Benedict Cumberbatch: Life With Ben

Chapter Thirty One: This Is The Internet

Ben walked me up to the old castle-styled gates of the university and looked down in to my eyes, that were covered by my glasses and whispered, "I love you, you'll be fine! Come home whenever you like, just make sure you look after yourself. Try and eat properly though. I don't want you getting ill." I smiled at Ben and added, "I'll try my hardest. I love you so much." I went on my tip toes in my cream converse, placed my hands on his shoulders, leaned in close and placed a kiss on his cheek, whilst inhaling his aroma. I pulled my satchel over my shoulder, took a step back and smiled. "I'm ready!" I beamed. "Me too!" Ben said taking a step towards me, straightening my The IT Crowd T-shirt, whilst sorting my hair parting out. "3 months. That's all. Not long. We can do it!" Ben smiled placing a kiss on my forehead. I nodded and walked into the university grounds.

I got half way up the drive way to the university doors when a voice called "Oi, Diggers!" I turned around to see what Ben wanted, when he added "I bloody love you!" Ben's face gleamed with delight, waving frantically. "I bloody love you too, Cabbagepatch! See you right there in three months time!" I shouted back to him as I started to walk backwards. I could feel people staring at me but I didn't care what others thought. They can think I'm weird all they want but I was happy being me, instead of being a fake barbie doll.

I got to the front desk, and I was ready to face people. Well I thought I was, "Aah Digby. You've been gone for a fair amount of time. You must have been really ill!" Mrs Rayland, a little old grey haired lady, said looking up at me, after looking though the heaps of paper work. "I wasn't ill as such, Miss. It was quite a personal matter that I needed to attend to. Am I still in my old room?" Mrs Rayland shook her head. "No, sorry, we had to move both you and your roommate to a smaller room as your original room was ideally a 4 person room. Don't worry Adelaide has moved your stuff and unpacked for you. Lessons commence in 20 minutes, here is your timetable, don't be late!" I took the timetable and the key that Mrs Rayland was shaking in front of me, and left to find my room.

"201" I mumbled to myself as I walked up the oak stairs trying to find my new room. I turned around a corner and found the room. Room 201. I opened the door and took a deep breath in and whispered to myself, "I can do this. New room. New start. New me." The room looked exactly the same as my old one except it was a little bit smaller, but we still had a balcony so that's a positive thing. I placed my satchel on, what I presumed was my bed, and opened it up. I opened it up and emptied it out to see what I needed for the rest of the day. In my bag was;

An A4 notepad

Tonnes of glitter pens

A few black pens

Water bottle

Fruit bar

Vitamins

All of it of which I needed. I was ready for my first proper day at university.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Hello, new fellow computer programmers. Welcome to your first session. My name is Professor Hills." A young nerdy looking man said in quite a nasal tone, smiling at the class of 8. I sat in the middle row surrounded by people trying not to make eye contact with the professor as I knew if eye contact is made, that is instantly a sign you want to introduce yourself first to the class. "Lets introduce ourselves. Lets start with you, Tneetenba!" Professor Hills said enthusiastically, pointing at my t-shirt that read, Good day, that's a nice Tnetennba. I looked over at Hills and raised an eyebrow as if to signal that I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or not. He nodded. I stood up in front of my desk and took in a deep breath and said "Hello, my name is Claudia Digby." I felt like I was at a rehab session where you had to share your problems to random strangers. Hills smiled and gestured me to carry on. "I'm 18 years old. Born in Margate but now living in London with my boyfriend." "What's his name?" Hills asked. "Benedict" I replied smiling, "he's a good man. A talented man and a caring man at that. He has helped me through so much of late." Hills smiled as if to ask What has he helped you with?, but I looked at him as if to say I was finished and that I didn't want to talk about it. He smiled once more, apologetically and then asked one last thing of me that took me by surprise, "The IT Crowd. Series 3 Episode 4. You are Moss I am Jen. Okay? Follow my lead" I nodded. With a nod we were off for some reason. No explanation what so ever. You see, Hills didn't require an explanation. Especially not to act out a scene from his favourite comedy show.