If I Fell│John Lennon/Beatles FanFiction

Chapter 56 - 6.Nov.1947 - 26.June.1963

Chapter 56 

Wake up.

Something pressed into my hand. Something warm. Something familiar. Something I missed so much that it hurt.

She was with me. How in the hell was she with me?

And then I was pulled back into darkness.

November 6, 1947

I stood behind my mother's legs, hiding. I hated meeting new people, and I hated that we'd moved. Mum carried on chatting with the woman in front of her. A boy lingered in the background, kicking at rocks on the ground. His jacket dangled open despite the chill in the air, and his shirt and vest were both tucked into his trousers. The boy's hair was cut short and a bit fluffed in the front. His cheeks were red, his lip lodged between his teeth.

Mum reached for me and tugged me out from behind her. She crouched down, her bright blue eyes staring into mine as she tucked my unruly hair behind my ears.

"Liv, that over there is John, and this is Mrs. Smith, John's aunty. They live three houses down. Remember I told you about him?" Mum pointed at the boy. "Why don't you go say 'ello?"

Mum had told me a bit about John as we drove away from our old house for the last time, many of our possessions crammed beside me in the car. She told me about Julia, her friend since childhood, who had a son a bit older than me. He was living with his aunty a few doors down from our new place. Mum thought he could be my first friend after the move. But I barely listened to her because all I wanted was to go back to our old house, my old room, and my old mates.

The woman with short, dark hair stood with her hands pushed into the pockets of her white coat, and her thin lips pulled into a tight smile. "John just turned seven last month," she said.

My mother placed her hand on my back and stood again, her gaze still on me. "And can you tell Mrs. Smith how old you are, Livvy?"

I raised my eyes and smiled at my mother as my cheeks filled with heat. I stepped behind Mum's legs again. I lowered my eyes and then held up five fingers.

"Go on, then, Livvy. Go introduce yourself to Johnny," Mum said, patting my back, urging me forward.

I took a few tentative steps toward the boy, his focus still on the rocks, his back to me.

When I got right behind him, I hesitated before tapping him on the shoulder. He spun around but didn't smile. Instead, he took a few steps away from me. With a glint in his eye, he swung a leg back and then forward, hinging at the knee...and the tip of his shoe connected with a pebble. It rocketed toward me and, before I could duck, it hit me smack in the middle of my forehead.

My lips pressed together as my hands tightened into fists. I almost turned around to grab Mum, but the smirk on his face caused me to do something I was very sure Mum wouldn't be pleased with...but I did it anyway. I leaned down, grabbed the fallen pebble, and chucked it at him. It landed right between his eyes.

He didn't move for a moment, and I barely breathed...too worried that Mum had seen me. But there was no shouting from behind me, only chuckling in front of me.

"Good aim, for a girl," he said, a smile appearing on his lips. He offered a tiny wave of his hand. "I'm John."

My lips were still pursed, but his smile did something to me, and soon I was grinning.

"I'm Liv."

*       *

Wake up.