⇾ 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐎𝐅𝐅 𝐌𝐘 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘 | 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐈

Chapter Eighty-Seven: Ringo Out, Pete In

August 19, 1962

"Ringo out, Pete in!" were the words that met the boys at their next Cavern performance on the evening of August nineteenth. We had suspected initially that a change and drummer wouldn't have sparked any annoyance, but oh, were we wrong.

It had been approximately three days since Pete had been sacked. For two days, the Beatles drummer had been a guy named Johnny Hutchinson, the drummer for a band called the Big Three. He was okay, but didn't really fit in with the band and was only a place-holder for the time before they found another drummer.

The drummer they'd been looking for ended up being Ringo Starr, the same drummer that had scared me the first time I met him. When it came down to it, he was perfect for what the boys were looking for, and he was a fantastic drummer.

I hadn't seen Pete around since he'd been fired. I suspected he didn't want to be around us, understandably.

Tonight, the Beatles were back on the bill for the Cavern. As previously stated, we'd expected the drummer change to be subtle and unnoticed, but it seemed Pete had dozens of fangirls, and our hopes went out the window as the realization came in. We were surprised to find girls out on Matthew Street completely in tears after hearing the news, but the worst of it all was the chanting. It didn't even stop when they were onstage. I could see by the fiery look in John's eyes that he was fighting hard against the urge to yell at the audience. He didn't, though. Brian had thoroughly made sure that wouldn't happen and I could tell John was trying really hard to keep the promise he'd made.

The Beatles trudged on through their set nonetheless, with as much energy as they delivered every night. It was weird not seeing Pete onstage, though. I could tell that it was weird to the others too even though he'd been absent a few days. Putting them back in the Cavern just seemed to really put it into perspective.

After the set was over, the band left to go backstage like they always did. As I was trying to make my way back too, someone caught onto my arm and whipped me around. I felt myself begin to tremble from head to toe, but, much to my luck, no one around me seemed to notice.

Behind me was a girl. She didn't look much younger than me, maybe around George's age. She was looking at me, her expression hard. I didn't understand why.

"What—?" She cut my sentence off by slapping me across the face. I stumbled backwards, my mind racing a thousand miles a minute. Now was not the time for my anxiety to flare up too bad. I fought hard to keep my composure. "What the fuck—?" I blurted out, rubbing the side of my face annoyedly.

"You're the reason," she said. "You're the reason Pete's been fired. I know it."

"I'm afraid I don't—." She cut me off again.

"You are. I saw it. Pete went for you and then that John got all mad and kicked him out."

You don't actually know the half of it, I thought to myself irritatedly.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken—." I felt a hand in my shoulder from behind. Could people not come up behind me for once?

"Is there a problem here?" I heard John's voice ask coldly above my head. The girl's face in front of me fell and she shook her head worriedly, turning and hurrying away. I almost laughed at how scared she appeared to be.

I turned to John with a frown on my face. "She hit me," I said flatly.

John looked like he could hit a wall. "Why?"

"She thinks I'm the reason Pete's been fired," I said sadly, looking at my feet.

"Oh, now, don't you give me all that guilt. It's not your fault. None of it is. They don't know what the fuck they're talking about." I nodded and he tenderly touched the side of my face. She hadn't hit me hard. It only barely stung at this point. "Does it hurt?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No. She's not very strong," I muttered.

"Well, c'mon back here," he said with a smile, gesturing to the backstage door. Let's go see the rest of the band."

I smiled in turn.

~~~

"Donna!" Ringo's optimistic voice was the first thing I heard.

I liked Ringo. Ringo was very nice and I thought he fit in well with the other boys. They'd already known each other for quite some time obviously, with Ringo having sat in with them sometimes when Pete ran off doing God-knows-what with God-knows-who.

From a distance, Ringo seemed intimidating, almost as much as John. Up close, however, Ringo was as nice as they came. He was always there to crack jokes just like the others and he blended in well with the others very nicely. Ringo was what was missing from the Beatles. Now that he was here, I could tell they were going to become unstoppable.

"Ritchie!" I greeted with a smile, calling him by a twist on his real name rather than his nickname.

"How's everything been?" he asked me as I sat down on a sofa next to John comfortably.

I nodded. "Same old, same old," I said with a chuckle. "You?"

This had become routine for us. The same questions came every time we met.

"About as good as ever," he said, same as every other response he'd given the question in the past.

"Well, boys," said Paul, poking his head up from behind a chair opposite John and I, startling me slightly, for I hadn't realized he was back there. "I feel like this is it. I think George Martin is finally going to be our lucky break!"

The others whooped and hollered in approval, even Ringo joined in, despite not having contributed to anything up to this point.

"Speak of which," said John, speaking up from beside me. "Brian's been sent a demo for a song Martin wants us to do for our first single," John explained, raising his eyebrows. "We better get to figuring out how we want to do it sometime soon. Recording's on September fourth."

I, living with Brian, already had heard the news. In fact, I'd been the first to hear it. John had been thrilled when he'd found out and promptly told Brian that it was his band still and he wanted to tell them when the time seemed right. Now seemed to be the time.

Just like they had when they found out that George Martin had decided to give them a chance, there was a silence for a brief moment before everyone started yelling happily again.