What If

Chapter 7

 I went to sleep that night honestly thinking that it was all just a dream and I was going to wake up normally the next morning, in my house in New York, and go to school as if nothing had happened. But when I did wake up, I was still in that house in Liverpool with that woman I didn't know.

Since it seemed I wasn't going back, I decided just to go with it and enjoy myself with this new life. Since I was from the future, I had a great head start on what to expect already.

I hadn't been extremely close to my parents, really at all. We never seemed to get along. They weren't physically abusive or anything. It was just constant arguing and judging on my mom's part and my dad . . . was just indifferent really, as if he wasn't even there. So, I didn't really miss them that much. Actually, I was kind of relieved that I didn't have to hear their voices anymore. I felt so relaxed and stress-free.

As far as friends, I only had one. She and I were really close, having met in the fifth grade. I was going to miss her a hell of a lot. But other than that, I had been a loner, so there was really no one else to miss. And at least here I had friends, even if I knew they were going to be total douchebags in the future.

Maybe it was a little early to start calling them friends after only knowing them for one day, but they sure showed interest in being friends. It was a start at least.

I happily put on my tacky school uniform and washed myself before jogging downstairs with my schoolbag. My mom was there with a big plate of scones and shoved two in my hands before pushing me out the door to go to school.

I was not looking forward to math class. There was a test that they were not allowing me to be exempt from, which was stupid because I was new. That's what I was thinking about when I heard a familiar voice behind me.

"Hey, Colleen!"

I turned around and saw George running up to me, looking a little out of breath. He was gonna have to get used to that if he was going to outrun millions of fan-girls in the future.

"Oh, hey, George," I said, walking side by side with him.

He had a lot more confidence in him than he had the day before. "So I see you got home okay. Paul and I normally walk home together, but he really wanted a moment to be alone with you." He laughed to himself and lit a cigarette.

"Gee, I couldn't tell," I said sarcastically.

"Yeah." He blew out a thick cloud of smoke. "He thinks you're gear. All the guys think you are too." I saw a slight pink make its way to his cheeks.

I grinned. I mean, it was nice to have confirmation that multiple famous people liked you that way. "Wow," I said, making it a lot less of a deal than I actually thought it was. "That's nice to hear."

"Yeah, well, we normally don't get a New Yorker around these parts. People move from here to there, not the other way around."

Pulling off the worst Liverpudlian accent I've ever heard, I said "You only used scousers around here, yeah?" Even I had to laugh at my terrible impression. George did too.

"You're pickin' up the lingo already!" He threw away his cigarette butt and crushed it. "Not too sure about the accent though."

I shrugged. "I don't think I'm ever gonna pick that up. New York accent forever."

"That's a good thing around here. Everyone wants an American girl. We never get any around here. You're the only one in the whole school. Probably the only one in Liverpool. We're such a tiny community that no one ever comes here, just the same old people every single day. You're the first interesting person to come here in years."

I blushed a lot. Being complimented by George Harrison so much was actually very sweet.

"Aw, thank you, George," I said. "It's good to know I'm interesting."

George blushed too and soon enough we were at the school.