Chapter 11

Betrayal

Fade needed to make amends. She had been on both ends of the hurting and she wanted it to stop. In reality, Spot had hurt her more than she had ever hurt him, but in the end, all she wanted was for them to reach some form of agreement. Either they were together, or they were not. Fade couldn't be one of those girls that he fell back on, and she refused to degrade herself in such a manner.

Betrayal was too familiar in her vocabulary, as it was for many of the people she knew. Who could you really trust in life? Many of the kids had been forced to pilfer goods from street vendors just to survive, and the newsies shouted 'improved' headlines all day long. Was lying just too easy for them to do? How could one know when someone was telling the truth, and when one was just there to use information against another? And if one spent the day lying, would they even know the difference of right and wrong later on, or after so many years of the same thing, would they forget? Sure, there were street codes that many lived by, but codes and rules were meant to be broken, and they repeatedly were. Betrayal tore people apart, clawed at their heart, and played with their mind. Once the damage was done, reversing such an act was usually impossible.

Walking towards Brooklyn, the journey always gave her plenty of time to think about her relationship. She was accustomed to walking the route, as Spot hardly agreed to visit her at the boarding house. I've gotta run Brooklyn! was his usual excuse. And she bought it. She was the one going the distance in the relationship – she sacrificed for him, she did what he asked, she adored him. He had made her feel as if she were the queen of New York. But then again, there were those times that he made her feel like a peasant, bound to live just to please him, with no happiness in return.

Images of the afternoon still tormented her mind. A boy from the Lower Manhattan newsies had intrigued her, and after spending a few hours with him, they were in the park, holding hands, and kissing. Part of her knew it was just because Spot had done the same thing to her, but another part wasn't sure if it was because Fade wanted a change. Was Spot really worth all this? Could she see past the times he had hurt her to a future together?

Then there was this new boy she had met. He was filled with a spirit she had never seen before – one of compassion and understanding for things she never knew a boy of his age was capable of. His warm smile made her feel so comfortable around him, even if she had only known him for such a short time. His sandy blonde hair sometimes had reminded her of Spot, but the real difference was in the eyes. Spot's eyes held that gleam about them, but it was hereditary, whereas Kid Blink's eye might have been darker by his ancestry, but they sparkled from within – from his soul. Fade believed Blink was a boy that loved life, even if he might not have been dealt the best hand to play. Spot on the other hand, loved power – he craved it, and that was what made his eyes gleam like they did – reeling in unsuspecting girls who merely thought he was as sincere as they came.

But if she felt like this for Blink, why was she making this trip back to Brooklyn? Why wasn't she in Lower Manhattan, learning more about the mysterious boy that she had run into earlier today? She didn't want to act like Spot. Fade wanted to do the right thing, whether that was breaking up her relationship with Spot, or finally setting some boundaries that he could actually agree upon. She needed to know if Spot really cared for her.

Looking up at the sky as she approached Brooklyn, Fade knew where Spot would be. It was nights like this that she frequently found him at the docks, and Fade figured that tonight would be no different. But in the distance, she saw something that didn't fit the picture painted in her mind.

Spot was supposed to be alone, perhaps even thinking about the wrongs he had done to her. She would go to him, explain what had happened today, how she felt about him, and how much it hurt when he betrayed her. Then things would work themselves out, or so she thought.