First off I congratulate anyone who was able to read the messed up version of this post the first time around. I have been hoping for some reviews though so Please please review.

13 year old Kit stood near a gapping hole in the ground next to two rough caskets. She barely kept the tears out of her eyes. Her parents were dead, that was the long and the short of it. They had been caught outside during one of Nebraska's famous storms and were found dead two days later. On either side of Kit were Josh and Buddha. Wil and the girls, Alice and Heather stood on the other side of the gravesite with Rose, Sid, Cray, Swan and Celeste, the little sister that no one had expected.

Pastor Kent was droning on and on about everlasting life and how death wasn't the end of life. It was supposed to be comforting but to Kit it wasn't. She was angry with God. Why would He take away her parents when she needed them most? What had she done that was so bad? Mr. Jacobson and Ms Carlson were also there. Mr. Jacobson had been the newsies' ride out to the farm and Ms Carlson had come out of her love for Kit.

The past 5 years had been hard on Kit, Gracie Johansen had been right when she claimed she could get Kit and the boys kicked out of school. The spring at the end of Kit's third year at the town school they had gotten called into the principal's office.
Flashback
"Ami, Crale, Craig, Wil please sit down." The principal motioned to the chairs in front of his desk. "It has come to the attention of the administration that you four have been accused of cheating on your finals." Before any of the four could defend themselves the principal continued. "We have proof that this has happened, Ami all of your answers match those given by your seatmate Grace Johansen. We cannot tolerate cheating in this school. Because of this we are asking you all do not return next year."

Ami stared at the principal in astonishment, "But sir that is impossible. Ami would never cheat if you look at all her test grades she has done better than her entire class for entire time we've been here." Crale jumped to her defense.

"That may be true, but we cannot let someone who cheats even once stay in the system." The principal looked decidedly uncomfortable.
"But wouldn't that prove that Grace cheated not Ami?" Craig asked.

"No it doesn't. This matter is closed; you all are dismissed. Please make sure your parents know." The principal ushered them out the door and closed it.

They all left and went back to their room at the boarding house. Wil had only been attending the school for a year and with his arrival it became too expensive to keep to rooms at the boarding house, and as such Kit had moved in with the boys. The little boy had no idea what was going on. And the older children really couldn't explain it to him.

Kit was finally the first one to say anything. "I can't believe they believed that little liar over me. Everyone knows she cheats on every test just to make sure she passes. Why don't they throw her out if they are so concerned about cheating?"

"You know it is cause her father is on the school board. They can't throw out a school board member's child. So Gracie gets to stay and we are all kicked out so the problem doesn't become public knowledge." Cray said as he put his arm around Kit's shoulder.

While they never said anything about the situation Gracie and her friends would still make snide comments to Kit and her family if they passed them while they were selling. Grace was proud with the fact that she had a role in getting Kit kicked out of school and never missed a chance to say something. Even though Kit had been kicked out of school she didn't stop learning.

Ms Carson had heard the news and was outraged. At the beginning of the summer she sought out Kit while she was selling and offered to teach all of them at her house after they got off work. Kit and the boys agreed quickly and they had continued to progress through their studies. Mr. Jacobson had met Ms Carson one day and they had started to date. Mr. Jacobson had just proposed to Ms Carson and Kit was going to be a bridesmaid in the wedding at the end of the month.

Sarah had been so happy for her daughter and they had finished the dress a couple of days before the storm. Kit wondered if she would be able to wear the dress. Buddha squeezing her hand brought her back to the present, she threw the flowers she had collected on the walk to the cemetery on the caskets and watched them being lowered into the ground. Part of her wanted to throw herself on to the caskets and suddenly the dam broke and Kit began crying. Buddha put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. He finally pulled the sobbing girl away from the gravesite and began walking her back to the house.

Rose and Sid were now the Oberg children's guardians. Kit wasn't sure what this would mean for her but she hoped that she would be able to continue as a newsie. Neighbors from all the surrounding farms gathered at the Swanson farm to offer their condolences to the children. Neither of the younger girls understood what was going on. Alice had just turned 6 and Heather just shy of 4. Both girls agitated by the crowd of adults had begun to cry asking for their mama. Kit finally took both girls over to their parents' house and set them down for a nap. Before sitting down in Sarah's rocking chair and crying.

Swan came looking for them an hour later and found Kit staring out the window clutching a blanket. "Ami. Kit? You okay?" He came up to her and put his hand on her arm.
"I keep imagining this is all some dream and Mama is going to come walking through the door. Craig I miss them so much. Why did they have to die?"

Swan pulled Kit up before sitting down on the chair, pulling Kit into his lap. "I don't know, I have no clue. But you still have me and Crale and my mom and dad, plus Buddha and Josh. We aren't going to leave you if we can help it." The 15 year-old boy comforted his cousin rocking back and forth with the slip of a girl finally crying herself to sleep.

Cray, Buddha and Josh came in a bit later. Cray took Kit and put her on the bed in the girl's room. He then checked on the little girls who were still fast asleep before coming out to the kitchen area. The other boys had busied themselves with making some sandwiches and something to drink. They gathered their supplies and sat at the table.

"So what happens now?" Josh was the first to speak. "What is going to happen to them?"

"Well, the kids are going to be moving in to our house. Pop said that since we live in town in the summer and stuff that there is plenty of room." Cray said not looking up from the table.

"But what about Kit and Wil? Are they gonna to come back and sell till the end of the year or are they gonna stay here?" Buddha asked around a bite of food.

"Pop said that if they want they can go back to town. He says that keeping the same schedule is probably best. Plus Wil finally got back into school so he needs to be back in town in a week any way." Swan said before falling quiet.

"So what are your parents gonna do this winter? You guys never stayed in town except for school in the winter anyway."

"Pop said that we can all live over here this winter. He said he really isn't up to selling the stock this winter and he might just end up keeping it all. We are gonna hafta run this farm on our own though. Pop said he can't take care of both places on his own. And he doesn't want to sell it off since it rightfully belongs to Wil now." Cray supplied. "Don't know how we can run an entire farm though."

The guys all sat in silence, then an idea came to Buddha. "What if it wasn't just you and Swan running the farm?" Cray looked at his friend in surprise. "What if me and Josh came and helped?"

"You would be willing to give up the job at the paper to come work a farm?" Swan asked a bit surprised.

"Well if you look at it that way, yeah." Buddha said with a shrug.
"I know why he would do that. Buddha likes Kit." Josh teased his older brother, getting a cuff to the back of the head. Buddha's ears turned red with embarrassment as Swan and Cray looked at him in surprise.

"You like Kit?" Swan finally forced out.
"Well of course, she is a friend after all." Buddha said as if oblivious to the question that Swan was asking.

"No I mean do you really like her?" Swan finally asked. Buddha's ears turned a deeper red as he looked down at his plate.

The other three boys began laughing then and teased Buddha mercilessly; until he finally had enough. "Alright already, fine I like her like her, just don't tell her."

Cray looked at his friend, "You do realize she is 13 right, and you are 16?"
"Yeah so?"
"Nothing I guess. Just thought I would mention it."
"Well it isn't like anything is gonna come of it. So it isn't a big deal now is it." Buddha looked around the table at the three boys. "Now you guys aren't going to say anything are you?"

"Course not. You serious about helping around here for the winter?" Cray asked shifting the subject.
"Yeah, it's not like me and Josh have never worked a farm or anything." Buddha said thankful with the change in conversation.

"Well if you wanna work here, you get room and board, Ma's been teaching Kit how to cook, it's not all that bad, plus Ma is just on the other side of the yard. I guess starting after the vacation we all are gonna be running a farm." The four boys shook on the agreement and went to go find Sid.

Sid wasn't sure with the whole idea but agreed that someone had to take care of the stock. A couple of the men had volunteered to help with the harvest and he was pretty sure he could handle the stock until the end of the month. The boys then found Mr. Jacobson and explained their plan. Mr. Jacobson was not thrilled with the idea of losing his office boys but agreed to let them go with two weeks pay.

Most of the guests had left and not long afterwards the boys trooped back to the house that would be theirs careful to avoid the master bedroom and soon fell asleep in various locations around the house.