The morning sunlight gleaned into the bedroom. It danced across the walls and onto her face, and, like clockwork, Brooklyn woke up with heavy eyelids and a yawn before rolling over to the other side of the bed. She fell back asleep, seeing no need to get up just yet with it being a Saturday and all. Her favorite day of the entire week. One of the reasons being there was no school. Another because there was no work. And lastly, it was market day. She always loved browsing through the shops and looking at all the pretty things inside.

She could already hear the morning commotion down below as a breeze kissed her cheeks. Eventually Brooklyn pulled herself out of bed and began getting ready for the day like always. Today's choice in clothing was a cream colored shirt and a navy skirt, while half her hair was pulled up and tied with black ribbon in a pretty bow. Brooklyn double checked her appearance in the little handheld mirror before smoothing out her skirt and readjusting the sleeves a few times. "This is as good as it's going to get," the freckled girl whispered to herself as she brushed away some stray hairs off of her forehead.

Staring at herself in the mirror for a few more moments, did Brooklyn finally put the object back on the nightstand before kneeling down beside her bed. She pried the loose floorboard off to reveal some of her greatest treasures all sorted out neatly. Smiling to herself, Brooklyn reached for the little box that had been engraved with her initials on the lid. With a flip of the latch she opened it, and picked up the item that was wrapped in cloth for safe keeping. It was, after all, the most valuable thing she owned, and she wanted to keep it safe as possible. But, every now and again, she'd take a look just because.

Carefully unwrapping the cloth, the silver locket with the two butterflies and beautiful border sat in her hand. Her fingers gently ran over the finer details and made their way to the groove. Without hesitating Brooklyn popped it open to see the old family photo. Just five years old she was when it was taken. Her father standing tall and proud, her mother sitting beside him; each holding a child. Ever so gently Brooklyn moved her finger to where her brother was and whispered, "Happy birthday.....wherever you are, I hope you have a good day...." With one last look she locked the locket, put it around her neck, and hid it under her shirt just in case.

After putting everything away in its proper place, did Brooklyn make her way to the kitchen to see her mother preparing breakfast. When her mother noticed she was there, she was greeted with a hug and a "happy birthday". Brooklyn smiled and changed the subject to if there was any help needed. Which there was, of course. So she began mixing the pancake batter while humming to herself.

Besides the clattering of the common kitchen sounds when breakfast is being made it was quiet. Brooklyn wasn't much of a talker and her mother well...she took this day almost as hard as she did. To say the least it was sort of a bittersweet day for the Meyers women. As she continued to mix, Brooklyn couldn't help but wonder just what her brother was up to at this very moment. If he's still..."stop that. He's fine. He's...got enough qualities to make it out there...on his own..." she reminded herself. Though, it was hard to tell if that was reassuring or not. How Brooklyn wished she knew what her brother was up too. If he was alright....if he was still even in New York for crying out loud. He could've hopped a train and skipped town. Perhaps laying behind a smelly alley fighting some cat for yesterday's garbage. He could be in danger for all she knew!

MEANWHILE AT 9. DUANE STREET LOWER MANHATTAN

"Get off of me ya lunatic!" a boy by the name Mush Meyers exclaimed as his best and most annoying friend, Feister, clung to him piggyback style. Apparently thinking that it would be a good birthday surprise was to jump on top of him in the unruly hours of the morning.

"Shut up an' take my affection while I's still in the good mood ta give it ta ya idiot!" Feister yelled back as she tightened her grip around Mush's neck than before.

"I's don't want yer affection, dummy!"

"Yer gonna take it an' yer gonna like it Mush for brains Meyers if it's the last thing I's do!"

Now, Mush knew this was her....special way of showing how she cares without actually showing anything. He just wished it wasn't during the time where he was barely awake. So, he simply stood there with the news girl on his back while the rest of the boys either snored away or chuckled at the sight. "Yeah, yeah, I's love ya too," he grumbled. In the midst of all this an absent smile crept across his face. The boys may make fun of him if they caught sight, saying he was enjoying the fact Feister wasn't being an ice queen for once, when in fact it was for another reason. One nobody knew...not even his best friend. "Happy birthday lil Brooky. Have a great day, alright?" he thought to himself.

SOMEWHERE IN A BROOKLYN TENEMENT BUILDING

She really, really didn't want to think about the possible horrors her brother could be going through at that very moment. It's not like she could do anything about it either way, he was the one who.....well, let's just say he didn't mind a fist fight on the nights that were especially bad. And, it was the reason why he had to leave home. But of course, Brooklyn shook that all away and went on with the day as she always did.

"Is there anything in particular you'd like for dinner? Seems only right to make it extra special," Mrs. Meyers asked.

"Umm, not really. Whatever we've already got at home is fine. But...can I help with the cake?" she asked hopefully. Even as a child Brooklyn had always loved baking little treats, and was usually the one in charge when such an occasion should arrive. There used to be a joke within the family that Brooklyn was actually made out of sugar because of how sweet she could get at times. Her brother went a step further and jokingly called her "sugar cookie" when she was in a good mood. Which was a lot of the time. And if she was grumpy he'd call her "sourdough". Brooklyn vividly remembered him trying to come up with a nickname for every mood there was that had to do with sweets, but he never managed to complete that task. As a way to help cope with him being gone, Brooklyn took it upon herself to find sweet related nicknames for herself to match her moods. Though, it was easier said than done. At least it kept her mind occupied

"I don't see any problem with that. You are the expert after all."

"Can we also stop at the good's store while at the market later? I'd like to take a closer look at this fabric I spotted from the other day....would that be alright?" she quietly asked.

"Yes, that would be alright. I'm in need of some thread anyways."

The streets were crowded as they always were. Carriages slowly made their way across the cobblestone roads. Wagons were being stocked with all kids of goods before being sent off to their delivery. There were all kinds of shouts from shop owners trying to catch someone's attention in hopes to make a sale. And speaking of sales, newsies stood at almost every street corner, or walked along the crowd shouting out the day's headline. Brooklyn bought a paper and placed it into the basket for safe keeping. As usual, Brooklyn was given half the list while her mother took the other. They'd meet up at the good's store once everything else was bought, and then they could return home.

The freckled girl carefully read over the sheet of paper while making her way to the first shop. Her feet automatically knew where to take her as her eyes continued to scan the paper until she remembered it by heart. Though, this was a bit of a tactic Brooklyn used so she'd be left alone by strangers. For she was very alert to what was going on around her....she just needed to glance up every now and again to make sure she didn't bump into anything. She sort of had the tendency of doing that....No matter. Things were going just splendidly at the moment. Brooklyn walked around the store, filling her basket up with the items she needed before making her way to the register. She was carefully examining some peaches when she heard someone say her name. She jumped up at the sound, and made bit of a fool out of herself as the peach fumbled in her hands.

"Oh, umm...hello, Colton," Brooklyn said with an awkward wave as a soft shade of pink spread across her cheeks. Which could be easily be seen due to the lighter colored freckles suddenly becoming visible to the naked eye.

"Peaches, huh?" he gestured to the item in her hand. "Makin' anythin' special?" he asked, sounding quite interested in talking about the wonders of the sweet yet tart piece of fruit

"As far as my knowledge goes, no," Brooklyn quietly replied as she gently shifted the peach from hand to hand. Whenever she would get nervous, or even flustered, she had a habit of keeping her hands occupied in some way. From hair twirling all the way to sleeve tugging.

"So." he continued as he cleared his throat. "Me, and some of the other boys are heading over to Prospect tomorrow for a game of baseball. You wouldn't want to come and watch, would ya? Your friends, Hailey and Jenny are going, but I wasn't sure if they told you about it yet...so I figured I'd tell ya myself." he began rubbing the back of his neck.

Being at a loss for words, Brooklyn was a little shocked, and maybe a bit confused as well. He was joking right? Did he really think that after getting hit by wild balls every now and again five days out of the week that she'd willingly go to watch a game? Then again....out of all the other boys in the school, Colton Walters was one of the - no. Nope. Brooklyn would much rather keep her head intact. But still....."It depends. If I have time then, maybe. I'm not entirely sure. I'm pretty busy..." it wasn't a complete lie though. She was always helping her mother with something, and when Brooklyn got a moment to herself she liked to spend it resting in the comfort of her bedroom.

"Oh," he said, sounding a bit disappointed. "Well, it starts around two o'clock. So, if you do decide to come, start making your way after lunch, or, whenever...see ya around Meyers." he began to walk off, but paused for a brief moment. "Oh and, happy birthday."

"How did you know that?" she asked with a hint of shock in her voice.

He shrugged. "How could I not?"

With that being said, he walked away, leaving Brooklyn more confused than ever. She felt like banging her head against the wall. Why? She really had no clue at this point. Was she being dramatic? Maybe just a little bit? Who knows for sure. Brooklyn took a deep breath and went about the day. She bought everything that was on the list and, after a few more stops she made her way over to the goods store in search of the blue floral fabric that had caught her eye a few days ago.

Though, her eyes lingered on just about every item in the store, taking in all the pretty things her mind was stuck on Colton Walters and the thought of the game tomorrow afternoon - Brooklyn had to mentally pause for a moment to see if she was thinking straight. There was no possible way in the world she was actually considering this, right? Her mind can't be serious. She still had a few bruises from nearly getting hit with the ball last Tuesday for crying out loud!

Taking a deep breath to recollect herself, Brooklyn browsed through the items until she found what she was looking for and asked the shop keeper to cut a couple of yards of the fabric for her. Once it was cut and wrapped in paper and tied off with string for safe keeping, Brooklyn carefully counted the cost in the palm in her hand and paid for it with a small smile.

───── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─────

Author's note

Well, well, well, the plot thickens, or does it? *insert dramatic music*. I must say that I couldn't help myself in throwing in that little moment where it cuts to Manhattan and back, it just felt right for some odd reason. Anyways, back to the whole thickening plot thingy, will Brooklyn go to the game, or will she stay home and do whatever? Who is this Colton fellow? We'll get to that eventually. Stay tuned for next week's chapter cause it's a doozy. I Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!