Here I am, dragged in this mess. How it happened, I would never know. And I don't even care. Just as long as they leave me alone, it'll be the best thing they could ever have done in their lives. You see, I'm here in a place and time I never imagined I would be in. But why should I care? It'll be the same; people sticking their noses in other people's business. Is it so hard to do, leave me alone? They try so hard to understand me, when they shouldn't have been. No one will be able to understand how I think, how I feel, how I see the world with my eyes. And, do you know how I see the world? It's nothing but pain, suffering, corruption, evil, selfishness...death. There are two kinds of evil, you know. One, who does evil things and gets away with it, and the other, sees evil but doesn't do anything about it. As for me, I don't what kind I am. And who would care if I'm either one?
"Hey, Taylor!" One of the boys called my name. I didn't answer back. I didn't even look at him. Why should I?
"So, did'ja have a good night's sleep last night?" The guy asked, in an annoying cheerful tone. Could you just leave me alone and quit asking how I slept last night? It's none of your business.
"No." I said, wanting him to leave me alone.
"Oh. Why?" He asked. My eyes narrowed at the mere sight of him. I didn't answer back. I just ignored him and walked away. For some reason, I don't know why, that guy always talks to me. My "friends" are wise enough to leave me alone, since they know that I want to be left alone. He doesn't seem to know that. Sometimes, I caught him staring at me, his eyes looking dreamily at me. It's annoying. My pants are completely dry now. I chose to wear it, along with one of the boys' shirts that seemed too small for them and don't fit anymore. Since they said that they wouldn't wear it anymore, I ripped the sleeves high up. That way, it'll be comfortable. I can hear Dawn complaining about this. Why, does she expect brand new clothes to wear? That's why I don't like her. A superficial plastic. Cold, hard plastic, she is. Why does she have to act like that? That's not who she is. I know her real self. She just don't want to reveal her true self. That's why I don't like her. I don't understand why I became one of their friends. I don't even belong to them. It's Gail's fault why I'm one of their so-called "friends". But, in that time, I was in no position to pass up a friend. I stopped Dawn from complaining. She looked ready to put up a fight. Well, what's she going to do about? Walk on the street naked? I'm getting annoyed at her now. Finally, she was forced to give in and wear those clothes. She scowled at me and raised her left eyebrow. She's really annoying. We left the Lodging House and we went on our way to this...distributing place, or whatever. We passed by nuns who were giving out food for street children. We did what the boys did and lined up for ours. I can see Dawn's stupid expression that she doesn't want to eat any of the food they're giving. Well, who cares? Let her starve to death. See if I care. I ate the bread along the way. It doesn't taste good, and it's hard to chew. We reached the place where they line up for their newspapers. It was a square full of people walking around. There is a statue of a man sitting on a chair in the middle of a square. It's very crowded in this place. I hate crowds. Suddenly, someone poked me on the shoulder. I turned around and saw it was that guy who kept on talking to me and won't leave me alone.
"Hey, Taylor!" He said, in a cheery voice. I glared at him.
"What do you want, Pie Eaten?" I said. I do not want to talk to this guy.
"Oh, ya gots my name wrong. It's Pie Eater. It has an 'r' in da end of 'e'." He said.
"Whatever." I said back, annoyed. What a stupid name. Pie Eater? Is that why he's so cheerful all the time? He's high on pie.
"Do you wanna know what dis place is?" No, I don't.
"It's called da Woild building. Dis heah is da distribution center where we gets our papes." And I care, why? You said what you want to say, now leave me alone.
"Are you done?" I said, in a mean way. As mean as I want to be.
"I...I t'ink so." He said, looking a bit disappointed. Then, he walked away, looking pathetic. Silence at last.
"Hey, who are those two?" I heard Gail's puny voice asking. I saw her pointing at two stupid-looking men, walking towards us.
"Well, look what we have heah! Da Delancey bruddas!" Racetrack said. He's a short Italian boy whom I've thought was only fourteen years old, the same age as Gail's. That was wrong. He's actually eighteen, older than me by a year. With that height and face, I was thinking he's lying. They ignored him and noticed us instead. One of them was looking at the twins with these stupid looks on their faces. They're irritating.
"Hey sweetcheeks! What's yer name?" he asked. Haylie backed away from him.
"Oooh, I like dat in a goil. She refuses but I know she wants me." What a dope. How thick he can be, saying that to Haylie? I heard the others sniggering. Couldn't blame them. What he said was something to laugh about. Idiot. I can see the discomfort in Haylie's face. She backed away from the freak a little more. He keeps moving closer to her.
"I could get used to this." He said.
"Let's not." Haylie tried to walk away but the prick grabbed her hand tightly. I should put a stop to this now.
"Wanna go out on a date wid me?" he said, an ugly, malicious sneer on his face.
"Hey, leave me alone!" Haylie shouted.
"Leave my sister alone, you freak!"
I saw Jack walking towards here, back from whatever place he went to. He did go off somewhere a little while ago.
"Leave her alone, Oscar."
"And what'cha gonna do 'bout it, Cowboy?"
"Yeah, what'cha gonna do 'bout it?"
Jack just stared at them. I thought that he was chickening out and going to do nothing. But, for a split second, he grabbed the fags' hats and ran around the square like a deranged maniac. The two faggots chased him down, but can't catch him. Wimps. Can't catch a single pretty boy. And two heads are better than one? I think that two empty heads are better as none. The others kept cheering him on like he was some heroic boy of some sorts. I was in no mood to be celebrating with them. In fact, I was in no mood to do anything at all. I'd rather be in a graveyard than to be here. He flashed a smile at Haylie with his gleaming white teeth. Surprising for a newsboy to have gleaming white teeth. Well, Mush has a perfectly-sculpted body for someone his age. How could such a simple newsboy have that kind of body figure is beyond me. I guess that physical appearances matter for them. And I don't care.
"You're dead, Cowboy!"
"We'll kill ya!"
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."
The two bitches have stopped chasing Jack, the pretty boy. Good, at least it's finished.
"You look a tad flushed, boys! Why not stop to catch yer breath?" Racetrack mocked them.
"Shut up, you!" Oscar bellowed.
And Gail just couldn't resist the temptation to laugh.
"Ah ha ha ha! Losers!"
The boys lined up for their newspapers in a counter with metal bars. A wooden board was covering up the window behind it. It lifted, and a fat, obese old fart showed up behind it. With all the metal bars obstructing the counter, I'd say he looks like he was jailed for eating illegally.
"Whaddaya want?!?"
"Our papes, Weasel." Jack said.
"How long do I have to suffer being called 'Weasel'?" He said, looking at Jack through the metal bars. Weasel? Aren't weasels supposed to be long and skinny? Is he supposed to be an overfed weasel? How stupid.
"Try forever, Weasel!" Jack teased. The boys laughed.
"Arrgh! It's Mr. Weasel to you!" The idiot called himself Weasel. This made the boys laugh obnoxiously harder. Gail was also letting a large guffaw pass from her mouth. Annoying.
"I meant 'Weisel', you idiots! Get your lousy papes, Cowboy and go away!" He shouted at Jack, who slapped a coin on the counter and took his newspapers, walking away with a sneer on his face. Next on the line is the small, 'eighteen-year old' Racetrack. All of them bought their papers. We were about to walk away when then Weasel called us back.
"Hey, hey! Girls! You're not going to buy papes?" No. Do we look like we want to?
"Umm, no, Mr.Weasel, oops, I mean, Mr. Weisel, we're not." Hallie said.
"Why not? Aren't you with these boys?" Weasel asked.
"Yes, we are. But we're not really newsgirls." Hallie replied. I'm getting bored at this.
"Nonsense! Come here, buy your papes!" He told us to buy his papers. Why? What the hell for? I don't want to sell papers.
"Newsgirls? I don't want to be a newsgirl! Like, no way losers! I am Dawn Madison! I DO NOT DO CHILD LABOR! I think I'm gonna have a B.F.!"
Dawn's going to attempt to have a bitch fit. Sure, this is the only time we have agreed, but she got on my nerves again.
"You wanna have a B.F.? May I suggest H.F.?" I said, cracking my knuckles nastily. How about a large, supersize serving of 'hurtfest'? I assure you 100 percent of pure pain rolled up on knuckles and a big, juicy kick on your face to go with it. She finally shut her ass-mouth and lined up with us.
"How many?" Weasel asked. Hallie's on the front and looked confused.
"I...ah...eh...I don't know."
"I'll take care of it." Jack said, walking on the front of the counter, taking a coin from his pocket and placed it on the counter.
"100 papes, Weasel."
One hundred newspapers. Divided into five, it makes twenty for each of us. I took my papers from him and he instructed us on how to sell them. Hallie looked appalled on what she heard. Lying to people by using fake headlines, huh? How it goes, I don't care.
I walked around the square, selling my papers to people. The headlines I've made up are "Man Kills Himself By Jumping Off A Building", Man Arrested For Gruesome Murder Of His Family", and whatsoever. They looked like they believed it. The truth is that I made it all up. I didn't even read the papers, never took a glance at each of the pages. I kept on selling them but there's still a lot left. I can't think of anything else to shout about. Haylie didn't do so well; She isn't good at making up lies. Hallie used both real and made-up headlines to sell. Gail charmed her way to customers and sold each one. And Dawn? She only sold the papers to men. How? "If you buy a paper from me, you'll get a kiss!" Ugh, how sickening. Men are such animals. They all bought papers from her. The stupidity of the human male is greatly disturbing. Pie Eater saw me on my spot. He walked towards me and offered to help.
"Want me ta help ya sell?"
"No."
"Okay!"
He called on to people and persuaded them to buy their newspapers from me. Strangely, it seemed to work. They bought their papers from me. There was still quite many of it, and it was gone, just like that. I saw him smile at me. He seemed satisfied in helping me out. Usually, I wouldn't have accepted his offer. But, he still pushed himself to help me. And, do you know what I did next? No, I didn't ignore him or scowl at him. I smiled back. He was the first person to treat me with kindness, and it's the first time I've ever felt it in my life. For the first time, I smiled back. And that wasn't what I expected.