Hi! Welcome to my new story; a series of one shots about the Shelby family and an OC sister. Each chapter will be about a different sister (unless at some point I carry a chapter/storyline on). These are stand alone stories so in my head, only one of these sisters exists at one time (if that makes sense), there is never more than one OC sister. Some of the names I use are characters from other Peaky Blinders stories I have written, you don't need to have read those stories for these one shots to make sense. The name, age and time the story is set will be at the start of each chapter, with a short summary. Enjoy!

Bessy-Jo decides not to go to school one morning, waiting to see what her oldest brother says to her suggestion of coming to work with him for the day.

(Bessy-Jo is an OC I created for my story Secret Lovers, you don't need to have read that story to read this one shot).

Age: 9 (1904)

It was long after Bessy-Jo Shelby should have left for school, and yet here she was, still sat at the kitchen table in their house in Watery Lane, head buried in her book, her older brother's cap on her head.

"Where'd you get that?" Arthur grumbles, snatching the hat off her head as he walks behind her chair.

"Hey! You left it on the side! I was just looking after it for you!" Bessy protests with a squeal, reaching up to take the cap back. Arthur lifts the hat out of her reach, placing it on the sideboard on the other side of the room, high out of Bessy's reach.

"You, should not be messing around with mine and Tommy's hats. Got it?" Arthur states sternly, placing his fingers under Bessy's chin to tilt her head up to look at him.

"But Arthur-" she whines, deflating back into the chair, stopping short at his glare. She crosses her arms over her chest, pouting as Arthur pulls out his pocket watch, raising his eyebrows at the time.

"You should be in school. What the hell are you still doing here?"

"Tommy took John to Uncle Charlie's yard to help with the horses. And mama's gone with Aunt Pol to the church. But you're here. I thought we could do something together." Bessy replies, rising to stand on the chair to be the same height as Arthur.

"And where's our Ada, eh?" He asks, raising his eyebrows at Bessy.

"She's at school." She replies quietly, head ducked down.

"Where you should be. Eh?" Bessy nods as Arthur tilts her head up to meet his again, biting her bottom lip.

"But Arthur! I already know the things they're teaching me! It's boring. Tommy's been helping me with my numbers, and Mama with my reading." Arthur sighs, running his hand over his face; Bessy was right, for a nine year old, she was incredibly smart for her age. Polly and their mother claimed she had a gift, the young girl could remember anything she read or heard, which came in handy, however not in school, hence why Tommy and their guardians worked to further her learning at home. Truthfully, he and Tommy didn't see the point in Bessy being at school if they weren't going to give her work to challenge her, yet their mother and Aunt insisted the young girl attended with her little sister.

Having said that, the business he had planned today was no place for his nine year old sister, but he couldn't leave her in the house by herself for the day, and there was no way he could trust her to get herself off to school, nor would he want her wandering through Small Heath now and he definitely didn't have time to drop her off. "And how come John gets to go with Tommy but I have to go to stupid school with Ada? I wanna help too Arthur! I can help with the numbers! Even Aunt Pol said that!"

"When did Aunt Pol say that?" Arthur questions, settling into the chair beside Bessy, the young girl carefully moving to sit too, rather than stand. Bessy at least had the grace to look sheepish, knowing the conversation she had overhead, she shouldn't have been listening to. "Go on Bessy-Jo. When did she say that?"

"The other night," Bessy replies quietly, playing with the hem of her dress. "She said 'That poor girl is learning nothing at that school, Mary. Nothing. She'd be better off here with us, until we can sort something out with the teachers. Get her working on sorting the books out. Heaven knows her father and brothers are no good at it.'" Again, Bessy looked sheepish, knowing exactly who Polly had been taking about, the older brother in question being sat right in front of her.

"And what did Ma say?" Arthur asks this time, knowing the answer that was bound to have come out of their mother's mouth.

"She said, 'Polly. She's going to school, until she's too old to do so. My little girl will have the education I didn't have.' And then Aunt Pol said, 'But look at you now Mary. Your family taught you everything you know and that's all you needed. That all our Bessy-Jo needs.' And then Mama said 'We'll talk about this later, when Arthur comes home.' Then Aunt Pol swore a lot and said some mean things about daddy and Mama got sad so I went back to bed." Arthur sighs again, internally wishing he had a bottle of whiskey to take a long swing from right about now.

"Right. Well," Arthur trails off, letting out a groan as he realised the only solution to the problem at hand, was to take young Bessy along with him for the day. "You can come with me to work today, but you stay right by my side. Got it. If I tell you to hold my hand, you hold my hand. If I tell you to be quiet, you be quiet. Anything I tell you to do, you do it right away. Yes?" Bessy nods enthusiastically, jumping down from her chair, holding her hand out to take Arthur's hand in her own. The older sibling mutters a curse under his breath, shaking his head as he helps Bessy pull on her coat, leaving the house with her hand tucked tightly in his own.

Bessy was an angel for Arthur all morning, keeping right by his side as they made their way around Small Heath, checking in with Peaky boys out on business, collecting money from people, even stopping by a few pubs where Arthur sat nursing a whiskey, holding short meetings, as Bessy sipped on her glass of water. He was planning on getting drunk enough by the end of the day, that the hell he would be getting into from his mother and Aunt when they realised where the oldest Shelby daughter had been all day, would all go over his head.

"Right. We're heading back to the shop now. I'll get you some lunch. Then, how about you have a look at the books for me?" Bessy lets out an excited squeal, tugging on Arthur's hand as her slow walk turn to skips of delight. Truthfully, Arthur knew how much that suggestion would mean to Bessy, getting to be a part of her big brother's business, it was a small price to pay for her good behaviour so far that day.

By the time the pair finally sat down in Arthur's office later that afternoon, school was nearly out for Ada, Arthur's drinking and smoking had increased in the time since they had arrived home, knowing his mother would soon find out that Bessy had never made it to school today.

"Arthur? What's she doing here?" Tommy asks, coming to a stop outside Arthur's office, pointing to Bessy who was engrossed in the ledger in front of her.

"Bessy didn't make it to school today. So she's been helping me." Arthur replies, only briefly looking up at his younger brother who scoffs at his response.

"Mum's going to kill you." Is all Tommy replies, lifting Bessy out of her chair, the young girl yelping in protest. He ignores her, sending her on her way with a gentle pat on the bottom, leading her back into the house where her twin was sat shovelling food into his mouth at the kitchen table. Before John could ask what Bessy was doing home already, shouting could be heard from outside the house. Recognising her mother and Aunt's voices, Bessy turns on her heel, dodging past Tommy as he tries to catch her, running straight back to her older brother's office, jumping on to Arthur's lap.

"Bessy-Jo?" Mary calls as she enters the house, front door slamming against the wall, a very out of breath Ada being dragged along behind her mother, pulling a face at her older brothers as they enter the kitchen. "Where is she?" Tommy points towards the betting shop, scooping Ada into his arms as their mother continues to drag her along behind her.

"That girl." Polly groans, shaking her head as she leans against the kitchen counter, head in her hands.

Meanwhile, in the betting shop, Mary had pulled Bessy from Arthur's arms, wrapping her oldest daughter in a tight hug as her heart rate slowly returns to normal; Mary hadn't waited for the teacher to finish her sentence, stating the young girl had never turned up to school that morning, before she was out of the playground in a shot, racing off towards Watery Lane.

"Where have you been? The school said you didn't go in this morning." Bessy gulps at her mother's question, glancing between her and Arthur. Her older brother clears his throat, pushing himself up from his chair, immediately deciding the story he was going to tell their mother.

"Our Bessy wasn't feeling well this morning, says it started after you and Pol left." He states, Bessy turning to him with wide eyes at his blatant lie. "She stayed with me. Says she's feeling better now though."

"Jesus-" Mary trails off, dropping her head into her hands. "Why didn't you come and find me? Or Pol?"

"Didn't wanna bother you, Ma. We had it covered, eh Bess?" Bessy nods frantically at her brother's question, allowing her mother to gather her back into her arms.

"Let's get you some tea, tuck you up in the sofa, eh sweetheart?" Mary suggests, holding Bessy at arms length as she nods, allowing her mother to take her hand, leading her from the room. Bessy pauses briefly in the doorway, catching Arthur's eye as he winks at her; their secret was safe for now.