Disclaimer: Don't own. Belongs to the all powerful Disney! Lol! Wish I did...
A/N: This is Ellie, one half of Slashwhores (hence why in our account, duh.) Unfortunately no slash as was written before my slash kick kicked in. I'm nervous about what you'll think as it was my first attempt at a fanfic. Sorry about the lack of accents, I don't get New York slang, so any bits that are in it are rubbish. Anyways, on with the story...
Jack was taking a shortcut through an alley on his way back to the Lodging House one evening. "Come back here you little bitch!" A loud man's voice screamed. Jack looked around for the source of the voice. It was coming from behind him. A girl ran into the alley laughing and barrelled into him, knocking them both to the ground. The girl stopped laughing quickly and lay flat on the ground out of sight from either entrance to the alley. Her arm lay across Jack's chest stopping him from getting up. No one else came down the alley. After about five minutes the girl lifted her head up from the ground. Seeing it was clear she sat up cross-legged and faced Jack. Jack propped himself up on his elbows and looked at the girl who had knocked him down. She had long jet-black hair that fell down to the middle of her back and sparkling blue eyes that were still laughing. She was wearing boys' clothes, a pair of black loose black trousers and a loose white shirt.
The girl watched him in amusement as he studied her. She cocked her head to one side and looked at him, waiting for him to say something. Jack looked at how she was sitting and let out a small laugh. "Hey!" the girl said, her voice full of laughter. "Hi," Jack replied his eyes sparkling in amusement, "Who are you?" The girl shrugged. "You don't know who you are?" Jack stated more than asked. The girl giggled. "Well do you have a name?" He asked, the girl nodded. "Are you gonna tell me what it is?" The girl thought about it for a minute and then shook her head. Jack rolled his eyes. "Are you going to tell me yours?" The girl challenged. Jack started to shake his head then changed his mind. "I'll make a deal with you, if I tell you my name, you hafta tell me yours." The girl nodded in agreement. "Fine then, the name's Jack Kelly otherwise known as Cowboy." "Mine is Arizona." "What, no last name?" "Crimson. Arizona Crimson." "Well then Arizona, are we gonna sit on the floor all day?" Jack asked. Arizona shook her head and hopped up. Jack got up as well.
The pair started walking towards the Lodging House. "So where ya from?" Jack asked. "Why do you ask?" "One, I ain't seen you round before, an' I know most people in Manhattan." "Is that where I am?" Arizona asked surprised, interrupting. "Where did you think you were?" "Last time I checked I was in Harlem." Arizona shrugged. Jack looked at her strangely. "I have been walking around New York City for a while." She replied in answer to his unasked question. "Oh, and two yous got a strange accent." "I'm from England." "Whatcha doing in New York for then?" "I'm looking for my cousins and sister." "Why?" Jack asked curiously. "I lost them." Arizona replied simply. Jack opened his mouth to say something else. "What is this, twenty questions?" Arizona asked. "Sorry." Jack replied. They walked the rest of the way back to the Lodging House in silence.
Though the pair walked in silence Arizona's mind was spinning. "Why did he want to know so much? Why is he so cute? Do you think I'll ever find them?" Her mind was a whirlwind of question after question.
They stopped outside a building. Arizona read the sign, "Newsboys Lodging House". "Are you coming inside?" Jack asked. "Am I allowed?" "Would I be asking if you weren't?" Arizona rolled her eyes in response and followed him inside. "Hey Kloppman," Jack greeted the old man behind the counter, "D'you think we've got room for one more?" The old man looked up and looked at Arizona, who was glaring at Jack. Kloppman chuckled, 'that girl'll definitely give Jack a run for his money.' He thought. "Sure Jack." Kloppman replied turning his attention back to Jack. Jack nodded, "Alright, Arizona this is Kloppman, he owns the Lodging House." Jack then turned back to Kloppman, handed him five cents, signed his name in a book and went up the stairs. Arizona stayed with Kloppman scowling at Jack's retreating back.
"If you would like to stay here, your first night is free but after that it's five cents a night." Kloppman said, drawing Arizona's attention back to the lobby. "Is there room for me to stay here?" she asked doubtfully. "Yeah, there's a boys' bunkroom and a girls' bunkroom. The girls' room is slightly smaller because we've only just started taking girls in. The boys' room is full at the moment but there are still a couple of bunks left in the girls." Kloppman explained to her. "Ok then, yes please I would like to stay here." Arizona replied. Kloppman nodded. "Good, now you have to sign the register so I know who's staying here and who's paid." He handed her the book and Arizona wrote her name down in it. She looked at the other names in the book. They each had names like 'Specs' and 'Crutchy'. Arizona guessed they were nicknames. 'I wonder what the story behind their nicknames is.' She thought.
Kloppman called down one of the girls to show Arizona where the room was as Jack had left her. "Arizona, this is Flare. Flare, Arizona." Kloppman introduced. "Flare could you please show her where everything is." Flare had shoulder length dark brown hair and chocolaty brown eyes. "Hi," Flare said to Arizona with a smile. "Hey," Arizona offered a small smile back. "Follow me and I'll show you the girls bunkroom."
Arizona followed Flare up the stairs. They walked past an open doorway. Lots of noise was coming from in side. "That's the boys bunkroom, most people hang around in there in the evenings if we're not somewhere else." Flare explained. They reached another doorway and went inside. "This is the girls bunkroom." Inside were a group of girls sitting on bunks talking. "Hey everyone, this is Arizona." Flare introduced. The girls looked up and smiled at her. "Hi," Arizona greeted shyly. "Would you like a top or a bottom bunk?" Flare asked. "Top, please." "Fine, you can have the one above me then." Flare told her, indicating to the bed above the one she was now sitting on. Arizona nodded and threw the small bag she'd been carrying on to the bunk. "Through that door is the girls' wash room, we get our own seeing as the boys' is a mess all the time." Flare pointed to a door at one side of the room. Arizona nodded again and then climbed on to her bunk and collapsed.
A couple of minutes later a couple of the other girls came over to Arizona. "Hi, I'm Star." A girl with long dirty blonde hair and strange eyes (one was green, the other hazel) said. "I'm Lucky." A girl with shoulder length strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes said. "Hi," Arizona said back sitting up on her bunk so she could look at the girls. "How old are you?" Lucky asked. "I'm fourteen. How old are you two?" "I'm fourteen too and Star here is sixteen." "Is Arizona your real name?" Star asked curiously. "Yes it is, why?" Arizona replied laughing. Star blushed and shrugged. "Do you want to come and meet some of the boys?" Arizona thought about it for a minute, then nodded, her eyes sparkling mischievously. Flare came up beside Star, "Uh oh, looks like somebody's got a plan." Arizona nodded and quickly filled the other three girls in on how she had met Jack and come to be at the lodging house.
When she'd finished Arizona told them what her plan was and soon the other three girls had identical grins on their faces. "Oooh, I can't wait to see the look on Jack and the other guys faces," Flare giggled. "Let's go," Star said. The four girls went over to the boys' bunkroom and stopped outside the door. The four girls started to giggle; inside the bunkroom Jack was telling the other boys how he had met Arizona. He reached the end of the tale, "...And then I left in the lobby with Kloppman." "You left her in the lobby?" A voice asked incredulously. "That's Mush." Star whispered giggling. "Won't she be pissed?" The same voice asked. "This is working out better than I thought," Arizona whispered with a sly grin.
Seconds after she had said that, Arizona went charging into the bunkroom straight at Jack, who was sitting on the edge of a bunk. A gasp was heard as the boys saw a black haired blur racing towards their leader. Arizona barrelled into Jack, much like she had done in the alley. They both went sprawling to the floor and this time instead of Arizona rolling off him, she sat on top of him. The other three girls entered laughing at the surprised looks on all the guys' faces. Once Jack had got his breath back he said to the guys, "Meet Arizona." The other guys all looked at the black haired girl who sat grinning on their leaders chest. "Hi," She waved brightly. "Arizona can you please get off me." Jack said as he struggled to push the stubborn girl off. "Why?" Arizona asked innocently, "You left me in the lobby." She pouted. "So?" Jack asked. Arizona smacked him lightly around the head and stuck her tongue out at him. She then got off him. Jack lay on the floor for a couple of seconds trying to figure out why he had just got the sudden urge to kiss her.
Once Jack was back on his feet he introduced Arizona to all the boys in the bunkroom. There were about forty boys in the room. When Jack had finished Arizona looked at all the boys and said, "Now that Jack has wasted all his breath telling me that I still can't put a name to face because I forgot them all about ten seconds after he told me, sorry." Jack who had collapsed on to his bunk groaned and threw his pillow at Arizona, who giggled and caught it. She sat down next to Jack's bed and put the pillow behind her head. Jack grabbed the pillow back and put it under his head. Arizona's head hit the bed with a dull clunk. "Oww!" She snatched the pillow back again and placed under her own head. Jack took it back.
This carried on for another couple of minutes while the other boys and the three girls watched in amusement. Eventually Jack got fed up. "Give me the pillow back!" he demanded after Arizona had snatched it for the fifth time.
"Why?" she asked springing up and dancing around waving the pillow tauntingly out of his reach. "Because it's mine!" Jack whined also standing up. Arizona just laughed and started to spin in circles in the middle of the room. While she was spinning she said to Jack, "Did you know everyone in the room is watching us and that Star has something to ask you?" Star looked surprised at the mention of her name, she did have something to ask Jack but she hadn't told Arizona about it. "What did you want to ask, Star?" Jack asked not taking his eyes off Arizona. "Are we still going to Brooklyn tomorrow?" Star asked also looking at Arizona. Jack nodded. "Before you ask Star, you didn't tell me that you had something to ask Jack." Arizona told her as she stopped spinning. Arizona stood swaying in the centre of the room before starting to collapse. Jack caught her before she hit the floor.
When Arizona had got her balance back she sat down on the floor and looked up at Jack. She was still holding his pillow. "So what are you going to Brooklyn for?" she asked. "We were going just to visit but now we're going to see if Spot will teach you how to fight." Jack told her. Arizona frowned, "And what if I know how to fight?" "Do you?" Jack challenged her, she just shrugged. By now all the others had started doing their own things. Some were sat in a corner playing poker and others were just sat around talking. Star had gone over to talk to one of the boys so only Jack and Arizona were let in the middle of the room. "Who's Spot?" Arizona asked looking up at him. "Star's twin, my cousin and best friend and the leader of the Brooklyn newsies." Jack told her. Arizona just nodded.
Jack sat down facing Arizona, who was gazing around the room people watching. "Who's the guy Star's talking to?" she asked Jack. "That's Mush." Jack told her. "They like each other." Arizona stated. "What? How do you know?" Jack asked puzzled. "Can't you see the way they act around each other?" Jack watched them for a few minutes and then turned back to Arizona. "They do, don't they?" he said. Arizona nodded. "And Flare and the guy she's talking to, they're going out, right?" Arizona looked at Jack. He nodded puzzled. "Yeah that's Kid Blink. How do you know all this when you've been here less that two hours?" he asked. She shrugged. "I can feel people's emotions and I can read eyes. Like right now you're extremely confused and a little creeped out by me." Jack just stared at her.
After a couple of minutes silence in which Jack tried to process what Arizona had just told him and Arizona went back to people watching, Jack spoke. "Wow," he said in a dazed voice. "Wow, that's pretty amazing. I bet it can come in pretty useful at times." Arizona nodded, "Yeah, but other time I wish I couldn't. Like if I get into a fight with someone and it's a verbal fight, and you can see the hurt in the other person's eyes after you said something nasty it's horrible. You end up feeling guilty and upset." Arizona's eyes were staring at the floor. Jack reached out and gently turned her head so that she had eye contact with him. Her eyes were filled with tears and as she looked at him they started to stream gently down her face. He used his thumbs to brush the tears away from her face. Arizona took a deep breath and continued. "Or if I walk past a hospital or somewhere where someone is in pain, I can feel their pain and its horrible because I really want to make their pain go away but I don't know how to. Or even if I'm sad or lonely and I walk past people having fun and being with their friends or lovers, I feel their joy and happiness and it makes me feel worse. There's no way I can escape from it, its there all the time." Jack looked at the crying girl in front of him and immediately felt a wave of pity wash over him. "Don't pity me," Arizona told him, wiping her streaming eyes with her sleeve, "I can handle it, I have been doing exactly that for the last fourteen years." Jack didn't say anything; he just pulled Arizona close to him and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her. Arizona sat in his arms, crying into his shoulder.
Eventually Arizona pulled away from his tight embrace and smiled up at the tall boy in front of her. "Thank you," she whispered. "For what?" "For listening to me and holding me and for giving me a bed to sleep in." "It doesn't matter." They were silent for a couple of minutes just watching each other. "Have you been sleeping on the streets since you lost your sister and cousins?" Jack asked. Arizona nodded. "How long do you think you'll be staying here for?" Arizona shrugged. "Thank you." This time Jack said it. "For what? Whoa, really bad déjà vu." Arizona said with a grin. "For trusting me." Jack told her smiling at her grin. "It's the least I could do but please don't tell anyone what I told you. Not many people could listen to that without thinking I was a freak." "Well now that you mention it..." Jack trailed off his face serious but his eyes gave him away. Arizona laughed and punched him lightly in the arm. "Now do you think I could have my pillow back?" Jack laughed looking at the pillow that Arizona was hugging. Arizona shrugged. Jack laughed at her again and they started fighting over the pillow.
About ten minutes later Kloppman came upstairs. "Alright, lights out now you have to be up early tomorrow!" Everyone groaned and started getting ready for bed. Jack and Arizona were still fighting over the pillow. Arizona gave one last tug and the pillow flew out of Jack's hands. She whacked him over the head with it then handed it him back getting up off the floor. "When are you going to Brooklyn?" Arizona asked. "Tomorrow." Jack told her. "I knew that, dumbass, I meant when about tomorrow." Arizona rolled her eyes. "Oh, probably after we've finished selling the morning edition." Jack told her, looking up at her as he was still sat on the floor. Arizona nodded and turned and started to walk out of the room. "Night guys!" She called as she disappeared out the door.
Arizona walked into the girls' bunkroom and climbed up onto her bed. "Hey Arizona, do you like Jack?" Flare asked from underneath. "Maybe, why?" "Just wondering." Flare replied a small smile creeping onto her lips. "Hey Arizona, have you met Twirl and Cricket yet?" Lucky called from the other side of the room. Arizona sat up and shook her head. "Come down here then," Lucky told her. Arizona sprang lightly to the floor and went to join Lucky. "This is Cricket," Lucky said pointing to a little girl who looked about ten and was the exact replica of Lucky. "And this is Twirl." Lucky continued, pointing to a tall brunette who waved at Arizona. "Hi," Arizona said with a smile.
In the boys' bunkroom, all the boys were talking about the new girl. Well all the boys except Jack who was still sat in the middle of the floor staring at the pillow. "Hey Jack!" A boy called to him. Jack snapped out of his trance and looked at the boy, "What Race?" The boy whose name was Racetrack, though everyone called him Race, grinned impishly and replied, "Are you gonna sit there all night and think about that girl?" Jack stared at Race for a couple of seconds and then realized he was still sat on the floor. He groaned. "Go to sleep, Race." He replied getting up off the floor. Race grinned again and climbed into his own bunk. The other boys sniggered and settled down into their own bunks. A couple of minute later Jack called "Lights out!" and all the lights went out as the boys started to drift off to sleep.
The girls' bunkroom was also in darkness. As Arizona lay in her bed she thought about what she was going to. "I have two choices," Arizona thought, "I can either stay here and make friends or I can leave and carry on being lonely. I can carry on my search whatever I decide." Arizona thought about this for the next couple of minutes until she came to her decision. Suddenly she sat up. "Flare?" Arizona asked softly. "Yes?" Flare answered just as softly. "How many bunks are there in this room?" "Twelve, why?" Arizona looked round and counted them. There were six bunk beds which made twelve bunks. "I'm just curious." Arizona replied. The room was silent again except for the sound of breathing. "Why do you only use three of the beds, if there are enough for one each?" Arizona asked. "'Cause we like to be near each other and that's easier when we sleep in the beds that are nearest each other." Flare replied. Arizona nodded even though Flare couldn't see it. "I've got one last question then you can go to sleep." Arizona told Flare. "What is it?" "Are Cricket and Lucky sisters?" "Yeah." Flare confirmed sleepily as she drifted off to sleep.
Please review! There is some more, so please tell me if you'd like the next bit. I'll love you forever if you do, lol!
A/N: This is Ellie, one half of Slashwhores (hence why in our account, duh.) Unfortunately no slash as was written before my slash kick kicked in. I'm nervous about what you'll think as it was my first attempt at a fanfic. Sorry about the lack of accents, I don't get New York slang, so any bits that are in it are rubbish. Anyways, on with the story...
Jack was taking a shortcut through an alley on his way back to the Lodging House one evening. "Come back here you little bitch!" A loud man's voice screamed. Jack looked around for the source of the voice. It was coming from behind him. A girl ran into the alley laughing and barrelled into him, knocking them both to the ground. The girl stopped laughing quickly and lay flat on the ground out of sight from either entrance to the alley. Her arm lay across Jack's chest stopping him from getting up. No one else came down the alley. After about five minutes the girl lifted her head up from the ground. Seeing it was clear she sat up cross-legged and faced Jack. Jack propped himself up on his elbows and looked at the girl who had knocked him down. She had long jet-black hair that fell down to the middle of her back and sparkling blue eyes that were still laughing. She was wearing boys' clothes, a pair of black loose black trousers and a loose white shirt.
The girl watched him in amusement as he studied her. She cocked her head to one side and looked at him, waiting for him to say something. Jack looked at how she was sitting and let out a small laugh. "Hey!" the girl said, her voice full of laughter. "Hi," Jack replied his eyes sparkling in amusement, "Who are you?" The girl shrugged. "You don't know who you are?" Jack stated more than asked. The girl giggled. "Well do you have a name?" He asked, the girl nodded. "Are you gonna tell me what it is?" The girl thought about it for a minute and then shook her head. Jack rolled his eyes. "Are you going to tell me yours?" The girl challenged. Jack started to shake his head then changed his mind. "I'll make a deal with you, if I tell you my name, you hafta tell me yours." The girl nodded in agreement. "Fine then, the name's Jack Kelly otherwise known as Cowboy." "Mine is Arizona." "What, no last name?" "Crimson. Arizona Crimson." "Well then Arizona, are we gonna sit on the floor all day?" Jack asked. Arizona shook her head and hopped up. Jack got up as well.
The pair started walking towards the Lodging House. "So where ya from?" Jack asked. "Why do you ask?" "One, I ain't seen you round before, an' I know most people in Manhattan." "Is that where I am?" Arizona asked surprised, interrupting. "Where did you think you were?" "Last time I checked I was in Harlem." Arizona shrugged. Jack looked at her strangely. "I have been walking around New York City for a while." She replied in answer to his unasked question. "Oh, and two yous got a strange accent." "I'm from England." "Whatcha doing in New York for then?" "I'm looking for my cousins and sister." "Why?" Jack asked curiously. "I lost them." Arizona replied simply. Jack opened his mouth to say something else. "What is this, twenty questions?" Arizona asked. "Sorry." Jack replied. They walked the rest of the way back to the Lodging House in silence.
Though the pair walked in silence Arizona's mind was spinning. "Why did he want to know so much? Why is he so cute? Do you think I'll ever find them?" Her mind was a whirlwind of question after question.
They stopped outside a building. Arizona read the sign, "Newsboys Lodging House". "Are you coming inside?" Jack asked. "Am I allowed?" "Would I be asking if you weren't?" Arizona rolled her eyes in response and followed him inside. "Hey Kloppman," Jack greeted the old man behind the counter, "D'you think we've got room for one more?" The old man looked up and looked at Arizona, who was glaring at Jack. Kloppman chuckled, 'that girl'll definitely give Jack a run for his money.' He thought. "Sure Jack." Kloppman replied turning his attention back to Jack. Jack nodded, "Alright, Arizona this is Kloppman, he owns the Lodging House." Jack then turned back to Kloppman, handed him five cents, signed his name in a book and went up the stairs. Arizona stayed with Kloppman scowling at Jack's retreating back.
"If you would like to stay here, your first night is free but after that it's five cents a night." Kloppman said, drawing Arizona's attention back to the lobby. "Is there room for me to stay here?" she asked doubtfully. "Yeah, there's a boys' bunkroom and a girls' bunkroom. The girls' room is slightly smaller because we've only just started taking girls in. The boys' room is full at the moment but there are still a couple of bunks left in the girls." Kloppman explained to her. "Ok then, yes please I would like to stay here." Arizona replied. Kloppman nodded. "Good, now you have to sign the register so I know who's staying here and who's paid." He handed her the book and Arizona wrote her name down in it. She looked at the other names in the book. They each had names like 'Specs' and 'Crutchy'. Arizona guessed they were nicknames. 'I wonder what the story behind their nicknames is.' She thought.
Kloppman called down one of the girls to show Arizona where the room was as Jack had left her. "Arizona, this is Flare. Flare, Arizona." Kloppman introduced. "Flare could you please show her where everything is." Flare had shoulder length dark brown hair and chocolaty brown eyes. "Hi," Flare said to Arizona with a smile. "Hey," Arizona offered a small smile back. "Follow me and I'll show you the girls bunkroom."
Arizona followed Flare up the stairs. They walked past an open doorway. Lots of noise was coming from in side. "That's the boys bunkroom, most people hang around in there in the evenings if we're not somewhere else." Flare explained. They reached another doorway and went inside. "This is the girls bunkroom." Inside were a group of girls sitting on bunks talking. "Hey everyone, this is Arizona." Flare introduced. The girls looked up and smiled at her. "Hi," Arizona greeted shyly. "Would you like a top or a bottom bunk?" Flare asked. "Top, please." "Fine, you can have the one above me then." Flare told her, indicating to the bed above the one she was now sitting on. Arizona nodded and threw the small bag she'd been carrying on to the bunk. "Through that door is the girls' wash room, we get our own seeing as the boys' is a mess all the time." Flare pointed to a door at one side of the room. Arizona nodded again and then climbed on to her bunk and collapsed.
A couple of minutes later a couple of the other girls came over to Arizona. "Hi, I'm Star." A girl with long dirty blonde hair and strange eyes (one was green, the other hazel) said. "I'm Lucky." A girl with shoulder length strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes said. "Hi," Arizona said back sitting up on her bunk so she could look at the girls. "How old are you?" Lucky asked. "I'm fourteen. How old are you two?" "I'm fourteen too and Star here is sixteen." "Is Arizona your real name?" Star asked curiously. "Yes it is, why?" Arizona replied laughing. Star blushed and shrugged. "Do you want to come and meet some of the boys?" Arizona thought about it for a minute, then nodded, her eyes sparkling mischievously. Flare came up beside Star, "Uh oh, looks like somebody's got a plan." Arizona nodded and quickly filled the other three girls in on how she had met Jack and come to be at the lodging house.
When she'd finished Arizona told them what her plan was and soon the other three girls had identical grins on their faces. "Oooh, I can't wait to see the look on Jack and the other guys faces," Flare giggled. "Let's go," Star said. The four girls went over to the boys' bunkroom and stopped outside the door. The four girls started to giggle; inside the bunkroom Jack was telling the other boys how he had met Arizona. He reached the end of the tale, "...And then I left in the lobby with Kloppman." "You left her in the lobby?" A voice asked incredulously. "That's Mush." Star whispered giggling. "Won't she be pissed?" The same voice asked. "This is working out better than I thought," Arizona whispered with a sly grin.
Seconds after she had said that, Arizona went charging into the bunkroom straight at Jack, who was sitting on the edge of a bunk. A gasp was heard as the boys saw a black haired blur racing towards their leader. Arizona barrelled into Jack, much like she had done in the alley. They both went sprawling to the floor and this time instead of Arizona rolling off him, she sat on top of him. The other three girls entered laughing at the surprised looks on all the guys' faces. Once Jack had got his breath back he said to the guys, "Meet Arizona." The other guys all looked at the black haired girl who sat grinning on their leaders chest. "Hi," She waved brightly. "Arizona can you please get off me." Jack said as he struggled to push the stubborn girl off. "Why?" Arizona asked innocently, "You left me in the lobby." She pouted. "So?" Jack asked. Arizona smacked him lightly around the head and stuck her tongue out at him. She then got off him. Jack lay on the floor for a couple of seconds trying to figure out why he had just got the sudden urge to kiss her.
Once Jack was back on his feet he introduced Arizona to all the boys in the bunkroom. There were about forty boys in the room. When Jack had finished Arizona looked at all the boys and said, "Now that Jack has wasted all his breath telling me that I still can't put a name to face because I forgot them all about ten seconds after he told me, sorry." Jack who had collapsed on to his bunk groaned and threw his pillow at Arizona, who giggled and caught it. She sat down next to Jack's bed and put the pillow behind her head. Jack grabbed the pillow back and put it under his head. Arizona's head hit the bed with a dull clunk. "Oww!" She snatched the pillow back again and placed under her own head. Jack took it back.
This carried on for another couple of minutes while the other boys and the three girls watched in amusement. Eventually Jack got fed up. "Give me the pillow back!" he demanded after Arizona had snatched it for the fifth time.
"Why?" she asked springing up and dancing around waving the pillow tauntingly out of his reach. "Because it's mine!" Jack whined also standing up. Arizona just laughed and started to spin in circles in the middle of the room. While she was spinning she said to Jack, "Did you know everyone in the room is watching us and that Star has something to ask you?" Star looked surprised at the mention of her name, she did have something to ask Jack but she hadn't told Arizona about it. "What did you want to ask, Star?" Jack asked not taking his eyes off Arizona. "Are we still going to Brooklyn tomorrow?" Star asked also looking at Arizona. Jack nodded. "Before you ask Star, you didn't tell me that you had something to ask Jack." Arizona told her as she stopped spinning. Arizona stood swaying in the centre of the room before starting to collapse. Jack caught her before she hit the floor.
When Arizona had got her balance back she sat down on the floor and looked up at Jack. She was still holding his pillow. "So what are you going to Brooklyn for?" she asked. "We were going just to visit but now we're going to see if Spot will teach you how to fight." Jack told her. Arizona frowned, "And what if I know how to fight?" "Do you?" Jack challenged her, she just shrugged. By now all the others had started doing their own things. Some were sat in a corner playing poker and others were just sat around talking. Star had gone over to talk to one of the boys so only Jack and Arizona were let in the middle of the room. "Who's Spot?" Arizona asked looking up at him. "Star's twin, my cousin and best friend and the leader of the Brooklyn newsies." Jack told her. Arizona just nodded.
Jack sat down facing Arizona, who was gazing around the room people watching. "Who's the guy Star's talking to?" she asked Jack. "That's Mush." Jack told her. "They like each other." Arizona stated. "What? How do you know?" Jack asked puzzled. "Can't you see the way they act around each other?" Jack watched them for a few minutes and then turned back to Arizona. "They do, don't they?" he said. Arizona nodded. "And Flare and the guy she's talking to, they're going out, right?" Arizona looked at Jack. He nodded puzzled. "Yeah that's Kid Blink. How do you know all this when you've been here less that two hours?" he asked. She shrugged. "I can feel people's emotions and I can read eyes. Like right now you're extremely confused and a little creeped out by me." Jack just stared at her.
After a couple of minutes silence in which Jack tried to process what Arizona had just told him and Arizona went back to people watching, Jack spoke. "Wow," he said in a dazed voice. "Wow, that's pretty amazing. I bet it can come in pretty useful at times." Arizona nodded, "Yeah, but other time I wish I couldn't. Like if I get into a fight with someone and it's a verbal fight, and you can see the hurt in the other person's eyes after you said something nasty it's horrible. You end up feeling guilty and upset." Arizona's eyes were staring at the floor. Jack reached out and gently turned her head so that she had eye contact with him. Her eyes were filled with tears and as she looked at him they started to stream gently down her face. He used his thumbs to brush the tears away from her face. Arizona took a deep breath and continued. "Or if I walk past a hospital or somewhere where someone is in pain, I can feel their pain and its horrible because I really want to make their pain go away but I don't know how to. Or even if I'm sad or lonely and I walk past people having fun and being with their friends or lovers, I feel their joy and happiness and it makes me feel worse. There's no way I can escape from it, its there all the time." Jack looked at the crying girl in front of him and immediately felt a wave of pity wash over him. "Don't pity me," Arizona told him, wiping her streaming eyes with her sleeve, "I can handle it, I have been doing exactly that for the last fourteen years." Jack didn't say anything; he just pulled Arizona close to him and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her. Arizona sat in his arms, crying into his shoulder.
Eventually Arizona pulled away from his tight embrace and smiled up at the tall boy in front of her. "Thank you," she whispered. "For what?" "For listening to me and holding me and for giving me a bed to sleep in." "It doesn't matter." They were silent for a couple of minutes just watching each other. "Have you been sleeping on the streets since you lost your sister and cousins?" Jack asked. Arizona nodded. "How long do you think you'll be staying here for?" Arizona shrugged. "Thank you." This time Jack said it. "For what? Whoa, really bad déjà vu." Arizona said with a grin. "For trusting me." Jack told her smiling at her grin. "It's the least I could do but please don't tell anyone what I told you. Not many people could listen to that without thinking I was a freak." "Well now that you mention it..." Jack trailed off his face serious but his eyes gave him away. Arizona laughed and punched him lightly in the arm. "Now do you think I could have my pillow back?" Jack laughed looking at the pillow that Arizona was hugging. Arizona shrugged. Jack laughed at her again and they started fighting over the pillow.
About ten minutes later Kloppman came upstairs. "Alright, lights out now you have to be up early tomorrow!" Everyone groaned and started getting ready for bed. Jack and Arizona were still fighting over the pillow. Arizona gave one last tug and the pillow flew out of Jack's hands. She whacked him over the head with it then handed it him back getting up off the floor. "When are you going to Brooklyn?" Arizona asked. "Tomorrow." Jack told her. "I knew that, dumbass, I meant when about tomorrow." Arizona rolled her eyes. "Oh, probably after we've finished selling the morning edition." Jack told her, looking up at her as he was still sat on the floor. Arizona nodded and turned and started to walk out of the room. "Night guys!" She called as she disappeared out the door.
Arizona walked into the girls' bunkroom and climbed up onto her bed. "Hey Arizona, do you like Jack?" Flare asked from underneath. "Maybe, why?" "Just wondering." Flare replied a small smile creeping onto her lips. "Hey Arizona, have you met Twirl and Cricket yet?" Lucky called from the other side of the room. Arizona sat up and shook her head. "Come down here then," Lucky told her. Arizona sprang lightly to the floor and went to join Lucky. "This is Cricket," Lucky said pointing to a little girl who looked about ten and was the exact replica of Lucky. "And this is Twirl." Lucky continued, pointing to a tall brunette who waved at Arizona. "Hi," Arizona said with a smile.
In the boys' bunkroom, all the boys were talking about the new girl. Well all the boys except Jack who was still sat in the middle of the floor staring at the pillow. "Hey Jack!" A boy called to him. Jack snapped out of his trance and looked at the boy, "What Race?" The boy whose name was Racetrack, though everyone called him Race, grinned impishly and replied, "Are you gonna sit there all night and think about that girl?" Jack stared at Race for a couple of seconds and then realized he was still sat on the floor. He groaned. "Go to sleep, Race." He replied getting up off the floor. Race grinned again and climbed into his own bunk. The other boys sniggered and settled down into their own bunks. A couple of minute later Jack called "Lights out!" and all the lights went out as the boys started to drift off to sleep.
The girls' bunkroom was also in darkness. As Arizona lay in her bed she thought about what she was going to. "I have two choices," Arizona thought, "I can either stay here and make friends or I can leave and carry on being lonely. I can carry on my search whatever I decide." Arizona thought about this for the next couple of minutes until she came to her decision. Suddenly she sat up. "Flare?" Arizona asked softly. "Yes?" Flare answered just as softly. "How many bunks are there in this room?" "Twelve, why?" Arizona looked round and counted them. There were six bunk beds which made twelve bunks. "I'm just curious." Arizona replied. The room was silent again except for the sound of breathing. "Why do you only use three of the beds, if there are enough for one each?" Arizona asked. "'Cause we like to be near each other and that's easier when we sleep in the beds that are nearest each other." Flare replied. Arizona nodded even though Flare couldn't see it. "I've got one last question then you can go to sleep." Arizona told Flare. "What is it?" "Are Cricket and Lucky sisters?" "Yeah." Flare confirmed sleepily as she drifted off to sleep.
Please review! There is some more, so please tell me if you'd like the next bit. I'll love you forever if you do, lol!