"This is breakfast?" Madeline asked skeptically, staring at her lukewarm coffee and small roll.
Alex, however, was hardly concerned with the condition of her pitiful meal. Spot had offered to help her on her first run earlier that morning. Though Alex did not understand why Spot had decided to stay a day more than he had planned, she intended to use whatever time they had together to her advantage. There was a possibility, after all, that her necklace would start behaving oddly again and return the two girls to their rightful era. Because of this, Alex thought it best to plan wisely.
Quite opposed to her fortunate friend, though, Madeline did not receive any offers of help from dashing boys. Although disappointed (and a bit jealous), Madeline attempted to turn such a situation to her advantage by using her independence as an opportunity to prove that not all girls were helpless, love struck pansies.
"Ready? Come on, if we don't get 'em now, we might not get all the papes we need!" Spot called, beckoning Alex away from Madeline's lonely side.
"Have fun!" Madeline called as her friend dashed to catch up to the supposed love of her life.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Alright. The first thing you have to learn is that headlines don't sell papes, newsies sell papes."
Alex grinned at hearing Spot use Jack's phrase from the movie. They were standing outside the distribution office, just after purchasing 150 papers. Spot had handed her 50 of them, which turned out to be surprisingly heavy. Playing the fool, Alex quietly asked, "Then what do you do if the headline is bad?" She smiled up at him adoringly.
Spot grinned right back. "You just have to improve the truth a bit." When Alex continued to look confused, he pointed to a particularly bad headline. It read: Health Department Deems Orphanages Safe. "That's not very catchy or interesting. You could try…city questioning the safety of local orphanages." He looked at her expectantly.
"You want me to yell that out for everyone to hear?" He nodded. "Do I have to?"
"If you want to sell anything you do," he said, noting her shyness. "Just watch." With that, he yelled out, "CITY QUESTIONING THE SAFETY OF LOCAL ORPHANAGES!" Soon, several people had come to him and bought a paper, each handing him a penny.
"Now you try it," he urged her. "Try…tenement building burned to the ground."
Fiddling nervously with her necklace, she meekly called out the headline. No one came to buy a paper. Spot could only laugh. She blushed at her horrible paper selling skills, and looked around, hoping no one had seen her shady attempt at selling. Spot put his arm around her shoulders and led her down the street saying, "I can tell this is going to take a while."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Orphanages are safe! Rest easy, citizens of New York, for your orphanages are safe! Not one problem at all! Completely happy and chipper!" Unfortunately, Madeline's theory that positive headlines would positively attract customers to buy papers was in need of some serious tweaking. Not only had she not made a cent yet, but other newsies were looking at her as though she was paper selling-suicide.
Even more sadly, all hopes of improvement immediately evaporated when Madeline caught sight of a tall boy with dark, curly hair and a charming smile.
"Oh, Lordy, Lordy," Madeline gasped, dropping a couple dozen papers in the mud at her feet. Dave was as gorgeous as he was sexy, with a mop of mocha curls crowning an enticing face, which happened to be included with a totally sizzling body.
Because of her encounter with this sex god, however, Madeline was not thinking clearly or rationally. Perhaps that is why she thought strutting in front of Dave, fallen papers trailing behind her, would cause him to notice her. Maybe that is why she believed striking a pose would make her boyish clothes look slightly more feminine. It can be assumed, as well, that all this silliness caused her to not pay attention to the fact she was standing directly under a housewife's kitchen window, out of which the aforementioned housewife decided to pour the contents of a bucket brimming with dirty dishwater.
When the greasy water did soak her from head to toe, however, Madeline immediately regained her senses and rushed the nearest building she could find, in hopes that, though he was staring directly at her with a look of amusement on his face, Dave did not see her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
In another section of town, Alex felt that she was finally getting the hang of harking the headlines. Thinking of good headlines was a whole other story. "Entire continent of Europe separates from Asia!" This only got her skeptical looks and a few laughs.
Leaning against a nearby brick wall, Spot chuckled. "You don't really expect people to believe that do you?"
"Well, no. I'm no good at coming up with headlines!" Alex cried hopelessly.
"You'll get the hang of it eventually. Try some of the ones we were using before. We haven't used them lately."
While Alex wandered through the surrounding area, calling the occasional headline, Spot took the opportunity to study her. Her brown hair fell a few inches past her shoulders, shorter than most girls he had seen before. The gleaming sun seemed to make the freckles sprinkled across her delicate cheekbones extremely noticeable, adding a playful flair to her classic beauty.
Suddenly she was standing right in front of him. "I sold them all. I can't believe it. I really sold all of them!" she cried happily, displaying her empty hands proudly in front of her.
Spot, who had finished selling his papers about half an hour ago, gave her his trademark smirk. "Didn't they tell you that you were learning from the best?"
Alex could only roll her eyes. "What do we do now?" she asked, wanting to get more of the newsie experience.
"It doesn't matter. We could go meet up with the guys at Tibby's. Now's about the time most people are there."
"What's Tibby's?" Alex asked, almost forgetting that she wasn't supposed to know about these things.
"It's a restaurant. It's also pretty much the only place most newsies can afford."
"Oh. I should give you your money back, for buying my papers," she began to reach into her pocket, but Spot grabbed her hand before she could do so.
"Don't worry about it."
"I can't just take your money!"
"We'll say you owe me then, how does that sound?"
Alex nodded as they began to head off towards Tibby's. She couldn't wait to hear how Madeline's morning had gone.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Spot and Alex had just ordered their food when the bell on the door rang to signal the entrance of Blink, Mush, Race and Skittery. Spot waved them over to the booth he and Alex were sitting in and they all took seats around them.
"Heya Spot," Race greeted and he sat down. "How'd the selling go?"
"Pretty good. Alex sold all fifty this morning," he turned to Alex, who only smiled and nodded.
"How do you like being a newsie so far, Alex?" Skittery asked from his spot at the end of the booth.
"It's fun," was all she said. She looked down at her lap, turning red at the attention. Spot wondered why the girl who had talked so excitedly earlier had become so quiet. She had been a bit reserved in the morning when they first started selling, but she had seemed to grow more comfortable as the day went on. He was not accustomed to being around such shy people, and wondered what it would take to bring her out of her shell. The rest of the meal continued in this fashion. Alex would only talk when someone spoke directly to her, and blushed whenever someone asked her a question.
Because they had gotten their food earlier than the other newsies, Spot and Alex finished eating first. They stood, said goodbye to their companions and started out the door. Spot, walking a few feet behind Alex, could hear Mush remark, "She sure is shy, aint she?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"So what do we do now?" Alex questioned, wondering if there was another addition of the newspaper to sell.
"We could get more papes, but I think we've sold enough for today. We pretty much have the afternoon off."
"Well, what's there to do in New York?" Alex said, knowing that Spot probably knew more about the city than most other newsies.
Spot smiled slightly. "We could always go to Brooklyn for a while. It's the best part of New York, anyway." He shrugged. "I could just show you around."
Alex gave him a look that she prayed looked as cute as she thought. "That would be great."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
About half an hour later, Alex and Spot were just arriving at the pier where the Brooklyn newsies spent much of their time. "Just relax," Spot whispered, while putting his arm around her protectively, remembering her shy nature. "These guys may not be as nice as the boys back in Manhattan, but if you're with me you don't have to worry."
Alex nodded, avoiding eye contact with the Brooklyn newsies, many of which were dripping wet in only underclothes. She decided then that she loved Brooklyn. Especially this particular pier. Spot led her to a stack of crates and left her there, telling her he had to go talk to some of his newsies.
"How's it rollin Spot? Who's the girl?" Fish, one of Spot's best friends, asked.
"Names Alex. She and her friend just showed up in Manhattan last night." Spot threw a glance in her direction.
"You with her, or anything?"
"… No, I'm just- just showing her around. It's not like that with me and her."
Fish smiled. "Then you wouldn't mind introducing us, right? I could use a pretty lady around here."
Spot shoved him. "Yeah, right! She's got too much class for you. Just stay away from her."
Fish's grin broadened. "So you do like her! Our little Spot's got a girlfriend!"
"If you weren't such a good friend, I'd soak you right here." With a menacing look, Spot returned to where he had left Alex, trying to ignore his friend's comments. She smiled at him when he got there.
"Was there a problem?" she asked.
"Nah. Some of my guys were just acting stupid."
Alex nodded, looking around the pier, her eyes lingering particularly on the newsboys coming out of the water. She couldn't help but smile.
She hadn't realized how long the silence had been until Spot commented, "You're so quiet."
Alex looked down at her shoes, trying to conceal a blush. "Not all the time."
"The only time you seem to talk is when you're around Madeline. Or me," he added, smiling slightly. "But you hardly talk around the other guys."
"I just can't talk around people I don't know well. It's just how I am."
Spot looked deeply into her eyes. "You're a mystery, Mist."
"Mist?" Alex questioned.
"Your new nickname. Is that alright?"
"It's fine with me." Alex grinned.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Madeline, upon being thrown out of several public buildings due to her soaked clothes, decided it would be wise simply to return to where she and Alex were staying. Hungry, cold, and quite perturbed, Madeline slowly walked the street that led to her temporary home, watching the sky grow steadily darker. "Isn't it bad to walk in the dark all alone?" she thought, wishing Alex were with her. But, of course, Madeline was fairly sure no one would try to attack her. That would be silly!
Unfortunately, just because something is silly does not mean it is not possible. Madeline appropriately screamed as three dark figures grabber her arms roughly. "Give us your money!" one demanded.
"I don't have any money!" Madeline shouted, trying to break free of his hold. "I'm a terrible newsie! And I'm lost, and smelly, and poor, and I just mooch off my friend!"
"She's lying!" another one roughly claimed, shoving her shoulder. "Don't be dumb! Just give us what you have!"
"But I was telling the truth! I have absolutely nothing! I'm probably poorer than you!"
Before the grumpy boys could do anything else, she vaguely saw someone run up and attack the person holding her. She almost lost her balance as the two behind her began brawling on the muddy street floor. Getting up, she saw her would-be hero threatening to do the same to each of them as he did to their companion, which included a badly bloodied nose and scratched face. The thieves ran away, not wanting their attempts to steal from unexpecting girls to be hampered by injuries.
"Thank you," Madeline said, trying to see who had saved her. "I don't know what I would have done if you didn't come!" Despite how she hated to sound like a damsel and distress, she was willing to admit that he did, indeed, save her a great deal of trouble.
"It was nothing," the boy said, stepping into the dim streetlight to reveal himself to be Jack.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*