In My Life

Chapter 3

"And how are you this fine morning Mr Lennon?" I chirped from over the other side of the gate as John closed the front door of Mendips.

"I'm holding up okay, what about you?" He smiled, leaning both his arms against the gate, trapping me on the outside.

"Glasses John!" Cried Mimi from the porch of the house, holding out a pair of thin, circular lenses for him to take.

John's face tensed at the mere sound of her voice, and gritting his teeth in frustration, cocked his head around to retrieve the glasses from her hand in misery, amusing her greatly.

"Thanks Mimi." He winked sarcastically, plastering a rather forced smile across his face, as he stealthily stuffed the glasses carelessly into the bottom of his bag.

"I think you should put them on too." I sniggered as he opened the gate and passed through. "You'll look like a tool if you walk into anymore street lamps."

"I look like a tool wearing them as it is, so can it really get much worse?" He laughed, kicking the stones from the pavement as we made our way to the bus stop.

It was a frosty January morning, fog so thick, it was most likely John would walk into a streetlamp; especially with eyesight like his.

"So are you nervous then?" I asked him nonchalantly, trying to break the ice.

"Would you be?" He said, raising an eyebrow at me.

I nodded understandingly.

"Which reminds me." He continued. "I won't be there to meet you after school today. So will you be alright getting home?"

"John I'm not six." I laughed, shoving him slightly into a shrub, causing an uproar of laughter from him. "I'll get home quite alright."

"Alright, alright." He chuckled, picking the few leaves from his shoulders. "I was just checking."

"Thanks anyway though." I smiled gratefully, picking at the crusty, brown leaves of different bushes we'd pass by along the way. "Nice to know you care."

He smiled at me deceivingly, only to then catch me off guard by throwing a handful of leaves at me immaturely. The two of us were children when together, passing no higher than the age of five, as neither of us were quite willing to grow out of the juvenile games we played.

"If only they allowed girls in QuarryBank." He chuckled lightheartedly, picking out the leaves in my hair apologetically. "The two of us could practically run the school together."

"Or drive the teachers out their wits." I added.

"Potato patato." He shrugged, as the two of us stopped to wait patiently by the bus stop having reached our destination.

Our bus took only a few extra minutes to arrive, and as it did, I gave John a single last look of reassurance before stepping on.

"Don't worry too much, yeh?" I smiled, giving him a quick peck on the cheek to wish him luck for today.

"I'll tell you all about it tomorrow." He smiled weakly, squeezing my hand slightly.

I nodded.

As I stepped foot on the bus, a breathless voice from behind called his name, completely redirecting his attention. A young boy with greasy blonde hair, no older than himself, came sprinting down the street, more or less winded from all the running. It was non other than his cousin Stan, having come down to meet him here for their big day ahead.

John glanced back to me once more, releasing my hand, and nodded at me in return, just as the the bus doors closed between us.