Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies, NIU, any of the coaches (they're real people, I told them my idea and, in Yeager's own words "That's cool, just don't tell people I'm fat and ugly.")

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Michelle "Raven" Beaufont and Kaleigh "Smalltalk" Connors dragged their suitcases up the flight of stairs and into the lobby of NIU's Warren South Tower.

Smalltalk let go of her roll-along suitcase and it fell to the floor. She fell along with it, and laid on the ground. "Bury me right here Rave- I'm a goner."

Raven rolled her eyes and bulled the slightly taller Smalltalk to her feet. "You're the laziest kid I know." Raven chided her younger friend.

"I know." The blonde sighed- her hair today adorned with lime-green streaks. "That's why I'm in Speech."

"If Shy heard you say that, then we'd really have to bury you." Raven commented.

"That's why, if anyone asks, I didn't say anything." Smalltalk responded.

"What's the likelihood of that?" Raven asked as her friend picked up her suitcase and dragged it over to the table. "Hey, Yeager."

Brian Yeager groaned jokingly. 'Smalltalk Connors. Great. I though I'd finally rigged it so that you wouldn't get accepted."

"You can't get rid of me that easily, Yeager-man."Â Smalltalk grinned as she took her packet from the counselor.

When Raven had gotten her papers, they turned.

"I gotta ask Judy about that suite she promised me last year." Smalltalk murmured as she scanned the room for the petite blonde woman who ran the camp.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Heeeelloooo. Earth to Broadway." The tall, brown haired girl snapped to attention.

"Oh…hey, Jack."

Jack Kelly shoved his hands into his pockets. "So, you're a captain, too."

Broadway nodded as she scanned the room assignments for her name. "Congrats, Jack."

"You too." Jack looked over her shoulder at the sheet she held in her hands for his and his roommate's name.

"Do you know who the other two are, yet?" he asked.

"Nope." Broadway answered. "What are you here for, Jack?"

"DDA. You?"

"Most likely HDA, but I haven't decided yet."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Well, you'd better decide soon."

Broadway shrugged. "I just have to talk to Judy about it. She'd understand."

"Of course she'd understand. Adults love you. You're perfect." He groaned, slightly disgusted by the last word.

"Thanks." She responded, swinging her duffelbag over her shoulder and picking up her pillow. "I try to be."

Jack rolled his eyes as she walked away.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Hey, Fratello!" Anthony "Mob" Assaro called to his friend Frankie "Racetrack" Higgins. As Race came over, Mob's younger brother Itey snuck off to talk to his own friends.

"What the verdict on the roommate front, Race?"

"You 'n Shad, me and Mr. Tabloid 'It's not Blues, it's Ozzy's new song' Guarrani."

"I heard that." Tabloid drawled, walking up to them.

"How long have you guys been here?" Mob asked.

"I just got here." Race shrugged. "Just had enough time to check the room assignments before you got here."

"Since six." Tabloid answered, checking his watch after moving his milliad of bracelets out of the way. "About two hours."

"Damn." Mob let out a low whistle. "Bored much?"

"Yeah." The punk admitted. "But it's worth it."- he shot a grin at Racetrack. "My bed doesn't sag in the middle."

"It's probably the only one on this entire campus that doesn't." Mob muttered as Racetrack protested loudly.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Rainman! Long time no see, Dude!" Danny "Snitch" Riccio called out. Kyle Rains turned and grinned, holding the elevator open for Snitch to join him.

"What's with you Neuqua kids and your nicknames?" Rainman asked, as he did every year.

Snitch shrugged, then grinned. "Not all of you were given nicknames."

"The only one that wasn't is Chelsea, and that's only because she threatened to castrate Skittery when he tried to give her one."

"True." Snitch answered, laughing, as he turned his key so that the elevator would take them to the 5th floor.

"Who's your roommate" Rainman asked as the elevator opened and they walked out.

"Skittery. Yours?"

"Igor."

Snitch grimaced, feeling the other boy's pain. "Well," he said pityingly, "have fun, kid."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Pie Eater" Jones and Kevin "Swifty" Li groaned as they pulled their bags into the tiny dorm room.

"It seems like every year the dorms get smaller, and I swear I don't grow that fast." Swifty muttered as he threw his duffel bag on a bed- who's center promptly sank to the ground. Swifty and Pie Eater exchanged a brief 'look'.

"Where are we plugging in the mini-fridge?" Pie asked as he began to pull chips, candy and packets of Easy Mac out of his smaller duffel bag out of his smaller duffel bag.

"Your side." Swifty answered.

Pie grabbed the extension cord by the ancient mini-fridge and the microwave and plugged it into the outlet above his bed. As the fridge hummed to life he piled in pudding cups, a variety of soda, water bottles and other various food items.

"We gotta sneak some ice cream up here after breakfast tomorrow." Pie commented as he shut the mini-fridge.

"Don't we always?" Swifty asked, turning to look at his roommate. He sighed as he saw that Pie already had half a Twinkie shoved in his mouth. "'Hope Smalltalk brought that giant purse of hers again- we were set with ice cream the entire camp after just one trip…call her and ask."

Pie Eater swallowed, then reached for the telephone.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Melissa "Mani" Thui and Lute "Swinger" McDonaghey were busy unpacking their clothes into their dressers when a loud knock caused their door to shake.

Swinger pulled open the door to reveal Smalltalk, Raven and Angelica "Vintage" Monahan.

"Dudes, come on, let's go!" Smalltalk shouted. Raven grimaced and rubbed her ear. "Orientation starts in less than five minutes.

Mani quickly slammed her drawer shut. "Crap, let's go!"

"Stupid Freshman." Raven shook her head at her younger friend, still favoring her right ear.

"I'm a sophomore now." Smalltalk corrected. "It means I'm better than I was-"

"Six weeks ago?" Swinger teased.

Smalltalk rolled her eyes. "By the way, Swinger." Smalltalk said, quickly changing the subject. "You're shirt's just…awesome."

"Thanks, yours too." Swinger grinned, her shirt reading "I'm not gay, but my boyfriend is." While Smalltalk's read "Carton of Eggs: $2. Hockey Mask: $15. Front Row tickets to a Britney Spears concert: $102. Egging the crap outta America's favorite Pop Princess: Priceless."

"What does Snitch think about it?" Raven asked Swinger, grinning wildly.

Before Swinger could respond, the elevator door opened, and all the cheerleaders inside, dressed up in their uniforms, crowded to the front.

"Sorry." One of them smirked. "We're all full."

"Wouldn't want to get on there anyway." Mani glared. "It smells a bit ripe in there."

The cheerleader opened her mouth to respond, but the doors closed once more.

They stood glaring at the door for a moment.

"I hate cheerleaders." Smalltalk growled.

"We're gonna be late." Raven groaned. "And Judy's gonna beat the hell outta us."

"Then Broadway'll finish us off." Swinger added.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Swinger, Mani, Smalltalk, Raven and Vintage rushed into the rec room just as Swan- Judy's husband- was about to close the door. Once they were inside, they came face to face with Judy Santacaterina's infamous 'Look". "I'm glad you finally decided to join us, girls." Judy said disappointedly.

"We wouldn't miss this for the world, Judy." Mani joked, grinning wildly.

"Sit down." Judy said, a hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth.

They rushed over to the side of the room that the Neuqua students were gathered on. Smalltalk noticed Cassandra "Jackal" Turner flirting with Tabloid and Mob as her boyfriend Jake and Tabloid's kinda-girlfriend, Sparrow looked on jealously. She gulped as Judy sent another look her direction, and sat on the floor between her boyfriend Pie Eater and Ashleigh "Mayfly" Bennet. Pie Eater spoke to her out of the corner of his mouth.

"Why are you late?"

"Evil cheerleaders." She rolled her eyes, then smiled as he took her hand.

"Alright, alright kids! Listen up!" Judy yelled, in a voice that was surprisingly large compared to her body. "There's more of you than normal, most likely because Shy told me it was now mandatory for all the Neuqua students to come, so I made more room."

"India had to quit." The Neuqua students heard Grace "Phoenix" Durnin whisper sadly to her boyfriend Itey. "Her family didn't have enough money to send her."

"We start out each year explaining our rules, so you come to know what is expected of you as campers." Judy said, raising her voice over Phoenix's, who grew red and fell silent. "First of all, this is a scholastic camp. You will work hard every day to prepare yourself for the school year. You have a little time for yourself and to hang out with friend during the day- practices are not social time." The interpers- HI, DI, DDA and HDA- grinned. Their practices consisted of about 20 minutes of practicing, and 3 hours and 10 minutes of social time.

"Consequently, there is to be no fraternizing with the other campers- Cheerleading, Wrestling and Dancing." Raven and Jackal's faces fell. They were dancers and were looking forward to talking with the people on the dance teams. Casey "Shad" Ehrler leaned forward to explain to them that these dancers were just as bitchy as the cheerleaders.

Greg Soloman- a counselor- laughed. "Girls, there's no hitting on the wrestlers."

A grin broke out on Judy's face, and she explained. "A couple years ago, we had this girl who decided it was a good idea to give her room key to this guy she met from Wrestling Camp. She was stuck outside her room until we found the guy."

"Needless to say." Solomon cut in. "We now refer to her as "Skanky Girl"-" the campers laughed. "Ladies, you don't want to go down in history as "Skanky Girl 2"."

"And guys, you don't want to be "Skanky Boy"." Swan added.

Tabloid's face lit up, and the people around him began to worry.

"So there's no talking to the other campers. We don't speak to them and we avoid them. We don't like them, they're a no-no." Judy continued.

Solomon began to laugh again, and pointed across the room where the moving wall was nearly halfway open. "Shhh, Judy, they're on the other side of the room." He whispered loudly, then shouted. "We don't hate you! We love you guys!" he paused, then shouted again. "Marry us!"

The Speechies laughed again.

"You have to be on your floors at ten o'clock. And I don't want you all complaining like last year. You are expected to work hard all day long, and obey your counselors. And not to act stupid." Judy took a breath, then went on. "If you are found with drugs, exhibit violent behavior or anything of that sort, then you will call your parents, tell them to pick you up, then pack your bags because you are leaving."

She walked to the other side, then stopped. "And if you don't like the way this camp is run, if you think your worked too hard, if you don't like our approach to Speech and the way we teach it, if you HATE me and hate the other counselors-" she stopped, leaving the new-comers thinking that she was going to tell them to tough it out- "Then too bad for you. If you don't like it, start your own camp."

Several of the return campers broke into applause. Snoddy Bobbit, Broadway's boyfriend, leapt to his feet. "You go, Judy!" he exclaimed as several kids pulled him back down, laughing.

"Thank you, Snoddy." Judy laughed. "And now, it's time-"

Several people groaned as Judy ignored them. "You are going to pair up with someone you don't know, and introduce yourself."

The Speechies groaned and muttered things under their breath as they searched for someone they didn't know or, at the least, someone Judy didn't think they knew.

Ten minutes later, Judy called them back to attention.

"Now, you all are going to introduce your partners, so that we'll all know each other-"

"And be one, big happy family!" Racetrack added in with false cheerfulness.

Judy rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Exactly. We'll start over there." She said, pointing to the end of the room."

"Hey, this is Hatter Morin." A short, tough looking guy said, jabbing his thumb towards the larger guy sitting next to him. "He's gonna be a senior, and is in DDA. His partner's Raven-" at this, the dark-haired girl let out a whoop. Hatter whooped in return. "He's datin' Kitty Waters…uh…and he's into Drama. He got his nickname from when he was in Alice in Wonderland, 'cause he just fit his role as the Mad Hatter so well."

Hatter rolled his eyes. "This is Spot Conlon. He's the DDA captain for Neuqua and is DDA partners with Jack Kelly. Um…he likes sitting around and looking tough-"

"Don't make me hurt you, Hatter."

"See?" Hatter added. "And…uh…he's a guy." The Speechies snickered.

"Thanks, Hatter. We feel enlightened." Judy grinned, then motioned for the next person to continue. When they had gone all the way around the room, Judy named all seventy campers (including Benazhir from Neuqua- try saying that 10 times fast).

""You just memorized it!" Sean "Blank" Wu, Neuqua's prize extemper, shouted.

"Fine." Judy said, a large grin on her face. "Mix up, children."

The Speechies scattered around the room. After they took their seats, Judy went though naming everyone again. The applause was even louder.

"Excuse me?" One of the dance coaches stuck her head in the door. "Can you keep it down in here? We're trying to have an important meeting in here."

"Of course. I apologize." Judy said politely. As soon as the coach's back was turned, though, she made a face. The kids bit back their laughter, and as soon as she was gone, they burst out laughing again.

"Shh, shh." Judy said, waving her arms. "Shush, we don't want to get yelled at again." The room slowly fell silent.

"Now, on with business. In a couple minutes, you're going to meet with your counselors and give them your name and event, then you'll have a little group meeting. After that, it's time to go back to the floors. DI, HI, HDA, DDA, you guys are over by the glass doors. SOS, OC your up by the TV. Prose, Verse and Dec, you're over by the couches. As you all know, we don't do Extemp, Impromptu or Radio here, so you guys can join a group for the camp. And, PLEASE, don't all go to OC. Thank you."

"Big Mafia game in our room after the meetings!" Pie Eater yelled as everyone went to join his or her group.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"I'm narrator!" Hatter yelled as he rushed into Pie and Swifty's room.

"You're narrator?" Pie protested. "It's my room!"

"I'm bigger than you are." Hatter explained.

"No, you're not!"

"Well, I'm older."

Pie Eater shrugged. "Alright, then-"

"I'm narrator second round!" Swinger exclaimed. Pie shot a glare at her.

"I'm narrator third round!" Jackal cut in, dragging Jake into the room.

Pie looked at her. "I'm bigger than you."

"Yeah." Jackal agreed, getting into his face. "But I'm meaner." She growled threateningly.

"Alright, you're narrator third round." Pie Eater squeaked. "I'm narrator fourth, though."

Jackal shrugged. "Fine by me."
Swinger and Mani filed in along with Shad and Skam. Skam took a seat, and when his boyfriend, David Jacobs, sat down beside him, he put his arm around his shoulders. Couples sat together- Raven and Jack, Brian "Dum" Kostevewa and Charlotte "Omelet" Downes, Snitch and Swinger, Broadway and Snoddy, Mayfly and the one-eyed Louis "Kid Blink" Ballet. Others, such as Jose "Bumlets" Fernandez, Rainman, Igor, Racetrack, Thunder, Swifty, Mob and Shad sat down with friends.

Hatter walked around, handing out cards. "Alright. Clubs are Mafia, heart is the doctor, diamond is the sheriff and- Jackal, do you mind getting you tongue out of Jake's mouth long enough to take a card?"

The dark-clothed girl pulled away from her boyfriend and pulled a card out of the pile, glaring at Hatter all the while.

"Anyway, spades are townsfolk. All right, town go to sleep." Everyone closed their eyes and bowed their heads.

"Mafia, wake up." Skam and Smalltalk looked up. Skam carefully pointed to Pie Eater and Smalltalk nodded, as did Hatter.

"Mafia, go to sleep. Doctor wake up." This time Swinger raised her head and looked around, then pointed to Pie Eater. Hatter nodded again.

"Doctor go to sleep. Sheriff, wake up." Mayfly raised her head slowly, careful not to disturb Blink, who apparently didn't know the meaning of the words 'personal space'.

Mayfly pointed to Dum, and Hatter shook his head. "Alrighty, my peeps. My homies. My dawgs-"

"Shut up, Hatter." Half the room snapped.

Hatter shrugged. "Alrighty, you can all wake up."

Everyone raised their heads and looked around the room.

"In the middle of the night-" Hatter started in a Mr. Moviephone voice. "Several townspeople were awakened by high-pitched screams coming from the railroad. They ruches outside and found Pie Eater-" Pie rolled his eyes as everyone laughed. "Tied to the railroad tracks. Luckily the Doctor was amongst them and was able to cut Pie loose before the circus train came through town."

Smalltalk pouted, and wrapped her arms around Pie Eater. "Who would try to kill my boyfriend? That's just mean."

Pie Eater looked down at her. "It was you, wasn't it?"

"What?!" Smalltalk exclaimed. "No! Why would I do that?!"

"Whoever thinks Smalltalk was part of the Mafia, raise your hand." Everyone's hand but Jackal's flew into the air.

"Well, Jackal, it's nice to know that YOU trust me."

"Of course I do… I think." Jackal said.

Smalltalk pouted. "I just want you all to know that I love you too."

"Alright, by popular vote, Smalltalk is now dangling from the old oak tree." Hatter said cheerfully.

"Let's throw a party!" Tabloid called from the hallway. Smalltalk threw her sandal out the door.

"Quiet, boy, you're not playing!" She called. Tabloid grinned, picked up her shoe, and took off down the hall.

"Hey!" Smalltalk looked around the room. "I'll be right back." And she took off after him, jumping over Kyle "Thunder" Pruitt on her way out.

"Alright." Hatter continued. "Town, go to sleep."

Next out was Dum, then Omelet right after which put to rest Dum's accusations of her. After Omelet was Rainman, Jake, then Igor, then Swinger, then Raven then Jack. The townspeople picked off Snitch, Bumlets, Blink, Snoddy, Race, Thunder, Mayfly and Mob.

"It's because I'm Italian, isn't it?" Mob protested as the remaining players voted against him.

"No." Thunder grinned. "It's because you're white."

All the Speechies who were there last year got the joke and laughed. Hatter grinned, then explained to the newcomers.

"Last year, Thunder was doing a DDA with this Rainman. Thunder was this guy mugging him, and Rainman forgot his line. He stood their for, like, five minutes until Rainman yelled out 'It's because I'm WHITE, isn't it?' and burst into fake tears."

The newcomers laughed along with the experienced campers.

"I'm back." Smalltalk said, panting at the door. "Tab ran downstairs, the idiot, and I had to chase him around the whole first floor." She sighed, then brightened. "And although you guys killed me, I brought you ice cream."

Pie Eater leapt to his feet, ran over and dug into her purse, which was full of cups of ice cream. Smalltalk raised an eyebrow.

"I get the feeling you only hang around me for the food." She said. Pie grinned, kissed her cheek, and pulled out a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream.

"It isn't pie." He sighed. "But it'll do."

Smalltalk grabbed a raspberry sherbet and then passed her purse around the room. Soon everyone was snacking on ice cream.

"So?" Smalltalk asked. "Did we start a new game or what?"


"Nope. Shad's still in, Jackal's still in. Skam's still in, so's Swifty. Mani's still in and Broadway's still in." Hatter said as he polished off his chocolate ice cream.

"Anymore ice cream?" Pie asked, grabbing the purse.

"You guys can keep what's left. I'll get some more tomorrow morning." Smalltalk said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Unlike you guys, the girls don't stay up half the night eating junk food."

"At least, most of us don't." Omelet muttered sheepishly.

Pie eater pulled out another ice cream and packed the rest into the freezer. "I'd be insulted if it weren't true."

"Anyway, back to the game." Shad said. "I think it's Skam."

"It's not time to accuse a person." Skam said, glaring at his brother.

Shad shrugged. "I still think it's you."

"You have no proof." Skam glared at his twin.

"Yeah, well…you have braces!" Shad accused him.

"Well, you have braces!"

"Shut up!"

"YOU shut up!"

"Boys!" Broadway interrupted. "Play nice." She said as they fumed, glaring at each other.

Hatter laughed. "Town, go to sleep. Mafia, wake up."

Skam woke up, then pointed at himself. Hatter nodded.

"Doctor wake up." Hatter paused a moment, even thought the doctor was already dead. "Doctor go to sleep. Sheriff wake up. Sheriff go to sleep. Town…wake up."

"In the dead of night, Skam stood on the roof of his large, three story mansion with tennis courts and hearted indoor/outdoor pool-complete with a sauna. Anyway, he leaned too far over the edge and toppled to his death. So ends our game."

Shrieks and gaps came from the group. "You killed yourself!" Jackal exclaimed.

"You can't do that!" Shad protested.

"Alright!" Smalltalk, his fellow Mafia member, high-fived Skam. "Go Mafia!"

"I was RIGHT!" Pie Eater exclaimed.

"You doubted it?" Smalltalk asked, surprised.

"Alright, I'm the next-"

Jason, the youngest camp counselor, appeared in the doorway. "No, no one's next. It's time to go, ladies."

The Speechies protested, but Jason just waved away their complaints. "You'd better get down there, or Judy's gonna skin you all alive."

The girls quickly exited the room, and went to the elevators at the end of the hall.

"Boys," Jason continued. "You might want to think about going to bed. You got to get up early tomorrow."

"It's 10." Swifty said, staring at Jason as if he sprouted three heads. "Hey…you want to play Mafia?"

"Sure!" Jason said, joining in the game and snacking on the food the campers brought.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

At 12, Omelet and Smalltalk stared up at their ceiling, where another crash came from.

"Are they throwing furniture?" Omelet asked.

"Dunno." Smalltalk groaned, turning over and covering her head with her pillow. "But I gotta stop getting rooms directly under Pie's."

"BOYS!" Judy screamed outside their door. "GET THE HELL TO SLEEP!"

The room above them feel silent, then erupted into laughter, which died out quickly.

Judy tapped on their door. "Goodnight, ladies."

"'Night, Judy." Smalltalk and Omelet chorused.Â

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Alrighty, I think Speech camp's gonna last about three chapters, cause this stinker's already 13 pages long. I'll be taking characters until the third chapter, so e-mail me at Fea Uf Este@aol.com, and I'll send you info ^_^.

*sigh I miss Speech camp. 'Cept the dancers and the cheerleaders. They were REALLY as mean as they seem. No kidding.

Well, its 3:30 AM as I finish this so I'm saving it and going to bed.

G'night, all.

Oh, and I love Lute for putting this up for me! *loves Lute*