CHAPTER FOUR: SNOW

"New Yawk Woild! Get ya New Yawk Woild papah heah! Mayor bitten by rabid dog! Life at stake!" Maria yelled as she waved her three remaining newspapers in the air. It had started snowing the night before, and the snow had accumulated almost a few inches and it was still coming down hard.

"Tanks miss." Maria gave a well-to-do woman her change and turned to look for Flare. Her, Flare and Blink were supposed to sell together that day but the couple had been disappearing from time to time. Maria rolled her eyes. The honeymoon stage was getting very annoying.

She quickly sold her last two papes and walked toward Central Park. All the newsies were supposed to meet there when they were done selling. Less had never been, so Jack made an event out of it. She trudged through the snow, pulling her coat tightly around her.

She rounded the street corner and walked into the park. She spotted Sage, then Crutchy, then the other newsies. Boots and Less came running, chasing each other and throwing snowballs.

"Now you've done it Less! Eat snow!" Boots yelled as he threw a rather large snowball at Less. A few other newsies were running and throwing snowballs, but Maria wanted to stay as far away from the flying snow as possible. She spotted an empty bench and started walking towards it.

"Come on Davey…lighten up!" Jack was following David, who looked very annoyed. David rolled his eyes. "That snowball was pure ice Jack! Pure ice!" He touched under his eye. "I'm gonna have a bruise…"

Maria continued to walk past them as she laughed a little at David. He was a bit ridiculous at times. She made it to the bench and sat down next to Sage. She had just finished laughing at something Crutchy had said. "Hiya Maria. Me an' Crutchy was just gonna join de snowball fight. Youse wanna come?" Maria just shook her head.

"Ise'll just sit heah. I ain't much for playin games."

Sage nodded. She ran off to join the other newsies. It turned into a snowball fight of sorts, with the girls against their beaus. It started when Snitch threw a snowball at Spades, and she threw one right back. Soon, most of the newsies joined in.

Maria sighed and pulled her legs up to her chest, resting her chin on her knees. She tried to concentrate on the snowball fight, but her thoughts wondered and she found herself staring at the surrounding city, millions of ideas and questions running through her mind.

"Maria!"

Race, Blink, and Mush ran up to her. Race sat down while Blink and Mush hid behind the bench. Their chests were heaving up and down, and the steam from their breath rose into the air. The girls came running up, snowballs in their hands. Race grabbed Maria's shoulders and hid his face behind her.

"Youse can't hide behind dat bench forevah Blink!" yelled Flare; her brown eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. They all started to reel back. "Run!" Mush yelled and they took off running. The girls went after them. Race hesitated, then sat back down next to Maria.

"Why don't youse play wid us?" he rubbed his hands together for warmth. She shrugged. "Ise just don't wanna play. Ise nevah even been in a snowball fight befoah."

"Nevah!?" He asked, shocked. She shook her head. "What?! Nevah!? Really?" She shook her head again.

"Whad about stick ball? Youse evah play dat?"

She shook her head again.

"Caught fire flies in a glass jah? Danced in de rain? Went to de races?"

She shook her head no to all of them. "Oh, come on!" he took her hand and they stood up. "Well, Ise am gonna fix dat. Wese are gonna have a snowball fight right now."

"Race!" she pulled her hand away and said, exasperated, "No Race! Ise don't want to." In an effort to get her to cooperate, he put on his best smile and asked, "please?" She folded her arms across her chest and said, "Nope." His smile faded, then quickly turned into a smirk.

He bent down, and began to make a snowball. Maria immediately knew what he was doing. "Race, youse wouldn't dare…" he smiled mysteriously. "Ya. Ya Ise would." And with that, he leaned forward and planted the snowball right in her face and smudged it in. He laughed, and Maria's jaw dropped in surprise. She made an effort to wipe the sludge from her face.

"So…wadda youse gonna do? Huh?" He smirked and rocked back and forth on his toes. Maria couldn't help but smile. As fast as she could she reached down and hurled a snowball at his face. "Its on!" He chased her through the park, were they both joined the on going snowball fight. It was the most fun she'd had in years, for a moment she forgot everything…

Splat! Another snowball in the face; this time Race was on the receiving end. He quickly grabbed another snowball, and chased her through the group. He threw the snowball, and it hit her in the nose. "Jeez Race! Dat one hurt…" She reached up to her nose and scowled. "Damn...youse alright?" He walked over to her, trying to see if it was bleeding.

"Uh…ya. Ise guess…" and with that she stuffed a huge snowball, that she had been hiding behind her back, down his shirt. He slowly backed away, the unique look of pissed off shock on his face. "Not fair…" But he couldn't stop laughing. "Ise guess I undaestimated youse…nice one Maria. Ise didn't know youse had it in ya." She smiled.

"Damn straight dere Higgins. Damn straight."