Prologue.

Alex.

September 23, 1934.

Brooklyn was certainly something new, never imagined it would be in "his" mother's hometown.

"His" mother.

That memory caused "him" a lot of pain, everything seemed like a nightmare, one day he had "his" mother with "him", that beautiful and kind woman, and the next that beautiful woman would be buried 3 meters underground.

And all because of Edmund, yes Edmund, who was nothing more than a damn asshole. An asshole that's what Edmund was, "he" couldn't call him father; not after Edmund will kill "his" mother. Alex smiled as "he" remembered Edmund's stupid face when the policemen took him a way to put him in jail.

Edmund deserved it, he deserved to die for having killed his mother; no doubt "his" mother would scold "him", if he will hear "his" thoughts.

But that did not matter anymore. "His" mother was dead, and now "he" had to resign himself to that.

"He" had to resign himself to leaving his friends in Richmond and living with "his" maternal grandfather in Brooklyn. The latter had not been so bad, Alfred Reed, or Fred, was the father of "his" mother, a 63-year-old man; who had scared Alex, but after the big talk they both had, the old man managed to please the "boy".

The Grandpa Fred (as Alex now called him) had told "him" to get to know the neighborhood to make friends, because "he" would get very bored in that old and eccentric house. Alex quickly obeyed "his" grandfather, and Alex liked what "he" saw; Brooklyn was a very interesting place and "he" wanted to explore more, however that idea came to the fore, when "he" heard thumps coming from an alley.

Generally, "he" wouldn't go snooping, "his" mother told him not to get into trouble that wasn't "his", but his mother was no longer there, and now "he" was a new Alex. "He" did not think twice, and "he" went to the alley, when "he" saw how big boys were hitting a blond boy, who was certainly smaller than all of them (arguably he had the same physical coupling of Alex). Alex knew "he" had to help the blond boy, but being honest with "himself", "he" was scared, it would be the first time "he" would get into a fight, and it was the opposite of what "his" mother had told "him" taught (for obvious reasons) but it had to be different; "he" couldn't accept the last words Edmund said to "him":

"You are weak, just like your mother."

No, "he" was not weak, it would no longer be that stupid girl who could not prevent the death of "his" mother. No more.

Alex summoned up his courage and entered the alley. Everything happened very quickly, Alex heard some laughter, and then "he" felt like the punch of one of the boys stamped on "his" face, which caused "him" to fall to the ground. Alex heard a scream, which apparently came from the blond boy, who received another blow to the face.

"Asshole" "He" heard one of the children, who kicked him in the ribs.

Alex let out a groan of pain, she had never felt so much pain in her 10 years of life, not even with the blows that Edmund rarely gave her, she felt stupid, weak, which exactly she did not want to feel. She wanted to get up and show them that she was not weak, that she was as strong as they were, but she could not, the pain was too intense.

The boy who had hit her took her by the collar of his shirt, ready to hit her again; Alex was already preparing to receive her, when she heard a voice coming from the other side of the alley.

"Steve!" Shouted the boy who was coming into the alley. "Idiots, you bastards!

The bully released Alex abruptly, causing her to hit her head. Everything was turning black; her eyes were fading, and everything was spinning. Alex only managed to see how the tall, brown-haired boy beat the other boys, who upon seeing the strength of the brown-haired boy; they fled in terror.

"Buck, that boy tried to help ..." The blond boy didn't finish his sentence, as he looked surprised at Alex.

The brown-haired boy was also looking at her in surprise, soon Alex understood why, with difficulty, Alex turned her head in the direction of where his cap had fallen, which she had carefully arranged on her head so that she did not fall. Now she had been exposed, now those boys were looking at her long brown hair, they had discovered her identity.

"It's a girl." The brown-haired boy whispered. It was the last thing Alex heard before she was knocked unconscious and everything went black.

Note: In this chapter there are many he or him that are written in italics and many she or her that are written in bold. All this was intentional, I wanted to delve into the way the protagonist looks, a concept that I will explain in the next chapter.

And to confirm:

Yes, Alex is a girl!

I hope this was not confusing, I have been thinking about this story for a long time and decided to publish it, if someone is reading it, I hope you liked it, and let me know with a review or putting this story in your favorites.

We read soon!