Thanks to everyone that's been reviewing this story. I really, really appreciate it! I didn't even know it was all that good to begin with. But you seem to like it! So thanks. Keep those reviews a-comin'! I have minimal self-confidence, so any kind word will be super!

And now we move on to Part Three, "which is a smashing scene with some lovely acting..." -Monty Python and the Holy Grail

***PART THREE***

At the ungodly hour of six a.m. the next morning, Diamond was in no way prepared to resume her job as a newsie. All she wanted to do was sleep. Kloppman, however, bonked her with the end of his broomstick, just like he used to do when she was ten.

"Ain't gonna cut ya no slack, Diamond," the old man said to her. "Get on up! The presses are rollin'!"

Diamond growled and swung at him tiredly as he moved across the bunkroom, waking up the rest of the newsies. She rolled over and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Before she was completely awake, she heard Cowboy:

"Wakey-wakey, Diamond!" He punched her good-naturedly on the shoulder. "C'mon, carry the banner! Let's go!"

She yawned. "Wanna go back to bed..."

He threw a pile of clothes at her. "Here."

"What--what is all this stuff?" Diamond examined the clothes.

"Well, I don't think you'd wanna sell papes in those frills ya wore yesterday," he answered. "I found some a your old clothes. 'Sides," he added, "bein' a newsie's hard work. You know that. Wouldn't want ya gettin' all your pretty new things dirty." He cracked a smile. "C'mon..." he coaxed, waving the bundle tantalizingly. It was that original Jack Kelly charm. It never really worked on Diamond, but she was too tired to argue.

"All right," she finally conceded. She snatched up the ragged clothes and hopped off the bunk, marching into a vacant washroom stall to change.

"So THERE's Diamond Murphy!" Racetrack remarked as she came back out moments later, decked out from head to toe in her old newsie garb. "I wondered what happened to 'er!"

The old Diamond began to come through. She shot Race a Look. "What's it to ya, Race? Shove over; I gotta use the mirror."

Racetrack obediently moved aside, and Diamond got a good look at her reflection. She was surprised to see that her old clothes still fit her. Diamond's brown pants were secured with dust-glazed green suspenders, strapped over a formerly white (but now dirty and worn) shirt with long sleeves that she rolled up to her elbows. She tossed her tan cap on her head of now free-flowing longish brown hair. Sure, she was reluctant to admit it, but seeing her reflection made Diamond miss the good old days.

She brushed past Jack to get to her old pair of boots. "C'mon, Cowboy... you can't hog up the whole walkway, y'know."

He held up her boots. "Lookin' for these?"

"Matter of fact, I am." She snatched them from him and laced them up. Diamond looked up at him. He stared at her with a funny expression on his face. "So what're ya lookin' at, Cowboy?" she growled at him, gaining her old mannerisms by the minute.

"Jus' thinkin'--"

She punched him playfully in the arm. "Well, don't think so much!" she teased.

"Guess you ain't as grown-up as you think, huh?" he said, grinning.

"Yeah... well, we'll see."

He clapped her on the back. "Good to have you back, pal."

She smiled. "Good to be back." She grabbed her shoulder bag. "Let's go carry the banner, Cowboy!"

As a sunrise made pink streaks along the Manhattan skyline, the newsies marched semi-collectively to the distribution center down the block. They formed a line along the side of the building, as usual. Cowboy was first in line, as usual. He smiled teasingly at Weasel, who had recently regained his job with a stern warning from the police.

"'Mornin', Mister Weasel," he chirped, thumbing through a copy of the day's paper casually, searching for a good headline to sell.

"Take yer time, why don't ya?" Weasel grumbled.

"Now, now, Weasel," he cautioned. "You won't get none of my business if you push me around." He slapped a fifty-cent piece on the counter. "The usual."

"Hun'red papes!" Weasel called to the back.

Jack took up his fat stack of papers. "Happy doin' business with ya, Weasel!"

Diamond was next. She dug out a quarter and flipped it to Weasel. "Fifty papes."

"'Ey," he said, squinting, "ain't you that Diamond kid?"

She nodded proudly. "That's me."

"Where have you been?"

"I ain't here to chat, Weasel." She raised her eyebrows at him. "Now, do I get my fifty papes or what?"

"Fifty papes for Little Miss Smart-Mouth!" Weasel growled to the back.

Diamond smiled triumphantly. "Thanks, Weasel." She took her stack and strode away.

Jack was waiting nearby, looking at the front page. "That's my girl!" he praised. "Taught ya everyt'ing ya know."

"That was real fun," she admitted. "Kinda missed harassing Weasel all this time. So, any good headlines today?"

He set the paper down. "Diamond, if I told ya once, I told ya a thousand times: Headlines don't sell papes--"

"--NEWSIES sell papes." She recited with him. "Yeah, yeah, I know."

"'Morning, Jack."

An unfamiliar-looking newsie approached Cowboy. Diamond hadn't seen him before. He must have been new.

Jack nodded to the new face. "Whaddya say, Davey?"

A much younger boy joined them. "Cowboy!"

Jack smiled, bending down to ruffle the little boy's hair. "Heya, Les." He turned to Diamond. "Diamond, this here is the Jacobs brothers: Davey, an' his little brother, Les."

He watched his pal admiringly as she spat into her hand and offered it to Davey, who reluctantly did the same. Les, not wanting to feel left out, spat in his own little hand and presented it to Diamond, who shook it graciously.

"Whaddya say, Davey and Les Jacobs?" she greeted them.

Les was in awe. "I've never seen a girl newsie."

She smiled at him. "Ain't no other girl newsies. Just me."

"You're Diamond?" Davey asked. He turned to Jack. "Is this THE Diamond Murphy?"

Cowboy grinned proudly. "This is her, all right."

"What is this, Cowboy? You been talkin' about me behind my back?" Diamond teased.

"Constantly!" Davey answered. "Didn't think we were really gonna meet you someday."

"Didn't know I was really coming 'til a few days ago," she replied. "Wait a second. Davey Jacobs, right? Hey, Cowboy, ain't this your walkin' mouth?"

Davey nodded. "That's me."

"Hmm."

"All right," Cowboy put his thick stack of papes over one shoulder. "If we're all done socializing, we got a livin' to make." He turned to Diamond. "Wanna sell together, like we used to?"

"Naturally! Is there any other way to sell?"

Jack, Diamond, Davey, and Les headed to Central Park from Duane Street, calling out headlines along the way.

"Extry! Extry!" Diamond called, waving a paper. "Runaway carriage plows into marketplace in Queens! Thousands of dollars in damage!" An elderly woman handed her a penny. "Here's your pape, ma'am! Thanks!" She shoved the penny in her bag proudly. "First pape of the day!" she crowed.

"Where that story?" Cowboy demanded.

She flipped through a copy. "Page three." She showed it to him.

"There really WAS a runaway carriage in Queens," Davey observed.

"You see, Cowboy?" she said. "Sometimes you don't have to 'improve the truth.' There's plenty of good headlines right under your nose."

"Guess I could give it a shot," he said. "Extry! Queens devastated by stampede of mad horses!" A couple passing by each purchased a paper. Jack tipped his cowboy hat to them. "Much obliged!" He admired the two shiny pennies in his hand. "Hey, that ain't so bad."

"You're getting better," Diamond admitted. "But we still got papes to sell. Let's get a move on!"

****************************************************

The four of them had sold all of their papes by lunchtime. It looked like Central Park was a promising selling spot. They decided to stop by Tibby's to grab something to eat, since it was on the way back to the lodging house. The place was, as usual, crawling with newsies.

"'Ey, Jacky-boy!" Spot, apparently on loan from Brooklyn, flagged everyone down. "We saved ya a few chairs!"

"Whaddya know, Spot?" He took a seat across from him, sitting between Diamond and Kid Blink. "So, what're ya doin' in Manhattan?"

He took a bite out of his roast beef. "Finished sellin' me papes early this mornin'. How's business this side a the bridge, Jacky-boy?"

"Ain't bad," he replied.

As soon as Jack put in his lunch order, he identified a familiar face across the room. It was Sarah, giggling and talking to her new boyfriend-- a university guy from Long Island. They were cuddled up side-by-side in a booth together. Suddenly, Jack felt sick to his stomach.

Diamond looked at him critically. "Somethin' wrong, Cowboy?"

He sighed. "Sarah's over there," he said quietly.

Spot turned to get a good look. "Look at that... she's smoochin' all over that lousy, good-fer-nothin'-- well, no offense, Davey an' Les. I know she's your sister an' all."

"None taken," Davey insisted. "Trust me, we were all much happier when Sarah was with Jack."

"Then she left 'im for that bummer in a fancy jacket," Spot growled. "Y'know, if she wasn't a girl, I'd soak 'er." Despite Spot Conlon's tough-guy reputation, he only soaked other boys.

"Don't make no difference to me," said Diamond. "I'LL soak her."

Jack remained quiet.

Kid Blink let out a doubting laugh. "Yeah, Diamond... you do that."

"What? You think I can't?" She spoke loudly enough for everyone, including Sarah, to hear: "I'll soak anybody that hurts my big brother's feelings! Ain't that right, Cowboy?"

"Sure, Diamond," he answered half-heartedly. "Whatever you say, pal." He stabbed at his lunch with his fork.

She patted him on the back encouragingly. "Jus' eat some food, Cowboy. You'll feel much better when you've eaten."

But Jack didn't touch his food at all. He tried to raise his spirits with a few glasses of sarsparilla, but even that didn't help. Every time he set down another glass, he'd see Sarah, and his heart sank. Over time, Jack had grown to accept the fact that he and Sarah weren't together anymore, but it tore his heart into pieces when he saw her laughing and carrying on with someone else. Of course Sarah was bound to meet new guys. Jack just didn't want to have to watch.

Meanwhile, Diamond caught a glimpse of this Sarah Jacobs for the first time. She could, to some extent, see why this girl had taken her best friend's heart. Sarah had soft features and a smile that probably cast a spell on many guys. But if this Sarah, whoever she was, broke Cowboy's heart, she didn't deserve him.

"Don't worry, Cowboy," she tried to console him. "She ain't worth your time."

The rest of them murmured in agreement: "Yeah, Jack... don't worry 'bout it... she wasn't for you... Yeah."

He smiled sadly. Jack knew that his friends were trying to make him feel better. "I'm over her," he insisted. "I really am. It's just a li'l hard to see her with that--"

Spot tried to finish his sentence: "Punk? Bummer? Low-down dirty scab?"

"Spot..." Diamond cautioned. "C'mon, calm down."

"Well, maybe I can soak the guy she's with," Spot conspired to himself.

"C'mon, Jack." Diamond paid the tab for her lunch and his. "It's on me today. Let's go."

Typically, Jack would have debated the issue with Diamond, but this time he was glad she'd bailed him out. They continued on their way to Greely Square, where the two of them sat down in a bench.

"You wanna talk about anything?" she asked tentatively.

"I don't know..." he muttered, brushing the hair out of his face. "I ain't never seen Sarah that happy before, that's all. She was never that happy with me. I musta done something wrong."

Diamond shook her head fervently. "No, no... if she wasn't happy, that's her fault, not yours. Cowboy, I've seen you court a lot of girls over the years, and you ain't never had the heart to break up with a single one of 'em on your own. You're a good fella to have around, Cowboy. The only reason your relationships work or don't work is because of them, not you." She paused, frustrated. "Geez Louise. I probably ain't makin' no sense..."

"Even if you ain't makin' sense, it sure sounds like you are," he said to her, cracking a smile. "Y'know, it's time I really got over Sarah. Like ya said, she ain't worth my time."

"If that's what you wanna do, by all means, go for it." She clapped him on the back. "Y'know, when I was still in Richmond, you know what my grandma said to me right before she died?"

"No... what did she say?"

"She told me that you gotta listen to what your heart tells you to do. That's the only way to know what's best for you." She smiled. "So, do what your heart tells ya."

"Yeah," he said after a pause of reflection, "that's what I want. I gotta get over her."

She placed a hand on his back. "Atta boy! If there's anything I can do for ya to help..."

"I'll let ya know." He smiled.

"Hey, what're best friends for, huh?"

All RIGHT! Part Four is up and running! G'wan and check it out!