"Good morning Mister! Would you please buy a newspaper?" Chocolates asked politely.
"How much is it? A newspaper." The old man asked
"A penny"
"Pretty girls like ya shouldn't be selling papes. However, I'll buy ya one. Here is your penny, lil' lady."
"Thank you, Sir" Chocolates received the penny and put it in her pocket. "Jack! I sold a pape... my first pape. Well, not the first but the first I bought with my own money."
"That's great doll!" said Jack wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "Told ya you'd be a great newsgoil!"
"Well, yeah... How many papers did you sell by now?"
"Actually...5"
"Blast! You're very good in this business; well, you've done this for years and won a strike."
"Yeah, but I know that you'll be great doing this."
"I hope so, Jack. I really do." Chocolates looked up at Jack. "What would I do if not?"
"Well, you can trust me. I'll help ya to..." A scream interrupted Jack and he turned round to see that Chocolates was hugging a girl of her same age. The other girl was blonde and small, she had very big and bright brown eyes, and she looked very fancy.
"Crispy, I missed ya!" the girl whispered in Chocolates ear.
"I missed you too, Liz. I missed you too. Hey, do ya see I'm a newsgoil now?"
"Yeah, but why?"
"What do you mean with why?"
"Why are you a newsgirl? Are they nice with you?"
"Yeah. Look, that's Jack Kelly, the strike leader"
"He's hotter in person. Aren't you falling for him?"
"I don't know, he's sweet with me."
"Well, anyway" Elizabeth spoke. "I came to give you this letters that Mrs.Grant had. They were in the school. "
"And why did she have them" wondered Chocolates while she realised that she had more than 10 letters that she never received. "Thanks."
"Hey, let me buy you some newspapers" Elizabeth took out her wallet.
"A penny, please"
"Nah... Gimme ten"
"Ok, ten papes"
"It was so nice to see you Crispy. Although, I don't like you to do...this"
"Take care, Liz. Give me a hug" the two girls hug a start to cry." Bye"
Jack notices that Chocolates was crying, so he runs to her as fast as he could to ask her what exactly was going on. "What's going on, Chocolates? Why are you'se crying? What happened ta ya? Did that fancy lil' lady did something ta ya? Did she hoit ya?"
"Nay" Chocolates said wiping her tears. "She's my best friend, Liz. She gave me some letters that were in the school, looks like Mrs.Grant never wanted me to receive them."
Jack looked at her and wiped her tears with his bandana
. "So, you wanna go read'em? "
"I guess I do, yeah"
"I sell yoah papes fer ya," said Jack taking the papers from her hands. "Go read'em"
"Come read them with me, please" Jack led her to an alley where he sat down, leaning over a brick wall. Chocolates decided to seat beside him in the ground, took one of the letters and started to read one of them.
"August 28, 1987
Our dearest Cristina,
We wanted to write you because of your birthday. You know we can't be there with you; we can't pay for a ticket here in Boston. It has been a long time since we left you in New York you were only 9 years old and today it's your 15th birthday. You must be growing into a beautiful young woman. You haven't returned our letters, sweetheart. Why haven't you?
You know we don't have enough money, but we're working some extra hours to be able to visit you in New York, we're desperate to see our only daughter. Here we send you 10 dollars, so you can go and buy a nice doll or something. Remember, it's possible that we go visit you for Christmas or send you a ticket for you to come back. Grandma came to visit us from Wisconsin, she says hi. Never forget that we love you.
Sincerely,
Mom & Dad"
The last words were the hardest to say, Chocolates started to cry desperately and trembled. At first, Jack didn't know what to do but tell her not to cry. After looking at her for a while Jack kissed her forehead and took her hand
"Come on, lean on me" Jack said sweetly "Lean on me"
Chocolates buried her head on Jack's chest and closed her eyes. Her sobs broke Jack's heart, as he started to run his hand through her hair.
"I know it's hard to lose your parents, I lost my parents too."
"Did you?" Chocolates asked weakly "How?"
"My mom died when I was...9 and me dad got arrested a little afta. That's when I started to woik as a newsie," Chocolates kept crying and Jack wrapped her with his arms with more strength.
"The last time I saw them I was 9. They died two years ago, few days after my birthday. I'm so embarrassed!"
"Embarrassed of what?" Jack asked tenderly.
"Crying like a baby in your arms"
"Nah, don't worry doll" Jack took her hair out of her face "I'm here for ya always, ok?"
"Thanks, Jack"
"For what, sweetie?"
"For being, a shoulder to crying on, for making me feel protected like never before"
Jack smiled at her and helped her to get up "Aw, no. Don't worry. Let's go home. You've had a very long day. Tomorrow you'll feel better you'll see."
The kids sold their papes together all the way home to the Lodging House; it had started to snow at the streets turned very cold. Over there, the kids had started a small fire in the fireplace and the lobby was warm.
Ok, I'm done with this chapters, please keep reviewing; some of your characters are now appearing or will appear very soon. Jack, David, Race, Blink, Mush and Dutchy are now TAKEN...Oh! Spot is taken too. To all my reviewers...
Serena Conlon
ShortAtntionSpaz
Inscrutablex
WannabeNewsie
Dimonah Tralon
Sparks Kelly
Luv ya guys! If you aren't in the story yet, don't worry. You'll appear soon...
Chocolates.
