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Normal POV
Racetrack could not get the image of his father's murderer out of his head. He could not believe he saw him and that he actually had the nerve to show his face in Brooklyn again. For most of the day on Sunday, Race weighed his options. He stared at his pocket watch for hours trying to decide whether or not to go back to Sheepshead. Finally Racetrack decided that he did not want to live his life in memories, he had to move on and he loved the track. He remembered what it was like to be at Sheepshead everyday and Race could never live like that. If he ever ran into his father's murderer again he would soak him, maybe even kill him for what he did. Racetrack put the watch back in his pocket and joined the other boys in a game of poker.
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Everyday Racetrack went to Sheepshead and not once did he see his father's murderer. He was fourteen now and had learned a lot about being a newsie, most importantly though, he learned how to fight. Racetrack did not like to fight unless he had to, but when it was necessary it was a good skill to have. One skill that Racetrack also had was to talk and gamble his way out of just about anything. This came in handy a lot.
On a hot summer day, most of the newsies had finished selling. Racetrack and his new friend Kid Blink were walking down the street. Blink had shown up a few months ago, he had been living on the streets for a while and was looking for work. He became part of the newsies group very quickly. Racetrack has asked about his missing eye on many occasions, but Blink would never give much detail, he just told them all it was an accident. They were walking when they heard yelling coming out of an alley. The boys looked at each other and cautiously approached the source of the screams. In the alley there were two boys beating up another boy. One boy had brass knuckles on and was hitting him while the other boy was kicking him; the kid never had a chance.
Racetrack and Blink hated seeing unfair fights, especially when it looked like the person getting the beating did not deserve it. Blink yelled to the boys, "Hey! What'd he do?"
The one with the brass knuckles stopped hitting the boy, "Da freak looked at us funny so we're teachin' him a lesson."
The other boy looked at Race and Blink, "Why don't ya just beat it, we'se can take care of dis on our own."
Race glared at the boys, they looked familiar, "Hey wait a sec, I know you'se. Ya'r Weasel's nephews ain't ya?"
"Hey look Morris, we'se famous! Maybe we should teach dese clowns a lesson too huh?"
Morris smiled, "Yeah, no one messes with da Delancey brothers."
Blink looked at Race then at Oscar and Morris, "Scabs." He clenched his fisted ready to fight, but Race put a hand on his chest holding him back.
"Hey wait just a minute okay, I'se gotta better idea. How's about we roll for it?" Race took the Dice out of his pocket, "Double or nothin', we win you'se leave, you win we'se fight."
Blink gave Racetrack a strange look, but then Oscar replied, "Yeah alright, might as well give ya boys some chance at gettin' outta here." They spit shook on it.
Race rolled first and got double down, luck was definitely on his side. Oscar and Morris almost started a fight, but pushed through Race and Blink instead. Race and Blink rushed over to the boy on the ground, he was beat up pretty bad, but they had both seen worse.
The boy was squinting at Race and Blink, "Thanks, uhh my glasses fell off."
"Oh," Racetrack glanced around until he saw something reflect in the sun, "Here, dey look a little bent, but not broken."
"Thanks, I'm Elliot by da way."
"I'm Racetrack and dat's Kid Blink, come on will get ya cleaned up."
They helped Elliot up and headed back to the lodging house. He got hit in the face pretty good by Morris, but seemed to block most of the blows. After they washed the blood off his face he did not look too bad, a couple good bruises, but they would heal.
Racetrack handed Elliot a towel to dry his face off with, "So how long ya been in 'Hattan?"
"Not long, I lived in Coney Island, but…" He looked down at the floor, "Just thought I'd pass through. So uh ya gotta extra bunk 'round here?"
"Yeah, dere's plenty of room, ever sell papes before?"
"No, how hard can it be though?"
Blink looked at him, "Depends, can ya read?" Elliot nodded, "Should be less hard den."
Race smiled, "Just make sure ya stay clear of those Delancey goons."
The next day Blink and Race showed Elliot the ways of being a newsie. Elliot did not intend on staying in Manhattan, but he started feel at home with the newsies. He was not half bad at selling and had made a lot of friends. Soon enough everyone was calling him Specs, at first he hated it, but he quickly learned to love it. Elliot was a person of the past now, his old life behind him.
The Delancey brothers still picked on Specs as well as the other newsies, but they all stuck together as a family. The Delancey's rarely tried to corner someone like they did to Specs when he first got there. He really enjoyed being a newsie and went with Racetrack to Sheepshead a few times. He went to the Midtown once or twice, but was not the best at poker. He became good friends with Swifty, who showed up not long after he did.
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AN: Thanks so much for reading! Sorry the ending of this chapter was really bad, I could not think of a proper ending for it. If I can think of a good chapter to do next I will, but if not then I'm skipping ahead to where Jack comes in. Again if anyone has any ideas at all for this story I would really love to hear them! Anything at all…
