It was a cool, April afternoon in 1930 that changed little Ginny Williams' life forever. Even at the 11 years old she knew have known not to cut through the dark alleyway tucked in in between the butcher shop and Doctor Mason's office, but it was getting late and cutting through the alley would cut five minutes off of her walk. She knew that if her daddy got home before she had, well it wouldn't be pretty. Her long chestnut hair bounced on her shoulders as she tried to hurry, running would make her sweaty and then daddy would know that she hadn't gone straight home.
Just as she was halfway through the alley, two tall, well-groomed teenagers that she recognized from school, blocked her exit. The first boy, was the taller of the two, dirty blonde hair perfectly framed his face, his perfectly pointy nose was stuck up in the air as if he smelled something horrible, as it often was and he sneered at her. The second boy, another blonde with a sneer was slightly shorter. Both wore fancy, expensive clothes. These boys were trouble. Ginny stopped and stood still, contemplating going forward or turning back to go the long way home. Would it be worth her daddy's wrath just to avoid them? No, not really. But these same boys had beat up little Billy Brown and his younger sister just days before and got away with it. Not wanting to take a chance on being their next victim, Ginny made the decision to turn around and go back the way she came. When she turned, she found herself walking directly into the third member of their trio.
He was the tallest of the three, with hair as dark as charcoal and a pale, pointed face. Ginny forced the panic she was felling down and turned back to the other two. They had moved closer, trapping her between them. "Well, well, well fellas, take a gander at what we have here." The plummy voice of the leader sent tremors of fear down through the young girl. "W-what do you want Charlie?" Ginny tried to hide her stammer, showing her fear would get her nowhere. The boys began to circle her like vultures, cruel grins on their faces. Charlie, the leader, stepped forward, grabbing at the straps that held her school books together and tossing them to John, the shorter of Charlie's cronies.
"Give them back!" The small girl cried out, she needed those books and didn't have the time to waste. Instead of John giving her back her belongings, he tossed them to Henry as she tried to reach for them. Frustrated and close to tears, Ginny turned to reach towards Henry, only for him to toss the books back to Charlie. "What are you going to do about it? Run home and cry to mommy?" He taunted, causing her to freeze, her shoulders sagging. "Oh, that's rights, you can't, you don't have one." He laughed, his friends joining in.
Ginny felt the tears slip down her cheeks as she closed her green eyes. He was not wrong; a girl couldn't count on her dead mother to make things right. Opening her eyes, she turned to Charlie. "What do you want from me? You know I don't have anything that I could give you. No money, you're two grades ahead of me, the books are no use to you! Just give them back and leave me alone, please!" She knew she was practically begging now, and begging would get her nowhere. It couldn't hurt to try though. She squared her shoulders as Charlie stepped towards her, she could feel his foul breath on her face. "Who said I wanted anything from you? You're just a waste of space."
Before she could respond, Charlie was yanked away from her, Henry and John took off, not waiting around to see who it is or what would happen, if their leader would go down, he'd go down alone, she watched them leave, running down the alley the way that they came. Turning back to Charlie she was surprised to see him being held against the dirty brick wall by a tall boy with dark hair. "Drop the books, and get lost," He was calm, but stern, the threat was thinly masked, but she could hear it just skimming the surface. She heard her books hit the ground with a thud and watched as the stranger released Charlie from his grip. "Now scram!" Charlie, it seemed, did not need to be told twice. He took off, looking back once before disappearing out of sight.
With the bullies gone, Ginny was able to relax a bit. She didn't know who the boy was, but she was sure grateful. He turned to face her, rolling the long sleeves of his shirt back down to his wrists, a small smirk on his face, his light blue eyes shined brightly. Looking down at her feet, she took a moment to collect herself and wipe away the tears. Looking back at him she smiled weakly. "T-thank you, I'm sure they would have left me alone eventually, but thank you." It came out barely above a whisper and she knew it was a lie, they would not have left until they were satisfied.
"Scum like t hem don't give up, they have all the money they could want, they pick on the little guy because they enjoy it. But you're welcome." His voice, although smooth, cracked slightly. He chuckled a little to himself before continuing, he walked over to a much shorter, sandy blonde haired boy that she hadn't noticed before. He looked like a good gust of wind could knock him over, the taller boy put his hand on his shoulder. "Besides, if I didn't step in, Steve here, he'd never stop nagging me about it." Ginny wasn't sure how she should take that, did he only help because his friend told him to? Either way, she was just happy to have been helped.
The little guy, Steve, shrugged off his friend's hand, bending down to pick up her books before shyly handing them to her. Happy to have them back in her possession, she gripped them to her chest. "Thanks, Steve, right?" It would be impolite to to ask, even if his friend made it obvious who he was. He nodded the affirmative. Clearly, Steve was not much of a talker. "My daddy would wallop me something awful if I lost these." All at once she began to panic, there was no way that she'd get home before him now. "Oh no, I'm late, I'm so late!" She was almost in tears again. Poor Steve looked to his friend as if asking what he should do, he had no idea of how to deal with a crying girl. Luckily for him, his friend had three younger sisters.
"Tell you what, uh…what's your name?" The friend question, eyebrow raised. "Ginny," She responded without hesitating. She probably shouldn't have given them her name but they did just save her. "Ginny, right, James, Barnes, at your service, you can call me Bucky. Now, how about, Stevie here and I walk you home?" Ginny attempted to refuse, sure they were nice, but she really shouldn't show up at home with two strange boys, daddy wouldn't like that. Sensing that she was going to refuse, he continued. "Look, those three idiots? They could still be around, and I don't want you to get halfway home just to have them follow you and have another go at you."
Ginny wanted to say that he was wrong, she wanted to believe that they were scared off for good. However, these boys were known for picking a target and going after them until they got bored. Maybe if they didn't come all the way… "Okay, you can walk with me, but you can't come all the way, you can watch me from down the street if you want, but my father, he's…well he just doesn't like us having company and he's already going to be angry that I'm late." Bucky nodded, draped his arm over his friend's shoulder and looked at Ginny. "Lead the way fair maiden! Your knights are ready to fight for your honor." Ginny couldn't help but laugh, happy to have a distraction and someone who had a sense of humor was a nice breath of fresh air.
They walked for 15 minutes, Bucky telling stories of he'd had with Steve since they met earlier in the year. Apparently, they'd gotten to be very close in the short time that they'd met, more like brothers already rather than having only met months before. They'd snuck out of school once to go to Coney Island, she was slightly jealous, she'd never had the chance to go, her dad could barely afford their home let alone buy his alcohol. By the time, they arrived on her street she'd learned a lot. As it turned out, Steve and Ginny went to the same school. He had health problems and so tended to stay indoors during the off periods, hiding in the library, reading all the books that he could. He was also a grade ahead which added to the reason she'd never met him before. Bucky, being a grade ahead of Steve, was in high school but since meeting Steve would swing by and pick him up after school every day, Steve didn't know how to stay out of fights and it was easier for Bucky to keep an eye on him this way.
When they'd gone as far as she was willing to let them follow, she stopped. "I'm the fourth house down on the left, you can wait and watch me go in if you want, but I can't chance daddy seeing you," It was unfortunate really, she thought. Steve and Bucky would have made good friends, but girls weren't friends with boys, and if her daddy saw them, who knows what he would do. Bucky however, wasn't going to let it go. "I'd rather walk you to the door, but if you really don't want us too, that's fine." He rubbed the back of his neck before shoving his hands in his pockets. "You know, since I'm picking Steve up anyway, why don't Stevie and I walk you home every day? Those boys, they aren't going to stop just because I got rid of them once, even if you don't agree, we'll just follow you anyway."
If he didn't seem like the big protector type, Ginny would almost be concerned, but he didn't give off any indication that he'd be trouble, well, not other than the shenanigans that he and Steve had gotten up to she thought. Looking to Steve, he just shrugged as if he knew that no matter what she said it would happen. Looking back at Bucky she simply shook her head as he smiled back at her. "I'm not getting rid of you any time soon am I?" She said, starting to giggle.
Bucky's smile grew into a full-on grin. "Nope, I expect see you tomorrow, 3 o'clock at the front steps, Steve will be waiting there too."
Ginny shook her head, laughing as she backed away slowly. "Alright, fine, 3 o'clock at the steps. Steve? I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good night fellas." With that she turned and made her way to her home, happy that she'd made some friends, and hoping that her father wasn't home yet. Reaching her door, she stopped and turned for one last look back at the boys. Bucky was leaning against a lamp post, arms crossed against his chest while Steve stood awkwardly by his side. Bucky lifted one arm, waving to her, Steve hesitated to follow his lead. Smiling, she waved back briefly before opening the door and going inside. Leaning her back against it, maybe things would change for her, maybe her life would get just a little bit happier now that she'd met Bucky and Steve.