The first days, though, I wasn’t alone. Ringo had collapsed and was in hospital to be taken out of his tonsils. The Beatles had had to use a stand-in drummer, a very nice guy called Jimmy that John said would do. So Eli and I went to the hospital to visit Ringo a couple of times. Maureen was there, all taking care of him. I got to know her better and realised she was really nice. So, with Maureen taking good care of him at hospital, I soon went on with my duties.

I got my driving licence at the beginning of June. I phoned Edu to let her know and we both screamed and shouted over the phone. That night, Eli and I went out to celebrate it and I even informed Ringo in hospital because I had been trying to put through John but without success. Ringo was in constant contact with Brian and Brian, of course, was in constant contact with the Beatles, so soon John phoned me congratulating me.

And then,. On 12^th June, my birthday, I woke up to a ringing phone. I took it and I heard noises like if there was a party going on on the other line. Two happily drunk Beatles started singing "Happy Birthday". It was John and George.

- "Happy birthday to you...", I couldn’t help smiling, although I knew they were in a party and that meant danger as far as John was concerned.

• "John! What time is it then?"
• "Dunno... What time is it, Georgie?", I heard George giggle. "We dunno, luv. But, hey! Whenever you can, go to Abbey Road, OK? Will ya?", I couldn’t imagine what those two could be up to, but I nodded.
• "Ok, John, but please, take care... Who’s in the suite?", there was silence. I didn’t know if that was a good or a bad sign but George’s and John’s cheer laughter seemed to die away. "John?"
• "Yeah, yeah, luv... go to Abbey Road. Must leave ya now... What?", he seemed to be talking to someone in the room. "Yeah... hey, luv! Macca sends you his happy returns... Be a good girl... Bye!", and that was it. That kept me going for the day. Although much later I found out John and the Beatles did all sorts of things when they were touring the world. Then I was naive enough to genuinely believe John loved me. And I’m sure he did because of what I found out when I went to Abbey Road.

I got dressed and made up. I didn’t phone Eli because I knew she was very busy at university with her final exams. So I took the tube on my own, (not for long, though, because I was finally a driver) and went to Abbey Road Studios.

When I got there, there were a lot of people surrounding something. I couldn’t distinguish what it was a first, but when I paid attention I saw some balloons floating up in the air. As soon as I came nearer, I could also distinguish something red shining through all the people that huddled around it.

Someone spotted me and I recognised George Martin’s voice calling me:

• "Hi, Miss Peña! Happy birthday and hope you enjoy the present John had sent specially for you", all the people started then to make room and when they were all apart I started to distinguish what it was. I couldn’t believe it!! It was a wonderful red Ferrari!! Absolutely new!! I went towards it not believing what I was seeing and stopped in front of it. I didn’t react, I just stopped there.
• "Go ahead, girl!", said one of the women who were there. "Go try it! It’s yours!", I looked at George Martin, the only one out of the group I knew. He looked at me back and smiled.
• "Yes, Vicky, John has bought it for you. Someone came yesterday night to bring it". My head was in a whirl. With just my driving licence and with a beautiful car waiting for me. That was too good to be true.
• "But I just don’t... I mean", I was finding it difficult to speak. "I haven’t got the "L" here... I can’t drive it..."
• "That’s no problem at all", said George Martin. He called somebody and sent him for an "L" I could use on the car. I was like in a daze, so I never knew how long it was until someone came finally with an "L" and a girl stuck it on the back window.

George Martin cut out the balloons that went away flying over the buildings and I entered the car. Everything smelt so good, of new. I was afraid of touching anything, but I finally seemed to come to life and the only thing I wanted was to drive it. So I fastened my seat belt, prepared all the mirrors and started the engine.

I was rather new driving and so my first attempts were rather useless, but soon I saw myself driving through the streets of London.

The first thing I did was go to Eli’s university. I stopped the car in the campus, thus making everybody turn to look at the car. I wasn’t sure if Eli would still be there but I had the feeling she would be.

I finally saw her coming out in company of that Malcolm she was such a good friend of now. I beeped and she at first didn’t see me. Normal, taking into account she didn’t expect me inside that gorgeous car. I insisted on the beeping and she finally looked into the car. She approached:

• "Vicky?", she said when I rolled down the automatic window. I smiled from ear to ear.
• "John’s idea", I told her. "I didn’t know he was going to buy this for me. I would have avoided it".
• "No way, Vicky", she said, smiling and jumping in. "Sorry, Mal. See you tomorrow. We must be going", she closed the door and off we went.

We had a great time that day. We celebrated my birthday till late at night. I also phoned Edu and told her everything. She told me she had tried to phoned me but of course I wasn’t at home. She wished me happy birthday and soon I was back home, alone and missing John like hell.

The days passed by slowly. University had finished and I received a notification from the Spanish department saying that the grant I had applied for had been retired since I hadn’t attended any classes for a long time. Well, that didn’t take me by surprise. I didn’t mind, really, the only thing was that my parents would be disappointed.

Anyway, I tried not to think much of that and I just concentrated on enjoying my new car as much as I could. The news were full of Beatles. They informed us all about how the Beatles were doing in the far east, in Australia and New Zealand and all those far away lands.

I never knew John had taken his aunt Mimi with him until I saw her on TV. I became quite surprised. She was, as usual, very smart, but came back quickly before the Beatles went to Hong Kong.

I never saw the day the Beatles would come back home. I missed John’s kisses and caresses. On the other hand I was very glad that Paul was away from me. John phoned me quite regularly and I always was this close to tell him, but never did. I didn’t want to worry John and I also thought that would probably be a Paul’s whim and that he would forget pretty soon.

Finally, at the beginning of July, the Beatles came back home. This time I had decided not to go to the airport. Eli did, but I decided to wait for John at home.

I saw their arrival on television. It was broadcast live from Heathrow and I knew it would take John a long time to come home since every time they came from a different country, they had to give a press conference at the airport. I was already used to that.

I waited for John in the kitchen. Nothing. I moved to the living room. Nothing. Then I went to the bedroom and lied on the bed waiting for him to come home and make love to me. Still nothing happened and it was getting quite late. So, fed up with everything, I decided to have a shower.

I was in the middle of it when I thought I heard a noise. I stopped moving.

• "John?", I asked. That must be him but nobody answered. "John?", I repeated. I stopped the water and nothing. Silence. So I continued with the shower, singing and with my eyes closed when I felt a hand on my stomach. It scared the hell out of me. I was going to shout when I felt another hand on my mouth. Both hands made me turn around and I became face to face with a soaked-to-the-skin John. He was smiling right at me! And I could have died from the shock. I slapped his shoulder but he took his hand out of my mouth and kissed me passionately. The shock gave way to passion and soon I found myself kissing John passionately too and giving him my tongue for him to suck. The hand he had put on my stomach was now stroking my tits and with his other hand he was squeezing my ass. We came out for air and he worked his way down from my mouth to my neck, kissing it with the same passion he had kissed my mouth. I leaned my head backwards and rested it on the wall. John went on down and down, kissing the line of my stomach, my navel and down to my most private part. He grabbed one of my legs and pulled it up until I rested on the wall. I could feel his warm tongue doing wonders to my cunt. The water was splashing everywhere but I couldn’t care less. I was breathing hard and when I looked down I saw John with his eyes closed working on me and that turned me on all the more. But I didn’t want to come that soon, I just wanted to give him the same pleasure he was giving me. So I took him by the neck and pulled him up. I kissed him before working my way down until his dick. I swallowed it in full, licking it, sucking it, passing my tongue in circles around its head. John was moaning and his moans turned me on all the more. I kept on sucking John’s dick when I felt he grabbed my hair and pulled me up again. Kissing me, he worked with his hand to put his dick into me. I felt the pressure then and John kissing my mouth, the water running down our bodies and the long time I had been without seeing John, made me come almost immediately. John still hadn’t come but when he did he had to get rid of my mouth because he moaned AHHHH!! And leaned his head backwards.

We both lied there for a couple of minutes, exhausted, still with John’s dick inside me. He looked at me, smiled and kissed the tip of my nose. He finally took his dick out. Now I slapped his shoulder harder than before:

• "Hey!", he laughed. "What was that for?"
• "That’s for scaring the hell out of me! How do you dare enter the bathroom that way?", he laughed louder.
• "Thought it would be a lovely surprise, luv. Ya didn’t seem to mind, though", I blushed and that made John laugh even louder than before. He started to head towards the towels. I decided it was a good idea and went out of the shower too.
• "I’m really glad to see you, John", I said, drying his back.
• "I’ve missed ya like mad, luv. That’s why I came in all of a sudden. I couldn’t resist! I imagined ya all sexy there all naked and all and I was about to make a ‘ole on me trousers!", I laughed and kissed his back.
• "And why did it take you so long to come home after the airport, John?", that took him a little bit by surprise because his face changed.
• "Oh, that... Well, luv, Paul and I were directly to Abbey Road to see Cilla Black record one of Paul’s songs... Ya know... The sooner the better...", he then recovered his smile. "But now we have some days for ourselves, luv. Just ours." We kissed and John went out of the bedroom. I stayed a little bit more in the bedroom, preparing to go to bed. When I went out, I found John already in bed. He wasn’t sleeping, he was smoking and with his eyes half closed. I went towards him and kissed him.
• "Thanks for the car, John", he opened his eyes.
• "Did ya like it?"
• "Mm! Of course! It’s gorgeous", he kissed me.
• "Well, tomorrow we’ll try it", I went into bed with John. I was very happy, John was home.

John had been right. The following days he had them off and we spent them riding in my car, going to the most expensive restaurants where Brian had told us John would be undisturbed and going out at night. Sometimes we joined Paul and Eli and sometimes George. Thankfully, Pattie was outside London modelling at the time and I didn’t have to see her. I felt a little bit embarrassed in front of Paul. But he behaved quite normal in front of John and in front of me. Not even a single look did he direct me so I began to think that Paul would have probably forgotten about what he had told me.

I asked John what their schedule was for the time being.

• "Be with ya, luv. That’s all".
• "No, seriously, John".
• "Well, we’ve got the film premiere, luv. So be deciding on a smashing dress that fits yer lovely body".
• "When is it?", I said, panicking that maybe I wouldn’t have time to go shopping.
• "I thought ya knew it. On Thursday", I counted mentally. I just had two days to decide so the next day I phoned Eli and we both went shopping.

Black was perfect. All the shop assistants whispered at each other when they saw us took out a check note pad from our handbags with the name Lennon and McCartney on them. They poked at each other and talked among themselves but we didn’t care. The thing is that we both chose black, with matching shoes.

The day of the premiere finally arrived. I was dead nervous because John had told me Princess Margaret and her husband Lord Snowdon would be there and that was a bit impressive.

Brian was very nervous as well. He couldn’t make up his mind as whether we girls had to go in a different car or with them. First he said I would go with John and George and Pattie. Then he changed his mind and told us Paul, John, Eli and I would go together. Then he changed again and decided we girls would go in a different limo. John lost his patience:

- "’ell, Brian! She’ll come with me and that’s all! Arrange the rest but don’t move ‘er from me side", John shouted. I finally went with Ringo and Maureen.

When we arrived there, the place was packed. There were lots of reporters, camera men, journalists... All taking pictures at the same time. Ever since we went out from the car, they started taking pictures. We had to stop in front of them for ten-fifteen minutes and there was a point when I couldn’t see anything. My sight was a constant white blur. I held John’s hand strongly and he squeezed it. He leaned a little bit to me and told me:

• "Alright, luv?", I just squeezed his hand a little bit more in answer.

Then everything started to move again. We were directed to a VIP room where we girls were told to stay behind because the Beatles had to be greeted by princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon. I don’t know if it was that it was incredibly hot in the room or it was the nerves but I felt uneasy and the boys too. I could see Paul blowing and John stroking his jaw... It was a tense situation, although the boys behaved correctly. Anyway, to release the tension a little bit, Brian passed a cigarette for all of them to smoke. We girls remained apart.

• "Look at the curtains!", Eli told me at some point. I did. And then I had to laugh. The design was that of little Beatles. We told Maureen and Pattie but they seemed to already know.

We were finally directed to the theatre. The royalty occupied the best seats, and the Beatles and ourselves the second bests. John held my hand during all film. A couple of minutes before the lights were off and so before the film started, he whispered in my ear:

• "I ‘aven’t told ya ‘ow pretty you are today, ‘ave I?", I just giggled a little bit. Then he kissed my head and said: "I love ya", the happiest girl in the world, I started to see the film.

It was as funny as can be. It didn’t have any fictional plot. It just seemed to sum up what the Beatles used to do in 48 hours of their lives. Something I didn’t like was that the film showed John a little bit too much interested in girls. That hurt a little but John was holding MY hand, not any other girl’s hand, so that was a proof that he loved me. Eli didn’t stop laughing during the whole film, and I couldn’t stop laughing either with the actor who played Paul’s grandfather. I found him extremely funny. He was sitting with his wife a couple of rows ahead from us. If I had the chance, I would talk to him.

When the film ended, some limos whisked us off to one of the most luxurious hotels in London to celebrate the after-the-premiere party. There were lots of people there, people I hadn’t seen in my whole life. Everybody was very well dressed. The best thing was that we had food and drink free, with some waiters delivering it in silver trays.

Everything was going alright. John wouldn’t walk away from me and that was fine by me. I felt really proud that John was paying so much attention to me on such a special night as that was.

But then someone I recognised as one of the actors who had acted on A Hard Day’s Night came to talk to John and took him away for a couple of minutes. I then decided to have a look at the guests on my own. Everybody was there, all the actors who appeared on A Hard Day’s Night, plus Brian, George Martin, lots of girls... Everybody seemed to be having a lot of fun. I spotted Eli chatting cheerily to Pattie and Maureen and I felt like joining the club of Beatles’ girls. I was going to do so when I felt a hand on my shoulder. At first it scared me a little, but when I turned around and I saw Paul, I relaxed:

• "Paul!"
• "Yeah, luv, Paul! What are ya doin’ all on your own ‘ere?" Where’s John?", I looked for him with my eyes and spotted him talking to the actor of A Hard Day’s Night, Victor Spinetti.
• "There he is", I told Paul, like telling him he shouldn’t try anything drastic because John could see him. To no use.
• "OK; I see, keeping an eye on you, I guess...", I looked at him with the corner of my eye to see if I could make out anything from his expression, but nothing. "No wonders, luv".
• "And Eli?", I asked him, knowing perfectly well where she was.
• "With Pattie and Mo, I think... Want something to drink?", I lifted up my glass of Scotch and Coke, a habit I had picked up from John. "I’ll go get something for me, then. Don’t move, I’ll be right back", and he went towards the bar. I saw him go and decided to go towards John, but then I stopped, thinking that maybe he wouldn’t want to be disturbed so I went to one of the balconies the hotel had upstairs.

Upstairs was almost empty. Only some couples were there kissing each other taking advantage of the privacy that the solitude of upstairs provided them.

So I went to one of the balconies and went out. It was a beautiful summer night. There I could relax, ‘cos nobody could see me and I could see everybody. Looking down I saw the cars and the lights of London. I was enjoying my solitude at that moment because thus I could think of many things. John and I were now doing really great. We loved each other a lot and I didn’t want to think that he was going on tour again soon. I was leaned on the baranda when I noticed someone leaning on it too. I didn’t even have to look to see who it was, for I knew it was Paul.

• "Lovely night, ain’t it?", he told me. I was not one for games, and I wasn’t liking that particular game.
• "Paul, stop following me", I told him, turning around and facing him. He turned around too to face me.
• "Ironic, ain’t it? All the girls in the damn world following me and I following the only girl I’ll never have...", I was getting tired and fed up of hearing there same story every time Paul and I were alone. I made up my mind, then. I’d never again be alone with him. I’d try to avoid the situation as much as I could. And I was going to start then. I turned around again and started walking towards the door to go back to John but Paul grabbed my arm and stopped me: "’old on, luv!", I stopped I don’t know why. Paul was looking at me deeply in the eye and I held his gaze. Something would have happened had not been for one of the female guests bursting loudly in the terrace and shouting:
• "Oh, dear, Vicky! You’re here!", she was breathless, as though she had been running the 100 metres free. "John is looking for you like mad. He’s asking everybody about you and he’s becoming a little bit aggressive!". Oh, no! To make matters worse, John aggressive! I looked at Paul. He still had his hand on my arm and I only prayed that the girl hadn’t realised. He immediately got rid of my hand.

• "God, Vicky! Where have you been? You can’t imagine how aggressive John had become! Saying things like that he was going and that you had left him...", I looked for John with my eyes like frantic. Then I suddenly spotted him. Brian was talking to John, I could see he was trying to calm him down. I left Eli and went towards them.

I approached them slowly, not wanting to intrude. Brian saw me and then John turned around and saw me too:

• "Fuckin’ ‘ell, girl! Where the fuck ya been?", I was dead nervous. I didn’t want another scene. Oh no!
• "I’ve been out in the balcony... I just needed some fresh air..."
• "Fuck! Ya could ‘ave told me!", I didn’t say anything. There was no point in telling him that what I wanted was to flee from Paul.
• "John... I think you’ve drunk too much", he looked at me.
• "I’ve had a drink or too and I don’t care... There was no fun in what I did if ya weren’t ‘ere...", I looked down. John was hurt. I was jealous sometimes. Any girl would be jealous knowing that all the girls in the world were after your boyfriend. But John could also be jealous... and aggressive. The combination of both was not at all good.
• "Alright, John, now she’s here", said Brian, who had remained silent up to that moment.

Thankfully, after that, I didn’t walk away from John and so the night ended up well.

In a couple of days, John announced me that they were going to Liverpool for the Northern premiere of A Hard day’s Night. I wanted so much to go back to Liverpool that I told John I wanted to go with them.

• "Look, luv", he told me. "This is not a pleasure visit... it’ll be like in America, you see... You’ll have to stay behind, maybe with Mimi or with Twitchy all the time..."
• "That’s OK, John. I don’t mind".
• "Yeah, well, but it’s only a couple of days anyroad...", well, John was not very keen on me going, so I gave up.
• "Alright. Bye, then!", I was in bed and I got so angry that I turned around and covered myself with the sheets.
• "C’me on, luv!", he uncovered me and very slowly he started pulling up the upper part of my pyjama. I was very angry with him and I didn’t know what he was up to:
• "Leave me alone, John! Go away! Didn’t you have to go? What are you waiting for?"
• "Shhh, relax, luv...", he said starting to massage my back. It was very pleasant. John was pressing all my back up and down with his fingers and soon I was surprised to hear my own moans of pleasure. John laughed. "Still wanting me to go, luv?"
• "John, stop torturing me, OK? What do you want?", he stopped massaging me and lied over me covering my body with his. He kissed my cheek:
• "I’ve got a surprise fer ya when we come back, luv!", another kiss and I felt him getting up from me. I turned around to face him. I saw him there, so sexy, in his suit with tie, long mop.-top, fringe almost covering his eyes... he was irresistible. Oh, God! I had once again lost the battle.
• "Oh, John! Come here!", he directed me one of his wonderful goofy smiles and came to me again. We kissed passionately as though we were not to see each other again. Our tongues kissed each other too. Then he kissed the tip of my nose and started undoing his tie. "What are you doing? The boys must be waiting for you!"
• "And what can they do? Fire me?", we laughed and I took out the upper part of my pyjama. John was unbuttoning his shirt when the phone started ringing. We both stopped short, looking at each other and without wanting to move. The phone rang and rang. "Fuckin’ ‘ell!", I looked at the phone.
• "Fans or an important thing, John?", I was so used to the ringing phone and finding fans on the other line when I picked it up that I didn’t know what to think. Well, had it been fans, it would have stopped ringing at intervals. This time, the phone wouldn’t stop ringing. John looked at me.
• "Don’t know... Go pick it up!", he said getting up.
• "Hello?"
• "Vicky, this is Brian! Is John there?", I looked at John, who was looking at me with questioning eyes.
• "Yes, hold on a second, Brian!", I put a hand on the phone to cover it. "John, it’s Brian!", John looked at his watch, then at me and with a goofy smile on his lips he came to me.
• "Troubles a’ead, luv! I’m afraid we’ll have to leave it for the next time", he picked up the phone. "Yes, Brian, spit it out", there was silence and I saw John smiling at the phone. "Gerron, Eppy! What can you do? Fire me?", another pause. "Alright", and he hang up.
• "What?", I asked him.
• "I’m bloody late and all that shit", said John, still with that grin on his face. I sighed.
• "So, you’d better go, John. After all, this is how our life has been since long ago, hasn’t it?" he came to me and held me by the shoulders.
• "What d’ya mean?"
• "You’re getting in and out of my life every short period of time. It was hard at first, but now I’m getting used to it", John’s features sharpened. The pressure on my shoulders weakened. I tried to smile. "Don’t worry! I love you anyway".
• "It’s me life, luv. This is what I’ve chosen, what I’ve been fighting so hard for... I told ya once..."
• "Yeah, I know, John. You don’t need to repeat it..."
• "Fuckin’ shit, luv! Hate to leave ya like this!"
• "John, please, go. We’ll make up for past absences when you come back...", John looked disappointed and so did I.
• "I don’t like this, ya know...", he told me. We kissed. When we broke apart, we both had the feeling that something was not right, at least, as right as it should be. John went to the door and from there he waved me goodbye. But that day, and on that particular moment, it was as though something invisible cracked in our relationship. Something we were not aware of, but that would turn into the beginning of the end of our relationship.