That evening, the newsies were lying around, playing cards and doing other stuff that newsies do (?!). Skittery was sitting with a group, watching them play some card game he had never heard of, but even in this crowd he felt somehow alone... "Hey there Skits" a familiar voice came from behind him. As he turned he saw just who he had been thinking about. Dutchy. A big grin broke out on his face. "Hey Dutchy, been wond'rin where you's been!" He could feel himself turning tomato red as the words left his mouth. The blond newsie seemed a little nervous about something, a little on edge. "Was wondering if you could come and see something I made..." Now it was Dutchy's turn to look embarrassed, as the rest of the crowd dropped into a silence. All eyes were on the two of them, most of them accompanied with sly smirks. "Uh... sure." Skittery stood up and left the room as quickly as possible. He just wanted to get away from the others, they seemed so spiteful all the time, and he had't even done anything wrong! "What was with those guys?" he asked his friend. "Do they have some sort of problem with you?" He looked expectantly at Dutchy, only to find the other guy averting his gaze. "Uh, Skits... I... well... they jus' don't like me... that's all..." he trailed off, and turned into the bunkroom. As Skittery passed through the door, he could see that no one was in there, it was too early after all, the other newsies were still having fun downstairs or out on the streets. The Blond boy led him over to his bunk and pulled a piece of card from under the bed. As Skittery looked at it, he could just about make out the scruffy handwriting, and it said "Welcome Skittery to the Newsies" and a hand-drawn picture of a boy with messy brown hair and a big grin. Dutchy looked bashfully at the floor. "I made it myself, with the help of Kloppman... he's glad ta have you here too." Skittery didn't know what to say. He'd never had such kindness from anybody, and he certainly hadn't expected to when he arrived in Manhattan. "Oh Dutchy!" Skittery flung his arms around him and gave him the biggest hug. Suddenly, realising what he'd done, and that he'd probably made a complete fool of himself , he withdrew from him. "Uh, sorry, that was kinda spontaneous..." he was cut off mid-sentence by Dutchy. The next thing he knew, his eyes were closed, and a pair of soft lips were on his.