Author's Notes: Jules, Chatterbox, and Blondie are girl newsies that I created. They might not be seen for a while.

I Changed The Rules
By: Stubby the Newsgirl

Chapter Two: With A Little Help From My Friends

Kloppman looked over the books to check if all the newsies had paid for lodging from the night before. He had known most of the boys for a good while, but it was the girls that he didn't know so well. It had been chaotic enough when there were just boys in the lodging house, and then the city of Manhattan had decided to cut back on housing funds. And before Kloppman knew it, the city ended up combining a lot of the boys and girls lodging homes. The girls' lodging home had been demolished and the space was used to build a new sewing mill, and the boys' lodging home had been expanded to fit the displaced girls.

"Let's see, there's Jules, Chatterbox, Blondie…" Kloppman said aloud, going through his books trying to place the faces of the girls whose names he was looking at. He heard the bell on the door ring as it opened, and he looked up to see Swifty and a freckle-faced-red-headed girl with bright green eyes that he vaguely recognized.

"Whaddaya want?" Kloppman asked, narrowing his eyes at Swifty. Earlier that morning, Swifty and Skittery had gotten into a fight, which is one thing that Kloppman had no tolerance for. He had told them to get their things and leave, and while he expected them to come crawling back, he was in no mood to let them back in so easily.

Swifty opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't. He'd never seen Kloppman so angry before. For the first time ever, he felt intimidated by Kloppy.

Sadie nudged Swifty, but he just stood there like a statue.

"Mr. Kloppman, I'm Sadie O'Brien," she said speaking up.

"Looking for lodging?" Kloppman asked looking curiously from Sadie to Swifty.

"No. Actually, I'm here for Swifty's sake… and Skittery's too," Sadie said nudging Swifty again, to try to get him to say something.

"You his girl?" Kloppman asked, referring to Swifty. He couldn't help but be amused by the redhead's pushiness.

"NO!" both Sadie and Swifty exclaimed together. That had been the first word Swifty had said since they had entered the lodging house.

Kloppy's anger subsided as he chuckled at the pair.

"Alright, alright. So what do you wanna tell me?" Kloppman finally asked.

Together, Swifty and Sadie began to tell Kloppman the details of what happened without revealing Skittery's secret. Swifty promised that it would never happen again, but it was Sadie who really convinced Kloppy to let them back in.

"Mr. Kloppman, have you ever been in love?" Sadie asked him.

"A couple-a times, yeah," Kloppy admitted as a small smile began to form on his lips. His mind rested on his late wife.

"Well, you know what love does to people. It makes 'em go crazy! They can't think straight, you know? You've been in love before, so you should know what it's like," Sadie said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Kloppman said, remembering what it was like to be young and in love.

"Well, doncha think it'd be fair to let this go, just this once?" Sadie asked.

Kloppman was silent for a moment. Swifty was on pins and needles waiting for Kloppy to answer.

"Okay, but just this once. You tell Skittery to watch it. I ain't in no mood to give second chances to hooligans," Kloppman said pointing his index finger in Swifty's face.

"Yes, sir," Swifty said solemnly.

"And Miss O'Brien, is it?" Kloppman said.

Sadie looked up at the old man's playful eyes.

"If you ever need any lodging, you know where to go," he said with a smile.

"Thanks, Mr. Kloppman," Sadie said smiling back.

"Swifty, you got a good girl by your side. Try not to screw things up, eh?" Kloppy said as the two began to exit.

Swifty and Sadie looked at each other skeptically.

"The day Sadie ever becomes my girl is the day that hell will freeze over," thought Swifty.

"I'd rather stab my eyeballs out with a fork than let Swifty become my guy," thought Sadie.

They both shook their heads and went out the door as Kloppman was still chuckling.


"Skittery!" Swifty called out. They were in Newsies Square, searching for the moody newsboy to tell him the good news.

"Pink Long-john's for sale!" Sadie called out.

"What the hell, Sadie?" Swifty shook her head.

Before Sadie could smart off, someone called out, "Extra! Extra!"

Both of them turned to see Kid Blink with his ever-lovin' Poke by his side.

As soon as Poke saw Sadie, she came running towards her. Blink wondering why his woman had taken off, followed her.

"Sadie, why didn't you tell me?" Poke asked excitedly, as she grabbed Sadie's arms. Blink and Poke exchanged knowing looks.

"Tell you? Tell you what?" Sadie asked in confusion.

"That you're Swifty's girl, of course! Or, how do you put it? That he's your guy," Poke said.

"What?!?!" both Sadie and Swifty said together.

"You don't have to pretend anymore, we know. Skittery told us," Blink said.

"What did he tell you?" Swifty demanded to know.

"Yeah, what are you even talking about?" Sadie demanded.

"Maybe they didn't know," Blink said to Poke. Poke nodded.

"Swifty, the reason that Skittery punched you this morning is because he's in love with a girl. That girl is you, Sadie," Poke explained slowly.

"No, no, no! You've got it all wrong--" Swifty began to say.

"Skittery was jealous because you two are an item!" Blink interrupted. "I just don't know why you didn't tell anyone about Sadie sooner."

"No, see, Skittery's in love with-- OW!!!" Swifty was going to say "Poke", but Sadie knocked the wind out of him as she jabbed him, full force, in the stomach with her elbow.

"Me?! Skittery's in love with me?!" Sadie feigned shock.

"That's what we've been trying to say!" Blink said.

"No wonder, Swifty!" Sadie said trying to sound authentic. Swifty just looked at her confused, but played along.

"Oh… yeah," Swifty said unconvincingly, but fortunately Blink and Poke didn't notice.

"We were just looking for Skittery, actually," Sadie said.

"Well, we were in Central Park when we saw him," Blink answered.

"Yeah, you might wanna be careful, Swifty. He was still in a pretty bad mood," Poke said.

"Great! We'll leave you two lovebirds alone now," Sadie said grabbing Swifty's arm and dragging him in the direction of Central Park.

Blink and Poke watched the ridiculous looking couple.

"You know, I never thought that Swifty or Skittery would fall in love with a girl like Sadie," Blink said honestly.

"I never thought that a guy like you would fall for a girl like me," Poke shrugged.

"I could name a million reasons why," Blink smiled as he pulled Poke closer and gave her a tender kiss.


"You didn't have to hit me in the stomach like that," Swifty said angrily as soon as they had reached Central Park.

"It was a reflex! Anyway, Blink woulda flipped out if you squealed that Skittery was sweet on Poke," Sadie said defensively.

"Well, I'll give you that, but what about slamming the door in my face?" Swifty asked frustratedly.

"I didn't slam it, I just forgot to hold it. Anyway, I wasn't just gonna stand there waiting at the door when we had other things to do," Sadie said.

"Hello? I was paying the bill!" Swifty yelled.

"Jeez, will ya quit whining already?" Sadie said shaking her head. She was about ready to give up on helping Swifty, when she spotted Skittery.

He was sitting on a bench, with a mess of papers at his feet. He looked confused and thoughtful at the same time.

"I'm not whining," Swifty said in a whiney voice.

"Skittery!" Sadie called out, walking over to the bench. Swifty looked in the direction that Sadie was walking and followed her.

Soon, Swifty and Sadie were standing directly in front of Skittery.

"Hey," Swifty said.

"Hey," Skittery said.

"Um, well, I'll be going now. I'll see you fellas in the morning. And don't forget that you owe me lunch for the rest of the week, Swifty." Sadie said heading off in a different direction. She knew that this would probably be a good time to leave the boys alone.

"So, what do you want?" Skittery asked looking down at his hands.

"Look, all of the crap that happened… just forget about it all," Swifty said.

Skittery looked up curiously.

"Kloppman's going to take us back in. Me and Sadie already talked to him," Swifty said.

"Talked to him?" Skittery asked.

"I know why you've been upset for the past couple-a days. Actually, Sadie was the one who figured it out," Swifty explained.

Skittery's face turned red, as he felt his anger rising.

"You got nothing to worry about. Kloppman doesn't know the details, and Poke and Blink… well, they think that all of this was because you liked Sadie," Swifty said quickly, hoping that Skittery wouldn't lash out at him again.

"Sadie?!" Skittery asked incredulously.

"I know. Who in their right mind would ever like that girl!" Swifty said shaking his head.

Skittery snorted. It was the closest thing to a laugh that he had managed for the past three days.

"Poke thought that I liked Sadie?" Skittery still couldn't believe it. He had been in love with Poke since the day he saw her standing at the distribution center, and what was obvious to Sadie and Swifty, she was never able to perceive it. She really didn't know him at all.

"I'm sorry," Swifty said, not really knowing what to say. "But at least you got shelter, and I don't blame you for being angry… though I still think I should be able to pay you back for this shiner," he indicated to his eye.

"I'm… I'm sorry about that. Thanks for talking to Kloppman and helping me out," Skittery said managing to form a small smile. Even though he had lost in love, at least he still had a friend.