We pull up to the manor and I step out into the cold fresh air.
"Home sweet home" We step through the front doors of the manor and I immediately smell the fumes from the kitchen. It smells like fish.
I hate fish.
"Yous can untie me now" I say. Sometime over when I was pretending to have an accent it actually happened. Now it's just how I talk.
"Oh yes" One of the butlers comes and cuts the ropes free. I rub my wrists that have been chafed and bloodied from the ropes.
"Go unpack" I look around me at all the stuff I don't have.
"Oh I see. Well then go change and bring your clothes down when you're done"
I go upstairs and walk into my bedroom. It looks the exact same. I thought she would've done something to it since I've been gone so long. I find some shorts and a shirt in my dresser and change into it. I gather all my clothes but leave my hat up in my room. It doesn't need to be washed anyway. I walk downstairs with all my newsie clothes in my arms. I see my mom and bring them to her.
"Ya wanted ta wash these?" I hand the clothes out to her.
"Wash? My goodness no!" She takes them and walks over to the fireplace. Before I can respond to what she's doing she drops all my clothes into the fireplace.
"NO!" I try to get to her but I am held back by one of the butlers.
"Let me go!" I scream at the butler.
He doesn't let go and I eventually stop fighting him. Hurting my mom won't change a thing. She still burned my clothes.
"We're hosting a party for you tonight darling" I raise my eyebrows at my mom.
"Why"
"To reintroduce you into society" I laugh and she looks at me like nothing is funny.
"Yous gotta be kiddin me. Next your gonna tell me I gotta wear a fancy dress and shit"
"Yes you have to wear a dress and do your hair nice"
"What if I's just do ma hair?" I loosely pull my hair into a messy bun and point at it.
"Like this" She stays silent so I take it out.
"No. The least you can do is wear a dress"
"Fine"
"Please don't tear it up and make another "project" out of it"
She puts up air quotes on the word project. She must be talking about my last masterpiece before I left.
"Why don't you get ready. It starts in a few hours"
~~~~
I go into my room and quietly shut the door. She was stupid to trust me to not escape again. I go over to the window and see why she was so confident. She put locks on the windows that can only be opened from outside. Shit what am I gonna do now. She won't trust me to go outside. I guess I don't have a choice, I have to go to this stupid party.
I see the dress she has put on my bed. It is actually really beautiful. The top half is a gold floral pattern with a deep vneck. The bottom is a chiffon white long skirt that is open in the front. I see a pair of sparkly gold heels next to it on the bed.
I put it on and adjust it a bit. I thought about wearing my newsie hat with it but then I realized my mom would've just burned it too. I decide to paint my nails the same gold as the dress.
"Someone's here for you!" My mom yells from downstairs.
"Who is it?" I yell back.
"Someone named Spot" Spot? What the hell is he doing here.
"Coming" I quickly go downstairs and Spot is indeed standing right in the doorway.
"Handsome young man he is" My mom whispers in my ear when I approach the door.
"Leave" She walks away enough so she can't hear us but can still see me.
"What are you doin ere" I turn to Spot and change to a nicer tone than the one I used with my mom.
"Hey Princess" He leans on the doorway and I can't help but thinking about how hot he looks. I embrace him in a big hug.
"Haven't heard that one in a while" He looks me up and down.
"Well now yous look like one wit yer fancy dress and all"
I feel myself blushing a little bit. Then I realize I haven't seen him in a bit. And that he's here, at my house, seeing me as a girl, after a few weeks since I left Brooklyn. I start to panic.
"How are you here? And why and how did you find me and~"
"Calm down. I know yous were in Manhattan disguised as a guy."
"Why didn't ya say anything?"
"I didn't wanna expose ya if the other boys didn't know"
"How long"
"Since yous tried ta break Crutchy out"
"But how's did yous~"
"We'll talk later. I'm ere wit Race and Nick" Thats a trio I never thought I'd see.
Then 2 familiar heads pop out from the doorway.
"Hey guys!" I pull all 3 of them into a hug.
"So you ready ta get outta ere Brooklyn" Race says.
I look over at my mom who is giving me a curious look.
"Me mom is watchin me I can't guys"
"What about the window in ya room" Nick remembered about my window.
"Locked" Then something pops into my head.
"But it can be opened from the outside. If yous can get it open I can get out"
"Guys" Race looks at them both.
"Let's do this" I swear that sounds like something from a movie.
"Well we's better get goin!" Spot says loudly so my mom can hear him.
"See ya guys, uh, sometime!" Then I close the door and start going up the stairs but then my mom stops me.
"Who were they?"
"Friends" I go up a few more steps but get stopped again.
"They looked like newsies"
"They are" Shit I shouldn't have said that.
"They, uh, just came ta say goodbye"
"Oh I see. One of them reminded me of your cousin Nick" I stop in my tracks and slowly turn around to face her.
"Uhm it wasn't" I quickly turn away and run up the stairs before she can say anything else.
I open the door to my room and go over to the window. I was not expecting to see what I did. Race is on Spots shoulders trying to unlock the window. They finally get it and Race almost falls into the thorn bush like I did when I ran away.
I open it up and Nick gives me the ok to jump down.
I put my legs over the windowsill but then remember something. I quickly grab my newsie hat and put it on.
I jump down expecting to land on hard ground but I'm caught by someone instead. I look to see who it is and it's of course Spot.
Race makes a gagging sound and I look over at him. Nick punches him in the shoulder. I roll my eyes and get out of Spots grasp. These 3 are something else.
"Let's go"
~~~~
I pull Race aside to ask him a question I've been thinking about since we left my house.
"Why's did ya bring Spot"
"Ta help us get you"
"Oh come on that's not a real reason. Yous had Nick for where ta find me and it's not like he's contributin anythin"
"Well maybe, just maybe, I's think yous would be cute together" I burst out into laughter.
"Who knew yous had a soft spot for love" I keep laughing and Nick and Spot look at me like I'm crazy. I ignore them.
"I's don't. I can just see how much ya like em and I want yous to be happy"
"Aww thanks Race" I give him a kiss on the cheek and we join Nick and Spot again.
The dress^ (the shoes are different)