Chapter 10!!!!.....

Yeah!

Well, at least I'M excited, so there :^P This is getting, hmmm...interesting, just thought I'd add that, but I'm not sure why, and don't worry, I'll try and keep it from getting stereotypical = )

I'm feeling depressed this month in general, feel sorry for me, so if this chappie comes out melancholy it's not really my fault, it's been really bad this week.

Shout outs:

To ShortAtntionSpaz: Yeah, I know. I am certainly a walking disater area, but I must admit that I could never measure up to your greatness, oh Spastic one. I'm thinking of changing my penname too, I'm thinking 'DenaNesh14' which is Amharic (laguage in Ethiopia) for 'Good Morning Miss' and I'm 14 (I am but a child) but I'm still working on it. I shall give you a FF cup of tea and remind you not to spill it! Thank you for the comments!!!! Truthfully! I really appreciate comments, I do, loads, and I think it's cool that you go to a christian collage, I'm going to go to either NCU or Trinity in Elendale = ) And it's good to hear from a sister in the Lord!

To SilverPetra: A NEW REVIEWER!!! *listens to the angels singing* All hail the brilliant you! And I AM writing, right now, at this moment, this sec-oh well, just a thought. Thanks for the review!

To Cabby1: Doesn't that twisting hurt? Just asking...And to answer your question, she was afraid that they wouldn't be togeather forever and when they weren't they wouldn't be best friends anymore and her best friend ever wouldn't be there like he was before. I feel sorry for her too, wait, the person in this story is based on me! *starts bawling and reaches for anything resembling a human being to hug, and grabs Snipe!* Oooooohhh! Snipey! I need a hug!

Snipeshooter: Gack! *squirms* leggo!

Me: Whear'd you get 'gack'?

Snipeshooter: I was reading 'Cathy', she had a calorie problem again.

Me: Awww, poor Cathy, *snatches funnies* Don't read it anymore, it's not for male eyes to see!

Thanks for the review!

To Sapphy: I said the same thing to FRANCIS...*recieves a glare but ignores it* but I said I'd forgive him if he was nice to Race in the next chapter or the one after that.

Jack: I jus don't wanna be called Francis *shudders* dat name is, how do youse say it Neva?

Me: Nasty.

Jack: Dat's right! I promised. *pouts*

Me: Wow! Good puppy eyes! However, ahem, FRANCIS, you will not be shed of that name untill you are nice to Race! That might make him do it quiker = ) I bow before... *reads from script* one of my favorite authors = )

Now, the Disclaimer.

I don't own Newsies, I don't care to, so HERE are your legal papes! (I couldn't resist ^_^ )

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

Chapter 10

~~~RED~~~

Red kept running, trying to think as fast as she could while trying to get as far away from him as she could.

She couldn't go back to the loding house, HE would find her, she would have to talk to him. She was afraid, what if he didn't really love her, what if he left her just when she really needed him, friends was different than being in love, very different.

Her boyfriend had dumped her back home...Oh, great, just as things couldn't get any worse, she had to start thinking about home. He had said he loved her, he SAID. He hadn't promised, he told her love doesn't promise, it just DOES.

Race would love her like Karl did, and then leave her cold when she needed him. Friends didn't do that, but boyfriends did.

Red was still running, but where? She asked herself again and again. Just as she thought she was starting to run in circles she made up her mind.

Brooklyn

That was as good a place as any, and she knew one or two of the boys there because they had known Race when he lived closer to Brooklyn.

Hopefully, and that was a lot of hope to extend, Spot wouldn't throw her out for a while, or just yet.

What if he did?

Would she have to go back?

Red didn't know, nor did she care, but she couldn't stop.

Over the months Red had gotten used to running around and didn't get tired as quickly, but her ankles hadn't gotten any better. She was in severe pain but her heart hurt more and wouldn't let her go anywhere but from where she most wanted to be, next to her Racetrack Higgins.

She couldn't stop, she wouldn't, even if she was to pass out from the flashes of pain comming from her ankles.

And, that is exactly what happened.

~~~SPOT~~~

Spot was walking past a bar on 14th street that he knew quite well. Yeah, he drank a little bit, not enough to ever get him drunk, any more.

He once had to pull himself out of the Hudson, still drunk, thinking of how his father had come home like this once, and swore he wouldn't live like that.

He walked passed it, but close to the door, and nodded to Alfred, or Al, as he liked to be called. Spot knew him pretty well, too.

Just after he passed the door he saw a leg sticking out of an alleyway. He'd seen idiots like that come out of bars, drunker than a sailor on a gallon of whiskey, and pass out just after getting thrown out for not being able to pay the bill.

It didn't mean he wasn't sympathetic, he usually helped them out a bit, not a lot, or even enough to be recognized when they got over the hangover, but just enough.

He walked towards the person, only to be very surprised.

It was obviously a girl, and he was obviously worried. Had she been beaten up? or...he couldn't think about that, tough as he was, that frightened him.

She was lying facedown, her long red hair in a braid wrapped around her head like a crown. Her ragged nickers and freckled...bare...legs looked strangely famil---RED HAIR!!!

He knealt down quickly and turned her over, yeah, it was Red alright.

She had probably just turned the corner into the alley when she...He examined her head and neck...passed out.

He smelled her breath. Nothing, not even a hint of anything except coffee, and Spot could smell a drop a mile away.

Spot shook her furiously, "Red! Red! You OK?"

Red was completely out. He'd have to carry her, and it took some doing, but her got her picked up and over his sholder, carrying her like a sack of potatoes.

Luckily, she hadn't passed out far from the Brooklyn loding house, so Spot didn't have to carry her far.

He had to make it past the boys, and that was the, um, annoying part.

There were cat-calls, and some rude comments. Spot rolled his eyes, they were tough, some of the best, but they could really be aggrivating sometimes.

"Just back-off!" Spot yelled, and the voices were silenced, at least untill they were out of ear-shot.

Spot approched the front desk. "Woffard!" An old, but not too old, man popped up from under the front desk, just coming up from aranging records, money boxes and the like.

He always had reminded Spot of what God would look like. White hair and beard, and past middle age, but muscular, and not one even a Delancy would mess with, a feeling of authority about him, but also one of unconditional love, like a REAL father, and that's how Spot treated him.

"Conlon! I have told you, I will not allow you to-" Spot cut him short and turned around, his muscles now straining.

"It's RED, Woffard!" He leaned forward a bit so Woffard could see who he was talking about.

"That's one of Cowboy's newsies, isn't it?" He asked, the angry look on his face dissapearing, giving way to a worried one.

"Yeah, she ain't drunk, she wasn't hit, I don't know what's wrong. I'm puttin' her on my bunk foah now. Is dat OK Woffard?" He was trying to speed up this proccess, his arms and back were getting sore.

"Oh, sure, go ahead, but-" Spot turned around,

"Yeah Woffard?" The man pointed his finger at Spot.

"Don't hurt her when you set her down." Spot nodded and walked off, trying to shift her weight onto a differnt part of his sholder.

Spot lowered her down on his bunk, the only one without a top bunk above it, and, sort of, straitened her out.

Now what was he going to do? He thought quickly, and removed her shoes.

Spot Conlon, it is said, does not 'gasp'. Spot Conlon is, however, rather old-fashioned, and he is not accustomed to seeing a girl hurt, and Red was definately hurt, and Spot Conlon definately gasped.

Both of her ankles were purple and very swollen. Spot used to have that problem when he was little. His mother used to sit for hours at a time and rub his ankles, singing to him to keep him from crying.

Spot moved his hands quickly over her ankles, rubbing, not mesauging, but rubbing, firmly, tring to get the blood to move up the leg. That's what his mother had told him it was for. He remembered her perfectly as he rubbed faster and slightly lighter. There was one song she used to sing to him...and he found himself humming...

Your love calls to me

In the fields of gold

In the city streets

I can hear you

Your love calls to me

Like a river flowing

To the sea

Your love calls to me

He could hear her now, almost, like a person he could see but could't touch, maybe if he sang it..

In the driving rain

Through the river wide

In the crashing waves

In the flashing sky

All creation

Sings a symphony

Your love calls to me

He remembered playing with Francis when he was little, his mother calling him for dinner...

Your love calls to me

Like a gentle breeze

Tender voice of peace

Telling me you'll

never leave me

Your love calls to me

There she was, always home, even when father wasn't, always there to fix scrapes, and give kisses when he was sad, or when he missed father, when father had died. He switched to the other ankle.

With the rising light

With the brightest day

Your love calls to me

In my darkest night

When I lose my way

Your love calls to me

He had gotten lost, dragged off by some big boy, and been out till all hours, calling for his mother, and...she came, just for him.

In the valley low

When I feel so weak

When I've fallen down

From the highest peak

When a wise man laughs

When the children sing

Your love calls to me

He felt the ankle being taken out of his hand and a small sweet voice continuing the song, just like his mother had sang it.

When I run to you

When I hide away

Your love calls to me

When I've thought a place

Your love cannot reach

Your love calls to me

He listened to the song, and then looked at Red, now concious and sitting, tears in her eyes.

"Do you miss her?"

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

Next chapter to come!!! Hope you liked it!