At that moment there was another knock on the door. This time Omar opened it, hanging his towel over his shoulder. There were three students in the hall, a hand-some boy in a checked shirt, with a flush of high colour across his cheeks, accompanied by a pretty red-headed girl, and a bespectacled boy who looked even more skinny than he did. ‘Hello Rashid!’ said the handsome boy cheerfully. ‘I’m Jim Oakley, I’ve got the room at the bottom of the staircase. I thought you’d died in there. We hadn’t heard a peep from you since your parents left.’

‘Yeah, sorry,’ answered Omar sleepily, stifling a fake yawn, and dabbing at his face with his towel. ‘I must have fallen asleep. Had a late one last night, you know what it’s like.’ He shrugged sheepishly as Jim and his companions nodded sympathetically, and perhaps even with approval. ‘It’s Omar, by the way,’ he said, stretching out his hand. ‘Pleased to meet you all.’

‘Omar? You know it says “Rashid Khan” on the staircase list downstairs,’ said Jim.

‘Oh, that’s my middle name. Well, Omar’s my middle name really. But it’s what everyone calls me. I’ll ask them to change it when I get a chance,’ Omar explained with a smile.

‘Yeah, tell me about it,’ said the other boy. ‘I’m Ted, and they’ve put Edward on my sign. Edward, I ask you!’

‘We thought you might want to come to the JCR with us,’ said the pretty girl. There’s a tea for all the new students.’

‘Sure,’ said Omar and, putting his key in his pocket, shut the door behind him on his old life, and his old mediocre self, and walked down the winding spiral staircase to his new one. ‘So, what are you reading?’ he asked companionably as they made their way downstairs. ‘I’m reading PPE.’

After the flurry of the Freshers week, with the drinks parties and the long evenings in the bar, Omar found his natural place in the college community. Unlike school, where he was without doubt at the bottom of the pecking order, at college he found he was accepted quickly. Part of this was to do with Jim, who was clearly the most popular boy in his college year. After the first day, when Jim had taken it on himself to knock on every door in the staircase and take command of the introductions, Jim never had to knock on a door again. He was lucky enough to have an enormous room at the bottom of the staircase, with a view to the street rather than the college. Despite the size, his room was always full of visitors, and the notepad that hung on his door was constantly covered in scribbled messages.