ATTENTION TO EVERYONE READING THIS: I've actually decided NOT to put the sequel under a new heading. So the beginning of the sequel will be just another update to A VOICE. :)





Shout ins:



Moonlight: Yes...twists are fun...Well, here's the LAST CHAPTER BEFORE THE END OF PART ONE!



Bella: Christmases could get awkward but who says she's actually going to marry him? Okay, so he did. But he's a Pulitzer. You gonna believe him? Ha. Love you, daaaaahling! The boys said they love you, too.

Oh, and here's Jack...



Deah Bella,

Legs has infohmed us dat dis is da end of paht one of dis story but da adventchah is fah from ovah so keep lookin' foah updates.

Fohevah affectionately,



Yoah Cowboy





snipah higgins: I'll review your new chapter, soon! Mwah...(hugs Snipah) Thank you.

I feel sorry for Race. (sigh)



Spot: (shaking head at the sorry mess of tears Racetrack has become) Yeah. Same heah.





RacetracksGambler: lol. I'm SORRY! I'm really, really good at leaving people hanging. Thank you... ;)



Race: (gasp) She KICKED a POODLE?

Spot: (pats him on the back) Stay strong, pal.

Race: (bursts into manly tears) Poah, poah poodlely dumpkin!

Spot: Race, yous need help. Hey, Jackie-boy, cawll a doctah! Race is sick!

Race: (sobbing) The poah defenseless puppy dog just lying deah, groaning in agony! (breaks down anew)





Sureshot Higgins: Lol. Bumlets and Kristen are so cute together. I hope the outcome of Kate's relationship with Thomas Pulitzer is satisfactory to all.



Skittery: (shrugs shoulders, hands still shoved in pockets) Yeah, yoah welcome, Shot.

(He's pretending his ego hasn't been damaged by your "Race is better looking" comment-don't tell him that I agree.)

Thank you! And keep writing song fics...they preserve my tottering sanity.



Shorty Carter: Thank you for the brownies and the review as always and forever!



Jake: (reads review and blushes)

(rest of the guys stare expectantly at him)

(he remains silent, beaming at screen)

Blink: Say 't'ank you,' Jake.

Jake: T'ank you?'

Race: (exasperated) It ain't a question, bonehead!

Jake: Uh...I mean T'ANK. YOU. (looks at boys) SUH!

Race: Yous did NOT jus' say suh, did ya?

Blink: He did.

Race: (groaning) Jake, we's gotta tawk. You need ta loin a few t'ings 'bout women.

Jake: (defensively) Well, so do YOU!

Race: Oh, YEAH? Like what?

(newsies snicker)





Dreamer: Thank you. HERE! ONCE AGAIN, A BROWNIE! :)



Legs: (yanks Dreamer away from edge of cliff) Really, Dreamy, you should be more careful!

Dreamer: (sputtering) Why..why...you...you can't pin this on ME! It's your fault!

Legs: Nu uh.

Dreamer: Yes HUH. (shoves Legs) You dork! I can't believe you did that!

Legs: I'm so abused. (goes off to sulk in corner)





Raven: Yes. Thomas Pulitzer.

Yeah, you and Spot are easiest to write cuz it's so...I dunno...natural, I guess. Awwwwww...



Spot: (shaking his head as he reads review) My goil's pretty smawt, huh, HUH? (pokes Legs) Huh? Huh?



(no response)



Spot: Huh? Huh, isn't she, huh? (frowns then yells) LEGS, you PAY 'TENTION TA ME OAH I'LL SOAK YOUS!



Legs: (sigh) You WOULD resort to violence, wouldn't you?



Thank you, Rave...Here's some more. Oh, and YES, ALL THE CHARACTERS IN PART ONE ARE ALSO IN PART TWO!



Fiesty: YAYNESS! YOU FOUND US! HI!!!! (claps hands excitedly and bounces up and down with pure joy)



Racetrack: Uh, ignoah huh. (pats Legs on the shoulder) She hasn't had huh medicine, yet.

Spot: And we's can't tell yous 'bout wheddah oah not she leaves or nuttin.

Racetrack: Dat's right, dat's right...(claps Spot on the back)



Thank you! Have a brownie. :)





Lil Rain Angel: Who said she's going back? Going back WHERE, anyways? (wink, wink) You'll see. End of this chapter ALL (well most) will be revealed. You know what I've loved? Hearing from all of you about what you did and didn't like...You cooler than cool people are the only reason I really went anywhere with this story. So THANK YOU ALL! :) I love you guys!





Phoenix: You're going to FROLIC? Can I frolic, too? Pleeeeeeeease!!!!!

Thank you...here, have at chapter SEVENTEEN! AAAAAA!!!!!!

Um...hey, Jack...how's it rollin'?





Cici: MY OTHER HALF! HI! (hugs Cici) :) Yeah, if it wasn't so painful or expensive, I would get a laser to zap all the hair off of my legs so I never, EVER have to shave again! BWAHAHHAAAAAAA! TAKE THAT YOU STUPID PLASTIC RAZORS THAT NEVER WORK AND ALWAYS CUT ME!

You can be proud for me...(lays back and sips lemonade) Yeah, that's it. I'll get Cici to do all the hard work. Heheh. Brilliant plan, I know.

Race certainly DOES need to make a serious move, doesn't he?

Hope you like this new chapter! :)







Corky Higgins: DUMB COMPUTER! GgggrrrrrRRRRRRRR...

Thank you! Hope you like how this is turning out.



VINNIE! I would love to go out on a "nice date" with you. I love Italian food. You are so adorable. (hugs Vinnie) I'm all yours! (big, sloppy kiss)





Angelic One: You're welcome ALWAYS. Thanks for your wonderful reviews so far! Here's more. :) (and thanks for the Hershey bars...chocolate...mmmm)





Chubby Cheeks: YAY! It's nice to meet you! Yes, the boy band thing was...frightening but it made me laugh to write it. I leave you all hanging so you come back for more...;) Thank you so much for your gracious compliments! I'm honored. (After I retire from Broadway, I'll write my novels.) Here's the next chapter!





Chicago: Yeah, go hide in the shower. You'll feel better. Lol. I do that all the time. I hope you get better from your skiing! :( Where did you go skiing? (hugs Chicago) Have a brownie and a chapter and get well soon!







Ivy: Hey, I missed you! Yayness. You're back. :)

I may explain Daniel more in the future but just so you know...he was Katherine's childhood sweetheart.

I really like it when Spot says "Kiss now. Tawk latah." He's so cute.

I think you'll like the sequel. At least, I hope you will.

Mush says thank you for your sympathy. He's feeling better about the bikini thing. I think he actually just figured out that what it REALLY is is much better than a bicycle! Heheh.

Love ya...here's more. :)







DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NEWSIES.



And move out...



"Tanya?"

No response.

"Tanya, what is it? What ah yous starin' at?" Racetrack could feel the girl's pulse throbbing below her elbow. He squeezed her arm worriedly, trying to catch her gaze.

****



Tom chuckled again and turned his head to watch her black hair whip around, her lips pursed in frustration. Kate's flashing eyes reminded him of a dark green cyclone, stormy and swirling.

"No," he answered seriously. "You're not 'my average lady,' Kate Lawrence."



****



"Tanya!" he shook her.

"Th-that's my...that's where I live! Lived." She frowned. "Will live, I mean."

Racetrack screwed up his face in disgust,"WHAT?"

"Well, technically, I haven't been born, yet." Tanya hadn't realized her apartment was that old.

The boy's eyebrows furrowed as he tugged at the front of his cap. "Dis is crazy."

"You don't believe me?"

"Well, yeah, I do but...I...don't," he finished lamely.

"Why? You think I'm lying?" Tanya felt the angry knot in her heart squeeze. "After all this? You still don't believe me?"

Racetrack's own temper flared up, "What? You t'ink dis is easy foah me? Why don't you'se try puttin' yoahself in someone's shoes udda den yer own? Oah ah yoah own shoes too impoahtant?"

Tanya's eyes filled quickly with tears. He was right.

Racetrack felt a stab of regret as he heard her began to cry in the darkness. He hadn't meant to make her cry.



****



Bumlets groaned as he kicked off his shoes. His whole being ached. Wincing, he pulled the covers back and climbed in next to his wife, her red hair flung across the pillow as she slept.

He sighed contentedly. At least, he hadn't woken Kristen up.

"You're home," she sat up.

He kicked himself for mentally jinxing it.



****



"Tanya?" Racetrack moved closer, feeling uncomfortably guilty. "Tanya, yous shouldn't cry."

The girl didn't respond.

"Ya really shouldn't...yoah eyes'll be all red tamorrow."

"I'm s-s-sorry, Racetrack!" Tanya hiccupped. "I'm such a selfish, horrible person. You must hate me."

He hadn't expected that.



****



Kate took it a little further. "In fact, I'm not yours, at all!"

Thomas grinned, "Not yet."

"Ooh...you...!" she hit him.



****



"How was your first day?" Kristen asked, resting her head sweetly on his chest.

"Long."

"Long?"

"It was long."

"And?"

"And what?"

Kristen huffed, "And what ELSE?"

He shrugged, his finger winding absently around her red locks, "It'll pay da rent, Krissie."



****



The girl's hiccups got lost in a round of frighteningly deep chest coughs.

"Tanya, yous ah tiuhed. I shouldn'ta let you stay up dis late. Yoah still not bettah." Racetrack took her arm and started to pull her back down the street towards the lodging house.

"No, wait...(cough) I'm fine."

He rolled his eyes, "You ah not. Weah goin' home."

At the mention of "home," Tanya turned back to stare at the apartment building. "One peek inside?" she blurted.

"Huh?"

"Can we take a look inside there?"

"No! No, Tanya, ya can't go bahgdin' in deah at dis owah of da night and wake all da people in deah up!"

"I won't wake anyone up! I'll just take a quick peek into the lobby."

"Tanya..."

"Oh, come ON."

"If dey call da bulls on us..." Racetrack warned.

"I'll take all the blame."

****



"I'm leaving now," Kate announced.

"All right."

"You're not going to try and stop me?"

"Why? Would you like me to?"

"No, of course not! I don't even LIKE you!"

"All right, then."

"Well...good night."

"Good. Night," she returned haughtily.

Kate left him, walking stiffly towards the gates she had entered.

Two strong arms spun her around.



****

Tanya eyed the door at the front. It was wooden, much different from the steel one she remembered.

She pushed it open.



****



"One moah kiss."

"Good NIGHT, Spot."

"Just one moah, befoah yous go."

****



Kate felt her body spin as she came face to face with not Thomas but a strange, older version of him.

Footsteps behind him signaled the approach of Thomas.

"Friend of yours?" the Thomas clone asked.

"This is Miss Lawrence. Kate, darling, allow me to introduce my brother, Joseph Pulitzer, Jr."



****



Racetrack sauntered in behind her, eyes cast warily about for signs of movement in the still lobby.

Tanya looked around and realized with something between surprise and alarm that the interior decor hadn't changed much in a hundred years.

A noise made Race start and pull Tanya with him, behind a door. They peeked around the edge and the sight that awaited them made the girl suck in a sharp breath.

Tall, blond, unusually tan for New York, in a dangerously short hot pink skirt and a black halter top...Wynona Mikey?

Racetrack felt like his eyes were going to pop out of his head. Never in his whole life had he seen a girl with so little clothing on.

Tanya's mind raced. Wynona couldn't be here. She was from...the...

The girl suddenly panicked. What if Racetrack couldn't get out in time?

Without a word, she pulled him from behind the door and started towards the exit.

The newsboy stifled a cry of surprise. Wynona paused only long enough to say, "Cute boyfriend, Tanya."

Racetrack didn't have time to think about anything. He felt Tanya's thin arms yanking him towards the front door.

"Hey, hey! What...what ah you doin'?"

"Race, listen to me!" she begged. "You've got to get out of here! NOW!"

"What AH yous talkin' about?"

"Please! I don't want anything to happen to you!"

"Well, dat's nice but..."

Tanya pushed him against the door. Racetrack seemed to suddenly realize what she meant.

"Ah...wait, Tan...I know. Wait, befoah...I gotta...Tanya!" he grabbed her hand, as she yanked the door open. She HAD to get him out of there. He was outside now. Tanya was slamming the door shut.

The boy's felt his heart scream as he shouted desperately, "TANYA! I LOVE..." the door was closed..."you."



****



Tanya felt her heart thudding in her ears. She loved you, too, Racetrack.

****



He sighed, somehow knowing that when he opened that door, Tanya wouldn't be there.

Gone. And he was still living in the year he was supposed to...arushing sound on the asphalt street behind him interrupted his thoughts.



****



Tanya felt numb. What had just happened? It wasn't a dream. Her old-fashioned clothes were still there. How could she go upstairs to that apartment? Back to her mother and sister...as if nothing had happened? She wondered where Racetrack was right then. Walking back to the lodging house, probably.

She knew it was inevitable. She had to face it all some time. But not right now. Right now she wanted to get out of this building. Take a walk. Clear her mind. Walk until she couldn't remember a newsboy named...she pushed the door open...



****



Racetrack's dark eyes were enormous as he turned to look at the opening steel door...



****

A newsboy named...



****



"Racetrack?" Tanya felt like the piece of her heart she had misplaced had come crashing back into place.

"Tanya? Wheah ah...am I?"



****



THE END OF PART ONE





A/n: That's it for the first half of this tale. THE SEQUEL WILL BEGIN NEXT CHAPTER! STAY TUNED!



I love you all! :)