This is going to be a sort-of prologue to my story please review, it means a lot to me to know that you like my story. :)

Grace Burgess was 10 years old and today, well, today she was moving from Ireland to Birmingham with her uncle. It seemed weird to be moving from a very large house to Small Heath, but since the death of her father Grace had grown used to weird being normal. She refused to speak on the boat across from Ireland to Portsmouth. Her uncle was there to pick her up, he had become a substitute father to Grace but he would never replace her real father. It took about four hours to get to Birmingham, by that time there was only enough time left for Grace to unpack her things and have something to eat before her uncle told her it was time for bed.

The Shelby children had just recently lost their mother and it was fair to say that the three brothers were taking it worse than their father or sister. Just last week their aunt Polly had moved in to help Arthur Shelby Snr look after four young children. They had been outside playing when that had seen a car pull up, the kids all rolled their eyes and prepared piles of mud to throw at the owner of the car, a man who didn't belong in Small Heath. Just as the door opened and the kids prepared to throw the mud, they saw a young girl about their age step out of the car and grab a bag before being led into the house.

The next morning there was a small knocking at the door, Grace sat at the top of the stairs as her uncle opened the door to reveal 4 young children; she had seen them yesterday when she had arrived. There were 3 boys and a girl, all looked to be in the age range of 8-14, Grace suddenly felt a hope of getting out of the house for a little while. The young girl looked up at Grace's uncle and spoke,
"Yesterday afternoon, we saw a girl come here, we were wondering if she wanted to come and play with us and a couple of others for a bit?" Grace couldn't believe what she was hearing,
"Can I, Uncle? Please, just for a little bit," her uncle relented and let her go out with these children. She grabbed her old jacket and pulled it on before going out with these four children,
"So who are you lot, I'm Grace, Grace Burgess and I'm 10," the kids all spoke one after the other,
"Arthur Shelby, 13," He had a thick Birmingham accent to him,
"Thomas Shelby, 11," His blue eyes shone with interest in Grace,
"John Shelby, I'm 9," He looked as if he was often left out due to his older brothers,
"Ada Shelby and I'm 8," Grace looked at the only girl, it was almost as if she was protected by her older brother too much for her liking. The five kids played out for the whole day. They spent ages getting to know each other and finally Grace felt like she had a normal thing back, she hadn't felt anything normal since her father's death.

As the years went on the Shelby family changed, Aunt Polly began looking after the kids single handed since their father abandoned a small child at their doorstep and left them. He hadn't been seen in over a year. Grace became close with Tommy, the two would often go off and sit on the hills by the canal together and just talk for a bit. Now with Grace at 14 and Tommy at 15, they were nearly always out together. Grace's uncle hated Tommy massively. He always seemed to think that Tommy was taking advantage of Grace no matter how much she cared for him.
"C'mon, Tommy, just tell me the truth," Grace said as she linked her arm with his, her Irish accent still thick on her voice without the smallest hint of a Birmingham accent, Tommy looked at her and just began laughing,
"No, you'll make fun of me," he said through his laughing,
"Tommy, all the boys at school are ready to back you. Besides I won't laugh! Just tell me, what do you want to do when you grow up?" Tommy looked at her with a look he only ever used with her,
"I want to work with horses." Grace stopped,
"Really?" She seemed shocked, Tommy nodded seriously, he looked at Grace and that was it, they both started laughing. The two walked back towards the others where they were having a mud-fight. When they turned into the field one mud pile hit Tommy square on the chest and everyone stopped, it was one of Ada's friends who had thrown it, Tommy looked murderous, that was until Grace started laughing, Tommy joined her and pretty soon everyone was laughing and Tommy and Grace joined the mud-fight. Everyone was laughing, they didn't have a care in the world, it was 1910, they were all still kids, Grace was just 15, she had been in Birmingham for five years now and she felt more at home in grubby little Small Heath than she ever felt in Ireland.

It didn't take long for darkness to approach and 16 kids all walked off the hill laughing and covered head to toe in mud, most of the kids were quite young and everyone was ready to go home and get to bed, most parents just clicked their tongues as their children arrived back, it was Small Heath, you couldn't step outside without mud covering you so the children of the streets always took advantage of the days after rain. Yet Grace didn't have it so easy as she got home, her uncle started shouting at her before the door had even closed, Tommy came over to the door,
"It was my fault, sir. I was the one who hit Grace with the mud," Tommy noticed how suddenly Grace's uncle was red and looked like he was ready to kill Tommy, before he could do anything, all the kids were over at the door and saying that they had helped,
"You are not coming into this house looking like that," his voice was murderously low and Grace looked terrified as the door shut. Grace looked over to Tommy and the others with a sad smile that just said thanks for trying, Tommy hugged her gently and brought her across the road towards his house.

The two stepped inside and took off their jackets,
"I can't go home yet, he'll kill me," Grace had tears in her eyes as Polly approached her,
"C'mon, you can sleep in Ada's room tonight." Grace was thankful for the Shelby's and no matter how angry he could get at people, she was beyond thankful for Tommy.