september 27th 1958
anna played with a loose thread on the sleeve of her jumper as her eyes wandered along the passing houses on the bus towards menlove avenue.
she had lived at "eighty vale road" for a couple of months at this point, it was the house of her father's new girlfriend, debby who had the prettiest strawberry blonde hair and always freshly manicured nails.
she was almost envious, tempted to ask debby to take her with her to get her nails done since anna had a nasty habit of biting her already painfully short nails.
anna clutched her school bag to her body as the last stop was approaching, having to walk down menlove avenue and round the corner to get to vale road.
the cool late september air hit anna's face as she stepped off the bus. the sound of her saddle shoes clad against the pavement, her bag on her shoulder as she stared down at the pavement, counting the cracks in her best french.
"une fissure, deux fissures, trois fissures-"
a scoff was heard just in front of her, the sight of that pesky john lennon in front of her who lived on the road she was now walking on, smoking a cigarette. "speaking gibberish now, martin?"
anna often found herself tangled in encounters with the local teddy boy. he would tug at her hair as she walked by or pepper her with crude comments that made her skin crawl but on one particularly troubling occasion, he took it a step further. without warning, he tripped her up, sending her sprawling onto the pavement. she landed violently, her chin smacking against the hard surface with a sickening thud. the resulting injury left her with a painful scab that took two whole weeks to heal.
john secretly found a certain thrill in the game he played with the quirky anna martin, his body lazily leaned against the wall of the row-house, taking the smoke into his lungs as he watched her walk up the street.
"none of your business, lennon," she muttered under her breath as she kept walking, her gaze fixed on the ground. she quickened her pace, wanting to get away from the irksome teddy boy as quickly as possible.
john, however was not one to be ignored. he sidestepped, blocking her path once again.
"woah woah, woah, woah," john exclaimed with a cocky smirk, his eyes flickering with mischievous intent. "yer can't just walk away without sayin' 'ello, martin." his gaze lazily roamed over her, taking in her appearance in a way that made anna's skin crawl.
anna let out an exasperated sigh, rolling her eyes. "hello lennon, can i go now?" she snapped, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. his lingering gaze, as if he had any right to look at her like that, made her feel exposed and vulnerable, and she hated it.
he took another drag of his cigarette, the smoke curling around him in a hazy cloud. "jeez, martin, no need to get your panties in a twist. i was just tryin' to say 'ello. no need to be all grumpy about it."
"i'm not grumpy," she retorted, her voice rising. "i just don't find your constant pestering very amusing. in fact, it's quite annoying."
.
september 28th 1958
the next day, as anna walked to college once more, john was there once again there, like a persistent thorn in her side. this time, he was dressed in his school uniform, still as scruffy as ever, leaning against a brick wall, smoking a cigarette.
