A/N: This is my first attempt at fanfiction. I hope you enjoy it and please review.

Disclaimer: I do not own Newsies or any of the characters. They belong to Disney. However the female lead, name to come, is mine.

Chapter 1

Start Spreading the News

She knew if she let it, her heart would fall fast. She had always been a hopeless romantic, which was precisely why she had to be careful. She didn't want to let her heart fall too soon or into the hands of the wrong boy. So she kept her guard up.

Her parents encouraged her to socialize with the rich boys in her hometown in upstate New York. Each an heir to their fathers fortunes. The only thing these boys valued was money and she was determined that if she was going to give her heart away it had to be valued above the insignificant worldly things.

She had spent most of her seventeen years in a boarding school, a place where young girls went to become perfect citizens, wives, and mothers. Though she valued her education and was thankful to be able to read and write, she hated having to be so proper all the time. She liked to ride her horse in the western style and felt rather uncomfortable when the instructor forced her to ride English style as it was more ladylike. She couldn't help but slouch at the dinner table out of shear boredom when Headmistress Mallard was discussing such trivial things as the proper way to fold a napkin, or how a simple flower arrangement on the dining table could provide for a lovely atmosphere. She had no interest in napkins or flowers.

She came home on summer break in early August. On the table in the parlor when she arrived was a letter from her uncle (her mother's brother) Bryan Denton. He lived in New York City and was a journalist for the New York Sun. His most famous article covered the Newsboy Strike two years previous. She loved it when he told her stories about all of the newsies and how they brought down Pulitzer and Hearst.

The letter was the usual update on things in New York City, his nonexistent love life, and the newsies who had become like sons to him. She pictured being there at Tibby's when the newsies were done selling their papes, or at the lodging house playing poker, a game which her much older brother Henry who was in Connecticut attending Yale taught her. She was really quite good and was sure she could give even the famous Jack Kelly and Racetrack Higgins a run for their money.

It was while she was lost in her daydream that she suddenly had a brilliant idea. An idea that if presented carefully would give her a ticket to New York City and a way into the lives of the Manhattan Newsies.

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She sat in front of the vanity mirror in her bedroom rehearsing each word that she would say to her parents. She didn't know how they would feel about her changing schools now, but she thought they probably wouldn't be completely opposed to the idea.

When she was eight they wanted to send her to the Manhattan Preparatory School for Girls as it was one of the most prestigious schools in the country. Head Mistress Pringle had turned many an unruly girl into a high society debutant. They decided to place her in the Harriett C. Jones Boarding School under the careful eye of Head Mistress Mallard as it was only a thirty minute train ride from home and they felt she was just too young to be in New York City by herself.

Now that Uncle Bryan was living in Manhattan she wouldn't be their alone. On holidays when it would be impossible for her to go home she could spend them with her very responsible uncle. Her parents already liked the school and she would have opportunity to meet sons of rich bankers and lawyers which her mother would be pleased about. She couldn't see why her parents would reject.

She was right. Her parents were right on board with her. Her father had always wanted her to attend school in Manhattan and her mother trusted that her brother would take exceptional care of her. They also thought the point she made about the eligible boys in the city was rather great and they began making arrangements right away.

She was thrilled that her parents didn't put up a fight, but a little guilty that she had put emphasis on the wealthy suitors. She had no intentions what so ever to seek out the young New York elite in search of a husband as her parents may have hoped. She was headed to New York to have a little fun and to live free of the aristocratic lifestyle that had been forced upon her. School was simply an alias to keep them from getting suspicious.

Arrangements had been made for Uncle Bryan to pick her up at Grand Central Station around noon that Tuesday. She spent most of Sunday and Monday packing and making arrangements for her horse to be sent to the school stables. She couldn't wait to board the train and start her new life in New York City. She could barely contain her joy and tried to look sad as she said goodbye to her parents and promised to write them often. The train pulled out of the station and she stuck her head out the window to wave goodbye to her old life.

When the train finally came to a stop jolting her from her rather uncomfortable nap, an immediate smile ran across her face. She had arrived. She ran her hands through her long auburn hair which had been tousled as she slept and blinked her deep blue eyes. Under normal circumstances she never really cared about her appearance; however this was not a normal circumstance. She was going to be a New Yorker, and see her uncle for the first time in nearly two years. After the strike was settled he got increasingly busier as he was given a promotion. The skirts of her dress were wrinkled from lying on the seat of the train, and her hat had gotten smashed by a suitcase where she had stored it. She shrugged and put it on her head anyway, gathered her things and stepped off the train. Caught up in the moment and absolutely oblivious to anyone and anything she stepped right into the man in front of her and fell safely into the arms of her uncle just in the nick of time.