OK, next chapter. Let's begin! And in regards to this chapter, yes, I do know that Aladdin is actually eighteen, not nineteen. And there are some minor changes to "One Jump Ahead" like "Street mouse" instead of "scoundrel", but having Cleo requires them.

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It had been about six months since I met Aladdin, who I now mostly referred to as Al. We had become pretty close since we met, and although Abu had seemed a little jealous of me at first, we'd become used to each other, too.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I hadn't worked out why this world seemed so familiar.

I was a lot more skilled at stealing and hiding from the guards, although when it came to running when I was found, speed was only on my side if Al pulled me along – which was mostly the case, since we worked as a team. But there was still one thing missing from my life, apart from the obvious.

Even when I'd first met Al, I'd liked him. But as the months went by, I started looking more closely at him. I'd always liked guys with muscles, as well as they weren't overly beefy – just like Al. I couldn't help noticing it, since he wore a vest that showed off how toned he was – probably from some of the acrobatics he had to endure when running from the guards. But by that time, I'd gotten to know him better, too. He was selfless beyond the average street boy. A few times, he'd even given up food he'd stolen to younger kids. I sometimes did too, but I usually took a bite beforehand. But then, I shouldn't have been surprised, since he'd let me, some average girl, stay in his home, even if it was only marginally better than the streets. Plus, he was nothing like the teenage boys in my old world with their minds controlled by their hormones (that's what Gem used to say, since she went around with a group at school). And, of course, because I liked Al as a person, and I thought he was hot, it was inevitable, falling for him. And it wasn't just a little crush. Maybe it started that way after a few weeks, but within three months, it was so that I actually felt a little shy at times. I was in love with him.

But without the falling in love thing, my relationship with Al (and Abu) was pretty good. All three of us were best friends. But I knew that the friendship would never go any further. I knew that Al saw me as a kind of little sister figure (he was nineteen and I'd turned seventeen within the first month) and that was never going to change in the foreseeable future.

Anyway, today, Al had gotten a loaf of bread, and now the guards were running after us on top of a building.

"I'll have your hands for trophies!" yelled Razoul, the head guard.

Both of us jumped, landing on a bunch of laundry luckily, quickly swamping ourselves in a few of the sheets as a disguise.

"You won't get away so easy!" yelled one of the guards.

"You think that was easy?" Al called up. Whenever we got chased by the guards, he never seemed to be bothered, always having that easy smile on his face. Sometimes it got on my nerves, how cocky Al sometimes was, but in a way, it was also one of the things I loved about him.

There were some women watching us, laughing. Al went up to them, saying in his charming way, "Morning, ladies."

"Hi." I said politely.

"Getting into trouble a little early today," said one of the women, "Aren't we Aladdin, Cleo?"

"Trouble?" laughed Al. "No way. You're only in trouble if you get caught-"

"Gotcha!" Razoul had both of us by the collar.

We exchanged glances and chorused "We're in trouble."

"And this time-"

This time, Abu pulled Razoul's turban over his eyes and all three of us made a run for it. But something very strange happened while we were dodging the guards. It started with Al.

"Gotta keep, one jump ahead of the breadline, one swing ahead of the sword," he sang.

"We steal only what we can't afford."

I rolled my eyes, but when I opened my mouth to ask why he was singing, the words "That's everything!" came out of my mouth instead. Something very weird was going on, which must've happened to both of us to change our speech. But we were still totally pawning the guards, so I had to submit, just hoping it wasn't going to be for ever.

"One jump ahead of the lawmen," Al continued, "That's all, and that's no joke."

I was forced to sing the next line. "These guys don't appreciate we're broke." At this point, we were climbing up past a rickety stack of barrels, which Al kicked onto the guards.

Since the next calls rhymed, I guessed that the guards were affected by this weird curse, too.

"Riff raff!"
"Street rat!" (Referring to Al, of course.)

"Street mouse!" (Referring to me.)

"Take that!"

"Just a little snack, guys!" Al and I protested.

The guards weren't pacified. "Rip them open, take it back, guys!"

"I can take a hint, gotta face the facts." Al admitted as we all landed in the window of the home of hareem girls, addressing me and Abu. "You're my only friends, you two."

"Who?" asked all the girls, then singing more.

"Oh, sad, Cleo and Aladdin's hit the bottom.

They've become a two-man rise in crime."

One girl whirled Al across the room while Abu stuffed his face with fruit and the other girls smirked at me while I stared at their outfits enviously. It wasn't fun, wearing this stupid street mouse outfit day in, day out.

"I'd blame parents except they haven't got 'em!" The girls' mother sang, swinging a broom at Al. He glared at her, then we both smirked at the girls. "Gotta eat to live." I began.

"Gotta steal to eat." Al finished.

"Tell you all about it when we got the time!" we chorused, as one of the girls pushed us off the windowsill.

There wasn't really that much point going through the whole song, except for one or two things. The first, was that some woman joined in the song to say that she thought Al was "rather tasty". I would have slapped her if we were alone. The second thing was that I stopped running long enough to see Abu threatening the guards with a sword.

"He's got a sword!" one of the guards cried fearfully.

"You idiot!" Razoul had snapped. "We've all got swords!"

The song thing finished in the end, thank God. I was sick of the guards trying to sing. It took us ages to find a quiet place to share out our bread, and when we eventually did, we spotted a couple of orphans scrounging. Al immediately gave them his share of bread. I tore off a tiny piece of mine and offered the rest. Even Abu, who obviously didn't approve of soft-heartedness at a time like that, took a huge bite and then offered it to the kids.

At that moment, we heard music playing, and left the alley. Some guy in a too-flashy suit was parading along the road.

"On his way to the palace, I suppose." I heard someone saying, and the reply.

"Another suitor for the princess." I had noticed several suitors, but the princess apparently didn't take any of them. I guessed that she would be a snob, with no prince good enough for her. She was probably just a spoilt brat.

Then again, the prince was not exactly Mr Good Guy. When the orphans ran into the road aimlessly, he tried to whip them.

Al got there first. "Hey!" he said, glaring at the prince. "If I were as rich as you, I could afford some manners!"

"And some dress sense on top of that." I added.

The prince growled at us. "I'll teach you some manners!" Seconds later, both of us were elbowed into the mud, with people laughing at us.

I glared at them. "Oh yeah, that's funny. Street kids in the mud." I muttered. "If any of them address me, I'll push them in and see how they like it."

"Look at that, Cleo, Abu." Al said, looking back at the prince. "It's not every day you see a horse with two rear ends." The horse seemed insulted at that.

The prince glared at Al. "You are a worthless street rat. You were born a street rat, you'll die a street rat, and only your fleas – and possibly your whore – will mourn you!" The palace doors slammed shut.

I stared at the doors. I wanted to scream at him. I was not a whore. If I was, I probably would have thrown myself at Al by this time.

"I'm not worthless." Al said. "And I don't have fleas."

"I'm not a whore." I pointed out. "Forget it, Al. Let's just go home."

We went home, and Al still sang a tiny little song. "Riff raff, street rat, I don't buy that.

If only they'd look closer, would they see a poor boy?

No sirree.t

They'd find out, there's so much more to me..." I watched him, thinking along the same lines, about both of us. Everyone just saw us as worthless street kids. No one knew Al as the sweet, fun smart guy I knew. No one but him knew me.

We got home just as the stars came out. "Someday," Al said, "Things are gonna change. We'll be rich, live in a palace, and never have any problems at all."

I sighed. "Wish I could believe it. Maybe you will, but after all the breaks I haven't got, I doubt I'll ever get there."

There, end on a sweet scene. Cleo may think the princess is a spoilt brat, but when she meets Jasmine...please, review!