Shock and Disbelief

Disclaimer: I only own my self and the souls of real people I placed in the story. *cackles*. I don't own Newsies, and you already knew that. (I'm not writing any more disclaimers for this story so I hope this enough to keep any spiteful lawyers away.)

Chapter 2: Cars and Dinner Parties

Characters (other than the ones you already know) introduce in this chapter are…

~Katharine Harrison - a jaded Harry Potter fanfic writer with an obsession with the newsies. Has curly brown hair. Favorite Character: Spot. Nicknames: Ginny, GinnyJake, Katie, Kate, Big T.

~Elizabeth Richman - the Simon of the beta world. Writes Starwars, but reads HP too. Home-schooled. Brown hair. Favorite Character: David. Nicknames: Turtle, Liz.

~Bethany Taylor - can't be considered a newsies fan, but likes HP and Japanese anime. Thinks Dragonball Z gives anime a bad image. Blown hair, blue eyes, glasses. Black belt in Tae Kwon Doe. Favorite Character: Spot. Nicknames: Betha-chan, Beth.

~Mindy - not a fan of anything. Mistrusts pretty much all guys. Blonde hair, shorter than the other girls.

~Sarah Harrison - Kate's sister. Loves Newsies. Blonde hair, very skinny, just a bit taller than Kate.

~Mary Beth - Performed Newsies songs for show choir. Brown hair. Favorite Character: Jack. Nicknames: MB.

~Chris - Mary Beth's boyfriend. Blonde hair. Swimmer.

~Josh - really crazy friend. Red hair, really skinny.

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"Could you please explain to me what is so exciting about my Dodge Intrepid?" Kate asked. Even though she didn't know how to change the oil or put air in her tires, she knew her car wasn't that cool.

"Whatcha call this thing?" one of the boys asked.

"Well, like most sane people, I like to call it a car," Kate said. She rolled her eyes.

"A cahr…" By this time Bethany and Turtle were standing behind Kate observing the boys.

"That boy… on the other side of the car… doesn't he look like a young Gabriel Damon to you?"

"Exactly like a…" She stopped. "That's it! You two are playing some kind of practical joke on me!"

"What makes you think this is our doing?" asked Liz.

"You've done stuff like this to me before."

"Yes," said Beth, "but that didn't include a real guy except for the guy whose pic we stole off of Hotornot.com. Kate sighed.

"What are your names?" she asked the boys who were still admiring her car.

"I'm David," said one, "That there's Racetrack, Spot, 'n Kid Blink." Kid took his hat off and tipped his head. Kate let out an audible laugh.

"Wha's so funny?" asked Spot.

"Do you really think I'm gonna believe that you're from Newsies?" Kate hoisted herself up so she was sitting on the hood of her clean, white car.

"Well, we's newsies, but I don' know if we's the newsies ya's thinkin' of," said Kid Blink.

"I've got an idea," Liz tugged on Kate's arm, "Why don't we take them to the dinner?"

"Fine," Kate agreed, "You boys want a free dinner?"

"Sure," said Kid. Kate sighed.

"You gonna go with Beth, Turtle?" Turtle shook her head.

"Let her go with you," said Beth, "Then at least a few of these guys can be saved from the 'Death Trap'." She and Liz giggled.

"My car is not a death trap," Kate fumed, "Racetrack and ummm… fine, Spot," she rolled her eyes at Beth's smirk, "Kid and David come with me. You can get shotgun, Kid."

"The whah?" Kid backed up into David. Kate covered her hand with her face.

"The front seat," she sneered, "Just sit… in the front seat…" Kate got in the driver's seat. She groaned when she had to show Kid how to fasten the seat belt. She followed Bethany up the town to Mindy's house where Marcus, Mindy's younger brother, greeted them.

"Who are they?" Marcus asked. Kate shrugged.

"Hey guys," said Mindy as she came out of her room. She shot a weird look at Spot and Racetrack who were eyeing the TV and Play Station with curiosity. Mindy turned her gaze to Beth.

"It was Turtle's idea," said Beth.

"So you picked up guys off the street?" Mindy asked in disbelief. Kate nodded.

After awhile other people showed. It was mostly girls who showed up, but Chris and Josh came in Josh's car with Mary Beth. Sarah, Kate's sister, also showed up wearing Kate's 'Guys and Dolls' shirt.

Once all twelve people (sixteen counting the newsies) arrived at Mindy's, they headed out to Mary Beth's house for salad. Mary Beth lived out of town in a new development of houses. Everyone knew Kate would speed terribly so they wouldn't let her drive. She ended up in the back seat of Beth's car between Spot and Josh.

"So… Spot," said Josh, "Where are you from?"

"Brooklyn."

"Iowa*?" asked Josh, "What kind of job you got there?"

"New York," corrected Spot, "I sell papes." Josh looked at Kate confused.

"He thinks he's a newsie," said Kate. Josh nodded.

"I work at the bakery uptown," he said. There was silence in the car for a few minutes except Rissa and Beth's conversation from the front seats. "I like the hat though."

The dinner ended with cheesecake at Mindy's. The left Turtle, Beth, and Kate wondering about what they should do with the newsies.

"Where are you staying tonight?" asked Beth. Racetrack shrugged.

"That depends on where we's are," replied Spot.

"You're in Iowa."

"We's where?"

"Iowa… It's a long, long drive from New York."

"We's staying on the streets."

"You mean you have no place to go?" Spot nodded. Beth looked at Kate pleadingly.

"No way!" said Kate. Beth stuck out her lower lip. "Fine, they can sleep in the basement. There's a separate door out."

"But we're spending the night!" Turtle argued.

"We'll sleep on the first floor so we can stop my parents from going downstairs," said Kate. Turtle and Beth nodded in agreement. So it was decided; Kate, Turtle, and Beth sneaked the newsies downstairs into the basement.

Kate was awakened late that night by a sound outside. She pulled a sweatshirt on over pajamas. She headed down the stairs and saw that the TV was still on in the basement even though everyone was asleep. She picked up the remote and switched it off. She flipped on the outside light and walk onto the porch.

Spot was sitting on the porch swing staring up at the stars and rubbing the top of his cane. Kate grabbed the swing to steady it and then sat next to him.

"So you really think you're Spot Conlon?" she asked him. He looked over at her.

"Why's shouldn't I? That's who I ams." Kate laughed.

"No, you're not," She smirked, "Spot Conlon's not a real person. He's my favorite character from my favorite movie."

"Movie?"

"Are you telling me that you've never seen Newsies?"

"Suhr, Ise seen plentay of newsies."

"No, I meant the movie," Kate sighed, "So how'd you get here?"

"We's were chasin' dese scabbers through an alley and ended up on dat road dere."

"So suddenly you ended up in 20th Iowa on the utility road next to my house." Spot nodded. He looked her in the eyes.

"I's tellin' ya da truth," he told her, and she believed him.

A/N: For the record this story is not a romance between Spot and Kate. That'd be wishful (and really weird) thinking on my part. If you haven't noticed yet, Kate is based on me. Yes, my name is Kate and I live in Iowa. All of the non-newsies people are based on real people - so far. Also, I'm really bad at accents so if you'd like me to change something about the accent let me know and I'll fix it.