Okay, I had spelled "Jem" as "Gem" in chapter 1. Ignore that. It is now Jem.

MY BIRTHDAY WAS THE 8th!

YAY!

I changed a little at the VERY END.

(Spot POV)

I breathed out a breath of relief. It was only Jem.

"The lovely Bley Rhames has taken a liking to Fido here." he says with an impish grin.

"How do you know my name?" she asks.

"I read fast." he says and tosses her the book.

She looks like she could possably stab herself if she got the chance so I hold her tight. "I knew I shouldn't have left that bag downstairs." She curses under her breath. Truthfully, I have never heard such a loud and dirty mouth on a girl before.

"Fido?"

"Chill Spotty Boy, I don't plan on telling no one." I let out a breath.

"Jem. If you want something, you know we have nothing." Bley says quietly.

Jem laughs. "I don't wan't nuthin sweetheart. At least nuthin material."

I look at him curiously. "Wait… what?"

Jem looks from me to Bley, to me, then back to Bley again. "I want the truth. Your story Bley."

Bley paled.

"I want you out of the room when she does so. So she doesn't have to hide anything from her dear boyfriend." he adds in and points at me. Boyfriend? What is he talking about?

"No, I don't think s-" I start.

"Fine. Whatever. Just don't tell." Bley cries.

"I don't plan on telling. I just want to know whats going on. Secrets are a love of mine as long as I'm in on them."

"Spot. Go." She says while examining the floor.

"No!" I protest. She shoots a glare at me.

"Now. Spot. Now." I slowly sink out of the room and catch a glimpse of Jem's satisfied smirk. My smirk.

(Bley POV)

"What do you want to know?" I ask quietly.

Jem looks at me with an intensity that makes me squirm in my seat on the bed. "First, I want you to know that you can trust me. I will not turn on you no matter the situation. No matter what, understand?" His face looked so familiar and it bothered me that I couldn't place it in my mind.

I nod my head. Although I did not believe him, I still felt safer with him than I did Jack or even Racetrack.

"Secondly, what happened exactly with your brother?" Determined to tell him all I wanted him to know about my brother as soon as posable, I started.

"He got killed in an alley and-"

"Do not lie to me. Bley. Tell me the truth." That was the first time in the longest time that someone called me out on my lying.

"I don't understand. I wasn't lying." I said, denying it.

"They never found his body." Jem said quietly.

"Sorry?" I ask in an even smaller squeak.

Jem's eyes would not meet mine. His face was scarred. Badly. From one thing or another.

"The police never found the body. He went missing. You never found him."

"I'm not lying." I say with a hard look. "That is not true. Where would you hear such a ludicrous thing?"

"You."

"Pardon?" I say as if surprised.

"You talk in your sleep."

"Then why wouldn't Spot have said anything?"

"The boy sleeps like the dead."

"Why were you watching me sleep?" I retort.

"I could hear you when I was patrolling the house one night and decided to listen in for more." he leans his elbows on his knees and looks in my eyes intently.

"You really have thought of every possible situation and answer here, haven't you?"

"A good man has to plan." He says with a goofy grin.

I almost laugh.

"Why were you going through my bag?" I ask more casually. I was unwillingly loosening up around this boy.

"I thought I might as well just bring it up to you. I picked it up and it fell out."

"The bag was closed." I say with mock skepticism. The truth is, I was really curious what his next answer would be.

"Well. It opened when I picked it up wrong. The clasp was old and it came undone."

"How much of the information in the book was new?"

"None of it. I actually remember that pape from years ago. I also figured out much from just your sleep talking. And of course, I knew you were a girl the second you came in to the light that night Spot picked you up."

"Oh, yeah. Right. Sorry for stepping on your foot."

"Tah, It's fine. It's gotta happen once or twice. Sorry I said what I did. I didn't see you were a girl." He met my sincerity with a voice just as equally sincere.

"What made it so obvious that I was a girl?"

That's when he hesitated. "You… just didn't seem like a boy at all. Your face and eyes look all… wrong."

"Aw, gee thanks Jem." I say dramatically placing both hands over my heart. "I feel so loved."

"You are." Jem says. "By more than one."

I laugh. "What do you mean?"

"Race. And Spot. Well gosh, Race'd do anythin for you."

"Really? I mean, Race an' I are just friends." I say, more to myself than to him.

"Really, and that's not what he thinks. I don't think that's what you think either." Jem says quieter.

"What? That's ridiculous." I say again to myself.

Sigh, "Spot seems to like you more than his goil last week."

"Last week? When I was in Manhattan?" I ask, a little nervous. "What do you mean a girl?"

Jem seemed to only then realize that he had slipped. "Um. Nuthin." He replies quickly.

"Too quick. Spot had another girl." I state, rather than ask.

Jem says nothing.

"And this is normal."

Jem remains silent.

"Answer me! Didn't think this through didja?" I yell at him and he winces.

"I'm sorry Bley. I shouldn't have said anything at all."

And without another word, Jem gets up and leaves. "Dammit!" I screech and throw the closest thing I could reach at the door.

That would be a shoe.

I run up to the door and lock it. The handle rattles. "Bley? You in there? Open up." Spot calls.

"I need a little while, Spot." I say, my voice weak.

"Okay. Take your time." How could someone be so sweet one minute and then rip your heart out the next? I guess that's just Spot.

"Thank you Spot." my voice sounds strangled, lifeless.

I realize he isn't there any more.

I climb out the window and maneuver through the crowds back to Manhattan. When I step into the little room where I had been the past 4 weeks, Race is there. My bag remained at the Brooklyn Lodging house and I knew that Spot would eventually have to return it. Or hopefully Jem would.

I look into Racetrack's eyes, solemn and red. I waltz up throw my arms around him and sob. He was startled for a few seconds before he squeezed me tight.

"It's okay Bley." he whispered. "Spot's like that."

"But it hurts." I whimper.

Race kisses the side of my head and sits with me on the bed. "I know."