The pub was rammed. Full to the brim with eighteen-year-olds flinging their arms around one another, promising to stay in touch. It was as if the whole college had crammed into The Ram’s Head, a three-person-deep queue at the bar.

“Got to get up at five a.m.,” someone boasted behind me, swilling a pint. “We’re driving all the way to Edinburgh.”

“I’m not going to Sheffield until Sunday.”

I watched Jessica weave her way toward me with her face set, cradling a bottle of wine for herself, and a lime and soda for me. “Christ, I cannot wait for you to all fucking go to uni. Then I’ll actually be able to get served.” She unloaded my drink and poured herself a glass of rosé.

Jade and Mike sat on the squashy sofas across from us, her face red and leaning toward him. They were clearly in the middle of some intoxicated deep and meaningful conversation. He pulled her into a tight hug. “You’re special, Jade,” I heard him shout over the music.

I turned my head away. If Mike was going to try to crowbar in one last nostalgia shag with Jade after the way he’d treated her, I didn’t want to watch it play out. He’d, predictably, lost interest in Jade after taking her virginity at Reading. What we weren’t expecting was him to lose interest so quickly. He had a new girlfriend within a week.

The music was too loud, combined with the yells of hundreds of sincere and insincere goodbyes occurring around us. It got to the point where Jessica and I were spending our last night together sitting in total silence, sipping our drinks. We stood at various points, to hug various people we didn’t know or like that much, trading promises to always stay in touch. Jade got a phone call that pulled her from Mike’s grip. He then spied Karly, a girl he’d had a thing with a few months ago, and vacated the sofa immediately, his arm already around her, steering her to the bar. I watched Jade’s eyes follow him and I hoped so much that she’d find someone to fall in love with up in York when she started, someone who would appreciate how amazing she was. I knew she’d wish the same for me. Manchester and York weren’t that far away, so I was looking forward to us visiting each other.

Jade hung up and returned to us. “That was Sally,” she yelled. “She’s having a packing crisis and can’t make it. Do you mind if I go over to say goodbye?”

“Not at all!”

She shook her head. “This is too weird. I can’t believe you’re leaving tomorrow, Fern. TOMORROW.”

“You’re only three weeks behind me, and then you’re leaving too. York has such a late starting date.”