Alone, alone is how she felt as she ran through an orchard of flowers picking up red, yellow, and white roses. She looked around her as she saw a group of daisy's. "Daisy's are her favorite" she said to herself as she scooped up more into her empty palm. Placing them with the others she had gathered she brought the bouquet to her nose inhaling deeply then letting out a short sigh. Suddenly she heard someone coming, looking up she saw her mother. She smiled as she held out the bouquet of flowers. "They're for you" she told her. Her smile quickly faded as her mother smacked the flowers out of her hand. "Mom I..." she started but next came a blow to her lip as she fell backward not expecting it. Her eyes watered over as she felt the need to cry but knew that would make things worse. "Im strong, I wont cry, her obsessive pleasure with smacking me around doesn't bother me" she told herself but she couldn't come to believe even her own words. "You disobeyed me!" her mother screeched in a furious voice that was sure to be able to reach the houses that were 5 miles away through the orchards from where they were standing but her mother didn't seem to care as she continued to scream and hit her, harder and harder with each blow. Tears continued to swell in her eyes as she looked down not speaking a word as she began to weep.
Someone was shaking her "No, stop it, go away, don't hurt me!" anger cried out in her sleep "What are you talking about?" cocky laughed "come on, time to get up you've slept long enough" anger opened her eyes and saw cocky standing there "oh, it was a dream" anger said rubbing her eyes, they were wet. She could tell that she had been crying in her sleep along with in her dream. "Are you ok?" cocky asked standing up straight. "Yea" anger said sitting up. "Its pretty unlike you to tell me that I've been sleeping too long. Usually its me waking you up" she forced a smile as the dream was so lively and reminded her of her mother, it shook her up quite a bit and she tried to hide it. No one knew her secret and no one was going to find out. It was her secret, and she was going to take it to her grave. "Um... ok..." cocky said looking over at the far wall. She knew something was wrong. She had known there was something wrong from the first time she had talked to anger, but she knew better than anyone else in manhattan that the only way you got information from her was when she decided it was time to tell you. Cocky shook away the thought as she looked back down at anger who was spacing out. "You sure you're ok?" cocky asked. "It's always worth a try" she told herself. "Yea, I'm fine" anger said still spaced out which was kinda freaky "well..."cocky started but had to look away from her and planted her gaze on the door. "I'm going to go sell, you want me to wait for you or are you ok?" she asked looking back over at anger who was looking up at her. "I'll be fine by myself thanks" she said in a really quiet voice. The voice that she used when she was really depressed. Cocky noticed this but ignored it. "Ok well I'll see you later" she said smiling and walking out of the room leaving anger to herself, but once she took a foot out of the bunkroom she began to worry and headed straight for Jack. Anger sighed as she threw the light cover that she had over her off and stood up yawning slightly she headed for the bathroom as she turned the knob for the shower and like any other day, cold water came pouring out of the faucet "great" she mumbled to herself. She could tell this day was going to be horrible already. "I can't even sleep without her bothering me" she said to herself as she continued to get ready for selling.
Cocky ran up to Jack almost running into him "Jack!" she shouted breathlessly getting his attention. "Its anger..." she said still out of breath as she inhaled and exhaled deeply a couple of times. "What about her?" jack asked a little impatiently. "She was crying in her sleep and she was doing that thing where she spaced out but was still talking, and her voice was really quiet" she spit out all at once. Jack threw down his papes as he raced for the lodging house with cocky following not that far behind. "Where is she?"he asked when they were about 2 blocks away. "In her bunkroom" cocky said as she stopped running. "I'll meet you there. I cant run anymore" she panted. Jack continued to run as he pushed open the manhattan lodging house doors and raced up the steps shooing away everyone who came up to him "I got to go" he said to stagey who had a huge crush on him and brushed her away. "She knows I have anger, does she really think I would hurt her with everything anger's going through?" he asked himself but then brushed it off. He didn't care about what this one greedy chick thought, all he could worry about at the moment was anger. He stopped himself right outside her door and calmed himself down then knocked lightly on the door. "Anger its me, can I come in?" he asked quietly but there was no answer. "She must not have heard me" he reassured himself. "Anger?" he asked again a little louder this time followed by a slightly heavier knock on the door.
Anger heard Jack calling her and the rap on the door as she threw on her shirt and walked over to the door opening it. "Hi." she stated simply when she saw jack. "Come on in" she said opening the door and stepping out of the way buttoning her shirt up the rest of the way. "So..." she tried to make conversation although her voice was still tiny coming out. Jack walked in and sat down on her bunk. The tone in her voice wasn't good and he really wanted to know what was going on. "Come here." jack said opening his arms to her. Anger slowly walked toward him and sat on his lap letting him wrap his strong, and yet at the same time gentle arms, around her. "What's going on?" jack asked softly but anger just looked down at her feet that were swinging back and forth slowly, hitting jack's shins lightly. Jack sighed "well is it anything that I did?" anger shook her head slightly and jack let out a sigh of relief. "You know I love you right?" he asked. It was a stupid question, but he was trying to cheer her up. "Yea..." anger trailed off a little and then finished off with "I love you too... god im so sorry jack" she said turning herself so that she was looking him in the eye, and her feet stopped hitting him. "Jack I... I'm sorry but I can't tell you."she said as her eyes welled up with tears again "I do love you, but that doesn't mean that I can tell you, its just not that simple. I wish it were, but we can't all get what we want right?" she asked as a tear drop escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek. Jack nodded as he couldn't find the words to say .all he could do is feel sorry for her inside. Earlier on in their relationship she had made him promise never to feel sorry for her. He remembered she said "I hate it when people feel sorry for me, please never do, or if you have to don't say it" he had agreed, and that's how it had been ever since. He slowly placed his hands on her cheeks and wiped away her tears softly. "It'll be on I promise" jack reassured her, but she only shook her head and said "god jack, if you only knew..." he wanted to say "then tell me" but decided it would be worse to do that, and he just let it go holding her in his arms once again.
By this time cocky had gotten back to the lodging house. The only problem was the people that were sitting in the front by the door stopped her and started holding conversations with her making her lose track of time. As she was sitting around race found her and she started flirting with him. Soon after stagey walked up to her. "Hey cocky!" cocky turned from her position on race's lap seeing stagey standing there "oh hey how are you?" she asked standing up. "Pretty good" she smiled. "Do you know what's going on with jack?" she asked looking a little bit disappointed. "He totally ignored me today" she sighed. "Listen, stage, he has... ANGER!" she yelled out "I got to run!" she said taking the stairs two at a time. Stagey looked over at race and asked "What's gotten into everyone today?"race shrugged, he was just as confused as her. Cocky finally got up to anger's bunkroom, she noticed the door was open and let herself in seeing them sitting on the bunk together. Jack was the only one that saw her, as it looked like anger was sobbing. "Go, I'll talk to you later" he lipped over to her as he continued rocking anger while rubbing her back. "Shh...shh... its ok, im here" he whispered in her ear. Cocky nodded as she silently slipped into the hallway where she pondered whether or not to go back down to race where clatter was. She stood there for a few minutes until she thought to herself "I have to talk to little bit, shes my best friend, she'll knnow what I should do" she nodded walking off towards little bit's bunkroom. When she came up to it she knocked on the door. "Hey little bit, its me!" she said loud enough for her to hear through the door. "Hey cocky. Come on in." came a voice from inside. Cocky opened the door to see little bit doing her hair. "You're worse than anger about sleeping in" cocky laughed. "How is anger?" little bit asked "I haven't heard about her in awhile, I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing" she smirked. Cocky sighed walking over and sitting on little bit's bunk. "Well that's what... who I came here to talk to you about" she said as she started to bite her fingernails. "Oh will you stop that?" little bit asked walking up to her and pulling cocky's fingers out of her mouth. "Just spill" she said sitting down next to her. Cocky sighed as she turned toward her. "There's something up with anger and I don't know what's going on. She wont tell anyone, not even me. This has been going on for god only knows how long now. It kind of scares me because whenever something is wrong she always goes to me. Only this time its different.. She has something locked up deep inside of her and right now she's crying on jack's shoulder because its killing her. I just wish she would let it out and tell someone but she's being stubborn. I think she knows that if she tells someone she is afraid it will hurt too bad." cocky finished. "So any idea of what I should do?" she asked her hopefully. "Well..." little bit thought for a moment then continued. "Well I really don't know what you should do but I can say that If I were you I would just sit down and talk to her" she shrugged. "Easier said than done" cocky sighed again. "There's no getting through her" little bit thought for a minute again then said "Well do you want me to try and talk to her ?" cocky laughed a bit "You can try it if you want to, but she doesnt really know you and that decreases your chances" she shrugged and laid back "I don't want to just give up on her, you know?" she asked "Yea" little bit nodded and looked down at her. "Well then its up to you to talk to her. If she's that worked up about it now that she's bawling I would wait until tomorrow afternoon" she stated "Thanks." cocky said sitting back up. "But I doubt that's going to work, I guess anything is worth a shot now" she said as she was about to start biting her nails again but decided against it and bit her lip slightly hoping little bit wouldn't notice. Little bit noticed and rolled her eyes. "How long has this been going on?" she asked "Which part?" cocky asked rolling her eyes slightly "The crying in her sleep, the endless depression, the sleepless nights, or the me forcing her to eat?" little bit's eyes widened "Wow" being the only thing she could think of to say "Um... yea, you really have to talk to her before things get worse" she nodded. "Yea I know" cocky said sighing. "And I'm going to tomorrow" she nodded confidently. Little bit smiled. "Good girl! You deserve a cookie!" cocky smiled. "A cookie! For me?" she played along although she wasn't in the best mood ever. Little bit laughed. "I'll get you one eventually" cocky glared jokingly at her "oh thanks!"little bit smirked and replied with "Anytime!" Cocky looked at the time and soon after Jack showed up at their door. "Hey cocky, anger wants you to stay with her tonight. Is that alright?" he asked only poking his head in. "Yea that's fine" she stated getting up. Then looked over at little bit. "I'm going to take your advice, I'm going to talk to her tomorrow." she said hugging her. "Thanks a lot, I don't know what I would do without you" little bit smirked giving her the "I have a comeback for that but you don't want to hear it so leave before I get too tempted to say it" look. Cocky laughed and walked out of th bunkroom and down the hall to anger's bunkroom. Right before they got there jack pulled her aside and said. "Cocky it really broke my heart to see her like that today. Please help her out. I can't bear to see her like this" he said this with tears in his eyes. "Jack its all going to be fine I promise, I'm going to talk to her tomorrow and try and get this out of her" she said looking away. "But I cant guarantee anything" she stated quickly. "Well no offense but she wouldn't even tell me, I doubt she'll tell you. But good luck anyways" cocky smirked a little and nodded "Thanks" she said and headed into anger's bunkroom where she was laying in bed "Thanks for coming again" anger said quietly. "Its fine" cocky said sitting down next to the bunk. "Now try and get some sleep. No more talking" she said as anger grabbed onto her hand she started rubbing anger's hand with her thumb until she finally fell asleep, but by that time cocky was already passed out on the floor.
The next day cocky woke up with her hand back, but it was all clammy. "Gross" she said to herself wiping it on her shirt, then looked up into the bunk next to her where anger was still sleeping. She sighed remembering everything about the night before as she got up and stretched. Her back was killing her from the way she was sleeping as she mumbled something under her breath. Then jumped on the end of anger's bed. "Come on get up its morning" she chuckled as anger rolled around. "Are you going to make me sell?" she asked. Her voice was back to normal which was a good thing. "Nope" cocky said sitting up at the foot of the bed. "But you have to get up anyway" anger sighed and rolled around again as she finally got up. "Ok I'm up, happy?" she asked yawning. "Yea" cocky smirked. "So how was your sleep?" she asked hiding the hopefulness in her voice. "Pretty good actually... why?" anger asked knowing that cocky was up to something. "No reason" cocky said nodding. "Just making conversation" she nodded again. All that was going through her head at the time was how she could get into the subject. "So what happened in your dream a couple nights ago that made it so bad?" she asked not wanting to bring anger back into the depression she was feeling the day before. Anger looked around the room "I don't want to talk about it" she said quietly. "Im sorry..." cocky said looking down "but I bet it would be a lot better if you did open up a little" she said looking up at anger again who was staring directly at her, not in that spaced out gaze but an actual normal gaze that cocky hadn't seen in practically forever on her. Cocky smiled brightly and saw that soon anger was smiling. "Well I haven't seen that in forever" she teased. Anger laughed. "Yea... no one has, not even jack" she said. She wouldn't have been able to stop smiling if her life depended on it, and she didn't know why. "This is my chance" cocky told herself "this Is my chance to ask her about it" cocky kept telling herself that but no matter how much she wanted to she didn't want to ruin angers mood. She was really happy to see anger like this after so many years of her always being depressed and never smiling, but she knew she had to, not only for her but for jack too. "Anger, can I ask you something?" she asked. It was easy to see how nervous she was although she tried to hide it, and anger could see right through her. "Its about why I'm always like this isn't it?" she asked her, and when she saw her guilty face she said "Oh cocky, I don't know if I can..." cocky sighed and looked away then back up to anger who had the "im sorry" look on her face. "Oh anger, please try, for me, and most of all for jack, he's been so worried about you." anger sighed "Ok, I could try, but first answer my question." "Anything"cocky said. "I guess if it gets her to tell me its worth it" cocky thought to herself. She knew it was really greedy of her and felt kind of bad. In the meantime anger asked "was he crying?" cocky looked away, she knew she shouldn't tell her and was thinking of the best thing to do. She finally nodded, that way she really didn't say anything. Anger looked down. I feel so bad for making him feel that way." cocky nodded once again "I understand, but think how happy he would be if you confessed to all of us." anger looked her deep in the eye again and said "Cocky, im going to tell you, and ill be better around you and jack, but please, please don't tell anyone else." "Not even jack?" cocky asked a little surprised. "Not even jack" she said "I just have this thing about him knowing. The main reason why I didn't said anything earlier is because I don't want him to find out" she said looking down. "I promise I wont tell him" she said taking angers chin and lifting it up although that felt weird, like she was trying to seduce her, and she quickly took her hand back. "Sorry" she laughed a bit. "It's alright" anger laughed with her. Anyway, down to business huh?" she asked. She was nervous herself as she could see a hint of nervousness in cocky's eyes. "You think you are nervous!" she laughed. "You're stalling, just get it over with" cocky laughed. "Yea you're right" she smirked almost shyly. "Well here goes..."
Anger took a deep breath and started. "Well when I was little me and my mom were perfect. We were like best friends..." she sighed and then continued. "I miss those days, where me and her could spend a whole day together and just have fun. Then my mom and dad started getting into a lot of fights and he blamed them all on me. She stood up for me though. She always said how I was too young for all of it, and in retrospect I was. I was only 8! And he's going and blaming all their fights on me, what was I doing wrong? But anyway... my mom and dad finally divorced about a year later. My mom moved out and took me with her. She got depressed all the time and was a total wreck, it got so bad that the littlest things would drive her into her bedroom so she could cry or just start yelling about it at the top of her lungs. She never liked yelling in front of me. One time my dad came over to check on us and they got to talking, I was in my room at the time and I couldnt hear anything they were saying. The next thing I knew my mom came in my room and started hitting me, just like that. I guess my dad started telling her that he was right and it had been me, that my mom was just too stubborn to believe it, I never really found out what it was they were talking about. At first it started out as an occasional smack across the face, but as time went by, a year, then two, it became constantly, I barely ever had fine minutes of peace without getting yelled at or screamed at. Finally I tried to run away, but by the time I was a mile or two away from the house my mom found me and took me back, that's when it became worse. My mom was constantly giving me blows in the jaw, and everywhere. Like as soon as she got me home that time she probably slapped me around for a good hour, maybe two" she frowned. But there weren't any tears in her eyes, only a lot of anger as she pulled up her long sleeved shirt. Cocky had always wondered why anger wore long sleeved shirts even on the hottest days, and now she had her answer, there was a long, scar that went around her biceps, all the way to her triceps. And although cocky didn't think she was supposed to see them, but on anger's wrist you could see lines that were obviously cut marks, and no matter how badly she wanted to tell her to stop doing that, she didn't, plus she didn't even know if anger still did it, she assumed she did. Anger continued "that, is where my mom got me with a knife, I went to punch her, and the way my arm was moving it ripped more than what it was supposed to. My mom got me some wrap stuff and put it over the cut, she was freaking out. She didn't touch me after that, she felt bad, but I knew that once it healed completely she would go back at it. So after I gave it the right amount of care and I knew I would be able to make a trip with it I left. About halfway here It started itching so I took the wrap that she put on it off and it looked ok so I left it off." she shrugged. "So that was my second episode with running away and it worked, of course I had to change my name..." she trailed off. "Well what was your name?" cocky asked smiling. "Martha trank" anger said laughing a little. "So when I got to Manhattan I was talking to people around the streets, I found jack and he told me about the newsies business, I was interested and he told me about the newsie names and everything and I came up with anger, and I've been a newsie ever since" she shrugged again "I know its not as bad as you expected but I guess you would have to live the experience. Cocky nodded, yea probably but it does sound pretty bad. I can understand. So what was in your dream?" she asked feeling like they were playing 20 questions even though she didn't mean to do it. "Well in the dream I was in this orchard, and I was getting a whole bunch of flowers for my mom, and she came and smacked me and didn't take the flowers, just threw them to the ground, and she was beating on me like old times and... yea" she laughed at cocky's face. "Its not that it was all that bad its just that I felt like I couldn't escape from her" cocky nodded and laughed "yea, I understand" anger smiled "good, and thanks, maybe ill sleep better now that I have it off my chest." cocky nodded agreeing. "Well I got to go get ready now so I'll see you later" she said giving anger a hug. "You aren't going to tell jack right?" she asked with a serious look on her face "I promise I wont" she smiled reassuringly. "Thanks again" anger smiled "no biggy, don't worry about it" anger smiled until she was out of the room, then she laid back down and fell asleep.
Cocky smiled. She was so happy for anger. She was laying on her bunk straightening her back as it still hurt when she heard a knock at her door. "Come in" she yelled over. Jack walked in sitting at the edge of her bunk. "Have you talked to her?" he asked nervous and hopeful all at the same time. "Yea I did" cocky sighed. "What's wrong?" jack asked, did she even tell you?" "She did but im not supposed to tell you." cocky winced "im sorry." "Come on, if you tell me I swear I wont tell anger." he begged. "Alright!" cocky gave in easier than usual as she started to explain everything to him. When she was finished she said "There are you happy now?" "Very" jack stated "I feel so bad for her" he said. He was more talking to himself than anyone else. "Im going to go see her." "Remember not to let her know you know." cocky said, she was a little nervous about this whole thing and she was kicking herself in the butt for giving into jack. "I wont I promise" jack said heading out of the room. He walked over to anger's bunkroom where the door was open and he let himself in. "Still sleeping?" he asked quite loud. "Yea" she smiled over at him making room for him to sit down. "But I did get up once, me and cocky had a talk." she said knowing she shouldn't have. "Oh yea, about your mom." he said without thinking. "What!?"anger asked furiously. "She told you didn't she?" she asked in a rage "didn't she!" jack was silent for a long time "crap." he kept telling himself. "Crap crap crap crap crap!" Then he finally spoke. "Yea..." he said "I'm sorry it was my fault I forced it out of her!" he tried covering for her as he knew they were really good friends. "It doesnt matter" anger stormed out of the room. "She promised she wouldn't tell you!" she said as she stormed into cocky's room. "Why did you tell him? WHY?" she screamed in her face as jack stood in the doorway. "He forced it out of me!" she said looking over at him. "I did" he admitted. "Please don't be mad at her for something that is my own fault!" he said going over to anger and hugging her tight. "Its all going to be alright" he whispered in her ear knowing this was the only way to calm her down. "Its ok that I know, im not going to be weird around you" he whispered some more as anger slowly loosened up from how tense she was before. "You ok?" he when he pulled away a little. "Im sorry jack... I was just so scared you would be weird around me" jack smiled "I could never be weird around you. I love you too much. Never forget that." he smiled reassuringly. Anger smiled and nodded kissing him softly. Then turned around to face cocky. "Im so..." she started but got cut off by cocky who said "Its alright, Its over and done with now.... but you aren't mad at me right?" She asked with her puppy dog eyes. Anger laughed and shook her head as she hugged her. Jack smiled. He was glad that she wasn't mad at any of them as he came behind anger and wrapped his arms around her waist his fingertips barely touching cocky's hips. "Whoa!" cocky laughed. "Too much love going on over here" she joked. "Sorry" jack said pulling away from anger and giving cocky a hug. Thanks a lot cocky. I would know nothing without you." cocky laughed her know it all laugh and said "I know!" As jack and anger laughed little bit showed up "hey how's everyone doing?" she asked seeing anger who was laughing. Cocky answered her "we're all good." she smiled taking little bit out into the hall. "Thanks for your advice" she said quietly "I don't know what I would've done without you." little bit laughed and said "you'd be lost, or in yesterday land." cocky laughed "Yesterday land?" little bit nodded as that's all she could do because she was laughing too hard..
THE END!
Someone was shaking her "No, stop it, go away, don't hurt me!" anger cried out in her sleep "What are you talking about?" cocky laughed "come on, time to get up you've slept long enough" anger opened her eyes and saw cocky standing there "oh, it was a dream" anger said rubbing her eyes, they were wet. She could tell that she had been crying in her sleep along with in her dream. "Are you ok?" cocky asked standing up straight. "Yea" anger said sitting up. "Its pretty unlike you to tell me that I've been sleeping too long. Usually its me waking you up" she forced a smile as the dream was so lively and reminded her of her mother, it shook her up quite a bit and she tried to hide it. No one knew her secret and no one was going to find out. It was her secret, and she was going to take it to her grave. "Um... ok..." cocky said looking over at the far wall. She knew something was wrong. She had known there was something wrong from the first time she had talked to anger, but she knew better than anyone else in manhattan that the only way you got information from her was when she decided it was time to tell you. Cocky shook away the thought as she looked back down at anger who was spacing out. "You sure you're ok?" cocky asked. "It's always worth a try" she told herself. "Yea, I'm fine" anger said still spaced out which was kinda freaky "well..."cocky started but had to look away from her and planted her gaze on the door. "I'm going to go sell, you want me to wait for you or are you ok?" she asked looking back over at anger who was looking up at her. "I'll be fine by myself thanks" she said in a really quiet voice. The voice that she used when she was really depressed. Cocky noticed this but ignored it. "Ok well I'll see you later" she said smiling and walking out of the room leaving anger to herself, but once she took a foot out of the bunkroom she began to worry and headed straight for Jack. Anger sighed as she threw the light cover that she had over her off and stood up yawning slightly she headed for the bathroom as she turned the knob for the shower and like any other day, cold water came pouring out of the faucet "great" she mumbled to herself. She could tell this day was going to be horrible already. "I can't even sleep without her bothering me" she said to herself as she continued to get ready for selling.
Cocky ran up to Jack almost running into him "Jack!" she shouted breathlessly getting his attention. "Its anger..." she said still out of breath as she inhaled and exhaled deeply a couple of times. "What about her?" jack asked a little impatiently. "She was crying in her sleep and she was doing that thing where she spaced out but was still talking, and her voice was really quiet" she spit out all at once. Jack threw down his papes as he raced for the lodging house with cocky following not that far behind. "Where is she?"he asked when they were about 2 blocks away. "In her bunkroom" cocky said as she stopped running. "I'll meet you there. I cant run anymore" she panted. Jack continued to run as he pushed open the manhattan lodging house doors and raced up the steps shooing away everyone who came up to him "I got to go" he said to stagey who had a huge crush on him and brushed her away. "She knows I have anger, does she really think I would hurt her with everything anger's going through?" he asked himself but then brushed it off. He didn't care about what this one greedy chick thought, all he could worry about at the moment was anger. He stopped himself right outside her door and calmed himself down then knocked lightly on the door. "Anger its me, can I come in?" he asked quietly but there was no answer. "She must not have heard me" he reassured himself. "Anger?" he asked again a little louder this time followed by a slightly heavier knock on the door.
Anger heard Jack calling her and the rap on the door as she threw on her shirt and walked over to the door opening it. "Hi." she stated simply when she saw jack. "Come on in" she said opening the door and stepping out of the way buttoning her shirt up the rest of the way. "So..." she tried to make conversation although her voice was still tiny coming out. Jack walked in and sat down on her bunk. The tone in her voice wasn't good and he really wanted to know what was going on. "Come here." jack said opening his arms to her. Anger slowly walked toward him and sat on his lap letting him wrap his strong, and yet at the same time gentle arms, around her. "What's going on?" jack asked softly but anger just looked down at her feet that were swinging back and forth slowly, hitting jack's shins lightly. Jack sighed "well is it anything that I did?" anger shook her head slightly and jack let out a sigh of relief. "You know I love you right?" he asked. It was a stupid question, but he was trying to cheer her up. "Yea..." anger trailed off a little and then finished off with "I love you too... god im so sorry jack" she said turning herself so that she was looking him in the eye, and her feet stopped hitting him. "Jack I... I'm sorry but I can't tell you."she said as her eyes welled up with tears again "I do love you, but that doesn't mean that I can tell you, its just not that simple. I wish it were, but we can't all get what we want right?" she asked as a tear drop escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek. Jack nodded as he couldn't find the words to say .all he could do is feel sorry for her inside. Earlier on in their relationship she had made him promise never to feel sorry for her. He remembered she said "I hate it when people feel sorry for me, please never do, or if you have to don't say it" he had agreed, and that's how it had been ever since. He slowly placed his hands on her cheeks and wiped away her tears softly. "It'll be on I promise" jack reassured her, but she only shook her head and said "god jack, if you only knew..." he wanted to say "then tell me" but decided it would be worse to do that, and he just let it go holding her in his arms once again.
By this time cocky had gotten back to the lodging house. The only problem was the people that were sitting in the front by the door stopped her and started holding conversations with her making her lose track of time. As she was sitting around race found her and she started flirting with him. Soon after stagey walked up to her. "Hey cocky!" cocky turned from her position on race's lap seeing stagey standing there "oh hey how are you?" she asked standing up. "Pretty good" she smiled. "Do you know what's going on with jack?" she asked looking a little bit disappointed. "He totally ignored me today" she sighed. "Listen, stage, he has... ANGER!" she yelled out "I got to run!" she said taking the stairs two at a time. Stagey looked over at race and asked "What's gotten into everyone today?"race shrugged, he was just as confused as her. Cocky finally got up to anger's bunkroom, she noticed the door was open and let herself in seeing them sitting on the bunk together. Jack was the only one that saw her, as it looked like anger was sobbing. "Go, I'll talk to you later" he lipped over to her as he continued rocking anger while rubbing her back. "Shh...shh... its ok, im here" he whispered in her ear. Cocky nodded as she silently slipped into the hallway where she pondered whether or not to go back down to race where clatter was. She stood there for a few minutes until she thought to herself "I have to talk to little bit, shes my best friend, she'll knnow what I should do" she nodded walking off towards little bit's bunkroom. When she came up to it she knocked on the door. "Hey little bit, its me!" she said loud enough for her to hear through the door. "Hey cocky. Come on in." came a voice from inside. Cocky opened the door to see little bit doing her hair. "You're worse than anger about sleeping in" cocky laughed. "How is anger?" little bit asked "I haven't heard about her in awhile, I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing" she smirked. Cocky sighed walking over and sitting on little bit's bunk. "Well that's what... who I came here to talk to you about" she said as she started to bite her fingernails. "Oh will you stop that?" little bit asked walking up to her and pulling cocky's fingers out of her mouth. "Just spill" she said sitting down next to her. Cocky sighed as she turned toward her. "There's something up with anger and I don't know what's going on. She wont tell anyone, not even me. This has been going on for god only knows how long now. It kind of scares me because whenever something is wrong she always goes to me. Only this time its different.. She has something locked up deep inside of her and right now she's crying on jack's shoulder because its killing her. I just wish she would let it out and tell someone but she's being stubborn. I think she knows that if she tells someone she is afraid it will hurt too bad." cocky finished. "So any idea of what I should do?" she asked her hopefully. "Well..." little bit thought for a moment then continued. "Well I really don't know what you should do but I can say that If I were you I would just sit down and talk to her" she shrugged. "Easier said than done" cocky sighed again. "There's no getting through her" little bit thought for a minute again then said "Well do you want me to try and talk to her ?" cocky laughed a bit "You can try it if you want to, but she doesnt really know you and that decreases your chances" she shrugged and laid back "I don't want to just give up on her, you know?" she asked "Yea" little bit nodded and looked down at her. "Well then its up to you to talk to her. If she's that worked up about it now that she's bawling I would wait until tomorrow afternoon" she stated "Thanks." cocky said sitting back up. "But I doubt that's going to work, I guess anything is worth a shot now" she said as she was about to start biting her nails again but decided against it and bit her lip slightly hoping little bit wouldn't notice. Little bit noticed and rolled her eyes. "How long has this been going on?" she asked "Which part?" cocky asked rolling her eyes slightly "The crying in her sleep, the endless depression, the sleepless nights, or the me forcing her to eat?" little bit's eyes widened "Wow" being the only thing she could think of to say "Um... yea, you really have to talk to her before things get worse" she nodded. "Yea I know" cocky said sighing. "And I'm going to tomorrow" she nodded confidently. Little bit smiled. "Good girl! You deserve a cookie!" cocky smiled. "A cookie! For me?" she played along although she wasn't in the best mood ever. Little bit laughed. "I'll get you one eventually" cocky glared jokingly at her "oh thanks!"little bit smirked and replied with "Anytime!" Cocky looked at the time and soon after Jack showed up at their door. "Hey cocky, anger wants you to stay with her tonight. Is that alright?" he asked only poking his head in. "Yea that's fine" she stated getting up. Then looked over at little bit. "I'm going to take your advice, I'm going to talk to her tomorrow." she said hugging her. "Thanks a lot, I don't know what I would do without you" little bit smirked giving her the "I have a comeback for that but you don't want to hear it so leave before I get too tempted to say it" look. Cocky laughed and walked out of th bunkroom and down the hall to anger's bunkroom. Right before they got there jack pulled her aside and said. "Cocky it really broke my heart to see her like that today. Please help her out. I can't bear to see her like this" he said this with tears in his eyes. "Jack its all going to be fine I promise, I'm going to talk to her tomorrow and try and get this out of her" she said looking away. "But I cant guarantee anything" she stated quickly. "Well no offense but she wouldn't even tell me, I doubt she'll tell you. But good luck anyways" cocky smirked a little and nodded "Thanks" she said and headed into anger's bunkroom where she was laying in bed "Thanks for coming again" anger said quietly. "Its fine" cocky said sitting down next to the bunk. "Now try and get some sleep. No more talking" she said as anger grabbed onto her hand she started rubbing anger's hand with her thumb until she finally fell asleep, but by that time cocky was already passed out on the floor.
The next day cocky woke up with her hand back, but it was all clammy. "Gross" she said to herself wiping it on her shirt, then looked up into the bunk next to her where anger was still sleeping. She sighed remembering everything about the night before as she got up and stretched. Her back was killing her from the way she was sleeping as she mumbled something under her breath. Then jumped on the end of anger's bed. "Come on get up its morning" she chuckled as anger rolled around. "Are you going to make me sell?" she asked. Her voice was back to normal which was a good thing. "Nope" cocky said sitting up at the foot of the bed. "But you have to get up anyway" anger sighed and rolled around again as she finally got up. "Ok I'm up, happy?" she asked yawning. "Yea" cocky smirked. "So how was your sleep?" she asked hiding the hopefulness in her voice. "Pretty good actually... why?" anger asked knowing that cocky was up to something. "No reason" cocky said nodding. "Just making conversation" she nodded again. All that was going through her head at the time was how she could get into the subject. "So what happened in your dream a couple nights ago that made it so bad?" she asked not wanting to bring anger back into the depression she was feeling the day before. Anger looked around the room "I don't want to talk about it" she said quietly. "Im sorry..." cocky said looking down "but I bet it would be a lot better if you did open up a little" she said looking up at anger again who was staring directly at her, not in that spaced out gaze but an actual normal gaze that cocky hadn't seen in practically forever on her. Cocky smiled brightly and saw that soon anger was smiling. "Well I haven't seen that in forever" she teased. Anger laughed. "Yea... no one has, not even jack" she said. She wouldn't have been able to stop smiling if her life depended on it, and she didn't know why. "This is my chance" cocky told herself "this Is my chance to ask her about it" cocky kept telling herself that but no matter how much she wanted to she didn't want to ruin angers mood. She was really happy to see anger like this after so many years of her always being depressed and never smiling, but she knew she had to, not only for her but for jack too. "Anger, can I ask you something?" she asked. It was easy to see how nervous she was although she tried to hide it, and anger could see right through her. "Its about why I'm always like this isn't it?" she asked her, and when she saw her guilty face she said "Oh cocky, I don't know if I can..." cocky sighed and looked away then back up to anger who had the "im sorry" look on her face. "Oh anger, please try, for me, and most of all for jack, he's been so worried about you." anger sighed "Ok, I could try, but first answer my question." "Anything"cocky said. "I guess if it gets her to tell me its worth it" cocky thought to herself. She knew it was really greedy of her and felt kind of bad. In the meantime anger asked "was he crying?" cocky looked away, she knew she shouldn't tell her and was thinking of the best thing to do. She finally nodded, that way she really didn't say anything. Anger looked down. I feel so bad for making him feel that way." cocky nodded once again "I understand, but think how happy he would be if you confessed to all of us." anger looked her deep in the eye again and said "Cocky, im going to tell you, and ill be better around you and jack, but please, please don't tell anyone else." "Not even jack?" cocky asked a little surprised. "Not even jack" she said "I just have this thing about him knowing. The main reason why I didn't said anything earlier is because I don't want him to find out" she said looking down. "I promise I wont tell him" she said taking angers chin and lifting it up although that felt weird, like she was trying to seduce her, and she quickly took her hand back. "Sorry" she laughed a bit. "It's alright" anger laughed with her. Anyway, down to business huh?" she asked. She was nervous herself as she could see a hint of nervousness in cocky's eyes. "You think you are nervous!" she laughed. "You're stalling, just get it over with" cocky laughed. "Yea you're right" she smirked almost shyly. "Well here goes..."
Anger took a deep breath and started. "Well when I was little me and my mom were perfect. We were like best friends..." she sighed and then continued. "I miss those days, where me and her could spend a whole day together and just have fun. Then my mom and dad started getting into a lot of fights and he blamed them all on me. She stood up for me though. She always said how I was too young for all of it, and in retrospect I was. I was only 8! And he's going and blaming all their fights on me, what was I doing wrong? But anyway... my mom and dad finally divorced about a year later. My mom moved out and took me with her. She got depressed all the time and was a total wreck, it got so bad that the littlest things would drive her into her bedroom so she could cry or just start yelling about it at the top of her lungs. She never liked yelling in front of me. One time my dad came over to check on us and they got to talking, I was in my room at the time and I couldnt hear anything they were saying. The next thing I knew my mom came in my room and started hitting me, just like that. I guess my dad started telling her that he was right and it had been me, that my mom was just too stubborn to believe it, I never really found out what it was they were talking about. At first it started out as an occasional smack across the face, but as time went by, a year, then two, it became constantly, I barely ever had fine minutes of peace without getting yelled at or screamed at. Finally I tried to run away, but by the time I was a mile or two away from the house my mom found me and took me back, that's when it became worse. My mom was constantly giving me blows in the jaw, and everywhere. Like as soon as she got me home that time she probably slapped me around for a good hour, maybe two" she frowned. But there weren't any tears in her eyes, only a lot of anger as she pulled up her long sleeved shirt. Cocky had always wondered why anger wore long sleeved shirts even on the hottest days, and now she had her answer, there was a long, scar that went around her biceps, all the way to her triceps. And although cocky didn't think she was supposed to see them, but on anger's wrist you could see lines that were obviously cut marks, and no matter how badly she wanted to tell her to stop doing that, she didn't, plus she didn't even know if anger still did it, she assumed she did. Anger continued "that, is where my mom got me with a knife, I went to punch her, and the way my arm was moving it ripped more than what it was supposed to. My mom got me some wrap stuff and put it over the cut, she was freaking out. She didn't touch me after that, she felt bad, but I knew that once it healed completely she would go back at it. So after I gave it the right amount of care and I knew I would be able to make a trip with it I left. About halfway here It started itching so I took the wrap that she put on it off and it looked ok so I left it off." she shrugged. "So that was my second episode with running away and it worked, of course I had to change my name..." she trailed off. "Well what was your name?" cocky asked smiling. "Martha trank" anger said laughing a little. "So when I got to Manhattan I was talking to people around the streets, I found jack and he told me about the newsies business, I was interested and he told me about the newsie names and everything and I came up with anger, and I've been a newsie ever since" she shrugged again "I know its not as bad as you expected but I guess you would have to live the experience. Cocky nodded, yea probably but it does sound pretty bad. I can understand. So what was in your dream?" she asked feeling like they were playing 20 questions even though she didn't mean to do it. "Well in the dream I was in this orchard, and I was getting a whole bunch of flowers for my mom, and she came and smacked me and didn't take the flowers, just threw them to the ground, and she was beating on me like old times and... yea" she laughed at cocky's face. "Its not that it was all that bad its just that I felt like I couldn't escape from her" cocky nodded and laughed "yea, I understand" anger smiled "good, and thanks, maybe ill sleep better now that I have it off my chest." cocky nodded agreeing. "Well I got to go get ready now so I'll see you later" she said giving anger a hug. "You aren't going to tell jack right?" she asked with a serious look on her face "I promise I wont" she smiled reassuringly. "Thanks again" anger smiled "no biggy, don't worry about it" anger smiled until she was out of the room, then she laid back down and fell asleep.
Cocky smiled. She was so happy for anger. She was laying on her bunk straightening her back as it still hurt when she heard a knock at her door. "Come in" she yelled over. Jack walked in sitting at the edge of her bunk. "Have you talked to her?" he asked nervous and hopeful all at the same time. "Yea I did" cocky sighed. "What's wrong?" jack asked, did she even tell you?" "She did but im not supposed to tell you." cocky winced "im sorry." "Come on, if you tell me I swear I wont tell anger." he begged. "Alright!" cocky gave in easier than usual as she started to explain everything to him. When she was finished she said "There are you happy now?" "Very" jack stated "I feel so bad for her" he said. He was more talking to himself than anyone else. "Im going to go see her." "Remember not to let her know you know." cocky said, she was a little nervous about this whole thing and she was kicking herself in the butt for giving into jack. "I wont I promise" jack said heading out of the room. He walked over to anger's bunkroom where the door was open and he let himself in. "Still sleeping?" he asked quite loud. "Yea" she smiled over at him making room for him to sit down. "But I did get up once, me and cocky had a talk." she said knowing she shouldn't have. "Oh yea, about your mom." he said without thinking. "What!?"anger asked furiously. "She told you didn't she?" she asked in a rage "didn't she!" jack was silent for a long time "crap." he kept telling himself. "Crap crap crap crap crap!" Then he finally spoke. "Yea..." he said "I'm sorry it was my fault I forced it out of her!" he tried covering for her as he knew they were really good friends. "It doesnt matter" anger stormed out of the room. "She promised she wouldn't tell you!" she said as she stormed into cocky's room. "Why did you tell him? WHY?" she screamed in her face as jack stood in the doorway. "He forced it out of me!" she said looking over at him. "I did" he admitted. "Please don't be mad at her for something that is my own fault!" he said going over to anger and hugging her tight. "Its all going to be alright" he whispered in her ear knowing this was the only way to calm her down. "Its ok that I know, im not going to be weird around you" he whispered some more as anger slowly loosened up from how tense she was before. "You ok?" he when he pulled away a little. "Im sorry jack... I was just so scared you would be weird around me" jack smiled "I could never be weird around you. I love you too much. Never forget that." he smiled reassuringly. Anger smiled and nodded kissing him softly. Then turned around to face cocky. "Im so..." she started but got cut off by cocky who said "Its alright, Its over and done with now.... but you aren't mad at me right?" She asked with her puppy dog eyes. Anger laughed and shook her head as she hugged her. Jack smiled. He was glad that she wasn't mad at any of them as he came behind anger and wrapped his arms around her waist his fingertips barely touching cocky's hips. "Whoa!" cocky laughed. "Too much love going on over here" she joked. "Sorry" jack said pulling away from anger and giving cocky a hug. Thanks a lot cocky. I would know nothing without you." cocky laughed her know it all laugh and said "I know!" As jack and anger laughed little bit showed up "hey how's everyone doing?" she asked seeing anger who was laughing. Cocky answered her "we're all good." she smiled taking little bit out into the hall. "Thanks for your advice" she said quietly "I don't know what I would've done without you." little bit laughed and said "you'd be lost, or in yesterday land." cocky laughed "Yesterday land?" little bit nodded as that's all she could do because she was laughing too hard..
THE END!