A/N: another chapter! Please oh please tell me if you like it!
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except my Queensies. Well, except Rooster. She's not mine. She belongs to Repeat.
After that day, I started to think about becoming a newsie myself. I hadn't seen any girls in Manhattan, but I had seen quite a few in Queens. So that was where Mary and I were headed today. We passed some of the girls, but we decided that we should wait until they were all at the lodging house before we asked them. So we just hung out all day until nightfall when we made sure that no more girls were still out on the street. The sun was finally setting and the mosquitoes were starting to bite. Mary was hesitant and opted that we wait till morning, but I was sick of waiting. I marched up to the door and knocked on the front door. After a minute or two, an old woman opened the door and looked at me suspiciously.
"Can I help you?" she asked flintily.
"Uh, can I, uh…we…sign up to be newsgirls?" wow. I meant for that to come out a lot clearer. She probably thought I was a wimp and wouldn't want to let me have a job.
"It's not up to me, but I do have two extra beds upstairs. If you have money, then you can start selling in the morning. If you don't have any money, I'm sure one of the girls will lend you some and you can pay them back. The rent for a week here is two cents. If you think you can pay that, get yourselves settled on the bunks upstairs." we agreed with an understanding nod and headed up the stairs into a large room filled with teenage girls. Nobody seemed to notice us at first, until a very short, curly-haired girl ran up to one of the older girls and tugged on her shirt. She whispered in her ear, and the tall one looked up and strode over to us swiftly.
"Hey I'm Striker. Leader of da Queens goils. Who are you?" she asked as she stuck out her hand.
"I'm Nellie and this is my sister Mary." I shook her hand.
"Follow me. Your beds will be over here." she beckoned us towards the only empty bunk in the room.
"top or bottom, doesn't matter." she said. I shrugged to Mary and let her take the bottom. I climbed up onto the top bunk, smoothing the sheets across the bed. I hadn't slept in a bed since the beginning of the summer.
Best. Sleep. Ever. A little creepy…but still the best. absolutely no comparison. Even when I was still living with my parents, I didn't sleep like that. The girls are really nice too. There was Striker, Taps, Flicker, Klutz, Ringer, Tails, Rooster, and about ten others. I instantly become friends with Striker and Tails, both being my age. Taps was my sister's age, and the rest were scattered among us. After we had talked a bit, I learned that some of the others had issues with Manhattan as well. Ringer said she used to date Skittery, but he was cheating on her, so she dumped him and came here. They explained some of their nicknames to me too, like Taps would play taps on her bugle every night, and Striker told everyone that he family had struck a gold lode[1] out west, but then her crazy uncle stole it and gambled it all away. Most of the girls were happy and social, but there was one that sat alone on her bunk just staring at the empty wall in front of her. Striker said that her name was Eliza. I asked what was wrong with her, but she said nothing. She said that she never spoke to anyone, and nobody ever saw her selling though she bought papers every morning and afternoon and never had any left over. Something about this girl just crept me out. She had jet-black hair, pale white skin, she looked as if she hadn't ever eaten; I could clearly see the two bones that make up her wrist through the tight stretch of skin across them. Her face was sunken, but could have been lovely if she awoke from the current state she was in.
"Eliza used to be the happiest girl here, before her two most beloved people in her life died within a week of each other. First her little sister Isabella died in a fire, then her…her…her daughter. We don't know how she died, but she had always been a sickly thing." Striker told me, her voice jus above a whisper. I could understand the grief that dominated Eliza's life.
"How long ago?" I asked, directing my question at Striker but looking at Eliza.
"A year" Striker told me, though I could have sworn I saw Eliza's grayish lips mouth a date. She was listening. She probably knew more about what was going on than any other girl in the room. Her dull eyes quickly locked with mine, and then back to the wall. I wasn't freaked out by her anymore. I was intrigued. I wanted to find out what she knew; if she knew anything about me. I know, she's not psychic or anything, but when she looked at me, I felt like she was inside my head saying
"I know about you. You don't remember me do you? Well I remember you."
So I waited until everyone else was asleep- except for Snoozer, because she slept during the day and was awake all night, but she was up on the roof. I crept over to Eliza's bunk. She was still awake, staring up at the top of her bunk. I knelt down next to her, and lightly touched her arm. She slowly rolled her head to face me, then just stared- waiting for me to say something.
"Uh, hi. I'm Nellie" I whispered. She nodded lethargically, already knowing.
"Do I know you?" I asked impulsively. I had noticed how familiar she looked when I first saw her. She nodded slowly again.
"From where?" I wanted to know more, but she didn't want to share. She just rolled over and went back to staring at the bunk overhead.
A/N: [1] a vein in the ground (gold, silver, copper, etc.)
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