Chapter 11 is here!! YAY!!! WOO HOO!!!

Klover: :::Gets up from under table with Klover's help::: Whew! Thanks! YOU RISKED BEING YELLED AT IN MATH FOR LITTLE OLE ME??? I feel so special!!!!

Sureshot Higgins: THAT'S ALRIGHT!! You're reading it now and that's all that matters!!! It's odd that you ask which newsie is next, and mention Swifty…you were right!! I am going to do Spot, and I have been debating on Tumbler…you never know!

Hotshot: You're not the only one who thought his choice in fashion was slightly irritating!

Gypsy Ruth: WE ARE ON THE SAME WAVELENGTH…as low as it may be…

BlackFire: Hmm…Mono, eh?…interesting. Isn't much worse than SNODDY! Overalls have always bothered me. Go with suspenders, boy! THEY ARE SEXIER!!! People actually don't call me a dork…that's a label I have given myself! HEHEHE!!!

Southern Spell: Hmm…I have called you that for this long, might as well keep going with it. At least for now. I try to think of pasts that you could see them doing, based on what they wear, how they act, etc. HOPEFULLY IT WORKS!!! I'm going to do one for Spot! Don't worry!

Unnamed Anonymous Person…: Been in the South? Hmm…I live in North Carolina, so I am pretty sure I have been by it once or twice.

Nugget: YOU SHALL KNOW SOON ENOUGH!!!

Sqky0o7: You name all your villains Jake? Did you hate some guy named Jake in a past life??? Me question your wording??? NEVER!!! Reeking is up there with some of the best!

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He was a pick-pocket by birth. Blame his father if you'd like. After
all, he was the one who taught him the tricks of the trade. The
Rake, his father would call him proudly any time he successfully
snatched some valuable item. His specialty was wallets, pocket-
watches, and anything else hidden in a man's jacket. He would just
pretend he was being chased by the bulls, and would recklessly run
through the streets, bumping into as many wealthy men as he could.
By the end of the chase, he would have his hands and pockets filled
with enough money to feed them and keep them on their feet for a
week. It was survival, and the only means of survival he knew.

His mother left years before, enraged by the way her "useless"
husband had turned out, stealing and cheating his way through life.
She wasn't too fond of the way her own son was turning out either, a
spitting image of his father. So, she took the coward's way out,
choosing to run from her family and the desperate life of poverty-
stricken New York. The only things she left behind were memories and
the Welsh blood coursing through her son's veins.

He didn't necessarily want to steal. If there were another way, he
would take it, which he did as soon as an opportunity presented
itself. Oddly enough, he decided to rob a newsie one afternoon. Big
mistake. He eyed Specs, seeing his gold pocket watch glistening in
the sun, and ran for it. There was one problem, you don't steal from
a newsie without a fight. Specs ran for him, oblivious to the people
watching the two boys dart through the streets, into the alleys,
over fences, and through buildings.

If he hadn't come to a dead end, The Rake would have kept going,
and eventually, perhaps, lost the older boy in the crowded city.
Specs, ready to soak him, grabbed the boy by his collar and pushed
him against a brick wall, livid and thoroughly irritated. Lucky
Racetrack was nearby, or the hot-headed brunette would have killed
him. Racetrack, even-tempered under pressure and pretty content with
his day at the tracks, decided to give the pick-pocket a break.
Either have Specs beat him, or give a reasonable reason why he
should be left alone. After telling them it was his only way to keep
going from day to day, he was shown mercy, and even offered a job.
There was, of course, one condition: never steal from a newsie.

His father, none too happy with his new career choice, decided he
wouldn't have a newsie living under the same roof as himself. The
young man was forced to make the lodging house his new home, and as
given the name Swifty by Racetrack, seeing as even the long-legged
Specs couldn't catch up to him. He made his new living an honest
one, or as honest as a newsboy can get.

His father ended up in jail, which Swifty learned through a
newspaper article one day. He seemed pretty pleased about this,
happy that his past was finally completely behind him. He stayed a
few years as a newsboy, saving every penny he could and going
without meals if he felt food wasn't necessary. "I want to be better
than he was," Swifty said to me the day he left. He didn't need to
tell me, he was already twice the man his father was.

"So, you've become the enemy," I said to him as I came across him in
the Bronx a while later. A police officer? Swifty? I couldn't
believe my eyes. He decided he should pay his debt to society, and
have the most upright careers if he could. He was still Swifty,
faster than any bull in New York, and I watched him proudly, knowing
how far he had come since we first met him years ago.
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So, there it is! Hope you liked it!!! :::runs and "hides" with Sexy Specsy in closet:::

Stretch