A tall girl stood in front of her house afraid to go inside. After all, her mother had given her permission to go out with her friends, now it was her stepfather she had to watch out for. She took a deep breath and slowly climbed the stairs leading up to the house while getting ready for one of the famous sneaking out lectures. "And where were you just now Missy?" she heard the one voice she despised even more the Weasel's. "None of your business" she spat out quickly forgetting to whom she was speaking to.
The girl never got along with her stepfather, after all, her own dad died just three years earlier. Her step-dad was still talking, but he was soon tuned out. Blah, Blah, Blah, same boring lecture. She decided she had enough and headed to the stairs. Even though the Foxworth's were wealthy, there was one thing the money couldn't bring back. Her father. Mike Foxwoth had been killed at a bank robbery. The robber got what he wanted and then went a little crazy. She sighed and stared out the window as she heard "The Duke" telling her Mom how unruly she was and how she would never survive with a smart mouth and being a smart aleck.
She ran upstairs and quickly packed her things. As she was leaving, her mother stopped her. Denise Foxworth was beautiful as ever, for the family was going to a party that night. Our future Newsie stopped to look at her mother and memorize her voice and looks one last time. "Where are you off to? get ready, we're leaving in 10 minutes"
"Uh- I'm just going to get my shoes. I left them at Susan's" Jessie said as she tried to smile off what was really going happen hoping her mother wouldn't read between the lines. Her mother looked at her for a second then said "You are definitely your father's child. You got the same blue eyes and same smart attitude." It was true, I had kind of a sturdy blue eye color. Not the soft brown my mother wished upon me.
I started off slow at first, then the pace quickened and before I knew it, I ran into a tall boy selling newspapers. I looked at him and thought he wasn't too bad looking so I gave him a dollar once I figured out what he was doing on that corner on that not very warm morning. "Are you sure this is all for me?" he asked slowly starting to hand it back. I pushed it back into his hand. "no, take it. It's yours now" I said and started to walk away. The newsie looked at it for about 20 seconds and yelled back "So, how about I treat ya to lunch with it?"
"If I say no, is there any chance you will leave me alone?" I asked with a smile "Not a chance"
"Okay, you sweet talked me into it" they walked along for a while stopping along the way so the newsie could get rid of his papers. He was even a gentlemen and let me give it a try. Soon we got to a friendly looking place called Tibby's. "This is kinda a local hangout. Eva hear of it" he asked even though he already knew the answer. Jessie quickly thought of an answer okay, I promised myself if anybody asked about this type of thing, I would act like I knew what to do and act like I know, but then I said "No, I've never been here before" Yeah . the Newsie thought, I can tell.
"Oh, by the way, we've been talking about everything but the most important part. I'm Mike Bonney" he said with a great smile."Nice to meet you, Jessie Foxworth" I said spitting on my palm and extending it like I've seen them do. Mike looked shocked before taking it and shaking warmly. "Do you have any idea where you are going to stay now that you don't live at home anymore" he asked sounding a little worried , but at this time I couldn't tell. That question hit home with me because I was still smiling at the name of my father. "I'm not sure. That's the one part of my plan I don't have figured out yet" I said looking at the door. "well I know of a place you can stay, only problem is you can't go there until tomorrow night when there is a spare bunk. So, will ya be around tomorrow? I can show ya what to do and where to go for everything" I smiled to myself. Yes, everything is going just how I want. This is gonna be fine.