The third morning after the girls had arrived. This time, however, there was one more female body to account for in the House, and that body was making itself known in a most interesting manner. It had all started when Heather, having woken up a bit earlier, decided it was time to play The Game.
In order to understand The Game, one must understand the logic of Heather and Ivy. Being cousins and living in the same town, they spent a lot of time together. Books was also related, but they tended to leave her out of things because she usually didn't want to be involved. As such, Heather and Ivy found it passed the time rather well if they started to annoy each other. Usually one would be sitting around quietly, perfectly content in her task, while the other sneaked up on her and began to annoy her. Nine times out of ten, they would end up rolling on the ground and pulling hair and yelling, but it was all in good fun.
As such, when Heather found that Ivy was still dozing in her bunk, The Game was initiated.
*********************
"HEATHER! GET OFF OF ME!"
The screams coming from the lower floor made most of the boys pause in their morning routines. Jack ignored it. After the previous morning, he had given up all pretenses of having control over the girls. Race turned to Books, who was standing at the sink beside him.
"Dey a'ight down dere?"
Books smirked and shrugged. "If it gets any worse I'll see what I can do, but it's best to let them work it out themselves." Her look turned thoughtful. "I guess it was Heather's turn today then."
Several Newsies stared bug-eyed at her. "Ya mean dey do dis often?" Bumlets asked.
Books shrugged. "Yeah, at least once a week or so." She receive some disbelieving looks. "Hey, they're actually pretty funny when they do this. They just roll around on the floor and one'll scream 'Stop!' and the other'll just giggle like a maniac. It's pretty amusing." She grinned, done with her "primping" and moved to watch the spectacle of her cousin and her sister in The Game.
Spot, being rather oblivious in the mornings, was mildly surprised by the event. Heather, in the two days she'd been with him, had struck him as a relatively levelheaded girl. To see her acting like this was a bit of an eye-opener. He looked to Books and she shrugged, indicating that this was normal behavior and that it would probably be in his best interest to leave the scene of the crime. Spot nodded and walked briskly back into the bunkroom.
***********************
Soon after, life fell into a routine. Everyone, minus Spot and Heather, who had gone back to Brooklyn, spent the night at the House, and went to their respective jobs in the morning. If they could, most would meet before the afternoon edition was sold, and then meet back up in the evening at the House for some fun and games. Life continued at this pace for about two weeks.
***********************
Racetrack Higgins was incredibly amused. Just a moment before, Luna had been poking Skittery to see if he was ticklish. Then Books and Ivy had joined them, and Luna switched her target to Books. She poked Books in the side of her ribcage, causing the smaller girl to jump, make some kind of squealing yelp, and crouch to the ground. Everyone standing in the square paused in what they were doing to look at her.
"Help?" came Books' feeble plea. Luna laughed maniacally and charged her best friend, who cowered on the ground.
"Oh! God, Luna, stop! Please! Please, oh god, stop!" Her friend, who, almost sadistically, continued to tickle her, mostly ignored Books' shouting gasps. Ivy stood by and watched. She only got involved if Heather was there, and then only to annoy Heather.
Race mused on the differences in all of the girls. Take, for instance, Jill. The girl was an excellent writer, submitting her articles under the pen name Skye Feyden (when asked why, she just shrugged and said it had something to do with her, and something to do with the space-time continuum), but she was quiet as Hell around most of the guys. With the other girls, she would begin to open up, but Race had found that she did best at one-to-one conversations. In fact, all of the girls, except for Heather, had taken to confiding in him for a reason he couldn't fathom. He had found, for instance, that Jill had a younger sister whom she really didn't get along with at all. She was a big fan of football, though she favored the British teams (his Italian pride was a bit bruised at that), and she was an avid reader, though not so fast a one as Books.
Race tended to take everything the girls told him with a grain of salt, seeing as how he couldn't be expected to understand everything they talked about. Often, though, they were able to get the point across by comparing it to something he knew. There were a few things, however, he wouldn't touch with a sixty-foot pole.
Things like the reason Jill had just been grumpy all last week. Everything was fine, except for her disposition. Then came the day she'd used the toilet in the morning, and let out a growling scream of frustration five seconds after entering. The male population had been entirely unsure what to do, so Books had taken over.
"Jill, honey?"
"WHAT." Eyes widened universally at her tone.
"What's wrong, hon?"
"What do you think?" Books could feel the sarcasm in her friend's voice. "It fucking started."
Books thought for a moment, but then it clicked. She winced in sympathy. "Ouch. Ya need any supplies?"
"Yeah, you got any?"
"I think so, lemme check." Books raced downstairs to her room, and returned a minute later with some…things in her hands. "Pad or tampon hon, I've got both."
Jill let out a sigh of relief. "Pad, for now, I'll save the tampon for later." Books obligingly tossed the little square of green[1] over the top of the toilet stall and then continued her own morning business.
When Jill exited the toilet she looked incredibly pissed off. Ivy took one look at her friend and started giggling. Jill glared at her and muttered, "Just you wait."
Soon after, Racetrack had discovered that during "her time of the month" Jill was a rather amusing, and somewhat frightening, person to be around.
*********************
"Jill, what's up?"
"Nothing. Just thinking."
"'Bout what?"
"Stop using that sing-songy voice, 'Books'!"
"Okay, but seriously hon, what's on your mind?"
Jill gave her friend a look. "You aren't going to tell anyone?"
Books held up her hands in a gesture of surrender and openness. "Promise. You know you can trust me. And don't give me that look!"
Jill sighed. "Mush."
"Huh?"
"That's what's on my mind, dumbass."
"Oh. Well, what about him?"
Jill glared at Books. "Like how hot he is, and how much I like him, and…GAAAH!" Books started laughing.
"It's okay hon. What makes you think he doesn't like you back?"
"Ivy, that whore." Books laughed even more.
"You know, my sister isn't really a whore. She's just…flirty." It had long been a joke among their friends that Ivy had a secret life where she worked the corner nightly. That had stemmed from a prediction in seventh grade that a then-Junior had made. Said Junior had stated that Ivy would be a porn star, Heather would be a hardcore business woman, and Books would be a nun. Fortunately, none of those predictions seemed to be coming true.
"Yeah, but… I think she likes him too."
Books looked thoughtful. "I don't think she does. But you might want to talk to her about it. She seems to me to be a bit more interested in someone else here." Books winked at Jill, and the other girl laughed.
"Okay, will do."
*******************
So Jill talked to Ivy, and Ivy admitted she was just flirting and didn't really have an interest in Mush. Ivy backed off in the flirting almost immediately and Mush approached her about it.
"Uh, the thing is, I'm not interested in you romantically, and it helps to not flirt so much…" Ivy looked somewhat helpless as she tried to explain without giving away Jill's feelings on the matter.
"But I'se wasn' intr'sted in you'se eithah."
"I know Mush, but the thing is, I know someone who likes you, and she asked me not to flirt because it bothers her."
"Oh." Mush thought about this for a moment, and his eyes widened. "OH." He mumbled a goodbye to Ivy and walked off in a bit of a daze. Ivy shook her head and smiled, wondering what her friend was getting into.
*************************
Jack leaned in what he thought was a casual way (but really only made him look kind of conspicuous) against the wall outside the girls' room. Their window was open (the weather had been getting steadily warmer), and two voices carried on the slight breeze. Jack looked down the small alley to Kid Blink, who was keeping watch for him on this little eavesdropping venture. Blink gave him a quick signal that meant everything was good, and then Jack ignored him, his attention focused on the voices coming through the window.
"He reminds me of Pete." That was Luna's voice, with a definite growl attached to it.
"Ah. So what was wrong with Pete again?" And that was Books. Did she always end up being the mediator in these things?
"He's a fucking player and an asshole."
"Oh yeah. But Jack's a player? I wasn't aware of that." Insert widening eyes on the part of the eavesdropper.
"He sure acts like it." Was it just him, or was that growl getting worse?
"Hon, I don't know what to tell you, except don't kill him. We can't do that to these boys."
A loud sigh from the room. "Fine, but if he tries to play me, I'll castrate him."
Jack gulped loudly and walked quickly but quietly back to Blink, and Blink, upon seeing Jack's expression, decided not to ask any questions as they left and didn't return to the Lodging House for another hour.
[1] Yay for those lovely, large, Always Ultra pads. The ones in the green wrappers. ^_^;;
A/N: Yeah, I'm ending it there. This is kind of a transitional chapter, and I needed to set a few things up. I apologize profusely at the delay, but I was running on very little inspiration as of late. Add that to the fact that I'm up at camp most of the time, and computer access is incredibly limited, and that means Arty doesn't get to type much. ^_^;;
I'm posting this bad boy before I head back up on Sunday, because then I'll be away from home until July 18. It's crazy, but I love working up there, and I'm not the only fic author, nor am I the only Newsies fanatic. I just hope someone brings up the VHS so we can watch those wonderfully hot boys. ^___________^
Shout-outs!
Sami: Yay! You're back! I'm glad you think it's real, I'm trying to keep it there. Here's a bit of background for you, I'm working on some more.
Dreamer: More descriptive, got it. **checks off list** Thanks for the review!
Luna: Remind me again why I type you a shout-out? I live with you, and yet… ^_^;; Anyway, I'm trying, and you know that.
Rain and Kelly: Yay, new reader! I'm really happy you both like it. I really do randomly break into song. ^_^;; And much Snitch-love back at you! ^_~
Kate: Your review cracked me up. ^_^ You hit the nail on the head on a few things, but when I showed it to Ivy, she laughed too. Believe me, I'm taking into account getting the girls back home, and also the romance. It's kind of rough, especially with everyone here yelling at me to write. ^_^;; But it works out somehow. I'm glad you took the chance to read this! ^_^
Reading and reviewing are not exactly necessary but kind of nice! ^_^;;
