What If

Chapter 5

I was completely frozen. I didn't know what to say or do. I mean, come on. John Lennon was standing right in front of me! Well, he was sitting, but still . . . he was right in front of me! I was screaming on the inside, anxious to say something to him.

"Hey, guys," he said. Then he noticed me. "Well, hello." His mouth turned into a seductive smirk and he didn't even bother trying to hide that he was looking at me up and down. Weird, I was never considered attractive in America. He set his guitar down and stood up, taking my hand and kissing the back of it. "And who might you be, miss?"

"This is Colleen," Paul answered for me. "She's a new student from America."

"America." John seemed very impressed.

"New York," Paul continued.

"New York?!"

That's when I noticed the other two boys in the room. They gasped and looked at each other and then back to me. I knew who they were even though they weren't technically apart of The Beatles. They were Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe. And wow, Stuart was way more attractive in person. I actually blushed a little just from looking at him.

I didn't see what the big deal was about New York. It's just another part of the United States. I tried to downplay it. "It's just New York," I said, speaking for the first time.

They all burst out laughing at me. Seriously, they were in hysterics. I thought one of them was gonna bust a lung. After catching his breath and calming down, John said "Just New York, she says. How old are you, love?"

"Seventeen."

"Ah, the same as little Georgie here." He pointed to George who was setting up on the other side of the room.

"Hey!" George protested. "'m not little."

"That's right. He's actually huge. Drop your pants and show 'er, Georgie." All of the other boys laughed while George and I blushed profusely.

"Anyway . . ." John looked behind himself, reminding him that there were others there too. "Oh, Colleen, this is Stuart and Pete. The bass player and drummer of the band."

I grinned at them and said "Hello."

Pete said "Hi" back kindly, while Stuart had nearly the same reaction as John.

"Hey," he said, checking me over at least three times.

I ignored it and went back to what John was saying to me. "So you're here to watch us play, are you?" he asked.

Yes, yes, yes! I thought, but kept it cool on the outside. "Yes," I said only once.

"Okay, then, boys, we have to make it an extra good performance if we're going to have an audience." He went back to his crate and picked up his guitar once again.

"Extra extra extra good," Stu said, not having taken his eyes off of me for even a moment.

I sat down against the wall and watched them get set up together. Oh my God, I thought. I'm about to be serenaded by The Beatles! Serenaded was kind of a big stretch, but it was close enough for me!

Paul counted down "One, two, three, four!"