First off, before I get on with this, I'd like to extend a great big group hug (!) to the few of you that have actually reviewed my stuff! It means a lot to me, since we don't get any other kind of feedback... *cough*PLEASE review!*cough* And so, after a brief hiatus (because apparently Dakki's muse wasn't the ONLY one hiding from her author), I bring you "Star Light, Star Bright": Part Four. Enjoy!
PART FOUR
It was a month later. Diamond frustratedly strolled the streets in search of someone who'd buy her last twenty papes out of the fifty that she'd started with that morning. Jack, on the other hand, had started with twice that much (as he always had), and he'd sold all of his hours ago. Even so, he offered to help her out.
"No thanks, Cowboy," she refused him as he attempted to take her stack of papes. "I don't need your help."
He gave her back the twenty papes. "You sure?"
"Yeah. I've always been able to sell all my papes before lunch... Business is jus' a li'l slow, that's all." She walked farther along. "I never needed your help before, Cowboy, an' I ain't plannin' on askin' for it now." It wasn't really harsh; it was the truth.
Jack understood. Since Diamond had resumed her job as a newsie last month, he noticed she tried to do all she could to show him that she could handle it by herself. He couldn't blame her, at any rate.
"Listen," she said half an hour later, twenty papes still under her arm, "You don't need to keep hangin' around. You're probably bored anyway. I'll get these papes sold an' I'll meet you at Tibby's. Whaddya say, huh?"
He reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, sure, Diamond. Whatever you say, pal. See ya at Tibby's." He disappeared behind an alleyway.
Diamond sighed with relief. Even though Jack was her best friend, he created a lot of pressure when she hadn't gotten her papes sold yet. He probably didn't mean to, but he always seemed to rub it in that he could sell twice as many papes as she could, and in half the time. She decided that, even if she only sold ten more, she'd quit and head over to Tibby's. Twenty was a lot of papers to be forced to eat, but she could probably sacrifice just ten.
"Extry! Extry! Collision with trolley results in bloodbath! Hundreds lost!"
Naturally, Diamond was only "improving" upon the actual headline about a swarm of bees hitting a trolley windshield. Even if she did have to twist the truth, not a single one of the many people passing her by took notice. Diamond huffed, exasperated. Her job had never been this difficult before. What was the matter with her, anyway? Was she losing her touch?
A flock of girls about her age trotted past her on her way to Central Park. Unlike Diamond, these girls were noticeably beautiful. There were five of them, each wearing a different pastel-colored dress. It was nearly laughable the way they walked in synchronized fashion, right down to the swooshing of their bustles. They peered at Diamond condescendingly as she continued to pitch the headline.
One of the girls, a vision in pale, minty green, stepped forward toward Diamond with a witty smirk. She opened her delicate matching bag and pulled out a shiny nickel.
"I'll take five," she proclaimed in a syrupy, upper-crust voice. Not wanting to get her hands dirty by making direct physical contact with Diamond, the girl dropped the nickel into Diamond's ratty shoulder bag.
Diamond thumbed through the papes and counted out five, handing them to the girl. "Thanks, miss. You have a good day." She nodded politely.
As she strode away, a nickel richer, Diamond heard the pastel-dressed flock of girls erupt into a condescendingly melodious laughter. She tried to ignore them, but it was difficult. Diamond had never really been laughed at before like that. It was probably because she'd always sold with Jack. Those kinds of girls were always too busy trying to catch Jack's eye than making fun of Diamond. Even under the circumstances, she held her head high as she entered Central Park.
"Extry! Hundreds perish in trolley collision! Read all about it!"
Diamond was very much relieved to notice an elderly lady approach her. Older women were always so nice to her, pinching her cheeks and calling her "the most darling girl I've ever seen."
"Afternoon, ma'am," Diamond greeted her. "Care to buy a pape today?"
The woman slowly drew out a penny from her handbag. "Why, yes, I think I will." She pressed the penny into Diamond's eager, open hand.
Diamond tipped her cap to the woman graciously. "Thanks very much, ma'am. Enjoy the park!"
She smiled a nice, warm, grandmotherly smile. "Thank you very much, young man."
Diamond maintained a smile as the old woman tottered away, but she was quite taken aback as those words played over in her head: "Thank you very much, young man." Young MAN. That's what she said. Maybe the old lady was without her glasses that day and she didn't know. But Diamond felt a twinge of insult regardless. Maybe she wasn't all that pretty, but Diamond was never mistaken for a boy. Not until then, anyway.
She continued around the park. She still had fourteen papes to sell. On her way, she encountered an attractive man and a pretty woman perched on a bench under a shady tree. They were cuddled together with their arms around each other, whispering things into the other's ear and giggling. Diamond knew that such people in love didn't want to be bothered, so she didn't offer them a paper. She merely passed them by.
Even so, that scene stuck with her. Diamond never did possess a delicate manner, and maybe she wasn't as pretty as those girls she'd met on her way to the park (she considered herself much nicer than them, at any rate). And maybe she was mistaken for a boy by that old lady, but it was only because she'd probably left her glasses at home. But amidst all these shortcomings, Diamond felt that she deserved something: She deserved to be loved, just like that couple snuggled up together on the bench.
She was cared about, of course, by all of the newsies back on Duane Street. But it wasn't the same. Diamond knew that they loved her, but only as a group of brothers loves their sister. She wanted to be loved exclusively-- by just one boy. A boy that made a decision on his own to love her-- not just because he felt he HAD to. And somehow, Diamond knew that she couldn't find that sort of love with the other newsies. She just couldn't.
So Diamond made a decision: she couldn't be a newsie anymore.
*****************************************************************
The sun had freshly set back at Tibby's. Jack was waiting patiently for his best friend to come back. To pass the time, he poked at a plate of cole slaw, taking a bite every so often.
"So where's Diamond at, anyway?" Race demanded, playing a quick round of poker with Blink and Skittery. "She's been gone for a long time."
"She's jus' tryin' to sell the rest of her papes," he answered.
Blink took up his cards. "Why didn't you go with 'er?"
Jack shrugged. "She said that she didn't want my help. I gotta respect 'er feelin's, y'know. If she wanted my help, she woulda asked for it."
The jingle of the bell on the door indicated Diamond's entrance. "Hey, fellas," she greeted half-heartedly, sitting with Jack and the others. The others went back to their previous activities.
"Whatsa matter?" Jack asked her as she sat across from him, his voice quiet with worry. "You still got your papes," he observed.
"Yeah," she said quietly, tossing her stack of unsold papes on the table. "Listen, Jack. I gotta talk to you."
He winced. Diamond had always called him "Cowboy." Something must have been terribly wrong. "So what's wrong?" he asked tentatively.
She lowered her voice. "Look. I don't wanna cause a scene or nothin', but I done some thinking all that time I was out sellin' by myself."
He nedded numbly as she continued:
"While I was out there, a lot of things happened to me," she said. "First, these real pretty girls start laughin' at me. Then, this li'l old lady calls me a 'young man,' and then there was this couple an'-- the point is, Jack, I don't think that I'm cut out for this no more."
His eyes grew frantic. "What are you sayin'?" he hissed, trying not to draw attention to himself or Diamond.
She took a deep breath. "Ev'ry day, I've been having a harder time sellin' my papes. I still got fourteen left. Jack... maybe I'm gettin' too old for this. Maybe I shouldn't be a newsie no more."
"No... no! That ain't true!" Jack was still quiet, which was only an indicator that he was very angry. He looked Diamond directly in the eye. "Diamond... you ain't too old! I'm a year older 'n you, an' I'm still doin' it!"
"Yeah, but you're dif'rent," she protested, pleading with her eyes for him not to cause a scene. "I'm a girl, Jack. Believe it or not, folks treat a girl newsie dif'rent from all the rest. I learned that today. It never happened before, 'cause I always sold with you, but now--"
"Then we'll always sell together," he reasoned. "Then no one'll bother you no more."
"Jack!" Her voice grew louder. "Don't you get it? I wanna be able to stand on my own two feet. I'm glad I have you an' everyone else to look out for me, I am! But I need to start learnin' how to fend for myself. An' bein' a newsgirl-- where ya don't get no respect unless you're with a group of boys-- ain't no place to learn it." Diamond didn't bother telling him about how she wanted to be loved in addition to everything else. He wouldn't have understood.
"But... but Diamond-- you're my best friend," he said, looking and sounding extremely hurt. Diamond even noticed a tear coming to his eye. "Why are you doing this? I jus' don't understand."
She avoided his painful glance. "It ain't like I'm gonna go back to Richmond, Jack," she insisted. "I'm gonna stay here in New York. Maybe get a new job an' a place to stay..."
"But one day, you're gonna forget all about me-- all about us guys." His voice cracked with the approach of a tear.
Now the surrounding newsies started to notice something strange was going on. They crowded around in a subtle manner, trying not to make it look like they were eavesdropping.
Diamond closed her eyes tiredly. "C'mon, Jack. I jus' wanted to stop by here, say a quick 'g'bye,' an' go. I didn't think you were gonna debate the whole thing with me."
"Yeah, well... I'm gonna!" His voice rose. "You can't jus' think that you can leave us forever an' not expect me to care!"
"Jack... you're takin' this all wrong--"
He glared at her. "No. I don't think so. You're leavin' us all of a sudden. How could I take that the wrong way?"
"You are right now," she pointed out, irritated. "You're gettin' worked up over nothing!"
"Bein' friends for over six years... that's nothing to you?"
Diamond stood up. "Of course that means something, Jack. It's all I got... it means ev'rything. An' we can still be best friends, like always. I just need to go out on my own." She headed out the door. "I can't argue this no more, Jack. I gotta go back to the lodgin' house an' get my things together."
Jack persistently followed her. "Diamond... I don't want ya to go," he pleaded. "I won't let no one make fun of ya no more, I swear!"
She pulled him into a quick hug. "G'bye, Jack. I can't stay... I know that now. I don't really have what I really want here." She began to disappear out the door and into the bleak night.
"What do you really want?" He stood outside the door.
"I can't tell you," she answered, embarrassed and angry. "Why should it matter if I move a few blocks away, anyway?"
"Because!" Jack yelled after her, like it was a good enough explanation. As she disappeared down the dark street and out of earshot, he softened his voice. "Because I love you, Diamond."
ARGH! The suspense! The unadulterated suspense! But it's all good. I was expecting this. That's why I posted the next chapter already! Go on and check it out!
PART FOUR
It was a month later. Diamond frustratedly strolled the streets in search of someone who'd buy her last twenty papes out of the fifty that she'd started with that morning. Jack, on the other hand, had started with twice that much (as he always had), and he'd sold all of his hours ago. Even so, he offered to help her out.
"No thanks, Cowboy," she refused him as he attempted to take her stack of papes. "I don't need your help."
He gave her back the twenty papes. "You sure?"
"Yeah. I've always been able to sell all my papes before lunch... Business is jus' a li'l slow, that's all." She walked farther along. "I never needed your help before, Cowboy, an' I ain't plannin' on askin' for it now." It wasn't really harsh; it was the truth.
Jack understood. Since Diamond had resumed her job as a newsie last month, he noticed she tried to do all she could to show him that she could handle it by herself. He couldn't blame her, at any rate.
"Listen," she said half an hour later, twenty papes still under her arm, "You don't need to keep hangin' around. You're probably bored anyway. I'll get these papes sold an' I'll meet you at Tibby's. Whaddya say, huh?"
He reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, sure, Diamond. Whatever you say, pal. See ya at Tibby's." He disappeared behind an alleyway.
Diamond sighed with relief. Even though Jack was her best friend, he created a lot of pressure when she hadn't gotten her papes sold yet. He probably didn't mean to, but he always seemed to rub it in that he could sell twice as many papes as she could, and in half the time. She decided that, even if she only sold ten more, she'd quit and head over to Tibby's. Twenty was a lot of papers to be forced to eat, but she could probably sacrifice just ten.
"Extry! Extry! Collision with trolley results in bloodbath! Hundreds lost!"
Naturally, Diamond was only "improving" upon the actual headline about a swarm of bees hitting a trolley windshield. Even if she did have to twist the truth, not a single one of the many people passing her by took notice. Diamond huffed, exasperated. Her job had never been this difficult before. What was the matter with her, anyway? Was she losing her touch?
A flock of girls about her age trotted past her on her way to Central Park. Unlike Diamond, these girls were noticeably beautiful. There were five of them, each wearing a different pastel-colored dress. It was nearly laughable the way they walked in synchronized fashion, right down to the swooshing of their bustles. They peered at Diamond condescendingly as she continued to pitch the headline.
One of the girls, a vision in pale, minty green, stepped forward toward Diamond with a witty smirk. She opened her delicate matching bag and pulled out a shiny nickel.
"I'll take five," she proclaimed in a syrupy, upper-crust voice. Not wanting to get her hands dirty by making direct physical contact with Diamond, the girl dropped the nickel into Diamond's ratty shoulder bag.
Diamond thumbed through the papes and counted out five, handing them to the girl. "Thanks, miss. You have a good day." She nodded politely.
As she strode away, a nickel richer, Diamond heard the pastel-dressed flock of girls erupt into a condescendingly melodious laughter. She tried to ignore them, but it was difficult. Diamond had never really been laughed at before like that. It was probably because she'd always sold with Jack. Those kinds of girls were always too busy trying to catch Jack's eye than making fun of Diamond. Even under the circumstances, she held her head high as she entered Central Park.
"Extry! Hundreds perish in trolley collision! Read all about it!"
Diamond was very much relieved to notice an elderly lady approach her. Older women were always so nice to her, pinching her cheeks and calling her "the most darling girl I've ever seen."
"Afternoon, ma'am," Diamond greeted her. "Care to buy a pape today?"
The woman slowly drew out a penny from her handbag. "Why, yes, I think I will." She pressed the penny into Diamond's eager, open hand.
Diamond tipped her cap to the woman graciously. "Thanks very much, ma'am. Enjoy the park!"
She smiled a nice, warm, grandmotherly smile. "Thank you very much, young man."
Diamond maintained a smile as the old woman tottered away, but she was quite taken aback as those words played over in her head: "Thank you very much, young man." Young MAN. That's what she said. Maybe the old lady was without her glasses that day and she didn't know. But Diamond felt a twinge of insult regardless. Maybe she wasn't all that pretty, but Diamond was never mistaken for a boy. Not until then, anyway.
She continued around the park. She still had fourteen papes to sell. On her way, she encountered an attractive man and a pretty woman perched on a bench under a shady tree. They were cuddled together with their arms around each other, whispering things into the other's ear and giggling. Diamond knew that such people in love didn't want to be bothered, so she didn't offer them a paper. She merely passed them by.
Even so, that scene stuck with her. Diamond never did possess a delicate manner, and maybe she wasn't as pretty as those girls she'd met on her way to the park (she considered herself much nicer than them, at any rate). And maybe she was mistaken for a boy by that old lady, but it was only because she'd probably left her glasses at home. But amidst all these shortcomings, Diamond felt that she deserved something: She deserved to be loved, just like that couple snuggled up together on the bench.
She was cared about, of course, by all of the newsies back on Duane Street. But it wasn't the same. Diamond knew that they loved her, but only as a group of brothers loves their sister. She wanted to be loved exclusively-- by just one boy. A boy that made a decision on his own to love her-- not just because he felt he HAD to. And somehow, Diamond knew that she couldn't find that sort of love with the other newsies. She just couldn't.
So Diamond made a decision: she couldn't be a newsie anymore.
*****************************************************************
The sun had freshly set back at Tibby's. Jack was waiting patiently for his best friend to come back. To pass the time, he poked at a plate of cole slaw, taking a bite every so often.
"So where's Diamond at, anyway?" Race demanded, playing a quick round of poker with Blink and Skittery. "She's been gone for a long time."
"She's jus' tryin' to sell the rest of her papes," he answered.
Blink took up his cards. "Why didn't you go with 'er?"
Jack shrugged. "She said that she didn't want my help. I gotta respect 'er feelin's, y'know. If she wanted my help, she woulda asked for it."
The jingle of the bell on the door indicated Diamond's entrance. "Hey, fellas," she greeted half-heartedly, sitting with Jack and the others. The others went back to their previous activities.
"Whatsa matter?" Jack asked her as she sat across from him, his voice quiet with worry. "You still got your papes," he observed.
"Yeah," she said quietly, tossing her stack of unsold papes on the table. "Listen, Jack. I gotta talk to you."
He winced. Diamond had always called him "Cowboy." Something must have been terribly wrong. "So what's wrong?" he asked tentatively.
She lowered her voice. "Look. I don't wanna cause a scene or nothin', but I done some thinking all that time I was out sellin' by myself."
He nedded numbly as she continued:
"While I was out there, a lot of things happened to me," she said. "First, these real pretty girls start laughin' at me. Then, this li'l old lady calls me a 'young man,' and then there was this couple an'-- the point is, Jack, I don't think that I'm cut out for this no more."
His eyes grew frantic. "What are you sayin'?" he hissed, trying not to draw attention to himself or Diamond.
She took a deep breath. "Ev'ry day, I've been having a harder time sellin' my papes. I still got fourteen left. Jack... maybe I'm gettin' too old for this. Maybe I shouldn't be a newsie no more."
"No... no! That ain't true!" Jack was still quiet, which was only an indicator that he was very angry. He looked Diamond directly in the eye. "Diamond... you ain't too old! I'm a year older 'n you, an' I'm still doin' it!"
"Yeah, but you're dif'rent," she protested, pleading with her eyes for him not to cause a scene. "I'm a girl, Jack. Believe it or not, folks treat a girl newsie dif'rent from all the rest. I learned that today. It never happened before, 'cause I always sold with you, but now--"
"Then we'll always sell together," he reasoned. "Then no one'll bother you no more."
"Jack!" Her voice grew louder. "Don't you get it? I wanna be able to stand on my own two feet. I'm glad I have you an' everyone else to look out for me, I am! But I need to start learnin' how to fend for myself. An' bein' a newsgirl-- where ya don't get no respect unless you're with a group of boys-- ain't no place to learn it." Diamond didn't bother telling him about how she wanted to be loved in addition to everything else. He wouldn't have understood.
"But... but Diamond-- you're my best friend," he said, looking and sounding extremely hurt. Diamond even noticed a tear coming to his eye. "Why are you doing this? I jus' don't understand."
She avoided his painful glance. "It ain't like I'm gonna go back to Richmond, Jack," she insisted. "I'm gonna stay here in New York. Maybe get a new job an' a place to stay..."
"But one day, you're gonna forget all about me-- all about us guys." His voice cracked with the approach of a tear.
Now the surrounding newsies started to notice something strange was going on. They crowded around in a subtle manner, trying not to make it look like they were eavesdropping.
Diamond closed her eyes tiredly. "C'mon, Jack. I jus' wanted to stop by here, say a quick 'g'bye,' an' go. I didn't think you were gonna debate the whole thing with me."
"Yeah, well... I'm gonna!" His voice rose. "You can't jus' think that you can leave us forever an' not expect me to care!"
"Jack... you're takin' this all wrong--"
He glared at her. "No. I don't think so. You're leavin' us all of a sudden. How could I take that the wrong way?"
"You are right now," she pointed out, irritated. "You're gettin' worked up over nothing!"
"Bein' friends for over six years... that's nothing to you?"
Diamond stood up. "Of course that means something, Jack. It's all I got... it means ev'rything. An' we can still be best friends, like always. I just need to go out on my own." She headed out the door. "I can't argue this no more, Jack. I gotta go back to the lodgin' house an' get my things together."
Jack persistently followed her. "Diamond... I don't want ya to go," he pleaded. "I won't let no one make fun of ya no more, I swear!"
She pulled him into a quick hug. "G'bye, Jack. I can't stay... I know that now. I don't really have what I really want here." She began to disappear out the door and into the bleak night.
"What do you really want?" He stood outside the door.
"I can't tell you," she answered, embarrassed and angry. "Why should it matter if I move a few blocks away, anyway?"
"Because!" Jack yelled after her, like it was a good enough explanation. As she disappeared down the dark street and out of earshot, he softened his voice. "Because I love you, Diamond."
ARGH! The suspense! The unadulterated suspense! But it's all good. I was expecting this. That's why I posted the next chapter already! Go on and check it out!