Hello Little Girl

Chapter 2

John found himself impressed by this bird, Wendy, and that was something rare for him. She was relaxed and witty and didn’t seem to care what he thought of her. Obviously she was interested, what girl wouldn’t be? But not a whole lot, she had baited him, to see how much she could get from him with as little effort on her part as possible.

John smiled, he felt pretty up for her game. She was one of those rare ones that might be worth it. Winning her would be something to be proud of.

“Winston?” She had said, with a teasing half-smile. “As in Churchill?” John had smiled in reply. “The very same.”

There was something distinctly different about Wendy that John just couldn’t put his finger on. Her mahogany hair piled up on top of her head and pleasing fitted jeans gave her an almost daring aura. Not to mention asking him for a smoke. Liverpool girls…just didn’t do things like that.

Wendy was aloof, not overly giggly or too posh like most of the girls at Quarry Bank. She was intriguing.

He had teased her about the kid, and although she hadn’t said it, John knew he was her little brother. They shared the same dark eyes and high cheekbones. Her protection of the boy put John off a little, but not enough to blow her off. Usually, he had no patience for the little urchins, but he would with this one if it helped him get on Wendy’s good side.

John hated it, but he was genuinely interested in this girl. She was a challenge, something that mixed up the same boring routine that was his life there in Liverpool.

He smirked and took a drag off his ciggie. If he wasn’t careful, he’d find himself actually liking the bird. That wasn’t something he was interested in. John picked up his pace, brushing the thought aside and hurrying along to not be late for practice.

After bidding John goodbye Wendy and Scott continued on their way to the park. There, Scott wasn’t interested in much besides playing in the dirt, and immediately busied himself with digging the largest hole he could manage.

Wendy sat on a bench a little behind Scott’s digging site, not really paying attention to what he was doing. As she finished her smoke, she let her mind wander, idly thinking about nothing, before she landed on John. She liked that he was brash and obnoxious. That twisted little half-smile he wore so proudly never failed to produce one of her own.

She loved that he was exactly the kind of boy her Mother would hate to see brought home.

Despite all the laughs though, Wendy noticed a sort of vagueness to John, something that made her curious about him and drew her in, it made her want to dig deeper and find out exactly what he was hiding behind the sarcasm and bloated confidence.

Wendy smiled to herself. She certainly felt up to the challenge that was this Lennon boy.

Wendy was in her room when her Mother finally got home. To no surprise, it was almost midnight. She didn’t bother to go down and see her. Chances were, her Mother had been drinking and probably brought her date home.

A loud bang that sounded like a shin connecting with the coffee table and a male voice cursing loudly confirmed Wendy’s suspicions. She rolled her eyes at her Mother’s high pitch giggle that followed.

Wendy lay in bed, actually reading for once, but she paused to listen to the couple stumble around downstairs. She should probably be asleep, what with the date nowhere being over, but…

The doorknob rattled. There he was.

Scott peered into the room, fear written all over his face. He stood in the doorway hesitantly. “There’s somebody downstairs.” He whispered. Wendy smiled a little and shook her head. “Not, it’s just Mum.” She patted the space next to her. “Come here.”

Scott quietly shut the door and hurried to the bed, climbing up the sheets to crawl next to his sister. Wendy pecked the top of his head as he fingered the cover of the book she had been reading.

“What’s that say?” He asked inquisitively.

Wendy smiled again. “A Tale of Two Cities”

“What’s that?”

“A book”

“Are you reading it?”

“Uh-huh”

Scott tugged the book out of her hands and looked carefully at the pages as he turned them over, not able to read the words, but still enjoying the shapes of them.

“What’s it about?” He asked.

“The French revolution.”

“The what?”

“You know, when the French people overthrew their king because they didn’t like him.”

“Oh”

Scott continued to flip through the pages idly. As Wendy watched him, she pulled him into a tight hug that the four-year-old barely noticed. Just seeing him like this made her feel an overwhelming sense of pride about how smart he was. Much more intelligent that her or their Mother. Despite his ability to lean-and learn quickly at that-he was extremely naïve, even for his age. As Wendy pulled him into her lap and settled her chin on top of her head she was determined to keep him safe until he would have to face the harshness of this world on his own.