This Story is written for the Newsies Pape Selling Competition, TEAM NEWSIES OF BROOKLYN! Prompt: "What do we have here?" Task:Your (favorite) newsie falls in love, with their true love.

Word Count for this chapter: 1,050

Bianca sat quietly at her desk. That's what she does. Sit quietly. She always did what was expected of her. She never thought of not doing what the grown-ups said. That's how the world works, of course.
The bell rang as she packed up her things and headed off for home.
It was a normal day, everything with a perfect routine. That's the way Bianca liked it. No surprises.
She lived about five blocks from her high school, so she walked home every day. Every walk just the same. Perfectly predictable. One block south, turn left, two blocks, turn right, two more blocks, then right again, and hers was the fourth house on the left.
Well, not really hers. It was a foster home. Bianca feels lucky, though. She knew and remembers her parents. They put her here when she was seven. It's been another seven years since then. Some of the other girls have been here since birth, and couldn't recognize their parents if they were right in front of them.
On the Friday afternoon walk back, she heard the call of the newsies. Which was odd. They were usually done selling by the time her school got out, and the boys normally don't come close to the school. It sounded far away, though. She hefted her backpack and kept trudging.
"Miss, buy a pape?" The voice was right behind her. Even though it was whispered and soft, it still made Bianca jump.
She turned to look at the newsie. He was about her height, but a little taller, which wasn't saying much for him. He had dark chocolate brown eyes, along with dark hair that poked out from under a hat. He wore a loose fitting white shirt, with a gray vest over it.
Out of compassion, she dug in her pockets and pulled out a nickel. "Thank you, miss." He took the coin and gave her the paper and a grateful smile.
Even though that was different, it as well soon became routine. She always made sure she had a nickel, or if times were tough, just a penny. The same newsie was always there. Every day it seemed he was little farther down her path, but not enough day by day to really notice a difference.
That went on for about two weeks. Bianca never read the newspaper before. But now she kind of had to.
But on that week's Friday, he wasn't there. She stopped and looked around for him. He was gone.
Hoping he was alright, Bianca started walking again.

She turned to walk up the steps up to the door, but someone was in her way. There he was. Sitting on the bottom-most step, without any papers. "What are you doing here?" She asked.
"Nice to see you, too." He said and leaned back, putting his elbow on the next step up. "Is dis where you live?"
"No, I was just like walking up these steps." She replied sarcastically.
He chuckled. "You funny. I like you."
"Thanks?" She responded, slightly unsure of where this was going. He flashed a charming smile that set off alarms in the back of her head. Bianca shyly smiled back. "Shouldn't you be going back to your family?" She asked.
He laughed again. "You real funny. Have you ever met a newsie wit a family? I ain't got no family like you mean." He grinned.
"'like I mean'?"
"Yeah, I got brudders. Not blood of couirse. We live together in da lodging house. Lots of us." The boy smiled bigger.
She gave a small laugh. "I understand now."
He stood up and walked over to her. "Racetrack Higgins." He stuck out his hand.
"Bianca Arietta." She shook it, he had a strong grip, but not painful, like the boys at school.
"Dat's a real pretty name." Racetrack said. He brought the back of her hand gently to his lips.
"Thank you. That's, um, an interesting name yourself." She added as Racetrack let her rest her hand back by her side.
He laughed softly. "It's a newsie thing. Everyone 'as a ridiculous nickname. Real name's Ant'ony, but don't use it, no one does." He smiled at her again.
"Alright."
There was moment of silence before Racetrack leaned in and whispered to her, "Do youse wanna run away?"
"Me?" Bianca took a step back. Racetrack had just asked her to run away, probably with him. She looked up at that second story window that she slept next to, then back at him. Now all the alarms were going off. Who knows what he has in store for her. It could be dangerous, they could get in trouble; Bianca is supposed to finish school. She only has had a bit of high school. Nowhere near enough to be out in the real world.

Racetrack looked at her patiently, with large, puppy-dog eyes.

"How long have you been a newsie?" Bianca asked.

He bit his lip in thought before answering, "About seven years." He nodded, assuring her. She still looked at him skeptically. "Youse can think about it." He skirted around her and sauntered down the street, hands in his pockets.

"Bye!" She called as he was halfway down the block. He turned and walked a few steps backwards. He gave a huge wave, and disappeared behind a building corner.

Bianca walked into the house, up the stairs, and sat on the windowsill for a long while overlooking the street. She should be thinking about school, but she could only think of Racetrack. Those dark brown eyes that melted her heart the first time they spoke. That charming smile that made her want to shut off her brain.

The door to the shared room burst open. One of the girls that used the bed next to Bianca's came in. "Whatcha thinkin' about?" She, Fiona, asked.

"Nothing!" Bianca jumped up and made her way to her bed. "I was just going to bed!" She quickly changed as Fiona gave a bemused look and slowly left. Bianca climbed into her bed and sat there as Fiona exited the room.

Right as the door clicked shut, She could Fiona yell throughout the entire home, "Bianca's thinking about boys!"

Bianca groaned and flopped onto her pillow, muffling her.

Her bag of homework lay forgotten by the door.

Thanks for reading! Part 2 of 3 will be out next week (hopefully before Friday) Please tell me what you think!