Julian had gone to bed, and Linda and Paul were about to head to bed themselves. As they were getting ready, Paul came up to Linda and looked at her shyly.
"Will you please, please forgive me?" Paul asked her.
Linda looked at him.
"Linda I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. I just got caught up in the moment and everything's been a mess since....well- you know and I don't know what to do and-"
Linda kissed him.
Paul looked at her, surprised and smiled.
"Thank you." Paul said happily and hugged her.
"C'mon sweetie." Paul said as he began to take her to bed.
Paul tucked her in bed and got in right next to her. Linda looked at him and smiled.
"Everything's gonna get better. It'll all be alright; I promise." Linda told him.
Paul gave her a slow kiss.
"Thank God that John found you and sent you my way." Paul smiled.
"Can we see George tomorrow?" Paul asked.
"We'll see. Y'know your 17...there's this thing called school..." Linda began to say.
"I don't need any of that. I'll- We'll be famous one day and we won't need any of that." Paul said.
"Uh...alright." Linda giggled.
"It would've been a lot easier to get famous with John still here. I mean we could've gone with his whole 'Beatles' idea and I bet ya that we would've been famous all over Liverpool, and then maybe all of England." Paul smiled.
"Was he that good?" Linda asked, not knowing too much about John.
"Oh he was lovely. He would always play an Elvis or Buddy Holly song for me and then he'd occasionally surprise me with one he had written." Paul explained. "But I've got all of his songs now and they're just amazing." Paul said, showing Linda John's book.
Linda looked through it a little.
"Wow." Linda said, amazed at some of the songs.
"This one...this one's just beautiful." Linda pointed at one song titled "Imagine."
"Yea. I read that one a lot." Paul blushed.
"Do you know how it goes?" Linda asked him.
Paul shook his head, "I've tried to figure it out but everything I've tried doesn't seem to fit it."
"I wanna hear." Linda urged him.
Paul agreed to it and cleared his throat.
"Imagine there's no heaven,"
"Slower." Linda ordered him.
Paul looked at her a little confused.
"It's easy if you try..." Paul sang a bit slower.
"Do it more at this pace." Linda said as she clapped her hands at a slow beat.
"No hell below us, Above us only sky..."
Linda smiled happily.
"Imagine all the people, Living for today." Paul sang.
Paul smiled at Linda.
"How'd you..." Paul began to ask.
Linda shrugged her shoulders and pulled Paul close to her.
"Goodnight, Paul." Linda said as she kissed him on the cheek.
"G'night, Love." Paul said and kissed her back.
In the morning Paul decided to try what Linda had suggested and go to school. Linda watched Julian while Paul was gone.
Paul tried to get to his class as fast as possible before someone questioned where he had been.
"Is that McCartney?" A boy called out.
"My God I thought he died." Another guy exaggerated.
"Oh c'mere, Paulie." A boy in leather teased as he batted his eyes. "It's been so long, I need to catch up with you." The boy said.
Paul realized the voice as just one of the people that bullied him.
"Hey! Do you all remember when we caught Paulie and his little boyfriend, John near Penny Lane that one time?" A guy shouted out.
Paul knew they were going to bring up John.
"Oh yea! Where is your little lover, huh?" One of them called out.
Paul tried to get to the bathroom. Another boy blocked the door and got a grasp on Paul's arm.
"C'mon, Paul. Where's John? Did you two break up? Did he find another queer to mess around with?" He asked.
"Oh Paulie?" They mimicked.
A guy pulled Paul by his hair to lift his head up. Tears were streaming down Paul's face.
"You've gone weak, have ya?" One of the guys in leather shouted out.
"Fuck off." Paul whimpered.
"Not until you tell us about John." A boy teased.
Paul shook his head.
A boy punched him.
"Where is he?"
"He's fucking dead, alright?!" Paul shouted out.
The boys laughed for a few moments but then realized Paul wasn't kidding.
"He's dead! Leave me alone!" Paul shouted.
The boys slowly dispersed into the hallways and left Paul alone.
First day back and he was already ditching class.
He somehow managed to get through the day before rushing back home to Linda. He hit open the door and went crying to Linda.
"It was awful!" Paul cried. "They fucking made fun of John."
"Paul, I'm sorry..." Linda began to say.
"Don't you realize this is how it's gonna be for the rest of my school life?" Paul asked.
"They're never gonna accept me and they'll always mock me!" Paul cried.
"I'll go to school with you." Linda sad suddenly.
"What? How?" Paul asked, astonished.
"I'm supposed to be in school anyways...might as well do it with you. And my parents will pay for it as long as it's school related." Linda explained.
"What about Julian?" Paul asked.
"Lucy's friend can watch him or he can go to a daycare." Linda said.
After a few weeks of trying to figure this out, Linda was off to school with Paul while Julian was with Lucy's friend. The two walked into the school and people started to whisper.
"Are ya cheating on Johnny, Paulie baby?" Someone called out.
"Don't ya remember? I saw him at the pier with that freak, Liz one time." A girl with an annoying voice.
Paul's hand tensed when they called Liz a freak.
"Ignore 'em, Paul." Linda mumbled under her breath.
Paul and Linda walked towards their first class. A boy looked at Linda as she walked by.
"Hey, Blondie." He shouted at her.
Linda looked at him.
"What's a girl like you doing with him?" He asked, pointing at Paul.
Linda stepped closer to the guy.
"You're right." Linda said as she put her left hand over his cheek. "I should be with a guy like you, shouldn't I?"
The boy nodded and placed his hand on her hip.
"Get your hands off, Freak; that's for Paul only." Linda snapped at him and slapped his face.
Linda walked back over to Paul and held his hand.
"To class?"
Paul nodded, a bit shocked at what he had just witnessed.
"Where'd that come from?" Paul asked, a bit frightened and intrigued.
"I grew up in New York, didn't I?" Linda smirked and walked to their class.
Paul hoped this was the first of many better days for him and Linda.