The next few days were rainy and damp, which did not help sales at all. Since Heloise had money saved, she'd usually just do housework around the Jacob's apartment. It wasn't until a Friday night, or late evening, that she had decided to go out. Kid Blink said a bunch of the guys were going to hang out at the lodging house, maybe play some poker. Now, Heloise new better than to gamble, so she sat quietly off to the side, chatting with Marisa. They had remained abnormally chatty up until the room went quiet when someone entered through the window.

"Hey Spot, ova here!" Jack called as this 'Spot' character made his way over. He looked at Heloise and Marisa on his way over, and all Heloise could do was smile a bit. She had heard of the infamous Spot Conlon before, but this was the first time that they were meeting each other. Well, they haven't formally met yet, but this is the first time Heloise saw him in person.

Marisa shrugged at Heloise, who was looking confusedly at her. They stopped chatting, and sent each other looks of confusion, awkwardness, and an all around feeling that something was up about him. Bit by bit, their hearing tuned into the poker game that was happening a couple meters away. Sometimes Marisa and Heloise don't need to say anything, they just know what's up and what they want to know.

"Those two? Newsies? But deys' look to weak ta be newsies!"

"Really Spot, I'm not kidding, Heloise is getting to be a better seller than some of us here right now." Heloise blushed, and Marisa smirked at her.

"They'se wouldn't survive as newsies, I'm not going to believe it. Goils are too fragile, they ain't stong or fast enough."

"Well I'm sure she's faster than you'se Spot."

"Bet on it?"

"Oh shut it, Higgins. Well, if you'se think a goil is faster than me, I guess we will have to race." Race? No, she wasn't going to race with him. Sure, she was a fast runner, but only when she wasn't being peer pressured into having a race with the alleged King of Brooklyn. Heloise's face turned pink, and Marisa looked as if she was about to blow her top at Spot for the way he was talking about girls.

Heloise's stomach dropped as soon as she heard, "Hey, Heloise! You got a minute?". She gulped, getting up and walking over to the boys playing poker. Her mind was numb with nervousness and her hands shook with anticipation.

"Spot here wants to have a race with you'se." Jack said, nodding in Spot's direction. Heloise bit her lip with her chattering teeth. All she had to do was say no, and she wouldn't have to race against him. But before she knew it, Marisa was up and into the offer, as if she was using Heloise to demonstrate that girls aren't weak.

"She'd love to. Wouldn't you, Heloise?" Marisa asked, as Heloise nodded shakily. She was going to race and get it over with. Maybe she should just throw it off and lose. But then Marisa would be mad, because Marisa knows how fast Heloise can run.

So Marisa, Heloise, Spot, Jack, Racetrack, Mush, and Kid Blink all filed out of the lodging house and onto the street, as some of the other boys were watching from the windows. Marisa would start off the race, and sixty or so meters away, Jack would be the finish line. Heloise took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. She got into her starting position, and looked over to Spot, who was...scowling at her? It was too dark, she couldn't tell.

"Ready? On your mark," Oh no, she thought, this is actually happening. "get set," Why did she ever agree to do this. If she had been more confident about the situation, she probably wouldn't have been feeling like the way she was now. "Go!" Boom, Heloise takes off Sprinting towards Jack. She couldn't see Spot, so she thought he was in front of her. After all, her mind was fixed on one thing: Getting the race over with. She could barely hear or see her surroundings, just the street lamp where Jack was waiting to congratulate the winner.

And she did it. She passed Jack. The race was over with. No matter who won, she would no longer be pressured into running again. Heloise slowed herself down eventually stopping. Everybody ran up to her, shaking her hand and patting her back. She could hear all of the boys in the lodging house cheering for her. A smile made it onto her now red face, as she leaned on Blink for support.

"I did it! I won!" she said, out of breath.

"It was so cool! You can sprint without getting tired! That's a true talent!" cheered Mush, jumping like and excited puppy. Heloise laughed, shaking her head.

"And a nickname right there. Welcome to the team, Sprint." Jack said, patting Heloise's back. Did she really have a nickname now?

She saw Spot, away from the crowd, with his hands in his pockets and his shoes kicking up dust. Guiltily, Heloise made her way over to him. She smiled a sad smile to him, holding out her hand.

"Good race." she said simply, hoping that he wasn't going to be a poor sport about the whole thing. He took her hand, shaking it.

"Yeah, you too." his tone of voice still sounded sad, as Heloise took a step closer to him. "I still can't believe I'se got beat by a goil, though." she didn't know how to react to a situation like this, for she hand never been in one before. She smiled sadly again, putting her hand on his shoulder, hoping he wouldn't step away from her.

"Don't sweat it, Spot." she said. He nodded at her, following the rest of the crowd inside. She felt bad for winning now, with Spot so frustrated with being beat by a girl and Marisa so enthused at proving her point.

Inside the lodging house Heloise was overwhelmed with a boatload of congratulations, one of them being a friendly hug from Dutchy. Once the cheering died off and everybody went back to the things they were doing, she decided it was time to go, before it got to late. Blink and Dutchy had a five minute arguement about who was going to escort her home, which ended with Heloise having them both go with her. One held onto her hand, and one linked arms with her.

"Goodnight, boys." she said, giving them both a goodnight kiss on the cheek, as her family would do.

Blink and Dutchy argued all the way back to the lodging house about Heloise. Blink was trying to make it clear that Heloise liked him, but Dutchy just wasn't having it. He would cut off his statements, providing his own side of the argument.

"Blink, she obviously likes me more than she likes you. She kissed my cheek first." he pointed at his cheek, in the spot where Heloise had kissed him.

"Dutchy that means nothin'. I took her out, much more than walking to Tibby's wit' her or getting kissed on the cheek first." Blink corrected, as he walked into the lodging house. Kloppman looked up at the two bickering newsies before him and rolled his eyes, shaking his head at them.

"She still likes me more anyways." Dutchy said quietly, as Blink stared up at the dark ceiling of the bunkroom.

"Well," Skittery said, "how about you ask her and just be quiet for the rest of the night. Please." he grumbled.

"Fine, I will."