Her father would have killed her if he saw her sneaking out of the house that afternoon, but luckily for Grace, her father was in Boston on a business trip. And when Father was away, she was supposed to stay inside the house but it wasn't like the housekeeper actually checked to make sure the girl was in her room. Being an only child with an often-absent father, a dead mother, and an apathetic housekeeper certainly made sneaking out easier. That was perhaps the only benefit of the entire situation.

Grace had waited until Bessie, the housekeeper, was banging around in the kitchen preparing a meal for Grace that would go uneaten before she slid open her bedroom window and swung herself over the windowsill, sliding down the roof over the porch until she could lower herself down to the ground. Standing, she shook out her skirts and fussed with her hair for a moment before chancing a glance up at her bedroom window. Still dark. And her door was locked, so Bessie wouldn't come in and find her missing.

Grinning, Grace shoved her hands in her coat pockets to keep them warm as she started on her walk. She was going to meet Sarah at the Jacobs' house, then the two girls would go and meet Jack and David and get dinner before going to see the vaudeville show at Irving Hall with some of the other boys. Usually, she wouldn't have needed to sneak out. She was allowed to go visit friends. But then her father had found out that Mr. Jacobs was a factory worker and David sold papers, and that had been the end of that.

"It's not dignified!" Her father paced around his office, gesturing wildly as Grace stared down at her hands, pretending she was invisible and not the target of her father's rage.

"But… why can't I be friends with Sarah? She's nice…"

"Because her family is poor! It's not dignified for the only daughter of a banker to associate with the children of factory workers!"

Grace prudently decided it would be better not to mention that she and Sarah also spent a great deal of their time with the newsboys and street rats. It certainly wouldn't help her case.

"So! From now on, you are not allowed to visit friends when I'm not at home. And when you do go to visit friends, they will be people I approve, and Bessie or I will escort you to their homes. Like those Greenfield girls. I would approve of you spending time with them."

"Suzanne and Lucille Greenfield are shallow, stupid, and vain girls with hardly a thought in their heads besides fashion and how to catch a husband. I would rather stick pins in my eyes than spend any time with them."

"Well, then, some other girls of that same social standing. But you will not see that Jacobs girl again, do you hear me?"

Grace nodded wordlessly, knowing better than to ague with her father when he was in this type of mood.

"Good. Now shoo, I'm sure you have homework or something of the like."

Well, her father wasn't home now, and what he didn't know couldn't hurt him. Her steps quickened as she reached the Jacobs' apartment and she hurried up the stairs to meet Sarah just coming out of the apartment. They smiled at each other for a moment before Grace stood on her toes to embrace Sarah and kiss her cheek. "Hey."

"Hey yourself. You're early."

"I'm always early. You know I'm ridiculously punctual."

"I know. It's horribly annoying when one's friend is always early and one is trying to surprise said friend with roasted almonds from the street cart."

"Really?" Grace beamed up at Sarah and hugged her again. "You're way too nice to me. You don't have to do that."

"Why not?" Sarah linked her arm with Grace's, pulling her down the stairs and out of the building, to the almond cart. "You're my friend and I like giving my friends things. And I have some extra money this month, you know how ladies all want to deck out their dresses with lace so they look fancier."

"But…"

"No buts. I'm treating you, since you've already demanded to be allowed to pay for the show for Jack, David, and me." With that, Sarah handed a coin over to the vendor and accepted the paper cone of almonds, opening it so the two girls could share it as they walked to meet Jack and David.

"So. Um… I won't be able to meet you or the boys nearly as often now."

"Why not?"

"My father discovered that your father works in a factory. And he says that I'm not allowed to associate with you anymore, and I have to be escorted to visit socially acceptable friends. I sneaked out today, because Father's out of town and Bessie doesn't check on me. But when he's in town, I can't leave the house without his permission."

"That's… that's awful. Your father thinks that just because my family is poor, we're not worthy to be your friends?"

"Yeah…" Grace trailed off, looking down.

"But you don't think that, right?"

"No, of course not!" Grace said quickly, looking back up at Sarah.

Sarah grinned. "Good. Because, as you know, there is no biological difference between the different social classes of man. We're all equal and the proletariat are being…"

"Sarah. I know. You don't have to lecture me on social equality."

Sarah laughed. "Sorry. But it's important and a lot of people don't seem to realize it."

"I know, Sarah. But they will, someday…" Grace trailed off, then pointed up ahead. "There's Jack and Davey."

"Brilliant, they aren't looking at us." Sarah glanced over at Grace and winked before lightly jogging up behind the boys, keeping her footsteps as quiet as possible. Grace trailed after her, a hand clamped over her mouth to silence her giggles. As they drew close to the boys, Sarah signaled to Grace to grab a handful of snow as she did so herself. After taking a deep breath, Grace followed suit, sneaking up behind David.

Hidden behind Jack, Sarah mouthed 'one, two, three' at Grace before yanking back Jack's shirt collar to shove the snow down his back, leaping away from him as the boy freaked out, spinning in a circle. Grace did the same to David a second later, both girls falling back to lean against the wall, giggling together over the looks on the boy's faces as they tried to shake the melting snow out of their shirts.

"Sarah, that wasn't funny!" David groaned and set about tucking his shirt in again, trying to make himself look presentable.

Grace fought back the giggles as she scooped David's hat off the sidewalk, placing it back on his head. "I don't know what definition of 'funny' you're looking at, but that, David darling, was funny." Smirking, she stood on her toes and pulled David down by his tie so she could press a kiss to his cheek. David blushed but smiled, kissing her briefly on the lips.

"I really don't need to see you two kissing, you know." Sarah rolled her eyes, turning her gaze to the other boy. "No smart comment from you, Jacky boy?"

"Sarah, Davey said I need to try and turn the other cheek, whatever that means."

"It means you need to accept what some people do against you without starting a fight." David rolled his eyes and gently wrapped an arm around Grace's waist.

"That'll be the day…" Sarah muttered, but she smiled at Jack and wrapped her arms around his neck to give him a long kiss, which made both David and Grace look away.

When Jack pulled away, he smirked at Sarah. "You know you love that about me."

"Indeed I do." Sarah laughed, gazing into Jack's brown eyes.

"Young lady! What are you doing with that boy in the middle of the street? Disgusting! Why, in my day, unmarried girls did not do that with an upstart lad in a public place! We didn't do that at all, not until we were properly married!" A tiny old lady had hobbled up to them, reaching up to whack Jack in the back of the head with her cane.

"Hey! What was that for?" Jack pulled away from Sarah, rubbing the back of his head as he stared down at the elderly lady in confusion. David and Grace had to hide their laughter, glad it was Jack and not them who had been seen.

"For being intimate with a young lady in broad daylight! It's a scandal, the way young people are acting today!"

"Beggin' your pardon, ma'am, but she started it." Sarah rolled her eyes and slapped Jack upside the head. "Ow, what was that for?"

"For being an idiot."

"She couldn't have, a nice young lady like her. It's always the boy who starts it!"

"Why, I oughta…"

"Jack! Turn the other cheek!"

Jack stared over at David for a moment, then took a deep breath. "Sorry, ma'am, won't happen again."

"It better not." The lady shook her cane at Jack. "Or I'll be calling the police on you! Indecent, in the middle of the street. There are children out! Why, I never…" She headed off down the street, muttering to herself as the four teenagers stared after her.

Then Grace giggled. "I think I know that lady. Old Mrs. Dalton. Her son is starting a boys' school in Ohio."

"Oh, is he? How fascinating, tell me more… No, wait. I could care less." Jack snorted and wrapped his arm around Sarah's waist, pulling her off in the direction of Tibby's. David and Grace trailed after them.

"Technically, you should be saying that you couldn't care less. Saying you could care less would imply that you do care something about the topic. Unless, of course, you do want to learn more about this school in Ohio. In which case, I'm sure Grace could indulge you."

"Davey?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up."