CHAPTER VII : A NEW SCHOOL YEAR.
Beginning of September I was accepted in one of the lesser colleges of London University for the three-year B.Sc. course in economics. I was elated. I would not have been able to take one more year at my tutorial college for a repetition of the A-level exams. Most of my friends were accommodated in one way or another at various colleges and Omar was accepted at the Imperial College for a course of structural engineering.
Annie arrived at the end of September to resume her two-year diploma course in Interior Design. Mother came with her for a week to see me. We had not seen each other for over two years. It was a joyful reunion and together with Annie we tried to show her as much of London as was possible in such a short time. She stayed with Annie in her room, which we had kept and where I went occasionally throughout the summer months to watch television. She did a little shopping in Oxford Street but she was, like me, neither a fashion victim nor a fussy dresser. A few sensible clothes were all that were needed to bring out her class and attractiveness. Her education was French and her English sketchy so that only left us a couple of musicals for entertainment. Mischievously, Annie and I decided to shock her and booked seats at Jesus Christ Superstar, which was very original and enjoyable and Oh Calcutta which just meant to shock. And it did shock mother who wondered how the actors and actresses could cavort around without even a fig leaf. Before she left she told me that a diplomat from the Greek embassy in Cairo asked for Annie’s hand in marriage. Annie was not too keen and though father accepted on her behalf the situation was still in the air. If all went well they would be married on her return in summer. Meanwhile Tasos, the suitor, might visit us in London. Of course, I did not tell her about Omar who did not put in an appearance though he was acquainted with mother. I was bewildered at this turn of events. Common wisdom affirms that the most unstable marriages originate from love matches and the most flourishing and durable are arranged marriages. Somehow life seemed to me at that moment somewhat warped. If I could express my feelings freely I would have said, have your fun and sex, Annie, before you enter a successful, durable union with someone you do not relish particularly but will get used to and might even love in time, the father of your children.
I met Diana quite unexpectedly at Annie’s one afternoon. It was a shock for both of us and as I advanced hesitantly to kiss her she remained standing and frigid where she stood. She accepted my embrace without reaction and as I kissed her first on one and then on her other cheek, she whispered in my ear, the kiss of Judas. I pulled back startled and Annie who noticed my reaction asked me right then and there, what the hell did Diana whisper? Nothing, I said and laughed. Apparently Diana had not told her of our falling-out, or rather of my appalling behavior. I stayed around for a while and tried to be sociable but Diana was withdrawn and silent. Eventually I found an excuse and left. I imagined Annie would ask her about her unfriendly attitude and I hoped Diana would be discreet and not reveal the full length of my inexplicable and, finally, indelicate conduct. I left in a terrible mood. Despite everything, I felt a tenderness for that pretty, winsome English girl. I would have liked to make up but my ill-mannered brushoff was not easy to forgive. Meanwhile, Annie’s sporadic encounters with Omar resumed. Though neither the one nor the other gave me an overt indication on the resumption of the relationship, on occasion when I went to Annie’s room in the afternoon at a time I was not expected the same scenario of voices going silent at my knock and her door remaining shut confirmed my suspicions. But this time I was happy. Happy for Annie and grateful to Omar for his steadfastness in this relationship even if he did have other parallel ones.
College did not alter my habits too much. I was freed from the mediocrity of the tutorial college and most of the professors at university were competent and interesting. Some, like the one of political philosophy, were absolutely brilliant intellectuals. They came in the lecture room without notes and if one had read the lecture material in advance would note that not one important point was missed in that flowing monologue. My fellow students, though not the top of the crop, for the top ones were accepted in the prestigious LSE and University College, were bright and studious. A lively group of girls and boys my age, they soon formed groups and friendships from which I was excluded. Not by them, but because of my persistent shyness and unsociability. I was, and remained a loner throughout the three years of the course. I had some acquaintances but hardly any friendships.