i'm so proud of mahself... lol, not 'cause of the ff, but 'cause i woke up early and by myself! hahah! that, and i had yummy chicken noodle soup. ^^ maybe its 'cause of the cold i've been having... *shrug* but at least i'm getting better. :P anyways, so here's the first actual chapter... i wrote this after hanging out with my friends - so be warned. lol. ooh yeah! and i updated my profile if anybody wants to look! ^^

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POV: Ershey

Day: December 23, 1900

Time: 8:36 PM

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"Raaacceee…" Really, I honestly thought that he was listening to me, but does it look like it? Nope. Instead he's staring off into space thinking about who knows what. I wonder what would happen if I suddenly grabbed that cigar from his mouth. Although knowing Race, he'd probably lunge at me for doing that.

But you just got to love him for that. He's just one of those people that you know is one of a kind, y'know? Kind of like one of those rare jewels that you don't find anywhere else unless you look hard enough. Don't take his height for the wrong thing; he's strong and witty as hell. Just depend on him to always have a good comeback and a deck of cards in his hands.

"Did you even HEAR a word that I said?" You know, I don't even bother sometimes, but its Race! What more is there to say? It's a miracle that I even got to talk to him today considering how many girls are so close to him. Can you believe that? Our own Race, surrounded by tons of girls, and not having even one of his own. It makes you just want to hug him to death.

He blinked. Finally. He quickly took his cigar from his mouth, realizing that it was about to fall and looked at me. "Huh?"

"That's great, Race, its good to know that you were listening to me."

"Sorry, Ersh… I'm just a little bit…"

"Distracted?"

"Couldn't you tell?"

"Oh yeah. Are you gonna start listening to me now or am I going to have to make you sit in a corner and listen to me like they do in school?" said Ershey jokingly. I didn't really know if they did that, but hey, that's what Les and David told us. So it should work, right?

Now, at this time, I thought that I was going to get my point across 'cause after at least fifteen minutes of talking to him, he just goes off and ignores me. But no, something else just had to happen. Can't a girl just talk to one of her friends? Is it THAT hard?

But I guess it can wait for now. You'd expect someone to walk in the lodging house looking all tired, maybe even happy or angry, but there was Snooza standing at the doorway, her short black hair looking even messier than ever, her glasses nowhere to be found, and her emerald green eyes burning with excitement. Now, I know what you're thinking, she's mad right? Yeah, that's what I thought too.

"Snooza?" said Duck, looking up from her conversation with Brownie. "What happened to you? Looks like you got in a fight or something…"

"If she did, then why would she be smiling, huh?" asked Specs, pointing at Duck, who was now sitting on the couch with a content sigh.

"Honey, are you drunk?" said Sage, peeking from behind the newspaper in her hands and folding it to see what was happening. She tucked a strand of curly red hair behind her ear and crossed her arms as she leaned forward on the desk and waited for a reply.

"Nah, I'm fine," answered Snooza. Fine? I didn't think so. She looked like the Delancey's just gave her a beating. But knowing Snooza, that girl doesn't take any crap; it probably would've been the other way around. Don't take it the wrong way; Snooza's still a girl inside. We found that out when we saw her get excited about a new pair of boots that just arrived this year.

"Are you sure… 'cause…" said Skittery uncertainly. "Where's your glasses, by the way?"

"I'm sure," said Snooza sternly, sitting up from her position and turning to face Skittery. "Since when are you so interested in my glasses, anyway? Don't worry about them… they're right here," continued Snooza, holding up her glasses in her hands.

By this time, I would've probably just walked over to Snooza, held her by the shoulders and asked her what happened. I was getting more and more impatient and it seemed like everybody wanted to interrogate Snooza that day. What did you eat? Who did you look at? Why are you breathing?!

"I'm going upstairs…" said Snooza with a smile, ignoring everyone else's unusual looks here and there. Well, walking up the stairs was pretty easy right? It didn't turn out that way for Snooza because five seconds later, we heard a scream and a thud that hit the ground.

"Okay, who tripped on the stairs this time? Really, use your eyes!" I shouted. Its been known that this building wasn't exactly the safest place on earth with the bathroom pipes leaking at times, floorboards creaking here and there, the paint on the walls peeling off over time, and the loose flooring on the stairs.

"I'm okay! Sorry about that… and I didn't trip!" came a shout from the staircase, as a sounding of groaning and shuffling can be heard. "I bumped into Snooza!"

"That's alright, Sapphy…" answered Snooza, leaning on the railing and pulling herself up with her hand. "I'm fine. I'll just go upstairs for a while."

Sapphy gave a nod and a smile back to Snooza as she walked into the lobby, her eyes slowly searching for something or somebody.

"Who you looking for, Sapphy?" asked Mush.

"SNIPESHOOTER!" shouted Sapphy. She started walking around the lobby, her strawberry-blonde hair flowing behind her, and her blue eyes glowing with determination. "I know you're in here!"

"That was some trick he did... bugs in your bed... who would've thunk?" came a voice from the stairs. A figured stepped down from the stairs, dark curly hair untidily put up in a bun and blue grey eyes scanning the room.

"Emu! Help me, why don't ya? I bet you you were probably in it too!" retorted Sapphy.

"Now, come on, why would I do that?" said Emu sarcastically. "Alright, alright, I'll help you..."

I know that you're thinking that I probably would've been much more interested in what was going on with Snooza's weird entrance and Sapphy and Emu looking for Snipeshooter, but no, I was in shock that he was in the room. Yup, the one and only. Really, I thought you'd know by now. But I couldn't really help it if I stared at him, right?

"Hallo?" said Race, waving his hand in front of my face. Hah, now it was his turn to make me pay attention to him.

I jumped seeing his hand suddenly appear in front of my face, causing me to move back abruptly in my seat and tip over. "Aaaah, Race!" But thank goodness, he was holding on to the back of the seat right before I would've done a somersault. Yeah, that's me, queen of tricks. Just see what I can do with this chair!

"You stare at him that much and maybe he'll grow wings, fly over here, and say 'Kiss me, I'm yours'," said Race with a smirk.

I knew I stared, but I didn't know I stared at him THAT much. Goodness. I don't… do I? I sighed and rolled my eyes at him. "Shush."

That got me off the subject completely. Let me lay it out straight for you, I've been here for at least four or five years… in the lodging house, I mean. If you were talking about the streets, I would've probably been a permanent resident already. But that's beside the point. Y'see, I didn't know what I was expecting when I came here. I didn't really think that I was going to get anything from stealing that Italian boy's pocket watch that day, well, except for money. I was actually glad that it happened, I probably wouldn't be here. And you know what's funny? He's one of my closest friends now.

As for friends, there was Mush, the guy any girl could ask for. Or, I think so anyway. You really can't mistake him with his smile and charm, that's another one of those guys that you can't find anywhere. Really, this lodging house is a gold mine. I couldn't help it, can I, that I melt every time he smiles and that I grin like a fool every time he talks to me. Don't you just hate having that feeling? I kept it in for the longest time, the longest that I ever could, because I didn't want anybody, or even him, to know. To make a long story short, it didn't turn out the way I expected. Really, what did you think? Rainbows and bunnies? Right.

And right when I thought when my day was getting better, Ears came in. Don't get me wrong; she's one of my closest friends ever. I can talk to her all day. But she was the one that ended up with him. Yup. I know you're asking, doesn't it hurt? It hurts like hell.

"Has anybody seen my ribbon for my hair?" I turned to look at the stairs where the voice where was coming from, and speak of the devil. Ears.

"The blue one or the gray one?" I asked. Why am I being so nice? Oh yeah, she's my friend. Dammit.

"The blue one… I knew I had it yesterday, but…" said Ears, running her fingers through her wavy blond hair.

Now, being the person I am, I was about to go over there and help her look for it, abandoning my talk with Race completely. It wasn't like he was listening to me, anyway. He's staring off into space again. Goodness gracious. What is he looking at now? But right before I was about to go there, I suddenly saw Ears' eyes light up and lose all interest in her hair ribbon when she saw Mush sitting on the couch, talking to Specs. That just blew me off right there. No, I didn't shout, run, or do anything. I just sat there.

I guess I was staring again, 'cause I knew that Race was trying to figure out what was going on. Which wasn't too hard to figure out. He kept on looking at me then what I was looking at. He looked so cute, like a lost little puppy. Anyways, I watched her sit next to him, exchange smiles; give him a hug, and watch him put his arm around her. Argh.

"Hey, Ersh, have you seen Snipes?" Before I knew it, Sapphy's face was right in front of mine. She was so close to me that I could practically count her freckles. How did she get there?

"Erm… no…" I answered uncertainly. As far as I knew, Snipeshooter was either stealing cigars from Race or going off making a fool himself out in the streets. I really didn't know the boy that well.

"Why don't you ask Race?" I didn't do this on purpose, I really didn't, 'cause I just wanted Sapphy to get out of the way for just a minute and see what was going on with Ears and Mush. I didn't even take the time to notice the way Sapphy felt about Race. But I was just too preoccupied at the moment.

"Huh?" said Race once again. Really, the boy should have more listening skills.

I rolled my eyes and stood up. There really wasn't anything down here worth wanting for. Striker was out at Brooklyn again, probably flirting with the almighty Spot. You could call her my best friend, though I think we're practically sisters (although we're actually cousins). Peas in a pod, that's what they called us, but lately she's been spending more and more time at Brooklyn ever since Jack introduced Spot to her. I don't really need to tell you the rest, right? That girl's boy crazy.

I wanted to go upstairs to the bunkroom, bury my face in the pillow, and just stay there for eternity. Either that or I could talk someone. My second choice would usually be Sapphy, but that's obviously not a choice right now. Y'see, I was expecting some peace and quiet when I walked into the girls' bunkroom. I guess I was wrong. Snooza and Stretch were talking animatedly to each other. Then there was Duck and Brownie, walking around the room and shouting at each other as if they were in different places. Really, you'd think that they could just sit down and quietly talk?

"YOU'RE TAKING FOREVER!" shouted Brownie from across the room, shuffling the deck of cards in her hands.

"Hold your horses! I just gotta put this away!" shouted Duck.

"I'll play!" shouted Emu from the doorway.

Goodness gracious.

"Weren't the three of you downstairs a few minutes ago?" I asked. Was I hallucinating things?

"Yeah," answered Duck. "But now we're here."

I rolled my eyes. Obviously. "How did you girls get here?"

"We walked up the stairs?" shouted Brownie sarcastically. Ah, its one of my dumb days again. You ever had that? When your brain just doesn't work?

"Yeah, besides, Sapphy went off with Race somewhere... probably looking for Snipes," said Emu with a careless shrug. Sapphy and Race? I'm gonna have to tease her about that later...

Then a sudden chorus of laughter and shouting of "Really? Yay!" came from the edge of the bunkroom. I looked over to see who it was, Snooza and Stretch. I really wouldn't have minded the laughing any other day, but then the same thing would happen again that night when the two of them would have to tell Sage whatever had happened.

I walked over to my bunk, plopped down on the covers and buried my face in my pillow. I couldn't think. I couldn't even hear myself. Can't a girl just get some privacy when she needed it?

~*~

i think i got everybody in there... *nod*

Shout-outs

Sapphy: I missed ya too! *hugs* You know, i tried to check my email at the bookstore, but i was with my grandma... and i REALLY JUST HAD TO... so i just went and checked it... with her sitting right next to me. lol. so i didn't get to far with the ffs. but i checked my email and saw author alerts! goodness! i couldn't sleep 'cause i wanted to see what was happening!

Frenchygoil: Yay! You made an account! *jumps up and down with Frenchy* just as long as we have each other! *insert cheesy smile* hahah! ooh yum! but can't have any chocolate... i'm sick and it'll just mess up my throat even more. :(

Oneconfusednewsie: Eaten by a lion? hahah, no! that's just plain scary! lol! my parents and i just went to visit my family - WHOLE family - lol, with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins for two whole weeks! just imagine how that was.... lol. hahah thanks! ^^