Disclaimer: I do not own any of the newsies (though there are a few I wish I did…). They belong to the all powerful Disney.
As soon as Spot and Aleshea entered the restaurant they were greeted with calls of "Hey, Spot!" and "Who's the girl this week, Conlon?" Spot told them that she was NOT his girl, but that they'd better not touch her if they knew what was good for them as he lead Alesheaover to a booth near the back of the room. On one side of the table was a short Italian boy and a blond with a patch over one eye.
"These here are Racetrack and Kid Blink. And these two love birds," Spot gestured at the tall boy with a cowboy hat and a red bandana around his neck and the freckled girl with light brown hair and blue-gray eyes on the other side of the table, "are Cowboy, also known as Jack Kelly, and his girl, Mist."
"Hi," Mist said shyly. Aleshea was glad to see that there was another girl in the mass of boys. She had started to feel intimidated. A thought suddenly struck Aleshea. If she stayed with the newsies, she might make a friend, her first real friend.
"This is Aleshea. She's gonna be a newsies," Spot announced, interrupting her thoughts. "These four are Manhattan newsies, too. They live in the lodging house I told you about before."
As Aleshea and Spot sat down she saw Spot and Jack spit shake. She also noticed that Mist looked as disgusted as she felt. "So, Aleshea, you got an idea for a nickname?" Jack asked and, seeing how confused Aleshea looked, explained. "Every newsie's got a nickname. Racetrack 'cause he spend so much time at the races, Blink 'cause of his eye, and Mist 'cause she doesn't talk a lot, making her real mysterious." At this Mist blushed, her fair skin making her look especially pink. Jack laughed and gave her a quick kiss.
"What could I use for nickname?" Aleshea wondered out loud.
"How 'bout copper? That's what color her hair is," the boy named Blink suggested. This idea was immediately shot down by Race, who said it made her sound like a bull.
After a moment Spot snapped him fingers. "I've got it! How 'bout Twig? Everything about you is twiggy. Your arms, legs, fingers, all long and skinny."
"That could work," Jack said, nodding approvingly. Race smiled and Blink just shrugged. Mist glanced up for a second, giving Aleshea, now Twig, a small grin.
After lunch, Spot, Jack, Mist, and Twig walked to the lodging house. Twig met the old man known as Kloppmanand learned about the sign in book and the price. She then followed Jack up the stairs to the large bunk room.
"Here. You can have this bunk, across from mine," Mist offered, warming up to Twig already. "Jack and Spot, when he sleeps here, are in the corners next to me and you."
Twig's heart skipped a beat when she saw how close she and Spot were sleeping. What are you doing? She asked herself. You saw how mean he was this morning, and that's nothing to what you've heard about his temper. Twig sighed heavily. But he's been pretty nice since then, and his looks certainly don't make you cringe.
Twig snapped back to reality when she realized what she was thinking about. She couldn't believe she was even thinking about Spot at all. She had just met him! And this was Spot Conlon, known for being a ladies man. Twig shook herself mentally and tried to focus on her budding friendship with Mist.
Soon more boys started to file in. A round of poker games began, most of which were won by Race, Twig couldn't help but notice. Little by little everyone fell into bed. As Race, Spot, and Jack finally did and the lights went out, Twig fell into the deep sleep that comes after a long day.
AN: If this chapter sucks, I'm sorry. I'm having trouble coming up with anything interesting to have happen. Any ideas? PLEASE tell me!