Artfully Twisted (1853)|Oliver Twist (Artful Dodger X Villainess)

2: Meeting them

"Felt wot?" Valerie asked, trying to look innocent. Looking innocent is a real challenge for The Villainess. Dodger and Charley turned around to see a full view of Valerie and Sam.

"I felt yer fingers in me pocket." Said Dodger with a wide grin drawn on his face. Valerie would want to wipe off that grin on Dodger's face, that is the very first time that she saw him face to face, she looked at his top hat, then to his long coat that reaches his ankles, and then to his face which annoyed her and brought her back to reality.

"Excuse me, if yer wallet's gone missing, it is nat my fault! Do not accuse meh for stealing it."

"How'd ya know it was a wallet then?" Dodger asked with a wider grin which made Valerie's heart sink and made her silent with no words to reply.

"Fine, I stole it." Valerie muttered and rolled her eyes, earning a cheeky laugh from the two boys.

"What a shame! The Artful Dodger is robbed by The Villainess! Oh wotta (what a) ruin of reputation!" Charley, a ginger boy with a red cap laughed loudly, him knowing Valerie's name made her alarmed.

"How'd ya know ma name?!" Asked Valerie, who's face was more serious and all confused.

"We saw yer wanted poster tha other day!" Charley answered with a big laugh before Dodger could.

"What a good coincidence. Me and ma partner 'ere are lookin' at your wanted posters as well." Valerie snorted with her hands on her hips in a manner of sassiness, "You're The Artful Dodger and Charley Bates, ain't ya?"

"Yes, you were ne'er (never) wrong. I'm Jack Dawkins, better known as The Artful Dodger." Jack Dawkins, or perhaps Dodger, introduced himself to Sam and Valerie as he pushed the brim of his hat off his forehead, revealing a good-looking face.

"And I'm Master Charley Bates-"

"I alrea'y know who you are, there is no need for that introduction of yours." Valerie interrupted, she is not comfortable with those two boys, they were her rivals, she wanted to leave that very place as soon as possible.

"I'm startin' to get interested in you..." Said Charley after being brainwashed by The Villainess and as he scanned her gothic dress.

"What's your real name, mate?" Dodger asked.

"Do not call me mate. An' there's no particular reason for you ta know ma name!" Valerie gave them a cold glare and breaks into a run, she ditched them, she didn't even realized that she left Sam behind as well! She made sure that that mere moment would be the first and last encounter with the two.

Dodger and Charley's smile faded as they saw no sight of The Villainess, they were actually planning to recruit her in their gang, but it seems that they had failed.

"I guess this is a farewell." Sam grinned to them cheekily and ran to Valerie's direction, abandoning a puzzled Dodger and Charley.

"First of all, they got me wallet. Then they ditched us 'ere." Dodger face-palmed himself, his wallet was stolen, leaving him without a single penny, "My money, my two pocket-watches, and ma sweets that I stole from a shop are all within that bloody wallet!" Added Dodger, his face still buried in his hand, that phenomena was a good illustration of riches to penniless.

"Valerie! You're a fast runna aren't ya? Why'd you ditched meh?" Sam asked while catching Valerie's pace, "Can we stop runnin'?"

"We 'ave to head back to tha lair!" Replied Valerie as she looked behind her and increased the speed of running.

"We don't 'ave to run!" Exclaimed Sam as big drops of sweat emerges from his and his feet slowed down.

"Wot if those two boys are followin' us?" Valerie's long brown hair whipped her face as she and Sam ran across the streets. Young thieves like them are the "Children of the streets", it is their living, they steal to survive and they must learn to enjoy it. A majority of wealthy people in London are not so generous, which causes orphans like them to turn into juvenile delinquents; the dark side of London City,

Little did Valerie knew, that's not the end, it all just the very start.