This story is a collaboration of Legallyred and DreamlessmermaidThis story is an updated version of a past story that we wrote (Kill the Competition, Sell the Next Edition). Too upset with the grammatical mistakes and the Mary-Sue aspects of the story, we deleted and decided to completely rewrite it.

We hope you enjoy this.

-Kathleen (Legallyred)

music of the chapter: new end original

Jack Kelly frowned as he looked down at his worn black shoes; when he stepped into the street, his foot had sunken into a small mountain of grey slosh. With a sigh, Jack shook his foot before continuing to walking across the street.

Jack's mood did not improve as he stood in the cold as he waited on David and Les Jacobs. He pulled his thin and worn gray coat tighter around his thin frame while his short breaths crystalized in the air. When the Jacobs approached him, Jack hopped from foot to foot saying gruffly, "About time!"

"Sorry, Jack, but Mama wanted to make sure Les would be warm enough," David shrugged, unfazed by Jack's attitude. Jack felt a sharp jab in his left side; when looked for the source of the pain, Jack saw that Les had stabbed him with a small wooden sword.

"Let's just go get our papers," Jack mumbled, pulling his jacket even tighter still before walking down the sidewalk. He hated winter; it really was just an awful time of the year. Business was lower, people get sick more easily, and it was just extremely cold.

Still grumbling and rubbing his arms, Jack stood in the newspaper line behind David and Les. He ignored David's attempts at small talk; instead Jack read the headlines on the large chalkboard. Suddenly, he was pushed forward by someone behind him. After regaining his balance, Jack whipped around, ready to explode on whichever person had shoved him. It really wasn't a good morning for him.

"I'm really sorry," a petite girl said very quickly in a breathy tone. Nervously, she continued to speak while wringing her hands. "I slipped on that ice and, well, never mind, it doesn't matter. I'm, um, sorry."

Jack's eyebrows went up in surprise; he had never heard anyone talk quite so quickly before. He nodded as agreeably as he could manage before turning back around to stare intently at the back of David's head.

"Usually I'm not so clumsy," the girl chimed from behind him as she grabbed his elbow. Jack tossed a small smile over his shoulder while moving his elbow out of her hold. "Just that ice was there and I didn't see it."

"It happens," Jack grumbled through clenched teeth. Why did this girl insist on talking to him? Wasn't it obvious that he didn't want to talk to her? It's not that Jack didn't like talking to the female newsies, he just didn't like when they talked too much.

"Anyway, my name is Elizabeth, and this is-" The girl, Elizabeth, continued cheerfully, apparently over her previous embarrassment. She had not noticed how short Jack's answer was. Taking a deep breath, Jack squared his shoulders and faced the girl; he saw that she was accompanied by another girl.

"Look, Elizabeth, you said? I don't really feel like talking today, so if you could just, you know, not talk?" Jack suggested wryly, bending down a little so that he was eye to eye with the girl. She shrugged saying, "Not a morning person?"

Smiling tightly, relieved for an excuse for the girl to leave him alone, Jack nodded, saying, "Yes, I am not a morning person." Rolling his eyes as he turned around, Jack sighed and watched the line slowly move forward.

"I'm not always a morning person, but after awhile, I can just not be stopped," Elizabeth continued a few moments later. Jack whipped around, his eyes wide.

"Can't be stopped at what? Talking?" he snapped, waving his arms frantically. "Please, for the love of God, leave me alone. I don't want to talk to you! Is that not obvious? Do you understand yet?"

"Hey, Jack," David began quietly, but Jack held his hand up, telling David to stay out of it. Elizabeth looked affronted, and her pale hands tugged at her long red braid that hung loosely over her shoulder.

"Oh, I-I-I get it," she stuttered, her eyes suddenly looking down and her cheeks burning, "s-s-sorry."

Jack gave a curt nod and made to turn around when he saw the other girl with Elizabeth step forward. Elizabeth looked very embarrassed while she tugged at the other girl's sleeve shaking her head.

"What's your name?" the girl, who was a pretty, tall blonde, with Elizabeth asked Jack while tapping him on the shoulder. Jack looked to the sky as he took a very deep breath. Slowly turning yet again, he answered through clenched teeth, "Jack Kelly."

"Emma Philips," the blonde, Emma, said, sticking her hand out. Jack ignored it and crossed his arms.

"Why," he began, "does everyone insist on talking to me today?" Emma gave a sarcastic smile and crinkled her nose up as if she were pleased with something.

"Well," she started, reaching a hand out to Jack's face, which Jack instinctively moved away from, "you're just as cute as a button." Emma managed to grab Jack's cheek and squeeze it; when she was done, she gave him a little slap on the face. Jack looked very confused and shocked by what had just happened; Emma raised her eyebrows, silently asking Jack what his problem was. Jack opened his mouth to say something, but Emma gave a tiny smirk and made a motion with her forefinger for Jack to turn around and face the front of the line.

Too confused to say anything in return, Jack dumbly and numbly followed the suggestion. David shot a grin over his shoulder to the girls as the line moved forward.

"I just tripped," Elizabeth murmured quietly, defending herself a final time, walking beside Emma. Emma simply shrugged, muttering something about ridiculous boys.

Jack walked slowly down the circulation building's steps after he received his papers; he purposely lingered so that he could hear how many papers the girls bought. He didn't know why he wanted to know, he just knew that he did want to know. Jack was not massively impressed when the girls took sixty papers each. He hopped off the final step and jogged to catch up with David and Les, careful to avoid the ice on the road.

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Thanks. See you in a chapter!

-Kathleen