This has been saved to my computer for a while now, so I decided to finish it and post it up on here. Originally a one shot but I will do more upon request. McDean as children. R&R please?
"John Paul! Just- go and explore or something!" Mum yelled at me, groaning. I sighed and opened the door, closing it behind me. The new village looked strange, and every face I saw, I knew not to mess with them. I walked around for a while, when I reached a building called The Dog in the Pond. Intrigued at what this might be, I entered it.
"We're not open yet!" A voice called from behind the bar. I couldn't see them, yet I already knew it was a boy.
"Mum, there's an early comer!" He shouted through the back, and there was a mumble back in response. The boy popped his head up over the counter, and rolled his eyes at me.
"Oi, you're too young to be in here. This is a pub."
"It is?" I asked, peering around the room. He nodded, looking quite offended at my query.
"I can prove it, if you like." He said, motioning me towards him.
"Okay." I said warily, half-scared he was going to scream at me or scare me or something. Instead, he leaned down and produced a bottle of whisky, two bottles of beer and some vodka.
"My mum trusts me to look after the bar." He said proudly, smirking widely. I nodded at him, and perched myself on the counter top. "You have to go. You're not aloud in the pub, well, not at the bar, anyway, plus we're not even open yet. I'm Craig." He shook my hand and then put the drinks back, except for one beer.
"You wanna split it?" He asked, pointing at the bottle. I thought back to Christmas, when Nana came over and everybody drank, even Jacqui, a bit. Michaela sometimes sneaked some when nobody was looking, but not me. I hadn't had a drink before, but I wanted to impress this boy, because he was around my age and I could see him becoming a potential friend. I nodded meekly, swinging my legs. Suddenly, the clickety-clack of somebody's high heels came bursting through the door, and Craig suddenly dropped the bottle of beer.
"Oh, Craig! Your mum would kill you if she found out." A woman with blonde hair said.
"That's why, Becca, she'll never find out. And you don't go blabbing to Jake or to Steph or to Debbie - especially not Debbie." She nodded at him, and swept up the mess.
"Who's your friend, then?"
Craig yanked me towards him a little more and said with a puzzled look on his face, "This is..." I realized I hadn't told him my name, and I was just away to when I felt a tight grip on my shoulders.
"Oi, you! Mum said to go explore, not go sauntering off to the first boozer you find. God, John Paul, you really must be a McQueen." I recognized her voice as Mercedes as she tried to pull me down.
"Hey, you! Get off of my friend!" Craig shouted in defence, earning a laugh from Mercedes.
"And who are you?" She asked, tugging more at my overly baggy jumper.
"I'm Craig, and you can get your mucky paws off of my mate or I'll have to ban you from ever entering this pub again." Mercedes sniggered at this commented, and finally succeeded on pulling me down.
"Craig, this is Mercedes. She's my older sister." I mumbled, staring at the ground.
"Oh. Well, I have to go. I suppose I'll see you around at school, maybe." Craig replied, walking away through the back with Becca not far behind.
-xxx-
"So he was at the pub? Of course he was. You cheeky little-" Tina cut Mum off by passing a mug of coffee to her.
"Oh, thanks love." I rolled my eyes and snuck upstairs into my bedroom, where I still hadn't unpacked. I looked out of the window, where I had a clear view of the village. I could see some kids sitting by the water fountain, laughing together. A small smile appeared on my face, realising I'd probably be sharing a school with them.
"John Paul, Mum says get to bed." I was taken from my thoughts by Jacqui, who had appeared in my doorway. I nodded and looked around for some pyjamas. I finally found some Power Ranger ones and changed into them, crawling into my bed. I fell asleep almost instantly into a dreamless slumber.
-xxx-
I was woken up by Michaela, who seemed to be repetitively slapping me.
"What the hell?" I yelled, jumping out of bed. She giggled and ran out of the room, leaving me to get dressed. I threw on my crumpled school uniform, packed my bag and wolfed down a bowl of Rice Krispies.
"Bye!" I said, making my way to the door. There was a mumble in response, everybody's mouths still full with cereal. Since the school wasn't far away, I walked quite slowly. I arrived within a few minutes, the once faraway building not looking so grand anymore. It was a battered building with broken windows and spray-painted walls. There were floods of children everywhere, talking and laughing, teasing each other. Suddenly, I was being dragged into a classroom. I turned around to see Craig sitting at a table with two girls.
"John Paul, this is Hannah and Sarah, Hannah and Sarah, this is John Paul." He introduced, pointing to each of the girls. I took in their features carefully. Hannah had long blonde hair and blue eyes, typical girl. She had a small smile, but it was cute. Sarah had black hair instead, but also blue eyes.
"You can sit at our table, if we can talk the teacher into it." Hannah mumbled, pointing at the seat opposite her, next to where Craig was.
"Yeah! There'll be two boys then. There's a seat over beside Sonny but he's bad news. I hate him." Craig exclaimed, pulling me down onto the chair. The rest of the day went by in a blur. I got to sit at the table with Craig, Sarah and Hannah, I learned that Sarah has a sister called Amy, Michaela came into class, which was embarassing.
"See you tomorrow." I said as Hannah and Sarah sauntered off with a girl named Nancy. I looked back at Craig, who was packing his things. He saw me looking and smiled.
"So, I was thinking that it must be really crowded in your house with six other people and I was wondering if you wanted to come out tonight? I was just going to hang out at the water fountain, maybe annoy the people in Evissa or something, nothing exciting." He said whilst zipping up his bag and throwing it over his shoulder. Somehow, it seemed exciting.
"Uh, yeah. I'll probably be out after tea, so around half five to six. Where will I meet you?" I asked as we walked towards the door.
"Pub. Just walk in and when Mum or Dad or somebody asks who you are or tries to kick you out just tell them you're waiting on Craig. I'll warn them, though. See you tonight, then." He replied as we exited the school.
"Bye." I said, waving at him.