A/N: Woo! Another chapter! I feel so excited. You should be too!…this is my longest chapter yet…its also the most interesting. =D. shout-outs at the end of the chapter.

CHAPTER 5-New Faces and New Things

"Hey Jack! Guess who's getting outta da refuge taday!" Race said with great enthusiasm.

"Flare's getting out? That's great Race!" Jack commended his friend.

"Who's Flare?" I whispered to Jack.

"Oh, she's Race's goil. She's been in da refuge for a month. Da warden's been aftah 'er ever since she lit 'is hat on fire. It was great." Jack said with a smile. I smiled back at him and for a brief moment, we seemed to be lost in each others gazes. But then I looked away…because I am not supposed to like Jack. Nope.

"She must be quite a girl Race." I said turning to him.

"Oh, she is. She's da most beautiful, fun, smart…" Race announced dreamily as he continued bouncing around the room. Jack and I laughed at him.

"is she a newsie?" I asked Jack, since Race was way too preoccupied with his dancing.

"Yeah, she useda woik at Medda's, dats how da two met. Race spent an awful lotta time ovah dere." I giggled and we all filed out of the lodging house for another day of selling. The day went by like it always did, completely uneventful. We didn't even go to Tibby's for lunch. We went back to the lodging house to welcome Flare back. When we got there, we should have knocked. Race was in the middle of a full-out make-out session with a short, brown-haired girl that I assumed was Flare. Itey sure stopped that though. He ran into the bunkroom screaming at the top of his lungs and flailing his arms everywhere. Nobody really knows why he did it, he just did. Race and Flare immediately backed off of each other, and were standing looking at us trying to be innocent, but suppressing laughter the whole time.

"Naughty, naughty, naughty!" Itey lectured as he shook his finger at the two. Itey is so weird sometimes.

"Uh, Flare, dis is Ellie." Race said, introducing me. "She's Jack's new goil" he whispered so that he thought I couldn't hear, but that boy has really got to work on his whispering.

"Shut it Race!" Jack yelled, but I could hear in his voice that he didn't really mind it too much. Jack walked away to talk to someone else, because sometimes I swear he has some attention problem. He can never stay talking to the same person for over five minutes if other people are around. I stayed and decided to get to know Flare a little better.

"So, do you live here at the lodging house?" I asked her.

"No, I live with Medda. She didn't like the fact that one of her workers was sleeping on the streets." Flare said without one hint of a New York accent. She must have been from somewhere else like me.

"Are you from New York?" I asked, simply wanting to know where this brown-haired green-eyed girl was from.

"No, I'm from Chicago" she looked uneasy for a second, but then Race grabbed her hand and she smiled again.

"How did you get into the refuge?" maybe that would explain her name.

"Which time?" she asked giggling. I wondered what Racetrack was doing with his free hand.

"Uh…how many times have you been in there?"

"Four"

"Oh"

"Snyder's been keeping a grudge against me ever since I set his hat on fire. The guy just can't take a decent escape tactic!" Race and Flare giggled and headed to the only empty corner of the room left.

"Hey guys! Lets head ovah to Tibby's for some lunch and celebrate Flare's return!" Jack shouted to everyone in the room. Most of the guys agreed.

"Uh, Jack, we'se gonna stay here a little bit n maybe meet ya there a little later" Race said from his and Flare's corner.

"Race, you gotta come! Its for your girlfriend!"

"Well, if she ain't goin, den neither am I!"

"Well, she's gotta go too. Cuz its for her!" there was so much yelling going on. I just walked out of the bunkroom and waited for Jack in the lobby. Jack finally came down, after all the other guys had already left. He looked frustrated, and was shaking his head. He smiled at me dopily as he descended the stairs. We then walked to Tibby's to meet everyone else.

After we had all already eaten Race and Flare walked through the door. They were still holding hands but seemed to have calmed down a little bit. Neither was wearing a crazy grin anymore, but they still looked happy. for the first time I noticed that she was actually shorter than Race. If you can imagine someone that short. *Author ducks from flying rocks being thrown by Repeats and any other Race-enthusiast* Flare and Race took a seat next to Jack and I and ordered their food. We talked for a little while until they were done, and then headed out to sell the afternoon edition.

~*~

"I'll be right back Ellie, I just gotta use da bathroom" Jack said to me about halfway through selling our afternoon editions. I nodded at him and continued selling. When he was no longer in sight, I felt a tap on my shoulder . I turned around and there standing was a boy, about Jack's age, with hi hat tipped. I eyed him defensively though he had not done or said anything to offend me yet.

"Well good aftahnoon sweet face. Shouldn't you be inside bein' pampahed?" now he had. I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.

"Some girls have to work to live" I said as I turned and walked as fast as I could in the other direction, but I walked straight into another boy. This one looked older, bigger, stronger, and stupider. I mustered up all the strength I could and shoved this one out of the way. I guess I'm stronger than I thought, because I actually managed to shove him out of my way. Just then I heard his voice. Probably the first time I had actually sighed from relief when I heard his voice.

"Can't leave my goils alone can ya Oscah" Jack called from about ten feet away. Hehe, he called me "his goil". oh, right, back to the conversation.

"Damnit Cowboy! Why you always get da good ones?" Oscar kept approaching me, while the other one held me tightly by my arms. I lifted my knee high up into the air and kicked straight back. He didn't enjoy that too much. At the same time, Jack came running up and punched Oscar hard in the face. Both of the scum were laying on the ground writhing in pain. Jack made sure I was okay then we ran to an alley far away. There we sat panting and laughing at the same time. When we had finally caught our breaths, I turned my head to look at Jack, just to see that he was already looking at me. A small smile swept across my face, mimicking the one on his. He slowly, almost cautiously, leaned in and his lips lightly touched mine. I didn't know what to do. Thought I was sixteen, I had never been kissed nor had a boyfriend. In England, most girls were not allowed to date anyone unless her father had given his consent. Jack slowly pulled away and looked deep into my surprised eyes.

"I'm…I'm sorry Ellie. I couldn't help myself" he apologized, nervously looking down at his fidgeting hands.

"Don't be" I said as I leaned into him and kissed him back. It was a nice, long, sweet kiss; one we had both wanted since we had laid eyes on each other. Okay, so when I said I didn't like him, I lied. Something about him kept me following him. Now we just sat there quietly thinking.

"Who were those guys?" I asked after a few minutes.

"Oh, dose are da Delancy Bruddas. Dey like givin da newsies a hard time. Dey useda woik at da Distribution Center, but they got fired at da end a da strike." he explained.

"Oh. What did you mean by 'Your girls'?" I asked, trying not to sound too anxious.

"Well, when I was datin' Dave's sistah Sarah, they tried to do the same thing to her. But she couldn't fight back as well as you did. I had to come in and beat both of them up. She just kinda sat there, yelling at them to stop while they were beatin' up Dave."

I nodded understandingly. "did you love her?" I asked impulsively.

"Nah. I only dated 'er because I got caught up in the whole strike thing. Not to mention she was the only goil I had talked to besides Medda." he laughed a little but then became very sullen.

"What's wrong?" I asked looking into his eyes.

"I don't lover her, but I do love somebody else" I looked at him questioningly.

"I think you know her" Flare. He has a thing for Flare. One of his best friend's girlfriend! I thought. He must have known what I was thinking because he laughed a little.

"No, not Flare. You." I smiled and he held my hand in his own strong, warm one. I leaned against him and we just sat there, enjoying being in love.

Shout-outs:

NaughteeLady- so I guess pigs don't fly huh? Thanks for reviewing! I hope you liked the chapter!

If you reviewed and I never gave you a shout-out, feel free to email or IM me, and I'll try and fix it. Currently, fanfiction.net is being a poop and not sending me my review alerts.