Liverpool was just like when we left. My parents were delighted I was back, safe and alright and were very kind with me, including my brother Will. The few times I got to see John in the next days I found him really depressed and I didn't have any news from the other guys. One day I went to John's to see how he was doing and found Cynthia there.

"Hey, Cyn," I said when I saw her sitting in the living room's couch.

"Hey, Prue..." She moved a little, making room to me.

"How are you?" I asked as I sat up.

"Fine, and you?"

"Very good... so, any news?"

"No..." she answered, "well, actually yes... I'm moving to a flat with Dot."

"Really?"

"Yeah, we're looking for roommies... know somebody trustable enough who would want to join us?"

That was a very good news and a very tempting offer. I'd been thinking about moving alone for a while. You know, I was a grown up woman and I needed privacy to do whatever I wanted, thing I couldn't have at home. This was a good opportunity.

"I think I do..."

"Really?" she seemed interested, "who?"

"Me. I want to move alone and I'll be glad if it's with you, what do you think?" I offered.

"Well..." she said surprised, "I think it's fabulous and I'm sure that Dot will agree too, so it will be perfect!"

"Great!" I said, "thank you so much!"

"You're welcome, Prue! I'm sure we will get along well!"

I smiled, "Yes! so, have you chosen it?"

"Yeah, we have one already taken."

"Where?"

"Forthlin Road... Dot wanted it to be near Paul's so... you know..." she smiled and I tried to do so.

This was the only thing left for me. To live near Paul's. I haven't seen him since he was deported from Hamburg back to here, so I didn't know what the hell was going to happen between us. Anyway, I thought we would stay just like "friends" due of his girlfriend and that we had agreed that we will have something and do it in Hamburg, not here.

"Oh... I see... and when are you moving?" I said, changing the subject.

"Next Sunday..."

"In just four days!"

"Yeah, we have nearly everything set up."

"Amazing! you know, just let me know about everything..."

"Well..." she started, "we can go and see the apartment now if you'd like."

"Really? Gear!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, we can go... I already have the keys here..."

"Good! So let's go."

We stood up, said goodbye to John who had been listening to all our chat, sitting on a sofa near us and still depressed, grabbed our coats and left. We had a nice walk, talking about John, about that the guys haven't seen each other since they left from Hamburg, two weeks now, school, I told her I had already finished studying Spanish, German, French and English and was going for Italian, and Hamburg in general (I obviously skipped John's affair with Alyssa, although I didn't know much about it anyway).

When we got to Forthlin Road 46, Paul's was Forthlin Road 39 and seven blocks away, I saw it was actually a little house. She took some keys out of her pocket, unlocked the door and we entered.

The appartment's living room was quite big, sunny and was already furnitured with a big sofa, two couchs, a tea table with a white phone on it, a little rug under it, and a small TV. I checked the kitchen and dining room that was mainly white, was furnitured and had the cook and the fridge already ("mum's gift," Cyn said). The bathroom, that was big, had a medium bathtub that seemed really confortable. Then I checked one of the rooms. It was really big. Had a bed, a bookcase, and a big placard.

"Listen, Prue... the bedrooms have one bed each other, till now we were just two, but now you're moving in, I'll move my bed here and you can have the other room."

"You sure?" I asked, "I mean, I could share the room with any of you, It doesn't really matter to me."

"No, I know... but there won't be a problem... so let's see your room."

"Fine, thank you."

We went to the other room. It was just as big as the other one, but the walls instead of being pink with white dots, were sky blue with white dots, and the floor was white as the other one. There was Cyn's bed and a placard ("you can use this one," Cyn said to me, "I'll share the other one with Dot."). When we finished our tour, we went out and locked the front door.

"So... like it?"

I did like it it was amazing, the only thing I was wondering was where the heck did two school girls got the money from to buy such a house and furnitures, and was wondering too how was I going to do to help mantain this thing.

"Loved it! but... where did you get the money from to buy such a thing?"

"Dot's parents," Cyn explained, "they helped, and help, a lot with this."

"Oh, I see... but I'm afraid I won't be able to help mantain such a thing."

"No, look, I'm in the same situation you are. When Dot showed me the house she and her parents had chosen, I was just like you, and didn't know where I was going to get the money from to mantain this, but Dot told me that with the money from her work, a little help from her parents, whom you realize are in a very good economic situation, and my money we would be able to pay everything. Now that you'll live with us too, we'll have more money and everything will be better, so don't worry," she smiled.

I smiled too and sighed with relief, "fine then... it's amazing, Cyn, I really want to thank you for this... I--I don't really know how but--"

"Never mind," she interrupted my babbling, "what are friends made for?"

"Thank you, really."

"It's alright," she smiled again, "let's go to John's again, right?"

"Fine..."

We walked a few blocks chatting and planning stuff for our new house, when we passed in front of a big building and I stopped.

"What's up?" Cyn asked.

"Do you know what place is it?" I asked, pointing to the building.

"Yeah... I think it's an ancillary of a famous model agency from London... why?"

"Really?" I asked surprised. I never heard of a model agency here in Liverpool and never thought of it, "well, look at this," I said and pointed to a banner wich said "SECRETARY WANTED".

"Are you gonna apply?" Cyn asked.

"Well, I need to work if I wanna live alone..."

"You're right... let's enter and ask someone about it."

"Alright, let's go."

We entered through a big glass door and went to a desk where a girl was talking on the phone. I looked around and saw two pretty girls climbing up the stairs. When I looked again at the receptionist, she was filling some forms.

"Excuse me," I said, "I saw the advertisment on the door and--"

"Leave your picture here and fill this form," she interrupted me, without lifting her head and handing me a paper.

"No, I think you don't understand," this time she looked up at me, annoyed, and I continued, "I came fro the secretary job."

She pointed to some sofas in the left and said, "wait there, you'll be called."

"Thanks," I said, and Cyn and I sat there.

"What a stupid bird!" Cynthia whispered to me.

"Yeah, she thought I wanted to be a model... she's nuts."

The girl stood up and entered to a room which was to our right. After some seconds, she went out.

"You can enter," she said to me, "they're waiting for you."

"Thank you," I said to her, "wait for me here, right?" I said to Cyn.

"Fine, go... good luck!"

I walked to the door and knocked.

"Come in," a man from inside said, with a very posh accent, and I entered.

"Excuse me..." I said, closing the door behind me, "good morning."

"Good morning," the man replied and we shook hands.

The room's walls were white and the floor was made of grey marble. A big window was in the backwards and had a white courtain over it which let the light come in. In the middle of the room was a black desk with tons of paper, pens, pencils, clips and that kind of office stuff, to chairs in my side and a big one in the other where the man was sitting. He was around his early forties, dressed in a black suit, with a white shirt and a grey tie. His hair was grey, had blue eyes and was very handsome. Now, he reminds me of George Clooney.

"My name is Prudence Lennon... I came to apply for the secretary job."

"Alright, Miss Lennon, please sit down," and I did, "my name is Adam Marx, I'm the president of this company and you're applying here to be my secretary," well, that was fine, I already liked him, "so, Miss, do you have your curriculum here?"

Oops, what a little detail I forgot... "I'm afraid I don't... this would me my first job..."

"Oh, well... what kind of studies do you have?"

"I'm at college studying languages."

"Really?" he seemed interested, "how many?"

"I'm already majored at German, French, Spanish and English. Now I'm studying Italian."

"I see... do you have the certificates which acredit your majors?"

"Yes," I told him.

"Well, fill this form and bring me the papers as soon as possible."

"Fine," I said standing up, "do you want me to bring them today?"

"Yes, I'll be here till four p.m."

"Alright, I'll fill the form and bring the certificates today."

"Fine," he stood up too, "I'll wait for them."

"Correct, Mister," I said and we shook hands, "I'll bring them."

"Okay, remember, I'll be here till 4 p.m."

I nodded and went out of the room.

Cynthia was waiting for me, sitting on the sofa. When she saw me, she walked to me.

"So?" she asked.

I have to fill a form and bring it today, along with some certificates I got to pick up at home..."

"Great," she said, "do you want me to go with you?"

"Sure," I said. "let's go."

We went to my house and I looked for the certificates, finding them all. Then I looked at the form. It basically asked name, age, date of birth, nacionality, N° of ID, studies, if I knew how to type (and I did, I'd done a course when I started college) and stuff like that, so I filled it fast and about an hour later we went back to the office.

When we went into the building, I saw Mr. Marx chatting gaily with a model. When he saw me walking in the room, he said goodbye to the girl and motioned me to follow him to his office and I did.

"Hello again, Miss...?" he greeted me.

"Lennon," I said smiling, and sat on a chair.

He grinned back, showing his bright teeth, "so, Miss Lennon, have you brought the forms?"

"Yes," I said, looking for them in my bag, "here you are," and I handed him the papers.

He took them and started reading them. After some minutes, I asked nervously, "Is everything ok?"

"Yes, Miss Lennon, don't worry..." he said and looked up at me, "everything is in perfectly order, can you start tomorrow?"

"What!?" I asked in surprise and desbelief.

"Yes," he said, "you have all the qualities I've been looking for in a secretary... we'll need your ID and we'll make your contract."

"Well..." I stuttered.

"Sorry, do you regret?"

"No! not at all!" I was making a complete fool of myself, "I'm sorry, I'm just surprised..."

"Oh, alright..." he said, "I'll need your ID, please..."

"I took it from my bag and handed it to him, "here you are..."

"Thanks," he replied taking it, "I'll keep it for one day, is that ok?"

"Yes," I nodded.

"Well, you can start tomorrow from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a break from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m." he stated.

"Perfect!" I said, happily.

We stood up and shook hands.

"I'll be here tomorrow at eight o'clock," I said.

"Alright, Miss, see you tomorrow."

"Thank you, Mr Marx, see you tomorrow."

I grabbed my stuff and left for home.

The next day I started with me new job as Mr. Marx's secretary. It mainly consisted in answering or making phone calls, setting his schedule, talking with people from other countries related with fashion business on the phone, checking some model's curriculums, and another kind of papers. Not very difficult. People there were very kind and polite and I had a good relationship with most of them. Mr. Marx was a lovely person and he was teaching me lots of useful things for my job, I really appreciated him.

Finally the Sunday before Christmas (the 19th of December), it was the day I was moving to my new house. When I gave my parents the news they weren't really happy, but they finally accepted it. At nine o'clock in the morning, I went to Forthlin Road, to my new place and unlocked the door. My father was waiting for me in his van, because he had offered himself to help me bring all the pieces of furniture and luggages. When I entered I saw Cyn cleaning the tea table, and she looked at me when she heard I entered.

"Hello!" She said, and stood up.

"Hi, Cyn," I greeted back, "how's everything going?"

"Amazingly," we're nearly done cleaning the furniture, and now we have to unpack," she grinned, pointing to all the bags on a corner.

"Gear!" I said, "where's Dot?"

"She's in our bedroom... maybe umpacking some stuff..."

"Oh, fine... look, I'll tell my father to bring all the furniture inside, it's alright?"

"Sure, wanna some help?"

"Nah, it's alright, never mind."

I went out and called for him, "dad! c'mon, let's take it all inside, right?"

"Right," he said, getting out of the van.

We took everything out and started to take it all inside. My dad helped taking my twin bed and I took all the luggages and bags to my room. There, he set the bed's headboard against the left wall and went out again to bring the mattress in. I unzipped the biggest luggage and started taking the clothes out of it and putting them in the closet. After some minutes, my father came in with the mattress and put it in the bed.

"Thanks, dad," I said when he finished.

"It's alright, hon..." he smiled, "you know, I like this place... I thought you were going to like in a kind of hole, but I really like the house."

"Thank you. You see? not hole... I love it too, and I'm happy I'm able to live here and start having a little independence."

"Prudence," he started, "for any problem you have, anything you need or something your mother and I will always be able for you, you know it, don't you?"

"Yes, I know it, dad, thank you, really..."

He stepped closer and hugged me tightly, "alright," he said stepping away, "I'm going back home, alright, good luck with you new place."

"Bye and thank you, see you later," I said, he went outta the room, greeted Cyn and left the house.

"Well..." I said stepping into the living room where Cyn was sweeping, "do you need any help?"

"No, not here, it's alright... go and tyde your room if you want."

"Oh, alright," I said and when I turned around to go to my room, I saw Paul comming out from the other one.

"Hey, Cyn--" he started but then saw me, "Prue! hey!" he said a little too surprised.

It'd been more or less two weeks since the last time I saw him and in that time I've been wondering how it would be to see him again. Well, now I was seeing him again and the feeling was weird. First of all, he was as handsome as usual, wearing a tight white T-shirt, blue jeans, with his hair perfectly combed and charming everyone, including me of course. Second, his voice shocked me hard. I've always loved it, it was so soft but strong, so sweet... I was seeing, hearing him again and I had the impulse to throw myself at him and kiss him, but who said he was still interested in me? We had pacted to have something in Hamburg, and I was the one who said that didn't want anything back in Liverpool, so I composed myself and decided to try and have a normal chat with him.

"Hey," I answered, "how are you?"

"Gear, and you?" He asked, looking me from head to toes.

"I'm alright... just setting my stuff in my room..."

"Oh, yeah... I'm helping Dot with hers," he smiled and I smiled back.

Awkward silence.

"Well," Cynthia said noticing it, "it seems that you decided to stop trying to kill each other..."

"Yes," Paul said, "we became friends in Hamburg, didn't we, Prue?"

"Yeah," I answered smiling, remembering when we were in the corridor at the Kaiserkeller and agreed to be "friends".

"Wow, amazing, ain't it? Prue and Paul friends? who would have imagined that?" she laughed.

"Yeah, there are lots of things you can't imagine!" Paul laughed too.

I blushed and tried to laugh believably, but I think I failed. Then Dot came outta the room, smiling.

"Prue! hello!" she greeted, gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and hugged Paul by the waist, snuggling herself against him. He looked down at her, smiled, put an arm around her shoulder, kissed her forehead and then looked up at me defiantly. I didn't understand his atitude and that hurted.

"Hello, Dot, how are you?" I said, calmly.

"I'm fab! I'm so happy to be finally moving here!"

"Yeah, me too, it's gear."

"So, you like the place?" she asked.

"Yes! of course, I love it."

"And now she's working she will help us pay everything," Cynthia said smiling.

"You're working?" Paul asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Just... out of curiosity," He smiled again, sarcastically this time, and I smiled back in the same way.

What the hell was going on with him? I didn't understand a damn! He was giving me the cold shoulder and I hadn't done anything wrong to him. Polite at first, rude later, I was very confused.

"And where are you working?" Dot asked.

"As the secretary of the manager in a models company."

"Really?"

"Yeah... it's cool, I feel very confortable there and my boss teaches me lots of things... sometimes it seems that he wants me to became a fashion business woman in a week!" And we all laughed a little at that.

After that we kept talking about little things and I went back to my room to tyde my stuff. At twelve I finished setting up everything and went outta my room. Nobody was in the living room and the smell coming from the kitchen told me someone was cooking and I was starving, so I went there. When I entered I saw Cyn mincing meat, Paul sitting on a chair, Dot sitting on his lap and they were kissing, not a very nice view, you know, and finally I saw John sitting on another chair, eating a bit of bread and reading the newspaper.

"Hey, you John," I said stepping in and walking over him.

Everybody stopped what they were doing to look briefly at me, except for Paul and John whose glances weren't brief. Well, from John I would understand, I was talking to him, but Paul? why was he looking at me? he should just keep smooching his dolly bird and stop sending me such confusing messages.

"Hello, Prue..." he said as I greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.

"How long you've been here?"

"Just for some minutes..." he answered.

"The guys are staying for supper," Cyn informed me.

"Oh, that's gear..." I said. "So... any news of the band?"

"Yeah," John said, "we're starting with the gigs again. We decided that those idiotic German policemen won't stop us to keep on going with our band... we'll not stop makin' music."

"Wise decision, music is the only thing you can do," I teased grinning. Cyn chuckled and Dot giggled.

"I'm being serious, Prue," John said annoyed, he was really serious about his music.

"Me too," I said seriously, he huffed a little more annoyed, but he noticed I was jocking, otherwise he wouldn't have minded I was his female cousin and would have just thumped me. "C'mon, I was joking! so where are you playing?"

"Lots of places," Paul said this time. As he hadn't spoken since I entered to the kitchen I thought Dot had eatten his tongue, "including The Cavern."

"Really?"

"Yeah," John exclaimed, "we're gonna make it big, I know it..."

We kept talking about little things and when Cyn said that the food was ready, we set the dishes on the table and sat around it. Due to fortuitousness, I want to believe, I ended up sitting opposite to Paul and was a privileged spectator to his loving show of kisses and caresses with Dot, not very pleasant for supper time nor for any other.

"What about if we do something on Christmas?" John asked in the middle of the meal.

"Something like what?" I asked him.

"I dunno. I've heard some bands are playing at The Cavern after twelve. Maybe we could gather in my house and then go over there, what do you think?"

"It's fine for me," Paul shruggered.

"For me too," Cynthia said.

"Oh, I'm afraid I can't..." Dot said sadly, "My family is going to gather at my uncle's in London on the 24th so I'm going and I'm coming back on the 26th."

"What a shame!" Cyn lamented, "I would like you to come."

"Yeah... me too, but there's nothing I can do about it..."

"Can't you just not go?" Paul asked.

"Of course not! It's Christmas, and although I love to spend time with you guys I know my place is with my family."

"Oh, alright... and what 'bout you, Prue?" Paul asked, looking at me.

We locked eyes. We hadn't done that since a long time and it felt a little disturbing, so I had to look down at my glass of water, "yeah, I'll go... I have nothing else to do anyway," I said and looked up at John.

"Fine, then... I'll tell the other guys later."

When we finished eating, Cyn and I washed the dishes while the others watched TV in the living room. Then, at nearly 3 o'clock, the two lovely couples wanted to leave to have a walk, but I wasn't in the mood for that, I was too tired to walk and to support Paul and Dot's mutual love so I kindly declined and when they left, I decided to take a nap, went to my new bedroom, got into the bed and fall asleep.

continued