Yaaaay, the third chapter! :D Insert disclaimer here! Lark and Sher Khan are mine. Steal them and perish! (

So it looks like some of you just read 'n' run. Hmph! If you read this, please let me know...something. That you didn't like it, or you did, or my writing style is weird, or whatever. It keeps me going to read reviews, and then I will put out chapters that much quicker! (Plus, my classes are making me feel like hitting my head agaisnt a brick wall. Have a little sympathy? :P)

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Enjoy!

Sher Khan, as she was known on the streets and in various orphanages, blinked as she realized who else was sitting at the table with Jack Kelly.

David.

The newsie she had bowled over into earlier that morning, and who had started yelling at her and then stopped. She really hadn't expected him to give her a hand up. Not many people cared to once you had bowled into them one time too many, and sometimes just once was enough. She had found herself talking to him, asking directions, and spending much more time than she had intended to talking to him. Well, at least he had helped her to find Tibby's, and by extension, Jack Kelly.

Blink.

"Why, yes I am, what can I do to help you, miss?" Sher Khan started slightly and returned her gaze to the Manhattan newsie leader. Warm and humorous brown eyes surveyed her as she briefly struggled to remember why it was she was here.

Get offa da streets, Sher Khan, an' don't evah let me see you around head again, do ya catch me?

Blink. Right. Get off of the streets, lay low for a while. Then she could go back to where she had been after Christmas passed.

Stupid Christmas.

"I need a place to stay," Sher Khan stated, calm and cool sounding as if she wasn't trying to block out some of the most painful memories from the past six months.

"So do ya want ta be a newsie? Manhattan already has three other goils, although-"

Sher Khan shook her head, cutting Jack off. "No, I don't want to be a newsie. I can't be seen on the streets for a while." She bit her lip, hoping that he wouldn't ask her to explain.

"Care ta explain to me, sweetheart?" Jack raised an eyebrow at the girl. David continued to sit and stare at her, perplexed and confused. Well, her luck had never been that great.

"No." The reply came out sharper than Sher Khan had meant for it to, and she sucked in a breath, running a hand that shook through her hair. She stared at the floor for a minute before composing herself enough to look up and say, "I just need a job. Something I can do for the newsies, or just something here, in Manhattan. I can sew alright, so I could mend clothes or something. I just…I just need to get off of the streets for a little while." She stared out the frosted window as she said the last part.

"I could put you up for a bit."

Everyone at the booth, Sher Khan especially, turned to stare at David. As pale blue eyes met slightly darker ones, David continued, "Just for a bit, if you need. My family wouldn't mind. I bet Sarah would actually like the company." David turned to face Jack at the last bit.

"No!" All eyes came back to Sher Khan, who's face had become even more pale, her eyes wide and alarmed. Shaking her head slightly, she spoke in a voice that wavered, "I can't stay with a family. It has to be the newsies. Please."

David frowned slightly, although Sher Khan wasn't looking at him. David had noticed throughout the conversation that she was nervous about something, although she hid it well. He would have liked to know what it was that was scaring her so bad. She hadn't been like this earlier on the streets, although that may have had something to do with the difference in situations…David returned to his food, albeit slowly, and with less care towards what he was eating.

Jack Kelly, noticing how his friend was watching this strange new girl, decided to cut in, for both of their sakes.

"Alright, den," he said, looking Sher Khan squarely in the eye. "Let's say I give you dis job, and you stay in the lodging house with da rest of us. You said you can sew?" As Sher Khan nodded, Jack asked, "Okay, so what'll ya charge us foah dis service?" He smiled kindly at Sher Khan, who shrugged, back to her calm manner.

"I dunno, what do ya think it would cost ya somewhere else?"

"You did it again!" David remarked.

"Did what?"

"Started talking like the rest of the newsies."

Sher Khan stared at David for a moment before giving a wry smile and stating, very dryly, "Well, that's who I'm talking to, isn't it?"

Racetrack, Kid Blink, and Jack all laughed out loud as David blushed slightly and stared at his plate. Smirking, Sher Khan faced Jack again.

"So you'll give me this job?"

Still chortling, Jack said, "Yeah, shoah. I know most of da boys'll be happy to have someone who can fix dere things for them, for a better price. I'll have Lark show you where to go. You can leave yoah things over dere for now, and we'll introduce ya later." Facing David, Jack nudged him with his elbow and said, "Well, looks like you get out easy today, Davey. You don't have ta go visit Spot yet."

"Spot?" Sher Khan had gone stiff at the mention of his name.

"I take it you know him?" Jack observed. Now what had set her off this time? He knew that Spot had a certain…affect on people, but with girls it was usually the infatuated and romantic type.

"A little," Sher Khan fidgeted with the edge of one of her sleeves. Jack shrugged. There was nothing he could do about it, if this girl didn't particularly like Spot. Not everyone did. Artemis certainly hadn't, for a while. Turning to survey the room, Jack called out for Lark.

A minute later, a girl of middling height, brown hair, and careful brown eyes came over, dressed as the rest of the newsie boys where.

"Heya, Cowboy, ya need somethin'?" Lark asked, shoving her hands into her pockets.

"Do me a favor Lark, an' take…what is yoah name, actually?" Jack asked, realizing that he had never caught the girl's name.

"Sher Khan." Jack raised his eyebrows. Lark continued to stand there, although she was carefully looking the newcomer up and down.

"Do me a favor, an' take Sher Khan over to da lodgin' house once you've eaten? She gonna be stayin' wit' us foah a while." Lark nodded and beckoned for Sher Khan to follow her. As the two girls left, Jack turned to face David.

"'Sarah would like da company'? Is dat really da best excuse you could come up with, Davey?" Jack nudged his friend again. He wasn't about to leap right in and ask David how exactly it was that David knew this girl. For that matter, he wasn't about to start off asking why David liked her. Being the oblivious type, David probably hadn't figured it out yet.

"Woah, woah, what's a dis about?" Racetrack butted in, eyes flicking between the two taller newsies.

"Davey heah seems ta be a bit worried that Sarah an' I might be sneakin' out foah some…hijinks," Jack enunciated each word carefully – carefully for Jack, anyway – as he kept his eyes on David, silently egging him on.

David sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Hopefully it wouldn't become a habit.

"I'm not…worried, exactly," David said slowly. "It's more like my parents are worried, so if I gave them something different to worry about…" David let his sentence trail off as he poked at his food. Racetrack and Kid Blink traded looks with each other.

"So basically, you think this girl's hot, but you don't know how to invite her over," Kid Blink guessed.

"What?!" David exclaimed. As newsies from the surrounding tables turned to look at him, he quieted down to say in a heated whisper, "No¸ that's not it. I just want my parents off of my back so that I can study in piece while I'm home at night."

"Study? Foah what? Ya can't exactly study makin' up lies, unless ya study from da best like Cowboy heah. An' you already did dat," Racetrack said around his trademark cigar, unlit in the restaurant.

"Davey also wants ta go back ta school." Racetrack and Kid Blink stared incredulously first at Jack, and then at David.

"Ya want ta do what?" Racetrack asked in a low voice. Kid Blink shifted in his seat, nervous.

"Hey, hey now," Jack said calmly. "Let's not be fightin', alright? If Davey wants ta go back ta school, dat's fine wit' me. It's a great thing, havin' an educated newsie. Sure, he don't earn so much as da rest of us do, but dat's because we already learned everything about lyin'!" Jack laughed.

The mood shifty slightly after that, as the newsies all finished whatever bits of their lunch they had left, and proceeded over to the distribution center to get their afternoon papes.

"So, dis heah is where everybody sleeps, foah da most part. Although if Artemis ends up back over heah again, she'll be outside or somewhere else. Don't worry about it," Lark said, gesturing around the second story main room of the lodging house. "Ya got any questions?"

"Is there somewhere…else?...where I could sleep? Just somewhere more 'out of sight' where no one would think to look?" Sher Khan shifted slightly, wondering if this girl Lark was also going to ask about why she was staying with the newsies, but she didn't want to be one.

"Another room?" Lark scratched her head thoughtfully. "Ah, not really, unless…Hey, Kloppman! We got anywhere else down dere where Sher could sleep?"

"There's a storage closet in the back of that room, Lark!" the old man called up the stairs. "None of you ever use it. There should be some supplies already in there."

"Storage closet. Right. Now why didn't I know of dis?" Lark muttered to herself. Lark marched over to the back of the room where a doorknob covered with a bit of dust connected to a door. Grabbing the knob, Lark tugged on the door until it came loose. "Oof! Well, well, looks like Kloppman was right." Lark put her hands on her hips and surveyed the area. There was just enough room for a cot, a chair, and a small desk. Storage closet indeed. Everything was covered in a fine layer of dust.

"Well, at least it's out of sight," Sher Khan drawled. The remark earned her a wry smirk from Lark, who in return gestured at the dusty "room."

"Well, let's get this all nice and cleaned up, shall we?" The two girls entered the tiny abode, often bumping into each other as they shook out the sheets and dusted off the surface of the desk and chair. After an hour's worth of work, the tiny place looked almost liveable.

"Whew. Well, I hope I don't evah have ta help someone do dat again," Lark grumbled as she plopped herself down on the chair. "I just lost a whole afternoon's worth of sellin'. What're ya gonna do heah, anyway?"

Sher Khan shrugged. "Sorry 'bout that. I'm just here to lay low for a bit. I guess I'll just be sewing up clothes for everyone. I'll give you a free shirt patching, if you want compensation." Sher Khan dropped her bag with her supplies down on the bed and sat, facing Lark. As far as Sher Khan could tell, Lark was the leader of all the Manhattan news girls, and answered only to Jack.

"It's alright," Lark shrugged. "So, I assume that Jack said he would 'introduce' you to everyone here den?" She raised an eyebrow.

Sher Khan groaned and lay back on the bed, almost hitting her head on the wall. "Crap. Do you think he would let me out of it?"

"Not a chance. He doesn't really like everyone here bein' taken by surprise. Yoah just gonna have ta face da music."

Sher Khan closed her eyes and prayed that no one would make a fuss; or at least, not too big of a fuss. She was supposed to be "lying low" after all.

So, this is a little bit of a continuation of my other fic (not yet completed, but up), in the sense that you will see Artemis at some point or another. She will pop up now and then, to offer "moral support" or just to amuse herself. Yuptup.

Comments? :D

Cookies for all of you that have reviewed thus far! ^_^