Author's Note: Hello! Just here to clarify that a) this is not a Mary-Sue b) it is a OC romance c) there is language and suggestive themes and d) please, please, please no flames. Thanks and enjoy!

Chapter 1:

Bell's Ringin'

I was dreaming. I had to be, otherwise I wouldn't be the size of a toddler, and my Ma wouldn't have been there. But I was indeed small- or smaller than I usually was, being only 5 foot 2- and there Ma was, looking translucently beautiful as she had before The Incident- long mahogany tresses brushing her waist in gentle waves, pale ivory skin radiating healthily from within, soft green eyes glowing with unspoken purity. Best of all, she was alive, and grinning lovingly down at me. Her soft hand brushed over my hair and she murmured "I love you, my little Bell. Don't you ever forget that."

"I won't, Mama- I promise!" I reached out my child-sized hands to her, hungry for her attention. As she lifted me up to her chest, I slowly felt myself melt into her warm embrace. She began to hum a lullaby from when I was a child; in the back of my mind I remembered it being about a farmer who lost his sheep. It was, like most nursery songs, filled with pointless morals and had a terrible rhyme scheme, but it was filled with happy memories.

I snuggled deeper into her collarbone, feeling her sweet, nutmeg-scented breath ticking my cheek. "Don't leave me, Mama." I whispered into her soft skin. "I don't wanna wake up and go back to hawkin' headlines- I wanna stay here with you forever."

My mother sighed, gently pulling me away from her and placing me on the ground. "You can't stay here, Bell. This is not your place." I gasped at her rejection, tears burning my eyes and spilling onto my porcelain cheeks.

Ma smiled comfortingly, placing her hands gently on my small shoulders. "But don't worry, my little Bell-girl," She brushed stray lock of my coppery hair away from my face. "I'll always be with you."

I smiled through my tears, feeling the emotions that I'd hidden from the world well up inside me. I reached up and touched her smooth, pale cheek- It was all I could do to stop myself from grabbing her in a bone-crushing hug and sobbing uncontrollably into Ma's shoulder.

"I love you, Ma."

Ma opened her mouth to reply, her eyes twinkling down on me like stars. But before she could say a thing, she began wildly shaking my shoulders.

"Wake up, Bell! You're gonna be late!"

I watched in dismay as my Ma and the dream dissipated and was replaced by a grinning Jack Kelly. The handsome Newsie brushed the hair out of my face and tweaked my nose cheekily.

"G'morning, lovely."

I groaned and rolled over, throwing my blankets over my head to try to block out the noise level increasing around me.

"C'mon, Bellie-girl, up ya get!" The breath was squeezed out of me as Racetrack belly-flopped onto me.

"Ow." I hissed shortly. I made a feeble attempted to push him off, but Race only grabbed my arm and started tickling the inside of my wrist, where he knew I was most ticklish.

I started giggling madly and wriggling around like a fish out of water. "Stopstopstopstopstopppppp!" I squealed, kicking my legs out to try and dislodge them from the bed. Jack caught my foot and began to tickle my feet as well. It was enough to make a girl go mad.

"Mercy! Mercy! Parlay! Jack, Race, I call for parlay!" I cried, jerking around wildly as Jack and Race laughed at me.

"Parlays only on the ocean, doll." Jack snickered down at me. "Here you gotta do this thing called gettin' up and embracin' the day." He ran his fingertips up my bare calf, sending tickly shivers up my spine.

I scrunched my mouth into a flat line, giving him a look of pure childish impudence. "Stop violating my personal space, Kelly." I crossed my arms over my chest, staring him down darkly.

"You better watch out, Jack- that's her 'slit-your-throat-while-you're-sleepin'' glare." Race laughed good-naturedly, rumpling my hair.

I rolled my eyes, taking my pillow and decking them both neatly across the face. Taking advantage of their momentary stunning, I wriggled off the opposite side of my bunk and made a mad dash for the wash room. The sound of their pursuit quickly caught up to me, sending my into a fit of nervous giggles as I ran faster. But it was all for nothing, as Jack cut through another way and caught me just as I'd reached the door.

With a satisfied, "Gotcha!" he picked me up by my waist and threw me over his shoulder. I squirmed and laughed as Jack carried me into the wash room tossed on his back. The other boys cracked up as Jack paraded me around, flaunting his amazing catch while I crossed my arms and looked resigned.

Satisfied that he'd humiliated me to the fullest extent, Jack took me by the hips and swung me back down to the floor.

"I win again." He announced proudly, rumpling my hair for good measure. "Now go clean yourself up a bit- your hair's lookin' a bit… messy."

"Oh, shuddup, Kelly." I rolled my eyes cheekily, but flashed him a smile before going off to find a place at the sinks.

I secured a place between Mush and Kid Blink, who were kind enough to scoot over and give me some room while I 'preened'. Mush grinned teasingly at me, flicking a strand of my hair.

"Did ya sleep in a bird's nest last night, Bell, or is your hair always that spiked up?"

"Is it really that bad, Mush?" I asked worriedly. He moved over a scootch and I gasped as I saw my reflection. A groan escaped me as I raised my hands to the tangled mess on my head. "Shit."

It looked unbelievably knotted, the thick, wavy strands of auburn-and-gold matted together like a messed up yo-yo string. It was impossible to save it now, when the tangles were dried together, but if I got it wet, I could work them out with a comb.

I excused myself from Blinky and Mush for a moment, heading over to the water pump. I heaved it a few times, watching the crystal-clear water come gushing from the tap. Holding my breath, I stuck my head under the stream of cold liquid, feeling it soak straight through to my scalp within seconds of being under the tap.

When I was sure it was soaked enough, I grabbed a comb from the side table and ran it through a lock of auburn hair experimentally. When it didn't catch on anything, I quickly finished combing back the rest of my hair without further issue.

After that was taken care of, I scrubbed my arms with some soap and splashed water on my face. Done with the cleaning process, I headed back to my bunk to get dressed.

After putting on a pair of clean grey shorts and a comfy blue top, I secured my newsie's cap atop my damp copper ringlets and was ready to go.

"Heya, Bell." Race joined me going down the stairs. "You look nice and awake now." A smile flickered across his lips as I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Laugh while you can, Racetrack Higgins, because I'm already planning my revenge." I smirked pleasantly at him.

"Well, we're feisty this morning, ain't we?" I giggled and punched him lightly in the arm, only to get punched back with equal playfulness as we continued down the stairs and out of the building.

We took our usual route to get to the distribution center- past Mortie's for breakfast, through the central square for a look at the headlines, and then over to Pulitzer and Hearst for our papes.

Race and I got in the already growing line together. He was going on about some filly in the races he had a hot tip on.

"They say she's got at least a 60% chance of winnin'." Racetrack announced. When I gave him a confused look, he added, "If you went to the races more often, you'd understand what a big deal that is."

"Okay, well," I rubbed the back of my neck- it was my nervous habit. "Congratulations?"

Race gave me a wry smile. "Congratulate me when the ol' girl wins."

I nodded and smiled, even though I had no idea what he was talking about. It was my turn in line, so I stepped up to the grating, offering a big, sunny smile to the distributor leafing through the papers behind him. "Hiya, Weasel. How's life treatin' ya?"

The potbellied man glared up at me with small, beady eyes. "It's Wiezel. Mr. Wiezel, to you. And it's been fine- just hunky-dory."

I completely ignored his sarcastic tone, shoving fifty cents at him from under the grate. "I'll take fifty papes, if ya don't mind, Weasel."

The boys behind me snickered. Weasel glowered at me for a second, then nodded to his nephew, Oscar, who promptly shoved the papers at me.

"There ya go toots, fifty papes." My stomach tightened uncomfortably as I caught him smirking at my chest- Oscar was about as creepy as creepy gets, and he seemed to have a thing for me, which was scary in itself.

Fed up with his wandering gaze, I stared him dead in the eye. "Fuck off, Oscar." I hissed menacingly, then turned on my heel and stormed away.

Typical morning for Bell Brooks.

My day went as planned- selling papes on street corners, in parks, and anywhere else I could find. By the time I sold the last paper, I was dragging. It took an amazing amount of effort to drag myself upstairs, change into my nightgown, and crawl into bed.

Racetrack rolled over as my head hit the pillow with a loud thump. "Goodnight, Bell-girl. Sleep well."

"You too, Race." I smiled tiredly just as I dropped off into sleep.

Usually when I dreamed, it was about my mother- bless her pure, angelic soul- but tonight was different. Tonight was outright, bloodcurdling scary. I was running through dark, narrow passages alone, my breath coming out in great, husky gasps. The sky thundered ominously, clouds as dark as night glowering down on me. I shivered, feeling an icy wind rake my exposed flesh, but didn't stop running. I hear angry shouts echoing in the corridor behind me, the pounding of heavy boots growing closer. I glanced over my shoulder just to check how close they were-

And that's when I felt somebody grab me.

I screamed and writhed in their grasp, desperate for someone, anyone, to help me. A hand clamped over my mouth, drawing me into the shadows. I kicked and fought but to no avail- he drug me all the way back into a tiny nook between two buildings. I frantically lashed out one last time, but he caught me by the wrist, twirling me around to face him.

"Bell!" He hissed in my ear. "Stop struggling! It's only me!" I stiffened at that bitterly familiar voice.

"Spot?"

"Bell! Bell!"

"Huh?"

"Wake up, Bell!"

I shot up from my pillow, electrified and surprised. And smacked my head into the bottom of Mush's bunk.

"Owwww…" I moaned, grabbing my throbbing forehead. It took me a second to realize Racetrack was kneeling by my bedside, as was Jack, Mush, Skittery, and everyone else residing in the general vicinity. I glanced around at their worried faces, puzzled. "Whas wrong?"

The boys exchanged troubled glances, and no one said anything for a minute. Then Jack finally said, "You were screaming. I thought someone was tryin' to murder you."

"Ah…" I nodded slowly, as if I understood. "Sorry 'bout that, I guess. But if you don't mind me askin', what was I screaming about?"

More worried glances and a longer, tenser silence, this time broken by Racetrack.

"Well… you said something like 'help me' a bunch, then you sorta…" He bit his bottom lip nervously. "Called out for someone."

A cold feeling was creeping into my stomach. "Who?" I asked slowly and deliberately. Race looked even more uncomfortable, but he answered clearly and truthfully.

"Bell, you were asking for help from Spot Conlon."