In honor of Gabriel Damon's 27th birthday (which was on the 23rd of April. I'm bad with deadlines.) I bring you a new chapter. Enjoy. ^__^
Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies. I have a feeling that if I did, no one else would be able to use the characters on account of that I'd have them all tied up in a closet somewhere. Sureshot, Sketch, Two-Bit, Marbles, and Shade belong to Sureshot Higgins. Go read her stories, they ain't too bad.
Chapter 2: Fighting is Painful, Especially if You Don't Know How
"Come on girls, it's time to get up. You gotta go out and sell those papes." A voice yelled as I stuck a pillow over my head, trying to block out the sound. What was my mother playing at today? It's spring break and I am so not getting up when she tells me to.
"'ey Sparks, youse comin taday? Or ya still not feelin up ta it?"
Huh? Oh yeah, I forgot. I'm dead. And now I live in 1900 in someone else's body. What fun. I pulled the pillow off my head and looked around the room. The sun was just barely coming up, and the rest of the girls were getting up and heading towards the bathroom to get ready for the day. I slumped out of bed and followed them, half awake.
"What time is it?" I mumbled to Shadow who was standing at a sink in front of me.
"6:10." She said, not turning around.
"Not fair. I never even got up this early for school." That got her attention, and she turned to look at me.
"When did youse evah go ta school?" She asked, staring at me with water dripping off her face.
"Uh….I don't remember." I gave her a lopsided grin and cut in front of her to use the sink. Splashing the cold water on my face is definitely a good way to wake me up. "Yahhh! Cold!" The girls all looked at me chuckled. Then they finished washing and went to get dressed. I dried off my face, now totally awake and went over to my bunk. Fae came over to me as I was pulling on a shirt.
"So youse up ta sellin taday?" She asked as I rooted around in my bag for a pair of socks.
"Sure, I guess so. The pain's mostly gone. I'm still a bit sore though. So what exactly are we doing?" I pulled my dusty boots on, noticing how worn and old they looked.
Fae looked at me like I had two heads. "Sellin papes, it's our job."
"Ok. What the hell is a pape, and why are we selling them?"
"A newspaper, Sparks. Don't tell me youse don't membah dat too."
"Fae, I don't remember anything, remember? You know what? I'll just follow you and see what to do." I figured it would all make sense to me eventually. I grabbed my bag of change, tied it onto my skirt and followed Fae and the girls, some who I have yet to meet, out of our house and down the street. We stopped in front of one large building where a group of boys were already standing around. I saw the three boys from last night, Swifty, Mush and the one with the cowboy hat. They nodded to Fae and me as the gates opened. Fae then led me up a ramp to stand in line.
"We git our papes from Weasel at da window, den we got out an sell 'em on da streets."
"Weasel?" I looked around the other kids in the line and saw a fat man standing behind the window getting harassed by the kid wearing the cowboy hat.
Fae shrugged. "Jack started it, and we all jus followed along. Fer awhile Weasel didn't have dis job, but he ended up comin back. Don't know how he managed dat one." We were at the front of the line now and I got a better look at this "weasel" guy. He didn't look like a weasel at all. He looked like a rat. A really fat rat like the kind you find in the sewers of New York. And his hair was the same color as their fur.
"Hey Weasel. How youse doin dis morning?" Fae said, leaning on the windowsill
"How many you want today, Fae." Weasel said, with a very bored expression on his face. "Your usual?"
"Nah, gimme fifty taday, Weas. I gotta teach Sparks here how ta sell again." Fae told him, motioning to wear I was standing behind her.
Weasel noticed me then. "Well if it ain't Sparks. Can't say I'm personally glad ta have you back sellin. At least you ain't dead. How come you got no smart alecky remarks for me today?"
"Weas, if I was youse, I wouldn't annoy her taday. She don't membah nuttin befoah yestahday, and I tink it's startin ta git ta her." Fae said softly to Weasel, but I was still able to hear her. He eventually gave Fae her papers, and I followed her over to where some of the guys and girls were waiting. A few said "Hey" or waved, but Fae didn't stop to talk to them. We walked out of the gates and uptown a bit to a big park.
"Where are we Fae?"
"Central Park. I figure dat dis would be a good place ta start. It's da easiest place ta sell." So we made our way over to the park, where Fae taught me the finer points of selling. Turns out I wasn't too bad at it.
We finished selling around 11:30, so we started heading back towards the DO. On the way we bought apples off a vender for lunch, and then Fae led me to an alley where a few other people were sitting around, and she introduced me to them.
"Dis is where we'se usually eat lunch. Some days, if we have enuff money, we head ovah to Tibby's ta eat." Fae told me as we sat down on a wooden crate. We sat there, munching on our apples, when a boy wearing an eye patch over his left eye came up to us.
"Hey Sparks, wanna spar fer a bit, till we gotta sell the aftahnoon papes?" The boy asked, looking at me with his one good eye. I looked at him, then over at Fae, hoping for some sort of explanation.
"Blink, I don't tink she's up ta it right now." Fae told him.
"Nah, that's ok Fae, I think I remember how to fight." I sure hoped I did or I'd be in much more pain. So I finished my apple, threw the core away and stood up, facing the kid.
"So, you're Blink. Well Blink, lets see if I remember how to do this." Needless to say, I didn't. Which I didn't expect to anyway. It's not like I was always fighting people back in my old life.
So anyway, I'm lying on the ground right now, looking up at the group of people who came to surround me.
"What happened here?" The guy with the cowboy hat asked
"I tink she fergot how ta fight, Jack." Blink told him. Ah, so the kid with the cowboy hat did have a name.
"Oww." I started to sit up. Wasn't as painful as before, but it hurt. He punched me right in the stomach.
"Sparks, youse ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, Jack." I told him, clutching my stomach as I stood up. I then trudged back over to the crate I was sitting on before. Fae, Jack and Blink sat down next to me.
"What happened dere?" Fae asked me.
"I can't fight anymore. I think I need to be taught again. Blink, can you teach me?"
"Uh…well…" Blink wasn't putting two words together, so I turned to look at Jack.
"Listen Sparks, youse was da best fightah in all of 'hattan. There was only one person who could beat ya, and it shoah ain't Blink heah." Jack told me.
"So then who is it? Not someone from the Bronx, right?"
"No, it ain't any of dem. Spot Conlon was da only one, an' he's da leadah of Brooklyn."
Spot Conlon, ey? Why did that name spark fear in my heart? Probably because the only person I could think of that would be named Spot had to be a rather large and scary looking guy. I mean, why else would he be named Spot if not for a joke, right?
"Um…ok. Do you think he would teach me?"
"Don't know." Jack answered. "But if youse want we could go talk ta him aftah sellin da afternoon pape."
"Yeah, I guess so." I said, not really looking forward to it, but what the heck. Might as well.
"Ok. Meet me heah aftah youse done sellin. If youse want, bring someone along." After that, everyone left to go sell. I was still sitting and thinking, when Fae said. "Come on. We'se gotta sell more papes. Shadow can go wit ya if ya want. Jus ask her." So off we went to sell some more.
Jack met Shadow and I in the alley just like he said. Shadow agreed to go with me, but didn't ask any questions. I think she just wanted to protect me so maybe she could get her friend back.
So, anyway, I followed them over the Brooklyn Bridge, which, for some reason, they yelled off of when we got to the middle. Then right before we got off the bridge, we ran into these five kids. One of them was a girl who was bleeding from a bunch of cuts. She was being held up by some guy, and there were three little boys standing behind them. Two of them were hiding behind the boy, and the other one was latched onto the girl, probably hurting her more than she already was. The two older ones also had tattoos on one of their arms, but I couldn't tell what they were of.
"Hey, we'se looking fer Sneak Conlon, can you help us?" The older boy asked us as we stopped in front of them.
"Yeah, I know 'im." Jack told them. "But he ain't Sneak no moah, his name's Spot now."
The two older kids looked at each other. Then the girl spoke. "Can youse take us ta 'im?"
"Shoah. We was jus goin ta see him." Jack helped support the girl and we all keep walking. After we got off the bridge, we headed toward the docks where a bunch of boys and a few girls were swimming. At the end of one dock was a pile of crates with a boy sitting on top of them, staring out into the water.
"'Ey Spot, git down heah." Jack called up to him. The boy looked down, smiled a bit and jumped off the crates. This what not what I expected Spot Conlon to look like. For one thing he was only 4 inches taller than me. And he was really skinny. He didn't look like someone who could beat me even now.
"Heya Jacky-boy. Why'd ya come ta see me today?" He glanced at the rest of us, then his gaze stopped on the girl we picked up. "Sureshot?"
"Hello Sneak." She said giving him a small smile. Spot quickly called one of the boys in the water over and told him to bring them back to the lodging house. After they left, Spot turned his attention back to us.
"We need yer help, Spot. Well, actually, Sparks heah does." Jack pointed at me. "She fergot how ta fight. Would ya mind trying ta refresh her memory?"
Spot looked over at me then started circling me. I got a better look at him. He had sandy brown hair, and these very nice looking blue-gray eyes. All in all, he wasn't too bad looking.
"Why are you circling me? What, were you a vulture in a past life?" He was beginning to get on my nerves. Despite being sorta cute, he had no manners. I glared at him until he stopped
"Fine. Ise'll teach you. But it's gonna cost ya." He said smirking at me. I knew exactly what he was thinking. Teenage boys all think alike.
"Get your mind out of the gutter." I said, slapping him in the back of the head.
He rubbed his head and glared at me, his eyes now a steel gray color. "Be here tomorrah as soon as youse done sellin da morning papes."
This time I smirked at him as Shadow and I headed back to Manhattan. Jack stayed behind to talk to Spot about stuff, probably those kids.
"Are you shoah youse know what ya doin?" Shadow asked me as we neared the girls lodging house.
"About what? Leaning to fight from Spot?" She nodded. "Don't worry, I think I should be able to handle him. And if he starts to annoy me, I'll just throw him in the river." Shadow smiled at me and we both went inside for the night.
"Well, hello again, Claire." Bill said, smiling at me from his desk. I was back in his office. I guess this was going to end up being a nightly thingy. Goody. That was sarcasm if you couldn't tell.
"So what information do you have for me tonight, William?" I asked, flopping sideways into a chair in front of his desk.
"My name is Bill, not William, Claire."
"Well, duh. But isn't Bill short for William? But then again, that really doesn't make much sense, does it? So how bout I call you Billiam?" I said, rambling out about nothing in particular.
Bill raised his eyebrows at me then changed the topic completely. "I was rather impressed by your fighting ability today." He let out a little laugh.
"Aw, shove it, Billiam. It's not like I had any practice in my other life. So any word on Sparks' spirit? Have you found it anywhere?"
"No, sorry Claire, but I'm still looking for her."
"Then why did I come here tonight?" I picked up a pencil from his desk and started rolling it between my fingers.
"Just a check-up. You'll be coming here every night until I know you can handle this all yourself." He grabbed the pencil from my hand and placed it back in his little pencil holder.
"And how will you know when that happens?" I stole the pencil back and tucked it behind my ear.
"I just will. Now go away, but give me the pencil back first." He reached out across the desk.
I sighed and put the pencil into his outstretched hand. "Well, guess I'll see you later, Billiam." I closed my eyes and was back in my bunk. I stared up at the bottom of Shadow's bed listening to the sounds the girls made when they slept. I also tried to think of how my lesson with Spot would go tomorrow. I smiled to myself as I thought of Spot hitting the water with a large splash. Then I drifted off to sleep.
Done finally, yay! Now please review, and props to anyone who can spot the line I used from "Anastasia".
Oh, and about the Sneak Conlon thing; Sureshot Higgins' is in the process of writing a story that will explain it all,