Durham Student Theatre’s introductory meeting took place four days later – the Tuesday of my second week at university – inside the Assembly Rooms Theatre. Rooney almost had to physically drag me there after I spent the whole weekend in our room, worn out from five days of intense socialising, but I kept reminding myself that I had to do this, I wanted to do this, to put myself out there and have experiences. And Jason and Pip would be there, so it couldn’t be all bad.

The seats were almost completely full already, since a lot of people were interested in being a part of the DST, but me and Rooney spotted Pip sitting alone near the back of the stalls, so we went to join her. I probably should have sat politically in between Rooney and Pip, but Rooney ended up walking into the row of seats ahead of me, leading to a very awkward greeting between them.

Moments later, Jason arrived. He was panting and looked a little bit sweaty.

I wondered whether I should find that attractive in a sort of post-workout way.

‘Is … this seat … taken?’

I shook my head. ‘Nope.’ I paused while he shook his T-shirt away from his chest, and then shrugged off his teddy-bear jacket. ‘Are you OK?’

He nodded. ‘I just ran … all the way from the library … and now I’m dying.’

‘Well, you made it in time.’

‘I know.’ He turned and looked at me properly then, flashing a warm smile. ‘Hello.’

I smiled back. ‘Hi.’

‘So you’re sure about doing this then?’

‘Yep. And even if I wasn’t, I think I’d have been press-ganged into it by these two.’ I pointed towards Rooney and Pip, who were steadfastly ignoring each other.

‘True.’ He crossed one leg over another, then didn’t give me the chance to say anything more before he started rummaging in his rucksack. After a moment, he drew out a family-size open packet of salted popcorn and held it out to me. ‘Popcorn?’

I dug in and scooped up a handful. ‘Salted. You’re a hero.’

‘We must all play our part in this bitch of a world.’

I was about to agree, but then the lights dimmed, as if we were about to watch a real play, and Durham Student Theatre’s first meeting of the year began.

The president’s name was Sadie and she had the brightest, most engaging voice I’d ever heard. She explained the system of DST, which was incredibly complicated, but the fundamental idea was that each society within DST got a certain amount of funding to put on a production of their own, created entirely by the students within that society. Rooney took a lot of notes while Sadie was explaining.

The meeting went on for an hour, and Jason and I sat and shared popcorn the whole time. Was this supposed to mean something? Was this what flirting was? No. No, this was just what friends, did, right? This was just me and Jason being normal.

I thought I got this sort of thing. I understood flirting. But now, when it came to Jason, I had no idea what to think.

When the meeting finally ended, Rooney and Pip went down to join the queue of freshers who had something to ask President Sadie. They walked together but didn’t look at each other.

Jason and I stayed in our seats and we reminisced about some of our funniest youth theatre anecdotes. Hairspray when the music director downloaded a knock-off version of the score and all the songs sounded wrong. Dracula when Pip slipped on some fake blood and tore down the stage curtains. Romeo and Juliet when me and Jason had been painting the set and got stuck on the balcony for two hours because everyone went for dinner and forgot we were there.

Maybe it was the fact that I’d been surrounded by loud theatre people for the past hour.

Maybe it was because I genuinely liked Jason in that way.

Whatever it was, it gave me the confidence to say, ‘Hey, I was thinking … we should … do something.’

He raised his eyebrows, intrigued. ‘Something?’

Oh God. Why was I doing this? How was I doing this? Had I been possessed by the spirit of someone with an actual shred of self-confidence?

‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘I dunno. Go see a movie, or …’ Wait. What fun things did people do on dates? I racked my brain, but all the fanfic I’d read had suddenly deleted itself from my mind. ‘Eat … food.’

Jason stared at me. ‘Georgia, what are you doing?’

‘I just – we could – hang out.’

‘We hang out all the time.’

‘I mean just us.’

‘Why just us?’

There was a pause.

And then he seemed to get it.

His eyes widened. He shifted back from me a little, then forward again.

‘Are you …’ He let out a tiny, disbelieving chuckle. ‘You sound like you’re asking me out, Georgia.’

I made a face. ‘Um. Well, yeah.’

Jason said nothing for a moment.

And then he said, ‘Why?’

It was not exactly how I’d expected him to react.

‘I just …’ I paused. ‘I think … I don’t know. I want to. Go out with you. If you also want to.’

He just kept on staring.

‘If you don’t want to, that’s fine. We can just forget about it.’ I could feel my cheeks heating up. Not because Jason was making me particularly flustered, just because I was a disaster and everything I did was a tragic mistake.

‘OK,’ he said. ‘Yeah. Let’s – let’s do it.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Yeah.’

We looked at each other. Jason was an attractive guy, and he was a good person too. He was clearly the sort of person who I should like romantically. Who I could like romantically. He looked like a boyfriend.

I loved his personality. I’d loved his personality for years.

So I could fall in love with him. With a little bit of effort. Definitely.

Jason had to go, to run to a lecture, leaving me a little shell-shocked that I had been able to do what I had just done, but I was soon distracted by the raised voices at the front of the auditorium. Voices that belonged to Rooney and the DST president, Sadie.

There was hardly anyone in the theatre now, so I wandered down to where Rooney and Pip were just in front of the stage with Sadie. Pip was sitting in the front row, watching the conversation – or argument, I wasn’t yet sure – go down.

‘We only have enough funding for one new society this year,’ said Sadie firmly. ‘That’s already been taken by the Mime Society.’

‘Mime Society?’ Rooney spluttered. ‘Are you joking? Since when is mime more important than Shakespeare?’

Sadie gave her a look like she was very, very tired of dealing with people like Rooney. ‘We also don’t appreciate snobbery in the DST.’

‘I’m not being snobby,I just …’ Rooney took a breath, clearly trying not to shout. ‘I just don’t understand why you got rid of the Shakespeare Soc in the first place!’

‘Because it didn’t have enough members to continue,’ said Sadie coolly.

I sat down next to Pip in the front row. She leant over to me and whispered, ‘I just wanted to ask what the Freshers’ Play would be this year.’

‘What is it?’

‘No idea yet. This is still happening.’

‘What if I funded the society myself?’ Rooney asked.

Sadie raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m listening.’

‘I-I don’t need any of DST’s money. I just want to put on a Shakespeare.’ She looked genuinely desperate. I hadn’t realised she cared that much about this, honestly.

‘Do you know how much it costs to put on a play?’

‘Um … no, but –’

‘Hiring the theatre? Costumes? Set? Rehearsal space? All using the DST’s time and resources?’

‘Well, no, but I –’

Sadie sighed again.

‘You need five members to count as a society,’ she said. ‘And we’ll hire the theatre for you for one performance.’

Rooney closed her mouth. Blinked once. Then said, ‘Wait, really?’

‘Not gonna lie, I am just doing this so you’ll stop bothering me.’ Sadie whipped a notepad out from the stack of flyers she had with her on the stage. ‘Who are your members?’

‘Rooney Bach,’ said Rooney, then looked around at me and Pip.

We didn’t even have time to protest.

‘Felipa Quintana,’ said Rooney.

‘Hang on, no,’ said Pip.

‘Georgia Warr.’

‘Wait, what?’ I said.

‘And Jason Farley-Shaw.’

‘Is this legal?’ said Pip.

‘Who’s the fifth?’ Sadie asked.

‘Um …’ Rooney faltered. I figured she would just conjure up the name of one of her many friends, but she didn’t seem to be able to think of anyone. ‘Er, I guess we haven’t got the fifth member yet.’

‘Well, you’d better get one quick, OK? We’re giving you funding for this. I need to know you’re serious.’

‘I will.’

‘Put on a good enough production by the end of the year and I’ll consider giving you full funding next year. Does that sound reasonable?’

‘Um. Yes. Yeah.’ Rooney unfolded her arms. ‘Th-thank you.’

‘You’re welcome.’ Sadie reached around her for a plastic bottle and took a deep swig from it – one that made me think that whatever was inside wasn’t water. ‘I don’t think you realise how much work it is putting on a production. It needs to be good, OK? Some of our plays go to the Edinburgh Fringe.’

‘It will be good,’ said Rooney, nodding. ‘I promise.’

‘OK.’ Sadie looked directly at me when she said, deadpan, ‘Welcome to Durham Student Theatre. We sure do love drama.’

‘I don’t understand why you can’t just let me have this one and be in my play,’ Rooney snapped at Pip as we walked back to college. ‘What were you gonna do? Join the Mime Society?’

‘I was going to do the Freshers’ Play like a normal fresher,’ Pip snapped back. ‘They’re doing The Importance of Being Earnest, for God’s sake. A classic.’

‘Shakespeare means a lot to me, OK? It was basically one of the only things that I enjoyed at school –’

‘What, and I’m supposed to drop my interests and hobbies just because you’ve got a sob story? This isn’t the fucking X Factor.’

I walked a few paces behind them as Pip and Rooney bickered, their voices getting gradually louder and louder. People around us on the street started turning to observe the scene as they passed.

Pip wrapped her bomber jacket tightly round her body and ran a hand through her hair. ‘I get that you were, like, a star performer at your school, but, like, so was I, and you don’t get to come here and pretend like you’re better than me just because you like Shakespeare.’

Rooney folded her arms. ‘Well, I think putting on a Shakespeare is a bit more noteworthy than some little comedy play.’

‘Some little comedy play? Apologise to Oscar Wilde right the fuck now!’

Rooney halted, bringing us all to a stop. I was contemplating diving into the nearest café. She stepped slightly towards Pip, then seemed to change her mind, and stepped back again, keeping a safe distance between them.

‘You’re just here to have fun. Well, I’m here to actually do something that means something.’

Pip shook her head. ‘What the fuck are you talking about, dude? This is a theatre society. Not a political party.’

‘Ugh, you’re so annoying.’

‘So are you!’

There was silence for a moment.

‘Please be in my society,’ said Rooney. ‘I need five members.’

Pip looked at her, expression unchanging. ‘Which play are you doing?’

‘I don’t know yet.’

‘Can it be a comedy? I’m not doing this if we’re doing any of the boring-ass history plays.’

‘It’ll be a comedy or a tragedy. No history plays.’

Pip narrowed her eyes.

‘I’ll think about it,’ she said.

‘Yeah?’

‘Yeah. But I still don’t like you.’

Rooney smiled broadly. ‘I know.’

Pip headed off towards Castle, leaving Rooney and me alone on the cobbled street by the cathedral.

‘What just happened?’ I asked her.

Rooney let out a long breath. Then she smiled.

‘We’re putting on a play.’