A/N I, the wondiferous author, have decided to change something that used to be inconsequential. The role of Marium, technically non-existent camping buddy,  has been re-cast as Kennyon, real person, and fellow newsie freak. So keep in mind, when we talk about Kennyon, that means the person we were supposed to meet outside the teriyaki restaurant, and the reason we tried to go there in the first place, she was hungry. Kennyon, not Marium, ok, got it now?

On to the madness!

"Amanda." Katie said, poking her sleeping friend in the shoulder.
"Heh?" Amanda asked groggily.
"Amanda, you need to get up and crawl into bed. You fell asleep laying across Snipeshooter's bed, and he needs to get to sleep."
Opening one eye, Amanda looked up at Katie and asked again, "heh?"
"Ya gotta move, Spaz!"
Groaning, Amanda rolled over, fell off of the bed, and rolled into a ball, falling back asleep.
"Tsk, Tsk, Tsk. Amanda, I am warning you. You need to get up." Katie threatened.
Amanda responded by breathing evenly, and… not responding.
Shaking her head, Katie reached down, and grabbed Amanda's foot, and pulled, sliding her sleeping form across the floor.
"Umm, Katie, what are you doing that for?" Dutchy asked her.
"If she sleeps on the floor, she will wake up really sore tomorrow, and won't be able to move." Katie explained.
"Oh. Well, you're a nice friend." Dutchy told her.
"No, I have ulterior motives… I don't want to hear her complaining tomorrow." She said, grunting as she dragged Amanda across the floor.
"Oh. Do we need to lift her onto the bed?" Dutchy asked, scratching his head.
"Not sure yet." Katie told him. "Amanda, wake up, and crawl into bed." She instructed, nudging her with her toe. Looking up at Dutchy, she instructed, "I'll take her feet, they're lighter!"
Shrugging, Dutchy leaned down and grabbed Amanda by her shoulders, and Katie grabbed her feet.
"One… two… three…" Katie counted out.
They both straightened up, lifting her off of the floor, and swung her onto the bed.
She didn't even move.
"Wow, that's a hard sleeper." Dutchy commented.

~~~

Amanda lay on her stomach, clutching her stuffed frog under her chin. She snuggled deeper into her blankets in her sleep. She looked so peaceful with a sleeping half smile on her face, like she was having a pleasant dream.
Katie stood next to the bed, looking down on her, grinning, before she sat on her.
Amanda's eyes snapped open, and she jumped, with a start.
"What do you think you are doing?" Amanda hissed groggily.
"Waking you up." Katie stated.
"Yeah, but why?" Amanda asked.
Shrugging, she stood up. "I was awake, and I wanted you to be awake too!" She chirped.
Groaning, Amanda turned over onto her stomach and buried her head in the pillow, mumbling incoherently.
"What?" Katie asked.
"Leave me alone!" Amanda said, non too seriously.
Grinning, Katie poked Amanda in the shoulder, "Wake up, we gotta talk."
Amanda shot her a venomous look, and asked, "What for? I wanna sleep!"
Exasperated, Katie explained, "We gotta talk about stuff before they wake up." She explained, motioning around the room.
"Alright, give me a few minutes to get dressed, and I'll meet you out on the fire escape." Amanda said, slowly sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

~~~

"This better be good." Amanda threatened Katie as she crawled up the last step up to the roof, stretched, and collapsed into a sitting position. "It's really early still, and it's already really hot out!" She said, shifting to get into a more comfortable position.
"What are we gonna do?" Katie asked her. She was sitting cross legged on the roof, leaning her elbows on her knees, her brows furrowed in thought.
"We are gonna go back downstairs, and crawl into our sleeping bags, and go to sleep." Amanda smiled before dropping her face into her arms, and rubbing her eyes.
Snickering, Katie answered, "No, I mean, we can't stay here forever without telling them that we're not just from around here, we're not from this century!"
"If only I'd actually paid more attention to history class, we could make a fortune from betting on current events!" Amanda grinned.
Groaning, Katie told her, "I'm serious, we need to tell them, and maybe they can figure out how to get us home."
"Well," Amanda started, thinking deeply. "If the conversation comes up, we can let them know, and see how much they freak out."
"That sounds pretty good to me." Katie agreed.
"I wonder if Kennyon is waiting for us outside the restaurant?" Amanda thought aloud.
Drifting out the window, and up the stairs, was the sound of Kloppman yelling at them all to wake up.
"We better go get ready, since we happen to have free papes to sell." Amanda told Katie.
"That was soooo cool!" Katie commented, getting up, and starting down the stairs.
Climbing back into the window, they were hit with a slight heat wave.
"Ugh! Is it always this stuffy in here in the mornings?" Amanda asked the room.
"No, it's gonna be a scorcher, I can already tell. And that means no one will be outside in the hot sun." Jack said, as he slammed his fist into his pillow in frustration.
"Calm down, Jackie-boy, we'll do alright., there'll be lotsa families in the park that will want papes today. Blink reassured him.
They all went about their business, fixing their hair, and tying their shoes, until everybody was walking out the door, and onto the street.
They got about halfway to the distribution center, when they spotted a group of Nuns, already sitting in the shade, fanning themselves.
"These black horrid things are so very hot in the summer!" They overheard one of them say to the others.
"G'mornin' sisters!" Racetrack called out to them.
They stood, and rushed over to their table, "Oh, you blessed dears, here, have some nourishment. You really need to stay out of the heat today, there's no good in getting sick." One of them said, as she passed out pieces of still warm bread, and cups with water in them.
"You aren't planning on standing out in this sun all day, are you darling?" A tall skinny nun asked Mush.
"I was thinking of goin to Brooklyn to swim, if it got too hot, so I'll be all right, Ma'am." Mush reassured.
"Lord have mercy, it's already too hot to be standing out here, you best be on your way there already, and that goes for all of you, go cool off in the water."
"We can't do that, most of us only get to eat after we make enough money for our food for the day" Snoddy replied.
"The good Lord knows I certainly can't handle the heat of the sun, why don't we just give each of you some lunch to carry with you, and maybe some supper for tonight, and we can be off serving the Lord in the shade, instead of standing here, getting heatstroke in the sun."
"Sister Josaphine! How dare you suggest such a thing?" a small, wrinkled nun asked.
"My dear, do you remember how sick you got in '93 when we had that scorcher of a day?"
The little old nun paled just thinking about it. Then she started separating their food between the newsies.

~~~

A few minutes later, they were on their way, with enough food for the day, and strict instructions to stay cooled off. About half of their group decided to go swimming, including Itey, Jack, Blink, Mush, Dutchy, Racetrack, Snoddy, Bumlets, Snitch, Specs, Katie, and Amanda

"So where are we going?" Amanda asked the group.
Jack half turned, and said over his shoulder, "Brooklyn, dey's got da best swimming place. An' I gots some business wid their leader."
"Jack?" Blink said quietly so no one would hear "How do you think Spot will take dat?" he asked, motioning to the two girls walking behind them.
"I think he'll be ok, he don't ever do nothing to girls, so we aint got nothing to worry about." Jack told him.

"Ohhh, is that the Brooklyn bridge?" Katie asked excitedly, pointing into the distance.
"Um, yeah, how else do you think we'd get to Brooklyn?" Mush asked her.

Before they had even gotten to the bridge, Katie's feet were dragging, and she was complaining, "I'm tired, we should stop and rest!" She suggested.
With a sigh, Amanda told her, "You can have a piggy back ride if you want, but not for the whole way, or anything."
"Yay!" Katie bubbled, as she put her hands on Amanda's shoulders and hoisted herself up onto her back.
Grinning, Mush looked over at Itey, who was the closest one standing next to him, and motioned for Itey to jump on his back.
Then with Itey perched on his back, he ran forward, and yelled to the girls, "I'm gonna beat you!" as he ran past them.
"No you're not!" Amanda challenged back, as she took off running after him.
Laughing, Racetrack jumped on Blinks back, and yelled "Giddy up!" and they charged after the others that already ran ahead after picking partners, and racing off into the distance.
Jack just stood there, until Snitch clapped him on the shoulder, and said "We're the last two, and they're gonna beat us."
Shaking his head, Jack said, "Alright, hop on." And as soon as he was on Jack's back, he sped off, trying to overtake the last ones, at least.

Mush and Itey were declared the winners, since they got to the bridge first. Most everyone just collapsed when they got there, in a heap of laughing bodies.

"Now I'm too hot to move!" Specs declared, taking his bowler hat off and using it to fan himself.
Racetrack stood up, and brushed himself off, "I don't know about you, but I can almost hear that cool water callin' my name" He said, as he stepped onto the bridge, and started walking.
Everyone else followed his lead, after remembering their goal, they stood, and followed him out over the water on the bridge.
When they had gotten about halfway across the bridge, Amanda and Katie looked at each other and grinned. Running over to the side of the bridge, they leaned over, and screamed off of the side.
"I've always wanted to do that!" Amanda told the guys, when they laughed at them.
"Me too!" Katie agreed, nodding her head furiously.

~~~

Spot sat on the dock, repairing his slingshot. It finally gave out, after he used it to club a punk across the face, for trying to pick a fight with him. The idiot's hard head cracked the wood. Upon hearing voices, he looked up from his work. ~I knew Jacky'd be over here today, when it's hot like this, Brooklyn gets real popular with 'hattan newsies.~
When he stood up to call out a greeting to them, he caught sight of two newsies that he had never seen before… at least he didn't think so. The group was still a ways away, but they didn't look anything like any 'hattan newsies he knew.
"Hiya Jacky-Boy!" he greeted. "How's it rollin?"
"Hey Spot. It's too hot to be rollin" Jack told him.
"What have we here?" Spot asked him, motioning to the two girls.
"Oh, dey's new to the area, joined us two days ago. Da' shorter one's Katie, and the one in the chains is Amanda" Jack said as he pointed to them.
With a nod of his head, Spot said "Spot Conlon." As he wordlessly challenged them with his eyes, he reached his hand up, spit in it, and held it out to Katie, who was closest.
"Don't bother spitshaking wid da little one, she's squeamish." Bumlets told Spot as Katie scrunched up her face.
Rolling his eyes, Spot pulled back his hand, but before he wiped his hand on his pants, Amanda stepped out from the crowd, spit in her own hand, and held it out to him, grinning.
His face broke into a smirk as he grasped her hand, and tried to crush it in a handshake. His plans didn't work too well though, since she squeezed back, and with a pretty good grip… ~for a girl~ he admitted to himself.
"Hiyo!" Katie bubbled at Spot.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Spot said haughtily.
"Think about it Spotty boy." Amanda giggled at him.
"Look you little snit, no one calls Spot Conlon 'Spotty boy' without payin for it." He informed her.
"Now look who's name callin. I'm just trying to be friendly; I didn't think you would take such offence to a nickname, since you obviously have to live with being called Spot. I really don't see by looking at you why the whole city is afraid of you." She shrugged at him.
Each one of the manhatten newsies raised their eyebrows in surprise, and a few of them even dropped their jaws.
"What's that supposed to mean, girl?" Spot questioned.
"First of all, even I'm taller than you are, and I'm a girl." She said straightening her shoulders, and sizing him up.. "You walk with a cane." She motioned to his walking stick. "And, you're named after the family dog." She stopped for a moment to let that all sink in, before she said her last reason, knowing it would make him mad.
"And those are lovely pink suspenders."
"Red!" he interrupted. "Dey's faded." He said, scowling at her.
Suddenly, she burst out laughing. "I'm sorry, really I am, I just couldn't resist." She said between breaths.
"Why I outta…" he threatened, shaking his fist at her. "If I knew for sure dat you could swim, I would toss ya in!"
Smiling at him, and slipped her sandals off, and unhooked her necklaces, and pulled her bracelets off and put them into her shoe, before winking at him, and diving into the water.
Before she even got to the surface, everyone on the dock had run over to make sure she didn't drown.
"She can swim, don't worry about it." Katie told them.
"Can you swim?" Bumlets asked her.
"I can keep myself afloat, but I'm not that strong of a swimmer." Katie shrugged.
"So if we threw you in….." he started
"I would be very upset." She said determinedly.
"Is anyone else gonna swim?" Amanda asked them from the water, before she splashed them all.
"Oh, that's it, I'm gonna get you!" Blink threatened as he unlaced his shoes, and kicked them off. He jumped into the water, and started swimming towards Amanda.
She giggled, and dunked under the water, and disappeared. When he got to the spot where she had disappeared, he looked around, trying to find her. Then he disappeared underwater, and she surfaced, trying to hold him down.
He came up sputtering, and after he spit the water out of his mouth, he threatened, "You pulled me under! What a dirty trick!" he told her as he grabbed her by the shoulders, and shoved her down under the water with laugh.
By this time, all of the others had gotten into the water, and a full-fledged war had started.
"Help!" Amanda said as she was laughing so hard that she couldn't catch her breath, and Blink was merciless, shoving her under over and over.
Mush grabbed her, and pulled her up so she could catch her breath, "Are you ok now?" he asked her, still holding onto her arms.
She said "Yeah, thanks." But before she got the thanks out of her mouth, he dunked her under the water himself.
She came back up to the surface in time to see Blink clapping Mush on the shoulder in praise.
They both lunged at her, but before they could shove her under, she took a deep breath, dove, and swam under their feet, towards the dock. Opening her eyes underwater, she swam over to a single form holding onto the dock. She slowly surfaced, and whispered to who just happened to be Dutchy, "Hide me." She said with a giggle.
He moved out from the dock a little, and she ducked down and looked over his shoulder over at Blink and Mush, who were swimming in circles, trying to find her.
"We lost her!" Blink exclaimed.
"She's gone!" Mush said, frantically trying to feel around under the water.
Dutchy whispered something over his shoulder to Amanda, who was trying to suppress her laughter.
They both ducked underwater, and swam towards Blink and Mush, trying to avoid getting kicked, and they pulled them both underwater at the same time.

Jack crawled out of the water, and onto the dock, and sat down next to Spot, who was almost dry from sitting in the sun after he swam.
"Look at 'dem, dey's both got all of Brooklyn already wrapped around dere little fingers!" Spot said, shaking his head at Amanda and Katie.
"I know dat, dey did da same for all of 'hatten too." Jack admitted with a shake of his head.
"Where's dey come from?" Spot asked.
"All I knows is dat dey's runaways from a pretty odd town" Jack said, looking out over the water where Brooklyn and manhatten were mingling together. "That one would be easier to deal with if you could understand what she was sayin, but she talks in a different language half of da time." He pointed to Katie, who was trying to get Itey to float on his back without sinking.
"That one is … just… weird." Spot said, motioning towards where Amanda was getting dunked again. "What's all da chains for, is she a fighter?" Spot asked.
"She told me she's nevah been in a fight, evah, but she punches pretty hard… I mean, for a girl." Jack said, rubbing his arm where there was still a bruise from where Amanda punched him.
"She's fast enough that she got you?" Spot asked, amazed.
"Nah, I let her, you can ask her, even." Jack promised
"She's... weird. She acts just like a 'lil kid, ya know?" Spot commented.
"I noticed dat." Jack nodded in agreement. "It's like she thinks of life as some sorta game..."
"Hey!" Katie growled at them.
Both of the buys jumped, neither of them had noticed her get out of the water, or walk over to them.
"I heard that!" She accused them, her eyes narrowed, and her normally happy-go-lucky expresion was changed to what some her friends have termed the 'look-of-death'.
Both Jack and Spot instinctively stood, and backed up. Jack was amazed, this was not at all like the Katie he had spent quite a bit of time with in the last few days. She was furious.
"I happen to find her attitude much more to my liking than your 'high-and-mighty' attitude!" she yelled at them. "I'm glad she acts like a child, its better than people who grow up too fast, children know how to have fun!"
They looked at each other, and gulped. This was not something they had ever seen, a girl sticking up for herself, or anyone else in front of them
"You think your position as the toughest newsie in New York, makes you better than us?" She glowered at Spot.
She turned her death-glare to Jack, who looked terrified that she was going to pounce on him, or something. "And do you, Mr Cowboy, think your charm and great newspaper selling skills makes you better than us?" Katie put her hands on her hips, and shook her head at them "If you think our antics are childish and stupid, then I'm glad I'm not you. I'm having the time of my life! And do you want to know why? Because I don't care what idiots like you think of me!"
Both of them had slowly edged back bore and more, since she started her rant, and suddenly they both reached the edge, and started tottering at the same time. It was actually quite comical to watch them both grab onto each other, trying to pull themselves back up, and fall, as if in slow motion.
They hit the water with a splash a moment later, and resurfaced, coughing and sputtering to hear everyone else applauding. They didn't have time to yell at anyone though, before they were both bombarded and dunked at the same time from behind.