Shot: I'm updating Race's past. To quote Pie Eater, WOO. I'd like to thank my reviewers. THANK YOU.

Shout-outs

Mystery- Yep only for a day. Their inspiration to write more so I do need them back. Thanks for the review and here's more for you. Oh and here's Blink. Remember to return him

*Blink runs off to Mystery's place*

Spark- I'm writing more right now. And you won't find out what Joe is going to do to Race till a lot later on.

Alison Sky- Read more newsies stuff. Here's what happens next.

SparkHiggins- Trick me into thinking I was getting a flame. That's mean. Glad to hear you like it so much. Oh and check your closet Race ain't there no more. He's tied up in a chair next to me. But I'll give him back if you can find me Max Casella to replace him.

Kaylee- I think all that don't love Racetrack should not be allowed to watch Newsies anymore. And sorry but this was the speediest I could do to update. Oh, okay, Spot and Jack fans are allowed to watch.

Fist1-YAY my fic is original. Now that's a compliment if I ever heard one. Sorry it's fast. Definitely going to try to slow down in the chapter.

Klover-Poor Racetrack, I agree. Here's more hopefully good work.

Sparks Conlon- Writing more. I thought you wanted me to work more on Spot's Past story. Here's Spot.

*Hand Sparks a hog tied Spot*

Enjoy.

Firecracker-Hey hey Joe is a cruel idiot. But I had to have a villain didn't I. And we don't know what he's going to do to Race till later chapters. Sorry you can only have Pie Eater

Pie Eater: WOO I'm loved by someone. Here I come Firecracker. *runs off screen*

Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies get used to it.

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The next morning, Racetrack awoke to his friends' normal morning complaints. Using his injured right arm, he pushed himself up to a sitting position. He grimaced but cut back the cry of pain that threatened to cross his lips. Jack had just jumped down from his top bunk. He saw Race awake and walked over to him. Jack stated, "You ain't selling, Race. Not till you tell me what happened."

Race sighed and stood up, "I told ya Jack, bookies. And I am selling today. With someone, so don't worry," Race looked around the bunkroom, "Who ain't got a selling partner yet?"

Jack looked around, "Well, Bumlets sells alone, so does Swifty. Specs sometimes sells alone, and Skittery always does."

Race nodded, "All right good. See ya at the DO Jack," and he walked away before Jack could say anything more. He walked into the washroom and saw Bumlets and Skittery in there. He yelled at them, "Yo, Bum, Skitts, either a you want a selling partner today?"

Bumlets' head popped up, "Sure, why not, Race. You mind if we head to Bottle Alley? There's a lot of Italians there that you could translate for."

Race shrugged, "Why not."

The two finished getting ready and headed out to the DO. Once there they lined up with the other boys to get their papers. When it came Race's turn, he only got thirty instead of his usual fifty. Blink walked over to him, "Hey Race, I know the headline is bad today, but you always get fifty no matter what."

Race shrugged, "Cutting the day short that's all."

Blink nodded knowingly, "Going to the Races?"

Race shook his head, "No," and he walked away before Blink could continue. Blink blinked, or winked in his case, and walked over to Mush.

Bumlets and Racetrack walked to Bottle Alley. About halfway there, Race stopped Bumlets and asked him, "Bum, you object to a little pick pocketing today."

Bumlets shrugged, "I don't usually, Race. You do that and you're on your own."

Race scoffed, "Fine."

At Bottle Alley, the two separated. Bumlets to one end, Race to the other. Race quickly sold all thirty of his papers. He looked around and noticed a rich looking man standing by a fruit stand. Race geared himself up and started running towards the man. He hit the man's side and nearly knocked him down. Race's left hand grabbed the man to keep him upright, while his right went into his pocket and deftly pulled the money out and deposited into his own. The whole time he was apologizing, saying his younger brother had run off and he needed to find him. The man allowed Race to go. Once he was out of sight of the man in an alleyway, he reached in his pocket and pulled out the money. He counted ten whole dollars. He found Bumlets and the two headed back to the LH.

(Over in Central Park)

Ruby sat on a bench. She muttered to herself, "I've tried the tracks and every poker hall from Brooklyn to here and no one knows Sean or Gambler Higgins."

Suddenly a brown newsboy cap landed at her feet. She leaned down and picked it up. Ruby looked around and saw two boys running towards her. The first had sandy blonde hair and a brown eyepatch on his left eye. The second had curly brown hair and oatmeal colored skin. The second yelled, "Blink, it's just a hat. You don't need it."

The first boy yelled back, "It's my hat, Mush. I want it back."

Ruby stood up from the bench. The boys would have run right past her if she hadn't stuck her foot out and tripped them. Blink stood up, "Hey, what did ya do that for?"

Ruby sighed, rolled her eyes, and plopped the hat down on Blink's head, "Cause if I hadn't you would have run right past your hat."

Blink bit his lip in embarrassment, "Oh, thanks then. Come on Mush."

The two started to walk away, when Ruby grabbed their arms, "You're newsboys aren't you."

Mush turned his head, "Yeah, you want a pape, only a penny."

Ruby squinted in the bright sun, "Umm No. I was wondering if you knew a Sean Higgins or his son Gambler."

Blink shook his head, "We know a Higgins, but that ain't his first name. "

Ruby sighed, "Could I meet him? Please?"

Mush's brow furrowed, "What business do you have with him?"

Ruby sighed again, (A/N I have her do that a lot don't I) "Sean Higgins is my father and Gambler is my twin brother."

Blink shrugged, "We'll take ya to him."

Suddenly all three of their stomachs grumbled, letting the world know how hungry they were. Ruby looked around and spied a hot dog vendor, "How about food on me? For helping me."

Blink and Mush shrugged. The two sat down while Ruby got the hot dogs. Mush spoke, "Think we should be taking her to see Race."

Blink shrugged, "Why not?"

Mush said, "Well, can we trust her? She might be collecting for a bookie or something. I mean we don't even know her name."

Blink shrugged again, (A/N he likes to shrug) "Well, she don't know our names either, and she trusts us."

Ruby came over and handed the boys their hot dogs. She smiled, "Since you are taking me to see someone who might be or might know my father or brother, I guess you should know my name," she extended her hand, "I'm Ruby Higgins"

Mush grabbed her hand, "Mush Meyers"

Blink took her hand and pecked it, 'Kid Blink Ballaet at your service."

The three sat down on the bench eating their hot dogs and talking about various things. Ruby learned about the strike that happened not but a few months before her arrival. She told them about her mother's death from a mysterious fire started in her building, her mother pushed her out yelling for her to go to NY to her father, her mother then ran back in to help other children escape. It was late in the night before they realized what time it was and headed to the LH.

(That night in the LH bunkroom)

Race sat on his bed playing solitaire. All his friends were downstairs playing poker. Snitch walked in the bunkroom and over to him, "Wanna join us for poker Race?"

Race, not even looking up at him, said, "NO. Now why can't everyone just leave me alone."

Snitch frowned, "Fine be that way." He walked away from Race and back downstairs.

Race finished his game and then looking around to make sure that no one was upstairs with him, he reached under his bed and pulled out a beaten up cigar box. He opened it and dumped the contents on his bed. He counted it out to be ten dollars and 50 cents. He pocketed the 50 cents and pulled out the ten dollars that he got from pick pocketing earlier. He spoke quietly to himself, "Ok ten dollars plus ten dollars is twenty dollars. I owe Joe 95 dollars still so 95 minus 20 is 75 dollars that I still owe him. I'm never going to earn that much. No matter how much pick pocketing I do. Even making bets I'll never get that much. With bets I'll end up owing more then that."

Race paused in his talking when he heard someone knocking at the front door. He walked out the bunkroom and down the stairs a little. He saw a familiar brown haired man, Joe walk in. Joe walked over to Jack, who happened to be standing closest to the door. Joe spoke in an insecure voice, "Can you help me?"

Jack looked him up and down, "With what?"

Joe looked around the room filled with boys, "My best friend's son, he's a newsboy. I promised his father I would watch him if anything ever happened to him. Unfortunately, his father died several years ago and I was across the sea in England and was not aware of this. Please I just want to find his son, Anthony Higgins."

Jack raised his eyebrow, "There ain't no one here by the name Higgins. It sounds Irish, try Brooklyn. That's where all the Irish newsies go."

Joe shook his head, "He's only half Irish, he also half Italian. He looks completely Italian."

Jack shrugged, "Then try Little Italy. But there ain't no one here by that name."

Joe raised his shoulders, "Are you sure?"

Jack nodded, "Positive."

Joe slumped his shoulders and turned out the door.

Race had been listening to the whole conversation. He ran back upstairs and grabbed the money. He slipped out the window and down into the alleyway. He stopped Joe at the foot of the alley, "Leave my friends alone. It's me you want."

Joe turned towards the alleyway, "Actually it's just you're money that I want."

Race handed him the money, "Twenty bucks. It's all I could get in a day."

Joe took the money, "$75 more. Better hurry you've only got six days left to get it to me. I'll leave you alone tonight but I'll be back again tomorrow night. If you don't come to the racetrack that is, Anthony."

Race nodded and quickly turned and ran back to the fire escape.

Joe left laughing to himself.

Race sat down on his bed. He looked at his possessions, he grabbed his harmonica, cards, and pocket watch. He had just started out the window when Jack walked into the room. Jack saw him at the window, "Going somewhere, Race?"

Race pulled back, "Nah, Jacky-boy, not at all."

Jack nodded, "Someone was here looking for ya Race. Brown-haired guy. You know him?"

Race shrugged, "Yeah, he's a bookie. I owe him some money that's all."

Jack frowned, "How much this time, Race?"

Race shook his head, "You don't have to worry about it Jack. It's my problem and I'll make it go away. Look I'm gonna head to Brooklyn for the night. I need to see Spot about something."

Jack glanced out the window, "Kinda late too be heading to Brooklyn, ain't it? But I can't stop ya you know that."

Race nodded and headed downstairs. He walked out the door and headed towards the bridge.

About an hour later Blink and Mush walked in with a girl behind them. Blink yelled, "Hey guys. This here is Ruby. She's looking for her brother."

Ruby wasn't paying any attention to what Blink was saying. Her eyes were on a framed picture taken from a newspaper a few months back. She stared at the boy with a scared expression on his face. Mush walked over to her, "Something wrong, Ruby?"

Ruby bit her lip and pointed to the boy, "Who's that?"

Mush looked at who she was pointing to, "Oh, that's Racetrack."

Ruby shook her head, "Of course. A new nickname. He did always hate Anthony. And of course it has to be something to do with gambling."

Blink walked over, "What are you talking about, Ruby?"

Ruby pointed again, "That boy, Racetrack, that's Gambler Higgins."

Blink raised his eyebrows, "Race is your brother?"

Ruby nodded, "Yep. Is he here?"

Jack walked over, "Nah, he ain't here. You just missed him. By the way, who are you?"

Ruby slumped over, "Oh sorry. I'm Ruby Higgins. Gambler, I mean, Racetrack's twin sister."

Jack looked her up and down, "You're the girl Anna that he talks about all the time."

Ruby nodded, "Yeah that's my given name. Neither of us liked our given names so we came up with new names for each other. I called him Gambler cause that's what our mother called him. Said he took after our father, who liked to gamble. He called me Ruby cause my hair was both red and black and in the sun it shone like our mother's ruby ring. So who are all a you boys?"

Jack nodded, "Oh yeah, well I'm Jack Kelly, the leader here. You've already meet Mush and Kid Blink," he pointed to each boy as he said their name, "That's Jake, Snoddy, Pie-eater, Snitch, Bumlets, Crutchy, Specs, Dutchy, Swifty, Itey, and Skittery. Snipeshooter and Boots are upstairs. They're younger so we send them to bed sooner then us. And Dave and Les don't live here. You'll meet Race tomorrow probably."

Ruby sighed, "Wow. Umm ok. Can I stay here for tonight? I've no other place to stay."

Jack turned to Kloppman, "It alright if she stays Klopp."

Kloppman looked up, "Sure Jack."

They all headed upstairs. Jack led Ruby over to Race's bunk, "You can sleep here for tonight. It's your brother's bunk. Tomorrow we'll take you over to girl's LH and get you a bunk there."

Ruby smiled, "Thanks Jack. I can't wait to see my brother tomorrow."

They turned out the light and fell asleep.

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Shot: Strange way to end it, I know, but I had to have somewhere to go for the next chapter. Read and review please. No flames please. Remember the more reviews I get the faster I get the next chapter out. I hope you liked this chapter. Bye.