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"Spot, ya awlright?" Oriole asked his leader. He could almost see the faint traces of a black eye coming on.
"Yeah, I'se good." Spot looked around, his eyes resting on Hawk. "Hey there, can ya stand?"
Hawk struggled to his feet. "Yeah. Dang." He rubbed his left leg. "It'll be fine, I can still walk."
"I t'ink dat you bettah lay down anyway." Caleb told his friend. "He got ya pretty good, an' a lot o' dose are gonna hurt tamorraw."
"Yeah, you got a bloody nose." Hawk informed Caleb.
"Do I?" Caleb's hand went to his face, and the blood on his hand told him that Hawk wasn't lying. "Darn. Mist is gonna get worried now … 'pecailly cause I don't fight often."
"You shoulda seen da look on Bull's face when ya foist punched him, Hawk." Oriole started laughing. "He was so shocked."
"Now, will someone kindly explain ta me what da heck just happened 'ere?" Spot walked up to the trio, who had sat down and started to clean themselves up.
Hawk closed his eyes, preparing for another beating from Spot. I ain't nevah gonna hear da end o' dis one. "Ya see, Spot, it awl started when ya told me dat I had ta come down here and teach … whats 'er name how ta shoot a sling."
"Yeah, I'se listenin'." Spot crossed his arms, waiting for Hawk or someone to continue. But since nobody knew the story like Hawk, Hawk continued.
"So I was teachin' her, an' I said somet'ing jokin'ly, but by accident, the sling shot off … an' I was behind 'er, so it went kinda ovah me head. So she went out ta go see who it hit …an' it hit none oddah den Bull. I was gonna take care o' him-"
"You were gonna take him?" Oriole smiled at his friend.
"-in a reasonable way." Hawk rolled his eyes. "I wasn't gonna fight 'im. But den dat oddah goil …da one dat ya was teachin' ta fight," Spot nodded, "well she came an' attacked him from da back …dats basically how da fight started."
"Well it was bound ta happen." Spot looked for Becca, who was talking with Janet, Dianna, Sarah, Michele and Laura and Sam.
"Whaddya mean?" Caleb asked, grateful that his bloody nose had finally stopped.
"I found out a while ago from me inside sources, dat Bull an' a bunch o' his friends was plannin' ta take ovah Brooklyn. So it was only a matta of time before dis happened." Spot looked to Hawk, who seemed like he was the worst one. "Undah normal circumstances I wouldn't a let dis fly …but considahin' dat ya were standin' up fa goils an' it woulda happened anyway, I'll let dis fly."
"What?!" Hawk thought for sure that he passed out or something, and he was just imagining this. "I must be dreamin'." He smiled at Spot.
"No, I t'ink you'se awake." Caleb went over and touched one of his bruises.
"Why did ya do dat?" Hawk tired to punch playfully Caleb, but Caleb was to fast. "Dat hoit."
"At least ya know ya ain't dreamin'." Caleb stood up, after he had finished cleaning himself.
"Ya very lucky Hawk." Spot didn't wait for a reply, as he headed to where the girls were standing. Now to make sure Becca undahstands what I mean when she ain't ready.
"Here he comes now." Becca whispered to the others, but Spot could hear every word perfectly.
"Becca, we gotta talk." Spot sternly said, and pulled her away to a separate section.
"I'm sorry Spot." Becca bit her lip.
"Yeah well next time, when I say ya ain't ready, I mean ya ain't ready. He coulda an' woulda crushed ya if Hawk wasn't dere." Spot decided better now than never. "Look, Becca. I don't want nothin' ta happen ta ya, not now, not evah. An' I knows dat I haven't had a girl in quite some time, so I hope I'se doin' dis right but," Spot got down on one knee and looked Becca into blue eyes. "I wanna know if you'll be me goil?"
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"Aww, look at them over there." Janet watched. Then she saw Spot get down on his knee. "Oh my gosh!!! This isn't happening!"
"I wonder …" Dianna trailed off.
Then they saw Becca kiss him. "AHHH!!! She's the first one!!!" Janet jumped up and down.
"Hey, calm down, don't wanna attract too much attention to us." Sarah pulled Janet down.
"Wow, I can't believe that he did it!" Michele added, shocked. "Did you see him, putting his arm around her and all that stuff."
"Yeah, it was like love at first sight." Sam agreed.
"Well it's about time, I was getting sick of all the flirting." Janet could only hope that they got to Manhattan soon.
"Aww, I'm so excited for her." Dianna thought out loud.
"Well, you know what they say." Janet stated, in a daze.
"No, what?" Laura asked. Sometimes she could be so clueless.
"Once you got a guy …well we're down to six. Wonder who is next." Janet looked around their little circle.
"Hey," Hawk broke through their circle, making room for Caleb and Oriole. "did I jus' see what I t'ink I saw?"
"Yeah, I think you did." Dianna moved over.
"You'se right, dey do talk funny." A boy with black hair said to another boy.
"Well, I guess ya could say dat. But since dey ain't from 'round heah." The boy with blonde hair said to the black haired boy.
"Goils, I want ya's ta meet some o'' me good friends." Hawk introduced the boys. "Dis one, with da blonde hair is Caleb, an' dis is Oriole."
"Nice to meet you boys." Janet said first. "I'm Janet and these are, Dianna, Sarah, Michele, Laura (she's Dianna's sister) and her friend Sam." Each girl nodded, said "hello" or waved when Janet called their names. "And Becca is over there with Spot."
"Hey Hawk, wheahs da one dat spitshook?" Oriole asked, scanning the girls to see which one he thought would do it.
"Dat one, wit da brown hair. Dianna." Hawk smiled. Nevah would I have evah imagined dat a goil would spitshake … Dianna gave a little wave and looked at the ground.
Oriole spit in his hand and held it out to Dianna. "Must I?" She grimaced and looked to Hawk, who just turned away, laughing. Slowly, she spit in her hand, and then quickly finished the shake.
"Now I can proudly say dat I've spit shaken wit 3 goils." Oriole beamed. "Ya sure ya don't want a turn, Caleb?"
"Naw, she looks grossed out 'nough." Caleb laughed a little.
"Anyway," Hawk cut back in, "As I was sayin', is Spot an' Becca an item now?"
"I have no idea." Janet bit her lip. "I saw them kiss and everything, I would assume so."
"Are you okay, from the fight?" Dianna couldn't take this guilty feeling anymore. "I honestly didn't mean to shot the sling shot, I turned around and it just slipped, did it hit you at all?"
"Yeah, I'se okay, 'cept far a few bruises here an' there." Hawk turned to Caleb. "Does me eye look really bad?"
"It's getting' there bud." Caleb said as he looked a little closer.
"It's okay, though, I talked ta Spot an' he said dat it was an accident, an' it ain't ya fault." Hawk finished, patting his right eye and already feeling the pain.
"If you say so." Dianna sighed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, I remember seeing you in the fight." She directed it to Caleb.
"Yeah I was dere, jus' helpin me buddy." Caleb kind of forgot that he was in a fight. "Oh an' goils," Caleb made sure he got all of their full attention, "stay away from Bull …he's bad news. If ya evah see him again, get someone, 'kay?"
The girls nodded and continued to listen to Hawk and Oriole's point of view of the fight.
Finally, after an hour or so, things began to return to normal. Caleb and Oriole's girls (Mist and Smirks, respectively) had come back from selling papers, and the 11 of them ((Becca is still with Spot …hmm, wonder what they are doing??)) had gotten to know each other pretty well. Caleb could be quite a talker, he just had to warm up a little bit. And so they all decided to go swimming for a little bit. Even Sarah went in, only because Caleb and Oriole had threatened to throw her in.
"As long as that shark doesn't come back." Sarah checked the water one more time before jumping in.
"Oh, ya mean Wally?" Oriole dunked Caleb. "He won't hurt a-" Oriole was abruptly cut off as his mouth was filled with water.
"Fly." Smirks finished for him. "That should teach him to-" Now it was Smirks turn to go under water, someone ((or thing, dum dum dum!!!)) had pulled her under.
"IT'S that SHARK!!!" Sarah screamed as she hurriedly swam back to the rope, to which she clung to with her life.
"Sarah!" Michele said, diving in the water. "it's just Oriole." She said after she came up. "See?"
Sarah spun around to see Smirks and Oriole laughing. "You'se really afraid o' Wally, ain'tcha?" Came a voice up high from the dock.
"Well it's about time you an' Becca are finished!" Hawk yelled from the water. This made Becca blush five shades darker than Spot's suspenders.
"Hey, you'se makin' fun o' me goil?" Spot smiled, happy to see that Hawk and Caleb along with the other boys that got hurt were in the water. Even though the salt water would hurt, it would help their bruises in the long run.
"Well …I wouldn't wanna get in trouble wit da feahless leadah o' Brooklyn." Hawk joked, and waited for Spot to do something.
Spot jumped in the water. And Hawk swam.
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"So Spot," Becca grinned mischievously, lying next to Spot. Everyone had gotten out of the water and were drying off. "Why do you wear a key around your neck?" she reached for his key and pulled it close to her.
"Oh dat?" Spot sat up and took it off, handing it to her. "When I was liddle, I used ta get bloody noses awl da time. So me mudda found a key an' put it 'round me neck. Supposedly it stopped da bloody noses er somet'ing." Spot explained, lying back down.
"Oh. Do you still get bloody noses?" Becca studied the key up close.
"Naw. Do ya wanna wear it?"
"Only if you don't mind." Becca smiled.
"Well since you'se me goil." Spot leaned in and kissed Becca.
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"Well if it ain't Sam be nimble, Sam be quick." Dianna was on Spot's perch, and was having more fun. She figured that since she wasn't shooting anything, she couldn't get into any more fights. And so was re-enacting some scenes from the movie.
"What?" Sam was just talking to Laura, who were still debating if they were going to swim again or not.
"It's from the movie." Dianna explained. "Hey, when you're bored and have nothing else to do …"
"Yeah. I guess." Sam turned back to Laura and headed to the end of the dock (by the land), where Laura had spotted a pretzel stand.
"Is that all they ever eat? Pretzels?" Laura was beginning to want to go home.
"I don't know. Maybe we'll see something better." Sam looked around for something better, but found no such thing. "Yeah, maybe I want to go home too. At least there I could see impmon when I wanted to."
"Yeah …" Laura went over and bought a pretzel. "What else can we do?"
"Hmm…let's got back to the dock and see who we can antagonize!"
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"So can one of you," Janet started to ask Mist, Caleb, Smirks and Oriole, "refresh my memory on how you play poker?"
They all looked at her like she was crazy.
"Back home we might have played different, and I just want to learn how to play by your …uh… rules."
"Oh." Smirks fished around in her pocket for a deck of cards. "Yeah, as soon as I cin find some. Oriole, ya got any?"
"Uhh, yeah." He tossed her a deck. "Dis should be interestin'." He looked to Caleb. "Smirks tryin' ta teach."
"Hey!" She punched him in the arm. "I'se a good teachah."
"Well if we'se gonna have a game, den count me in!" Mist slid up, forming a circle between the three of them.
"Goils …" Oriole said, rubbing his arm.
"Yeah, ya can nevah get rid o' dem." Caleb agreed.
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"C'mere ya liddle-" Spot puffed as he chased after Becca.
"Ya little what?" She said, sliding in between two beams of wood, losing Spot.
Spot kept on running, aware that Becca just ducked into a couple of beams, but he figured that he could beat her since she didn't know where she was going. And he was right, as he rounded the corner; he caught Becca by the waist. "Gotcha." He pulled her closer to him. "Now, me cane…" He waited for her to hand over his cane.
Becca sighed and took his cane out from behind her back, and placed it into his outreached hand. "If you have to have it back…" Becca eyed his slingshot, but Spot was to busy looking at his cane to notice.
"Yeah, I kinda gotta have it." He draped his arm around her as he went to her side.
"That's okay …I understand." A smile crept on Becca's mouth. "But since you have your cane, then you won't be needing this!" She pulled out his slingshot and took off, running the opposite way that they were walking.
"What the…" Spot looked to see what she had taken. "Becca!" he yelled, realizing that his slingshot was gone, and dashed in the direction that Becca was heading.
He caught up in no time, this time he got her by her free hand. Spot pulled Becca closer to him, grabbing her by her arm and pulling her into a soft kiss. As Spot came up for a breath, he gently took back his slingshot and whispered to her, "Now, willya stop takin' me t'ings?"
Becca just smirked and kissed him again.
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"Don't you think that we should be heading to this new house that we're staying at?" Sarah asked Michele, gazing out into the river.
"You would think." Michele rested her back against a nearby post. "But it's really nice here…" She stretched out her long legs.
"Yeah." Sarah sat down, taking in all the sights along the river.
"Hey," Came a voice from behind them. "Don't you think that we should be leaving soon?" Janet joined Sarah and Michele, Dianna following and sitting down.
"Yeah, we were just talking about that." Sarah replied dazed.
"I would have said something to Becca or Spot …but…" Janet glanced to where they were. "They look a little preoccupied."
Sarah just nodded; she was getting a little drowsy. Something to do with the after noon sun and the water …she thought as she ran a hand through her short blonde hair. "Hey Dianna, do you think that they have lemons here?"
"Well … you never know…" Dianna yawned. "Thinking about lightening your hair again?"
"How did you ever know?"
"Just call it a wild stab in the dark." Dianna turned and looked at Sarah, who just smiled back.
"Hey goils, I'd like ya's ta meet anodda one o' me friends." Smirks swished her red hair as she walked to the group. "Dis is Bookie," a short girl with short brown hair waved, "an' dis is Martini."
"Heya guys!" Martini chirped, smiling as her blue eyes sparkled. "I'se been told dat dis is ya first time in da city."
"Actually, I've been to the-" Janet started to say, but was quickly cut off by Sam, who had joined the gang when her and Laura got bored.
"No, this is our first time here." Sam smiled sweetly as Martini got a confused look on her face.
"Oh … well I'd be more den happy ta show ya 'round if ya need it." Martini looked to Bookie, who nodded in agreement.
"Soah, I'd love ta help ya out." Bookie offered. "And alla you'se are…?"
"I wanna say everyone's name!" Sam called out, jumping up and down.
"Knock yourself out." Dianna answered, since no one else looked like they wanted to do it.
"YAY!!" Sam stopped jumping and started talking at 576 words per minute. "Well … this is Laura, Dianna they are sisters Michele, Sarah and Janet. There's seven of us though." Sam pointed to Spot. "Becca is over there with Spot."
"What?" Bookie rubbed her eyes and did a double take of Spot. "Who da heck is he wit?"
"That's Becca." Sam beamed, proud of herself that she got everyone.
"Hey now, Bookie." Martini put an arm on her friend's shoulder. "Maybe he's just tellin' her 'bout New Yawk."
Spot picked that moment to kiss Becca again. "Oh, he's tellin' her alla 'bout New Yawk all right!" Bookie shouted, walking over there.
"Uhh …sorry guys, I'll be right back!" Martini chased after her Bookie, who was already half way to Spot.
"I take it that this isn't good …" Janet blinked, staring at the scene that was about to unfold.
"Yeah, I couldn't have said it better." Smirks bit her lip … and waited to see what would happen.
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