"Woman gives birth to Cyclops baby!" Spot shouted mendaciously. He was tired and starving and wanted nothing more than to sell his last pape, and head to Manhattan. A meal at Tibby's was on call followed by a show at Medda's, filled in with soakin' scabs and spending time with the newsies, since his own boys in Brooklyn had been avoiding him of late. He couldn't understand why they were acting so suspicious but then he didn't mind being alone because for the most part they annoyed him beyond reason.

He sold his last pape and took off in a dead sprint, mainly to escape before the man, who had purchased the last print, could realize that no such Cyclops headline existed. After several minutes, a winded Spot slowed his pace to a walk as he crossed the Brooklyn Bridge. The sun late morning sun beat down on Spot's gently tanned skin and the view exhibited from the bridge on the bay was marvelous, forcing Spot to stop and give his attention to it for several spare moments. It was a calming feeling that Spot felt come over him, he closed his eyes and breathed in the warm air. The few relaxing moments always did him good.

Suddenly his eyes shot open at the sound of snickering behind him, he whipped his body around to discover a girl about his height laughing in his directions.

"You got a problem, girl?" he demanded. She paused for a moment, and shot him a deathly glare with her dazzling green eyes. Wait, not dazzling, Spot didn't even like green, and he especially didn't like this girl. Who did she think she was to mock him like that? She look like an ordinary street beggar, nothing high class or extremely poor but well enough off; dressed in trousers and suspenders with black cap covering the top of her rich brown hair.

"Yeah, I do Conlon. You. You are my problem. You look like a dunce, standing there all swept up in the moment. Never thought I'd see the famed King of Brooklyn exposed, you softy." The girl retorted. Whoa, now Spot knew he hate her, she was cocky, stuck up, and rude. Spot hated the fact that girls stood up to him, it was annoying, petty, and improper.

"Don't patronize me, you sassy little bitch!?" Spot fired at her, now furious as could be, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, "How do you know me?" Disgust marked his face from furrowed brow, to clenched teeth, and a blaze of anger in his eyes.

"Ease up, Conlon. No need to piss ya britches." The tomboy said holding a hand out in protest. Spot frowned, the more he spoke to the girl the more he detested her existence. Why couldn't it have been a boy, he would have soaked the lousy whack by now without a second thought; he would never hit a girl no matter how impossibly annoying she came to be. Spot shifted his stance away from the girl, keeping his gaze as best he could, away from Little Miss Priss, but soon he found himself staring into her fluorescent green eyes, she had moved to face him again.

"Whaddaya want from me, ya still ain't answered my question," Spot flared at her again, giving her a slight push with his left forearm, "How d'ya know me?"

The girl gave Spot a shocked look, "How do I not know you, should be your question. You're Spot Conlon, the boy who went from royal to street rat to royal street rat. You're the boy who exposed William Randolph Hearst in the biggest Ponzi scheme to date as well as murder! You were in the news for days following that affair and then ya went on to help Jack Kelly and the 'Hattan newsies take down Ol' Joe." She snorted, "You're only the most famous newsie in New York and probably everywhere else!"

Spot felt his ego inflate about a mile, as the girl recounted the tales of his fame. He smirked at the street rat reference, "Either you're tryin' ta buttah me up or you know your stuff. You're good with woids, too." He stepped toward her with his typical Spot Conlon glare, "That's my story but what's yours? Judging by ya accent ya from 'Hattan. You probably ran away from your rich hoity-toity life, ya headstrong so you though ya could survive on the streets. Ya parents loved ya but you didn't love them." He poked her hard in the shoulder with his cane and continued, "Now ya out on da streets runnin' for ya life and working the bedsheets to any street rat that'll gain ya admittance?"

The girl froze, a look horror plastered on her face she lunged at Spot in a frenzied barrage of fingernail jabs and hand slaps, "You think ya so smart, Conlon. Yeah, I lived in 'Hattan but I aint no whore!" she screamed, "You're just like every other boy in this broken city, ya goy no brain you'd rather think with your balls instead of your brain!"

Nose to nose with Priss, Spot simply glared wide-eyed in shock, as she launched her high class vocabulary and attitude at him. He figured her bark was worse than her bite, however, and smirked fiercely. This only enraged her more as she gave him a hard shove that forced him backwards against a bridge beam.

"I'm right, ain't I, maybe you ain't a pleasure seeker but all that other stuff I said was true, ain't it?' he mocked with tenacity. Priss's face began to redden and a tear filled in her eye, she brushed by Spot and went to bridge railing, gazing sadly out into the murky water that gushed through the bay.

"You want my story, Conlon. You aren't the only one with a sad start My father runs an investment company, yeah we're rich but money doesn't bring happiness. My father got greedy and it drove my loving, caring, sweet mother to her end. She died of a laudanum overdose, she couldn't take my father's malicious activity, anymore. I say she died of a broken heart not the drugs. Hell, he loved his cold hard money more than his sweet wife, how? Men are so cold and unfeeling!" She began to cry, "My younger sister, my last bit of care in the world, fled to the streets, kicked from the streets into the filthy alleyways more times than I can care to count. I took up the skill of theft to keep food in our bellies."

"That's a crime, you could get jailed for that shit." Spot interrupted.

"When you have to eat, you do anything. Don't tell me you're the perfect person and never stole." She spoke again, causing Spot to recall his first days on the street. She was right, Tails and Blazer had taught him the art of theft, in case pape sales were low.

"Anyway, can I continue?" Spot nodded as Priss continued, "Eventually, we found our way to Queens, and Scar graciously took us in. We became newsies and though it's been rough, the two of us, we have survived." She paused, "Oh, and in case you were wondering, I have never bedded a boy. That's not who I am. I have better things to do like survive and look out for what I care about than to live the high life like some people and frequent the lust house," referring to Spot.

The last comment did more than just anger Spot, he was irate, "Don't judge me, priss! I ain't never slept with no goil! I have a little more respect for girls."

The girl glared at him once again, "Then respect me and get out of my way. I have a living to earn! And by the way my name is Star not Priss!" she shouted shoving him as hard as she could.

Spot chuckled, "Please! I ain't got no respect for you! You ain't a girl, no more! Sure you got a heart wrenching story but you just want attention and someone who can take you and ya sistah in! By all means, scurry off like da little street rat that you are and leave me da hell alone, bitch!"

She snarled at him as she turned to leave, "Scar was right; Brooklyn is trash and so are you! Get off your high horse, Spot Conlon and take a look around you. There are other people in this world besides you." Her last words trailing off as she broke into a sprint back toward Manhattan. Spot shook his head, "What a bitch." His now volatile mood took full control of him as he swung a fist at the brick bridge beam, he turned back to Brooklyn and walked with heated footfalls back to the docks. There would be no Tibby's or Medda's for him; this run in with Star ruined his mood as well as his day and nothing, not even Medda's singing could bring him out of his funk.

Please rate and review! It may take some time to post the next chapter, I'll be out of reach for a week. Never fear, the story will go on. Scenarios constantly rush into my head so I try and write them down and draw up a story for the next chapter. This chapter started with me very clueless but honestly as I began to write Star's character , her first dialogue I just got caught up with this chapter and honestly I feel like it's one of the better developed chapters I have written in the LOB series. Thanks for reading and hang in there we'll see what lies in store for Spot and this Star girl, and soon enough Sam will come into the story.