Well I wrote this just out of pure boredom and its finished already and eh I finished it awhile ago but I felt like putting it up anyway...ummm yes so in this Mush has a sister and its in her point of view most of the time...yeahhh...

The same old story

Chapter 1

I was walking toward him now. Nervously at that, and also slow. I kept my eyes to the floor because I've heard rumors that he can get anything he wants by looking at your eyes. I can't believe I'm doing this. I shouldn't be doing this. But alas, here I was. In front of Spot Conlon as we speak. One of his newsies nudged their heads at me and he turned around to be face to face with me.

"Spot Conlon?"

"Yeah dats me. Who are you?"

I held out my hand for him to shake but he just looked at it then back up into my eyes…and I couldn't look away.

"I'm Ava Adore. Mush's sister."

"Mush's sister, ey? I've heard a little bit about you…"

I knew that was a complete lie and I wondered why Spot would be acting nice to me. Surely he doesn't care about anyone's feelings. Or so I've heard from my brother.

"He was said to be here before he went missing."

"Missing? Mush? When did dis happen?"

He squinted his eyebrows at me as if I where lying. I wish I where lying…but he's been gone for two days already and I was worried. This is VERY unlike Mush so I know something must be up. I had gone down to see Jack Kelly and he said that Mush had gone over to Brooklyn and well…here I am now.

"It happened just about two days ago. Have you seen him?"

"No…I haven't seen him. Why? Should I have? Are you suggesting something Miss. Adore?"

"Maybe."

Our eyes where locked on each others and he smiled at me. I thought I had died right there and then. Such a beautiful yet eerie smile. It captivated me and I kept looking into his eyes as he did with mine. It was as if he where going deeper and deeper into them. He started walking closer to me which was somewhat weird because he was already close…now there was not even a gap in between us.

"If I where you….Ava…. I'd stay outta the way…"

I held my breath and continued to look into his eyes. He was smirking now. We where so close I could feel his breathe on my skin. Suddenly he leaned back, walked over to his other Newsies and acted as if I weren't there. Fine. I'd just half to find Mush myself.

I myself am fifteen. Mush is sixteen. One year apart if you didn't catch that. Our father had just passed away last month and we where both taking it pretty well. Mush came home everyday with money. I'd have supper ready for him. It was kind of like we where married…which is totally gross because he's my brother but all well.

I was just turning the corner when I tripped over something. I looked back to see it was a shoe. A SHOE! What the hell was that doing there? I walked over closer and realized that it was Mush buried behind boxes with his shoe sticking out.

"MUSH!"

I threw the boxes around and put his head into my lap. He stared up at me.

"I think I broke my foot."

"Mush I'm so sorry for not being here sooner. Who did this to you?"

He had been beaten up but not badly. It looked more like a warning then a beating. As if to say next time he'll get worse.

"Spot and his chimps."

He sat up and then I helped him stand up.

"I was just talking to Spot."

He looked at me in shock or disbelief or something. It was a weird look. It scared me.

"Spot! I told you to never, ever, EVER, talk to him!"

"I know I was just so worried about you and-"

"Shit Ava…shit, shit, shit."

"Now you're just being over dramatic."

He complained the rest of the walk home and when we got home he was still complaining. He ended up falling asleep though in the midst of talking (Thank God.)

Okay, first things first, Spot Conlon is everything. Spot Conlon makes New York. Hell Spot Conlon IS New York. Everyone's heard about him here. His name is feared because he is feared. Many tales have been told about him. Here are some I've heard-

1, When Spot Conlon fell into a well when he was little he woke up as a teenager and seeked revenge on the world.

2, Spot Conlon has no real friends. Just people he occasionally talks to.

3, Spot Conlon's newsies would take a bullet for Spot because they where raised to.

4, Spot Conlon was extremely wealthy and came from a power family but they all died in a plane crash to New Zeeland and only Spot survived. So he seeked revenge on the world.

5, Spot Conlon doesn't have any emotions. He was born like that.

6, If you look Spot Conlon in the eyes long enough you'll be turned to stone.

7, Spot Conlon doesn't trust anyone and doesn't believe in love.

8, Spot Conlon will kill anyone he has to, or he'll just kill for the fun of it.

Now I don't know which ones are true or not but I might be able to know which ones aren't true.

THE NEXT MORNING

Mush must have felt better because he was already out when I woke up. He must have been selling papers. Though I awoke to a knock on my door I got up and opened it. There stood Jack Kelly. OKAY NOW YOU GET TO HEAR ABOUT JACK KELLY!

Jack Kelly was like my other brother and I loved him to death. He was the best person you could ever know. Everybody loves him and he's got a heart of cold. Basically, he's the complete opposite of Spot. Though him and Spot are friends.

"Mush here?"

"Nah I think he went to sell papers. I found him last night."

I told him what happened and he was a little taken aback when he heard Spot had beat him up.

"Listen; don't believe anything you hear about Spot. None of its true."

"He seemed pretty awful when I talked to him."

"Maybe you just need to get to know him."

"After what he did to Mush? Ha, no that's okay Jack."

He grabbed my hand and gave me that playfully smile that I'm so use to by now.

"Come on lets go see him now."

"What? Jack your crazy."

I laughed slightly and so did he…but Jack is just to cute to say no to SO I soon found myself in Brooklyn laughing with Jack. But then Spot Conlon walked over and well…lets just say we both stopped laughing.

"Hey ya Jackey boy."

They spit and shook hands and Jack looked over at me.

"This is-"

"I know who she is. Miss. Ava Adore."

He started laughing loudly and started stumbling a little. Then his eyes grew scared and his face was twisted into pure fear. As if he had just seen someone die. His eyes started watering as well. He grabbed onto Jack then onto me.

"THE PEOPLE AROUND ME THE PEOPLE SURROUND ME!"

Jack looked at me oddly and I feared for my life.

"JACK! JACK HELP!"

Suddenly he went running off as fast as he could and Jack and I looked at each other. Not a single soul was by us so he couldn't have been talking about anyone.

"Wait here."

Jack started chasing after him. I stood there nervously. Then, just with my luck, Spots gang started walking over to me.

"You're that dame that was here around Spot yesterday aren't ya?"

One of them said.

"Maybe."

I tried to play it off as I where cool but I couldn't. I was shaking. God knows what these men can do. Boys. Not men. My bad. Boys to men. Oops wait there not suppose to be around during this time period…

AUTHOR STORY ERROR!

Right back to the story.

"Hey leave her alone!"

Just then Jack came walking over and I huddled over next to him quickly. He put his arm around me as if to protect me and I held back the urge to burry my face in his chest.

"Hey ya Jack!"

"Hey Jack!"

"How you doin Jack!"

I stared up at Jack. God was he popular. Who didn't like that boy? For crying out loud, SPOT CONLON, the bad ass of New York, the one with no feelings or friends, liked Jack! Jesus Christ!

It wasn't just people. Animals LOVED Jack. A so-called "demented dog" ran over to him once. Jack was just petting him, his owner runs over and tells him to stay back because the dog had bitten thousands of people and doesn't let ANYONE pet it. But their Jack stood. The dog wagging its tail happily at him. Amazing.

"Tone it down a little guys, the girls with me."

I heard one whisper "she sure gets around a lot" and apparently so did Jack because he smiled and said-

"Ha very funny. I've known this girl all my life. She's great. You'd all like her."

"If you say so Jack."

One replied. I felt a little better but not much. Jack said goodbye to the gang and we started on our way back. Jack was doing weird steps with his foot. It started to bother me.

"Jack what are you doing?"

"Trying not to step on a crack. Doing this was always fun for me."

He looked up at me and smiled. I tilted my head.

"Come on try it."

I laughed.

"No, I think I'll pass."

"Oh come on you know you want to."

I rolled my eyes smiling and begun looking like an idiot with Jack. It actually was pretty fun. As if we weren't stupid looking enough as it was, Jack started singing.

"Try not. To step on the cracks. Try not. To step on the cracks. For if you do, you'll surely find that cracks can often lose their mind and I-"

"Jack. Just…just no."

We both laughed and he stopped singing.

(Authors note-My "P" button is having a hard time working.)

I started getting tired. After all it was a fairy long walk back to our part of town. Brooklyn was far away from us so…

"Jack, I'm tired."

"Okay um…do you wanna sit down?"

"No um lets just keep going."

"No, no, hang on. Stay here and close your eyes."

"That doesn't sound to safe, Jack."

He laughed and as I closed my eyes I felt a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"Just trust me."

I did trust him. Oddly enough. I think I trusted him more than I trusted my own brother. Weird maybe, but I don't know…

I probably stayed there for a good five minutes. Then I heard the sound of horseshoes on pavement. My heart sped up a bit and I tried my best to keep my eyes closed as the sound grew louder and closer to me. Just then I heard Jack's laughter and opened my eyes.

I don't know how he does these things, but nonetheless there was Jack. In a horse drawn carriage. Jack, the poor newsie, in a horse drawn carriage. Odd. Yeah. But that was just Jack. Since everybody loved him he got a lot of things for free.

"Your carriage awaits you madam."

I smiled and blushed and looked around to see several people staring. I heard an old man say to his wife-

"Ah, young love. Do you remember when we where like that?"

The old women nodded her head and the couple both smiled at us. Jack extended his hand out for me and he helped me on.

"Jack you really didn't half to do this."

"Nah I wanted to."

He smiled at me and I felt myself blush again. If Mush could see us now he'd kill Jack. Mush was pretty protective of me. Even when it came to Jack.

The carriage started, you know the horses started going and Jack put his arm around me. See I wouldn't think anything of it normally because he's just Jack and he always just does things like that with me because he's my friend you know? But now that we where on carriage ride, and we have a blanket over us, and it seems romantic, I started feeling kind of weird. Jack was looking at me and smiling the whole time. I didn't know what to do I felt awkward.

"So um….Ava…"

"Yeah Jack?"

He laughed slightly.

"I'm sorry I keep looking at you, you seem a little bit freaked. It's just with the wind in your hair and everything…the sun reflecting on your face…you look absolutely…"

"Silly?"

"Gorgeous."

He smiled and I smiled back at him, still feeling a bit weird.

"Thanks."

The rest of the way back was silence. Jack would occasionally steal a glance at me and I would shift my head to the side a bit. I started feeling a bit worried that Jack might try something, but then I told myself that it was Jack and that Jack would never do something like that. Thankfully it ended and we got off. Jack said something to the driver and then proceeded to walk me home. By the time we got back it was dark and I knew that Mush would be flipping out at me. I couldn't help but think about Spot though.

"Jack?"

"Yeah Ava?"

"What was wrong with Spot?"

He looked at me seriously. Making me feel nervous.

"Nothing. Don't worry about him."

"No come on Jack tell me."

He seemed to be debating with himself by what I could tell by his facial expressions.

"Spots just going threw a rough time right now. He'll be fine. Don't worry."

We eventually made it to our apartment building. I walked in and Mush was sitting on our couch. He jumped up and pointed a finger at Jack.

"Where the hell did you take her?"

"No where jeeze just calm down, Mush."

"Nowhere? Um then what the hell where you two doing out so late?"

Jack looked at Mush and smirked.

"Well you know I got her a little drunk…things got a little heated…you dig, right?"

Mush's face turned a deep red with anger and I hit Jack on the arm.

"Don't give him a heart attack, Jack!"

"Hey that rhymes."

Jack said happily. I rolled my eyes and looked toward Mush.

"Listen I'll just be straight forward with you."

I took in a deep breath.

"We went to Brooklyn."

All was silent for a few seconds. Mush blinked. Jack looked at me, than Mush, then me. I kept my eyes on Mush.

"I told you not to go there though."

"No, Mush its not her fault I convinced her to."

Mush threw his hands up in the air, walked out the door with a SLAM, and we heard him run down the stairs.

"He must be going to the joint."

"I guess."

I sighed and looked toward Jack. He was looking out the window for Mush but then started looking up at the sky. I couldn't help feeling sorry for him. He never had parents. Ever. He never knew them. They gave him up when he was less than one year old. But alas Jack always says he's going to reunite with them in Santa fey… Supposedly that's where they where. Or where he thought they where.

At nights Jack always gets somewhat depressed. He feels alone and scared, he's told me that. Everyone loves him and is with him during the day but at night…at night he's completely alone and it always gets to him. Now, as I see him staring up at the sky I know what he's thinking.

"Jack…why don't you stay here for the night?"

He looked away from the window and looked at me.

"Nah that's okay…"

"No come on."

"Well okay."

See Jack knew he wanted to stay over he just didn't want to be rude. So, if you ask again he'll say yes. It always amuses me when he does things like that. He's just so silly.

I set up a bed for him on the couch. I grabbed a blanket for him to lye on and then I grabbed another one for him to put over himself. And of course, a pillow for his head.

"You spoil me. Really you do."

We both smiled and he lay down. He can always look so perfect. It's really amazing. I suppose he noticed me staring at him because he stuck out his tongue.

"Oh sorry."

I murmured. He just smiled.

"Thought that might get your attention."

"Your tongue is long."

"Yes I know. Its good for certain things."

He looked me over and winked and I picked up a pillow and hit him with it. He's not perverted often but when he is its quite amusing.

"Night Jack."

"Night. Thanks for letting me stay over."

"No problem."

I started walking into my room and stopped in the doorway. I turned around to see him smiling at me. I smiled back, blew him a kiss, laughed, and went into my room clicking off the light.