Of all the days it could have rained, of all the countries it could have rained in, in all the towns it could have rained in, it had to choose this one.

Yay!

As I trudged down to the bus stop, I wondered what the others were doing. Well I knew what Netty was doing; she was skipping along behind me with Kat, complaining about the weather.

I shivered and a fixed the collar of my coat, so no more icy drops would slide down my back. The girls were lucky because Netty brought her umbrella. And me, being the idiot I am, never even bought one.

Headlights went zooming past on the wet road, the tyres of their cars splashing little jets of water behind them.

The fog had cleared only marginally since we left five minutes ago.

The cold wind blew through the mess that is my hair.

The rain hurt as it was beating down on my head.

And just to top things off, a particularly careless driver whizzed through a deep, dark puddle, sending its contents flying up and soaking me.

I shivered for the millionth time, when the bus stop came into view. Inside I did a little cheer, but outside I gave a big moan. The shelter was crowded, and there was no more room underneath, except for the corner. I knew from experience it wasn't a good idea to stand there, as that bit was leaky, and big, fat, wet drops would fall on your head if you did.

There was people with umbrellas in their hands, just standing underneath the shelter.

If you have an umbrella, maybe use it?

As I reached the shelter, I rolled up my sleeve to check my watch. It read: 8:19. Oh good, only two minutes to wait.

I heard a few squeals, and turned to see Netty and Kat jumping out from under the bus stop. I laughed to myself, as I knew they now had wet heads.

Then I heard another squeal. But this was one I didn't really recognise. A hand grabbed my wrist and spun me round, so I was face to face with someone I definitely didn't expect.

"JOE! What are you doing here?" The person giggled. At first I didn't recognise them through the the rain, but then it hit me on the head like a hammer.

"Amy! Salem! I didn't know you guys lived here!"

"I'm just starting uni here. I'm doing a dance and fitness course and Salem is doing a journalist reporter thingy. She's already done a year here."

"Cool! I'm doing Film Studies. I've been doing it for a year too."

"I wonder if anyone else is here!"

"I doubt that, Salem, but we can always dream!" Amy replied optimistically.

"Oh here's our bus. Coming Josephine?" We laughed and clambered onto the nearly empty bus, payed for our tickets and sat down together in a row of three seats. I hoisted our bags onto the shelf above our heads so we had room for our feet.

We started talking about how different we looked in real life, and Salem started to poke at me uncontrollable hair.

"It's so springy!" Amy remarked excitedly.

But then Netty and Kat decided to sit down in front of us. My sister turned around to face me and asked, "So Joe, you made some "friends"?"

"Annette, you remember Amy and Salem, don't you?" I hoped she did and I hoped she didn't, cause she had her own friends and didn't need any more. I'm not being selfish am I?

"Oh hey guys! This is my friend Kat."

Please don't tell them I told you I hate Kat. Please don't tell them I told you I hate Kat. Please don't tell them I told you I hate Kat.

"Oh hi! I'm Salem."

"And I'm Amy. Do you go to uni with Joe too?"

The girls talked the rest of the journey. I wasn't listening, so I have no clue what they were talking about, but I just thought.

Could I actually have friends? I wonder if they know anyone else from uni? I'll probably just be in the background for them.

"Joe, get up!" Salem said as she shoved me over, causing me to nearly fall out of my seat and tumble down the bus.

"All right, all right, sheesh!" I said as I stood. I reached over a took our bags from the rack and handed the girls theirs. I am very tall, and very skinny, so I could reach up high places.

I stepped off our bus, and started to trudge for another few minutes in the icy, wet, painful rain.

I hated doing this. Everyday was the same, rain or no rain. Get up, walk for 20 minutes, be rejected and humourised, go home, eat, fall asleep.

But today was different. Because I had people with me. People beside me. People to talk to me and people who would laugh with me, not at me.

Knowing me I will mess everything up and be alone for the rest of my life, but hey, I can dream, can't I?

The weather was making us all depressed and miserable, so we didn't talk. We just thought.

As we rounded the last corner, the campus appeared out of nowhere. The tall gates we open, displaying the cut grass and little stream that ran all the way around the perimeter.

I would go at lunch to the furthest and most isolated place of the entire university; the Butterfly Gardens.

The butterfly gardens was in the middle of a dense circle of trees. In the centre there was a small pond, which was home to frogs and golden fish.

This pond was shadowed by a huge, old oak tree, whose leaves would wave as I came in and went out. And sometimes I swear the leaves would sing a song of nature and of life.

Sitting a few feet away from this mighty tree was a single solitary moss green picnic bench, which was in dire need of a fresh coat of paint.

Then on the ground was the long, untidy grass, which waved even in the most gentle of breezes. The grass was littered with hundreds and hundreds of magic flowers, each of a slightly different shade of red, or blue, or yellow, or orange or pink or purple or white.

In the spring and summer, all of the butterflies would arrive, and fill the glade with thousands of beating wings, and colours from blue to pink to green.

In Autumn, the leaves would fall and carpet the ground with every red and gold and orange and brown imaginable.

And then in winter, the whole place would be coated with a layer of pure white, crystal clear snow.

This place was my haven, my sanctuary, and my retreat from the harsh world I lived in.

Netty and Kat parted ways, and headed down to the canteen for a quick snack and then a chat.

The girls and I decided to go and sit in the library, and talk quietly about, well, ourselves I guess?

Amy was the youngest; she was 18, but her birthday was in June, so technically she was only a year younger than Salem and I.

Salem was 20, like me, but her birthday was in August, whereas mine was in mid-December.

Then they went onto discover that I had a YouTube channel. Usually when people find this out, they laugh and make fun of me, but Amy and Salem didn't.

In fact, they seemed intrigued. They asked me what it was called, when I started it, what I did on there, if I did it with anyone, etc. etc.

"That's why your name was Stampylongnose!" Salem said, or rather shrieked, a bit to loudly, earning us a few angry glares.

"Yes, me and a friend of mine made some little animations a while ago, and one of the characters was called "Stampylongnose" and the other "Trunkybigsnake". I think we were a bit drunk when we thought of it though..." They laughed, and we continued chatting until we had to leave to go to class, then we said our good byes and went our different ways.

I walked along the halls, until I reached a smaller corridor, and turned to head down there. Above the big double doors the was a sign with the words "Fim Studies" in big bold writing.

The Film Studies corridor had a high roof, and in the centre of that roof was a glass dome. The clean cream floor was made of tiles, and the walls were a slightly more brown cream.

I entered the only open classroom, about half filled with other students.

I hated this lot, and they hated me, so all in all, the experience wasn't overly enjoyable.