Little Things, Big Meanings
Strings' nickname had two meanings.
The first was when she first got it some time after joining at the age of seven. The newsies were all in Medda's theatre just messing about after a long selling day.
While the boys were chatting on the stage about the day and the other girls were playing dress-up with Medda's costumes, Strings, known as Leah back then, went to the very back of the theatre to the room where all the instruments were kept. Usually no one was allowed back there unless it was to retrieve the instruments for a show. But she was an exception.
Medda had taught her how to play after she asked, and now, after every selling day, she would play and practice for at least an hour a day. But for the first three months, no one knew, because she practiced in the theatre.
She had completely lost track of time that day, playing to her heart's content. When Race opened the door and saw her playing, she finally revealed to everyone what she did in the hour of free time they had every time they went to the theatre. After being asked to play, Jack had deemed her new nickname to be Strings, considering that the violin was a strings instrument.
After that, she would practice in the Lodge when Medda let her keep the violin. She would play in the theatre at night sometimes, but she soon decided that it wasn't her thing, keeping things in the Lodge.
The second meaning emerged after the strike. Strings was heading back from selling one day when she passed a textile shop and saw a few balls of yarn that were being sold two pennies for one. An idea came to her mind, and on impulse, she bought four.
When she got back to the Lodge, she stopped to think. Why had she bought the yarn in the first place, she wondered. What idea had even sparked in her mind?
She then remembered something she did for fun when she was younger for fun. Ideas flooding her mind, she grabbed a pair of scissors and a pencil from the lone desk in the room.
Strings unraveled one of the yarn balls and cut six equal lengths of it. She tied each strand to the pencil, making sure to leave some extra for later. She then tied the other ends into a large knot.
Grabbing two other colors, she weaved the yarn in and out of the already existing strands, spelling out a word. Strings tied off the open end and braided the loose portions of yarn. Once she finished, she admired her handiwork.
It was a white, red and light blue bracelet that read 'Jack'. And she knew exactly how she would give it to him.
She gifted it to Jack on his birthday a few days later, and he loved it. He tied it around his wrist and said, jokingly, that maybe she could consider making one for every newsie in the Lodge.
And that she did. Over the course of the next several months, Strings made over thirty bracelets for every boy and girl in the Lodge, including herself. She even made one for Katherine.
Not one bracelet was the same. Some were purely made of yarn, others were also made with twine. For example, Smarts' bracelet was made of purple, white and blue yarn, while Crutchie's was made of green and yellow yarn with twine. Romeo's was red, black and yellow, Sniper's was green and blue with twine. You get the idea.
Strings also, occasionally, sold them for three pennies alongside her newspapers. She would make several of them during her free time, plain and patterned, then she would sell them the next day. Any that didn't sell would be sold the day after.
On accident, Strings earned her nickname a second meaning. Everyone else realised that except for her. And when she did, she felt proud of her work, whether it was a violin performance or a bracelet.
A/N: The bracelet thing was inspired by how some of the cast members were given bracelets/keychains from fans with their character's name