"What are you trying to pull off, you stupid punk?"

Scarlett looked up from the display of brass-rimmed, leather bounded goggles at the corner of the store, towards the cashier. There stood a boy, around her age, his head hung low with a little shiny pendant and a mountain of coins on the counter.

"Is this enough?"

She was right by the boy's side in the blink of an eye, tossing a few notes on the counter top before walking off. It wasn't her day today - she hadn't found the perfect pair of goggles, the purple in her hair was fading, the smell of tulips today was stronger than the stench of steam engines’ oily rusted gears, she stepped on a live snail at the entrance of the last store she entered, but the worst was her missing daily dose of chamomile tea.

Muttering a curse, she looked around for the closest cafe. Just as she was about to cross the road, a light tap on her bare shoulder stopped her.

It was the boy from the store.

"Thanks," he said shyly, with Scarlett's notes in his hand, encased in a pair of black fingerless leather gloves that looked almost like the one she was wearing. "The guy took the pennies."

She nodded slowly and took the cash back with a raised eyebrow. Though she wasn't in the mood for a conversation, there was just something about this boy.

"Oh? Just how many coins did you ambush the cashier with?" Scarlett found herself asking as she stuffed her money into her back pocket. "That looks like it's worth a lot of coins." She pointed to his necklace.

"I paid him in pennies!" he laughed, fiddling with the snowflake pendant. "It's just worth a little more than a pound."

She didn't know if she was amazed at his bravery to pull off such a stunt or unimpressed. Or maybe it was one of the effects of being in military school...

"By the way, I'm Drake," he continued and offered his right hand for a handshake. "I like your hair."

"Scarlett," she replied as she returned the handshake. "Thanks. Wanna join me for tea?"