Title: High Times and Hard Times

Author: sabor ice

Summary: The story takes place around the time Pulitzer raises the price of the Newsies' papers. It centers more on what was happening with newsies on the inside rather than just Jack and David's crusade.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, but this story is mine.

Author's Note: If I don't get at least four reviews, this story will not be continued. I'm not going to waste my time on something no one's reading. So, comment if you want more.

Chapter One

"Come on! Come on! Get the lead outta yer pants, Letty! No time to be daydreamin' now!" came the voice of a newsie.

A small brawl had broken out between a couple of the newsies and two of the locals. It wasn't over anything specific, just a general dislike of each other that had gotten out-of-hand. Fifteen year old Letty "Dreamer" Collinsmith suddenly snapped to attention as a fist came flying towards her face. She ducked and hooked her right fist straight into the boy's stomach. Then, she her hands held him forward while her knee raised straight into his face. The boy fell backwards with a load groan. It was only then did she realize it was Morris, one of the Delancy brothers. He spit blood out onto the ground as he staggered to his feet.

"You're going to pay for that, missy," Morris said.

Just then, a boy named Ten-Pin came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. When Morris turned around, Ten-Pin slugged him across the jaw. Morris' brother, Oscar, grabbed ahold of Ten-Pin, who was much smaller than he. Letty finished off Morris by kicking him dead-on in the groin. Oscar, having been pre-occupied with watching a girl beat down his brother, momentarily forgot about the boy in his grasp. The boy hit Oscar in the side with his elbow, before shovering the young man to the ground.

"Come on, Dreamer!" the kid exclaimed. "Let's get outta here!"

Letty and Ten-Pin took off down the alley and into the street. They ran a couple of blocks before they finally stopped next to a building. Ten-Pin leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. Letty looked over her shoulder a couple of times to make sure the Delancy brothers were nowhere in sight. The boy raised her brown gaze to meet hers.

"That was way too close," Ten-Pin said, blowing out a sigh of relief. "Why'd you have to go pick a fight with one of the Delancy's? You know they never go nowheres alone. We could've been killed!"

"Shut up. Don't you think I know that?" Letty wondered. "But, they was on our turf."

"Yeah, but it ain't safe to be fightin' with them without a few of the others around," he said, then laughed. "But, wait 'till I tells Boots and Crutchy that me and yous soaked the Delancy brudders alone!"

"It was a few lucky punches," she answered, waving her hand dismissively.

"Lucky? We soaked 'em good, Dreamer! Give yaself some credit, will ya?" Ten-Pin replied, patting her on the shoulder. "Come on, let's get outta here before Morris and Oscar or any of their guys shows up."

"You shoulda seen der faces! Me and Dreamer was just like "pow, pow!" and the Delancy brudders went down!" Ten-Pin explained enthusiastically to a small group of the newsies.

Letty sat cross-legged beside some wooden stairs, her back against them. She shook her head and smiled as Ten-Pin went on with his fabricated version of the fight with the Delancy brothers. She loved him almost like a little brother. He was only near twelve, but fought like a full-grown man. He could take any situation and make it sound more exciting than it really was. As she was looking down at her hands a moment, a shadow passed in front of the sunlight. Letty raised her green gaze to meet that of Racetrack's.

"How ya doin', Dreamer?" he asked as he leaned on the railing of the stairs. "So, how much of Ten-Pin's story is the God-honest truth?"

Everyone loved to hear stories, especially when it came to hearing about scabbers being soaked. But, there were the occaisonal few newsies who actually liked hearing the truth. Racetrack happened to be one of them. Letty knew newsies from Brooklyn to Queens. But, she usually spent her time with either Jack Kelly's gang or Spot Conlon's. They were the two strongest leaders of the working class kids of New York. The boys often teased Letty, because she was one of the only female newsies, at least one of the only ones around there. Some of them also thought she had it bad for Jack "Cowboy" Kelly himself, but it wasn't true. Jack was a good leader and friend, but that was it.

"You gonna stand there all day, Race, or are ya gonna park yer carcus?" Letty asked, gesturing to the ground next to her.

Racetrack Higgins was only about a year or so older than Letty, so they got on pretty well. She watched him as he took a seat beside her on the cobblestones. He reached up and adjusted his gray hat a bit, before glancing over at her.

"Well, Ten-Pin was tellin' the truth mostly. Me and him came upon the Delancy brudders on our turf. You knows how theys been sneakin' around lately," Letty explained. "I exchanged a few not-so-kind words with one of 'em, before they started it with us."

"What are you, stupid girl? If there had been any more of those guys around, yous and Ten-Pin would be skinned fishes!" Racetrack said, rubbing the temple of his head with his hand. "Aiy, aiy aiy..."

"Well, there wasn't, and we wasn't, ok," Letty replied.

After a moment of silence, Racetrack grinned, "I bet you soaked 'em good, didn't yous?"

Letty grinned equally. Then, she sighed.

"I know Jack won't care, but I don't know about Spot," Letty said. "Usually, Spot would just say soak all the scabbers. But, he always seems to have lead in his pants when he hears about me soakin' scabbers."

Racetrack shrugged.

"It's probably just cuz yous a girl," he replied.

"Hey!" Letty said, furrowing her brows and shoving him slightly. "I may be a girl, but I'm a newsie, too! I can take anythings you boys can. I rough it just like yous. I mean...a newsie's a newsie, right?"

"Right," he answered.

Racetrack spit in his hand and held it out to her. She spit in hers before shaking his hand.

"And, 'sides, Spot is Spot. He would've done the same had he been in yours or Ten-Pin's shoes," Racetrack assured her.

The two raised their heads at the sound of the circulation bell ringing.

"Come on, Dreamer, I'll race yous. Loser buys the winner an extra 20 papes. Deal?" he wondered.

"Hmm. Deal!" she replied, before getting up and sprinting ahead. Racetrack followed.