March 1958

Some mornings, Connie Lennon really liked a lie in. Especially after she worked the night shift at the Cavern, where the raging rock and roll music often got stuck in her head in a loop, keeping her mind buzzing long after her shift was over, when she was trying to sleep.

That morning though, it was impossible, as the night before she had left her window open, and was paying the price for it as soon as she heard the noises of singing and guitars from next door. As soon as she heard it, the music waking her up, she cursed herself for not remembering, but instead of trying to stay in bed, she pulled herself up with a slight groan of frustration. She should have known better to leave her window open, so it was her own fault, and a glance over to her clock on the bedside table told her told her it was high time to get up anyway.

Connie quickly changed into a oversized white shirt that she was pretty sure had once belonged to her cousin before she had borrowed it from him interminably, tucking it into a pair of bright red corduroy trousers before slipping on a pair of oxfords, tying her frizzy blonde hair back into a bun. She headed downstairs, grabbing her knitted cardigan off the banister and wrapping it around her shoulders as she ran round to the kitchen, where her father was leaning over the table reading the morning paper.

"Morning, love," he called, his tone warm though he didn't look up from the newspaper.

"Alright?" she greeted in her strong Liverpudlian accent, flashing a grin over to her father as she poured herself out a mug of coffee.

"Music wake you up again?" he asked, making her roll her eyes slightly as she headed over to the back door. "I wouldn't mind it if was actually decent music but, bloody hell, they're practically screaming!"

"That'll be Paul," Connie commented with a slight smirk as she unlocked the door. "I'm going round there now, I'll see you later,"

With that, she headed down the back door steps and over to the garden gate, the gate that connected her tiny terrace garden with her neighbours. Unlocking the gate, she wandered through the McCartney's garden and over to their back door, knocking rather loudly in the hope that they would hear her over their instruments. When that failed, she sighed once again, before heading over to the back room window, looking in to see two of her best friends practicing, bantering to each other as they sang and rehearsed. Connie couldn't help but wonder if she was about to interrupt a serious rehearsal for a night at the Cavern, or if she would be disrupting an intense song writing session where they were in the middle of writing the next big hit all the Liverpudlian teenagers would go mad for. Either way, that didn't stop her banging her fist against the glass, the noise being heard over the guitars, making both John Lennon and Paul McCartney jump, spinning round to face the window where they were greeted by Connie, glaring at them.

John's response was more serious than Paul's, considering Paul simply laughed before disappearing out of the room, whilst John stuck up his two middle fingers to her, though she knew the swear was more out of endearment than annoyance. Connie shook her fist at him, grinning in almost triumph, before she heard the back door bang open, turning to see Paul stood in the open doorway, smirking slightly at her.

"Alright, Con?" Paul greeted her, noticing the expression on her face that told him she was annoyed at being woken up by them. It was often a routine, her going round to his house whilst he was practicing with John, most of the time voluntarily, but occasionally it would be out of frustration that the two were resulting in her losing sleep. "It's not that early,"

"No, but it's nice to at least get some sleep without you two waking me up," she told him as she went into the house, heading straight into the back room where John was stood, re-tuning his rhythm guitar, pausing only to look up for a moment to pull a funny face to his cousin, one she replied to by rolling her eyes. "You know the walls are like paper, either I hear you both practicing in the mornings, or I can hear you singing on the toilet at night, and just when I think I can escape you both at work, you start getting booked at the Cavern,"

"She's only bitter that I got all the talent genes and she got stuck with... well, what have you got?" John teased, smirking at her, before leaning over and taking the practically full coffee mug out of her hand, winking at her as he took a sip. "Cheers, love, how'd you know I needed a brew?"

"Oh, bugger off, Johnny," she rolled her eyes again, making both boys laugh. "God, it's not even ten o'clock and you're both being little shits already,"

"Now, now, no way for a lady to speak," Paul tormented jokingly, the way he did anytime she swore, a habit she'd picked up from hanging around with just boys for most of her life.

"Told you, Paulie, she's pure scouse, don't know where she picks it up from, 'cause it's certainly not from my side of the family," John noted, raising his eyebrows at his cousin, pulling a fake-shocked expression when Connie retaliated by hitting his arm.

"I didn't come round here to get bullied, you know," she pointed out. "Even if you did wake me up, whatever you were playing sounded good. Was it a new one?"

"Yeah, Paul wrote this one, wanna hear it properly, now you're not moping?" John shrugged slightly, and it once again surprised Connie over how casual he was about his song writing skills with Paul.

He was so nonchalant, even though the songs they wrote together were amazing, as if it was all so natural to him that there was no point getting overly excited about it. Except it wasn't that natural to John, considering Paul had to teach him most of the guitar cords they played after they met last summer, since John knew ukulele cords better. It was no wonder, considering the ukulele was what they were both taught as kids, John always being far better at the instrument than Connie, like he was with most things.

Now though, now he'd got his band -the Quarrymen - and he'd met Paul, who'd been Connie's next-door-neighbour for years, John really did seem to be coming into his own, and though he was irritating, Connie was really proud to call him family, especially as they played their new song 'Thinking of Linking', as Paul called it. The two of them were good, really good, who knew where they'd end up?

After the two had met of their own accord, Connie couldn't quite believe she'd never had the bright idea of introducing them sooner. They'd hit it off immediately, practically becoming best friends to the point where Connie often felt like a spare part hanging around them both, but in reality, the three of them were practically inseparable. Any free moment she had would be spent around the two of them and though they teased her, they did enjoy her company, not to mention she teased them right back.

"Nice one that, lads," she praised them as soon as they finished playing. John pulled another funny face, the way he always did whenever she gave him any sort of encouragement, as if he was embarrassed by it, though Connie knew better, knowing it was just part of his quirky sense of humour. "Maybe that's cause you said Paul wrote it, his are always my favourites,"

"Favouritism is a cruel thing, Lennie," Paul joked, pretending to frown, though she could tell he was beaming on the inside over her comment about his songs.

"Yeah, whatever," she shrugged, shooting a wink and sticking her tongue out to John. "What are you doing today then?"

"Not much, we're just gonna do some writing for a bit, and then George's coming round," Paul shrugged, though the last part he said caught Connie's attention.

"George? George Harrison?" She frowned slightly, confused.

Connie first met George two years ago on the bus home from school after Paul had introduced them, and after hitting it off immediately the two of them had grown to be pretty close. Connie was always better at making friends with boys rather than girls, so it was always the best part of her day leaving her all-girls school and getting on the bus where Paul and George were waiting for her. Even after leaving school, Connie remained close to George. It was always obvious she would remain friends with Paul, considering they lived next to each other, but when it came to George, Connie often went out of her way to make sure their friendship lasted, and he did the same, not that they really needed to put a lot of effort in. The two seemed to have a bond that kept them together, a bond that kept them close and led to them understanding each other better than most people. They were such good friends it often led to problems with him pulling birds, since he was so often seen walking around town with her, but it didn't bother either of them.

George was good company, and she enjoyed every second they spent together. Their relationship wasn't like hers with John, which was banter built on family relations, or like hers with Paul, where they were neighbours turned best friends. No, her relationship with George was completely different, because whilst they also had a laugh, they often ended up caught in serious conversations.

At one point, Connie was certain she was smitten by George, and how could she not be? The first thing she'd noticed about the boy was how handsome he was, and that on top of his sense of humour and kind nature seemed to lead to her realising he was her first crush. Except, after a while, she realised it would probably never happen, and she would much rather not risk telling him how she felt in case it spoilt their friendship. She'd repressed her feelings, and part of her thought they'd faded, but sometimes, sometimes when he'd smile, or laugh, or even just look at her in a certain way, she felt as if she was back in that time, where she thought he singlehandedly made the world go round.

And apparently Paul mentioning him out of the blue was one of those occasional moments, as John noticed the way Connie's eyes widened slightly, her hand nervously tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. He'd known her long enough to know when she was nervous, both of those gestures being her nervous ticks, except there was something else to her expression, something that told him there was more to whatever her relationship was to this boy.

"Paul thinks he'd be a good fit for the band, apparently he's pretty good on the guitar," John explained, though he sounded doubtful, not to mention he was raising his eyebrows at her reaction.

"George is amazing on the guitar, you'd be lucky to have him in the band," Connie told him, rather firmly, almost protective. "He's better than the other lads you have,"

"See, told you!" Paul told chirped, almost sounding victorious that Connie was backing up what he must have been telling John for a while. "You staying for when George gets here, Con?"

"Wish I could, I've got to go get ready for work," she sighed, before turning to John. "Don't be a swine to George, alright? If I find out you've been mean-"

"Yeah, I know, you'll thump me," John practically rolled his eyes. "And you know what everyone says, Connie Lennon has a better punch than half the lads this side of the Mersey,"

"Exactly," she nodded with a smirk, hitting John's arm gently before she moved back towards the door, shooting a wink to Paul as she crossed the room. "See ya' later, lads!"

With that, Connie let herself out, shutting the door behind her as she walked across the McCartney garden and back through the gate to her own garden, leaving the boys to their song writing, not knowing that in a few years time it would be those song writing sessions and the many that would follow would become a part of history.

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Word count: 2124

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Hey guys thank you for reading the first few parts of my new story, I hope you enjoyed it.

This fic is going to jump between times, so whilst most of the main story is going to take place in '64, there's going to be a lot of flashback chapters like this to show Connie's relationship with the boys and develop her character.

I'm really liking this this idea and Connie's character, so please vote and leave me some feedback in the comments if you enjoyed it too, and I should hopefully be able to post the next chapter soon!

~Olivia