The Right Time (A Beatles FanFic)

The Right Time

-I like this story a lot better than my other one-

“Jacqueline Starkey?” the history teacher barked. “Here.” Jackie Starkey said, lazily, as she doodled the lyrics of one of her favorite song on her notepad.

Day after day

Alone on a hill,

the man with the foolish grin

is sitting perfectly still...

“Jackie!” snapped Mrs. Houndsworth, “For the hundredth time! No doodling! That’ll be detention for you, young lady.” She slapped a detention slip down on Jackie’s desk. Jackie sighed, exasperatedly, slamming her notebook shut. She tried to pay attention, she really did, but it was hard when something was so deathly boring as the Greek Basileus. It wasn’t the first time she’d gotten detention. “Now, back to ancient Greece...”

The bell rang, and Jackie gathered her books, and headed to detention. This was the fourth time she would be late to her music lesson this term. When she finally got to her lesson, her teacher was waiting. Mrs. Odon was the only adult in Jackie’s life who didn’t always drive her nuts. Their mutual love of music made their relationship much better. Sure, Mrs. Odon could be a little harsh sometimes, but Jackie wouldn’t learn anything if she was told everything she did was amazing. Mrs. Odon’s words were worth listening to. “There you are. What’s your excuse this time?” “Detention.” “Again? Why this time?”

“I was doodling Beatles lyrics in my notepad.”  

“Well, speaking of Beatles, I have a surprise for you.” She pulled several brand new music books from a bag at her feet. “Here. This one’s for violin, this one is for guitar, uke, bass, vocals, and piano.” Jackie looked at them. They were all Beatles songs! “I couldn’t find one for drums, flute or trumpet.”  

“They’re amazing! Thank you so much!” Jackie said, happily, looking at the books. Mrs. Odon smiled. “I thought you’d like them.”

“Now, let’s get on with practicing. Which instrument should we start with?”

 

At home, Jackie ate dinner with her family. "We got your report card today," her dad held up an opened letter, "You could've done much better. A B- is not acceptable in English."

"Come on. That's above average! You’re being ridiculous!" Jackie said.

"You'd better do better next year, young lady! A C in Math? What went wrong? You’re going to take summer classes at Harvard."

"No! You can't make me go!" She stormed off to her room. Her parents were always trying to get her to do more. No matter what she got, they wanted more. If she got an A, they wanted an A+. If she got 100%, they were mad she didn’t get extra credit. It was just too much to handle. 11th grade was stressful. It was the time they started getting you ready for graduating the next year. It was near the end of the school year, so homework wasn’t so bad. But it was also when finals were happening. The teachers would stuff you full of everything.Her walls were plastered with many posters. The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Queen, Michael Jackson, Wings, and many more. But none had as many as the Beatles. Jackie practically worshipped them. She knew everything about anything about the Beatles. One time, she had spent over $200 to go to a Paul McCartney concert. She sighed, looking at her favorite poster. “What I would give to live in the 60s and meet all of you. And escape my dumbass family.” She turned on her radio, and sat down with her laptop in front of her. “Time to waste some time. But if I enjoy wasting it, it wasn’t wasted,” she said, proudly quoting John Lennon. At school, she was teased for liking old music. “Old music is shit! Justin Bieber and Rihanna are so much better. You should listen to real music!” were just a few of the things kids at her school said, to her face. Her few friends didn’t understand, but they at least didn’t mind. They were excited for her when she got the Paul McCartney tickets, they showed interest in her music taste, and they definitely didn’t listen to the shit other people called music. She loved them for that.

“Jackie, don’t have your laptop plugged in. There’s a thunderstorm coming,” Jackie’s mom called from downstairs. She was listening to Beatles music, and did not hear. “Jackie?” “Ok.” Jackie called. Suddenly she heard a clap of thunder, and saw a flash. “Oh great. Facebook and Instagram are gonna be full of pictures of rain.” Then there was another boom. “I guess I should unplug this cord.” As she touched the cord there was another thunderclap, so loud, it defend her. The room was spinning flashes of light swirling around her, and in the distance she heard someone calling her name. Then she was falling, through the floor it seemed. She kept falling, whirling colors, loud noises all around her and then... nothing.