Hi! Welcome to yet another time travel fic! This was written by both
Madeline and Alex. Yes, we shamelessly used our own names in this fic.
Haven't you always wanted to be with the newsies? Please read and review!
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Pulling on the last pair of jeans, Alex turned to Madeline and raised her eyebrows, looking for approval. Always the insecure one, Alex needed the approval of her friends for everything. She had just gone through all of the new clothes she had bought in the past week, and Madeline had told her she loved all of them. "I don't know about these. Do they make my hips look to big?" she asked her friend, who was lounging on her bed, reading one of the books off of Alex's messy bookshelf.
"I love them Alex, just like I've love the rest of them." Madeline rolled her calm blue eyes. "Everything looks so great on you. I don't understand why you think you look so bad."
"I don't know." Alex said, looking back into the full-length mirror and frowning at what she saw.
"You just want me to tell you how pretty you are, Alex"
"I do not! I'm just ugly and that's a fact."
Madeline sighed the heavy sigh of a best friend with not much left to say. She knew Alex only considered her self to be ugly because of several failed relationships that loomed in her not-so-distant past. Was it really Alex's fault she seemed to fall for any cute guy that could walk, talk, and breath? Though Madeline considered Alex's dependence on the opposite sex to be absurd, she considered Alex's complaints of her looks to be even more ridiculous. Finishing the third chapter of Great Tips for Greater Kissing, explaining the fine art of spit control while making out, Madeline jumped off the bed and grabbed Alex by the elbow, dragging her out the door. Alex, in the middle of trading jeans for her favorite pair of baby blue cheerleading shorts, whined in protest. "But I forgot to ask you about my new necklace!"
"Alexia, I'm sure it's beautiful," Madeline sighed, using Alex's full name in exasperation.
"I want to wear it anyways. I'll be back in five seconds," Alex reentered her room and pulled the silver butterfly necklace out of the bag it was in. She clasped it around her neck as she exited the room once more.
"Very nice." Madeline smiled.
"Hey, you want to watch Newsies?" Alex asked, naming her favorite movie. "I haven't seen it in a long time. I'm starting to get Spot withdrawal."
"Why not? I saw it in seventh grade, I'm sure I could suffer through it again."
Alex led Madeline to the television, opening the DVD player as her friend settled onto the comfortable leather couch. Grabbing the remote before Madeline could snatch it, Alex skipped past the previews to the beginning of her favorite movie. As she regularly quoted the characters and frequently introduced even the more unimportant newsies with great relish to Madeline, who knew only the basics of the movie, Madeline gazed dreamily at the screen, temporarily forgetting her abhorrence of men in general. "So many boys. so much dancing. this is absolutely brilliant!"
"See? You don't hate boys!" Alex said. "One unpleasant experience with a deranged pervert shouldn't destroy your faith in guys in general-"
"Shush!" Madeline whispered hastily. "You're spoiling the moment!" At that, Alex happily returned to naming the gorgeous youths that pranced across the screen.
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"Spot isn't that hot." Madeline remarked as the final credits flashed across the screen. "Jack and Dave are better."
"You can have them. All I need is my Spot." Alex closed her eyes and an image of the dashing gray-blue eyed newsie flashed across her mind.
"What about Mush, Blink, Dutchy, Race, Snoddy, Pie Eater.." Madeline listed off all the newsies Alex had told her she loved over the course of the movie.
"Yes. Them too. But Spot's definitely my favorite." Alex giggled happily, still on her post-Newsies high.
"I'm going to marry Dave and have all of his babies. or maybe I'm going to have all of Jack's babies." Madeline shook her head, as if shaking the images of Dave and Jack out of her thoughts. "I mean. I guess that movie was okay. If you like brainless musicals that is."
Alex, pausing her Newsie fantasies long enough to enjoy the thought of Moulin Rouge, fingered her butterfly necklace as she imagined Spot. "He's so gorgeous, and hot. How is it possible for someone to be so perfect?" She sighed wistfully. "If only I was with Spot- then I'd be the happiest person in the world."
Madeline stood up, staring at Alex with mock disgust. "It's totally unrealistic to expect one person to make you happy. You have to be happy with yourself, first!" Madeline shuffled out of the room to the kitchen, hoping to get some orange juice before heading off to bed.
Alex followed her, throwing her hands up in disbelief as her friend shamelessly raided her refrigerator. "How can you live such an unromantic life? You can't be happy pretending you're too good to actually live!" She unconsciously pulled on her necklace. "All I mean is- is that I wish I could see Spot! Just to meet him!"
Madeline laughed an empty chuckle. "And I wish I could meet Spot, too! I wish I could get the whole newsie experience! Then I'd become a girl newsie! It's so sexist how no women are newsies."
Alex was about to argue that the industrial age, not newsies, was sexist in itself, but her necklace started loudly humming. Madeline gave her friend a puzzled look. "I never knew your jewelry was so musically talented, Alexia." Before either teenager could say anything else, they suddenly felt themselves being swept up from the ground on which they stood, and landed hard on a hard wooden floor.
"What the hell?" Alex asked, looking around the room that they had suddenly arrived in. It was filled with rows of bunk beds. Belongings were strewn over tables in between the beds and various items of clothing hung from the beds and from nails in the wall. It all looked distinctly familiar to Alex. She turned to Madeline, who was rubbing her hip and grimacing.
"Are we where I think we are?" Madeline asked.
"Oh my god. I think we're at the Manhattan Lodging House!" Alex exclaimed. She looked around the room and her eyes caught sight of a newspaper under one of the bunk beds near where she was sitting. Reaching over she read the date, and her joy was confirmed. "We're in 1900!"
"Does that mean.Jack! Wait! I mean David!" she said, starting to confuse herself once again.
"Spot! Where is he? Lets go to Brooklyn!" Alex said, already getting up and heading for the wooden door that seemed to lead to the downstairs part of the lodge. Madeline reached her just as she was getting to the door.
"Are you crazy? Look at yourself!" Madeline gestured to what Alex was wearing. They were pretty much the shortest shorts either of them owned. Madeline, on the other hand, was wearing her favorite pair of jeans and a black spaghetti strap tank top.
"I guess your right. Now what are we supposed to do? You can't go anywhere in that shirt either!" Alex looked around at all the clothes hanging around the room.
Madeline saw where Alex's gaze was wandering to, and shook her head automatically. "What are they going to say when they get back here and see us wearing their clothes?"
"I guess your right. But then we have to face them looking like this." Alex said. She did not want the newsies to think she was a slut.
Madeline was about to answer when the sound of pounding feet coming up the stairs could be heard. Both girls froze, not having a clue what to do next. A split second later the door flew open and a horde of boys that they recognized as newsies from the movie poured through the door. Alex, who could name every single one of them, couldn't help but think about how much cuter they looked in real life, if that was possible. Madeline was concentrating on trying to remember the names that Alex had rattled off during the movie. She wished she had paid more attention to her friend at that time.
The boys didn't seem to notice them at first until Kid Blink looked over and stopped dead in his tracks, his eye widening and jaw dropping open in shock. Mush, who had collided with the blonde youth when he stopped so suddenly, cried out in surprise, "Hey Kid, watch where you're going!" Soon the entire group had noticed the two girls standing in the center of the room. Alex couldn't help but notice how their eyes lingered on her bare legs and on Madeline's bare arms.
"Who are you?" Race finally voiced, coming out of the initial shock.
"I'm Madeline, and this is Alexia," Madeline said, gesturing to Alex, who had become suddenly quiet in the presence of the newsies.
"Call me Alex," she almost whispered. Madeline was sure half the newsies had not heard what her best friend had said.
"What are you doing here?" a newsie Alex didn't recognize asked.
"Um.well we." Madeline stalled, trying to come up with a good excuse.
Alex interrupted her, thinking of an explanation on the spot. "We needed a place to stay, but we don't have any money. So we climbed in through the window."
"You didn't need to. You could have just asked Kloppman. He's the old man who runs the place. The first night is always free here," the same newsie responded. "Just go downstairs and sign in with him."
The two girls nodded and walked past the newsies toward the door through which the boys had entered. They made their way down the stairs and soon found themselves in a small room. An old man was standing behind a wooden counter, and seemed to be looking through some old records. The walls were covered with dark wooden paneling, as was the floor. The old man, who they assumed was Kloppman, looked up as they entered the room.
"Need to sign in?" he asked, ignoring the fact that they had entered from upstairs as apposed to through the front door.
Madeline was the first to respond. "Yes. That's what the boys told us to do."
"Well, the first night's free, but every night after that costs six cents. I assume that you are going to be newsies?"
"Are girls allowed to be newsies?" Madeline voiced the question both of them were wondering about. Neither of them had heard anything about girls being newsies.
"Of course. We don't get too many of them round these parts though. There are a few more up in Harlem and Midtown."
"Yes. I guess we will then," Alex grinned. Becoming a newsie had been her dream ever since she had first seen the movie. She suddenly remembered what she and Madeline were wearing. "You wouldn't happen to have any spare clothes would you? We're not exactly dressed right for the job."
"Yeah. There are some spares in that closet over there." He pointed to a wooden door, not unlike the door to the bunkroom. The girls opened the closet to find several shirts and a few pairs of pants. Madeline selected a white button up shirt and a black pair of pants, while Alex chose a faded blue shirt and gray pants. They thanked Kloppman and made their way back up into the bunkroom. The newsies had more or less dispersed since their departure, some lounging on beds and counting their money, others playing various card and dice games. All looked up when the girls entered the room.
"Uh, where is your washroom?" Alex asked, gesturing to the clothes in her hand. Race pointed to an empty doorframe on the other side of the room. Madeline nodded in thanks and the two girls entered the washroom.
Once inside, they heard Pie Eater remark, "I think they look fine the way they are."
"We heard that!" Alex yelled back, more confidant once out of their sight. She was answered with a series of laughs, most like directed towards Pie. They quickly changed and made their way back into the room.
Madeline instantly noticed that Jack had decided to make an appearance. The other boys had obviously filled them in on what was going on, because he pointed to two lower bunks and said, "You two can have those. No one's using them."
They put their clothes in the drawer between their beds and sat on one of the beds. The newsies seemed to be watching them, waiting to see what they would do next. Alex and Madeline ignored them and started talking about anything and everything. Soon, the newsies returned to what they had been doing.
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About an hour later, the two were still sitting on the bunk, talking. Alex had spent most of the time talking about who was hot, mostly Spot, while Madeline continued the debate between Jack and David.
"Whatever we do, promise me that we will go to Brooklyn tomorrow," Alex said, her gray-blue eyes shining in excitement.
"Then what will we do? Walk up to Spot and introduce ourselves?" Madeline said, always the rational one.
Alex bit her lip, deep in thought. "I don't know! At least I could look at him. Or we could get someone who knows him to take us over there and introduce us."
Their conversation was soon put on pause when there were cries of "Brooklyn!" and "Spot!" Alex looked to the entrance to the bunkroom and saw Spot making his way through the newsies. Alex melted at the sight of him. He seemed to be coming right towards them!
"Who are you and why are you on my bunk?" he asked, in the true tough Spot tone.
Alex could feel herself turning red. She knew she had to say something. She didn't want him to think she was an oaf who didn't talk, as so many guys had. "Alex," she breathed. "And this is Madeline. I didn't know it was your bunk. Jack told us we could have it. " She began to stand up. "We're sorry."
Spot's expression softened. "Don't worry about it. I'll just take the top bunk." He turned and walked to Jack, who was sitting on a top bunk across the room, observing the poker game that was taking place in the center of the room. The two spit shook, causing Madeline to wrinkle her nose and stick out her tongue.
"Save it for Jack," Alex remarked. Madeline grinned.
"I just might." Madeline trailed off.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Spot was asking Jack about the two new arrivals.
"So, Jacky-boy, where'd you pick up these two?" He removed his gray hat and hung it from the edge of Jack's bunk.
"I dunno, Spot. They just showed up. The boys found them up here when they got back from selling." Jack glanced over at Madeline and Alex, who were laughing about something. "Blink tells me they said they climbed through the window 'cause they didn't have any money."
"Yeah, I know how that is. But wouldn't they prefer a more- well, ladylike job? They're the only girls selling papes around here."
"So what? If they're good at selling, let them sell. Nothing wrong with a little variation, anyway."
"Hey, look, I know that, all right? Not like I care what either of them do with their time." Though his tone sounded as though his words were true, Jack saw Spot sneak a look at Alex as she tossed her brown hair.
"Are you sure about that, Spot? Sure you don't think Alex is a little pretty? You don't find her blue eyes enchanting? Her smile romantic? Her- "
"Whoa, Jacky-Boy, slow down! Not all newsies fall in love with any girl with a pretty face." He smiled charmingly. "How is that Sarah of yours doing?"
Jack punched Spot in the arm, although the blow did not prevent his friend from resuming to stare at the lovely girl only a few bunks away. "You teaching her to sell tomorrow?" Jack asked, his eyes laughing.
"Yeah, you know I am," Spot said, almost sheepishly.
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Please review! Another chapter is already in the making, so any feedback is very much appreciated!
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Pulling on the last pair of jeans, Alex turned to Madeline and raised her eyebrows, looking for approval. Always the insecure one, Alex needed the approval of her friends for everything. She had just gone through all of the new clothes she had bought in the past week, and Madeline had told her she loved all of them. "I don't know about these. Do they make my hips look to big?" she asked her friend, who was lounging on her bed, reading one of the books off of Alex's messy bookshelf.
"I love them Alex, just like I've love the rest of them." Madeline rolled her calm blue eyes. "Everything looks so great on you. I don't understand why you think you look so bad."
"I don't know." Alex said, looking back into the full-length mirror and frowning at what she saw.
"You just want me to tell you how pretty you are, Alex"
"I do not! I'm just ugly and that's a fact."
Madeline sighed the heavy sigh of a best friend with not much left to say. She knew Alex only considered her self to be ugly because of several failed relationships that loomed in her not-so-distant past. Was it really Alex's fault she seemed to fall for any cute guy that could walk, talk, and breath? Though Madeline considered Alex's dependence on the opposite sex to be absurd, she considered Alex's complaints of her looks to be even more ridiculous. Finishing the third chapter of Great Tips for Greater Kissing, explaining the fine art of spit control while making out, Madeline jumped off the bed and grabbed Alex by the elbow, dragging her out the door. Alex, in the middle of trading jeans for her favorite pair of baby blue cheerleading shorts, whined in protest. "But I forgot to ask you about my new necklace!"
"Alexia, I'm sure it's beautiful," Madeline sighed, using Alex's full name in exasperation.
"I want to wear it anyways. I'll be back in five seconds," Alex reentered her room and pulled the silver butterfly necklace out of the bag it was in. She clasped it around her neck as she exited the room once more.
"Very nice." Madeline smiled.
"Hey, you want to watch Newsies?" Alex asked, naming her favorite movie. "I haven't seen it in a long time. I'm starting to get Spot withdrawal."
"Why not? I saw it in seventh grade, I'm sure I could suffer through it again."
Alex led Madeline to the television, opening the DVD player as her friend settled onto the comfortable leather couch. Grabbing the remote before Madeline could snatch it, Alex skipped past the previews to the beginning of her favorite movie. As she regularly quoted the characters and frequently introduced even the more unimportant newsies with great relish to Madeline, who knew only the basics of the movie, Madeline gazed dreamily at the screen, temporarily forgetting her abhorrence of men in general. "So many boys. so much dancing. this is absolutely brilliant!"
"See? You don't hate boys!" Alex said. "One unpleasant experience with a deranged pervert shouldn't destroy your faith in guys in general-"
"Shush!" Madeline whispered hastily. "You're spoiling the moment!" At that, Alex happily returned to naming the gorgeous youths that pranced across the screen.
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"Spot isn't that hot." Madeline remarked as the final credits flashed across the screen. "Jack and Dave are better."
"You can have them. All I need is my Spot." Alex closed her eyes and an image of the dashing gray-blue eyed newsie flashed across her mind.
"What about Mush, Blink, Dutchy, Race, Snoddy, Pie Eater.." Madeline listed off all the newsies Alex had told her she loved over the course of the movie.
"Yes. Them too. But Spot's definitely my favorite." Alex giggled happily, still on her post-Newsies high.
"I'm going to marry Dave and have all of his babies. or maybe I'm going to have all of Jack's babies." Madeline shook her head, as if shaking the images of Dave and Jack out of her thoughts. "I mean. I guess that movie was okay. If you like brainless musicals that is."
Alex, pausing her Newsie fantasies long enough to enjoy the thought of Moulin Rouge, fingered her butterfly necklace as she imagined Spot. "He's so gorgeous, and hot. How is it possible for someone to be so perfect?" She sighed wistfully. "If only I was with Spot- then I'd be the happiest person in the world."
Madeline stood up, staring at Alex with mock disgust. "It's totally unrealistic to expect one person to make you happy. You have to be happy with yourself, first!" Madeline shuffled out of the room to the kitchen, hoping to get some orange juice before heading off to bed.
Alex followed her, throwing her hands up in disbelief as her friend shamelessly raided her refrigerator. "How can you live such an unromantic life? You can't be happy pretending you're too good to actually live!" She unconsciously pulled on her necklace. "All I mean is- is that I wish I could see Spot! Just to meet him!"
Madeline laughed an empty chuckle. "And I wish I could meet Spot, too! I wish I could get the whole newsie experience! Then I'd become a girl newsie! It's so sexist how no women are newsies."
Alex was about to argue that the industrial age, not newsies, was sexist in itself, but her necklace started loudly humming. Madeline gave her friend a puzzled look. "I never knew your jewelry was so musically talented, Alexia." Before either teenager could say anything else, they suddenly felt themselves being swept up from the ground on which they stood, and landed hard on a hard wooden floor.
"What the hell?" Alex asked, looking around the room that they had suddenly arrived in. It was filled with rows of bunk beds. Belongings were strewn over tables in between the beds and various items of clothing hung from the beds and from nails in the wall. It all looked distinctly familiar to Alex. She turned to Madeline, who was rubbing her hip and grimacing.
"Are we where I think we are?" Madeline asked.
"Oh my god. I think we're at the Manhattan Lodging House!" Alex exclaimed. She looked around the room and her eyes caught sight of a newspaper under one of the bunk beds near where she was sitting. Reaching over she read the date, and her joy was confirmed. "We're in 1900!"
"Does that mean.Jack! Wait! I mean David!" she said, starting to confuse herself once again.
"Spot! Where is he? Lets go to Brooklyn!" Alex said, already getting up and heading for the wooden door that seemed to lead to the downstairs part of the lodge. Madeline reached her just as she was getting to the door.
"Are you crazy? Look at yourself!" Madeline gestured to what Alex was wearing. They were pretty much the shortest shorts either of them owned. Madeline, on the other hand, was wearing her favorite pair of jeans and a black spaghetti strap tank top.
"I guess your right. Now what are we supposed to do? You can't go anywhere in that shirt either!" Alex looked around at all the clothes hanging around the room.
Madeline saw where Alex's gaze was wandering to, and shook her head automatically. "What are they going to say when they get back here and see us wearing their clothes?"
"I guess your right. But then we have to face them looking like this." Alex said. She did not want the newsies to think she was a slut.
Madeline was about to answer when the sound of pounding feet coming up the stairs could be heard. Both girls froze, not having a clue what to do next. A split second later the door flew open and a horde of boys that they recognized as newsies from the movie poured through the door. Alex, who could name every single one of them, couldn't help but think about how much cuter they looked in real life, if that was possible. Madeline was concentrating on trying to remember the names that Alex had rattled off during the movie. She wished she had paid more attention to her friend at that time.
The boys didn't seem to notice them at first until Kid Blink looked over and stopped dead in his tracks, his eye widening and jaw dropping open in shock. Mush, who had collided with the blonde youth when he stopped so suddenly, cried out in surprise, "Hey Kid, watch where you're going!" Soon the entire group had noticed the two girls standing in the center of the room. Alex couldn't help but notice how their eyes lingered on her bare legs and on Madeline's bare arms.
"Who are you?" Race finally voiced, coming out of the initial shock.
"I'm Madeline, and this is Alexia," Madeline said, gesturing to Alex, who had become suddenly quiet in the presence of the newsies.
"Call me Alex," she almost whispered. Madeline was sure half the newsies had not heard what her best friend had said.
"What are you doing here?" a newsie Alex didn't recognize asked.
"Um.well we." Madeline stalled, trying to come up with a good excuse.
Alex interrupted her, thinking of an explanation on the spot. "We needed a place to stay, but we don't have any money. So we climbed in through the window."
"You didn't need to. You could have just asked Kloppman. He's the old man who runs the place. The first night is always free here," the same newsie responded. "Just go downstairs and sign in with him."
The two girls nodded and walked past the newsies toward the door through which the boys had entered. They made their way down the stairs and soon found themselves in a small room. An old man was standing behind a wooden counter, and seemed to be looking through some old records. The walls were covered with dark wooden paneling, as was the floor. The old man, who they assumed was Kloppman, looked up as they entered the room.
"Need to sign in?" he asked, ignoring the fact that they had entered from upstairs as apposed to through the front door.
Madeline was the first to respond. "Yes. That's what the boys told us to do."
"Well, the first night's free, but every night after that costs six cents. I assume that you are going to be newsies?"
"Are girls allowed to be newsies?" Madeline voiced the question both of them were wondering about. Neither of them had heard anything about girls being newsies.
"Of course. We don't get too many of them round these parts though. There are a few more up in Harlem and Midtown."
"Yes. I guess we will then," Alex grinned. Becoming a newsie had been her dream ever since she had first seen the movie. She suddenly remembered what she and Madeline were wearing. "You wouldn't happen to have any spare clothes would you? We're not exactly dressed right for the job."
"Yeah. There are some spares in that closet over there." He pointed to a wooden door, not unlike the door to the bunkroom. The girls opened the closet to find several shirts and a few pairs of pants. Madeline selected a white button up shirt and a black pair of pants, while Alex chose a faded blue shirt and gray pants. They thanked Kloppman and made their way back up into the bunkroom. The newsies had more or less dispersed since their departure, some lounging on beds and counting their money, others playing various card and dice games. All looked up when the girls entered the room.
"Uh, where is your washroom?" Alex asked, gesturing to the clothes in her hand. Race pointed to an empty doorframe on the other side of the room. Madeline nodded in thanks and the two girls entered the washroom.
Once inside, they heard Pie Eater remark, "I think they look fine the way they are."
"We heard that!" Alex yelled back, more confidant once out of their sight. She was answered with a series of laughs, most like directed towards Pie. They quickly changed and made their way back into the room.
Madeline instantly noticed that Jack had decided to make an appearance. The other boys had obviously filled them in on what was going on, because he pointed to two lower bunks and said, "You two can have those. No one's using them."
They put their clothes in the drawer between their beds and sat on one of the beds. The newsies seemed to be watching them, waiting to see what they would do next. Alex and Madeline ignored them and started talking about anything and everything. Soon, the newsies returned to what they had been doing.
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About an hour later, the two were still sitting on the bunk, talking. Alex had spent most of the time talking about who was hot, mostly Spot, while Madeline continued the debate between Jack and David.
"Whatever we do, promise me that we will go to Brooklyn tomorrow," Alex said, her gray-blue eyes shining in excitement.
"Then what will we do? Walk up to Spot and introduce ourselves?" Madeline said, always the rational one.
Alex bit her lip, deep in thought. "I don't know! At least I could look at him. Or we could get someone who knows him to take us over there and introduce us."
Their conversation was soon put on pause when there were cries of "Brooklyn!" and "Spot!" Alex looked to the entrance to the bunkroom and saw Spot making his way through the newsies. Alex melted at the sight of him. He seemed to be coming right towards them!
"Who are you and why are you on my bunk?" he asked, in the true tough Spot tone.
Alex could feel herself turning red. She knew she had to say something. She didn't want him to think she was an oaf who didn't talk, as so many guys had. "Alex," she breathed. "And this is Madeline. I didn't know it was your bunk. Jack told us we could have it. " She began to stand up. "We're sorry."
Spot's expression softened. "Don't worry about it. I'll just take the top bunk." He turned and walked to Jack, who was sitting on a top bunk across the room, observing the poker game that was taking place in the center of the room. The two spit shook, causing Madeline to wrinkle her nose and stick out her tongue.
"Save it for Jack," Alex remarked. Madeline grinned.
"I just might." Madeline trailed off.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Spot was asking Jack about the two new arrivals.
"So, Jacky-boy, where'd you pick up these two?" He removed his gray hat and hung it from the edge of Jack's bunk.
"I dunno, Spot. They just showed up. The boys found them up here when they got back from selling." Jack glanced over at Madeline and Alex, who were laughing about something. "Blink tells me they said they climbed through the window 'cause they didn't have any money."
"Yeah, I know how that is. But wouldn't they prefer a more- well, ladylike job? They're the only girls selling papes around here."
"So what? If they're good at selling, let them sell. Nothing wrong with a little variation, anyway."
"Hey, look, I know that, all right? Not like I care what either of them do with their time." Though his tone sounded as though his words were true, Jack saw Spot sneak a look at Alex as she tossed her brown hair.
"Are you sure about that, Spot? Sure you don't think Alex is a little pretty? You don't find her blue eyes enchanting? Her smile romantic? Her- "
"Whoa, Jacky-Boy, slow down! Not all newsies fall in love with any girl with a pretty face." He smiled charmingly. "How is that Sarah of yours doing?"
Jack punched Spot in the arm, although the blow did not prevent his friend from resuming to stare at the lovely girl only a few bunks away. "You teaching her to sell tomorrow?" Jack asked, his eyes laughing.
"Yeah, you know I am," Spot said, almost sheepishly.
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Please review! Another chapter is already in the making, so any feedback is very much appreciated!