The next morning, Itey shook her awake. "Bliss! Time to be a newsie!" he told her excitedly.

She sat up and looked around. Most of the boys were already awake, and some of them were even shaving or combing their hair, already dressed.

She jumped up, and grabbed her clothes to change into and walked across the bathroom side of the bunkroom, handing Racetrack a towel to wipe the soap out of his eyes, and fixing Snipeshooter's hair on the way to one of the the bathroom stalls. When she was done changing, she squeezed in between Jack shaving, and Kid Blink fixing his hair in front of the mirror to brush her hair.

Later, at the distribution center, they were hanging around the closed gate, when they heard a commotion. Using Dutchy and Race's shoulders, Bliss pulled herself up to see. There was Oscar and Morris Delancey, shoving someone around. Bliss made her way through the crowd towards them. Oscar was holding some kid, just waiting for Morris to punch him. She grabbed Oscar by the collar, and he let go of the kid. As he swung around to see who grabbed him, she punched him in the face, then dropped him to the ground. Morris just turned and walked the other way. Without a change in expression, Bliss walked back over to where her buddies were, and calmly said, "Ah, sorry 'bout that, now, what were you saying Jack? Something about headlines..."

Before he could answer, the gates swung open, and everyone started to get in line to buy their papes. When it was finally their turn up at the counter, Jack casually grabbed one of the bars across the counter, and said "Hey Weas, meet the newest newsie in New York. Bliss, this is Mr. Weasel."

Not too long after the strike, Weasel was given his job back my Mr. Pulitzer.

"Wiesel." he corrected.

Jack continued "She's already met Oscar and Morris. Imagine this, Oscar was fighting in her presence!"

"Yeah, and she gave me a bloody nose for it too." Oscar told Weasel as he walked up to the counter, holding a rag against his nose.

"That bitty girl? She aint got the guts to do it again I bet." Weasel told Morris. "You best take her aside and talk with her."

With a grin and a nod, Morris went out the door and tried to walk over to where Bliss was standing. Every one of the Manhattan Newsies stood in between Bliss and Morris, and no one would let him by. Finally, Morris gave up and just went back to help count papers.

When Jack, Bliss and Dutchy finally got their papes and got away from the crowd, they saw David and Les trying to find a good selling spot as well.

"Hey Les, I need your help." Called Jack.

"Whadda ya need Cowboy?" Asked Les as he walked over to them.

"Can you answer a few questions for me?" after waiting for a nod from Les, Jack asked him, "Do headlines sell papes?"

"Heck no! Newsies sell papes!" he exclaimed.

"Good!" Said Jack "Now can you tell me what that says?"

"Two empty trolleys collide, causing one to tip over on a stray dog." Read Les.

"That was terrific, now can you tell me what the newsie says?" asked Jack.

"Terrifying trolley accident takes one life." Les replied.

"You are so smart kid! Thanks for your help." Jack praised.

"See ya later Cowboy." said Les as he ran back to David.

"Get it?" Jack asked Bliss.

"Got it." she replied, "Exaggerate and lie through your teeth, right?"

"She's got it!" Said Dutchy.

The three of them had sold all of their papes by mid afternoon, and then headed over towards Brooklyn. When they got over near the dock that was Brooklyn's hangout spot, Jack told Bliss, "Stay here for a minute, and Dutchy, you stay with her, ok." Jack told them.

"OK" said Bliss.

"I can do that." Said Dutchy.

Jack walked onto the dock and right up to Spot.

"Hi Jackie boy." Greeted Spot.

"Hey Spot, how's it rollin'?"

"Things have been going real good."

Spot spits in his hand, and Jack spits in his, and they shake hands.

Jack told him, "Hey, I got someone that says they can soak you."

Spot shook his head. "Let him try, no one can soak Spot Conlon."

Jack responded "It aint no he, it's a girl that said they can soak you."

"A girl?" Spot exclaimed, "There aint no way a girl can soak me!"

"I'll wager 5 cents on her." said Jack.

"Bring it up to 10, and you got yourself a deal!" Challenged Spot.

"Your loss." said Jack. "Dutchy, bring her out to meet Spot." He called.

Dutchy stepped out from behind the crate, followed by Bliss. Spot's eyes got all big and his jaw dropped. He fumbled in his pocket for 10 cents, and he dropped it into Jack's hands before walking towards Dutchy and Bliss.

"Bliss, where ya been?" Spot asked as she walked up to him.

"Around." She answered before she looked him in the eye and spit into her hand.

Breaking into a grin, Spot spit into his own hand and they both laughed as they shook hands.

This gesture broke the silence from the Brooklyn newsies. They were all murmuring back and forth about the mysterious girl that spitshakes, and can supposedly can soak the toughest newsie in all of New York.

"Who's your girlfriend Spot?" asked one of the Brooklyn newsies.

Bliss looked up at him and walked over to the stranger. "What's your name, honey?" She asked sweetly.

"Tops." he said with a huge smile.

"Well, Tops," She said nicely before her manner switched to a cold tone. "Don't jump to conclusions, it can get you into trouble." She said as she grabbed the side of his collar and pulled his face in real close to hers.

"Sorry, uh, sorry." he said franticly.

"Now that was a smart thing to say!" She told him. "But now I think it's time for you to leave, ok." She said right before she lifted him off of his feet and tossed him onto the water.

As she walked back over to Spot, Jack and Dutchy, one of the other Brooklyn newsies called out, "What a woman!"

She flashed him a grin before settling herself on a large crate next to Spot.

"You haven't lost your touch!" Spot told her with a grin.

"What have you been up to?" Bliss asked him.

"Just makin' a living, and trying to keep these mugs in line." Spot answered.

"I hear your the leader of the toughest group of newsies in all of New York." She stated.

Scratching his chin, Spot answered, "Yeah, I heard that too, but they aint that tough. I bet the two of us could soak the lot of them."

"I bet we could, but lets not." she said with a smirk. "At least, not today."

"I guess your right." Spot agreed, "How long have you been in town?"

"Not too long. I just got myself established in a lodging house yesterday. Today was my first experience in selling." Bliss explained.

"How'd she do?" Spot asked Jack and Dutchy.

"Well, she knows what to do, and she's a girl, that's an advantage, so she did just great for her first day." Said Jack.

"I attract more customers than he does, people feel more sympathy for me. I bet that if Les, Crutchy, and I started an alliance, we could be unstoppable, no one else could sell a pape within 2 blocks of us!" She said with a giggle that the others joined in on.

Dutchy waved at them all and pointed towards home "I better be taking off, I promised Snipeshooter a game of marbles, and I always keep my promises."

"See ya, Dutchy" Spot said.

Jack told Spot, "This girl already has the Delancey's nervous around her!"

With a laugh, Spot said, "I believe it! Who were they messing with, was it you, Bliss, or someone smaller?"

"Yesterday, Morris was chasing Les, David's brother, then today Oscar was holding this one kid for Morris to hit him! Those two need either a babysitter or a leash!" She exclaimed.

"Well, what did you do? Maybe that will teach them." asked Spot.

"I gave Oscar a bloody nose, but I haven't had to hurt Morris yet, other than his hair. He ran past me without saying hello." She told him.

Jack laughed merrily and said, "Spot, do you want to join us tonight at Tibby's for dinner? It's about time for us to get back."

"Sounds good to me" he said as he stood and helped Bliss up.

Bliss linked arms with Spot on her right and Jack on her left, and they made their way down the street.

"Before we go eat, I think we should see if the guys are gonna come with us." said Jack. When they went in, There was only a small group over in the corner of the commons room, sitting around the table, playing cards. Jack, Spot and Bliss got caught up in the conversation about today's events. Race, shuffled the cards, and dealt them in to the game. David, Dutchy and Bumlets were the only other ones playing.

Itey, Snipeshooter and Les were the only ones in the bunkroom. Everyone else was downstairs in the commons room, playing cards, or doing something else. The three of them were having a blast just running around and jumping from bunk to bunk, playing with their toy swords.

The game had lasted long enough that no one knew who was on what team, or if they were running from each other, or someone imaginary.

"I got you!" said Les victoriously to Snipeshooter as he grabbed his arm.

They fell in a heap on the ground, laughing, and Itey came running.

"They're coming! Look out!" Itey called to them, pointing to an empty wall.

Giggling, all three of them separated, and all ran in different directions.

Snipeshooter tripped and on his way down, his arm, midway between his shoulder and elbow, caught on a nail that was sticking out of the leg of one of the bunks. He let out a blood curdling scream, and Les and Itey came running. Seeing blood, Les said with his eyes as big as saucers, "I'm gettin' David!" before running out of the room. Itey sat on the floor next to his sobbing friend to wait.

Everyone downstairs had stopped talking when they heard the scream. Les came barreling down the stairs yelling "David! David! Snipeshooter got hurt! Go help him!!"

At this, David jumped up and started heading for the stairs, followed by the rest of the group. Walking across the room, David asked the boys "What happened?"

Since Snipe was crying hysterically, Itey answered for him. "He fell down, and he scratched his arm on that!" he said, pointing to the nail.

David told Snipe, "You'll be, ok, come here." as he picked the little boy up, and walked across the room, setting him on the counter next to the sink. David was asking Snipe how much it hurt while unbuttoning his shirt.

"Why do I gotta take my shirt off?" asked Snipeshooter while wiping his tears with his other hand.

"I can't see your arm if it's covered by a sleeve, silly boy!" David said to him with a smile. "Thank you Bliss." He said as she handed him a clean wet rag to wash off the wound. Bumlets held Snipe's other hand still while David started to clean the dirt and blood off of his arm. Snipeshooter tensed up and started howling again as soon as David touched the cut.

Bliss walked right up next to him, and patted Snipe's knee to get his attention. She started singing a song to him. His sobbing soon turned to sniffles as he sat there watching her eyes as her sweet steady voice filled the room. David took advantage of the momentary calmness to finish cleaning his arm, and wrap a piece of a clean rag around it, tying the knot, just as Bliss was finished with her song.

"Hey, Snipeshooter, how would you like to come to my house, and spend the night with Les?" David asked.

Snipeshooter grinned and nodded furiously.

"But you gotta promise me one thing. You have to let our mom look at your arm sometime tonight. You can be brave again, can't you?" David asked with a smile.

Snipeshooter cocked his head, brows furrowed in thought. "I guess I can."

"Good! Les, are you ready to go?" David called.

Dutchy found Snipe a clean shirt to wear, and helped him into it.

Snipe looked at Bliss "Your song voice is real pretty."

"Why thank you." Bliss said. She leaned over and whispered "You did a good job."

He grinned at her before taking Les' hand and walking out of the room with him and David. Itey waved at him until they were gone before walking over to Racetrack and pulling on his sleeve. "Racetrack? Is it dinner time yet?"

Racetrack patted Itey on the shoulder and told him, "Yeah, sure kid, I'll even buy it for you tonight."

As they passes by Kloppman's desk, they left him a note asking him to fix the nail sticking out of the bunk, before walking out onto the street.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bliss smiled to herself at that memory. It wasn't one she thought about often.

That night, Snipeshooter got to go to a friends house, and Itey got all the attention of everyone, so they were both winners. She finally fell asleep, weariness taking over even the fondness of memories.