Now, I actually wrote this chapter, like
took my pencil and wrote it, but practically every single idea in here is
Caroline's. We were online for like an
hour last night brainstorming for it. So I really can't take much of the credit for this chapter
b/c Caroline's really the genius behind it. I'm just her Young Grasshopper. I get a cookie whenever I think of something
funny to put in a story…hehe. So…please review! And I'll give you my
cookie. Pwease
review…pwease?
Chapter 4
Hercules and Iolaus watched as the two girls that they had been following disappeared into a building. "Newsboys Lodging House," Hercules read, squinting at the sign. "But what's with that dot after the word 'house'?"
"Who cares?" Iolaus shrugged. "It's cold out here, warm in there, there's just us out here, girls in there…" the hunter promptly headed for the door. Hercules sighed and grabbed Iolaus' arm, pulling him back.
"Hold on, Iolaus."
"Aw Herc, what is it this time? That sign says Lodging House, we're looking for lodging, I don't see what the problem is. Plus, there's girls."
"It says Newsboys Lodging House, not just Lodging House."
"So?"
"So what's a newsboy? We can't be one if we don't know what one is, and we can't stay there until we're newsboys, so we have to at least find out what a newsboy is before we can stay there. Now c'mon, this looks like a big city, I'm sure we can find somewhere else to stay."
"But wait, girls went in there. Now I may not know what a newsboy is, but I know what a boy is, and I know for sure what a girl is. Those girls weren't boys. They were definitely girls. So I figure…"
***
Racetrack and Kid Blink were huddled into their coats as they ran through the streets to the Lodging House and almost into each other. "Hey Blink," Race said, teeth chattering.
"Oh, heya Race," Blink managed to say through extremely blue lips.
"Man, Blink, we gotta getcha inside before ya get sick or somethin'." Race started to walk through the Lodging House door when he realized that Blink wasn't following him. "You comin', or are we going ta have to start callin' ya Blinksicle?" Blink ignored Race's comment, instead pointing across the street.
"Look." Race followed Blink's finger to see Hercules and Iolaus still standing on the other side of the street, arguing. "Looks like those two might need a place ta stay. And they're dressed like newsies; maybe they're looking for a job."
"Yeah, you're right," Race agreed with a nod. Another nod, and the two newsies were off.
***
"Listen, Iolaus, we're in a new place, and you can't just go barging in—" Iolaus' blue eyes sparkled in annoyance,
"Who said anything about barging in?"
"Um, excuse me," startled, Iolaus and Hercules' heads snapped up to see two boys about their age, possibly a year or so younger, standing in front of them.
"Yes?" Hercules said to the one who had addressed them, a boy with a brown eyepatch.
"Ise Kid Blink, and this is Racetrack, but ya can just call us Blink and Race."
"Okay," Hercules answered. There was a pause. "Oh, I'm Ryan and this is Dean."
"Hi," Iolaus gave a small hand wave to the newsies.
"Alright, can we just cut ta the chase? It's cold and I wanna get inside. It looks like you two need a place to stay. As it just so happens, we got a few extra bunks." Suddenly, Blink remembered something.
"Hey Race," he whispered, leaning closer to his friend. "I thought ya told Spot that we were all full."
"Yeah I did," responded the newsie with a devilish grin, "and didn't ya love the look on Spot's face when he realized that he'd have to spend a whole night in the same building as Ebony? It was priceless." Blink shook his head,
"Ra-ace!" but couldn't help but laugh. Meanwhile, Hercules and Iolaus were engaged in a hushed conversation of their own.
"So what do you know, Herc, I'll bet anything that these two are newsies, and they just invited us to stay in, guess where, the Lodging House."
"Fine," Hercules replied with a jerk of his head, "but despite what happened here it's always better to check first." Choosing to ignore Hercules' practically mother-like scolding, Iolaus stated,
"You hear the way they talk? It's kinda funny, I've never heard anything like it before, and their names…" Hercules rolled his eyes and was about to chastise Iolaus on accepting the differences in other people when you're in new places when Race and Blink finished talking and Race addressed the two cadets again.
"So how 'bout it, boys, d'ya wanna stay here with us?" Cutting Iolaus off before he had a chance to answer, Hercules asked,
"Do you have to be a newsboy to stay in the Lodging House?" Race reached into his coat pocket and fished out a cigar,
"You two ain't newsies?" The demigod shook his head. Race stuck the cigar in his mouth and put his hand on Hercules' back, steering him towards the door. "That's alright, we'll start ya in the mornin'. Let's just get inside now, I'm freezin' my buns off." As Hercules and Iolaus followed Blink and Race inside, Iolaus flashed a 'see, I told you so,' look to his best friend. They entered the Lodging House and shuffled to a big desk.
"Evenin' Kloppman," Race greeted the older man sitting behind the desk. "I've got two new recruits for ya." Race and Blink walked over to the stove and warmed their hands, leaving Kloppman to discuss the formalities with Hercules and Iolaus. Kloppman collected their rent and had them sign in. Blink and Race then climbed up the stairs, telling Herc and Iolaus to go ahead and warm up, then come on upstairs and they'd get their bunks.
Iolaus, however, had other ideas. He had spotted the two girls that they had followed here. He rubbed his hands together. "Okay, Ryan, you take that one," he gestured to the girl with the book, "and I'll take this one." Knowing that it was futile to stop Iolaus, Hercules just shook his head and moved closer to the stove.
Iolaus swaggered over to his "chosen girl", who was currently twisting her hair in her hands, squeezing the melted snow out of her long red curls. In his concentration, he didn't even notice when he brushed past and in front of Skittery, who had just come down the steps and was trying to make his way to Clover. Skittery stopped in his place and moved slightly off to the side when he saw where Iolaus was heading. Iolaus reached Clover. "Hello there," he said in a deep (and what he thought was manly) voice. Clover glanced up,
"Oh, hello," she replied cheerfully. "You must be new. I'm Clover." She offered a hand. Iolaus took it, and shook with Clover. In the corner of the room, Skittery was watching the two intently with growing aggravation. Iolaus took Clover's offered hand and shook it. "I'm Dean."
"Pleasure to meet you, Dean. I saw you come in with Blink and Race. You friends of theirs?"
"Not exactly. We just met them."
"Oh, okay. I thought I saw another boy come in with you. Do you know him?"
"Who, Ryan? Yeah, I know him. We're best buds." Iolaus changed his voice to what he believed to be an irresistible tone. "But enough about me. Tell me more about yourself." Clover noted the vocal change with raised eyebrows and a quickly thinning patience. The one thing she wouldn't stand for was to have complete strangers hit on her. When Iolaus "casually but strategically" moved Closer to Clover, her green-grey eyes flashed in anger.
On the other side of the room, Hercules observed Iolaus' escapades with heightening amusement. He was about to start a mental countdown till when Iolaus would get slapped or punched when he noticed Skittery. Hercules' amusement automatically changed to unease as he saw Skittery's expression change from annoyance to anger to smoldering. Reacting quickly, the demigod dashed over to Iolaus and pulled him away from Clover, apologizing copiously (and at a mile a minute). "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, it's the cold weather, we're really not used to temperatures this low. We've also been really busy lately, not resting a lot, I think it's gotten to his head…" Hercules trailed off as dragged Iolaus away. "Can't I take you anywhere?" the tall youth hissed in the shorter youth's ear.
***
Skittery strode over and stood beside Clover, placing his hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"You want me to do something about…?"
"No, Skitts, it's okay. I may not like Dean all that much, and I'm guessing you don't either,"
"That's an understatement," muttered Skittery,
"but I still think we ought to be friendly and that sort of thing to him. Who knows, he may even turn out to be a good guy." Skittery shook his head with a grin,
"You're too nice to people, especially ones that you don't like." Clover swatted him,
"You should be nice to all people. Besides, Ryan seems like a good guy, and not the type to be best friends with someone who isn't a good guy either. And who knows, if I wasn't this nice to people, you and I may have never become friends." Unable to argue with that, Skittery took Clover's hand,
"Let's go upstairs and join the others. Race is about to start a poker game."
***
"What?" Iolaus complained.
"You," Hercules retorted. "You have to be more careful."
"What was I doing?" protested the curly-haired cadet. Hercules looked upwards and closed his eyes. "Give me strength."
"What?"
"We're in a completely new
place, Iolaus, where we're apparently some kind of legends."
"I know, Hercules, we've already been over this, and I'm still trying to figure out how that's a bad thing. Girls—"
"Yes, yes,
I know, girls love legends. Just trust
me, alright? It
won't be a good idea to let anyone know who you really
are. Which means you've got to be more
careful."
"What did I do?"
"Did you happen to notice the boyfriend of the girl that you were hitting on?"
"I don't 'hit-on' girls, Herc, I charm them." Hercules put his face in his hand and shook his head wearily.
"Well, whatever you were doing, she didn't like it, and her boyfriend liked it even less. Iolaus, he was about to come over here and throw you away from her." Iolaus laughed,
"And the
big deal is what, Herc? You and I both
know that I could easily take him. No
offense to anyone around here, but they don't exactly
seem like the warrior type. I wouldn't
have gotten hurt all that much."
"Exactly,
Iolaus. You beat him with all the
stuff we know and you stick out like a sore thumb, then everybody'd
be asking questions." Iolaus took a deep
breath and released.
"Okay."
"Okay? You're more reasonable side finally kicked in?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Now we can go upstairs." The best friends plunked into the bunkroom and were promptly given their own bunk. Hercules took the top bunk, for his height prevented him from sitting with much comfort on the bottom bunk. Once Hercules and Iolaus were settled, they joined group that was sitting in a circle in the center of the room. Race already had a poker game going, but they were about to start a new hand.
"Hey Ryan, Dean, ya want me to deal you in?" Hercules had practically no idea what Race was talking about,
"Deal us in on what?
"The poker game," answered Race.
"Uh, sure," replied Iolaus. "But what's poker?" A strangled sound came from Race, who had choked on his cigar upon hearing Iolaus' question. Becca reached over and snatched the offending cigar out of Race's mouth.
"See? Another reason why not to smoke those things." Extracting the cigar, however, didn't seem to help. Race was turning a funny bluish-green color, and Becca was having to help him breathe. "In, out, in, out," she instructed. One of the younger newsies, Squeaks, ran over to Race's side and stared at him wide-eyed.
"Is he gonna
faint?" he asked excitedly. Back where
the two cadets were sitting, Spot (yes,
Spot. Due to the necessity for him in
our plot line, the almighty Brownets have decreed
that the infamous
The room quieted. Race regained control on his breathing and he along with the whole room were very curious to know where these two new newsies who had never heard of poker were from.
*Elevator music begins playing, then stops.*
To be continued…maniacal laughter. Alright, all of you
reading this better review or Caroline and I will hunt you down and send you to
the