A/N: Hey, alright well, here's chapter four. It's sort of uh, different from the rest but it's necessary for the plot. There are a couple of new characters in this one. So anyway, enjoy.

Disclaimor: I don't own newsies, I do own Gossip, Flinch, Mayor, Speed, Jump, Mouse, Wolfy, Ice, and Slush.

As we were walking to Medda's we talked some about the 'party'. I walked with Jump, and Spot and Jack but they where talking amongst themselves most of the time. I wasn't sure where Flinch was, probably with some of the Manhattan newsies, she seemed to be better friends with most of them. Suddenly I thought of something, I went to ask Spot but stopped, he was talking to Jack. You don't interrupt leaders when they're talking. Then Spot turned around, "what?" wow, good timing.

"Notin' …" I replied

"There's somethin'"

"Well ...is Mouse going?"

"Yah why? You don't think he can handle himself?"

"Hey, I'm a girl, it's our nature to be over protective of little kids we like"

Spot and Jack laughed "Yeah I guess you're right." Spot said, then stopped. We where at a big and very bright theater. "We're here" he said and smiled, then walked in. It was beautiful, and empty. I thought he said there'd be wall to wall crowding.

Apparently Cowboy figured out what I was thinking because he said "Spot always likes to be first, he usually even beets me but we came together so, you know"

Then Flinch walked over to me "come on Liss, Medda wants us to put up some tables, well at least that's what Race said"

"I want to meet her first" I said matter-of-factly.

"Well then turn around" said someone from behind. I turned to see a red-headed curly haired woman in a very pink dress. "hello there" she said, smiling kindly. Apparently this was Medda

"Hello." I said

"Oh" she said "you girls don't have to do that work, you are the girls and the men should be doing the work" she grinned

"Ok." I laughed then me and Flinch sat down with Medda and watched the boys work …. and glare.

"Well, I have to be getting ready" said Medda with a smile. She got up and walked backstage to, well get ready I suppose.

Spot put down the last table and walked over to us "I hate you" he said.

"Why?" I said, fake shocked. He grumbled something inaudible and stalked off. Flinch and I burst out laughing.

"Shut up, will yah'?" I turned, it was Cowboy grinning.

I wiped a tear from my eye and said "hey, are you done yet?"

"Yep and Harlem is here, I want you to meet their leader" he said, offering a hand to help me up. I took it, standing up.

"But what about Flinch?" I asked

"I meant her too" I looked over at her, expecting her to get up.

"No." she said

"Why?" I replied shocked

she shrugged "comfy"

I rolled my eyes "ok" I said, following Cowboy. He had turned out to be a really good friend. I still spent most of my time with Jump, especially at "home" but he was cool too.

"Hey, Wolfy I got her" called Cowboy, walking over to a boy I suspected was the Harlem leader. He was very tall with long black hair running past his shoulders and bright green eyes.

He was eyeing me "hey" he said offhandedly

"Hi." I said, almost as a question.

"Names Wofly, I'm the leader of the Harlem newsies" he said

"I'm Gossip and that," I pointed to Flinch who was still where we'd left her, she half waved "it my sister, Flinch"

"So, I've heard there hasn't been a girl in the Brooklyn newsies in awhile. I guess you could say Spot is prejudiced"

"Well he didn't give me or my sister … well me, any crap" he'd gotten better about Flinch but they still fought some.
"Really?" he raised an eyebrow

"Well, I guess he felt bad for me …. He found me on the beach"

"Oh..." he said, as if he understood.

"No, no ew. God, not like that I swam across the East River"

"I know, I know I was just joking. Cowboy told me everything" he said pointing at Jack. He was being nicer now.

"So are you a lifer?" I asked him, using the term Spot had earlier

"Yeah, you know what that is?"

"Yah Spot told me." Then a girl walked up from behind Wolfy, who wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Hello," she said very kindly

"Hello." I smiled

"So your Gossip." I noted this was yet another person who knew me before I knew them, I glared at Cowboy.

"it's getting rather annoying meeting people who know everything about me before I know their name" I mumbled, still glaring at Jack.

"Oh, " The girl said "sorry my name is Slush." Slush had she had blond hair looked like Flinch's except with brown highlights. She was tall, a bit taller than me but not much and she seemed nice enough.

"Oh its ok I'm gust messing with Cowboy." I smiled

She laughed "is it true you knocked out Spot …. or was it Bridge?"

"I kneed Spot in the gut, Bridge got knocked out by my sister, Flinch" I said. Suddenly Flinch was there, having launched off my shoulders, hanging on for a second then dropping to my side and nodding.

"Hi!" she said I shook my head in my hands she was doing it again, trying to scare people.

"Hello." Slush said as if Flinch was totally normal. I liked this girl

Then there was a drum roll and the lights dimmed a bit. "And now, for you're entertainment Miss. Medda Larkson!" someone called from a speaker somewhere. A spotlight lit the center of the stage and Medda walked out. She began to sing, with most of the newsies joining in. She was quite good.

Slush turned to me and asked "want to get a snack"

"Where?" Flinch questioned.

"At the snack bar of course" said Slush with a grin..

"oh yeah, of course" Flinch muttered sarcastically, spinning her hat around on her hand.

"So come on" she said, grabbing mine and Flinch's wrists and dragging us to the other side of the room. There was along table covered with all kind of snacks "compliments of Medda" said Slush with a smile.

"Wow." Flinch said wide-eyed.

"Hey, well I see you found the snack bar" I turned to see Spot, he seemed sad.

"Hi, is something wrong?" I asked. He mumbled something "what?" I asked again.

"There's no beer!" he muttered

I laughed "You drunk! That's so stupid"

"You callin' me stupid?"

"You said these was fun, and you're havin' no fun because there's no beer!?"

"You're talking like a newb"

"No, I'm talkin' like an intelligent person" I smirked

"Piss off."

"Is Spot feeling a bit touchy?" I asked in a baby voice

"When it comes to beer."

"That's dumb."

He sighed "Fine whatever, so wonna' play some cards?"

I smirked "ok". He walked over to a table where Race was. Flinch, Slush and I followed.
"Hey Gossip, Flinch there's someone I want you to meet" he said, putting his hand on a girls shoulder "this is Ice" she had black hair an hazel eyes, she nodded.

"Hi." I said

"Hello" she smiled she seemed nice

"So," Flinch asked "How did you get you're name?"

"I'm cold." she said simply

"Like physically or.."

"No I completely ignore people who flirt with me, well most people" she said, smiling at a boy a couple tables away who I assumed was her boyfriend "and I love the winter"

I sat down next to Spot and Race and said "Do you knock them out like us?"

"No," she said "I just ignore their existence" I laughed. Flinch didn't feel like playing so she just dealt the cards. She handed me mine and I surveyed the hand. It was crappy but that was the point of the game. I looked over at Spot, his left pointer finger twitched, he had a bad hand. I can win, I raised it a nickel. Spot and Ice folded.

It was between me, Slush, and Race. Race raised it a cent, Slush followed.

We showed and he had a flush.

"I win." He said, grinning. Then he did a weird little victory dance.

"Whatever." I threw down my cards. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around, it was a newsies I'd met earlier, from Harelm I think.

He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me towards him "Hi honey" he said, grinning. He tried to kiss but I moved. I tried pushing away but he was to strong.

Suddenly there was Mayor at the edge of the crowd "Let. Her. Go" he growled, being the big brother he was. He was pissed.

"Maybe she doesn't want me to" he challenged, pulling me closer.

"Uh, yeah, yeah I do" I said, struggling against his grasp.

Spot stood up, and Mayor growled again "Let her go"

"NO!"
Then Mayor jumped forward and threw a swing at the guy holding me. Two others came to his aid, jumping into the fight. Three against one.

Spot jumped forward and tackled the guy holding me to the ground. Full out fighting began

Jump ran over to me, pulling me out of the way of their way "are you alright?" he asked

I had a couple of bruises, I could tell but I said "yeah, yeah I'm fine" Jump nodded and turned to help Spot and Mayor. Spot was an amazing fighter, no wonder the others feared him. Before I knew it all the place was in an uproar and there was fighting everywhere you looked. I ducked to avoid someone's blind swing and kicked him in the … well the place no guy wants to be kicked. I looked around for Flinch, also in a fight, huge surprise. It was three against one, two she could take but three was just harsh.

I ran over to help but one guy jumped in my way, tackling me. He punched me in the head so I need him in the gut. He hit me two more times in the head but I repaid him with a quick punch to the nose. He let out a loud yelp and rolled to the side off of me. I got up and Flinch was out of site. I saw Spot again. He was in battle with a boy who looked about our age with pitch black hair. His eyes where also dark, nearly as dark as his hair. He punched Spot in the gut but Spot turned swiftly and knocked him in the back of the head, sending him to the floor. Spot turned and saw me, then came over.

"You alright?" he asked. It seemed I was getting that a lot lately.

"Yah I'm fine, wow newsies get in fights easy"

"Well when it comes to cute girls" he muttered. A drunken newsie came up behind him and took a swing. He then turned to me taking another swing. I kneed him in the stomach and he fell on me. Spot grabbed him shoving him to the side and caught my arm before I hit the floor, helping me up.

"Still ok?" he asked, with a worried expression. Well, half worried as much as you're gonna' get out of Spot.

"Yeah" I said, his hand was still on my arm.

"Alright, try to get out head to the Brooklyn or Manhattan lodging house." He let go of me, then looked around quickly "GO!" I ran, but got caught in the middle of a battle between a few guys. The last thing I felt was something hit the back of my head and everything went black.

I opened my eyes and glanced around. I was at the Manhattan lodging house. I sat up and saw all the guys where, of course, playing poker. I saw Spot, he was a mess. He looked over at me "you ok?" he asked

"Yeah, I'm fine, but are you?" I asked. In truth everything hurt, but I wasn't going to say that.
"I'm perfect compared to you." He said "you got knocked out then practically trampled"

"And not to mention Spot and Bridge fell on you when they where fighting" said Cowboy, smirking.

I looked around and Flinch was no where to be seen "where's Flinch?"

"She went out with Blink and Skittery." Spot said

"Ok." I yawned and swung my legs over the side of the bed (Jack's I think). Spot and Mayor jumped up and pushed me back down before I could do anything else.

"No." Spot said simply "Not in your condition, one more day of rest and you'll be good as new." I groaned but obeyed, lying back down. It was a very long day. I talked with everyone but wasn't aloud to get out of bed. Stupid overprotective Mayor and his overprotectiveness. ER! Oh well, the day finally ended and we where back in Brooklyn before nightfall.

I got up and ready for work. Everything was back to normal today. As I got the stairs I tripped, falling. I didn't scream this time, too tired. Instead I simply landed face down on the floor. I was in a daze from not sleeping well and barely noticed, not moving. Spot was talking to Thompson, who went into the back. Spot turned around and said "you fall down the stairs again?"

"Yes" I said simply, picking myself up and dusting off. Then I began to walk away.

"Hey" Spot yelled "you want to go to work at 6 am" I turned and looked at the clock

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well … I'm bored" it wasn't as if I was lying. He rolled his eyes.

I looked around, it didn't look like anyone else was up. "Are we the only ones up?"

"Yes, well I guess that makes one and a half of us" he smirked. It took me a moment to get the joke, I was only half up.

"You made a joke" I gasped

"Yeah, so you wanna' go get some breakfast at Redsons?"

"OK" We walked down the road towards Redsons. It was usually filled with newsies, but it wouldn't be at this hour.

"So do yah remeba' anything about the night of the fight." Spot asked
"It started because of me."

"No."

"Yes if I knocked him out it won't have happened."

"Yah but you wouldn't and couldn't."

"Fine." I mumbled

"Well we're here."

"Oh."

"So go in."

"Right." I said, he rolled his eyes. I walked in and glanced around. It was biggish, with about 25 tables. I'd never seen the place empty, it was weird. I picked up the menu and ordered pancakes for 2 cents.

As I was eating Spot said "it's good to see you eating again, you haven't eaten much for the past few weeks"

"I'd rather have a full pocket that a full stomach" I said looking up from my food, I was starving.

He shook his head "I've realized"

I finished my food "We betta' get back."

"Yeah" agreed Spot. He seemed annoyed.

"Is somethin' wrong?" I asked

"No, just sore" he said, rubbing his shoulder. Yeah right.

"Sure you are" I rolled my eyes. He laughed and opened the door for me "A newsies with manner" I mumbled "that's new."

He smirked "sure it is" he said sarcastically.

"Have you ever seen one before?" He opened his mouth to answer then closed it and looked at the ground "didn't think so"

When we finally got back there was about 5 minutes for everyone to get ready. Curtecy of Spot giving them an extra 4 minutes 30 seconds before waking them up.
Flinch walked down the stairs and over to me "Um, I was wonderin' if you'd sell with me today. I really need to talk to you, sister to sister.

"Of course!" I smiled, finally able to show off my spot. I love it seeing the sun rivze in the morning and set in the evining, off the brig.

"OK I'll see you at the distribution center"

"alright" I said. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder and whirled around to see Jump smiling.

"So I heard you went to breakfast with spot"

"Yeah..."

"I KNEW IT!"

"Knew what?"

"You two..."

"No."

"NO?

"NO."

"But..."

"Do you go to breakfast with your friends?"

"When I go to breakfast"

"So..."

"Fine ok I believe you partly because it would make sense, I suppose and partly because I want to have kids someday." I laughed, Jump really was my best friend.

"So you sellin' with Flinch?" he asked as we walked out the front door

"Yeah."

"Took long enough"

"I know but we have been so busy." I said walking up the ramp.
"Yeah, I'm sure she understand." He turned around to get his papes, then I got mine.

I waited for Flinch, when she came over to me she said "Your spot." before I could ask. We walked to the bridge in silence but as soon as we where there she started talking "Do you know Skittery well?"

"Yah he's nice." I replied. I wondered why she was asking, she talked to him more than me.

"Well …" I could tell this was hard for her "is he, uh, is he taken?" I stood there in shocked silence. She liked Skittery.

I managed to say "no .."

she smiled slightly, still looking down "do you think …."

"Maybe" I said. I knew she liked him, that didn't surprise me. I was surprised that she admitted it. Flinch wasn't the kind of person that admitted her feelings, keeping up her barrier was part of her Flinch-ness.

"I know you know. Your name says it all."

"Well I don't know I was busy when we where in Manhattan, you know causing fights all day" I laughed

"Yeah but.."

"I only use my power for good and not for other's dirty work."

"WHAT KIND OF SISTER ARE YOU?!"

"The annoying kind."

"No kidding.." she mumbled

"Well, you could ask him out."

"After you."

"What?"

"Well I guess I'll have to do it then."

"What are you talking about?"

"I know you went on a date with Spot."

"Sure I did" I said sarcastically.
"So you admit it."

"NO!"

"Don't worry I'm kidding." she put her hand up

"Good."

"So it was really just breakfast?"

"Yah."

"Alright." I looked at how many we had left, 10 for me and 20 for Flinch. She'd barely been paying attention to selling today, preoccupied I guess. Now I know how Jump felt. The headlines where bad it was "Trolley Strike Drags on for third week" Strikes where good the first week, not the third. "So." I started "Who said that it was a date?"

"No one Spot just said you two went for breakfast and everyone just assumed that …"

"It was a date." I finished then I laughed "Well then only a newsie."

Flinch laughed "Yah. So... what did happen?"

"Breakfast."

"And..." she prompted

"He made me feel better about starting the fight."

"Well that's good you did seem depressed yesterday."

"Whet ever. I'm done." I declared

"I'm not." she said in the same tone. She really was preoccupied today. She had 13 left so I helped her.

We finished quickly. Then headed down to the docks, which I do often after selling

"HAY GOSSIP!" Jump yelled

"Hey." I called. Then I realized it was Flinch's first time down at the docks, this was going to be fun.

"Ya' swimin' today?"

"Of course." Then I ran and did a cannonball off the dock. It was the warmest the water had been since I got there.

"SHIT!" I turned around to see Spot, soaked. He glared at me, I smiled back "Gossip"

"Yes."

"Come over her please." He walked over to the pile of crates he always sat on. I followed, the other boys ignored us.

"Yep." I said happily

He flicked me with water. Apparently I made a weird face because he had to hold back laughter and said "that works"

"What."

"It works better than hitting you."

"You wouldn't"

"Oh really?"

"Or at least I would hit back" he laughed

"Whatever. You can go play." I rolled my eyes at the term.

I went back in the water and said to Jump "Did Spot go drinking recently?"

"No why?"

"No reason" I said. I looked over at Flinch who was talking to Mayor. She smiled at me. I smiled back. Then I mouthed 'come in' she mouthed back 'fine'. And did a running jump off the dock, nearly landing on top of Jump, who screamed like a girl.

"What the hell was that!" Bridge screamed

"FLINCH, what the hell!" Jump yelled at Flinch, who was doing her best to not laugh.

"Blame Gossip, she told me to jump" Flinch said, grinning.

"ME I told you to jump in not to jump in on Jump!"

"SHUT UP!" Spot yelled, not too loudly but with enough authority that it shut everyone up. Then his laughter broke out over the silence, everyone else followed quickly. It was the best day in a while.

The next day the price was raised, but Spot bought his papes and so did everyone else. I sold in my normal spot and the headlines where better. After words I went to docks again and we talked about the weirdest customers we had, some of the stories where verging on unbelievable.

At one point we saw Boots, Jack and a kid with curly hair that no one knew coming up the dock. They started talking and my namesake finally proved useful, I could hear everything. Flinch looked over at me, she could probably hear most of the conversation but not all of it, and that was irritating her. When everyone else figured out I could hear the conversation they all looked at me, waiting for me to say something. "Only for good.." I said. They all leaned back and sighed. When Cowboy, Boots and the other kid left I walked over to Spot.

"So." he said "How much did you hear?"

"All of it." I said, he sighed

"Well than, I guess your wonderin' why I said no."

"Yep."

"Well you shouldn't ask."

"Can ya' blame a girl for tryin'?" I asked

"Yeah, actually I can." The sun was setting now and we where looking at it off the dock. Everyone else had left or was leaving.

"Well I guess your not going to tell me." I sighed and turned, starting down the dock.

"Actually, maybe I will" I turned around

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then, why?"

"If we lose Brooklyn will be frowned upon, we would have fought and lost, Brooklyn doesn't do that. Plus, how do I know if Jack is serious about it"

"Ok" I said, I wasn't going to say anything more because then Spot would twist my words. Great friend huh?

"So you trust me?"
"Yah, I always has, well you know you've earned my trust for a while."

"That's nice to know" we probably had fifteen minutes of sunlight left.

"Well we better get going."

"Yeah" I said, and we started back

"Well your no help." I gave him an inquiring glance.

"Excuse me."

"Well you usually try to make me think I'm wrong, that way I really look at both sides and figure out if I am or not. You didn't do that this time, so you're not help"

"Oh ok, YOU NUMB SKULL JACK IS RIGHT ABOUT THE PRICES! YOUR JUST TOO CHICKEN TO FIGHT!"

"Ok now that's the Gossip I know and love."

"Aw, you love me." I smirked

He rolled his eyes "You know what I mean."

"I know what you mean but the questions is, do you?"

"Wait, what?"

"I didn't think so" I said, then crossed my arms. He grinned and we both burst out laughing.

A/N: Alright, so I know that chapter was a bit tedious but the next one should be a lot better. Don't forget to R&R