Rome (13 years old)
"Rome, I'm hungry" Romeo whined
I rolled my eyes playing with the mulch on the playground "I'm hungry too Romeo"
He sat up looking at me "Let's go get some food? Please?"
I sighed and looked up at the sky "It's not even daylight yet, the shelters won't be open for another few hours at least" He grumbled something and pulled his jacket over him, and laid back down on the bench. I sighed "You should lay on the slide, it's more comfortable"
"Whatever" He rolled over facing away from me.
"We can go check trashcans again-"
"Can we just go back to our foster home?"
I turned and looked at him crazy "You're the one who wanted to leave. Again" I shook my head "You can go back, but I'm not. We can't go back to our home and America sucks" I complained "We're better off this way"
"Yeah, I guess you're right" He kissed my head "Sorry. I'm just tired and hungry"
"It's okay" I smiled up at him "We'll be okay, I can feel it"
"I know we will"
"Come on"I stood up "I'm sure it's some people downtown that can pay for our breakfast. If the buses are running that means it's at least five. Mcdonald will be open" I shrugged
He sat up "Yeah let's go"
I was right, the buses were running and Romeo pointed out that the subway was open too. So I knew it was at least six in the morning. I told Romeo we should stick to the buses instead of the subway this time because we always have to jump the gate. I'm really not in the mood to get chased today, and Romeo can be so slow.
I looked at a crowd of people and nodded my head making Romeo look over. "I got this" He smiled and took off running.
"Jordan stop!" I yelled and everyone looked at me. They looked at Romeo and back at me, I started running towards him. "Romeo! We're gonna be late for school!" I chased after him. I bumped into a man and quickly slipped my hand into his pocket taking his wallet and putting it in my jacket "Sorry!" I gave a quick smile and ran off. "Jordan!" I bumped into an older lady and she fell to the ground "I am so sorry" I helped her up and slipped her watch off "My brother is an idiot"
"I understand" She smiled "Go on"
I gave her another smile and quickly ran off, I saw Romeo slowing down and round off to our meeting corner. I saw a guy with a briefcase in his hand and trip over him falling. He looked down at me and hesitantly helped me up. "Thank you" I slipped his watch off and slid it up my sleeve. I pointed to the crowd "Chasing my brother"
"I noticed" He turned around and I quickly picked his pocket for his wallet and ran off. I ran and bumped into another guy quickly snatching his wallet while he was arguing on his phone. Some people just need to pay better attention.
I ran and turned the corner and went behind the garbage cans. Romeo was sitting there smiling and held up three watches. "Told you I'm getting better"
I held up the two watches and three wallets I got and his smile fell, I started laughing and helped him up "Come on, so we can see what we got"
We found this abandoned house, it didn't look too bad, I didn't see any other homeless people roaming around so I broke the window and we both climbed in.
It wasn't too dusty or nasty so we just both sat on the floor and started to go through our winnings.
Romeo was going through the wallets and found forty dollars in the first one, twenty dollars in the second one, and a hundred sixty in the last one. "Two twenty," He said and smiled at me.
"Not including the watches, we'll do good for a few days. You wanna go to the goodwill and get a new coat?"
"Can we?"
"We did good today" I stood up "Toss the wallet and cards, keep the leather one, let's go get food"
"Can I get a bacon McGriddle?" Romeo looked at me and I nodded "and some orange juice" he moved out the way and I stepped up to the counter.
"I want a bacon McGriddle too, and a caramel frappe, extra caramel, no whip cream, and two hashbrowns" I turned and looked at Romeo "I know you want one"
"Shit, I thought we was saving money."
I handed her the money "It's fifteen dollars and we haven't ate in two days" I said the last part slowly. We went over and sat at a table with our drinks. "So I got an idea"
"Yeah?" Romeo said looking up at me from his drink
"We go to the goodwill, get some decent-looking clothes, and go to the 'nicer' side. Ask Hunter if he knows someplace we can scare good. We did good today" I shrugged "Maybe we can do better?"
"I don't know Rome, you always tell us not to get greedy. We haven't even pawned the watches yet. that's almost three hundred dollars, we can be comfortable on that for a few days. Maybe a week if we're smart"
I nodded my head and our food got called, Romeo went up to grab the food and came back over to our table. I grabbed my food and unwrapped my sandwich "You're right. but trust me, Romeo, I got a good feeling. Maybe we can hit something good that can last us a month"
"Ight, but after we eat."
"Of course"
The bell rang as we walked into Hunter's pawn shop, he looked up and smiled at us "There's my two favorite thieves"
"Hey! I like to think of us as your employee's" I said and he laughed
"Yeah? Well you're late then, that means I'm cutting your pay"
"When don't you cut our pay?" Romeo rolled his eyes
"Well it's hard to cut a check for runaways who steal people's shit"
"People shit that you reselling anyways" I raised an eyebrow at him
"Yeah yeah, what you got for me?" He asked looking us over
"Five watches and a leather wallet" I reached in my pocket and put the watches and wallet on the counter.
"Good morning huh?" He chuckled
"Yup," We said at the same time then looked at each other
"Got some breakfast and everything," I said
"We're gonna get some clothes after we leave here," Romeo said "We was thinking of hitting another place up. You know any good ones?"
He looked at the watches then us "Yeah, times square. It's Saturday and busy, and crowded enough that if you two do get caught you can get away."
Romeo looked at me and I nodded "It's about an hour bus ride but we can do it. Meet back here tomorrow morning?" I looked at Hunter.
"If you come back tonight and you get me something good, I'll let you two stay here for a few nights. I'll give you a pillow and blanket and everything. Swear"
"Asshole" I rolled my eyes but nodded my head "Yeah, we'll get you something good"
"Good, I'll give you two hundred for all this" He motioned to the watches and leather wallet, he held up a watch "This is what saved you two" He went in the register and pulled out two hundred dollars and handed it to me.
"Thanks, Hunter" I smiled at him
"Anything for my two favorite thieves. Now go on, go make me some more money"
"Rome this is ugly," Romeo said holding up the shirt I handed him.
"We're at the goodwill, almost everything is ugly in here."
"We'll can you hand me something almost decent looking?"
"Or you can stop being a baby and find it yourself" I glared at him
"Bitch" He mumbled walking away
"Pussy" I said and started sorting through the clothes again, I found some black cargo pants and put them in the cart. They had a lot of pockets and would be easier to steal with. I looked for a long leave shirt to go with the pants, I liked to double my long leave shirts cause it was easier to hide watches or shit like that up them. I found a red long sleeve shirt with new york on it and a plain black one next to it. I threw them in the cart and saw some beat-up old converses. I picked them up looking at the size and lucky enough for me they were a six.
"Rome look" Romeo came running around the corner. He held up some cargo shorts and a white short-sleeve shirt with Nike on it and a hoodie.
"You already got a hoodie, get some shoes instead" I looked at his shoes that were slowly falling apart
"I like these shoes"
I sighed rubbing my forehead "Fine keep the hoodie just grab some shoes too"
"Okay," He smiled and ran off.
"Fucking child"
He came back just as quick as he left "Look" He handed me a cross-body over the shoulder bag "I found it in the men's section but I figured it would do us some good?"
I smiled "Yeah it would, let's get some books, just a few, make it look a little full, and if somebody tries to get us they'll just feel books"
"Smart"
"Wow," Me and Romeo said looking around Times Square. Though we had been in New York for a year we had never come here. Foster families didn't exactly take you nice places unless you were lucky enough to end up in a good home.
Me and Romeo never got the good homes. Shit, we were lucky if we got a home if we ate twice a day on the weekends.
"Rome," He said smiling and looking around
"I know" I shook my head "It's so loud."
He grabbed my hand "Let's go"
"Be quick, grab what you can, easy, and keep moving." I looked at him "Stay with me okay? No tricks today, just simple"
"Got it"
Romeo let my hand go and I let him go in front, I usually watched him for a few moments because he would get the easier people since he wasn't as good as me. Once I picked up his pattern, I noticed the people who looked like they had more money. I was quick, grabbing wallets and watches and sliding them into my bag and pants. Times Square was so busy and loud that I barely had to do anything. Everybody was already bumping into each other, they were doing the work for me.
I saw Romeo round off a corner and followed him, snatching a few more wallets before I called it quits. Romeo was sitting in an alley and I walked up to him and sat next to him. "How'd you do"
"Six wallets, I didn't go for the watches because it was so busy"
I nodded my head and opened the bag he picked out. I started emptying my pockets and pulled some watches out my sleeves. "Ten wallets, five watches" I looked over the watches "I don't think these are nice enough for Hunter to let us stay in the shop tonight though"
"How the fuck did you even get the watches?"
"I'm good at what I do" I shrugged and leaned my head against the brick wall "I wish we could get a fucking motel room or something" I looked at Romeo "Let's count and go back out, we need something good for Hunter"
I put the watches at the bottom of our bag, I looked at Romeo who was counting all the money, I grabbed the wallets and started feeling them. I found a leather one and put it in our bag.
"320," He said wide-eyed
"320?" He looked up at me and nodded, I smiled at him and hugged him. He handed me the money and I put it at the bottom of our bag "We hit that shit again and we can get a steak"
"What the hell is we waiting for then?" He said and jumped up.
We got up and walked out of the alley, right when we did, a few feet away, we saw an SUV pull up and three men get out, one of the men held the door open and another man stepped out, he had black hair with little greys in it, he was dressed very nice in a very nice suit, you could obviously tell it was a designer. He said something to one of the men and they nodded their head. He pulled his phone out answering a call and I looked at Romeo and he was already looking at me. I looked back at the man and he was dripping in money. A Rolex watch on his wrist, gold rings on his hands. He reached back in and pulled his jacket out throwing it on, as he was, I saw a gold wallet clip. It was deep inside but I knew I could get it.
The man who held the door open for the fancy man got back in the car, he waved his hand dismissively and the second man got back in the car. So now it was just him and one man. I could do this.
"Give me your hand" I held my hand out
"Should we wait until he comes back out-"
I grabbed his hand and started walking towards the two men, the fancy man was yelling on the phone in a different language "Put your head down" I said to Romeo
We both put our heads down and started walking a little faster, I was looking at his shoes and pulled on Romeo. I looked up and started laughing "Come on Mikey!" Romeo started laughing and I ran straight into the fancy man and fell on my ass which made Romeo fall into the other man.
"Cazzo!" (Fuck!) He dropped his phone and I looked up at him, I froze for a second because he looked so damn scary. I looked over at Romeo who was also looking at the other man with wide eyes.
"Sorry," I said lowly and looked at the ground. I looked over at the other man who was too distracted by Romeo who was complaining about his ankle to the man.
"Here" The man held his hand out to me, luckily for me the one with the Rolex. I held out my hand and fumbled a bit, enough to distract him and take his watch. I was about to go for his wallet but felt a gun. I looked up at him and decided to grab it anyway and quickly slid it up my sleeve. "Are you okay?" He asked with a heavy accent.
I nodded my head and looked over to Romeo who was looking at me "Are you okay Mikey?"
He nodded his head "I think I hurt my ankle but I'm fine"
"Come on, let's go before mom gets worried" I looked at the man again "Sorry. Again Mr."
He nodded his head "You two be careful" He looked at us then cleared his throat "Let's go" He said to the man and went inside.
Me and Romeo looked at each other then took off running. "You fucking did it," He said laughing then jumped and kept running. I pointed to a corner and we hit it. Romeo was about to stop but I pulled him up to keep running.
"Hey! You two!" We turned around and saw the other man the fancy man was with and we both started running faster.
"Shit, shit, shit" I mumbled freaking out. I started looking around and pointed to a building. Romeo nodded and we ran into a Chinese restaurant then ran out the back where the trash was. I saw a big dumpster and pointed to it. We quickly opened the lid and jumped in closing it. I looked at Romeo and put my finger over my lips telling him to be quiet and he nodded.
I heard the door slam and heavy breathing "Non riesco a trovarli capo" (I can't find them, boss"
It was silent for a few minutes, Romeo looked at me and I shook my head. I heard the door slam again and was about to move but I heard another voice "Controlla in questo modo, fottuto idiota" (Check that way you fucking idiot"
I heard the man run off but didn't hear another anything else. The door didn't slam shut so I knew he was still there. "You two have 5 seconds to come out," He said calmly, I heard footsteps walking towards the dumpster and Romeo looked at me. "One, two, three"
I looked at Romeo and mouthed for him to stay down and he shook his head. I gave him a look and he closed his eye.
"Four-"
I stood up and opened the lid, I made sure to drop the watch to Romeo so he could get back to Hunter, and that way he could have somewhere nice to sleep tonight.
"Where's the boy?" He said to me
"We split up"
He scoffed "Get out of that fucking dumpster" he came over and held his hand out, I looked at it and hesitantly took it. He picked me up and pulled me out of the dumpster like I was a fucking 3-year-old.
"Don't do that" I said dusting my clothes off glaring at him
He shook his head "Don't steal. Now, where's my watch?"
I crossed my arms "I don't have it, just the money"
"The money?" He looked at me bewildered and reached in his jacket then looked at me "Give it here" he held out his hand
I reached in my pants and handed him his money "You gone call me police on me or what?"
"You know for somebody who just stole something of mine you sure do have a fucking attitude"
"So?"
"'So'" He scoffed "Okay," He looked me over and knelt down in front of me "I'll let you go but, I want to speak with your mom"
"W-What?" I looked at him crazy "No, not happening"
"She doesn't know you're out here stealing? There's a shock" He stood up and grabbed my arm "I don't care, you still need to tell her"
"You can't!" I yelled and snatched away from him
"And why the hell not?"
I looked down at the ground "S-She's dead"
"Merda" (Shit) I looked up at him and he wiped his face "You aren't fucking with me are you?"
"No, I swear"
"Your dad?"
"Dead too" I crossed my arms
"So who the hell do you live with?"
"My brother"
"The boy," He said knowingly and I nodded my head "That's why you two stole my shit"
"Ding, ding, ding," I said and he looked like he was about to hit me and I stepped back holding up my hands "We were promised a place to stay tonight if we got something good," I said quickly.
He looked down at me and his face soften "You know where your brother is?"
"Why?" I held my chin up looking at him
He stared at me for a while then looked up at the sky "Amore mio per favore dimmi se sto per fare la cosa giusta" (My love please tell me if I'm about to do the right thing"
"I don't know that language you speaking," I said irritated
He looked at me shocked then started laughing "How about this, we find your brother and I'll give you two somewhere to stay for a few days?"
I looked at him confused "You gone kidnap us ain't you? Sell us into sex slavery and shit?"
He chuckled and shook his head "I'm just trying to help, that's all" he looked at me and I couldn't help but to trust him.
"Okay" I nodded my head
"Good" He smiled "Let's go find your brother"
"Romeo!" I yelled and Romeo jumped up flipping the lid off and it hit the wall making a loud bang
"Where we gone stay can I please have a shower Mr.Nice man" Romeo jumped out and came over to us "Sorry we stole from you, you cool as fuck."
The man was looking down at Romeo like he was crazy then me then back at Romeo. I looked at Romeo "You're an idiot" I said to Romeo
"Says the girl letting a stranger take us in" He said to me
"He's not a stranger" I looked at him "What's your name?"
"Ricardo," He said smiling
"See" I looked at Romeo "Not a stranger," I shrugged "And all our names start with R's"
"Just come on you two" he shook his head