*Chapter 27*
"Ready?" Silver Fists let out a tired sigh after selling the last of her newspapers. She had just reached the corner where she promised to meet the others, who were standing around looking bored.
"Yeah, we'se been ready. Wheah was you?" Mush questioned, wiping the sweat from his brow. Silver concealed her blush the best she could as she remembered the twenty minutes spent daydreaming on a park bench when the others where selling.
"Bad headline." She said quickly, turning and beginning to walk toward Brooklyn.
"Wheah'd Blink head off to?" Illusion asked innocently as the three walked along the cobblestone street toward the huge bridge that lay just ahead.
"Yeah, I thought he was sellin' wit' you." Mush added. Silver Fists smiled at the thought of Blink, but quickly recovered.
"Oh, we didn't sell tageddah taday." She replied with a giggle, "Dragonfly sent 'im to da races wit' Racetrack. Guess she don't wanna lose no moah money."
"Hey lay off 'im, 'e's a good pokah playah...da best even." Mush defended his friend but still allowed a smile to dance across his lips.
"He may be good at pokah, but he shouldn't bet on horses. Dey got minds of deah own." Illusion stated seriously, before all three of them busted out laughing. They trudged their way across the long Brooklyn bridge, making a stop in the middle as a tradition the Manhattan Newsies held.
* * *
"So, I hoid Spot Conlon let ya take 'is sistah sellin', Dibs." A tall boy with beautiful abs wearing black and white attire greeted them as they came to the docks. Katie was in hot boy heaven! Where were all these gorgeous men hiding during the movie?
"News travels fast around here." Bottle Cap grinned, looking around the docks at the handful of boys that were looking in their direction. Where was Spot, though?
"Well, we are newsies." The boy smiled down at Bottle Cap. He wasn't that tall, but 5'10" is tall when you're only 5'2" like Bottle Cap.
"She noticed." Dibs chuckled, "Bottle Cap, dis heah is Abs."
"Figures." The short girl muttered quietly with a smile, to which both the boys laughed. "What? It's a fitting name."
"I'm just su'prised dat ya didn't guess it." Dibs teased. Bottle Cap looked up at him, the white flecks in her blue eyes standing out in the sunlight. Why was he so perfect? Oh yeah, because she made him!
"Hey, heah comes Mush." Abs announced. That's all it took for Bottle Cap to spin around and nearly fall.
"Silver!" She exclaimed, much to everyone's amusement. "We have got to talk."
"Hey Mush, Hades is ovah in da Lodgin' House." Abs informed him before running and doing a flip off the docks into the water, receiving hoots from his friends.
"Heya Silvah, Illusion." Dibs greeted, feeling a little left out.
"Hey Dibs, wheah's dat Conlon boy?" Illusion asked, glancing around.
"Good question." Bottle Cap announced, remembering her prior realization that her brother wasn't around.
"He sold ovah in Ha'lem. He'll be back soon." Dibs shrugged.
"Why..." Silver began but decided that she really didn't care if Spot sold in Harlem or what his motives were. "Yeah, we do need ta tawk, an' now."
"Okay." Bottle Cap responded, "What are you going to do, Illy?"
"Oh, I'm takin' a swim. It's hot out heah taday." She removed her dark blue cap and ran her fingers through her hair. With that, she did just what she planned and joined the boys in the river.
"We'se gonna tawk ovah deah, okay?" Silver Fists asked Dibs, feeling a little bad for leaving him stranded.
"Whatevah, me an' Cards got some pokah ta play inside." He flashed his sweet smile at Bottle Cap before heading in to find his pal.
"Okay," Silver began the second they had space to talk about their secret, "I can't wait anuddah second, BC. Ya gotta tell me about dis guy."
Bottle Cap twirled her hair thoughtfully, wishing she knew the answer. She also wished that Silver didn't know about her secret, not because she didn't love and trust her, but because she wanted to forget and pretend she had been Bottle Cap forever. Still, even if Silver Fists didn't know, that small voice inside of her would still be torturing her with What about reality? What about your family? What about your friends? All of those questions soaring through her mind but only one stuck--What about Katie?
