I had to take this down and repost it cuz it wasn't working right… and in doing so I lost all my beautiful reviews… You don't have to review again if you already did on this chapter, but I only got to read the first 3 =( I know there was 9 tho, so I will be continuing the story.

Note: There will be swearing in this fic, probably drug and alcohol use and sexual scenes and/or references. The main characters won't be drug or alcohol users and they won't have sex every other day, so don't worry. Italics indicate somebody's thoughts, flashbacks or daydreams, etc.

Disclaimer: I don't own the movie Newsies or any of the original characters from it. I own anyone you don't recognize from the movie, except maybe a few characters, but I'll tell you who owns them if they ever appear…

Twists of Life

Chapter One

All of them were gathered in the restaurant laughing and talking. Some were playing cards while others gathered around a boy doing flips and still others were play fighting or wrestling. The owner looked on, trying to be disapproving but failing miserably. None of the costumers paid him any mind except to occasionally order a soda or a sandwich.

They numbered almost 40 and ranged in age from 9 to 18 of both sexes, but all of them were dressed in ragged clothing. Most wore cloth hats, with the occasional derby or bowler and one cowboy hat.

A bell rang in the distance and in the blink of an eye, the restaurant was empty except for a few who threw down some change before running out. As the door closed behind the last one, the owner picked up and cloth and coming out from behind the counter, started clearing and wiping down the tables to get ready for the next costumers.

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15 April 2002

*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP* Claire Masterson groaned and rolled over in her bed to hit the snooze button on her alarm clock. She missed and ended up on the floor. "Fuck." She muttered under her breath, still not fully awake, but knowing she wouldn't get back to sleep. She stood up and switched her alarm clock to "off", before taking of her pajamas and wrapping herself in a towel. I really hope Chris isn't up yet. She thought as she headed to the bathroom. She really didn't want to fight him for the shower this morning.

Luckily, the coast was clear and she was out of the shower and back to her room in 10 minutes. What to wear, what to wear... She reached into her dresser and pulled out the first thing her hand came in contact with. Looks like I'm a newsie today… What a new concept. The pants, just like most of the other pants in Claire owned, were cut off right below the knee and slightly baggy, with a tendency to slip down. She remedied this problem with a pair of suspenders, which she put on over one of her many wife beaters. A dark blue button down shirt followed and a cabbie hat completed the outfit.

Claire shoved her feet into her shoes, grabbed her backpack and purse and ran out of her room and down the stairs to the kitchen, pausing to grab some toast and drink a glass of orange juice before running outside to the bus stop down the street. She got there right as the bus pulled up and she hopped on, automatically heading towards the middle of the bus where all the kids sat that weren't part of any popular clique or labeled as a lower group.

"Hey Star." Claire said as she plopped into a seat next to her best friend, Star Roberts, who was also dressed as a newsie. "Hey Claire, guess what?" Star bounced in her seat. "I figured out what we're doing for my birthday!" Claire turned to her excitedly. "Yeah, and what's that?" Star paused dramatically. "I convinced my parents to let me go to New York for 5 days and bring 2 friends, which they'll pay for." She grinned as Claire's mouth dropped open. "And… they talked with you parents already and its good to go."

When Claire finally got her voice to work, she squealed loudly, causing several people to turn and look at her, although they were used to her random outbursts. "So who's the second person then? Don't they want us to have a chaperone?" Star nodded and her grin got bigger. "They agreed to let Travis chaperone. I guess they finally got over the fear that we all have raging hormones that we can't control." Both girls rolled their eyes. "They should allow us some pride! I mean, Travis is 21 and we're 16!" Claire said. "I guess they finally realized that after we told them about 50 billion times." Star nodded in agreement and the two girls stood up as the bus approached Pasadena High School.

"Buy me last pape, Miss?" The small boy looked up forlornly at the well-dressed woman. He coughed a few times for good measure and the woman's face melted into a look of concern. "Oh, you poor dear!" She cooed, leaning down and pressing a quarter into his hand. "Here, take this and go buy yourself some food. You look starving." As she turned away, the boy darted away through the crowd to a corner where an older boy stood, yelling out his own version of the day's headlines. The smaller boy held up his quarter triumphantly and grabbed another paper, darting off into the crowd again.

Walking through Central Park, shouting out headlines, the girl noticed there weren't as many people as normal. Looking up at the sky, she realized that a thunderstorm was about to start. As she hurried back towards the entrance of the park, she felt someone tap on her shoulder.

"Claire!" She realized Star was hissing her name and poking her in the shoulder with a pencil. As the room came into focus, Claire saw the teacher glaring at her from the front of the room. "Can you answer the question Miss Masterson, or would you like me to repeat it for a third time?" Snickers came from several of her classmates and Claire blushed. "Um… could you please repeat it?" The teacher sighed as if Claire had just asked her to carry the Eiffel Tower around the world on her back. "The question is: What is the square root of 153, rounded to the nearest tenth?" Claire pretended to think for a minute while she pushed buttons on the calculator in her lap "Um… 12.37."

The teacher glared at her for another minute before moving on to another question. Claire sighed in relief and turned around, mouthing a "thanks" to Star, who grinned and nodded. Why was I so out of it? I know I wasn't sleeping but that was almost like the dream I had last night. It seemed like a continuation or something.  And it was so real! Almost like a memory or something. Weird.

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There we go… new improved chapter. I'll try to post another really soon.