A Day In The Life (A Beatles Fan-Fiction Story)

Chapter Eight: I've Got To Get You Into My Life

It's morning now and Nana and Poppy still aren't home. Paul, Mike and I are getting very worried. Even if they went to a party and got drunk, they should be home by now. It's 10:30 (school's cancelled for a holiday), they should've been home at least an hour ago.

I heard a knock on the door. "I'll get it," Paul jumped up and answered the door. "It's for you, El!" he called.

I got up and went to the door and ran into George's arms. "Sorry I didn't come to the park yesterday, I just couldn't, with the rain and all," I apologized. I didn't say anything about John.

"It's okay, love. Do you want to go to the park now? It's not raining, and it would be a shame to waste the holiday."

I looked back at Paul, who very lightly shook his head. "Acctually, I'm waiting for my grandparents to come home. Would you like to wait outside with me?"

"Of course!" We both went outside to the little porch and sat on the swinging chair. He held my hand. "Are you okay?" he asked, breaking the silence after a few moments.

My expression must look worried. "Yeah, I'm fine," I smiled a false smile.

"Are you sure? You look a bit uneasy."

"Yeah, I'm just a bit nervous. My grandparents left the house yesterday without telling any of us where they were going, and they haven't returned yet."

"I'm sure they're fine," he comforted me.

"I hope so."

We sat there and joked and laughed for a little while. Suddenly I heard a car door shut, and I jumped up, expecting to see the gray car that belong to my grandfather in the driveway. The car was in my driveway, but it wasn't gray, it was white with the word POLICE written on the side.

I jumped up when I saw the officers walking Nana and Poppy up the steps. "Oh my stars, where were you two?! You had us all worried half to death!" I shouted.

"They were in the diner yesterday morning and they got mugged. Your grandmother here was so frightened that she had a heart attack. We kept her in the hospital over night just to make sure she was okay. Your grandpa just wanted to make sure she was alright," one of the police said. 

I wrapped my arms around her. "Oh my, Nana, are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm quite alright," she assured me. They all went in the house. I could hear Paul hollering at them for not telling us where they were going and blah blah blah.

"Should I go?" George asked awkwardly.

"If you want to. I mean, you can stay if you want, but I think I'm going to have to help my Poppy take care of Nana," I told him.

"Let me help," he offered.

We went inside and I made tea for Nana, and George toasted some bread. Mike and Paul were upstairs with her already, trying to comfort her. I could here her saying things like "I'm fine!" and "Let me be!" but they refused to go away. After all, she did have a heart attack, why shouldn't we all be worried?

We brought the tea and bread upstairs to my grandmother. I could tell she didn't like all of the attention and help she was getting. She kept pleading to us to just leave her alone, but we all refused. At some point before the afternoon, Poppy told us all, "Go enjoy your holiday. I can take care of my wife."

We all hesitated, but it is a holiday. We all walked to the park together and sat under a tree. I saw John and his band, The Quarryman I believe, rehearsing on the other side of the park. I pretended I didn't notice him, but he kept staring at me. At some point when he was done rehearsing, he came over to the tree we were all under and sat next to me.

"What do you want, John?" George asked.

"Some shade, is that alright with you?" he replied sarcastically.

"There's plenty of shade over there, now go."

"I want to sit next to my new friend."

"None of us are your friend."

"Eleanor is."

I gave him one of those "why-did-you-say-that" faces as he continued to talk. "Yep, we're the best of friends now." He put his arm around me.

"Come here. Now." I stood up and pulled him far away from the others so they couldn't hear. "What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Well, we're friends, aren't we?"

"No! John, we will NEVER be friends!"

"Eleanor, I've apologized, writted you a poem, and agreed to stop calling you a Yank. What else can I do?"

"You can leave me alone," I suggested.

"But you see, that's the problem. I can't leave you alone. I can't get you out of my head, and all I want is for you to love me, or at least be my friend."

"Oh my god, are you serious right now? John, we went over this. I love George. Not you."

"Does he know that? That you love him?"

Oh shit, I shouldn't have said that. "Of course he does," I lied. I haven't told George that I love him yet. What if John tells him?

"You know, George doesn't like those hippie people."

"Pardon?"

"Yeah, he thinks they're...strange."

Is that true? I started to cry but my mood quickly changed to rage. "Of course he doesn't! No one does! Everyone hates the hippie! But who cares, I don't! I don't love George anyway, I would never knew he existed if it wasn't for you!" I started to cry again.

John was a bit started by my reaction. I quickly realized this and apologized. "Oh my god, John, I am so sorry! I didn't mean to go all bipolar on you, please don't hate me, I'll be your friend, anything, just please don't hate me--"

He bent down and pressed his lips against mine. They were soft, and warm...and so lovely. Eleanor, what are you saying?! You hate him, remember? Stop kissing him, STOP!

I pushed him away from me and slapped his face. "Bloody hell!" he shouted. "What was that for?"

"Why did you do that?" I yelled at him.

"Because--I--"

I turned around and started running home. First he breaks my heart by telling me that George doesn't like "hippies" and then he kisses me? What's the matter with him? I just ran and ran and didn't stop until I reached my driveway. I went inside and sat down next to my grandmother's bed.

"Do you need anything, Nana?" I asked her.

"No thanks dear, I'm okay."

"Okay," I smiled at her.

"Can you tell me a story?"

I searched my brain for a story to tell her. "There was a lonely mermaid in the ocean that always swan alone. She never had any friends to play with. Even the fish didn't like her. The reason no one like her was because she was different, with blue eyes and blonde hair. One day when she was older, a sailor heard her singing and fell in love with her voice. He just had to meet her, so he sat on a rock with her one night. He fell in love with this beautiful mermaid, and she loved him back. But a few months later, a pirate ship came along and scared the sailor away. The pirate was also in love with the mermaid, but she hated him for scaring the sailor away. To this day, the pirate loves her. He'll never leave her alone until he gets his way."

She was quiet for a few seconds. "That's some imagination you've got."

Yeah, some imagination all right...