beside me. "He's had seizures before when he was young, but I've never seen it before. I didn't know it looked like this. What do we do?" She was clearly in pure distress, so I simply laid my hand down on her shoulder.

"It will subside eventually, I believe. Does he have any instructions just in case?" I asked, searching for her brown eyes.

"I can call his father?" She asked hesitantly, giving students glares as they were all curiously looking at her convulsing cousin, which was sad.

Suddenly, the twitching became less and I could tell he was starting to wake up, judging by his now lying still body. "Just wait," I said softly, staring at his face.

"What's your name?" I asked the guy in front of me as a deep frown appeared on his forehead, his dark eyebrows furrowed, a soft whimper leaving his mouth. "What's your name?" I repeated softly.

And eventually, green eyes stared right into mine, the bright, but also rather strange, colour of it almost intimidating me for some reasons.

"Zephaniah,"