Ella's POV:

It wasn't like I didn't know how to act like this. In fact, I'd actually done performances like this... but none of them had ever been so serious or so... so... awful.

I was writhing and shuddering inside, but on the outside... on the outside I was something I'd never dreamed of becoming; something you'd only see in brothels.

Of course, I knew how to act like this... not that I'd had any training or anything, but I had had... experience.

Personally, I thought it would be a much better plan to manipulate Spot in the way I was already doing: politely and in a refined manner. Spot probably already had his pick of girls, not to mention whores. But Panther thought otherwise, and what Panther said, went.

So I took a deep breath and cannon-balled into the deep end. Glancing around the room one more time - thank God (if there was one) there was nobody in the room - I advanced. Putting on my most flirtatious smile, I let my long, dark lashes drop to my cheeks and then lift again, fluttering them slightly. Stomach cramping, heart pounding, I approached Spot and put a hand ever so lightly, ever so alluringly, on his cheek; then took it away again and slid it down his neck and then rested my head against his.

He seemed... not confused, but... disappointed? Annoyed? Surprised? Suddenly, however, he let that all slip away and he brought his own hand up to my cheek, slowly, almost studiously.

Butterflies - those black-and-orange kinds, I thought - wildly fluttered in my stomach. I couldn't tell if I was making him feel any different; but he was certainly making me feel strange.

I seated myself slowly on his lap, then leaned in and brushed my lips across his cheek. He didn't wait for anything; instead, he merely moved with grace and speed and crushed his lips against mine.

The world turned upside down.

I was flying; no, I was drowning. Where was I? In space? I was weightless. I couldn't feel anything; no, I could feel his lips, they were soft and warm... Why were there sparks suddenly going off? No, my eyes were closed; I must be imagining the sparks. The universe was a lovely place to be, and I defied gravity.

Suddenly, as I thought about why he was doing this, I couldn't take what I was doing to myself. I tried, Panther! I thought, then broke away from Spot and fled, sobbing.

Then a cold voice hit me, rock-hard. "Don't come back to me lodging house. No more talkin' with me newsies. You's just another- whore." Did his voice just break, or was that my wishful imagination?

I didn't care; I fled. I ran. I ran hard. Not to my house. To some back alley were I could kill myself.

No, Panther. I'd kill him.


Hey, guys. I know this chapter was very dark; in fact, I didn't really like to write it at all. But I kinda had to; so... but yeah. I'll try to hold off on the dark stuff in the chapters to come. Sorry.

The mystery will be revealed in the next chapter! But now Spot hates her; so...

Hey, and I have a question: Do you guys like Ella's character? Is she easy to relate to? Is she a three-D or a two-D character? Tell me what you think of her, please!

Reviews are the wind beneath my fingers as I type! And I seriously mean that!