(Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizable from Newsies or Les Miserables!)

Girl's P.O.V.

The new girl interests me and I watch her as she climbed into the pit. She had no idea what she was in for. The pit is where girls stomp around in mud to make bricks that Mr. Power, the owner, sells. Girls come in not expecting anything, and a lot of them leave, scarred for life. Some have even died stomping around for hours with hardly edible food.

She makes eye contact with me and I smile. She looks down and I realize there is something different about her. Before I can think about it, big, fat, Marcy Bull shoves through the mud and stands right behind her. The girls face looks terrified and I actually feel bad for her. I haven't felt bad for anyone for a while, it is a strange feeling.

"Well look what we have here girls," Marcy's annoying voice booms around the pit and everyone stops stomping and stares. Marcy is smirking at the girl and I know what will happen. Jenny, Angie, and Miranda go and surround the girl and I wince. Not again. The girl starts to breath hard.

"What's your name girl," Marcy spits out and the other girls cackle. Two other girls Alyson and May and I glance at each other. The girl mumbles something. Amy? Did she say Amy? Marcy turns to us and smiles, "Her name is Amy," looking back at Amy she says darkly, "Get her."

The girls close in and shove Amy to the ground and shove mud in her mouth. Her scream reminds me of something, someone. I run as fast I can through the mud and grab Marcy's arm and yank her away. She flies back and lands on her rear. I shove the other girls away barking, "Stop it you idiots!" They scatter away like birds and I look in pity at the girl. She looks up at me innocently and I groan. I better not go too soft on her. I yank her up and she wipes the mud off her face. Looking at me she says in a small voice, "Thank you." I nod and turn motioning her to follow.

xxx

Amy's P.O.V.

The girl begins to stomp and I follow her. "That fat lard sitting on the ground all grumpy is Marcy. Don't mind her." Marcy growls at the girl's comment and stands, but does nothing. She points at the other girls, "That's Angie, Jenny, Miranda, Alyson, and May. And I'm Ep. Welcome to the mud pit." Ep turns to me and gives me not so sweet smile.

"Your name is Ep?" I blurt out, and then bite my lip. Ep frowns and nods, "Like up but with an E." She turns and continues stomping and I follow her. She turns her head slightly towards me, "Where are you from? I've never seen you around here before." My heart stops and I start to panic. "I'm from outer New Jersey. We moved out here after our" I pause thinking, "store went out of business." Ep seemed to like that answer.

"Well hello mud girls!" a voice called and all of the girls looked up. A boy with blonde hair and a bag of newspapers around him stood at the top of the pit and grinned. All the girls groaned. "Get out of here Anders. We's workin', "called Jenny and then smiled.

"Who is he?" I ask and Ep frowns, "Just a newsie boy. There are tons of them all over the New York. They sell newspapers. You should know what a Newsie is, shouldn't you?" I nod. We had a few in High Society.

"He's the first to come by of many," She stops and turns her ear towards the boy, "and here they come now." I listen and hear several voices ringing through the air. Before a minute passes there are nearly 30 Newsies standing in front of the pit. Leading the crowd of boys is a young man, about my age, staring down at us smirking. He's wearing a white shirt with a vest over it, a bandana tied around his neck, and a cowboy hat resting on his back. His hair a lighter brown color, going down to the bottom of his ears. His blue eyes rest on me and he grins.

"Would one of you like to buy a newspap today? We've gots some good stuff," he moves his eyes from me to the rest of the girls in the pit. Jenny smiles and starts to twirl her hair. I look at Ep, her face in a tight frown. She steps forward, "Nope. Not today, not ever." The boy gives her an annoyed look, "I wasn't talkin' to you Ep. I was talkin' to these lovely ladies who like readin' our newspapers." Ep rolls her eyes and glances at the other girls. They are smiling, all eyes on the boy.

"They can't read you idiot now get out of 'ere Cowboy or all yer papers will be in this mud!" Ep spits out the words like she just swallowed a bucket of mud. The boy's eyes narrow and all the Newsie boys stare, some of their faces slightly grinning. The so called "Cowboy" walks to the very edge of the pit and glares at Ep.

"No wonder you work 'ere. You're just as dirty and cold as this mud." the boy sneers and a few Newsies snicker behind him.

That must have triggered something because before I know what's happening Ep has a handful of dirt. She chucks it at the boy and it hits his newspapers he's holding perfectly. The Cowboy's face looks shocked and he throws the newspapers to the ground, "DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE JUST DONE? I JUST PAID A LOT FOR THESE OL' NEWSPAPERS." Ep smirks at him and the Cowboy looks as if he is going to jump in the pit and give her a punch in the face. His eyes flash to me and the anger floods right out of them. He picks up his papers and turns around. The rest of the Newsie boys follow, flashing grins towards the pit which makes me uneasy. Why are they smiling?

"Who was that?" I ask looking at Ep and hear snickers from the other girls as we continue to stomp. Ep looks at me, her face still in a frown, "His names is Jack Kelly, or as some people call him, Cowboy," she mimics the last part and smirked to herself.

"He's there leader, even though he always denies it," Alyson says stomping over to my side. I raise an eyebrow at her, "Why does he like being called cowboy?"

"He didn't ask people to call him that! They call him that because," Jenny hisses, but Ep interrupts her, "He always wears a cowboy hat? Yeah, that's the reason." She stomps a little in front of me and Alyson.

"As if you know the reason he wears a hat. Oh wait, maybe you do." Marcy stood by the ladder smiling her mean smile and Ep whips around staring at her. "Shut up you tub of fat lard," her voice cuts the air like a knife and Marcy's eyebrows rise in anger.

"Hey look who it is! Hello Marcus!" Jenny screams and runs to the ladder and climbs up. Marcy, Angie and Miranda quickly climb, more like run, up the ladder. Alyson gasps and her and May turn and look at Ep. Ep's face is bright red and her eyes are wide open in anger. Running through the mud she scrambles up the ladder and May, Alyson, and I run after. When I reach the top I see a tall boy with brown hair, nicer clothes, (not quite as nice as High Society, but nice enough) holding a book in his hands, his face starting to turn red as the mud pit girls scream, holler, whistle, and attempt to flirt with him. Ep runs over to the girls and starts shoving them backwards. Marcy and Jenny both fall into the mud pit, but Angie and Miranda fall into a huge pile of straw.

"Marcus!" Ep hollers and runs over to him and starts to talk with him. He seems shy and looks like he feels awkward talking with Ep. I feel sorry for him. May grabs my arm and pulls me back towards the pit. "That's Marcus, Ep's friend. More like her lover actually." I let May pull me back towards the pit and start to go back down the ladder.

"They like each other?" I whisper to May as we come close to the ladder. May shakes her head, "She likes him, she loves him, but no one knows if he likes her. No one really knows him. All we know is she has forbidden us to flirt, talk, or whisper to or about him. That's why all girls always do that. They are gonna get it when Ep gets back though." I slide down the ladder and join the rest of the girls stomping in the mud. May stomps by me and we talk together for a moment before we hear Ep slide down the ladder. Everyone stops and watches her.

Ep stomps over to Jenny and shoves her on the ground and sits down on her. "Whaddya think you're doing?" she screams and grabs a handful of mud. She is about to slap it on Jenny's face when a croaky, cracked voice cuts through the air, as Ep's had when she was talking to the Newsies. "EP! GET OVER 'ERE! WE NEEDS YER HELP!" Everything seemed to freeze at the words. Ep leaped off of Jenny and scrambled up the ladder. For the first time, I see Miranda and Angie look like they actually feel sorry for Ep. I turn to May for an explanation.
"That was Ep's pa. Almost 3 to 4 times a week he comes and gets her from the pit and says he

needs her 'help'. Sometimes she doesn't come back for the rest of the day and sometimes the next." May shakes her head and continues to stomp. "We always have to make up excuses for her or else Mr. Power will fire 'er. The only reason he hasn't fired 'er yet is because she always comes to work. Well, mostly," I look at the ladder where Ep had scrambled up in such a hurry. She had looked scared.

Right then, Mr. Powers door creaks open and he appears at the top of the pit. "You needs more straw," he says and walks over to the pile Angie and Miranda had fallen in. He shoves straw down the pit then puts his hands on his hips. "Where's Ep?" he demands looking at each of us.

"Probably the bathroom the big lazy bag of manure." I am surprised to see Marcy answer the question. Everyone nods and Mr. Power scratches his head, "Stupid girl. She's gonna pay fer this. Tell 'er she'll not get 'er nickel today." May nods and I follow her lead. Mr. Power eyes look at everyone then he coughs and says, "Today I don't need you anymore. You'll have to get your own lunch. Come up 'ere and get you moneys." A stampede suddenly appears as everyone races to get to the ladder. Marcy is the first one up, then Jenny, Angie, Miranda, and then Alyson. May stops at the ladder and turns to me, "Go ahead and go first."

"Thank you May." I climb up and May follows me. I approach Mr. Power cautiously and stick out my hand, like all of the other girls. Mr. Powers squints his eyes at. "This is your first day and yous expectin' pay?" I gulp, but don't put my hand down. Mr. Power laughs and drops a couple coins into my sweaty palm.

"Thank you Mr. Powers," I say and I see him look a little startled. Too proper. I turn and walk down the street. I guess I should get familiar with this town. I turn my back from the alley that will take me to my new home/shack and head down the street where everything is alive unlike the alley. I see Alyson a little ahead of me so I run to catch up with her.

"Alyson!" I call and she turns and gives me a friendly smile. "Hi Alyson. I don't really know my way around town, so would you mind if I walk with you?" Alyson smiles at me, "Of course Amy, but before I show you around, we are going to want to get cleaned up." I had forgotten that I had been smashed with a lot of mud. Alyson leads me to a small building that says CLEANHOUSE on it. We enter the building and a bell rings. An old man with white hair and a short beard turns at the sound of the bell and smiles at the sight of us.

"Welcome to the Cleanhouse. Go ahead and clean yourselves up over there." He points towards a room and we step in. There is a pump with a bowl underneath it and two towels. Alyson starts to pump the water and smiles at me, "Let's get you cleaned up first. You're a mess!"

Alright so what did you guys think?