The next day John, George and Ringo were hanging out by Paul's locker waiting for him as they all had music first. However Paul never showed up, John and George began to get worried but Ringo was just confused. "Maybe he's sick, guys" Ringo suggested, but the others weren't listening to him. "He could be in trouble" George said while trying not to panic. "I heard him on the phone to his dad yesterday and it sounded aggressive" John said suddenly "and he has multiple bruises" George looked at him confused "How do you know that? you've only known him for a day" John just stared at him for ages, he took a deep breath and explained to the two lads what had happened on the first day of school and why they weren't there. "Holy shit, is he ok? Are you ok?" Rngo said, sounding highly concerned. John was about to answer but George bet him to it "wait... so you hit him with your car and you both never told us?" He sounded very offended. "Look George, we were going to tell you but there's been a lot going on" John tried to reason with him. "Like what?! What's more important than telling us you nearly ran Paul over?!" George was getting angry now. "George, technically it was my aunt, but that's not the point. You can hate me right now but I'm ditching to go and check on Paul, he could be in serious trouble" John said as he walked out of the school. George just huffed and walked to class leaving a poor confused Ringo. John was not long out of the school when he got a message from George:
George: I thought you might want his address it's 20 Forthlin Road
John: thanks mate :)
George: Also for the record, I don't hate you
John read the last message and couldn't help but smile.
He started his walk to Paul's house, it was actually quite a long walk, a lot longer than he thought. When he got there he thought about knocking on the door but Paul's dad could be home so John decided to go around the back and climb through his window. He climbed up what he assumed to be the right window and pushed it open, he peeked in discovering that it was Paul's room, however it was an absolute mess. He stepped into the room only to find Paul in bed so he sat down next to him, it was dark in the room as the curtains were shut so John couldn't see him completely.
After a while Paul woke up and rolled over so he was facing John, once he opened his eyes it took him a while to get his bearings as he didn't remember going to bed at all. He felt someone beside him and immediately began to panic, John noticed this and put his hand on Paul's shoulder "Hey paulie, it's just me" John tried his best to be comforting and it seemed to have worked because Paul relaxed and immediately grabbed onto John and held him tightly. "H-hey... what happened?" but Paul just started crying so John just held him and calmed him down. "Paulie, tell me what's wrong" Paul then tried his best to explain what happened the night before when he was done he began to cry again even harder this time. "I d-don't feel s-safe here Johnny" he then began to sob again. John couldn't handle it anymore and he stood up making Paul very confused. John then grabbed Paul's bag and started packing enough clothes and stuff that he needed, he then put Paul's bag on his back and held his hand out for Paul to take. Paul took his hand and got up off the bed, John then pulled him into a massive hug which Paul gratefully accepted and returned. They then climbed out Paul's window and started making their way to John's house.
Once they were in the daylight John saw all the bruises and cuts but he could tell Paul didn't want to talk about it so he left it. That was until Paul went to walk and he cried in pain. "Shit Paulie, are you ok?" John was very worried about the poor boy. "Yea Johnny, I'm fine' Paul tried to sound as believable as possible but failed. "C'mon Paul, there's a bench over there, jump on my back and I'll carry you" Paul was about to decline but John was already over there waiting for him. Paul waddled over to the bench, John helped him stand on it and then Paul jumped on his back and John carried Paul all the way to Menlove Avenue.
Once they got there they were greeted with an unhappy Mimi. "John Winston Lennon! Why on earth are you not at school?!" She stood there with her hands on her hips demanding an answer and she wasn't going to wait all day. "I'm sorry Mimi, it was my fault" Paul piped in, her expression changed instantly from anger to confusion. "Look Mimi, if you let us in we can explain" John suggested, and with that Mimi let them in. John gently sat Paul down on a sofa but failed as Paul let out a wince. "Shit sorry Paul" John muttered, Paul just gave him a nod to say that it was alright.
Once they were all settled Paul explained to both John and Mimi about how his mother had died a couple years ago and how his father had become an alcoholic, John then explained how he left school because he was worried about Paul due to the phone call with his father two days before. Paul then explained how he was scared to go home the night before and what happened when he did get home. By the end of it Paul was sobbing into John's shoulder while John was rubbing comforting circles on Paul's back.
"Oh my lord, you can stay here as long as you wish dear, we will protect you from that awful man. Just let me call the school and tell them that both of you are sick" and with that it was just Paul and John left in the room. "John?" Paul asked shyly. "Yes Paulie? What is it?" Paul just stared at John, he then burst into tears again. John held him tightly, soothed him and rocked him gently. Mimi then came back in and knelt down in front of the two boys. "I've called the school, everything's fine" Mimi said while gently stroking Paul's arm. "Why don't you get some rest Paul and I'll phone the hospital and get you some painkillers" Mimi suggested. Paul nodded but he couldn't get up so John carried him up the stairs bridal style into his bedroom where he lay Paul down. He thought he'd leave to give Paul some space to get some rest so he started walking towards the door. "John?" He turned around to look at Paul to show that he acknowledged him. "Could you please stay? I don't want to be alone right now" Paul asked shyly. "Of course Paulie" John said while climbing onto the bed with Paul. As soon as he got comfortable Paul cuddled up against him and drifted off to sleep.
Back at school George was in history and Ringo was in English. George was highly worried about Paul so he pulled his phone out while the teacher wasn't looking and messaged Ringo:
George: Hey Rings, meet me in the east corridor in 10 minutes :)
Ringo: Roger that mate :)
Ten minutes later George was waiting for Ringo in the corridor 'come oooon' George thought to himself. About two minutes later Ringo came around the corner. "Took ya long enough" George teased. Ringo just laughed. "Anyways I called you here for a very important reason" George stated. "Oh yea, and what would that be?" Ringo chuckled. "Lets ditch" Ringo just stared wide eyed. "George Harrison wanting to ditch, I couldn't possibly pass up this once in a lifetime opportunity can I?" George just rolled his eyes, and with that they walked out of the school and went and hung out at the chippy for the rest of the day.
Paul didn't go home that night, instead he decided to stay with John and Mimi for a couple days or until he felt like going home. The rest of the day was fun for both John and Paul. They talked and listened to music for most of the day, Mimi made a nice lasagna for dinner and then they played monopoly for the rest of the night. All was well, both boys were very happy, they finished the game of monopoly around 10pm. Mimi told the boys to go and get ready for bed, once they did John let Paul have his bed again and they both went to sleep most likely dreaming of one another.
Meanwhile back at 20 Forthlin Road Jim was well aware that Paul was not up in his room where Jim had left him this morning and he was fuming. There was broken glass everywhere, all the furniture was tipped over and he had even smashed the TV "FUUUUCK!!" he yelled as he threw an empty beer bottle at the wall. "I will find you James, and when I do, you will pay" he muttered under his breath as he walked out the door to go and look for his son. He had been walking for about five minutes when he remembered that he had a GPS hooked to Paul's phone. 'Hmm 251 Menlove avenue' Jim thought to himself. And so due to the fact that he was drunk, what would've taken him 10 minutes took him half an hour to walk to John's house. He got there around 11pm, all the lights were off and the curtains were drawn but he didn't care about that.
He slowly zigzagged to the front door, he took a deep breath and began to pound on the door very loudly. "James! I know you're in there!" Jim shouted from outside the door causing Mimi to wake up as her bedroom was downstairs, she quietly ran up the stairs so Jim didn't know anyone was awake. She opened the door to Johns room quietly, she knelt down beside John and began to gently shake his shoulder "John love, wake up" John just groaned and rolled away from her "not yet, five more minutes Mimi" this made her chuckle "John" she shook him a little louder "what Mimi? I was having a nice dream" and then he heard it "James! Come out here you little shit!" John shot Mimi a worried glance as she went to wake up Paul. Turns out Paul was wide awake breathing at a fast pace, sweating like crazy and whimpering quietly, Mimi gently rubbed his arm "Shh Paul, it's ok" she tried her best to comfort him. John however was now wide awake, he leaped off the ground and ran to Paul's side wrapping him up in a huge hug "Shh Paulie, I've got you. He can't get in here" Paul just buried his head in John's shoulder and sobbed as quietly as possible while John rubbed circles on his back to calm him down.
While John was comforting Paul, Mimi decided she would call the police but that plan soon failed as her phone was downstairs so in the end she just climbed into the bed on the other side of Paul and they all sat there until Jim left. It was around 2 hours later when Jim finally left so Mimi went back to her bed "Are you sure you're going to be okay down there Mimi" John asked, concern high in his voice "Yes John I'll be fine, just look after Paul okay?" John Just nodded in return. When Mimi left he went to go back to the floor but when he moved Paul grabbed his arm and pulled him closer, John felt himself blushing 'Thank god it's dark' he thought to himself. He got himself in a comfortable position and Paul just snuggled into his chest and that is how they fell asleep.