A/N: It's 1:17am on 6/12/11 here now! Well, I've been a member of FanFiction for just over a month now and I have totalled 7,007 words in entries (six chapters), so I am now, finally… a BETAREADER! Yay! I will openly read Beatles FanFics, but others too! I only have one story, this chapter being Chapter 7 of that story. I am extremely grateful and happy about the eight reviews I did get, though I would appreciate more as that would give me the knowledge that someone actually reads and enjoys my work. The last chapter only got one uber-nice review from the usual suspect, Ruby Smith (read her story, Run for your life!) I am hoping that this one will get more, and I am open to suggestions because of lack of inspiration, although I do have some upcoming storylines and future ideas, but I need something to happen in between then. By the way, I changed the rating to T because of the violence in this chapter (spoiler!) and the romance. Anyway, on with Sexy Sadie!
Chapter 7 – If I Needed Someone
After my recent squabble with Daniel and the boys, I had been cautious just as much as Max had been protective. He'd ring me occasionally to check if they had made any more moves. To be honest, his jealousy and protectiveness was annoying me a little.
"Max, seriously, I don't need you to keep checking up on me like this. Don't you trust me with them?" I was telling him on the phone on Friday after I had become frustrated with his constant, annoying over-protectiveness.
"I do trust you, Sadie, it's them I don't trust. Why aren't I allowed to protect you?" he responded defensively.
"Because I don't need anyone to protect me! They're just some guys at my school who happen to have a thing for me. It's no big deal. Well, nothing you should be worrying about anyway."
"If it concerns you, it concerns me."
"Max, don't you think you're going over the top with this protective thing?"
"No, I don't. I want you all to myself."
"Well, you can have me all to yourself. Come on, you haven't even met Tim, Patrick or Daniel! How are you supposed to protect me if you don't even go to the same school as me?"
"I… I can come over an beat them up!"
I scoffed at this.
"They're harmless, for the thirty-thousandth time! Why do you have to be involved?"
"Because I l-."
He stopped himself from saying something he probably didn't mean to. There was a silence afterwards that was quite awkward for the both of us. He was just doing what he thought he had to as my boyfriend. I knew that as soon as his first words to me – 'Yeah. You don't want to know What Goes On out there' – came out of his mouth that I would have to be infatuated with him. I mean, come on! How often to you come across a guy who is just as obsessed with The Beatles as you are? He was definitely a keeper. I needed to be kinder to him.
"Look, Max," I continued, getting even more frustrated with his over-protectiveness, "Can you just please stop with this obsessive thing? I am perfectly fine – there is absolutely nothing at all to worry about. So, I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, okay. Dad's taking us," he replied.
"Okay, see you then lovely."
"Bye."
We made kissing sounds over the phone and then we both hung up. I put the phone down and sighed. I must be pretty special if a boy is going to such great lengths to protect me and keep me to himself, I thought. Wow. I had four admirers. Well, technically three admirers and one boyfriend. And that was not going to change – my boyfriend, I mean. But I knew Max would never leave me, despite our little argument last weekend – which, when I think about it, was only our second meeting, so I wasn't so wrong about wanting to take things slowly. I mean, who falls in love that quickly? Obviously we did. With both of us being massive Beatles fans, it was practically set in stone that we would meet and be together. It was just an added bonus that our mums happened to work together, which was a good and easy way to meet. At least we know our parents got on well.
As I laid my head on my pillow that night, I thought again of all four boys and did a little analysis of each of them in my head.
Max: THE best boyfriend, very handsome, absolute Beatle lover like myself, loves me, very sensitive, awesome.
Tim: Dickhead, foul, not that attractive or good looking, rude, insensitive, repulses me by having a crush on me, least favourite of all four.
Patrick: Quite nice, not that bad looking, most sensitive about revealing his feelings for me and didn't retaliate or seem really dejected like the other two, known him for the longest.
Daniel: Seemed nice, but changed once he tried to crack on to me, not as bad looking as Tim but not as good looking as Max or Patrick either, mildly tolerable.
And with that, I fell asleep…
Saturday morning I woke up with extreme butterflies in my stomach. I was so nervous about my date tonight with Max. I decided to go grocery shopping with Mum to get my mind off of certain things. There was silence in the car.
"You know, it won't be long before you will be able to drive my car," Mum mused.
"I know Mum, I've been counting down the days already, remember? I can't wait!"
"Yes, I know you're very excited… did you pick up on my Beatles reference?"
I couldn't believe she just said that!
"Oh my God, come on Mum! You seriously think I wouldn't pick up on something like that. You said It Won't Be Long and Drive My Car."
"It won't be long was kind of ad libbed. I just naturally said it and then realised afterwards that it was one of their songs."
I laughed. It was very busy at the shops – it seemed like everyone else had the same idea. The usual homeless guy, who I affectionately dubbed Mean Mr Mustard, was sitting in his usual spot behind the skips. He was wearing only one old brown shoe. Mum tried to steer me away from him, even though I knew instinctively that he was harmless. The fact that he wore an old dirty faded Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover t-shirt proved that.
We made our way through Woolworths, collecting groceries on our way. But just as we were in the cleaning products aisle, I heard a voice that I dreaded, especially since the incident earlier this week.
"Lucas, give it back!" the familiar, dreaded voice screeched at the other end of the aisle.
"No, it's mine!" Lucas yelled viciously.
"I said, give it back!"
Then I heard a slap and laughed to myself – this was amusing. Even though I absolutely despised the people involved – that's probably why I found it so funny. God, he was acting so immaturely.
"Don't look now, don't look now," Mum mumbled to me, trying not to draw attention. I had told Mum about the incident. In fact, our whole family hates his whole family. They're so foul and the father is an ultra creep.
"I know, I know," I mumbled back to Mum. Then I did something I would later regret – I turned my head to look at them.
It just so happened that Tim looked our way at the exact same time I looked over at him and his little brother, realising that I was, in fact, standing in the same aisle as him. Our eyes met, mine laced with hate and his laced with adoration. I nearly vomited. Before I knew it, he was giving his brother back whatever they were fighting over and was walking over to me! I went into panic mode and turned around, pretending I hadn't seen him. I squeezed Mum's arm to warn her, and she unfortunately turned around.
"Oh!" she tried to act nice and surprised, "Tim! Hello, what are you doing here?"
"Shopping with mum," he answered.
"Oh, mum's around here, is she?" she started acting nervously and obviously panicking – but not obvious to Tim, who suddenly turned to me.
"Hey Sadie. You look really beautiful today."
I could hear my mum gagging. I nearly was too. How could I look beautiful? I was wearing some shorts and a t-shirt with thongs – I actually looked quite daggy.
"Go away please," I said to him.
"What's wrong? You don't like me?"
"Didn't Daniel tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
I put my hand over my mouth as if to stifle a laugh, but ended up biting my finger in frustration.
"Tim, I have never liked you and I never will!"
Mum was behind me trying to stop herself from laughing.
"As if my actions in PE the other day were indication enough!"
"What did you do?" Mum asked, still trying not to laugh.
"I kicked him in the shin," I answered proudly, "I told him that if he didn't leave me alone that I would go higher."
"Good girl," Mum whispered, stroking my arm.
"But I thought you did like me!" Tim wailed, "I like you very much! Here, I'll prove it to you."
Oh, no, no! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! Before I knew it, he was leaning in closer towards me. He planted a wet, soggy, foul-breath, disgusting kiss on me! My eyes went wide and I pushed him away forcefully. He looked shocked that I had pushed him away. Then, I did something I was very proud of – I punched him in the face.
I could hear a gasp of surprise from my Mum, but it was also mixed with proudness and a small laugh. I stood there triumphantly, watching Tim hold his nose while it bled. I couldn't believe I had built up the courage to hit someone. I was a non-confrontational person. Mum then whipped her phone out and started videoing the scene! Oh, how much I loved her for doing that.
"That was an excellent hit!"
"Thanks Mum," I turned my head and smiled into the camera, my fists still balled.
"You bitch!" Tim exclaimed, his words stifled by the blood coating his teeth.
I gasped, obviously very offended. Mum wasn't too happy about the remark either. He tried to come at me, but before I knew it someone was stepping in front of me as if to shield me. I didn't see who that person was because I was knocked to the ground, hitting my head on the trolley and going unconscious…
"Sadie… Sadie, wake up," I became conscious again to the sound of my Mum's voice. I was still on the floor in aisle 3, surrounded by Mum, some shop staff, a few customers, a first aid guy, and… Patrick? What was he doing here?
"Ugh," I mumbled something, trying to sit up. I eventually did, feeling dizzy.
"Do you remember what happened?" Mum asked.
"Yeah, I… I punched Tim…"
"Okay, good, she doesn't have memory loss!" Mum announced.
"Sadie, I'm so sorry, I really am!" Patrick was suddenly frantically apologising to me – I had no idea why. He suspiciously had dried blood on his face.
"Um, okay…? Mind telling me why?"
"What? You don't know why?"
"No."
"I… I…"
He obviously struggled as he fumbled for words.
"It's more than one thing I'm sorry for," he finally gushed out.
"Okay, what are they?" I sighed drowsily.
"Well, the first one is, well… Daniel told me what happened. You know, about you finding out our little plan. I'm really sorry. I know I shouldn't meddle with your life. Obviously you are very happy with Max, and I shouldn't be interfering with that. I just want you to be happy, and obviously having Tim and Daniel around isn't in the recipe for 'happy'."
I was taken aback. He was the only one of the three to apologize, and he did so with a long-winded and heartfelt speech. I really liked him actually. I could see a deeper friendship happening here – just as long as Max didn't step in and do anything about it.
"And the second thing, well, I think you should just watch the video."
I remembered then that Mum had filmed the incident, from the point after I had punched Tim onwards. Mum handed me the phone and I watched the video intently. The video started out with Mum praising me and me thanking her for it. Then it went to a bloody-nosed and mouthed Tim calling me a bitch and me gasping. He was about to punch me back when all of a sudden… Patrick stepped in front of me! As he did this he knocked me to the ground. Geez, I'm a loser! I thought. But then Patrick went and punched Tim, making it the second time in a minute he had been punched. Tim punched Patrick in retaliation, explaining the dried blood on his face. A crowd of people formed around the scene. Patrick hit Tim AGAIN, making it three times in a couple of minutes that he had been hit. This time, Tim fell to the floor like a wimp and Patrick sneered at this. Tim crawled away on his hands and knees, nursing a sore and bloodied face.
"Well, Patrick, that was quite a performance," Mum praised. It was then that they realised I was knocked out on the ground. Patrick rushed over to me and crouched next to my excuse for a body. I looked so weak lying there! Mum also rushed over a second later, but the camera jumped around, obviously because Mum was scrambling and probably didn't realise that she still held the phone with the video still recording. The video then showed a close-up of me on the ground, which was not a very pretty sight. The camera moved again, pointing at the floor this time. There were some shoes that I recognised – red Converses. The familiar shoes squeaked on the floor as they walked away.
The video finished and I looked up at Mum and Patrick. Other spectators had left kindly to give us some privacy.
"Where is he?" I asked, and Mum knew who I meant.
"Oh, darling, he stormed off," Mum said apologetically.
"Why was he here in the first place?" I asked.
"We don't know, he just showed up at that moment and then he left."
"What were you doing here?" I asked Patrick.
"I was just innocently shopping, grabbing a few things for Mum," he answered, "I was in the next aisle when I heard yours and Tim's voices. I stepped on the scene just after you had punched him. Then I intervened when I saw he was about to hit you. I'm sorry."
"Oh, no, don't be! Thank you. I'm sure knocking me out did far less damage than one of Tim's wildly thrown furious punches would do."
I suddenly had the energy to stand up, and I did so with the help of Patrick.
"How long have I been out?" I asked.
"Only a couple of minutes," Mum answered, "He can't have gone far."
Mum knew. She knew I wanted to go and find him. It didn't take me long. He was in the next aisle. I stood at the end of the aisle looking at him and his, what I would call, 'victim'.
"You better run for your life," I said to him. He turned around and saw me.
"You're alright!" he rushed over and hugged me.
"What are you doing here?"
"A little birdy told me that you were here."
"What birdy?"
"You checked in here on Facebook," he smiled, half-laughing at my ignorance. Oh my God, it was so cute the way he said it!
"What have you done here?" I asked, gesturing to a badly beaten-up Tim, who was leaning against the shelf, legs outstretched and one knee bent.
"I got here just after you were knocked out on the ground. I was worried sick! Someone filled me in on the part where he was about to punch you but some dude stepping in and protected you, accidentally knocking you down."
"But what did you do to him?"
"He tried to hit you. I had to hit him."
"But I hit him first."
"Why? Apart from the obvious reasons of hate."
"He… I don't think I should say."
"Come on, you can tell me."
"Well, you're not going to like this…"
"Oh my God, did he try and kiss you?" he looked really concerned and there was a hint of anger there as well.
"Not exactly…" I replied sheepishly, in fear of what he was going to do.
"What then?"
I didn't want to tell him. He was in such a rage that I was afraid of what he would do if I told him the truth.
"Oh for God's sake, I didn't try to, I bloody succeeded!" Tim interjected.
This time I was the one in a rage! I marched right over to him. He was really going to wish he hadn't sat in that position. Without a second thought, I had bent my right leg backwards and it was suddenly swinging fast, charging my right foot right into a very sensitive place. He let out an ear-piercing shriek, making him sound like a young girl. Max was most amused. To him, Tim was some feral, girlfriend-stealing, sleazy wimp. That's what he was to me too. Mum and Patrick came rushing into the next aisle, wondering if that sound was me. I stood there smiling, proud of myself.
"What was that?" Mum asked, worriedly.
"Some wimp," Max answered.
Both Mum and Patrick then saw Tim rolling slowly on the floor, holding his tender area.
"What happened?" asked Patrick.
"I'll never fully know the extent of the bravery of this girl, but I certainly won't underestimate her again," Max said, referring to me.
"You kicked him… there!" Patrick couldn't believe it either.
"I had no choice."
"Way to go, Sadie!"
Max eyed Patrick suspiciously and curiously.
"Uh, Max, this is Patrick. He's… one of the three…"
"You are?" he he looked at Patrick, unimpressed.
"He's good!" I pleaded, "He didn't do anything wrong! He stood in front of me and possibly saved me from serious injury and assault!"
I knew Max couldn't argue with that. Anyone who saved the life of his Girl was appreciated, but he didn't like the fact that he liked the Girl that he loved.
"So…" Max challenged, walking around Patrick, "You like Sadie, huh?"
"Uh, yeah," Patrick wrongly answered. Max raised his eyebrows in mock surprise.
"Well you better not, because she's mine!" Max tried to intimidate Patrick, but honestly I don't think he was intimidated by him.
"Oh, don't worry, Maxwell," his words were laced with a bitter niceness, "I won't touch your Girl. I just like her, that's all. And if you think she's not allowed to be liked, then you've got a serious problem."
This stunned Max. He wasn't expecting that reaction.
"It's Tim you need to worry about," Patrick continued, "Stalkerism at its best. He will do anything to get to Sadie, a few punches won't stop him."
"I'm sure if I render him infertile it will," I interjected, very sure of myself.
We were about to continue the conversation when an officer, of all people, stood at the end of the aisle. He pointed to Patrick, Tim, Max and I.
"You four, I'm placing you under arrest for assault."
LONG CONCLUDING A/N: I hope you liked this one! An overprotective boyfriend, more stalker hell, a punch-up in a supermarket, a heroic rescue and an arrest! This chapter was jam-packed with chaos and drama and it was really fun to write, and certainly didn't end up the way I planned! It's WAY longer than previous chapters (about double the last one, but this A/N probably makes up for a lot of the word count), so this is a big milestone for me! I also think it's better that previous chapters and *it's Getting Better all the tiiiiime* (hehe)! And I couldn't resist using Old Brown Shoe, I just had to! I also made up The Word 'stalkerism'. I have also noticed that when I put a '!' and a '?' at the end of a sentence, when it is published on here it only uses one, so some questions have an '!' instead of a '?' when it should have both. I noticed this especially in the previous chapter. ALSO, the character of Tim is based off of this really foul guy who was in my class in primary school, and he recently asked me out and of course I rejected him! Our family hates his family, but they don't know that we hate them (I think). Anyway, please click review, as reviews are always greatly appreciated and please send suggestions! But not outrageous ones such as 'Sadie goes around killing her three admirers.' I will not accept ones along those lines. I would rather not have death in my story. But most ideas are fine. Anyway, GO, CLICK THAT BUTTON (I'm not usually this pushy!)!