Chapter 3
***1 month later***
It had been 3 weeks since I stepped out of the office of Dr. Frank's, and life had not been so good for me. I had nowhere to go and I had been sleeping in the streets. There were people that would pity me and give me some money, which I took gratefully, but I found that the streets of Brooklyn were not so kind to ones who could not take care of themselves. I had been living like this for days. And my greatest fear was to be found by some mean drunk who would somehow think me as a whore. I was often tossed remarks and wolf whistles by other men, which I completely ignored out of fear. And I had no other clothes to wear, so I had been going around in my dress from 3 weeks ago. What I wouldn't have give for a porcelain tub with boiling water (author: I had to do that) and some clean and comfortable clothes!
On a crisp morning day, I was just walking out of the bakery shop with a bun in my hand that I bought with some money I had begged for, when I spied some big, mean, and tough looking guy walking over towards me. That meant trouble. Since I knew that guy was coming towards me, I decided to walk away quickly. He started yelling at me to slow down, which only made me go faster. I turned at the corner of a building, only to find myself at a dead end. I gasped and turned around. But it was too late, he had me cornered. He was peering down at me and sneering. They had me cornered, and there was no way I could get past them.
"'Ey sweety, you'se gotsa pretty face dere. You mind coming wit me to my place?"
I spit in his face, which was something my grandmother would have fainted at, but I was alone, I had to defend myself. He wiped his face with his sleeve and looked at me, furious.
"Who do you tink you'se playin at? Nobody insults da leadah of da Harlem newsies!! Especially when he's lookin for sum fun!!"
Then he lunged towards me, and I screamed and ducked from him just in time. He landed on the ground, and was not too keen on getting up. Seeing my chance, I kicked him as hard as I could. He groaned, but recovered quickly and stood up, fury in his eyes. He raised his hand and was just about to hit me, when I heard another voice yell out.
"Hey!! Waddya think you'se doin?"
The leader of the Bulls turned around to face the person who had spoken to him, and I crouched frozen with fear. As frightened as I was, I strained to see who had just stopped me from being hit. What I saw was a boy that looked to be about the age of 17. He was tall, had brownish-blond hair, and gray-blue eyes. I did notice that he was wearing newsie clothes, but searched for no more details, considering I was so afraid.
"Well, if it ain't Spot Conlon, and how is our little Brooklyn leadah doin today?" His voice was mocking, but in such a tone of fury and anger, I could sense a hint of fear in it. Wait, did he say his name was Spot Conlon? Conlon, Conlon…where have I heard that name before?
"You shut your mouth, Grinds. So, still chasin goils, I see? Heh, I wouldn't expect bettah from you. You filthy scum."
Grinds' eyes flashed. "I ain't much bettah dan you." They stared at each other for a few moments, and then Grinds turned to me. "I'll be back looking for you, sweetface." He pinched my cheek, shot another glare at Spot, and ran off. For what seemed like hours, I was just crouching there, in my tattered dress and dirty face. Spot looked at me and held out his hand.
"Heah, lemme help you."
Judging by his clothes, he must've been a newsie. What did Grinds call him? The Brooklyn leader? Was he the leader of the newsies? And he had come to save me? I stared at his hand, then up at his face and into his eyes. They looked so tender and caring, I had a strong urge to throw my arms around him, but he might've thought I was crazy. Suddenly, I realized that I hadn't been responding to the hand that was reached out towards me. I wanted to accept it, but I was still afraid. So I ran off instead. I wanted to get as far away from him as possible.
I was panting, and it was hard to run in a dress. I had been looking behind me to make sure that Spot hadn't followed me and hadn't been paying attention to what was in front of me. Suddenly, I hit a wall and fell down. I shook my head and looked up, wondering how a wall could be so soft, but instantly realizing that what I had ran into was a person. I saw a girl that was sitting on the ground just like me and realized that this must be who I ran into. She looked about my age, and had thick black hair and dark brown eyes. To me she was very pretty. Then I noticed the clothes she was wearing, newsie attire. This time, I didn't back off, I had to stay and apologize to her. She stood up, picked up her hat, which had fallen onto the floor, and put it onto her head. She's quite tall, I thought. But there was no time to think about that. I instantly stood up and apologized to her. But instead of being angry or annoyed, she just grinned.
"Aw, don't worry bout it. I've had woise. Lemme introduce meself. I'm Sunny. Dat's me nickname, all newsies get one. Oh, I'se a newsie too."
