"What did you think of Mr. McCartney?" Katia's mom asked as she came into her bedroom.

"They were all very nice. He accepted our invitation to dinner, just  to let him know and he'd be glad to come."

"I think your father would be interested in meeting him."

"Yeah... probably."

"I'll let you know when dinner's ready."

"Okay. Thanks mom." Katia said as she walked to her room. She really didn't know when exactly she dozed off, but she didn't wake up until early that morning. She could hear her dad talking in the kitchen and got up quickly to greet him. She hadn't seen him all day yesterday and she wanted to know how his first day at work had gone.

"Hi Mom...Dad." Katia said as she walked into the kitchen still wearing the clothes she had on yesterday.

"Hi honey. How did your day go yesterday? Did you familiarize yourself with the city yet?"

"Pretty much...I went to the school I'll be attending and it went okay. How about you? How was your first day at work?"

"It was good. I met a few of the workers there...they are really nice people.  I'm sure I will enjoy working here." he replied.

"I am so glad dad. I'm going to go take a shower...I want to go out and look around Liverpool again. There's a lot of places I passed by yesterday that I thought looked interesting. You'll probably be gone by the time I'm done ....so I''ll see you tonight..for dinner." Katia smiled as she kissed him goodbye.

"Can't wait". Her dad said as she returned the kiss. .

Both Katia's mom and dad were gone by the time she finished getting ready. She grabbed a quick breakfast and then locked up.  She paid extra attention as she walked around town, taking note of the streets and making mental notes to places she wanted to check out.  She ended up stopping at a coffee shop that looked quite appealing. There were only a few people there, which gave her a chance to talk to the waitress that brought her the coffee she had ordered.  She was told that Saturday nights usually had live music and that was when the coffee shop got really busy. 

As she sipped on her coffee, she overheard a group of voices coming from the backroom of the coffee shop.  She thought she recognized one of the voices, but it wasn't until he saw Paul come into view that she confirmed her suspicion. She looked at Paul.  He was interacting with another boy.  She watched them and noticed how attractive both Paul and his friend were.  Paul was cute, but his friend had a more rugged handsomeness to him.  It wasn't until Paul's friend went to make a phone call that Paul noticed Katia. 

"Kat? What are you doing here? How are you?"

"I guess this is the place to be.  It's nice to see you again."

"Yeah...definitely.  Didn't think I'd see you so soon."

"Well we are neighbors...so..."

Paul chuckled.  "Yes."

"So what are you doing here...no coffee?" Katia asked.

"Not today...we're actually here on business...trying to schedule a gig..."

"You're in a band, then?"

"Yeah...we're trying to book some performances here on Saturdays with Ms. Best."

"Sounds fantastic!  Are you guys any good?"

"Of course we are!  Who's asking?" Paul's friend chimed in, having joined Paul and Katia.

"Katia...this is John.  John...this is Katia...she just moved to Liverpool."

"Nice to meet you John...I go by Kat."

"A pleasure Kat."

Before long, John was asking Kat some advice regarding a fight he had just had with his girlfriend, Cynthia.   Paul chuckled and told John he and Cynthia were constantly breaking up and getting back together, that this time would be no difference.  Katia finally convinced John to go and talk to Cynthia...to try and apologize and work things out with her.

Paul and Katia walked home together.  Before dropping her off, Paul invited her to see him and the band perform that Saturday night. 

"Sure.  I 'd love to go.   What's the name of your band?"

"John actually started it...we're still in between names but as of now we're The Quarry Men..."

"Well that sounds like fun.  Thanks for the invite.  I'm looking forward to it. "

"Great...I'll pick you up Saturday evening, yeah?"

"Sure."

"Maybe we'll see each other sooner." Paul said as he started walking back home.

"I'd like that."

********** 

Paul and Katia had gone to the movies that Thursday and Paul had been able to meet her mother that day.  She had enjoyed the time she spent with Paul and felt more excitement as Saturday approached.  The plan was for Paul to pick Katia up and meet her dad, then they'd stop by and pick up John before heading to the Casbah. 

Paul and Katia's dad got alone splendidly.  While she finished getting ready, Paul and her dad were able to get to know each other a bit.  Katia was happy to see that her dad liked Paul.  She could tell he approved of Paul as a friend and that was important to her.

"Your dad is something else.  He's really nice." Paul commented as they walked to the bus stop to go to John's house.

"He seemed to like you too."  Katia responded.

"Your mum seems nice too."

"She makes my dad happy, but she's not really my mom you know."

"No?" 

"No. My mom died when I was young.  It was a bit hard for me when he remarried, but dad always thought I needed to have a mother figure.  We've had our moments, but we get along quite well now."

"Yeah...my mum died when I was young too. Dad hasn't remarried though. Maybe it is harder for a man to raise a girl than it is for him to raise two sons." Paul shrugged.

"Maybe...but I would have been fine had it been just dad and me..."

Paul and Katia arrived at John's house.  Katia was impressed at how much bigger his house was in comparison to her or Paul's.  It was a white two-story house with lots of window.  As we approached the front door, Paul told Katia to not take anything that John's aunt could tell her too personally.  Before she could question it, the front door opened.

"Hi Mimi..."Paul greeted the older woman.

"Paul." She said a bit cold.

"Um, Mimi, this is Katia.  She just moved to Liverpool a few days ago. John and I thought it would be nice to show her around town and maybe take her to the Casbah to hear us play."

"Nice to meet you, young lady." Mimi said casually. "Well you know what I think about that guitar business, but do what you want. John is still upstairs, maybe you should go and get him, Paul." Mimi said as she motioned for us to go in.

Katia spent a few minutes getting questioned by Mimi, but she didn't feel like Mimi had said anything even slightly offensive.  From what she could tell, however, she didn't take too kindly to Paul.  Not only had she been cold towards him when they arrived, but she had hardly spoken two words to him before they left.

John, Paul and Katia met up for a quick bite to eat with another member of the band.  His name was George.  He was a few months older than Katia and was very nice.  Katia had taken notice of his killer smile too.  When they arrived to the Casbah, John introduced her to their bass player, Stu.  Katia could tell Stu and John were very good friends, perhaps because they were the same age.  She had noticed that John was not too close with George and had figured that was due to their age difference. 

Once the performance started, Katia realized just how good they really were.  They played mostly Rock n' Roll tunes and everyone who was there seemed to be having a good time.  When their set ended and they came back to the table, Katia let them know just how much she had enjoyed their playing.

"You guys are great!"  Katia exclaimed. "It was so much fun seeing you guys play!  And I loved the set you played!"

"So glad you were able to come and see us." George smiled.

"Of course! "

Katia and George talked for a few minutes and it was only after he went to get a few drinks that she noticed John and Paul were nowhere to be seen.  She looked around and noticed they were standing near the stage.  She walked over to them hoping to congratulate them on a job well done, but as she approached them, she heard something that completely changed her opinion about them.

"Come on John! You just told me you and Cyn just got into a fight.!  It's not right to do that."

"Why won't you take me up on this bet? You are just chicken McCartney!"

"I am not! I can take you any time! What makes you think I can't get Kat to kiss me?"

"Then let's do this! "

Katia couldn't believe it.  Her anger had begun to grow as the conversation continued.  How could they be even be discussing this?   Placing a bet to see who could get her to kiss them first?

"Okay, if we're going to do this, then here's the deal- the first one who gets Kat to kiss 'em first has to give the other their entire paycheck from the gig."

"Perfect.  Get ready to hand it over, Macca." John said with a stupid smirk on his face.

"We'll see." Paul said as he shook hands with John closing the deal.

Just as Katia was going to go up to them and confront them, John added something that made her furious!

"One more thing though...if we get her tonight, then it's two paychecks, okay?"

"Tonight?"

"Don't think you can handle it? That McCartney charm isn't working for ya?"

"Fine...deal, two paychecks for tonight."

"They want a bet, I'll give them a bet." Katia mumbled as she went back to the table with the others.  She decided to play along with them just to see how far they'd take it.  For the rest of the night Katia flirted with both Paul and John and each of them did their part to try to win that bet.  Katia pulled away a couple of times when a kiss was close.  There was no way she was going to let either one of them win. As the night drew to an end and everyone filed out of the Casbah, John and Paul began offering to walk Katia home.  She said goodbye to George and Stuart and once she saw them turn the corner, she let both Paul and John have it. First she slapped Paul and then she turned to John and slapped him.

"What was that for?" Paul asked innocently.

"Do you really need me to tell you?  Let's start with that famous bet you two were discussing earlier tonight." Katia yelled.

John and Paul's faces went pale in utter surprise.  John started to try to explain, but Katia didn't give him the chance.

"Shut up Lennon!  No wonder you and Cynthia broke up!  You are such a jerk!  Go away!  I don't want to see you again! And that goes for you too Paul!" Katia said as she started walking home

Katia could hear Paul telling John to let him handle it, but after a while she got so far ahead that she couldn't hear them anymore. Shortly after, Katia could hear footsteps running up to her.

"Kat! Wait up! Let me explain! Please Stop!" Paul yelled from afar.

She didn't stop though; she just kept walking away from him. He finally caught up to her and tried to grab her hand...but she pulled back.

"Don't touch me! If you do I swear I'll scream!" Katia said to him as she pulled her hand away from his reach.

"I'm sorry Kat. I really am. Let me try to explain, please." He pleaded.

"Stop!  I could have expected it from John because of the way he is, but you? I would have never thought you—how could you! I don't want to see you every again! Leave me alone!  " Katia exclaimed as she made her way onto Forthlin Road.

"You can't mean that, Kat."

"I do mean it!  How could you act like you were my friend and at the same time try to win the fucking bet!"

"What about you? What was all that flirting about?" Paul exclaimed.

"Don't be such a hypocrite and don't try to put this on me! The flirting was to see how far you would take this!" Katia said trying to keep her voice down since they were nearing her house.

Suddenly, Paul took hold of Katia's arms and pinned her against the wall of the house they were passing.

"Let go of me Paul! Let go! " Katia said struggling to get out of his grasp.

"Not until you listen to me, Kat."

"No! Now leave me alone!" She said as she started moving her wrists around to try to get free. She finally got her hands free and slapped him again!

"I told you to leave me alone Paul! Why are you doing this?  Wasn't it enough for you to humiliate me by making that bet with John? " Katia said nearly in tears as she ran the rest of the way to her house.