Old Fashioned Dame

Chapter One

Lectures

AN- Hi guys! Just wanna say thank you for reading! This note is to let you know that I upload this story to tiktok, I'm a little further along with it there and than here. The user is teamcapsicle and the story goes by the same name, if you wanna check it out there! Also, I'm going to be making a little change here. I'm going to start using you/your instead of she/her just because I do that on tiktok so it makes it easier. I will be keeping her name here, but on tiktok I use Y/n! Alright I'm done now, thanks for your time!

New York City, 1916. A man from the Lower East Side cheated on his pregnant wife with Evelyn Robins, from Brooklyn. Turned out, the pairs reckless act resulted in the mans second child, due only a month after his wife. He came clean to his wife, who was beyond angered by the news. She demanded that he abandon the woman. And he did. Until only a month after his son was born, he caught word that Evelyn had a daughter, but passed during child birth. Evelyn having no family, her elderly neighbours took the child in. Upon hearing such news the woman decided that if he wanted, her husband may be in the child's life, and perhaps she may even know her older brother, Howard. The man named his daughter Adelaide Evelyn Robins.

Adelaide grew up in Downtown Brooklyn with the elderly couple, until they unfortunately passed in 1923, a few short weeks after her sixth birthday. Her father, even her step mother, had wanted to take her in, but they couldn't afford to. Luckily, she had grown close to two boys that lived a couple blocks away, James Buchanan Barnes and Steve Grant Rogers. James' mother had taken her in, allowing the three to continue their usual lives as normal as possible. The trio, mostly James and Adelaide, were best known for their troublesome behavior. That, and protecting poor scrawny Steve from bullies.

"He went left!" one boy shouted to his friends.

Steve cringed as he ducked into an alley, realising he hadn't been as subtle as he thought. He was definitely getting beat up again... He hoped he had ran into an alley with an exit but unfortunately he hadn't, at the end of the alley was a four storey building, blocking the exit. He dipped behind a large dumpster as a group of four bigger boys ran into the alley. Before he knew what was happening, someone grabbed a hold of his collar and pulled him out from behind the dumpster. Steve covered his face and head with his arms, hoping to avoid severe damage.

"Aw, look! He's scared, like a little girl!" one of the boys taunted.

"Too bad Barnes' not here to help you out," another added.

The one holding Steve's collar drew an arm back to punch, causing the boy to close his eyes and flinch. But nothing hit him. Instead he felt the grip on his collar release. When he looked up he saw an even larger boy chasing three of the bullies from the alley, shouting threats and cusses as he did. By Steve's side stood a girl, clutching her bloodied knuckles in the opposite hand, blood splattered onto her dress slightly. The boy that had grabbed Steve sat on his knees, clutching his bloodied nose.

"I don't see what's girly about fear," she sated. The boy glared at her as he got to his feet. "Scram, punk, or I'll break your jaw to match your nose. Go on, get!" She jumped at the boy, causing him to flinch before turning and running from the alley, speeding up as he passed the larger boy that was making his way over to the pair. "Fucking pussies..." the girl mumbled as she stared at her knuckles.

"Hey now, that's not very lady like, doll!" the bigger boy jokingly scolded.

"You wanna be next, Barnes? Your Ma wouldn't blame me," the girl laughed.