Garden Lodge, Morning, February 1985

"So..." Monica started as she collected the empty cereal bowls from the kitchen table, "What would you two think of having a baby brother or sister?"

Johnny shrugged as he played with his toy triceratops and diplodocus, "Veronica said baby Joshua was too little for me to play with him"

"Well, newborn babies are delicate creatures" his mother explained as she stacked the ware.

"Do babies come from the hospital?" Roshni asked innocently, Phoebe chuckling behind her as he brushed her hair.

"Most of the time, yes" Monica answered as the toaster popped.

"Michael says Laura and Joshua came from Veronica's tummy and that they got out of her bottom" Johnny got up off the bench.

The two adults in the room simply sniggered, and Roshni asked, "How did Laura and Joshua get inside her tummy though?"

"Oh, that's a secret," Phoebe bent down to her and held outa small handful of her hair accessories in his palm as he gently asked, "Now, which clip would you like? The cherry blossom clip, or the butterfly?"

"I want the sparkly red Mickey Mouse one please" she said.

"The one that daddy's friend Michael [Jackson] got you?" Monica asked as she sliced the toasted bread, and Roshni nodded.

"Alright, I will go look for it upstairs" Phoebe stood back up and left the kitchen.

"You both better not forget to draw Michael a Thank You letter for such nice Christmas presents" Monica grabbed a cup from the overhead cupboard and placed it in the coffee machine.

"He always gets me something Disney!" Johnny complained.

"I thought you liked Disney!" She put her hands on her hips.

He pouted, "Too many princesses!"

"Daddy won't like that" she murmured as she finished setting up a tray for Freddie's breakfast.

Roshni ran up to her, "What if the baby ends up being twins like Johnny and me?"

"There is no baby yet, love. Daddy and I are still thinking about it" she dropped a spoonful of sugar into Freddie's coffee.

"But what if it's twins again?" She repeated.

"Well, we need to prepare a great deal more beforehand if that's the case ... like we had to when you two came along" she poured him a small jug of milk for his coffee and cereal.

"Why can't we go to Switzerland?" Johnny asked.

"Good question... I would love to go back" she thought, but answered, "Daddy hasn't had a reason to be there recently... he was recording an album there while you were born"

"Ohh" underwhelmed by his mother's answer, he went back to the table to play with his toy dinosaurs.

"Found it! It was in your bathroom" Phoebe came back in, holding Roshni's requested plastic diamanté Mickey Mouse clip.

"Thank you for brushing her hair, Phoebe" Monica lifted the tray up off the sideboard, "I'm just going to bring this up to the master of the house"

He chuckled from his spot at the bench as he pinned the wavy curtain of black hair back from Roshni's face, "Not a problem, see you in a minute"

"See you" she walked out of the kitchen carefully, and headed for the staircase.

Garden Lodge's current tabby cat Dorothy was sitting on the landing as she washed her paws

"This is not a good place for a bath" Monica carefully stepped past the cat who greeted her with a meow, following her up the steps and in through to the master suite.

She pushed the slider door open with her foot gently, careful not drop the tray and its contents all over the cream carpet and essentially wake the man of the house who was still peaceful under the covers of their bed even though her bedside alarm radio was still switched on.

Monica giggled at Freddie's soft snores as she crept over and sat on the edge of the mattress, pulling the duvet back to set the tray on her empty side of the bed.

He stirred, his eyelids twitching as her hand gipped his upper arm and gently shook him awake until she was staring back down at a pair of irresistibly sparkly brown eyes.

"Mhmmm... I always fucking hated this song" he uttered his first words of the day, referring to  Close to You by The Carpenters playing at a gentle volume.

She laughed and reached across him, "Good morning to you too! It always makes me feel a little nostalgic"

He smirked beneath her as she was stretched across him, "You know what makes me feel nostalgic?"

She switched it off with the tap of a button, "What?"

His hands grabbed her breasts only inches above his face, "These!"

She yelped as he sat up and pulled her onto his lap, her frantically trying to hold his cup of coffee and jug of milk still, "Careful!"

He giggled, nuzzling her neck tenderly, "Thank you for breakfast"

His hot breath on her skin made her stomach flutter, "You're welcome, Phoebe did half of it"

His hands cradled her against his chest, "...You have day one of that promotional video today, don't you?"

"Correct. You and Phoebe have to pick them up after school" she trailed off in the bliss of his cosy embrace, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"Do you think you'd be able to meet somewhere for dinner?" he stared out the bedroom window.

"Hard to say, I'm afraid" she pulled away, straightening up a little as he released her.

"Pity," He squeezed her hand, "We need to talk to them about this baby thing, remember?"

The word baby sent an enigmatic shiver up her spine.

"I already did," she fixed the duvet around him, and carefully placed the tray on his lap, "And I can't tell if their response was positive or not"

"You did?! Well then, what was it like?" he lifted his cup of coffee.

She sat down, "They were more curious about where we were going to get a baby"

"Well, at least it's just an idea to follow up for now" he sipped from his cup.

Before Monica could add anything else, they heard the slider doors open a little more, and in crept Johnny, ready for the school day in his raincoat and backpack in hand.

"Oh hello" She stood up off the mattress.

"I don't want to go to school" he walked in sulkily.

"Here we go" Freddie sighed, reaching over to pick up a triangular piece of toast.

"What's wrong?" She rushed over, noticing that Johnny had a longer face than usual.

"The teachers are mean to me!" He whined.

"You know, in my day, they used to hit the kids if they were naughty" His father sounded, staring at the ceiling as Monica ignored him.

Instead, she started helping him put his bag on, "How are they mean to you? They just want to make sure that you do as you're told like a good boy"

"The headmaster says something to me and then the rest of the class laughs!" He fed his arms though each strap sullenly.

Monica anxiously glanced towards Freddie, who silently shrugged back as he munched his toast.

"They laugh?" She zipped his coat up.

Johnny nodded, "It's like he's making fun of me and they're all joining in"

"I don't think that Mr Armstrong would be your headmaster if he was making fun of you, young man," she dismissed it as another one of his fibs, ushering him out the slider doors as she felt for her car keys in her camel coat pocket, "Now out you go, say goodbye to daddy

"Bye, daddy" Freddie heard his son let out reluctantly.

"Bye, my boy. See you at the school gates" He waved back.

Monica stopped by the door to blow him a kiss and mouth an I love you before sliding the doors shut after her.

"I love you too, bye" he said right before the gap between them closed with a click.

Now that peace and quiet had returned to the bedroom, Freddie set his breakfast trayaside on the ground next to him with a happy sigh, then shuffled  back under his warm duvet to catch another 40 winks before he headed to the studio...

After all, he was going to need it before all hell broke loose later on that   day...

St Barnabas primary, breaktime*

"My parents are sending me to my grandparent's estate while they go to the carribean over half term for Valentine's day," Sarah Aldred of Year Five complained to her two friends as she slouched against the brick wall of the school building, out of the way of the rest of the school children running around the playground, "Nothing but countryside and horses for me"

"Wow! You're really lucky!" Laura Hadley, one of her classmates, swooned dreamily.

"Yeah, your mum and dad are so rich!" Emilia-Anne Ashworth followed in awe.

Sarah shrugged, "Dad only cares about going to business meetings and night parties with mum... they're probably going to be doing nothing but sexing eachother on that holiday"

The three girls giggled as their faces turned a bashful shade of pink after addressing such a rude subject.

"I can't wait to grow up and get married to a rich man and go on holiday all the time" Emilia-Anne flicked her red pigtails off of her shoulder.

"Me too!" Laura gushed, "And I'm going to go to the hairdresser's and dye my hair as blonde as Madonna's!"

Sarah zoned out as her two friends talked non-stop about how they'd do their makeup and what they were going to name their babies; in her mind she was already too beautiful to be talking about makeup, and she already knew how many boys and girls she was going to have one day. Most of all she was too good for Laura and Emilia-Anne, for they only followed her around because she was the most popular girl in the class.

"Look, that's one of the man from Queen's kids!" Emilia-Anne alerted them both, snapping Sarah out of her self-absorbed thoughts.

"Which one? The one with the curly hair?" Laura looked over.

Sarah followed Emilia-Anne's finger pointing to the black-haired girl on the other side of the playground in the distance, standing with her back to them, seemingly in her own world.

"The one with the moustache... Freddie, or whatever, Emilia-Anne answered, "His other kid is a boy, isn't he?"

Laura answered, "Johnny Bulsara. Know him?"

"Oh yeah, he's in my little brother's class." Sarah added to the conversation.

"Mine too! Says he's a pest though" Emilia Anne rolled her eyes.

"My older sister has a crush on their dad" Laura giggled.

"Really? Eww! The drummer is the handsome one!" Emilia-Anne wrinkled her nose as Sarah cackled.

"I ain't kidding Em, she has posters up of him in her room!" Laura confirmed.

"Don't call me 'Em', it sounds common!" She spat back.

Sarah ignored their argument and looked closer to see if the girl bore any resemblance to her rockstar father besides her hair colour, only to see something on the back of her head glistening in the light.

"What are you looking at?" Emilia-Anne asked her.

She didn't answer, just took a few steps forward, squinting to see that she had a beautiful plastic red clip in the shape of Mickey Mouse's head and lined with tiny diamonds that none of the other girls in school had.

"Let's go talk to her!" Sarah suddenly suggested, a  plan forming in her head.

"About what?" Emilia-Anne asked.

"What if she doesn't want to talk about her dad?" Laura walked quickly after her.

"Then we'll find something to talk about" Sarah turned around, signalling for them to follow.

Laura and Emilia-Anne looked at eachother in puzzlement before they followed her lead towards the lonely girl as she kicked a small stone across the ground in front of her.

Sarah coughed lightly to get her attention. But the girl didn't flinch once, so she did it again.

At last, she stopped what she was doing and turned around to find three of the older girls towering above her.

"Hello," Sarah began, "What's your name?"

"Roshni," the girl answered politely, fidgeting with her hands in front of her, "Who are you then?"

"What a weird-sounding name!" Laura exclaimed.

But Roshni told her, "Mummy and daddy says it means Brightness"

"Why did he name you that then if it sounds weird?" Emilia-Anne sniggered.

"Because daddy's family is from India" she stared at her feet and went back to playing football with her small rock.

"I knew Freddie Mercury was a paki!" Sarah turned and whispered to them.

"How come you and your brother are not called Mercury then?" Laura asked.

Roshni shook her head, unable to answer that, but Emilia-Anne nudged Laura, "Because Roshni already sounds weird on its own, dummy!"

"Stop saying my name is weird!" Roshni protested.

"Her older sister has a crush on your dad" Sarah pointed to Laura, who was now blushing as the other two laughed.

"Ohhkay..." feeling alienated, the girl tried to turn around again.

"I like your hair clip" Sarah pointed to her head, "Where did you get it?"

"Thanks! Daddy's friend in America gave it to me for Christmas" Roshni said, taking her Mickey Mouse barrette off.

"America!" Emilia-Anne exclaimed.

"Who was is?" Laura asked eagerly.

"What was their name?" Sarah pressed as she stepped closer.

"Michael Jackson" Roshni answered as if it was no big deal.

Sarah turned around to her clique in disbelief, mouthing the King of Pop's name.

"Give us a look then!" She snatched the barrette from Roshni's hand.

"Hey!!" She grabbed for it.

But Sarah was too tall for her, pinning her smooth, sandy blonde bangs back, "There we go, what do you think girls?"

"Fabulous!" Laura said.

"Suits you!" Emilia-Anne nodded.

"Give it back!" Roshni pleaded, but not daring to jump and pull it out.

But the group of 'big girls' were whispering amongst themselves, eyeing the small green door to the coal shed in the distance next to the teacher's car park, and along came the next step.

Sarah stepped forward, "You'll get it back after a game of Hide and Go Seek"

Roshni's eyes lit up, "Hide and seek?"

Sarah nodded, Laura and Emilia-Anne giggling behind her.

"Great!" Roshni was ready to speed off and find a place to hide, "You better start counting-"

"No, you go first and we hide," Sarah said, "Let's find a place for you to count"

"Oh, okay then" Roshni obliged as she felt her grab her hand.

Sarah pointed at the small green door as she lead her up to it, "See that green shed? It's perfect"

"Are we allowed to go in there?" Roshni timidly took a step back.

"There are no teachers around" Laura looked around as Emilia-Anne opened the door.

"Do you want to get your hair clip back or not?!" Sarah stepped aside and gestured her in.

Reluctantly, Roshni trudged into the cold, grotty shadow.

"Count to a hundred" Emilia-Anne ordered.

"That will give us plenty of time to hide" Laura followed.

"And remember to put your fingers in your ears so that you can't hear our footsteps" Sarah slowly closed the door to a crack, making sure she did as told as the other two stood watch behind her.

"Okay, one...two..." Roshni turned away from the door and put her hands over her ears, shutting her eyes as her surroundings got darker and darker.

Once she was positive the girl blocked out the outside world, Sarah slammed the green door.

"Quickly! I can hear footsteps!" She hissed at Laura and Emilia-Anne as they quickly put the bar across with all the strength they had in their short arms.

"Should we be doing this?!" Laura asked doubtly.

"Someone will find her, now come on!" Emilia-Anne tugged her away by the sleeve of her school jumper.

They pretended to be playing their own game, running around and chasing eachother in circles as the school janitor walked past with a wheelbarrow filled to the brim with hedge trimmings, whistling a happy tune to himself as he headed towards the natural waste dumpster.

The schoolbell rang, and the three girls ran back around the corner and, with the rest of the children in the school playground, fled in the direction of the assembly point by the steps on the front of the building as the girl that they left in the coal shed cotinued to count...

Her twin brother, on the other hand was about to step in line against the brick wall when he noticed something familiar glisten as one of the bigger girls wafted by.

Johnny thought his eyes were playing treaks on him as he squinted closer to see that, in her fair hair, she wore the exact same red dimante Mickey Mouse clip that Roshni had.

"But how could she have the same one if there is nowhere else in the world that you can find a clip like that?" He pondered, until it occured to him, "...Unless it was stolen!"

Wordlessly, he stepped out of line and ran to Sarah, jumping up to grab her by the ponytail and yanking her head down as she screamed, Laura and Emilia-Anne forcing his arms off.

"JOHNNY BULSARA!" the teacher on playground duty tooted furiously on her whistle, "LET GO OF SARAH ALDRED AND STEP BACK IN LINE NOW!"

"SHE'S GOT MY SISTER'S HAIR CLIP!" He ignored her as he tried to tackle Sarah to the tarmac, but Laura and Emilia-Anne were too big for him, grapping him by the arms and pulling him off.

"TO THE HEADMASTER'S OFFICE, NOW! THE BOTH OF YOU!" the teacher ordered, pointing up the front steps and to the school entrance.

Sarah rubbed the part of her scalp that her hair had been pulled at, glaring at Johnny as he sulked and dutifully marched ahead of her.

Unfortunately, nobody could hear his twin sister's muffled screaming behind the green door in the distance over their gossiping whispers and giggles as they watched the two do their walk of shame up the front steps and to their doom.

To be continued...

*morning recess in the UK