"Extry, extry, read all about it!" The cry rose above the noise of the city streets of New York as I stood on a corner and lit a cigarette. Those are the Newsies; street rats and runaways mostly. I was a runaway. I fund a job with the Newsies and became one of them. Ladies would pass me on the street and curl their lip with disdain at my appearance. Trousers and suspenders were the usual uniform for the Newsies, although well fitting, were "unbefitting" for a lady to wear and my boy's work shirt hid my clothes well. Ladies walking by would make comments about me, telling me that I was not a girl, that I was plain, and the incredibly religious ones would tell me that I was going straight to hell. I would reply with a "Well, good, then I'll never have to ask for a light again," wink, then walk away, shocking the hell out of each and every one of them. Smoking was also a habit that was considered "unladylike". If I had had a particularly rough day, I would go looking for trouble and generally find it in the form of the Delancy Brothers. Two brothers who sold themselves out and now suck up to the city and follow the rules. They were always good for a fight to release frustration. At the end of the day a black eye was my trophy. Eventually I started coming back to the house with a black eye every week. That's when Jack Kelly, the Newsie leader for this side of the city, started to worry about me. He started designating guys to walk and work the streets with me. I could usually ditch them around noon; I have no need for a babysitter.
Today Jack found me leaning up against a lamppost outside The King, a restaurant were the gang all hangs out.
"Lexus, where's Snotty?" He asked me. Snotty was the guy who was supposed to watch me today. I shrugged and grinned with a glint of mischief in my eyes.
"I don't know, I ditched him an hour ago. Honestly, Jackie-boy, you've got to be giving me smarter lads. Snotty wasn't even a challenge." I said in my thick Irish brogue. I came from Ireland two years ago. I guess that's a long way to run, but I had to get out. There was nothing there for me any more. My family is still there and every once in a while I get a letter from them. I send money faithfully every month.
"Oh yeah? Well then it looks like you and I are working this afternoon." I rolled my eyes and pushed myself off the post and strode past him. He had to jog a few steps to keep up with my long strides. We headed down to the square where there was some kind of even or speech happening. Whatever it was, there were a lot of people and a lot of people meant more people to buy papes. I sold nearly all of mine, save for maybe one or two. Jack had nearly all of his left and that meant he was not the best of spirits. He grumbled all the way to the house. Once he tried to detour to go find the Delancy brothers, but if I couldn't fight them, neither could he.
I was laughing at him as we walked up to the door.
"You know it's because I'm so much better looking than you, don't you, boyo?" I teased.
"You sure? I don't think they could tell under all this," he said pulling at my sleeve. I smacked his hand away.
"Listen here, Jack, I won't have you pulling at me, poking fun at me and what not. I am what I am and I don't need you to tell me how to dress. I take care of myself and don't you be forgetting it, boyo."
"I won't," he said as he leaned against the railing and lit a smoke. I breezed past him and into the house. Snotty was standing there and scowled at me when I came into the room. I grinned at him.
"Lexus, you do you hafta do that to me? Y'know Jack's gonna come after me now," he whined.
"Ah, now Snotty, you know you can't damn well keep up with me, so why do you even try? Now, Blink here is one tough son of a bitch to get rid of," I said grabbing Blink's shoulder. "But get rid of him, I always do. The day one of you can stick with me, I'll wear a dress and brush my hair. I don't see what I need a babysitter for anyway." Jack's voice behind me made me jump making everyone laugh.
"Because you get yourself in to trouble way too much and we can't have our girl getting herself into dangerous situations now can we?"
"I'm not 'your girl' and you know it. And I can take care of myself, the only reason you do this is because I'm a girl and you don't think I can do it on my own." I accused hotly.
"You're right," he answered smugly.
"And you're wrong, boyo, so get away from me." I spat and stomped up the stairs to our room.