Shoutouts:

Artimis-chan: Well, here's some more! That didn't take long, now did it. Ha, yeah right, I'm bad.

Phoenix: award winning? Please. Yeah I had gotten your bio, but I didn't until after I had attempted to put the first one up, and then i forgot to mention it. Sorry. ^_^ I think you're the only one who knows Dutchy's the very cutest...nah, jk. He IS cute, one of the best, but I must disagree that hie is THE best... ^_^

Klover: Haha, I hope it's so you. ^_^ Totally what I'm aiming for...

Polecat: Hehe I haven't updated recently, but I will do MUCH moe updating. Much more. Woo for vacay! *holds up CaribBLOOM* Isn't he adorbale? I almost got a CaribDEPP, but he runs too fast...

Stage: There's absolutely NOTHING better than cazy randomness with Newsies. Well, actually- no. I won't go there

Wild Card: Yay. More updates...though bad Tab for not updating sooner! *slaps hand* bad Tab! Dark is FUUUUNNN.

Deanie: Nah, Ky's in good ol' 2003 New York... thanks for showing me I had to work on making it more clear, though.

DemonBlood: Woo, glad you liked. Well, you don't have to wait anymore..

Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies, nor do I own more than half of the characters in this story. Hehehe, kinda pathetic, eh? *glares jokingly* Say yes, and I'll sic Psycho Pie on you.

Psycho Pie: Grrr.

Good boy.

A/N: Just so that you know, this is in PRESENT TIME. Wheeeeeee.*loves capital letters* So. Hyper.

^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^

I walked up to the table indicated on the tray. "Uhm.who ordered the gin?"

I was met with silence and glares.

"Anyone?" I managed to squeak out.

More glares. These people need some serious happy pills.

I rechecked the numbers. Seven on the table, seven on the tray.

"No one ordered gin?" I asked, my face growing red.

A short burst of laughter came from the bar. Demon was hunched over, smothering her laughter. Raven was laughing outright, not even bothering to hide it.

Have I mentioned how much I love these people?

"What?" I asked, glaring at Raven.

"Nothing." The dark eyed girl laughed.

I turned to Demon. "Us?" the tan girl squeaked. "Why do you think we did anything?"

Demon managed to keep a straight face until her eyes met Raven's. The girls burst into another round of giggles.

I bit the side of my cheek.

Ignore urge to hang them on my dashboard like fuzzy dice. Ignore urge to hang them on my dashboard like fuzzy dice. Ignore urge- oh, fuck it.

I started to storm over to them, still clutching the tray. I would have beamed Raven with it if this chestnut-haired girl hadn't gotten in my way.

She grabbed my shoulders and turned me around. "Alright, Kyle, calm down. It's not worth it-" the girl shot a glare towards the twin terrors. "It was a childish trick."

Demon put a hand over her heart, tears forming in her eyes. "That hurts, Sweets." She cracked up again.

Sweets ignored her. "The table those belong to is 4."

I looked at her warily. She sighed.

"Fine, I'll prove it to you." She grabbed the tray from my hands and walked assuredly to said table.

"Skittery- gin, right?" A brown-haired guy nodded, and Sweets handed over the troublesome drink.

"Jack- bourbon." The addressed guy took the drink with a thanks.

"The beer's mine." A curly-haired boy said.

"Duh, David. I think you're the only one here that only drinks beer. Every night. Over and over day after day, week after week, month after month-" Sweets responded good-naturedly.

Jack laughed. "You're boring, Dave."

David shrugged, and the guys resumed their conversation.

Sweets turned away from the table, heading back to the bar.

I give up trying to understand them. You can't understand lunatics. It's a law of nature or something like that.

I walk up to the bar to grab another tray.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A girl with long, curly brown hair is sitting at the bar, looking at the tray.

"Why the hell not?"

The girl sighed, grabbed a napkin and wiped it along the edge of the tray. She showed me the napkin, which had something that looked like.shit on it.

"Jackal's got a cat." She explained.

I threw my hands up in the air. "I give up. I fucking give this all up."

She shrugged. "Then they'd win." She leveled her blue-green eyes at me. "If there's one thing that annoys me, it's a gloating Oracle."

"Then what am I supposed to do? Did I break some sort of cardinal law when I walked in?" I looked down at my kapris and peasant blouse, then at the girl's long skirt and white blouse. "Besides whatever dress code you people have."

"It's our boss's fault. Pulitzer's a nutcase." The girl explained. "And you didn't break any rules. You're just-" she shrugged again, lost for words. "You're just not one of us."

"One of you, one of you." I snarled. "That's all I hear. 'She's not one of us' 'You're not one of us'. Is this some sort of all inclusive cult or something?"

She laughed. "Nah, we've just been together forever. Through a lot of things. We're family."

I glare at the tray in front of me as she goes on. "Just ignore them. They'll get tired of it in a while."

I snort as she walks away. "Yeah, I just hope I'm not dead and rotting before that happens."

I grab another tray- right after Raven sets it down, and carry it over to the table. It was the right table this time, so I could turn and get another tray.

I stopped dead still as a black cat walked across my path. It stopped shortly, then leveled it's green eyes at me.

"Jackal! Get your cat out of here! How many times do I have to tell you he's not allowed!?" Lute yelled. The blonde scampered over and swept the cat into her arms. She paused and they both surveyed me with nearly identically colored green eyes.

Jackal grinned. "It's just a cat, kid." She laughed.

"What?" The blond, one-eyed security guard yelled to her.

"I wasn't talking to you, Blink!" she called back, running over to the door and back up the stairs, cat in tow. God, does that girl ever just walk?

I watched Jackal disappear into the dark hallway. Stupid cat. I hate cats. I loathe them entirely. I despise-

"Hey, calm down." The curly-haired girl was back again.

I blinked. "Huh?"

"The cat thing." She explained. "What, are you superstitious or something?"

"No." I shuddered. "I just hate cats. And I didn't know I was talking out loud."

"That's something you have to fix." She said, pointing at me. "You don't want to talk aloud and not realize it."

Something registered behind her blueish eyes, and she held out her hand. "By the way, I'm Deanie."

I shook her hand. "Kyle. But you know that." My eyes move from person to person. "You all know that."

I looked at her again. "Do you know that every last one of you is completely mental?'

She laughed. "Yeah, it gets like that when you're stuck with the same people as long as we've been."

"Aw, come on, Deanie!" Skittery shouted from across the room. "You know you love us."

Deanie just waved a hand at him. "Loser." She accused.

"Nuh-uh!"

"Infant."

"Now, that hurts."

"I-" Deanie was cut off as Oracle trudged down the stairs.

"Guuuuuys" she moaned. "I'm bored."

A guy across the room shrugged. "Why don't you bitch at the new girl?"

I shoot the guy a look, and he just shrugs.

"No." Oracle sighed. "I already did that, and I'm saving something really great for tomorrow."

"Fun." I said dryly.

"Shuddup." Oracle snapped. "It's late, and you cease to amuse me at this hour."

"Dude." I gawked at her. "It's nine o' clock."

She made a face. "Dude!" she said in a high pitched voice. "Pie, dude, what's up? Swifty, dude!" she added, walking aimlessly around the main room. "Dude! DUDE! Duuuuuuuude."

Lute glared at me. "You had to say dude, didn't you?"

"Trust me." I said, leveling my gaze at the back of Oracle's head as she strutted about the room. "I'll never say it again."

"Damn straight, dude!" Oracle called to me, false cheerfulness in her voice as she strode towards the bar, heading for another tray.

"Psychotic whore." I muttered to myself as I turned to walk away.

"Damned bitch." Oracle shot back. I didn't even turn back to glare at her. It wasn't worth it.

"Stupid bastard." I snapped anyway as I began to stalk away.

Something heavy connected with the back of my head, a liquid poured down my back and over my shoulders, and I fell into a peaceful darkness.