Guest: Jay Northcote – Leaving Home and New Beginnings

Not Just Friends begins with one of my main characters—Lewis—moving into his hall of residence (what US readers would call a dorm) at university. He doesn’t know anyone there, all his friends from school are scattered at different unis and colleges around the country. Lewis is starting over.

It was early evening when Lewis’s stuff was finally all unloaded and his parents were ready to leave. Lewis accompanied them down to the car park to say his farewells, a mixture of excitement and anxiety s...