[Disclaimer] I don't own Newsies, Disney does...sort of. I mean TECHNICALLY, the writers of the script own Newsies, but whatever floats your boat. I'm not making any money off of this. If I were, this would be on a much better computer that would upload italics! Also, the character Squid is owned by et-spiritus-sancti, not myself.
[A/N] Well here's chapter three...this is actually a record for me. Heh, I've never really gotten past chapter two in a story before. Oh, and once again, thanks Dakki for beta reading. It'd look like crap if ya didn't...and we both know it! Anyways, happy reading ya'll!
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"Same to you, you...asino!" A highly discombobulated Squid shouted as she was thrown out the back door of a restaurant. "Well there's number 583..." Squid thought to herself. Since she had come to New York she had been trying to get a job as a cook, seeing as cooking was her one true love, and it paid a lot better than selling newspapers. But everywhere she went, they always had a seemingly good reason to not hire her. "'You're too young, you're a girl...you're a foreigner.' They always have some sort of stupid excuse. They never even let me demonstrate my abilities!" As she walked around the corner muttering something in Italian, she came upon two of her fellow newsies, who were at present arguing about something.
"C'mon Skitts! You can't skulk around forever. Mock wouldn't want that! Just come ta Sheepshead with me." Racetrack said as he dug through his pockets attempting to figure out how much he could afford to gamble away that day.
"I already told ya Race, I don't want to go anywhere, especially not all the way to Brooklyn!" A thoroughly exasperated Skittery replied as he looked around. Noticing Squid, he called her over. "Besides, I think Squid wants ta go with you."
"Go where?" A confused Squid asked.
"Sheepshead."
"Uhh...Non parlo Inglese.
Rolling his eyes, Race took a quick puff off his cigar then looped arms with Squid before walking away from Skittery. "You'll hafta get over it someday ya know!" He shouted over his shoulder as he and Squid began the long trek to the racetrack. As they walked, an unusual lull in conversation hit the pair. Suddenly it occurred to Squid what Racetrack and Skittery had been talking about.
"Race, do you think Skittery will ever get over Mockery?"
Sighing, he replied, "doesn't look like it."
"I wish there was something I could do. He won't talk to me though."
"Yeah, me either."
A brand new lull set itself upon them as they thought about their two friends, one whom still worried them and the other whom they no longer could worry for. At the thought of a distant memory, Squid began to giggle uncontrollably.
"What ARE ya laughin' at?" Race asked. He himself was still caught up in dismal thoughts, and hence, couldn't quite comprehend what the source of his companion's laughter could be.
"Just...thinking about...something." She squeaked out through her giggles.
"Well...?" Race waited for her to tell him what she was thinking about, but when she didn't he grew frustrated. "C'mon Squid! You can't do that. You hafta tell me what you're talkin' about."
"Va bene! Just give me a minute to COMPOSE myself." Giving Racetrack a death glare, she took a few deep breaths before telling him what she had been thinking of.
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"There really is no kind way to say this to you Mockery...so I shall be blunt. You smell!" Squid was highly perturbed with Mockery's present fear of bathing, due to the possibility of one of the boys walking in on her. She understood that it was because the now fifteen year old girl, who was two years her senior, had just started developing, and she also knew that that was not an easy task when you lived with many of guys and only one girl. "But I'm going through the same things...and 'I' still bathe...and she really does smell horrible after a MONTH of not bathing." The petite Italian girl thought to herself.
"Aw, I'll take a bath EVENTUALLY, Squid."
"No. You shall do it NOW!" She retorted, her dark brown curls shaking with her head. "There is no good reason why you shouldn't bathe. After all, 'I' do it all the time."
The two girls walked through the bunkroom, Mockery being unknowingly backed into the washroom. The realization of where she was finally hit her as she rammed into the bathroom counter.
As the sudden twinge of pain hit her in the derrière, she yelped, and then hissed "Gemma Lucia Deliberto! You know perfectly well why I don't wanna take a bath!" At hearing the yelp, two boys popped their heads in from the bunkroom. "And there's TWO reasons right there!"
Sighing dismally, Squid walked back into the bunkroom then said rather loudly, "All right boys, I tried!"
After she had said this, four of the older boys walked in, each carrying an item to be used for Mockery's bath. Grinning like four Cheshire cats, they all swiftly closed in on her, causing her to feel like a cornered animal. As Snaps reached forward to take hold of her elbow, she swatted at him with a look of extreme fear overshadowing her features.
"Now Mock...we tried bein' nice 'bout all this...but you wouldn't listen ta Squid...so now we hafta take this matter into our own hands. No offense...but ya DO smell pretty awful." Snaps said appearing to look sympathetic. Then with that, he scooped her up and plopped her into the tub of water that was waiting for her. "And since you're so shy all of a sudden...we'll bathe ya WITH your clothes on."
And this was how Skittery found his friends in the lodging house that day. Most watching through fits of laughter, but a few actually trying to hold down the yowling Mockery while her bathers proceeded. As he approached the scene, he said the first thing that popped into his head. "What the HELL are ya doing ta her?" When no one responded he stood there a moment, scratching his head, as if trying to decide what to do. He took so long standing there, that they were finally done with her. After Snaps had dumped the flailing brunette out onto the hard floor, she hastily got up and ran to the only place she could think of...the roof. Running as fast as one can in sopping wet clothes and shoes, she finally got there slipping and sliding the whole way.
Skittery sighed, and then turned toward the stairs that led to the roof. He slowly made his way up there, not sure of what he would say or do when he got there. He was, however, unaware that Squid was following him.
As he approached the soaked-to-the-bone girl, he noticed that she was shaking. Seeing as they were in the middle of the summer, and the heat was nearly unbearable making it improbable that she was cold, he knew that she must have been crying. If there was one thing Skittery knew, it was that Mockery plain and simply didn't cry. That was Squid's thing. He sat down next to the girl and putting a nervous arm around her shoulders, he asked, "Wanna talk about it?"
Now normally she would've simply shrugged him off and stalked off with a defiant no, but then again, normally she wouldn't have been crying. So Skittery was highly shocked as she threw herself into his arms sobbing uncontrollably, nearly causing him to fall off of the roof's edge that the two were sitting on.
"I-I just wanted ta wait so I could do it when nobody was around..." she hiccupped out. "You guys, ya don't hafta worry 'bout everybody coming in and embarrassing ya. And it's not as if there's even really a DOOR there!"
Resting his chin on her head as he gently ran his fingers over her tangled hair, he asked, "Well what'd ya used ta do? An' for another thing...why is it such a big deal all of a sudden?"
Mockery pulled away slightly and looked at their feet. "I dunno. It didn't really matter before. But things have started ta change ya know?"
"No, I don't really know..."
"No, I guess ya wouldn't." She said, smiling slightly as she looked out at the rooftops of the surrounding buildings.
And as she stood, hair and clothes blowing in the hot breeze, he noticed something for the first time. Somewhere in the past couple of weeks she'd changed from the adorable girl he'd had a crush on for as long as he could remember, into a striking woman. At least in appearance, that is.
"Whatcha gawkin' at ya bum?" She asked with a smirk.
"Uh...um..." he seemed to manage to stutter out.
"Knew I shoulda named ya Stuttery."
As the two gasped for air through their giggles, Squid, who was fighting off laughter as well, crept back down to the bunkroom. Since she was backing her way down, she didn't notice the tall boy standing directly behind her.
"Heya kiddo."
"Don't scare me like that!" She squeaked, thoroughly startled.
"Sorry Gemma...didn't mean ta scare ya." Jack said, a smirk on his face. His expression turned more serious though as he asked. "Is Mock okay?"
"How should I know?"
"Well, seein' as you're her friend...and ya were just up there eavesdroppin' on her and Skitts..."
"She'll be fine." She responded, sighing.
"That was an awful dirty trick of Snaps and Mickey ta pull on her."
"But she smelled! How would you like to be stuck sleeping under that stench?" As she said this, Squid's face scrunched up horribly.
As Jack laughed and walked away, Squid said to herself under her breath, "Not that Skittery minded too terribly."
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As Squid retold the events that were playing through her mind, Racetrack started laughing hysterically at the thought of the memory. He especially seemed to enjoy the part when Mockery got thrown into the washtub. Once she was finished with her recollection, the two realized that they had reached their destination. Sighing, they walked into the ticket booth so Racetrack could place the bets for his latest "leads".
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[Review Responses]
et-spiritus-sancti - They finally fixed their italics problem!! Now the only thing is when you go to do an action, you have use parentheses. Grr!! LoL, you actually haven't called me grasshopper since that last review...how odd. Yes yes, I haven't told ya quite everything...hope ya like this chapter, even if there is only a paragraph that ya haven't heard/read, LoL.
Leila3 (BlackWiltedRose) - (gasp) I finally updated!! And they said it couldn't be done... Well, I don't think anyone really said that, but whatever. Ya liked the alternate ending, ay? That actually started out as an odd little blooper and ended up a b-day present, LoL. (shrugs shoulders) All I know is it made me giggle so hard I was crying when I first found the blooper (grins).
MiseryLovesCompany - Misery...read...my story... (goes into shock). Please excuse me, hehe. It's just...you're one of my favorite authors so I was quite near fainting when I saw your review. You had a newsie named Mockery? I don't remember that...I'm gonna hafta go look now, LoL. And I do the adjective name thing too! I always bring out the good ol' thesaurus... Glad ya like Mockery, she's my pride and joy (beams). And yes, there aren't enough straight Skittery stories out there (shudder).
Smiley Cad - Hehe, glad ya liked it. (sigh) ff.net can be such a self- esteem booster... (smacks self back into reality) Anyways, yeah...I think I will continue this one. Like I said in the beginning...it's a landmark for me to get past chapter 2!! By the way...I like your penname, where'd ya come up with it?
[A/N] Well...I hope ya'll like it. It's a lot longer than the previous chapters. PERSONALLY...I didn't like it...but that's just me. And I am an odd duck after all. Then again I could just be frustrated because these are all kinda introductory chapters...I dunno. Anyways, lemme know what ya'll think. Thanks for reading!!