Chapter Three

"I really miss you, Kris. I'm so glad you're back," said Mush staring deeply into her brown eyes. They were standing outside, trying to sell their papes, but they seemed to be distracted. Kris turned around and looked at Mush. She seemed to be at a lost for words. Come on, Kris… you're finally here! Say something!

But before she could say anything, Race quickly walked past and mumbled, "He sure did miss you! Missed you so much he almost cried!" Race chuckled and continued shouting headlines. "Dangerous flood kills thousands!"

"I'll kill him… you're gonna get soaked later…" muttered Mush as his face turned into a slight color of red.

Kris looked at Mush and giggled, "You cried?"

Mush looked at the ground and nodded his head. He quickly snapped his head back up and retorted, "It was just cause…"

Kris smiled, "Nah, its alrite. I did too when I thought you were gone."

***

"When I let go, you better not scream. You hear me?" Spot looked at Rachel. Her eyes kept on darting back and forth looking for Kris. If she screams, all of Manhattan will probably hear! Rachel slowly nodded as Spot took his hand away from her mouth.

"KRIS! KR—" but before Rachel could finish, Spot put his hand over her mouth again much more quickly and strongly causing Rachel to fall back on the bed with Spot on top of her, still covering her mouth. They were only inches away from each other.

"I told you not to scream!" Spot said calmly. He stared at her deep green eyes. I've never seen anybody with that kind of eyes before…

"Gerroff me!" muffled Rachel through Spot's hand. She quickly pushed him off the bed and started panicking, causing her to pace back and forth around the room. She turned to look at Spot who was getting up from his feet. "Where's Kris?! Where's… that boy with the curly hair…"

Rachel drew a blank, and then she suddenly remembered who it was. "Mush!" she shouted. But she wasn't the only one who shouted, Spot had said it the same time she did too. Rachel slightly blushed and looked down at her shoes. What just happened? I don't like him! Spot, however, was staring at Rachel.

Rachel sighed, "Yeah… um… Spot, right?"

Spot quickly smiled and proudly said, "That's me. Spot Conlon. Leader of the Brooklyn Newsies and most respected newsie out of all of New York."

Right… whatever. You sound like an infomercial for all I care. Then something suddenly clicked in Rachel's head. She knew where she was… especially why everyone looked so familiar. "Newsies! That's it! You're the newsies!" She said to herself. She scrunched up her face and said, "But how'd we get to 1899?"

Rachel thought she was talking to herself until she saw Spot walking towards her with a confused look at his face. "Newsies… that's us…" She's one odd girl, that's for sure… but those eyes…

Rachel started walking towards the closest door she could find and headed towards it. I gotta talk to Kris… how did we get here? How can she NOT tell me about this? WOULD SPOT STOP STARING AT ME? He's starting to freak me out.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked Spot. He quickly ran after her and grabbed her hand.

She suddenly stopped dead in her tracks from Spot's strong grip on her hand. Spot was very strong for a guy who didn't look as muscular. "I'm gonna go look for Kris and Mush!"

Spot shook his head and chuckled, "Oh no you're not! Not through that door. And uh… you better change your clothes… I don't think it'd be safe for you to be walking around like that."

Rachel looked down at her clothes and realized she was still wearing her spaghetti strap that she used to sleep in and blue shorts. "Oh…" she said sheepishly. Geez... Someone's very demanding…?

"The door you were about to walk through leads to the bathroom. And I think there's some girl's clothes in there... or so Jackie-boy told me." Spot smiled and dug his hands into his pockets. "I'll wait for you here."

"Oh my bad," Rachel said blushing.

Spot chuckled and looked back into her eyes, "Yup. Do you normally walk through the boys' bathroom where you come from?"

Rachel turned away and headed for the bathroom. "As a matter of fact… I do... you got a problem with that?" she mumbled to herself. He's staring at me again! Argh..

It was a hot New York day and the sun was streaming everywhere. The road seemed to be much more busy than usual; people were walking in and out of shops, ladies were walking back and forth to do their chores, the road would be occasionally full with carriages, and the voices of newsies shouting headlines could be heard. Rachel stepped outside wearing a white blouse and a green colored skirt that ended right below her knees. She quickly blended in with the rest of 1899.

Spot turned around and saw he was walking by himself. He looked at Rachel with concern and said, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing… it's just that… New York looks so different. Way different from 2004!" Rachel stopped frozen to the where she stood looking around New York.

Spot ran over to her and held her hand. "Don't want you getting lost do we?" he winked. With that, they started walking as Spot said, "Don't worry about it. It ain't so bad! Come on, let's go look for Mush and Kris."

Rachel kept trying to pull her hand away from Spot but he was persistent and kept a strong hold on Rachel. God, my hand is hurting! He's pretty strong. And what's with him always grabbing my hand? "Um… Spot?" Spot turned around and looked at Rachel. "Can you let go? You're hurting me…"

"Oh sorry. I didn't realize I was doing that..." Spot said blushing. Eventually, he let go of Rachel's hand and started walking. He was walking very quickly that Rachel had a hard time keeping up.

***

There was a moment of silence between Mush and Kris until they separated from each other and started to sell papes and shout headlines. After an hour or so, they were both done selling papes. They started to walk towards Tibby's, side-by-side.

"Kris, um... what have you been doing over the months? You haven't changed much."

"Oh... Me? Well I didn't do much. Just school, my life is the same as usual." Kris said trying not to make eye contact with Mush since she knew she might melt right into it. I mustn't look into his eyes…

"Oh. Well, Rachel seems pretty nice. And it looks like Spot really likes her." Mush said laughing. "I have never seen Spot look at a girl like that."

"Haha yah... won't Rach be happy? She's very boy-crazy," said Kris laughing too. Yah..boy-crazy, just like Emily. Kris sighed at the flash of memory of her now deceased friend.

***

Spot and Rachel were walking from various selling spots and corners of Manhattan. Spot had no idea where Mush's selling place was located, Manhattan's a very big place. Even though Spot has been to Manhattan a lot of times, he had never bothered to ask where the newsies' selling spot would be.

"Spot? Can we please stop? I'm tired. Please?" pleaded Rachel. "We went to Central Park, Bottle Alley, and the harbor already!" Rachel looked at Spot and pleaded. The weather didn't help much causing them to sweat profusely. Not only that, but since Spot walked much faster and quicker than Rachel, Rachel had to run once in a while just to keep up with Spot. Geez! The last time I've been this tired was when we ran the mile at school!

"You wanted to find Mush and Kris didn't you? Here I am helping you, so don't complain!" said Spot. I'm doing this for her… can't she see that? Picky, picky, picky…

"We can keep on going unless you wanna carry me…" teased Rachel. Dumbass… but who cares? At least I can rest if he carries me!

"Alright! Alright!" Spot threw his hands in the air in defeat. He led her towards a bench, sitting near a bunch of clustered trees. Across the bench was a small tiny pond. A few minutes later, Rachel was better rested and Spot was calmer. They eventually got up and started their search for Mush and Kris again. They were quietly looking for them until a tall boy with dark black hair, tanned skin, and hazel eyes started walking towards Spot and Rachel. Spot seemed to know him since he stopped and spit-shook with the tall boy.

"Hey there, Spot. What you doing here at this part of Manhattan?"

Spot glanced at Rachel then turned his attention towards the boy. "Hey, Kyle. I'm just helping a friend out. You seen Mush around?"

"Cowboy told me to look for you… so here you are! Anyways, he told me to meet him and the other newsies at Tibby's."

"Oh, alright. That works. So, Kyle… enjoying Manhattan?"

Spot expected Kyle to say "fine", "it's alright", or maybe even "Brooklyn's better" but Kyle said something else. "Hey who's that? She your…" he said as he started walking towards Rachel.

But before Kyle could reach Rachel, Spot firmly planted himself between them and firmly said, "No." Kyle finally understood what Spot meant and started backing away.

Rachel had no idea what was going on. Hey! Yo dumbass… I can take care of myself… weird sounds like they're talking in code! She finally got up the courage to smile at Kyle and meekly say, "Hi." But all Kyle did was wave, in fear that Spot might burst in anger if he talked to her. The trio ended up walking to Tibby's together. Spot remained in between Kyle and Rachel as they walked. He kept on talking to Kyle, but at the same time, held Rachel's hand… only much less firmer than he did before.

"Remember Kyle, don't start any fight with the Manhattan newsies. You got that?" Spot eyed Kyle as they neared towards Tibby's. He better not do anything, everything's fine the way it is.

Kyle chuckled, "Don't worry Spot. I won't do anything." Kyle opened the door to Tibby's finding it full of newsies. Not only Manhattan newsies, but Brooklyn newsies. But through all the commotion, his eye found Kris. She was sitting next to Mush, looking very happy. Although Kyle didn't notice Mush, he certainly noticed Kris. Wow… I've never seen her before. She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen… But Kyle did nothing and walked over to the other Brooklyn newsies, glancing at Kris from time to time.

"There you are!!!" shouted Kris. She ran over to Rachel and gave her a hug. "Hey, you're all sweaty and icky… what happened?" Kris pulled away and looked at Rachel. I knew I shouldn't have left her with Spot!

Rachel realized she was still holding Spot's hand. She pulled her hand away from Spot but Spot wouldn't let go. Rachel turned to Spot and whispered, "Spot, let go!"

"Er… sorry." Spot realized that he was still holding Rachel's hand and let go to join the newsies for lunch.

Rachel sighed. "Just get me to a chair and gimme food… then I'll tell you what happened."

The two girls walked towards the table where Mush and Kris were previously sitting, while Jack walked over to Spot and started talking to him. Once Rachel was seated, she began eating as much as she can.

"Wow… I've never seen anybody eat like that since Emily was here…" Blink said.

Kris raised an eyebrow towards Mush and looked at him. He's taking this pretty casually… we don't just suddenly talk about Emily! Mush shrugged his shoulders and acted as if he didn't know what was going on.

While Rachel was actively eating, Kris stood up and walked over to the bar to get some more drinks. Cautiously, Kyle walked over to the bar with his back turned to Mush and Spot. He stood next to Kris, making sure to distance himself.

"Hey... you're Rachel right? Spot's girl?" Kyle said looking at Kris.

Kris chuckled. They looked so alike that they could be mistaken for sisters. "Nope, I'm Kris. That's Rachel." Kris said pointed at Rachel who was now listening to the other newsies' conversation. "It's alrite though. Most people get us mixed up. You can tell who's who since Rachel has green eyes." Kris took the drinks she ordered and started walking back towards the table, until she realized what Kyle had just said.

She quickly turned around, causing her to almost trip, but Kyle broke her fall. He caught her gently in his arms. Kris suddenly felt awkward and stood up quickly. "Thanks. But um… did you just say Spot's girl?"

Kyle shrugged. "I guess so. Spot seemed to have a hold on her when I saw them looking for Mush."

"Oh." That Spot's causing enough trouble already! "Thanks anyway…" she started walking back to their table, but knowing all that time, she was being watched by Kyle.