Les sat down on the curb and sighed. He stared at the ground, thinking back on everything that had happened. One minute he and all of the other newsies were throwing down their papers, eager to fight against Pulitzer and Hearst. The next thing he knew he was hiding in a trash can trying not to look at all of the anarchy. Suddenly, the can crashed to the ground and his arm smashed against the pavement. He laid on the ground in shock, not feeling anything for a few seconds. Then, he felt a sharp, throbbing pain hit his arm. He gritted his teeth, as tears filled his eyes. Everything after that was just a huge blur. Now he was sitting here alone on the side of the road with his arm in a sling, worrying about the millions of things that could have happened to Jack.
Suddenly, Les spotted a small figure dragging by in the distance. As the figure walked closer, he realized it was a girl about his age. Her frilly blue dress swayed lightly with each delicate step she took and her long, golden curls hung loosely at her shoulders. She hung her head low and she lugged her bag behind her as she ambled down the street. He stood up straight and gave her a friendly wave with a light smile spread across his face.
"Hiya! I'm Les," he said warmly "Why are you so gloomy?"
"Why do you care?" she snapped.
"Hey, I'm just tryin' to be nice."
"Oh, I'm sorry," the girl said, raising her head slightly "Sometimes I just blurt things out without thinking. I've just had a really bad day at school."
"Yeah, school's no fun at all," Les said "You wanna tell me about it?"
"No, I don't really want to talk about it," she replied, taking a seat after him.
"Alright, but at least tell me your name."
"My name is Sally, Sally Williams," she answered.
Suddenly, her eyes shifted toward Les' arm. "Hey, what happened to your arm?"
"Um, your dress is real pretty" he said hesitantly, pulling his arm away.
"Aw, thank you. My mother made it especially for my eighth birthday," she said "Now let me see your arm!"
As she tried to get a better look, she ended up grabbing Les' arm, causing him to cry "Ouch!"
"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you."
"I know you didn't. It just hurts real bad sometimes."
The two sat there silently for a few seconds before Sally chimed in.
"You know, you look familiar. Do you go to Saint John Elementary?"
"Yeah, well, I used to," Les answered.
"That's right! I remember you! You sit in the second row over by the bookshelf. You always tell the funniest stories. I loved your last one about the time you wrote your sister a love letter from a fake boy!"
Les chuckled "Yeah, I was standin' right outside her door an' I hear her scream 'Leslie Jacobs! I know you did this!' And then Mom sent me to bed without supper."
The two of them burst out laughing and they laughed and laughed for several seconds. Then, Sally looked over at Les and asked "Hey, how come I don't see you in class anymore?"
"You tell me what happened first," he answered.
"I'll only tell you what happened to me if you answer me first."
"I insist, ladies first."
"Okay," Sally sighed "Mean old Mrs. Miller kept me after school today for 'posing a disruption to the class.'"
"Huh?"
"I was rocking my chair back and forth when I leaned too far back and fell."
"Didya get hurt?"
"No, Mrs. Miller caught me before I hit the floor. But then she started scolding me for my 'disruptive antics.'"
"Aw, that's awful!"
"That's not even the first time I got in trouble with her. One time I left my book at home and she made me write 'I will not forget my book' thirty times on the blackboard," she sniffed as tears filled her eyes. "Now my father's going to be so mad at me and my mother will be so disappointed." She began to sob as small streams ran down her cheeks. "I try to be good but it's hard to sit still for so long and it's even harder to remember everything." After a few seconds of sniffling and sobbing, she turned to Les again. "Now you tell me your story."
A sudden breeze picked up, carrying a loose newspaper through the air and landing right in front of Sally.
"Is this you in the picture?" she asked, pointing.
Les nodded slightly.
"'Newsies stop the World," she read "How curious."
With that, she began to scan the article, reciting the words under her breath. Her face, studious at first, suddenly transformed as her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.
"Wow! This is amazing!" she declared.
"Keep readin'" he said.
Her eyes continued to shift across the page as she glanced over the myriad of words.
"'Sweet victory turns sour?' 'Newsies crushed as bulls attack?' Oh no!" she exclaimed "So that's how you hurt your arm? In the strike?"
"Uh-huh" Les answered sullenly.
"But wait, there's still one thing I don't understand. Why are you working? You're just a kid. Shouldn't you be playing or going to school?"
Les let out a dejected sigh before turning toward Sally and fixing his gaze straight into her midnight blue eyes.
"My Dad had a run-in with a delivery truck and hurt his leg real bad. He's been outta work for a long time now. Before the strike me and my brother David started sellin' papers to try and help. Even Sarah started workin' at the shoe factory after saying she wasn't gonna quit school."
For a while, Sally just sat there and looked at the poor boy. He rubbed his eyes stubbornly and turned away from her. Though he tried to hide it, she could see his lip begin to quiver and she even noticed a few tears teeming in his eyes.
"There, there, it'll be ok" she said, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Not knowing what else to do, she reached into the front pocket of her bag and pulled out a few coins. "Here, my mother always tells me to help those in need." she said, handing him the coins.
After a few seconds of silence, she stood up and placed the strap of her bag on her shoulder.
"Well, I guess I should be going now. Maybe we'll see each-other again?"
"I ain't too sure," Les said doubtfully "I don't think your friends would like seein' you with me."
"Oh, well I don't really have any friends." Sally responded sullenly.
"But what about that red-haired, freckle-faced girl? Or the girl with the giant pink bow? I saw ya play with them a lot."
"You mean Alice and Anna? We're not friends anymore, not after what I did to Anna."
Before Les could say anything, Sally held up one finger toward him and released a big breath of air. After a few more seconds of silence, she finally opened her mouth to speak.
"It happened a long time ago when I was playing Blind Man's Bluff with Alice and Anna. I was it. I was blindfolded so I couldn't see a thing but I could hear Anna laughing. It seemed to get louder and louder with every step I took. Then I heard a click click sound and so I started to walk a little faster until I started running. I soon caught up to Anna and I even got close enough to tag her. Then I tripped over something but I didn't see what. That's when Anna started laughing at me. Then…"
"And then what happened?" Les asked.
"…I pushed her down." Sally answered regretfully. "I don't even know why I did it. She probably didn't mean to be cruel and I probably did look really funny. But for some reason I got mad and ended up hurting her." A cold silence stood over her as she sat there hanging her head shamefully with tears covering her face.
"What happened after that?"
"Well, Anna started to cry and Alice told me I was mean. I tried to apologize but they just kept walking away and didn't even look at me."
She buried her face in her hands and cried. She continued to bawl for the next few minutes.
"My mom always tells me to take a deep breath and count to ten when I get mad" Les mentioned.
"It won't work!" she retorted.
"It might. Why don't you just try it?"
"…Fine"
Reluctantly, Sally drew in a deep breath through her nose.
"1…2…3..." she counted as a gust of air was pushed from her lungs and blew out her mouth.
"You feel any better?" Les asked.
"I guess so," she sniffed "But I still don't want to go to school tomorrow."
"Hey, me and the other newsies are hostin' a rally tomorrow and Miss Medda's lettin' us use the theater. Why don't ya come with me instead?"
"I'd love to!" she exclaimed "But my parents would never let me skip school."
"They don't have to know. Besides, it's for a good cause."
"You know, you're right. Les, it's a date!"
Les looked on with a sentimental smile as she wandered off into the distance. Suddenly, she turned around and began walking toward him.
"Actually, I don't think I'm ready to go home quite yet," she said "Since my parents are probably going to send me to bed without supper anyway, how about we get some ice cream? It's my treat."
"You bet!" Les responded, licking his lips delightfully.
As they amble down the street Les shyly reached for Sally's hand until she swiftly grabbed it. They continued to walk hand in hand, vowing to never let go.
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed my second Newsies one-shot. I really enjoyed writing this one! When I first saw the musical on Netflix, I remember hearing Les talk about his date with Sally and thought that it would make a really cute story. So, this is how I imagined the two of them met. I have some ideas for future Newsies fan fictions and I hope that I can get around to writing those eventually. In the meantime, I hope you like the two that I've written so far.