I watched as a bird flew over head. Remembering my life when I first became a newsie. I looked into the deep blue water below. I grabbed Spots hand and looked at him. I didn't have to say anything. He looked at me and gave me a deep kiss. I felt Spot's hand around my waist as I pulled him close. I heard the cling of the necklace around my neck with his key as we kissed. I remembered the first time we kissed as if it was only yesterday. We came so far in the time we spent together. Finally it was almost over. Our long hard struggle to be together.
"Will ye quit? Ye need te get a room tageda!" Bailey teased.
"Whudd'er ye doin hea?" I questioned annoyed she interrupted, still gazing into Spot's eyes.
"Hello! Didn't ye hea? We sent Runner te tell ye we was comin." She snapped at me.
"Wait, we thought youse was comin tomorra, its Thoisday tomorra." I looked down at her with a confused look.
"No, taday's Thoisday, I can't believe ye guys can't even keep track of de days no mora! Seriously ye shouldn't stay tageda all de time, ye'd ferget yer own family too!"
"Sorry Bailey. Where's everyone else?" I asked noticing she was the only one there.
"Dey'll be hea soon, Doodles is hea too." Bailey replied as Spot and I got off of the lookout.
"Really? How's it goin wit her an Race?"
"Derre great, but Race didn't come taday."
"Aw, why not? Derre usually tageda." I said holding Spot's hand as we headed towards Bailey on the pier.
"He's not in de mood te see ye two all mushy like, don't worry he's comin tomorra wit Blink an R.T."
"Yea, how was R.T's stay wit youse guys?" Spot asked smiling.
"Don't worry, he got in te some fights wit de guys." Bailey laughed. "Butno worries I was derre. No one eva messes wit me!" Bailey smiled and we all laughed. "C'mon we can meet em at de Lodging House lata…. Angel ye know its time. He's growin up, we need te tell im de truth."
"Bailey, I know but lets wait a lil. I'll tell Kevin when I think its time."
"Angel, yer keepin de truth from im. He needs te know bout oua family, oua real one." Bailey said seriously.
"I know, but he's still a kid." I argued.
"Angel, Kevin can't stay a kid fereva. Ye an I know he's gotta grow up." Bailey knowing as much as I did, it could hurt Kevin to find out he is only a half brother and keeping Bailey a secret from him.
"Bailey's right Angel, ye can't keep dis from him fereva. Ye can't always protect im." Spot placed a hand on my shoulder.
"I know, ye can't blame me fer wantin te keep dis from im……ye don't think he'll hate me fer dis do ye?"
"He'll hate ye even mora if ye don't tell im de truth soon….an mebe I'll do somethin bout it!" she snapped waving a fist in my face.
I got her point immediately. She didn't care how much it would hurt him as long as he knew about his family. I couldn't feel the same knowing now I felt like a stranger to my own brother. Keeping secrets from him his whole life after our mother was killed.
"Ye alright Angel? Ye don't look so well.." Bailey asked waving a hand in my face. "Mebe yer just in yer own woild.."
"Sorry, I was just thinkin. Ok so we'll tell im soon."
"Correction, you'll tell im soon." Bailey corrected me.
"Hold it, so yer not tellin im?"
"Hell no! I aint tellin im. I don't want im te hate me afta he finds out I'm his sista."
"Bailey, yer leavin it all up te me? How can ye do dat?" I questioned
"Easily, I'ma walk away. When ye see im, jus make surre ye tell im."
I stood there with my mouth wide open as she crossed the docks. As we followed I couldn't believe she was being unreasonable, actually she wouldn't really listen to me. She never really did anyways. It took me a moment to realize Spot leaving also.
"Hold it Mista! Yer stayin wit me!" I laughed grabbing him from behind.
"I know ye ain't letting me go if I say no right?" he asked chuckling.
"Dis ain't funny, yer supposed te help me out. I can't do deese types of things alone." I snapped finding none of it the least bit funny.
"Look you'll be fine. He's yer brodda he'll undastand." Spot said brushing the hair out of my face. It comforted me knowing he had faith.
We headed to the Lodging House, the Brooklyn news boys were inside playing poker as usual. Others were out eating or still selling. Bailey was back and sitting with Jack and Kevin. As we came closer I could see how much Kevin has grown since our stay with the newsies, I looked at Scott knowing he realized why we got there without Bailey.
"Hey Kev, c'mon I think we gotta talk wit Angel. It's kinda important so let's go inta yer room Spot." Scott said to Spot as we walked up to them.
"Whudds it 'bout?" Kevin asked in his squeaky voice.
"Don't worry, you'll undastand afta." I said hugging him. I knew this would be hard for him to understand and he would take it pretty hard knowing all his life we've been lying to him.
"Angel, I think ye should tell im." Scott said..
"Why!?" I demanded. "Ye can too, yer supposed te be da olda brodda hea!"
"It was yer idea te wait an tell im when he was old enough te know." Scott yelled.
"Tell me what!?" Kevin asks impatiently.
"Look, we've kept dis from ye cuz we love ye, I jus want ye te know dat. Me and Bailey hea, we'se twins." I said looking into his eyes. I waited for his reaction, but he didn't seem to give one. "Anudda thing, ye ain't oua full brodda, ye gots a different dad den me, Bailey, an Scott."
"Why, why didn't ye tell me?" He asked starring at me.
"I- we couldn't. Not till we knew youse was old enough te undastand."
"Ye lied te me dis whole time?! Ye said oua fatha left us!" Kevin screamed at me
"He did!" I yelled back. "He left alla us!"
"NO!! Yer fatha left youse. What happened te mine!" Kevin yelled back.
I looked at Scott for help. I could see he had nothing to say either. "Look Kevin,-" before I could finish Kevin ran out the door.
I turned to Scott, I wanted to look into his eyes to see if he saw what I did. He wouldn't look at me, instead he turned away. He knew Kevin's reactions and he too saw that Kevin now hated me. He felt guilt, everyone could see it, he asked me to do this hoping it might help Kevin since we were close, instead it was now about to tear our relationship apart.
"I can't believe ye made me tell im!" I turned and ran after Kevin.
"Angel come back!!" Scott yelled but I decided to ignore him.
"Kevin wait." I yelled as he started down the stairs, "Please!"
"Why! Ye lied te me! Ye don't want me!!" I could hear the pain in his voice.
"Kevin wait, jus listen please!" I jumped the last few steps before he got to the bottom of the stairs and we both were knocked down. "Listen," I said pinning him down as he struggled to get away.
Kevin was now thirteen and about to turn fourteen, he was stronger than me and could have easily thrown me off as I pinned him down.
"Please jus listen, we know who oua fatha is. He tried te make me leave wit im, te leave Spot,.. te leave you, but everyone hea helped and got me outta dat. But yer fatha, we don't know where he is. He's de one dat killed oua mudda. I'm really sorry but me and Scott love ye. We try oua hardest so dat yer happy an safe. If we didn't want ye we wouldna tried so hard te make yer life betta den ouas." I said trying to calm him. "Please, yer thirteen. An growin up fast, I didn wanna tell ye. No one did. Yer old enough te know dat we love ye. I'm not askin fer ye te fergive us, or me. Jus think it ova, as much as it hoits, don't hate us. We was jus tryin te protect ye."
I let go of Kevin. I was expecting him to yell or to run off, but to my amazement. He hugged me. "I can't hate ye."
I hugged him back and we sat there for about five minutes. "Let's go, we can walk it off if ye wanna." I suggested.
"Can I ask ye bout yer fatha?" Kevin asked as we headed out of the door.
"Of course. Anything ye want." I said putting my arm around his shoulder. "Yer getting awfully tall too, we gotta fix dat." I laughed as he smirked. "Lets go an see if anyone's hoid from Race er de oddas."
"Alright, but I don't wanna see Scott afta dis." Kevin said leading the way.
"Why not?" I stopped to hear the rest of what he had to say.
"Cuz, I don't wanna face im afta I acted like a child."
"Look, ye didn take it as bad as we thought. Yer still a child, ye can act any way ye want!" I smiled "I know I still act like one and I'm eighteen."
"Yer like a big baby a lot too." He laughed. "Ye can kinda fight which is good, but Doodles and Bailey still gots lots te teach ye."
"Ye wanna bet?! I can take ye down squirt!" I warned grabbing him around the neck and giving him a noogie.
"Cut it out, I don't wanna hoit ye! Scott an Spot would kill me, even de goils!" He yelped trying to break free.
As we reached the restaurant Poet rushed out of the door. He ran smack into me and Kevin and the three of us fell to the ground, Kevin next to me and Poet on top of me. Stunned for a moment to realize what had just happened I came to my senses and found Poet on top of me very uncomfortably.
"Sorry bout day." He said using a hand to push himself up not realizing where it was placed.