Warning/Disclaimer: Once again...very long. Also very enjoyable. We don't own it...don't bother asking!

10 Years Ago
A skinny little girl lay huddled in an alleyway, weeping. Her ribs were

perfectly visible through her white, tattered nightgown. She hugged her

bruised legs to her chest. A boy, about six, walked up to her. He crouched

down and patted her back.
"'Ey, goil, are you'se okay?" The girl looked up at him. Anyone who had been

a spectator of this moment could have noticed this one thing; they both

had piercing blue eyes. Her face was in a bad shape, covered with bruises

and cuts, tear soaked, a fat lip and black eye.
"I hoit...I hoit badly." Her voice was a painful whisper. She put her head back

down on the pavement and stared off into space.
"Can you'se walk?" She didn't look up at him again, but slowly shrugged.

She moved her arm and tried to get up, but to no avail. The boy pushed

his thick, blonde hair from his face and picked her up. Normally, it wold

have been difficult for a 6 year old boy to carry a 5 year old girl, who

matched him in height. Yet, the girl, seemingly, weighed less than a

feather. Luckily, the place the boy had in mind was right up the street.
When the girl woke up, she was in a soft, warm bed in a lovely, blue room.

A girl, around 15, sat beside the bed, knitting something. The little boy

quietly came in, looking somber. He whispered to the girl, " she awake yet?"

The boy and the older girl bore a striking resemblance. They both had the

same smile, the same blue eyes, and the same blonde hair, hers coming

down to her waist.
"No, she hasn't."
"Hmm?" The girl sleepily rubbed her eyes and tried to sit up, but it hurt

too much.
"'Ey! Good mornin'!" The boy smiled down at her.
"Hmm," was all the girl could say.
"I'm Spot," he whispered, bending over and stroking her hair.
The little girl smiled, "I'm Maggie."

Maggie's POV
My eyes flickered open at the memory. DAMN IT! That's the seventh time

this week. It was bad enough that Gwen was hanging out with him to

have my memories filled with him too! My hair was soaked with sweat. I

got up and walked to the bathroom. I could still feel the cuts and

bruises...but that was so long ago. "That isn't me anymore! I'm not her!" I

told the mirror sternly. Suddenly, the face that haunted my dreams

appeared. I looked into the mirror, "FATHER?" His face glowered at me.
"You still the same child."
It, at the time, didn't seem weird that an invisible reflection was talking to

me, it had happened all too much previously. "No, I am not, father."
The reflection laughed, not in a relaxing way, and stared me down, "jist

'cause I ain't the one hurtin' ya?" He shook his head, "girl, you traded one

imprisonment for anudder, runnin' away da way ya did."
"I didn't run away!" I snapped, "you left me in an ally to die, remember?"
"Shame ya didn't." A tear ran down my cheek. I punched the mirror and it

shattered, shards cutting into my hand. I took a brush and violently pulled

it through my hair, not caring about my bleeding hand. I washed my face,

trying to clear my head. I walked out of the bathroom to realize that it

was still dark out. I decided to take a walk.
I walked all the way to Medda's. I sat outside the building and just let my

thoughts drift above the grim covered buildings to the sky, which was

turning lighter by the minute. My heart was filled with dread. Jack hadn't

come home last night. The past five nights, he'd come home drunk, only to

give me big, sloppy kisses that would have made me giggle in delight had

it not been for the voice in the back of my mind saying, "he doesn't love

you, he's just using you." Maybe my father's reflection had been right,

maybe I had exchanged being abused by him for having my heart

stomped on by the only two guys I had ever...never mind.
I put my head down on my knees and began to cry. "He doesn't love you,

he's just using you." Everything went black.

"D'ya think she's still alive?" I heard a worried Mush ask above me.
"Mush, she's breathing! Of course she's still alive!" That was Media. My

eyelids felt like two tons of lead. I slowly opened my eyes to a blur of color.
I rushed to pull my arms over my face.
"What time is it?" My voice was slurred. I noticed that my hand was still red

from blood so, I put it gingerly behind my back before Mush or Medda

could see.
"'Bout Eight." Mush dragged me to me feet with my uninjured arm. If he

knew, he wasn't letting on. I wobbled and staggered around, trying to

balance myself.
"What are you doing here?" Medda took my other arm.
I quickly pulled away, "I woke up, decided to go on a walk, and fell

asleep." I stood still for a moment. Sure as the day had dawned, I saw no

other than Gwen strolling down the street. I clumsily ran over and hugged

her, almost knocking the two of us to the ground. I looked at the boy next

to her and uttered a word that Jack only uses when he is drunk.

Right in front of me stood my personal hell on earth; Spot. My face grew
hot.
He scratched the back of his head. "'Ey...Maggie."
I kicked him between the legs and stomped off.
"MAGGIE?" Gwen was clearly appalled. I didn't look back.
"Look after him for a minute." I heard her whisper Mush.
"MARGARET QWENIVERE EFRAM! YOU COME BACK HERE AND EXPLAIN WHAT YOU'RE THINKING!" I was shocked that Gwen had used my full name.
"It's nottin'." I answered sourly.
"Kicking Spot between the legs is NOT nottin'." Gwen snapped.
"Why do you care?" I stomped down the street heading for the Lodging House.
"Because we were invited to the game. When we get here and already someone gets hurt." Gwen pulled my arm back. I could tell she had gotten stronger.
"You were invited, not him." I faced her. She may be shorter than I was, but her eyes were frightening.
"We were both specifically invited. Now tell me why you did that!" Gwen's face was stern and angry. I couldn't tell Gwen the truth. It still hurt too much. I just looked away from her.
"GO ASK SPOT!" I ran faster than she did. I always did. She can never catch up with me. I took a left turn down to the Newsboy's Lodge House.
I was greeted by my fellow newsies, "Songboid! You're up! Were was ya? We's thought that yous been kidnapped or summit." That was Specs. It was easy to ignore him as I stomped up the stair to find Jack, asleep on his bed, in the fetal position. I smiled lightly and ripped the covers off of him. That woke him up. Jack has never really liked the cold.
"What the-" He screamed. I interrupted him, my eyes blazing.
"GET THE HELL OUT OF BED, JACK!" My usually soft voice was more demanding than usual, even though I was fighting back my tears. Jack looked up at me, startled.
"Maggie? You okay?"
"NO! NO, I AM NOT OKAY, JACK! GET THE HELL OUT OF BED OR I'LL SOAK YA, JACK! I SWEAR I WILL!" He looked at me in pure fright. He swiftly hopped out of bed. Mush came up the stairs, as had every other newsie, with Gwen and, to my distaste, Spot.
"What's going on!" Mush looked from me to Jack back to me.
"NOTHING!" I stomped out of the room not wanting to say a word about what I wanted to scream from heaven...
"Okay Spot, since Maggie won't tell us why don't you?" Gwen turned to Spot. Spot looked away from her.
"I don't know if she would like it if I told ya." Spot looked at the ground frowning.
"Fine!... Can we guess?" Gwen was beyond the point of threats and would practically do anything to find out what was going on.
"Why'd she wake me up?" Jack was pale and shaking slightly.
"Spot?" Gwen was running out of the little patience she had left.
"I don't know if now is the best time. Besides, you'd want to hear it from Maggie." Spot walked out of the room.
"God! Does no one answer anymore?" Gwen was losing it stomping out.
"Um... well since you're up Jack why don't you come on downstairs." Specs said pulling Jack downstairs. Everyone followed glancing at one another.
"I don't want to go downstairs." Jack whined.
"Ah, c'mon. We have a poker game." Racetrack teased. Jack looked deep in thought. "Why else do you think Gwen and Spot are here?" Mush asked on Jack's other side.
"Thought They's was just visiting." Jack shrugged.

Regular Pov
Spot walked downstairs. Both Maggie and Gwen were in there, fuming. He couldn't help but smile. Gwen's face was burning bright red.
"Are you two gonna tell me what's goin' on or not!" Gwen was angry and was on the verge of killing someone.
Maggie looked at Spot. Spot looked at Maggie.
"Tell her!" Maggie was also angry.
"NO! She's your best friend, you tell 'er!"
Gwen grabbed Spot by his ear. "TELL ME, SPOT!"
"Ow! Okay!" he screamed in pain. Spite his words, Gwen didn't let go of his ear. "But let go of me ear!" Gwen released his ear disappointed that she let go.
He sighed. "You sure it wouldn't be better for you to tell 'er?" Gwen grabbed for his ear. "OKAY! Fine!" He glared at Maggie. "Fine. Remember da strike?" Maggie smacked him on the back of the head.
"O' course she remembers, numbskull!"
"OW! Fine! Well, Maggie and I sorta dated." Both of them looked down in embarrassment. Gwen's eyes were wide with shock.
"But-" Gwen stopped to catch her breath. "You- you said that you an' Maggie never went out!" Maggie glared at Spot. "I was gonna tell ya, I jist didn't want for you'se to git mad at me..." there was something in his voice, something only Maggie caught, that made him seem like he really didn't want Gwen to be mad at him.
"YOU THINK I'M NOT MAD NOW!" Gwen's usually quiet voice was at a shockingly high volume. "SPOT, YA LIED TO ME!"
"I'm so, so, so sorry, Gwen." Again, there was a tone Maggie caught in his voice that was regretful and sad. Maggie suddenly blinked, her eyes filled with tears.
"There's more Gwenny, tell 'er, Spot, tell 'er how we broke up!" Maggie's voice was rising in anger and she couldn't control her tears.
"I-" his voice broke as he turned his attention on Maggie, "I cheat- cheated on 'er." The room was quiet. The newsies had, once again, come down stairs to see what wasn't they're business. "But I did it for a reason, Maggie, if you'd jist let me explain."
No one had seen that one coming. Sure, they all knew Spot was a lady’s man...but to cheat on her...no one even ever knew that Spot and Maggie had dated, not even Jack, who leaned on the banister, speechless. "Explain what?" Maggie was crying, "explain how you broke my heart?"
She dashed out of the room, being the closest to the door. Gwen was the first to disturb the silence.
"YOU JACKASS!" This was the first time Spot had every heard Gwen cuss so loudly. He didn't think of it much since she slapped him.
"I really regret taking her on that offer." Spot didn't move. He knew what he did was terrible, he just wished someone would let him explain. Gwen followed Maggie out.
Silence. People outside could be heard as if they were right next to them.
"You are so dead." Racetrack breathed.
"It's not what you all think." Spot muttered.
"Then please, explain." Mush was white in hearing his baby-sis curse someone so passionately.
"Please go into details." Racetrack chuckled nervously. No one was in the mood to laugh. After what had happened, no one was in the mood to laugh. Everyone slowly sat down waiting for Spot to explain the tragic story.
"But...not in front of Jack." Everyone turned to look at Jack. He was red with anger. He shot a look of resentment at Spot and stomped off. Spot sighed.
"Good. Maggie would 'a killed me if I'd said this in front 'a 'im!" He looked at everyone's angry faces...and Crutchy's smiling one. "Okay...foist 'a all, none a' dis leaves dis group...okay?" They all nodded. "Okay. Maggie and I started 'dating' when we was all on strike. Maggie an' I had been friends since forever and it started growing into more. We was gittin' along wid eachudda fine." He sighed and shook his head. "But, when she was asleep sometimes, she said Jack's name and such. Finally, I realized...that Maggie loved Jack. She always has. She still does too, I think." No one even took a breath. They all started at Spot with wide eyes. "Finally, I saw how bad it was killin' 'er. She was one a' my best friends, and as much as it killed me to know that she didn't care about me in dat way, I wanted her to be happy. So...I gave 'er an easy out." He paused for a moment, trying to think of how to word the rest. "I cheated on 'er. I cheated on 'er so dat she'd find out an' be happy with Jack. And then Sarah..." He didn't have to say the rest. They all knew.
"Is that all the surprises for tonight?" Racetrack asked, smiling slightly.
"As far as I know, yeah." Spot answered.
"Well actually... I have something to tell you all..." Mush waited for the suspense to build, "I'm a gay lesbian." Mush smiled as everyone cracked up. Gwen followed Maggie up thee stairs and to their bathroom. Maggie was doing her best to hold back the tears without success. "I can't believe it," Gwen whispered rubbing Maggie's back. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I knew how much you-you wanted to s-see Spot to have- him teach you." Maggie sobbed.
"I love how you care about me so much, but you should have told me."
Maggie continued crying.
"Is their anything else you want to tell me before the night continues?" Gwen asked soothingly. Maggie nodded. She took a deep breath, "two things. One," she stopped to cry some more, "one, my dad's not exactly...dead." Gwen looked at Maggie incredulously. "Two," she continued, "I lo-love Jack." Her voice was barely a whisper as she wiped her eyes. Gwen smiled kindly trying to contain her excitement.
"When did you figure this out?" Gwen nearly chuckled.
Songbird shrugged.
"Good for you." Gwen patted her back supportively. Maggie looked up at Gwen with red, puffy, and curious eyes.
"You figured out who you love, me... I'm not exactly one for love I guess." Maggie noticed that Gwen's eyes were sad behind her smiling mask.
"It's not my place to tell her." Maggie looked back to the floor.
"N-no, it's not good. Jack's in love with Sarah."
"But she broke up with him." Gwen tried to catch Maggie's eyes.
"He was going to-" Maggie burst out again in a fit of tears. The pain was excruciating and would scar Maggie forever. "He w-was gonna tell her th-that he l-" Maggie's throat tightened, not letting her finish telling Gwen what she wanted to say.
"He loved her?" Gwen asked.
Maggie nodded through her large and numerous tears. Gwen hugged her knowing that a hug wouldn't solve Maggie's troubles.

Spot had overheard all of this. Once again, it broke his heart that she was hurt. It took only a couple seconds to remember it was his fault, well, his and Jack's-"I'm gonna soak 'im!"
Then he remembered what Gwen had said. He felt oddly like kissing her. He wanted to comfort her and tell her, "maybe you are."
"Gwenny?" Maggie looked at Gwen, "Do you-do you like Spot?"
Gwen's eyes went wide, "you mean, as a friend?" Maggie shook her head.
"I... you're hands!" Gwen quickly changed the subject not knowing what to answer. She picked up a roll of white bandages, a wash cloth, and began cleaning her hands.
"What happened?" Gwen didn't look up.
"I... broke our mirror." Maggie mumbled.
"Why?" Gwen looked up.
"I-DON"T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!" Yes, Maggie knew Gwen had made a subject change.
"I won't tell you till you tell me why you broke our mirror." Gwen turned away stubbornly.
"Fine! Then neither one of us will tell." Maggie crossed her arms. They sat still for a few minutes their patience wearing thin. Gwen gave in.
"FINE! But you have to promise me that you'll tell me the truth about why you broke the mirror."
Maggie rolled her eyes but promised her.
"I've never thought of Spot as anything more than a friend and a teacher. Now why'd you break the mirror! And what's up with your Dad?
"The mirror got in my way..." Maggie lied, unconvincingly. "I was simply having a bad hair day."
Gwen gave her best friend a look of disbelief and concern. Why won't she tell me the truth? She wondered.
"As for my father," she winced, unnoticeably, as she said, "father", "I am just having bad dreams about him...that's all." Gwen looked at Maggie again. Her eyes were filled with sadness and pain. "Altogether, it's been a very trying morning...and I'm tired. I'm goin' back upstairs to sleep." There wasn't a drop of eagerness in her voice. She didn't want to have more dreams about Jack, Spot, and her father. She walked up the stairs anyway and let sleepiness rush over her body and into her veins. Spot quickly walked back from the door as Maggie and Gwen came out. Maggie walked slowly upstairs, Gwen stayed put watching her walk upstairs.
"She gonna be ok?" Spot whispered.
Gwen through a threatening glare, "why do you care?"
"Look it's not what you think!" Spot grabbed Gwen's arms she was about to storm upstairs.
"FINE! Then tell me why you cheated on her!" Gwen locked eyes with Spot. Her gaze was steady and intimidating.
"I knew she didn't love me but... someone else. So I gave her an-an easy out." Spot let go. Gwen stayed put staring at the floor. She then looked up a small innocent smile sealed on her face.
Spot smiled, "She can look so innocent when she wants to."
"It's nice what you say you did. I won't completely believe you but... I guess we shouldn't bring down the party anymore. LET'S PLAY!" Gwen announced throwing her arms up.
"What about Maggie?" Mush asked. "Oh, she'll come down when she hears us having so much fun." Gwen beamed, "I didn't give you a sisterly 'hello' did I?"
"Oh no!" Mush ran for it. Gwen jumped onto his back putting him in a headlock while rubbing his head with her other fist.
"WATCH THE HAIR! WATCH THE HAIR!"
Gwen was right. It didn't take more than a couple minutes to realize that no matter how tired she was, she wasn't going to get any sleep. That was her motive to get out of bed and come down stairs. Well, that and the fact that a totally oblivious Jack grabbed her by the waist and carried her down the stairs, Maggie screaming her protests the whole way down. Spot was the only one who seemed surprised. "Jack Kelly, I SWEAR! IF YOU DON'T PUT ME DOWN..." Maggie was too tired to actually follow through on a threat so; she just left it to the imagination.
"Bout time! You wanna play?" Mush asked dealing cards.
"Uh, no. I don't have anything to bet." Maggie sat down.
"You sure?" Mush asked, waving the cards under her nose.
"You could bet taking your top off!" Racetrack shouted, his face grinning from what he thought was brilliance.
"I'm sure." Maggie said.
" 'Nother round of beers chaps?" Specs came in, five jugs of the alcohol in each hand.
"No thanks." Maggie and Gwen said in unison.
The boys were given their beers and the game began. Some people decided to get a few new cards some did not. Maggie and Gwen looked at people's cards and listened as the bets grew. More beer was passed around while people placed their best poker faces. Slowly, people began to fold.
Mush started hiccuping.
"Mush? Are you drunk?" Gwen placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I, hic, no drunk neither!" Mush's left eye was half closed.
"I drunken no none." Spot laughed.
"HA! You'd drunked fulls." Jack began laughing. Then most of the boys began talking to each other in indescribable ways.
"Oh God no!" Maggie sighed.
"I tink you're pr-patty." Spot leaned up against Maggie breathing his toxic breath into her face.
"EY! I've call 'er foist!" Jack lazily slapped Spot. They both started laughing. Maggie stayed strong, though she felt like crying of mortification and sadness.
"'Ey, Boid, you feel like uh-"Bumlets started and got very angry looks from Jack and Spot...and Gwen. Bumlets didn't even finish his sentence.
"Maggie, let's get outta 'ere. We shouldn't be here when the boys start talkin' uh-" Gwen was at a loss of appropriate words.
"Yeah. Let's go!" Maggie and Gwen hurried from the room.
The party continued. "'Ey! Spotty boy!" Jack ducked as Spot hit him in the face, to no avail. When the girls ran out the "Lady Conversation" had begun.
"Man, Jack, you'se gotcha self a nice peice a' ass dere!" Bumlets said immediately after Maggie walked out of the room.
"She ain't mine, Bum!"
"Well, what cha waitin' for? Ya waitin' for Spot to come in an' sweep 'er off 'er feet?"
"Leave me outa dis! I told youse the reason I cheated!"
"Please, that was a lame excuse. 'Maggie's always loved Jack so, I gave 'er an easy-out'!"
The room was dead silent.
"It's quiet." Mush whispered.
"You weren't listen'n were ya?" Racetrack whispered.
Spot sighed, "what makes you think I lied?"
"It's the oldest excuse in the world! I've used it before!" Bumlets threw his hands up in the air.
"Let's talk about something else!" Specs stood up.
"Like what?" Jack turned around to face him.
"I dunno! Marry, lay, kill, that's always a fun game!" Racetrack grinned.
"In case you haven't noticed, we only have two girls." Mush pointed out.
"So? We'll add Medda in. Bumlets you go first." Race regretted that immediately after he said it. "I'd definitely lay Song Boid, Gwen would make a good wife. Then I would lay her, then lay Medda." Bumlets puffed up his chest.
Spot, Jack, Mush, and Racetrack all turned red with hatred. "NEXT!" Specs said, trying to get the conversation back where it started. It was too late; the boys were on top of him like flies on honey.
"GET JACK I'LL GRAB SPOT!"
"SOMEONE PULL MUSH OFF OF HIM!" The newsies shouted at one another to save Bumlets from death.
"STOP RACE!"
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Spot shouted.
"YOU'RE A DEAD MAN!" Jack shouted.
"YOU NEVER TALK ABOUT MY SISTER LIKE THAT YOU BASTARD!" Mush struggled against the arms holding him back.
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!" Gwen shouted. Maggie stood petrified behind here.
"Oh my God." Maggie breathed. Jack had a black eye and a bloody nose. Her eyes went wide with shock.
"No- nothing. Gwen, Boid, it's nothin', really." Specs was trying to keep the peace...it wasn't working.
"NOTHING! YOU CALL THIS NOTHING? WHAT HAPPENED?" Gwen expected her answer immediately.
"Guys just being guys." Spot rubbed his bloody lip glaring at Bumlet's.
"Oh, really? Fine! You won't tell us then I'll just guess. Bumlets said something stupid and then everyone started soak'n him?"
Everyone nodded. Maggie and Gwen began helping with bandages.
"What exactly happened?" Maggie asked.
Everyone looked at one another. Their looks said, "should we tell them?"
"Tell us! Please!" Gwen cleaned Spots bleeding lip staring him straight in the eyes.
Spot shook his head.
"I can hit you Spot. You know that as well as I do." Gwen threatened him with a death stare.
"Trust me, you really don't want to know." Spot muttered.
"Will you tell me if we go into outside?" Gwen asked.
Spot shook his head.
"Will you ever tell me?" Gwen suppressed her anger and curiosity.
Spot shook his head again. Gwen sighed.
Maggie looked at Jack who only shook his head vigorously, blushing.
"Will anyone tell us?" Maggie looked around the room to shaking heads, except for Bumlets.
"I'll tell you for a price." Bumlets grinned puckering his lips to Maggie.
Maggie used all of her strength to slap his good for nothing face off his shoulders. Sadly it didn't work.
"You're sleeping outside." Jack grabbed Bumlet's collar and tossed him outside and locked the door behind him.
"Er... shall we finish the poker game?" Specs asked breaking the abnormal silence.
"Sure." The guys shrugged and sat down.
"We'll just leave for a while." Maggie took Gwen by the arm and pulled her upstairs.
The only sounds were the bets of the game. More drinks were passed around.
"Maggie's pretty." Jack mumbled regaining his tipsiness.
"She is but she can be very strange at times." Specs looked at the remaining hands. "So, Jack, are you gonna ever...ya know...hook up with Songboid?" Bumlets asked, genuinely curious through the window.
"Why would I do that? She's like a sister to me, she's my best friend, she-we just-we can't."
"I aint seen anyone kiss their sista like dat before!" Everyone turned to look at Whistle, the youngest newsie. Whistle never talked, he just whistled every so often. Whistle had the bed right across from Jack and Maggie's. His brown hair covered his eyes and he blushed. He was 6 years old.
"What'd ya mean?" Jack was utterly clueless.
"You'se always comin' home drunk lately an' kissin' Maggie full on da lips an' then goin' to sleep. Den she cries 'till she's asleep. 'Cept today. Today she didn't sleep much, she stayed up 'till real late worrying about you'se. When she did sleep, she was mumbling' all sorts a' things about not wantin' to be hoit an' about 'er dad an' all. Even a bit about Spot. Dat's when she woke up an' went into da batroom. Den she came out wit 'er arm all bleedin' an' walked out." Everyone looked at him in shock...and horror. Everyone looked at Jack.
"Oh my God. I really do dat?" Jack looked at the young boy, who nodded his head. "I don't remember. Honestly, I'm usually too drunk to remember. I didn't realize..." No one could speak, even though they were drunk, they knew that this was horrible. Jack's expression was sad. He felt awful.
"Do-do you know what she said, exactly?" Mush dared to break the quiet.
"In 'er sleep? She was sayin' stuff like 'no, don't hurt me' an' 'ain't I good enough'. It's sad." Whistle looked at the ground.
"Poor Songboid." Specs looked up the stairs.
"I can't believe she wouldn't tell us." Race looked at the exact same spot as Specs.
"I don't think she wants to tell us. It was probably something horrible. Something so terrible that she might be too afraid to tell us." Mush looked down at his table.
Spot looked down.
"What?" Crutchy asked.
"I know." Spot's voice was barley a whisper.
"YOU KNOW!" Everyone jumped forward making Spot jump backward.
"Er... yeah." Spot's eyes grew wide at the sight of faces leaning in across the table.
"Well?" Crutchy spoke not just for himself but for the entire room.
"Once you back up I will!" Spot shook his head as everyone sat down.
"It began when I was about six. I was walking down an alley. I think it was raining. I walked by a dumpster when I heard someone crying. I looked down to see this... white bundle. I bent down to see a girl who was dying. She hadn't eaten for what looked like months. I took her back to this Lodging House. With-with the help of my sister she recovered. She told me about her father. He was a cruel man. Didn't want a skinny little girl for a kid. He got drunk every night and would..." Spot stopped thinking the event over in his mind. People started getting impatient. Some started tapping their feet while others began biting their lips.
"He would soak her. Not like we do. It was far worse. She was abused physically and mentally. Her father made her do tasks for him and hardly fed her. Then he grew tired of her. He soaked her for one last time before he dumped her onto the streets. He wanted her to die. I suppose he thinks she died. She was grateful when she was taken in and was considered a Newsie. That's what happened to M-Songboid." The silence was the only sound that could be heard in that house. Only Mush could hear the soft sobbing just around the bend of the stairs. He walked over to pick up the crying Gwen and cradled her like he did so long ago. She tried to stop crying but her tears were that off all that heard this stories and refused to release their tears. Something else made her cry so hard as well, but the time to explain that has not come. The boys lowered their caps to their hearts and prayed that Songboid was happy and how terrible the trauma was. They all saw Maggie in a different way; she seemed much stronger than anyone would have thought.
Jack's eyes welled up with tears. "I...didn't...know." Everyone looked at him, shocked. Maggie was his best friend. "How d'ya know, Spot?"
Maggie came down the stairs. "Hey, everyone. How-" They all looked at her, sympathetically. "Spot, I am going to kill you!" She didn't cry. No, she could cry for losing Spot, she could cry for never having a chance with Jack, but she would not let herself cry over this. "How could you?"
"Mags, I didn't know that things are so bad..."
"They're not, Spot! It's not any of your business, anyway."
"It's all our business, Maggie!" This wasn't the voice of Spot, or Jack. It was the voice of Gwen. She never knew about her best friend's past.
"Oh," Maggie looked, terrified down at the girl sitting on the stairs, "oh, Gwenny."
"Why didn't ya tell me, Mags? I thought we were best friends."
"Gwenny," Maggie was panicked, "you are my best friend. In the entire world." She sat down next to Gwen and put an arm around her shoulder. "I'm just...not brave enough."
"What do ya mean you'se weren't brave enough! For someone to endure that kind of pain, I would think you would've been able to tell someone!" Gwen snapped through her tears.
"I couldn't! I just," She broke down tears leaking slowly from her eyes, "I couldn't tell you. It's... I just... I just couldn't tell ya!"
"How come Spot knew!" Gwen snapped. The room tensed up again. Gwen stared fiercely into Maggie's eyes. Anger and sadness tore Maggie's heart apart.
Maggie looked at Spot. "He knows because he promised to never tell nobody and to not make a big deal outta it!"
"MAGGIE! I'm worried about you!"
"Oh, like you were worried about me when I saw you kissing Kate?" Maggie's voice was screeching.
"I WAS DOING THAT TO GIVE YOU AN EASY-OUT!"
"I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!"
"EVERY BODY SHUT UP OR YOU'LL ALL BE CREAMED!" Mush shouted standing on a chair that his hair lightly brushed the ceiling. He let Gwen rest against the wall who was still in a bit of a shock.
"Okay thank you! Now let's discuss this without yelling at one another or nothing's going to be solved. We've established that Spot and Maggie were an item so Maggie told Spot." Mush turned to Maggie, "An easy out is when a guy 'cheats' on her so that she'll have a reason to break up with him to be with the one they're really in love with. Now, can we all forget all of this and have a normal party for once?" Mush sat down. The room looked at one another not knowing what to say or how to react.
"Um... now- sniff- now that things are... better... I think that we can get on with the night without drama." Gwen cracked a smile and stood up now that Mush had released her. She spun a chair around and sat in it backwards. The others knew that the drama hadn't end but no one would admit that they knew.
"So..."
"I guess we should just... play poker." Specs organized the mess that was on the table. People akwardly sat down and picked up their cards and bgan tthe bets once again. Maggie and Gwen watched looking at other people's hands and whispering who will win if they kept their poker face on. Bumlet's watched Maggie from outside thinking very, very, very hard. When enough beers were passed out, everything seemed to go back to how it was supposed to be. People loosened up and began cracking jokes that weren't very funny. The guys joked about each other's crushes and how they would propose and such. It was all hilarious how people would interrupt to add in something like "and you then left her for a pig that could fly over the mountains."

The next day, they were strewn about the floor. The door opened very loudly and slammed. It startled most of the newsies, except of course, Jack and Mush. Jack's legs were over Mush's chest and Mush's arm was resting on Jack's neck. Jack's arms were wrapped tightly around Maggie...as were Bumlets's.
On the opposite side of the room, Spot's arm was gently on Gwen's waist, which pulled her very close. Needless to say, everyone was startled including the red-faced Gwen. They looked up to see David.
"You are a dead man!" Suddenly, David was on top of Jack, strangling him. Maggie was clawing at David's back, trying desperately to get David off of Jack. Spot and Mush pulled David off of Jack and David started yelling. "What the hell? You were my buddy and you shacked it up with my sister? You-" he went on to say a wholly of bad words that no one else in the room would ever use.
"What!" Jack, Maggie, and Gwen said together in unison.
"You heard me, because of your stupid male desires, my sister is pregnant!"
"HOLY CRAP SHE'S PREGNANT!" Maggie shouted her jaw dropping.
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Jack was shocked.
"YOU GOT MY SISTER PREGNANT!" David struggled against the arms restraining him.
"I'VE NEVER HAD SEX WITH YOUR SISTER!" Jack shouted back.
"THEN HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN IT!" David demanded.
"She might've been with another guy." Gwen shrugged.
"SHE HASN'T BEEN WITH ANOTHER GUY!" David spat.
"How do you know?" Spot asked staying close to Gwen.
"I-" David stopped and thought this over. This is when David remembered one very unusual morning when Oscar Delancy ran down the stairs and out of his house. "Oh my God."
"What?"
"OH MY GOD!" He repeated, fully grasping the situation. "Jack, please tell me you've had sex with my sister..."
"Er... I didn't." Jack looked at David strangely wondering why David suddenly wanted him to have had sex with his sister.

"OH CRAP!" David walked around his face buried in his hands.

"What?" Maggie followed David around trying to see his face.

"My sister is going to have Oscars baby." David muttered.

"WHAT!" Everyone shouted. It was the strangest and most disturbing thought that could have ever taken place.

"Are you serious?" Mush asked clutching David's shoulders. David nodded. David rushed into the bathroom to dump out his meals.

A/N (Kayls): So...what do you think? Dahlinks, review, for the sake of the story!

A/N (Nikki):Well, this has gotten interesting! I hope you are just as surprised as we are. Thank you for reading and please review!