Undisclosed Desires by Bridget Kathleen (13 inch ebook reader .txt) 📕

read, 'Old man found shot to death in basement.' "Instead of sayin' that," he started. "try sayin' dis, 'Old man found shot to death in a basement full of other dead bodies'." Sophia grimaced at what he said, but then nodded, understanding the concept.

"By the way," he said. "The name is Boots. See youse around, Smalls."

By the end of the week Sophia could hardly believe it. She had truly amazed herself. She had sold a thousand papes in one week. She was able to stay in Brooklyn with Tommy and Spot's Gang.

Sophia practically skipped her way back to Spot's place, but then stopped herself. She didn't want to look too girly.

Sophia walked inside and saw Tommy sitting on the bunk, his head down.

"What's wrong, Tom Tom?" she asked, getting used to calling him by his nick name.

"I didn't sell all my papes..."

Sophia's heart went to her stomach. What would she do without Tommy? Shw asked myself.

Just then they heard footsteps come their way. It was Spot.

"So, kids...you sell all yer papes youse was suppose ta sell?" Sophia looked up as him and nodded. He smiled. "Good, Smalls. Now what about cha brotheh?"

Tommy slowly shook his head and stood up, ready to face Spot. "No...I didn't."

Spot rose an eyebrow and then said, "Looks like I gota let ya go then, Tom Tom. Don't worry, Smalls can stay."

Sophia looked up at Tommy who then looked down at her. "Don't worry, Smalls," he told her. "It's better if ya stay here. I'll be fine." he grabbed his things and walked out. Spot turned towards Sophia and gave her one of his smirks. "See ya 'rounds, Smalls." he then left the room, closing the door behind him. Sophia was then left alone. Completely alone. What was she going to do without Tommy here to protect her?
Chapter two: Making it through the day.

Sophia stayed up almost all night, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. It was her first night without Tommy. Ever. She kept pins hooked on to her hat as she laid in bed so it wouldn't fall off. She pulled the covers over her head. She sighed and closed her eyes again for the hundredth time and finally she was able to gain some rest.

Thankfully she was the first to wake up again. Sophia did her normal routine: grabbed her money and decided to get a head start to get her papes. She walked to the front of the lodging house and before she knew it, the door leading upstairs swung open, almost hitting her in the face.

"WHOA!" she yelled and jumped back. She saw a girl look back at her, her clothes were loose on her as she ran out the front door. For a moment she saw left there until she heard the footsteps of someone else coming down the steps. And who does she find, buttoning up his pants, pulling up his suspenders? Spot Conlon. His hair was unkempt so he ran his fingers through his hair to straighten it out. He turned his head, looked at Sophia and smirked. He walked up to her and patted her on the back and went to wake the boys. She stood there for a moment in awkward silence. Suddenly she shook her head and headed out the door.

During the afternoon, Sophia was still trying to sell her papes as two boys walked up to her.

"You sure doin' a nice job sellin' doughs papes, kid." said the older looking one. His hair was brown and wavy with brown eyes with a red bandana around his neck.

"Uh...Thanks." She told him.

"So, uh, I hear yas met one of our buddy's, Boots." said the other boy. His hair was jet black and he looked a little shorter than the other boy.

"Ya. I met em. Once." Sophia added.

"We hears dat you new here in New York." said the older boy.

She lifted up her arms and said, "Looks like it." Sophia told him. They laughed a little.

"The names Jack and this is Racetrack." said the older boy. "We's from Manhattan. Yous?" he asked.

"Brooklyn." She stated.

They looked at her wide-eyed. "Whaaaaat?" said Race track in disbelief. "Youse from Brooklyn?"

"How ya managin' dat?" asked Jack.

"Ok, I guess." She said plainly.

"We's gots some one new too," Jack started. "His names Tommy but we call em Tom Tom." My heart lifted. Tommy! Sophia's eyes grew wide. "That's my brother!" She said loudly.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" said Race track. "Your smalls?"

Sophia smiled a little. "Sure am!" Jack and Racetrack looked at each other and whispered.

They then looked at Sophia and Jack said, "Listen, Smalls. Tom Tom is stayin' wit us. Yous wanna see em?"

She nodded excitedly, but then realized that she still had more papes to sell and her face fell to a frown.

"What's wrong, Smalls?" asked Jack.

"I still got my papes...I can't see him yet."

Jack walked up to placed a hand on my shoulder. Sophia looked up at him and met his eyes. He said, "Don't worry about seein' him. I'll tell em that I saw yous and maybe tomorrow you two's and can meet up."

"Where?" She asked. Jack extended his free hand out and said,

"Right here. Can ya find dis same place tomorrow, Smalls?" Sophia nodded. "Atta boy! Seeya 'round, Kid!" She watched Jack and Race track leave and the continued to sell her papes.

Sophia didn't get done selling them till it the sun started to set. She was surprised that some people around the area still hadn't read the paper or were even still interested. She placed her change in her pocket and head back to Brooklyn. When she got back to the lodging house the boys were smoking, playing poker and even drinking. "Hey Smalls!" yelled one of them from within the crowd. "You's wanna play some poker wit us?" Sophia shrugged her shoulders. She didn't want to seem too distant but then again she didn't know how to play poker.

"Come on over here!" said another. She inched closer, pulled up a chair and watched them play. "Ya know how ta play?" asked one of the boys. Sophia shook her head. "Hey ever body wes gots a first timmer here!" he slapped Sophia on the back, making her lose jer air for a second and then placed a hand on her chest. Shit! She forgot to press her chest down today! Sophia panicked quietly to herself and pulled her feet up on the chair and pressed her knees against her chest and watched them play the game.

Spot dealt with the cards first hand as they started to play. He was fast and good. He had a good poker face. After dealing them he took a big gulp of his beer. Sophia's eyes were locked on to him the whole time. He was...handsome! His piercing blue eyes, the way his hair shaped his perfect face, those lips that did that curve, his slightly exposed chest. He looked too good to be true and in a way...he was. Oh how Sophia wished right then and there that she was not dressed as a boy. When the second game started someone else dealt the cards and for a second Spot caught Sophia looking at him. Stunned by his look, Sophia turned away and looked down. A minute later someone tapped on her shoulder. As she looked up she gulped and her nervousness must have showed pretty well when he said, "Don't be nervous, Smalls." he laughed and handed me a beer and took a seat next her and watched the game. As the game went on Sophia took little sips of her beer, almost cringing at the taste. Spot told her the rules of the game and even some good hints to winning. She nodded her head every once in a while. With all this information he was giving her, Sophia was only getting half of it. She blamed the beer.

Bt the time the second game was done, most of the boys were drunk from all the beers they had had and stopped playing. Some went to bed while others started to wrestle a little and some just laid there, talking to one another. As for Sophia, she took the first chance she could to get to her bunk. She felt a little tipsy so she placed her hand on the side of the wall, trying to support herself. She certainly wasn't a drinker. The boys who were wrestling ran into her, pushing her around a bit. Because of her tipsiness, SOphia easily fell over. Silence instantly filled the room. She forced herself up, brushing the dust off and started to walk back to her bunk. For some reason the boys were giving her strange looks. She thought that maybe it was because she might have been a little drunk.

A hand stuck out and grabbed Sophia's arm, pulling her back and turning her around. There she saw Spot.

"Leave da poor kid alone will ya?" he yelled at the two who were wrestling. He then looked back at Sophia. "Ya alright, Smalls?"
"...Ya."

"Good." he then walked away and I quickly went to my bunk. Shit! That was close. Sophia was almost caught!

The next day when she finished selling her papesm, Sophia stayed in the same place where she was yesterday. She sat down by the side of the road, waiting for Tommy. A man walked passed her and placed a nickel at her feet. She must have looked pretty beat up. Sophia looked at her hands. They were filthy. She felt some of the hair hanging loose from her hat. It was greasy. She waited for hours. Tommy wasn't showing up. Her excitement of meeting up with him dropped to a zero. She looked up and saw that was sun was setting. She knew she would have to be getting back soon, but she wanted to see Tommy so badly. SOphia missed him so much. Not much longer sje forced herself up and walked all the way back to Brooklyn without seeing Tommy. By the time she got back it was already dark. She could hear the boys from inside. They were probably playing poker again. This is her chance, she said to herself. Sophia ran to the docks and looked around. When she saw that no one was in sight she stripped from her clothes and dipped in the water. She covered her mouth, trying not to scream because of how cold the water was.SophiaI dipped her head in all the way, trying to get rid of all the grubbiness. Just as she was about to finish up She grabbed her hair and scrubbed it again, but then she heard the boys coming her way so she quickly jumped back into the water. A few seconds later the