A/N: If this story and the characters look familiar to you then you probably read it when I first published it back in 2012. I took it down after a while but now I'm back! Don't worry I'm not stealing anyone's content except my own =) There may be a few continuity errors in this story. I didn't really save any of the published chapters from the original so I had to resurrect most of the rough drafts from some old emails I sent to myself. If something confuses you just let me know and I'll fix it!
"WAKE UP!" Mr. Kloppman yelled, followed by the groans of a hundred of so drowsy boys. "When you've gotta get up, you gotta get up!" He walked down the long row of bunk beds, "Skittery!..." calling out the sleeping boys' names as he went. "Boots!... Crutchy!..." It was just another day for the newsies; waking up before sunrise never got any easier. "...Racetrack!...Snipeshooter!..." Kloppman started smacking the few that were still slumbering. "Hey! Mush!"
"No, Marianne, I didn't mean it!" Mush said sitting up abruptly from his dream. The other boys and Kloppman laughed.
"Marianne's a new name, when'd you meet her?" asked Jack "Cowboy" Kelly, just waking up.
"Last night at central park," Mush said, "we walked around for a while and it was all goin' fine until she realized I didn't have any money to take her out to dinner."
Jack and all of the other boys laughed. Mush was handsome, tall, and muscular with dark, curly hair and brown eyes. He was always chasing girls, which is how he got his name. Unfortunately, he didn't have the best luck when it came to girls but that never stopped him, he was a hopeless romantic. "Hey, I don't see any a' you with anyone lately." Mush said. That shut everyone up.
Mush quickly got ready for the day. If he was late, there wouldn't be any papers left. If there weren't any papers left, he wouldn't make any money. And if he didn't make any money, he would starve for the night. The other newsies loved him like a brother but they didn't have enough money to buy dinner for themselves, never mind him.
Before leaving the lodging house, Mush took out one of his only possessions, a black, leather-bound Bible with a cross painted in gold on the cover. The Bible was given to him by the nuns who took him to the lodging house. Inside he kept a family portrait, a photograph of his mother, father, and his sister and cousin, Roselia. Roselia's parents had died when she and Mush were 4 years old. Her aunt and uncle were her only family, and so they adopted her. Mush held back tears looking at the picture. His parents had died almost 8 years ago. And he hadn't seen Rosie since, either.
"Hurry up, Mush!" called Jack, running out the door.
Mush followed him and the rest of the boys out. Within 10 minutes of leaving the lodging house, the Delancy Brothers started trouble with Jack again.
Mush was in the middle of watching Jack soak them when he heard the sound of leaves rustling in the tree behind him. The strange thing was, it wasn't windy at all. Mush walked under the tree and peered into the lower branches to see if someone was hiding when he heard Jack ring the circulation bell.
"Come on, slowpoke!" Crutchy yelled over his shoulder. Mush laughed. For a crip, Crutchy was a fast one.
Spark exhaled as the boy who was standing under the tree left. He had almost seen her and although she was in disguise, she wasn't ready to be seen. She blushed for a second. He was kind of cute. He had a nice smile. But as quickly as those thoughts popped into her head, she pushed them away. She had work to do.
When the coast was clear, Spark swung from the branch and jumped out of the tree. She needed to find a better hiding place so she could get a look at these boys. Spark was one of the "birds", appropriately named for their skill navigating the trees and other impossible places, and vanishing without a trace. Birds were spies, usually from Brooklyn, under the command of Spot Conlon, the king of Brooklyn. Spot was the most famous and imposing newsie in all of New York. And he liked to keep it that way. That's why he sent out the birds, to keep an eye on the competition.
Spark gathered up her newspaper bag and ran down the street, opposite of the circulation building. Something about that boy gave her a feeling. Spark couldn't tell what, but it seemed like something was changing.
The day started out pretty much the same as any other day for the newsies. The only difference was the addition of two new boys to Jack's group, David and Les Jacobs. Jack handed Mush his heavy stack of one hundred papes so he could educate these two on how to be newsies.
"...We sell together, we split 70/30. Plus, you get the benefit of observing me, no-charge." said Jack. He was very persuasive and very manipulative, but Mush had to agree with Crutchy when he told David that watching Jack work would be the chance of a life-time, at least for a newsie. Jack Kelly was the best.
Jack and the other newsies finally wore David down until he agreed to sell with Jack. Any one of them would have jumped on that offer.
"You only took 20 papes. Why?" Jack asked David as they exited the circulation gates.
"Bad headline."
Mush and several other newsies shook their heads. They knew exactly what Jack would say next.
"Now that's the first thing you gotta learn: headlines don't sell papes, newsies sell papes. You know, we're what holds this town together. Without newsies, nobody knows nothing."
Mush was about to say something when a girl walked by. He and all the other newsies took off their hats.
"I'm in heaven!" he said. The girl giggled as she passed him. He stood there, watching her back as she walked the other way.
Specs's voice snapped him back to the moment, "Baby born with three heads!"
"Extra, extra!" Mush called, splitting from the crowd as he walked through Broadway.
At this hour businessmen would be setting off for work and they always wanted to know how their stocks were doing. He was lucky to be selling "The World". It was one of the most popular newspapers in New York, right up there with William Randolph Hearst's "New York Journal". Hearst and Pulitzer were always competing to sell more papers which made it easier for the newsies. They got good headlines. Mush smiled to himself, remembering what Jack was saying to David as he passed them earlier: "Headlines don't sell papes, newsies sell papes." Mush headed toward his favorite selling spot: Central Park.
Spark looked out from her new tree, very proud of herself. It was a nice spot and she could always come down to sell papers right underneath if she wanted. Central park was a place she frequented on days Spot sent her to Manhattan. It was her favorite place. Most of the girls preferred to stay by the theaters on the White Way. But to Spark, Central Park had more possibilities. They didn't have anything like it in Brooklyn (Spot would kill her for saying something like that).
Spark had to suppress a gasp. The boy who had noticed her earlier was now standing under her tree. She froze; hopefully he would be on his way in a few minutes. She got a better look at him. He had dark, curly hair and he looked particularly muscular. Spark nearly swooned; she fell out of the tree.
Mush was standing under a tree, minding his own business, when all of the sudden, he was on the ground. And someone else was on top of him. He pulled himself out from underneath the person and stood up to assess the situation.
The person was a girl. She looked near his age. She had blonde hair (falling out from under her hat, as if she had tucked it under as she tried to pass for a boy), and her sparkly blue eyes were wide. She was wearing a blue shirt and a black vest and black trousers. The blue cloth intensified the color of her eyes. He reached out his hand to help her up. She stared up at him for a moment.
"Are you ok, Miss?" Mush was a little taken with this girl. She really was very pretty. She actually reminded him a bit of Roselia, but Rosie had unmistakably green eyes.
"Yes, I'm fine." Spark said finally, with a shaky smile as the boy helped her up.
"What were you doin' in that tree?" he asked.
"Oh, um... I was just- staking out a good spot. You know, to sell papes." Spark broke her gaze with the boy's big brown eyes. He seemed to accept her response and began stuffing her bag with the newspapers she had dropped from the fall. He completely ignored his own papers, which were in danger of blowing away.
"I've never heard of a newsie staking out spots from a tree." The boy said. Spark bit her lip, he was on to her. She wasn't the best bird Spot had but she'd never been caught. Only the Brooklyn newsies knew who she was most of the time.
"It's a good idea, Miss, girls always have good ideas." The boy flashed her an adorable smile. Spark felt her stomach fill with butterflies. "I'm Mush, by the way." He said, extending his hand for her to shake.
"I'm Spark." She said, allowing him to help her up again.
"Good mornin', Spark. Are you new to Manhattan? I don't think I've seen you here before although something about you looks familiar." He leaned in to study her face closer. Spark took a step back.
"I'm not really new. I've been to Manhattan many times. I'm, um, kind of a gypsy. I go wherever I want whenever I want." Not exactly true. Actually, it couldn't have been much farther, but Mush bought it. Spark would have to thank Chase later for her cover story.
"You're not tied down to any place in particular?" Mush almost looked disappointed.
"It's not that," Spark said, smiling so he would smile back. "I've just fallen in love with a lot of places and I can't decide which one I like best."
"Well, alright then." Mush said, his smile slowly coming back. "I'd give you some sellin' advice, Miss Spark, but it sounds like you know what you're doin'."
Spark felt herself start to blush again. She looked down to pick up her bag, hoping Mush wouldn't notice.
"Thanks, Mush." She said turning. "Maybe I'll see you tomorrow.
"Any time." He said. "I'll be here." Mush stood there and watched her leave, just like he had done earlier that morning with the other girl, but this time it was different. Spark was a fascinating girl.