A/N: Wow, thank you all for the reviews! You're all my new BFFs :p
Monoke2012: Thanks for all the help concerning the story!
Disclaimer(I probably should've put this in the 1st Chapter, huh?): Oliver Twist does not belong to me. It belongs to Charles Dickins. Hopefully you all knew that.
Blue jeans, White shirt I will love you till the end of time
Walked into the room you know you made my eyes burn
It was like James Dean, for sure
You so fresh to death & sick as ca-cancer
You were sorta punk rock, I grew up on hip hop
But you fit me better than my favorite sweater, and I know
That love is mean, and love hurts
But I still remember that day we met in December, oh baby!
I would wait a million years
Promise you'll remember that you're mine
Baby can you see through the tears?
Love you more
Than those b*tches before
Say you'll remember, oh baby, say you'll remember
I will love you till the end of time
Fagin rapped smartly on the old wooden door, and a voice called out in a sing-songy way,
"Who is it?"
Fagin turned to Chassy and rolled his eyes.
"Ace, you know who it is. Now open up, please."
Ace obeyed and opened the door, and his eyes widened at the sight of Chastity.
"Cor! Fagin, who's this?!" he cried. Fagin chuckled slightly.
"This is Chastity. She's going to be staying wit' us from now on, so best get used to 'er." Chastity gave Ace a wide grin, causing him to turn rather red,
"Jus' call me Chassy." Ace nodded vigorously and closed the door after her. Several boys lounged around the room, smoking, drinking, playing cards, and some just chatting. They all looked up, however, when the door opened, and many stared slack-jawed at Chastity. She gazed around at all of them, a smirk on her face. Fagin cleared his throat and put his hand on Chastity's shoulder.
"Now, everyone, this here is Chassy, and she's goin' to be wit' us fer a long while, so you all be nice to 'er." he said, and then strode off. Chastity walked over and plonked herself down in front of all of the boys. She laughed slightly at their expressions and said airily,
"You best introduce yerselfs, 'stead sittin' around gawkin' like dead fish." The boys gathered their composures and the one sitting next to her cleared his throat.
"Righ' then, my name's Charlie. And this is Ace, Rodger, Tom, Sam, George, Oliver, and last but definitely not least..The Artful Dodger." All of the boys either nodded or smiled in turn, and the last one, The Artful Dodger, she supposed, tipped his top hat and looked her over. She colored slightly at this, he was rather..well, cute.
"The Artful Dodger? Is that your real name?" she questioned, curious. He grimaced and shook his head,
"Nope. Me real name's Jack Dawkins, but jus' call me Dodger." Chassy nodded and looked down at the cards. Her face lit up with delight, and she exclaimed,
"Oh, poker! Mind if I play?" They all nodded enthusiastically, except for The Dodger, who merely snickered, and delt her some cards. She then proceeded to win every round, sparing the last for poor Dodger, who was starting to get very frustrated and considerably poorer. Fagin then put a large plate of sausages on a long table and they all forgot their poker game at once. Chassy hurried to the bench and was wedged in between Charlie and Dodger, with the small and slight blonde boy, Oliver, she thought, sitting in front of her. She grabbed two of the sausages greedily and wolfed them down, as if she hadn't eaten for weeks. Which, mind you, wasn't far from the truth. She looked up to see Oliver taking small and rather dainty bites of his sausage, looking around and chewing thoughtfully. She caught his eye and grinned,
"Hey, Oliver. Why weren't you playin' poker? I bet you'da had a fair chance." He smiled shyly and opened his mouth to say something, but Charlie butted in and proclaimed through a mouthful of sausage,
" 'E's too delicate fer gamblin'." Oliver withered under this insult, looking down at his plate. Chassy punched Charlie in the shoulder ("Oi!") and smiled at Oliver warmly.
"Don' let 'em get to ya, Oliver. Ya don' have to if ya don' wan' to." He smiled back gratefully and continued eating. Dodger turned to Chassy,
"How'd you end up meetin' old Fagin?" he said nonchalantly, seemingly bored with the other conversations.
"Oh, that. Well...I'd jus' nipped some rich gent's wallet and the ol' buggar behind me started shoutin' and pointin', an' course the Traps came runnin' after me. I was sprintin' down the alley and I just ducked inside a tavern an' started countin' me winnins' an' Fagin saw me an' started commentin' on me talent and if I wanted somewhere to stay, an' well, here I am." By this time Charlie had begun to listen in as well, and as the story progressed, his eyebrows traveled up under his brown fringe. Dodger seemed bored. Charlie grinned at her and said, in a low voice;
"Run in wit' the Traps, huh? They probably wouldn't do nuffink much to you, though, yer too pretty." Chassy blushed, but continued earnestly,
"Oh, yes they would. My friend Mary got caught tons a times, and on the last one they were sick of 'er runnin about so...so they hung 'er," she said, uttering the last part in a hoarse whisper. "I saw it meself," she said softly, eyes downcast. Charlie shuddered,
"Makes me sick jus' thinkin' 'bout it. They ain't ever gonna catch us though, eh Dodger?" Dodger shook his head. Chassy looked up again and seemed relieved, most of the color returned to her face. Just at that moment Fagin called out from the small brick room,
"Bedtime, everyone! We got a long day o' work tomorrow!" A loud cry of indignation rose up, but they all obeyed. Fagin noticed Chassy still standing at the table, looking rather lost. He smiled and gestured to a straw mattress in the far corner,
"I've set up a bed for you over there, dear." Chassy nodded gratefully and walked over. She sat down on the small bed and rolled over, covering herself with a thin blanket. Worn out from the day's events, she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
o0o0o0o0o0o
Chassy awoke to the sound of the door opening and closing. She opened her eyes, bewildered, it was still the middle of the night. A tall man walked in, and her eyes widened. She had seen him before, out on the streets. He walked over to Fagin, who ringed his hands and looked surprised, though Chassy had a feeling he had been expecting him. Fagin held out his hand,
"Ah, Bill! Nice to see ya, ol' chap!" he said. 'Bill' did not shake.
"Where's my money?" Bill growled, his voice deep. Fagin chuckled and wagged his finger,
"Always to the point, eh, Bill?" he rummaged through his pockets and pulled out several gold coins. Bill eyed the money,
"Tha' pile looks a tad small to me." he growled. Fagin sighed and pulled out a few more.
"Now tha's it! Tha's all I owe ya!" Bill growled and shoved the coins into his own pocket. He strode out the door, shutting it behind him. Chassy raised her head slightly and looked up. All the other boys were fast asleep. She snickered softly, if someone came in and tried to rob them they would probably sleep through it. She laid her head back down on the pillow and stared at the wooden ceiling until she drifted peacefully into a deep sleep.
o0o0o0o0o0o
Sunlight hit Chastity straight in the face, awaking her. Her eyes snapped open, and she propped herself up on her elbows. All the beds were empty, and no one could be seen in the large wooden room. She yawned and sat up, vision blurry. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and heaved herself up to a standing position. She heard voices coming from a room farther on, and the door opened. Out walked Fagin accompanied by a pretty lady with curly strawberry blonde hair and a rather revealing scarlet dress. The lady turned to Chastity and her eyes widened with surprise.
"Fagin! Who's this poor thin'?! You didn' steal her offa the street, didja?" she said, worry spiking her lovely voice. Fagin laughed,
"Nance, this is Chastity, or, uh, Chassy. Chassy, this is Nancy."
Chassy grinned from ear to ear, she could already tell that she and Nancy would get on well. She did a slight curtsy and said,
"Nice to meet ya, Nancy. Eh, Fagin, where are the boys at?" Fagin furrowed his brow slightly, as if he had forgotten where they were. His expression returned to normal as he exclaimed,
"They're..They're out gettin' breakfast! Yes, tha's it!" As if on cue, the door flung open and they all trooped in, joking and laughing with apples and other food clutched in their hands. All of this was dropped on the table. Hasty good-mornings were bidden to Nancy and Chassy, and the food on the table was attacked. Chassy ate her fill and sat back, waiting for the others to finish. Fagin soon clapped his hands;
"Well, off to work then, boys! Oh, Dodger, can you and Charlie show Chassy how it's done?" he said. Dodger groaned at his statement, but Charlie nodded and looked excited. Chassy grinned and stood up, following Dodger and Charlie out the door. They walked over to the market, she and Charlie talking animatedly and Dodger making fun of them. As they found themselves in the middle of the large morning crowd, Dodger stopped and looked pointedly at Chastity,
"Righ' then. Now i's yer turn to show us if Fagin was righ' 'bout 'chu." he scoffed, as if he didn't expect her to come up with much. Chastity nodded and pushed her through the crowd dutifully. Charlie and Dodger craned their necks to see her, but she was lost in the crowd. They waited for a few minutes looking every which way, but were startled out of their chance when she returned out of the crowd, her eyes shining and two wallets resting on her palm. Dodger's face fell, disappointed she hadn't shown up empty handed. Charlie nudged Dodger in the ribs and chortled,
"If she keeps tha' up she's gonna be a better pickpocket than yew, Dodge!" Dodger just scowled and elbowed Charlie hard in the stomach.
"You can 'andle yerself then, so we'll split up. Charlie, yer comin' wit' me. We'll meet back in fron' of The Three Cripples," he said angrily, dragging Charlie with him by the wrist. Chassy just smirked and went back into the closely packed crowd. As she wondered through the street, picking the pockets of who ever was the closet and stuffing it in her own pockets, her thoughts were somewhere else. She couldn't stop thinking about him, "The Artful Dodger". Every time he spoke to her, she could feel tingles running up her spine, no matter how annoyed he seemed. She could tell, however, that he didn't feel the same way. She sighed deeply as she walked. Joining Fagin's gang sure had gotten her into a right mess. Well, mentally. By this time her pockets were bulging and she decided to head over to The Three Cripples. Now that she thought about it, she had no idea where it was. She decided to just wander down the alley and see if she got lucky. Sure enough, the Three Cripples happened to be the tavern she had ducked into when she was being chased by the Traps. She lent against the edge of the building and proceeded to rummage through her goods. She had three silk hankercheifs of good quality and five wallets full of bills. Her heart leapt at this, and looking around to make sure no one was paying attention to her, casually stuffed a note into her own pocket. She spotted Nancy in the far corner and waved, catching her eye. Nancy said something quickly to the people she was talking to and strode over, her eyes sparkling.
"Ello, Chassy! What chu doin' out 'ere?" she said cheerfully.
"Oh, I'm jus' out on the job wit Dodger and Charlie," she replied. Nancy looked around the tavern, confused.
"If yer out wit' Dodge and Charlie..where are they?"
"We split up."
"Split up?! Ugh, those boys can be a righ' pain sometimes, leavin' yew on your own..Oh! Your dress is ripped."
Chassy looked down, feeling the long rip on the side of her tattered dress. She smiled slightly and said softly,
"Oh, that's been there for a while.. I 'aven't 'ad a new dress since I was real little."
" 'At's too bad. I know! Tomorrow mornin', I'll come and getcha, an' we can go get ya a new dress."
Chassy looked up at the older woman, her eyes glistening with delight.
"Nance, you can't be serious! Oh, I can't wait!" she squealed, sounding like a little girl, rather than one of her 12 years. At this precise moment Dodger and Charlie walked up the street. They bid their hellos to both of the girls before getting down to business.
"So, what didja get?" questioned Chassy. They both reached into their pockets and produced 3 hankerchiefs for each of them and five wallets for Dodger, four for Charlie. Nancy smiled and put her hand on Chassy's shoulder.
"Well, Dodge, looks like yew got some comp-ee-titon 'ere! Chassy here got the same haul as yew!" Chastity smiled rather smugly at Dodger and he sent her an icy glare, making her smile fade a bit.
"Well..we should prob'ly get back to Fagin now, the other boys'll be back soon." interrupted Charlie, breaking up the rather awkward situation. They bid Nancy farewell and headed back to the hideout wordlessly; Dodger fuming, Chastity hurt, and Charlie stuck in the middle.
A/N: Phew, what a long chapter! Yeah, I know, the song lyrics was weird, but I thought it sort of fit. Hope all of you are still liking it, and remember, 10 reviews for the next chapter!
-F.B.I.H.E