(I was watching newsies yesterday and I realized that Skittery doesn't have a New York accent, weird huh?)

Pips was laying on a bunk staring blankly into the darkness around him. He had heard all sorts of stories about newsies and he was no longer sure what to believe about them. They seemed like decent people but they admitted to lying, stealing, gambling, cheating and having sex. He had also seen them drinking and smoking, all underage. He didn't know how he would be able to stand it but he didn't have any other place to go except back out onto the street.

He finally had decided to give it a chance when the door banged open, flooding the room with light. The few newsies that he thought had been sleeping, or at least trying to, quickly jumped out of their beds and left the room laughing and joking. There weren't that many, but he could hear the rest of them down stairs.

Pips sat up and looked around confused, until Race came over to him, "If ya ain't too tired, we's gotta pokah game ta attend to."

"What? What time is it?"

"It's only nine, come on."

"I don't gamble." Race misunderstood and hauled him out of bed.

"Dats alroight, ya don't hafta bet money, somea da games jist use matchsticks or sumpthin'."

"No, I meant," Race cut him off, " Come on don't make me late, dis is what I's live for." Pips let himself be dragged downstairs and out into the night.

The air was damp and cool after the rain, and the road was covered in puddles. The street lamps were lit, casting watery shadows across everything. Shouts and laughter were echoing down the street. Race took off running and Pips followed so he wouldn't be left alone. They rounded a corner and caught a huge group of newsies.

They were laughing and goofing around and basically disturbing the peace. By now the people who lived along the route to Brooklyn were used to the monthly event so they just waited it out instead of calling the police. Race disappeared into the crowd and Pips was left alone at the back of the group.

He was considering going back when Marble saw him and waved him over, "Did Race ditch ya?"

"Um, yea, kinda."

"Poor kid. You don't know anybody else either do you?"

"No."

"Well then, this is Crutchy, he's the most loyal friend you can get. He'll do anything for ya if he likes you and he likes everybody."

"Heya Pips, don't listen ta Marble, she likes ta make me sound like a puppy dog."

She grabbed his hat and ruffled his hair, "But you are just a giant puppy dog. All I have to do is feed you sometimes and rub your belly and you'll follow me anywhere."

Crutchy grabbed his hat back with a playful grin, "Dat ain't no way ta treat a cripple, is it."

"Oh shuddup, you're the last person I would ever call cripple, even with your leg, and you know it." Marble smiled and put an arm around Pips' shoulders, pulling him off balance, "Now Pips here, I think he has a broken tongue."

"Hey! Don't yank me around like that. The only reason I don't talk is because you never shut up."

The corner of Marble's mouth twitched into a smile at his reaction, "How old are you kid?"

"Sixteen."

"Good, then shut up and respect your elders."

Pips stared at Marble when he suddenly realized where he knew her from. He quickly excused himself and ran off to find Race before she recognized him.

He didn't find Race but he did run into Jack, "Whoa, wheres ya goin' in sucha hurry?"

"I'm looking for Race."

"Why, he ain't nothin' ta talk to until 'es gambled fa a bit. What's wrong?"

Pips searched for an excuse, "Oh, nothing important, I just, um, wanted to tell him that I, uh, I decided to stay." Pips mentally smacked himself once he said it. Now Marble would have all the time in the world to remember him.

"Dats great kid, ya evah sold papes afore?"

"No."

"Dats alroight we's can teach ya. It ain't dat hard once ya git da hang a improvin' da headlines."

Pips' eyes widened when he realized what Jack meant, "You mean I have to lie?"

"Not lyin', jist alterin' da truth a liddle. Yous gonna wanna talk ta Davey, he'll help ya git ovah it."

Pips was shocked that Jack expected him to lie to people and he tried to make an excuse to leave but Jack stopped him, "We's almost dere so ya gotta know da rules, dere ain't no fightin', no cheatin' an' if ya git drunk an' mess up da house we only stop dem from throwin' ya offa da dock once. Got dat?"

"Yea."

Jack clapped him on the back, "Great, see ya latah." He slipped to the head of the group and went into a dirty, rundown dockside building. All of the newsies followed him in and Pips didn't even realize that he'd stopped moving until Marble gave him a little shove to the door.

"Don't lose too much money in there."

* * *

The room was crowded and dimly lit. Cigar smoke filled the air and it reeked of alcohol. The newsies were right at home but Pips froze, staring into one of the places he had always been taught to avoid.

He would have left right away if Crutchy hadn't come in right behind him, "Noisy, ain't it? Come wit me." He lead Pips off to one side.

At the base of a flight of stairs was a small group of boys. Most of them looked under twelve. They had their own table and the smoke was thinner by them. Crutchy took the only empty seat.

"None a us got money ta waste so's we started our own game witout it. If ya can find a empty chair join in, if ya can't, find a cosy spot ta sit 'till someone drops outta da game."

Pips sat down on the bottom step and looked around the room. Every table was crowded with boys waiting for a seat to open up. He started scanning the room for familier faces and found the majority of them around the most crowded table.

Race was joking around with a boy from Brooklyn and smoking a cigar (duh!). Pips could see Marble offer Spot a drink but he just glared at her until she put it back, unopened. Everyone around the table seemed to think that it was unbelievably funny and Marble was laughing as she slipped onto Spot's lap. He wrapped his arms around her so he could see his cards, gave her a kiss on the cheek and kept playing.

Everyone seemed happy and at ease just talking and playing and having a good time. Pips was finding it hard to believe some of the things he had heard about newsies, even thought some of them were happening right in front of him. They were just like any other teenagers having a good time.

The room suddenly started to get quiet and everyone was looking his direction. Frick stood up and smacked her hand against the table, "Blink whada ya t'ink ya doin'? Git back upstairs."

Pips turned around and saw a boy standing halfway up the steps. He was leaning heavily on the railing, like he couldn't stand without it. His sandy blond hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat and he was sickly pale, but he was grinning.

"But Frick you ain't tucked me in an' given me a g'nite kiss yet."

She scowled at him and stalked across the room, grabbing a newsie who wasn't doing anything and dragging him after her. When she got to Blink she took an arm to support him and shoved the boy she had grabbed up the stairs, telling him to open the door at the top. Pips ran to obey.

The bunkroom wasn't much different then the one in Manhattan. There were more bunks and there was a door at the other end, that was all.

Frick led Blink to a bed by the door and pushed him onto it, "You git outa dis bed one more time afore I's say ya can an'." She smacked a fist into the palm of her hand then turned to Pips, "Yous don't let 'im try nothin' 'till I git back."

Frick started to leave but stopped briefly by Pips, "Sorry ta do dis ta ya kid but yous weren't doin' nothin' anyway." The door shut and Pips sighed, at least the air was clear up here.

He went and sat on the bunk next to Blink's. He was laying back with his eye closed and his breath coming in ragged gasps, like climbing the stairs had taken all the strength he had. A small grey cat jumped up onto his stomach and he absently petted it.

"I thought they said you were getting better."

His eye opened and he looked at Pips with a tired smile, "I am bettah, yous shoulda seen me a coupla days ago, dat was hell. I don't know ya do I?"

"No. I just got to Manhattan today."

"Oh, Den I's Kid Blink an' anythin' ya heah 'bout me ain't true. Mush an' Race jist like makin' me look bad." He took a minute to catch his breath, "What's ya name?"

"Pips."

"Like da horse?"

Pips couldn't help but laugh, he was the fifth person to ask that, "Yea, like the horse."

"Den Race tol' ya da story alroidy. I was dere so someday I'll tell ya what really happened."

"Is that your cat?"

"Dis? Naw dis is Ashes, 'es Marble's but he ain't left since I got sick. I t'ink he likes me but Marble says dat 'e likes me bein' warm, ya know, from da fevah."

Blink closed his eye again and kept breathing heavily, there was sweat beaded on his forehead. Pips looked him over but his eyes kept being drawn back to the eye patch.

Finally he gave into curiosity and asked, "What happened to your eye?"

"Nona ya business." A violent cough suddenly came ripping out of his throat, making his frail body shake with the force. Ashes jumped off of him and started pacing next to the bed

Pips was by his side in an instant, "Are you alright?"

He nodded while trying to get control of his body. When the coughing stopped his head collapsed onto his pillow and he held a hand to his chest, "I's foine, dat jist hoits a liddle."

Pips stayed at the bedside, worried that the cough would come back, until Blink's breathing faded into the even rhythm of sleep. Pips stood up slowly and looked down on the sleeping boy. None of the stories he had heard from Race about Kid Blink seemed possible for the sick person in front of him. Seeing him asleep Pips couldn't imaging where he had gotten the strength to go down the stairs by himself in the first place.

He finally left the bed and started pacing the room, almost stepping on the cat a few times. Pips was debating whether to go back downstairs or not. If he did Frick would probably beat him and he didn't really want to leave someone as sick as Blink alone. When he heard all of the yelling and laughter he decided he would stay. He didn't really know anybody yet and he didn't want to face all of that smoke again anyway.

He started talking to himself to fill the silence, "I guess there's nothing wrong with being a newsie, even if I do have to lie. They all do it so everyone will know that what I'm saying isn't exactly true. And who cares if they drink and smoke, I don't. And you can't let their gambling bother. Your favorite person in the world had the worst gambling problem ever and you adored him. I just can't believe that they steal. I know they admitted to doing it sometimes but it's wrong and they know it. And Marble and Spot! What are they thinking? They're too young to be doing that no matter what anyone says."

"You know you are really uppity for a pregnant chick who's pretending to be a boy."

Pips whipped around to see Marble standing in the doorway and gasped, "How'd you know?"

(Who didn't expect that? Nobody writes fics and adds a boy. And if I did something different that would make me an individual, and we can't have that now can we? Well at least some people are surprised out there in reader land.)