The six teenagers ran back out of Central Park and towards Medda's. The entire way neither Dutchy nor Spaz realized that their hands were still intertwined. But Eight noticed and she thought that it was adorable. She ran ahead up to Blink and laughed in his ear.
"I'll race ya. . ." Eight dashed forward and Blink ran to catch up. They made their way around a corner and Eight caught sight of the theater. She ran up to the door and touched it.
"I won! Ha I won." She threw her hat on the ground and began to dance around it.
Blink and the others caught up and breathed hard. "Hey dat ain't fair!" Blink said as she attempted a cart wheel.
Eight fell on the ground and began to laugh. "How wasn't it fai. . . .Oh look at the time.!" Eight grabbed her hat and jumped up forgetting her conversation with Blink. "We have to go guys. The show starts in less than 20 minutes. I have to go sell tickets. Pyro you have to go play your clarinet. Spaz, the curtains need to be opened." She ran into Irving Hall without another word.
Blink and Mush laughed at her as she left. They headed after her because they were going to go see the show. Pyro headed for the stage door and left Dutchy and Spaz alone. Spaz smiled at him.
"That was a lot of fun. I'm glad that I met you guys. But don't tell Jack that. He might freak out that I am friends with you guys." Dutchy smiled.
"He doesn't like us much does he?" Spaz laughed.
"Not really, especially Eight. But I like you." Dutchy looked directly at Spaz.
She smiled and then heard Eight call her from the box office. She had to hurry. She looked up at Dutchy.
"Well it was nice meeting you." Spaz said.
"You too." Dutchy said before kissing her on the cheek. Spaz smiled and ran to the stage door. She couldn't wait to tell Eight and Pyro about what happened.
The show went smoothly without a hitch and Pyro practically lost her lips blowing on her clarinet. But she never played that good in her life. Blink, Mush and Dutchy were all cheering her on. She almost laughed her head off when they all whispered together and whistled at her when she stood for her short solo.
Eight thought it was great and Spaz just kept looking at Dutchy. At one point he caught her and winked. That made her smile.
The end of the show finally came and Eight counted out the money quickly. She stowed it in the safe under the drawer and caught up with Pyro and Spaz outside the stage door. They walked around to the front and sat on the shoe shiners stand.
Spaz told the other two about her evening with Dutchy and both girls smiled at each other.
"Oooo. . . looks like Spaz has a crush." Pyro giggled and Spaz smacked her on the arm.
Eight fiddled with her purple suspenders and looked around. It was a beautiful night but Eight was tired of sitting still. Pyro noticed and looked at her.
"Hey Eight, you okay?" She stared at the girl fidgeting.
"You know. . . if I was back in Utah, I would be riding a horse and chasing cattle right now. . ." She looked off into space and jumped off the platform.
Spaz looked at her and suggested that they go for a walk. All three girls jumped at the idea and began to walk around the theater.
They were walking laughing and Eight caught sight of the group of newsies walking away from the theater. Jack was leading the boys and a short skinny boy was right next to him.
"So Jacky boy, dis goil stole your hat and screamed at you? What are you going to do about her?" All the newsies were listening to Jack and the other boy talk.
They were all into the conversation and didn't see the three girls sneak up behind them.
"Telling lies again Jack?" Spaz asked.
Every newsie turned to see the three girls standing there. Eight was in the middle with her purple hat on over her eyes and one hand fingering her matching suspenders. Spaz was next to her with her arms folded and Pyro had an expression like 'you going to answer the question' on her face.
"Umm. . . errr. . ." Jack looked from Spaz and the girls back to the other boy.
"And who are dese t'ree Jacky Boy?" The boy asked.
Before Jack could answer Spaz stepped forward. "We are Jack's new best friends. Isn't that right Jack?"
"Oh Spaz, don't scare him. I'm Pyro. That one is Spaz and the blonde one with the purple hat is Eight. She is Jack's new best friend, we just kind of the audience looking on entertained." Pyro laughed.
"Jack? Your new best friend? That girl?" The boy laughed.
Eight finally stepped forward. She wrapped her arm around Jack's neck and smirked. "That's right. Him and me are really close. I did wake him up this morning and he even lent me his hat! Isn't that sweet of him." She pinched Jack's cheeks. "And you are?"
"I'm Spot Conlon. So Jack dis is da goil you was talkin about? Hmmm. . . she doesn't look so tough." Spot looked her down. "She looks like a wanna be cowboy with that hat on her head."
Eight took her arm from Jack's shoulders and began to laugh. Spaz and Pyro began to laugh too. Spot's comment was hilarious.
"You tink Eight is the wanna be cowboy?" Pyro managed to get out.
All three girls fell on top of each other and laughed.
"Well Jack is the cowboy. He is tough and all ready to be a cowboy. You just look like a goil who steals hats."
"Excuse me, Spot. But I am four times the cowboy he will ever be, and I'm not even a boy!" Eight began to laugh again.
"Jack get in dere and stand up for yourself. Show her your tough." Spot pushed Jack forward and he folded his arms and finally got tough.
"Alright you little. . . .um. . . .girl! I can show you up. I challenge you." Jack said looking straight at Eight.
"Oh what are we going to do? See who is the bigger fake?" Eight said with a snere.
Dutchy came up to Spaz. "Is he safe fighting with her?"
Spaz lauged. " No one is safe fighting with her."
"Actually that is exactly what we are going to do. See those horses over there. The person who steals it and gets it to the news boys lodging house first wins. The loser, has to buy dinner for the other for a week."
Eight looked at the horses and licked her lips. "You've gotta deal. And the person who wins also gets to be known as the bigger westerner. Where should we start?"
Spot stepped forward and spoke. You will start 20 feet from the horses. At that street sign." He said pointing. "I'll tell you when to go."
Everyone went over to the street sign and Eight and Jack stepped up to it. Spot came next to it and he told all the newsies to go to the lodging house to wait. They all left and headed down the street. Dutchy held Spaz's hand leading her and Pyro walked next to Spaz.
A brunette boy with glasses volunteered to be the finish line. The first to tag his hand won. Spot counted down from 10 and the two kids got ready to go.
Eight put her hat on her head and got her feet ready. This was going to be easy. She had ridden wild horses and these looked trained.
"8. . . 7. . . 6. . ." Spot counted.
Jack looked over at the girl. She looked about ready to cry. But he couldn't tell why.
"And GO!" Spot shouted.
The two began running and Jack jumped on a black horse from the back. Eight hit a white horse on the back and it began to run. She ran along the side and grabbed the saddle. She jumped off the ground and was taken ahead ten feet before she landed on the saddle. She grabbed the reigns and began to ride. She suddenly realized she had no idea where she was going.
She hoped that she would see some hint. So she sped up and caught sight of the group of newsies. Jack was in the lead at the moment and all the newsies were cheering him on. Eight leaned into the horse and decided to show off a bit. She began to pull her feet up and so she was almost sitting on top of the horse.
She pulled herself up to she was standing on the horse holding the reigns. "YEEEHAAA!!!" She screamed as she got into the lead .
She almost won when one of the newsies jumped out and spooked her horse. She was thrown forward and she landed in someone's arms.
"Hey you okay?" the dark haired boy with glasses and a bowler hat asked her.
"Yeah, I'm fine. OH I won!" She jumped from his arms and out of excitement kissed him on the cheek. "Those dinners are going to taste great."
She looked around to see Jack climbing from his horse. "Where did you learn to ride like that?"
"Well, you ever wonder why I say real cowboys from out west would kill you? That's cause I grew up out west. I am a cow girl. Grew up around horses. I've been doing those tricks since I was six. So that wasn't really fair."
"Eight!" Spaz and Pyro came forward. Spaz was followed by Dutchy and they came up to the girl. "What happened? We saw you get thrown!"
"That would be my fault." The skinny boy Race came forward and looked guilty. I kicked a rock and it hit the horses feet. Sorry. But thanks to Specs, you were saved."
"Yeah thanks to Specs" Eight smiled at her savior and then looked at her watch. "Medda's gonna kill us guys! We have to go." She kissed Specs on the cheek one more time and Spaz waved to Dutchy. "I want dinner tomorrow night Jack!" The three ran off and towards Irving Hall.
"Those girls are something aren't they?" Dutchy said to no one.
"Yeah, they sure are." Specs said as he watched the purple hat go off into the distance. Little did he know that Jack was watching the same purple hat silently.
A/N: Oh boy. My chance to share my craziness with all of you!!! Yay. Ok this is my author's note. I cut myself along the leg helping my dad today. My body is a battlefield is what my mom says. She thinks I get hurt too much. Of course if she had her way I would be strapped to my mattress so I wouldn't get hurt. Well its Katie's turn. See we are playing a game of tag, me, Spaz, and Katie. And I just tagged Katie. So its up to her to post. Thanks!!!