GEORGE's P.O.V.
I sighed, it felt good having to experience this again. Even if it was in a different time or place. The dancing crowd, the joyful ambiance we brought in the place; it feels like we travelled back to the past where we used to play at the Cavern instead of travelling to the future where we get to perform in the modern world.
"You don't realize how much I need you,
Love you all the time and never leave you,
Please come on back to me,
I'm lonely as can be, I need you."
Turning my head to John and Paul who are both singing backing vocals along to me with one microphone, I can't help but laugh at the memory of John's announcement the night before.
"I think I'm a reincarnated Jesus."
There was silence in the room for about ten seconds till Paul, Ringo, and I shared fits of hysterical laughter at what we just heard.
"What's so funny?" John asked as if it was a reaction he didn't expect from us.
Paul managed to control his laughter so he spoke, "Just because you saw a picture of yourself with long hair and a lumberjack beard doesn't mean you're Jesus himself, y'know."
"Besides," Ringo adds, "It's not Jesus' exact image just so you know."
"I know that but I just..." I stood up from my seat to pat him on the back, "That's what you get from reading too much of your biographies."
John snorted, "You guys won't understand."
"Then how about this." Jude finally spoke from her seat. "What made you think you're Jesus?"
Our vocalist scratched his nose, imitating Paul's habit whenever he gets nervous. But this is John, Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna? Now where did that came from?
"I'm not totally saying that I'm Jesus himself. It's just that... christianity might go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I'll be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first – rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."
The three of us continued to laugh but we were stopped midway as we saw Jude's serious expression while looking at our vocalist.
The two stared at each other for a minute or two as if they were conversing subconsciously through the eyes. They're not even touching the rest of their food, Hare Krishna.
Okay, seriously, this is getting a whole different level of weirdness.
"It would be better if you were in 1966. But you better not say those words when you're eating on my table."
John swallowed real hard even if he wasn't chewing on anything. We resumed eating in silence as we knew this is literally something controversial to talk about with someone who knows everything that happened in our lives before we even knew it.
"But does that make me one of your reincarnated disciples, though?" Jude face-palmed at Ringo's statement.
In the end, we chose to forget that moment and go on as if John didn't just claimed himself to be someone holy. The next day, John was back to his old self again and thankfully, he's not reading or researching about himself anymore.
Whatever's making the changes in our minds, it's totally disturbing.
"Said you had a thing or two to tell me,
How was I to know you would upset me?
I didn't realize as I looked in your eyes,
You told me, oh yes, you told me,
You don't want my lovin' anymore,
That's when it hurt me,
And feeling like this,
I just can't go on anymore."
Smiling brightly while performing has never felt lighter, it felt good having to actually sing one of your own handwritten songs in front of a crowd. My mates seem to be proud of it, as well.
But in the middle of the pool of people in the club, my eyes noticed two awfully familiar figures conversing with each other. For some reason I wondered if they should even interact with one another. But seeing that the two seems to be getting along...
Olivia waves her hand at me as she notices me staring. So I continued singing along to our guitars.
"Please remember how I feel about you,
I could never really live without you,
So come on back and see,
Just what you mean to me, I need you,
But when you told me,
You don't want my lovin' anymore,
That's when it hurt me,
And feeling like this,
I just can't go on anymore."
Olivia and Jude resumed their casual conversation while our girl was mopping the floors as usual.
"Please remember how I feel about you,
I could never really live without you,
So come on back and see,
Just what you mean to me,
I need you, I need you, I need you."
Strumming the final chord, we did our ninety degree bow before walking back down to the backstage.
I have to say we did a pretty good job secretly sneaking our instruments from home. Though Ringo couldn't use his old drumset, unlike our guitars that had their own cases. Using our guitar gives a whole different effect on our music and I hope these modern kids would appreciate that.
As always, it was Jude whom we first went to after—
"Hello! We're huge fans of the Skittles. Your music is great, can we have your autograph?" Two girls came in our way with notebooks and cellphones in hand.
One was a wavy blonde while the other is a curly red head. There was also one tall, black guy behind them who's wearing a bored expression on his face.
On second thought, "Sure, we're glad you like our music." It was Paul who first signed on their notebook.
"Why yes, it's absolutely new to our ears. I have a feeling the Skittles would be good enough to be the biggest band in the world!" The red head squealed.
Four of us glanced at each other nervously and chose not to entertain the compliment. John and Ringo went on signing their marks.
The guy scoffed at the two girls' exaggerated statements, "Oh please, everyone in the universe knows that no one will ever beat the Beatles' excellency."
I swallowed a large lump in my throat as my hand gripped on the pen shakily.
"We know that, silly. But you've got to admit they give off that kind of marvelous, legendary vibe that only the Beatles possess." The blonde girl points out to their friend.
"What if they really are the Beatles?" Ringo's jaw dropped while John simply avoids eye contact with anyone while Paul was intending to say something but he prevented himself not to.
The blonde girl narrowed her eyes at us, "You've got a point, though. Not to mention, they look like those mop-tops in the early 60's"
Whereas the red head laughed, "Are you guys telling me that these are the Beatles from the 60's? What are they doing here? Time travelling?"
Out of panic I accidentally dropped the notebook I was holding. The four of us bent down to pick it up, hoping to escape whatever these teenagers wanted to point out about us.
Please, come send an angel. Please...
"Oh there you are, boys. I've been looking all over for you." The four of us stood back up in relief.
But then one of the teenagers asked, "Are you the Skittles' manager?"
Our girl must've been prepared for this for she replied, "I'm sorry, no. They're my cousins. I overhead about you comparing the Skittles to the Beatles."
"Ah yes, we're huge Beatles. We can't help but acknowledge that your cousins look exactly like George, Paul, Ringo, and John from the 60's." Jude crossed her arms at the red head's statement.
"Actually, I'm a Beatles fan, too. But with all due respect, let's not jump into conclusions about time travelling and what not. These are truly my... cousins."
"Are you sure about that? You looked very tensed." The guy tried to challenge her but our girl didn't showed any weakness, "Do you have proof about your claim, then?"
None of them answered and just lowered their heads in confusion. "Very well, then. We have to get going."
"We'll see you on our next show!" I said to lift up the mood between parties. The two girls went back to their jolly expressions as they waved goodbye while the guy still eyed Jude with suspicion.
"Man, teenagers have grown more sneaky." John remarked to which Ringo agreed, "Yeah, thanks for saving us there, Jude."
She lets out a reassuring smile, "Never forget about the possibility that people will recognize you. Like I said there are a few youngsters like me who still listens to your music."
It's pure shock having to experience signing autographs again. But this made me wonder if ever one of our songs rang familiar to them? They just said that they're huge Beatles fans so...
I decided to shake away the thought to avoid any more confusion.
"Anyways, I met someone very important today. Don't freak out." Jude said, leading us to a table where a slim blonde girl was wearing a school uniform.
But I know that uniform just had the sole purpose for disguise and nothing more.
"Boys, meet Madame Olivia Odinson. One of Eroda's precious heiresses." She lowered her voice so no one would hear.
"I told you, Jude. Just call me Olivia." The majesty smirks at my direction as she spoke. "So these pretty boys must be the Skittles."
"Woah, so you're the President's daughter who's gone missing?" Paul hits John on back for his question. "Don't you dare ask something like that. It's rude, y'know. Obviously, it's her that we kept seeing in the news."
I'm kinda bothered at the way these two are talking out loud so I scolded, "Lower your voices, will ya? She might not want anyone to notice her."
Olivia chuckles, "No, no, no need to be conscious about your words. But thank you for your concern, guitarist."
I mentally scratched my head in frustration. What is she doing here, showing up in clubs and confidently introducing herself to some people? Isn't she suppose to be hiding?
Jude clears her throat, "I'll just grab us some food. It's getting late to cook at home anyway. This'll be my treat to Miss Olivia. John, Paul, will you come with me while George and Ringo accompany our new friend?"
"Sure, love." The two songwriters willingly stood up and casted a glance at the heiress before following Jude up to the club's kitchen.
So that left the three of us.
There came an awkward moment of silence till Ringo cleared his throat and stood up, "I'll just go to the bathroom. Be back in a minute."
I rolled my eyes at the drummer. Tsk, typical.
"The band is great, you're a great guitarist as well." I smirked at her attempt of cracking conversation. "Pretending not to know me, huh?"
Olivia scoffed, "Not really. But it seems like you're doing it. I guess you haven't told Jude about who dressed her up that night yet?"
I shook my head, "She never spoke about it, though." Considering it's just the two of us here; John, Jude, and Paul might still take a while whereas Ringo might've found himself a bird on the way back.
So I decided not to beat around the bush, "What are you doing here?"
The majesty looks at me with an amused expression on her pale face, "This is the club you took me when we first met. I just thought it'd be fun to come back here, then I saw you and your mates playing then I met Jude and—"
"You introduced yourself to her without hesitating?"
She said in a matter of fact tone, "I see nothing wrong about that. At least I don't go around introducing myself as somebody I'm not."
Right, unlike me, and the other boys as well. How ironic to randomly hear those words in the middle of a casual conversation and being affected by it.
"I-I just thought you're still hiding." I stated out and Olivia sighs while observing the atmosphere around us, "I still do. But one way or another, I knew I had to get used to receiving everyone's attention once again."
Upon hearing this, I scooted my seat closer to her and whispered in a very low voice, "You're planning to go back?"
She sighs, but not in a devastating way. She sighed as if she was relieved at the thought. "Remember those people I fed? They inspired me to go back now that I knew what my purpose is. And that is to disperse the poverty of this country.
"And remember that small shed we came into while the guards were after us? Ringo's thief friend owns everything in there. Since all of those treasures are being left to your friend's custody, I figured I'd accept Ringo's offer to establish it and use it as a charity house where people can get stuff they couldn't afford for free." Her face lits up while she tells her plan.
This time, Olivia is finally sure about herself. Hiding is crossed out from her list now and I'm proud that Ringo and I somehow gave her the push she needed to realize that she has a purpose in this world of people giving salty labels to sugars.
"But the media and your sisters..." I can't help but mention. Every time we talk about this matter, she'll always bring up the people's way of labelling her versus her sisters as a reason not to go back.
She giggled, "Aren't you the one who told me not to worry about those stuff? Knock knock, could I speak with the optimistic George Harris?"
I laughed at the way she pretended to knock on my forehead as if it was an actual door.
Later we saw Jude and the other Beatles walking back to the table with trays of food and drinks in hand. I gotta move fast, then.
"Before you go back, could we meet at the park tomorrow?" I quickly said to her without thinking twice.
* * * * *
Truth be told, I'm not really proud at my songwriting skills at first. I used to crumple a lot of sheets of paper just to make out something that would impress John and Paul for us to record and perform.
But it all changed after meeting Jude who simply loved us unconditionally and equally despite the four of us having different roles in the band.
Like what she told Ringo, the band isn't complete without the drummer.
And what's a group of guitars without the lead?
"Isn't this the place where you had me all looking like a gawked fish?" Olivia ultimately asks as I arrived at our meeting spot at the park.
"If you're referring to the time I played in front of the crowd alone then, yes."
"Did I ever tell you how hot you were that time?" I laughed at her comment. "I'm serious! With that guitar and good singing voice, you're way beyond the musicians I've watched before."
That's because I'm literally way beyond their time actually, I wanted to say.
After placing the empty guitar case in front of us, I sat beside her with the guitar resting on my lap, "Would it kill you inside if I sing to you right now, your majesty?"
Her face turned a light shade of red as she glanced away in shame. "You're not seriously going to sing to me, right here, right now, aren't you?"
I shrugged cluelesly, "What's the matter with that?"
"Well if you do that, it'd be like our last meeting together." She paused for a moment as she realized what she just said. "I mean– it's not like I'm going away, you know. I'll still be here and probably the news about the missing heiress would be gone, as well. A-And I miss my sisters... my father, especially."
I sighed, right. She's just from around here. Unlike me who not only came from a far place but also from a time so long long long ago that not even a plane could reach it.
"But what if it is I who goes away?" Olivia furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "What?"
Oh geez, did I just said that out loud?
Having no choice, I decided to continue my statement. "You do know we're both being placed in places where we don't truly belong. But even so, there's a reason why we're experiencing these stuff."
Olivia escaped home to find her purpose. While I was being placed here in the future to make me realize that purpose.
"I wanna thank you, Olivia Odinson. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be able to realize how much of a jerk I was to Jude. And thanks to you, Ringo would probably be in jail by now." I chuckled in between speech. "But really, I'm grateful, for everything."
The majesty sighed, "I also wanted to thank you, too."
"Who, me?"
She nodded, "Yeah. Err, aside from helping me hide, of course. I had so much life changing experiences with you and I never regretted that I escaped home to meet someone like you.
"You were the only one who didn't judge me for who I am. In fact, you told me to ignore what people labelled me to be. I already knew from the start that I'm not really the despised one. Then thinking about it, I never thought I was just waiting for someone to say that to me." A tear rolled down from her eye.
"I guess that means we got to throw bread at each other." We both laughed.
"I can't believe you still remember that." Olivia wipes away her tears, "Now this is getting a little dramatic. Just go on with the song, will ya?"
Smiling cautiously, I started strumming the guitar with a slow, calm melody that I composed myself till I waited to sing at the right time in my own accord.
"I look at you all,
See the love there that's sleeping,
While my guitar gently weeps,
I look at the floor,
And I see it needs sweeping,
Still my guitar gently weeps..."
Her majesty smiled while bypassers came by to put some money in the guitar case I placed up front. Seeing some people stopping by to watch, I continued.
"I don't know why nobody told you,
How to unfold your love,
I don't know how someone controlled you,
They bought and sold you.
I look at the world,
And I notice it's turning,
While my guitar gently weeps,
With every mistake we must surely be learning,
Still my guitar gently weeps..."
In the middle of performing, my mind can't help but divert my thoughts to Jude. She was the first person whom I consulted the song to because I wanted it to sound perfect when I perform it here at the park.
'Beautiful', was all she can say. Of course, she cried after listening which I find it normal.
"I look from the wings at the play you are staging,
While my guitar gently weeps,
As I'm sitting here doing nothing but aging,
Still my guitar gently weeps..."
Everyone did a round of applause as the song ended. I stood up to bow down and as I straightened up, Olivia goes over to envelope me into a hug.
The people around us cheered while the sound of coins clanging on the guitar case continued on.
"Good luck on your journey of changing the world with music, George Harris." She whispered into my ear.
This made me smile as I mustered all of the courage to remember this moment with her. "Good luck on your journey too, your majesty."
* * * * *
There's definitely more to Judy Parker than meets the eye.
Seriously.
My first impression of her isn't something I wanted to reminisce considering how shallow my judgement was at that time.
Not only is she independent, a great cook, a hardworking engineering student that works several part-time jobs a week, she's a fine, beautiful maiden who's also gear at acting.
And yes, I am still talking about the same person.
"You know you'd be dead if the theater director sees you watching here." A familiar voice came out of nowhere. "They wouldn't want any spoilers."
This made me turn to my left where the person is standing next to me, "Aren't we both dead if they see us here?"
James smirked at the question, "Not unless they discover we're here to see the same person." I returned my eyes up front, not surprised to hear that fact.
While waiting for Jude's theater practices to end and pick her up, I had the sneaky idea of watching their progress here at the very top of the theater room where you could see and hear everything that's happening on stage.
"You know in a lot of cases, the make-up artists wouldn't bother fixing Jude's face before performance unless she needed to. They say her natural beauty is enough and that way, the audience would still recognize her even after the show." I tilted my head to James as he spoke, "How'd you know that?"
The teenager shrugged, "She likes to tell me a lot. I believe her, though. She is beautiful in any way you look at it."
"When are you going to tell her?"
"What?"
I gave James a look to confirm my point to him. He bursted out laughing, "I can't believe you would also think that way."
"Didn't it ever cross your mind that James could possibly... like you?"
"I can't believe you boys would also think that way."
I mentally face-palmed at how naïve teenagers these days could be.
"Jude and I are nothing but friends. And I have no interest in women so your cousin is safe. Totally."
"I'm not being protective here, James." I gave him a stern look and he raises his arms in surrender, "Woah, I'm telling the truth, mate. If it happens, and I did like her, she wouldn't feel the same way."
"That's because you're not making a move." I crossed my arms to my chest in annoyance. "How would you gain a chance from her if you don't say something?"
"What's there to make a hopeless move for?You know there are some people in our lives that are only meant to teach us something. They come into your life, make you happy, and leave you once you get to develop your character without them."
His words made me lower my head as I thought of Olivia. It's been days since we last saw each other and I'm quite worried on how she's doing now that posters and headlines about her had completely washed away.
"I-I'm sorry." Was all I could mutter at the moment. James pats my back comfortingly, "It's alright, sir George. But we've got to admit girls are really complicated to deal with."
We both laughed at his claim, "Yeah, right."
A few minutes later, the members of the theater are finally dismissed and we're all ready to go.
"Will you be able to brainstorm some ideas in one week? You know I could punch in some of my formulations if you want to." Asked James as he and Jude talked about their thesis presentation that's due at the end of their semester.
Turns out, the reason why James came to visit Jude on theater practices was to remind his partner about it.
Jude nodded reassuringly, "Yes, just give me a week. I swear we'll get to work on it in no time."
"Of course, take your time." James smiled brightly with the light illuminating his eyeglasses, "Well, I guess I should be heading to the lighthouse then. Bye, sir George! I'll see you tomorrow, Jude!" He waves his hand while taking the opposite way from us.
When we arrived home, John and Paul had already started doing our dinner so Jude went over to assist the two men to get the job done in a jiffy.
So I went over to Ringo who's sitting on the couch, pressing the remote of the television machine to change channels.
"You should just turn it on the news, Ringo. It'd be more helpful." I suggested to him. The latter shook his head, "How boring, I want to watch that channel that shows different animals and all that."
"You mean Animal Planet?" Jude asks and our drummer nodded, "Yeah, probably that one."
John scoffed at this, "Oh please, we all know you just wanted to watch those octopus."
"What's wrong about watching marine life?" Paul replied, "It's cute but Netflix is much better, y'know. No commercials, nonstop binging and all that."
John turned to his best mate with a questioning look, "What's a binge?"
Paul shrugged, "It's what teenagers say when they watch a series nonstop."
"Just in: Eroda's lost heiress, Olivia Odinson is now reported to be back home—"
"Hey! What was that all about?" Ringo complains as I snatched the remote from him so he wouldn't change the channel.
"—after almost three months of being missing. Eroda's President, Odrigo Odinson said that—"
"Oh look, the lost princess has finally returned home." Jude said while we all listened intently to the denouement of a story in which the five of us had been dying to know about in such a long time.
Especially me, obviously.
"Here's a statement given by the lost heiress herself and I quote, "I'd like to thank all of the people I met in the long parade. I was given the idea of what I can do for the people of Eroda and I'm grateful, especially to a specific guitarist and his friend that served as my source of motivation to come back and embrace myself instead of the titles. Oh, and please don't call me the lost heiress or whatsoever. I'm now home, aren't I?"
- - - - - - - - - -
"I think I'm gonna be sad, I think it's today... yeah! The girl that's driving me mad, is going away.... yeah!" The Beatles - Ticket To Ride
I don't know if you people know this but George's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" has two versions. First is the one with Eric Clapton (which we all adore) and the second is the LOVE version where George plays acoustic and Paul plays the organ. It's the LOVE version I wrote in here because it fits the mood hehe. I hope it doesn't confuse you....