In My Life

Chapter 1

"Don't say you didn't like it!" He chuckled lightheartedly, pressing the book right up in my nose.

"John Lennon, you're such a little bookworm." I giggled, pushing the book from my view. "Gosh, don't you ever put those blumin' things down?"

John laughed at my response, and stopped in his tracks only to open the gate to the house, beckoning me benevolently to enter.

Mendips had always been where we'd come after school; just the two of us. Ever since we were little.

John and I crept around the side of the house as usual, cautious Mimi was lurking, and ducked as we passed the window of her quiet room where she would generally reflect during this hour of the day, a good book at hand.

"You want a cuppa?" John asked as he began to fill the kettle from under the tap.

"Yes please." I smiled, stumbling through the backdoor of the house, wincing at the thought of disturbing Mimi.

John scrummaged through the neatly organised cupboards in search of two mugs, meanwhile, I picked up the book John had been raving about, of which he'd now carelessly tossed on the kitchen counter. Classic Lennon.

"What is it about Alice In Wonderland," I asked him, as he popped the teabags into the mugs. "That you like so much?"

"Everything." He smiled blissfully, snatching the book from my hand in exchange for my tea.

"Anything interesting happened to the two of you today?" Mimi's head poked around the corner, peeking into the kitchen.

John shook his head without much consideration, his concentration far too absorbed by his book which lay open on the counter.

"And you Samantha?"

"A day as dreary as ever." I sighed, taking a sip from my tea. "GCSE's are never fun."

Mimi laughed lightly, which was always a good sign. You would be a person of particular luck to stumble upon Mimi taking a liking to you, and fortunately, I was one of the few. Though to be fair, John's home was more or less my home I was here so often, and so Mimi was like a second mother to me; John feeling more or less the same.

"Well I'll leave you two kids to it then." She smiled, leaving again as quickly as she'd arrived.

John set down his tea, and closed his book having finished the chapter he'd been reading so intensely.

"Haven't you read that book enough times already?" I teased.

"Books are meant for reading more than just once." He replied plainly.

"Yes but that is to a certain extent Lennon." I smiled, elongating my words in jest. "An extent of which you've exceeded."

He laughed, and handed me the book.

"You'd best take this from me then." He smiled. "Make sure you don't catch me getting my nose in it again."

"Sounds like a plan." I nodded affirmatively, stuffing the book into my bulging bag. "Now don't we have business to be attending to?"

"Oh! How could I forget!" John piped in realisation, carelessly releasing the scorching tea cup to spill across the kitchen counter.

"Er, John-" I began.

"You're not going to believe this Sam!" He interrupted enthusiastically, clutching my arm briskly to guide me upstairs.