Hey everyone!  I'm sorry about the alignment of this chapter.. it seems to be off a bit.  I hope you guys are all enjoying The Story of Uhm and I hope you like this update!  ^_^!

Kaylee ~ Hey!  It was great talking to you!  Here's the update, as promised.. however there are no good moments for you and Race.  Sorry!  Thanks for the reviews though and I hope you like it!

Chelci ~ Hehe, I love your reviews!  Thanks so much!  Oh and believe me.. the story is going to turn even MORE soap opera-ish.  Think you can survive it?  XD!

Kate ~ Thanks so much for the review!  I'll try hard to update more frequently!

No one ~ Yeah, I tried to not make this story Mary Sue-ish.. my main plan was to try and take all the usual Mary Sue cliches and do them but in an opposite way.  I guess I failed, haha!  Oh well.  I'm glad you like my story!  And thank you for your comments about my characterizations of the characters.. I'm glad they are.. good!  I tried hard! ^_^!  Thanks so much!!

Braces ~ Thanks!  And here's some more!  Hope ya like it!

Broadway ~ Eek, I'm updating more!  Hehe, I'm glad you think Uhm and Spot belong together!  Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Frenchy DeWolfe ~ Thanks for the review!  Here's the next chapter for ya!

New York City

Manhattan

October 11th

1900



"Hey, Blink," Selece began, shifting her papes around. "Can you teach me how to be a good newsie? Last time I tried I got yelled at."

"Shoa," Blink answered her, draping his arm casually around her. Selece tried to ignore the other newsies stares especially those whom she had met the night before. They were all making fun of her. She knew they were.

"It is her," Jack mumbled to himself. He pulled Les over, crouching down to get closer to the boy. "'Member dat goil Spot was talkin' 'bout? Da one you called stupid?"

Les nodded.

"Do you see dat goil with Blink?"

Les nodded again.

"Dats 'er."

"How do you know, Jack?" Les questioned, staring over at the girl.

"She's shy and she came from Brooklyn," Jack spoke. He too turned to watch the girl. She was pretty confusing. She had acted pretty outgoing before but then left in embarrassment and now she was quite cozy with Blink. Jack sighed, shaking his head. "Be expecting Spot today."

Les nodded once more and then the two left to go find David.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Number one thing, neva say da true headline."

"Make one up?"

"No, no. Just.. change it a little. 'Ere, take dis one "Young Boy Gets Bit by Stray Dog.  Dog Captured." Pretty interestin'? Yeah, but not interestin' enough to sell a pape. So, what I do is I say.. RABID STRAY DOG ON LOOSE! FOIST VICTIM LIDDA BOY! POLICE SAY DEY CAN'T CAPTURE IT!"

Selece watched Kid Blink wave the papes around. He was getting a few customers but not as many Spot had the other day. She winced. It wasn't like she didn't want to see Spot anymore but she knew she hadn't faced down her fear.  And he wanted her to face it down.  She knew she couldn't.

"Rabid stray dog on loose. First victim.. a little boy. Police say dog unable to be captured," Selece spoke. Blink stopped his yelling and turned to stare at her. The people he had attracted but that were about to leave without buying stopped. Her voice had fallen into a monotone state. It was like the girl was possessed. Her eyes were clouded over as though she was staring at something no one else could quite grasp. It sent shivers up Blink's spine but he knew that was going to be a good seller. And it sure was. Nearly every single person who had heard her bought a paper.

"Well! You didn't tell me you just needed someone to draw the people ova!" Blink exclaimed, slugging her in the arm. His face was bright and kind but all Selece could think about was when Spot had slugged her in the shoulder. "Where you learn to talk like dat?"

"I dunno, I just do," Selece shrugged, smiling at the boy. He smiled back then returned to yelling the headlines. Selece also returned to selling her papes. They decided to quit when Selece only had a couple papes left.

"Wanna go to Tibbys? My treat?"

"Hm, all right," Selece agreed.  The two walked down the street, chatting merrily about the weather and the headlines and simple things like that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Uhm, uhm," Selece stumbled over her words. She looked nervously to Blink then to the waiter. "I think I'll have the," her sentence broke off. She had no idea what she was going to get. She had always been bad at decision-making.

"A.. hotdog?"

"Yeah! One of those!"

The waiter scurried away. Selece smiled in relief.

"So, Uhm, I heard from Skittery you got Spot Conlon angry at ya. Whacha do?"

"I called him ugly," Selece replied, shrugging. She had found it was getting easier and easier to lie to these Manhattan newsies. As long as she kept them thinking Spot was angry with her they wouldn't tell him she was here. And Spot wouldn't be able to drag her back to 'face down her fears'.

Blink sat there stunned. He stared at Selece, one eye narrowed as he tried to figure out if she was lying. Blink found himself wishing Bumlets were there. Bumlets was always good at picking out a liar. But Bumlets was probably still busy selling since he never had a partner.

"Why did ya do dat?"

"Because he called me it."

"But you ain't."

"Why, thank ya, Blink," Selece grinned. She had grown comfortable around him like she had Spot.

Their food arrived. Two hotdogs and Coca-cola. Selece's mouth watered. She couldn't even remember eating food other then soup. Quickly, she wondered how they would pay for this before shoving part of the hotdog into her mouth and completely forgetting about money.

The check arrived just moments after they were done eating. Kid Blink looked down at it, his face morphing with worry. He looked up at Selece, a desperate look in his eye.

"Oh, no!" he yelled out loudly. He sounded like he was reading from a script. "I dun think I got da money to pay for dis!"

Selece's jaw dropped. The last thing she wanted to do was get in trouble with the police. Her record had been clean all her life and she didn't feel like changing that now. She struggled to find all the pennies she had earned that day in her pockets.

An older man walked up to the table, a hint of laughter in his eyes. He leaned on the table glancing over to Blink. "Alright, Blink, how much is it?"

"Denton! What a surprise! Meet me new friend, Uhm!" Blink motioned to Selece, still sounding like a horrible actor.

Selece nodded to Denton, offering a polite smile. Denton narrowed his eyes. She reminded him of someone but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Shaking that eerie feeling off, he returned her smile and nod.

"Now, what were you sayin', Denton?" Blink bellowed.

Denton smirked again, "How much is the check?"

Blink handed him the check, satisfied with his work. "Wow, Denton! You sure are a nice guy! I owe ya one!" Blink stood up, patting Denton on the head. He grabbed Selece's arm and the two walked out, leaving Denton to pay the check. Denton sighed. Some things never changed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, we got Denton to pay our bill, right Uhm?"

Selece nodded, unable to speak. Blink had pulled all the newsies that were currently at the lodging house together so he could tell about his 'hilarious' adventure at Tibbys. She could feel it when they would turn to look at her instead of Blink. It sent shivers down her spine. She hated being the center of attention.

"You betta stop usin' his niceness to pay for yer bills, Blink. Ya neva know, he might get fed up and da next day write a bad article 'bout da newsboys," spoke a boy with greasy black hair.

"Eh, yeah but he works for the Tribune now. Dey ain't dat good," Blink replied, waving the boys worries away.

Bumlets shrugged.

"Yeah, yer right, Blink! Today, dey wrote 'bout a murda in.. Brooklyn!"

The room collapsed into laughter at that. Selece stared at the boy who had spoke. Skittery, right?

"W.. what's so funny about that?" she stammered out.

"People get killed all the time in Brooklyn! Ain't nothing new and sure ain't no good story," Skittery replied, grinning at Selece.

"Oh," Selece looked down. It could have been her mother. The story could have been about her mother and they were laughing. Slowly, the girl turned and headed up the stairs to her room.

"Hey! Uhm, wait! The afternoon edition is comin' out soon!" Blink yelled after her. The girl didn't even acknowledge he was speaking. Blink shrugged then turned back to his group.

"So, what did she say she did to get Spot Conlon angry?" Bumlets asked, watching the girl walk up the stairs.

"Call him ugly," Blink replied.

"Nah," Bumlets shook his head. "Nah, she didn't."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"All right! Pay up, fellas!" Race yelled, jumping from his seat.

Jack rolled his eyes, wondering how some newsies were still stupid enough to play against Race. He watched Skittery (no surprise there), Dutchy and Boots hand a couple coins to Race. Cowboy then glanced outside the lodging house, trying to determine how soon the afternoon edition would be out.

"I think I'm gonna go check on Uhm," spoke up Blink. He stood up from the chair he was snoozing on and dashed up the steps.

           Bumlets' shook his head, setting the morning edition of the World down. "That girl is a liar, Cowboy."

"Like the rest of us ain't?" commented Jack. Bumlets shrugged then went back to reading.

"She's a baby, too," Race commented as he shuffled the cards. "Wanna play again?"

"No, Race. I'm not dat stupid," grumbled Dutchy, standing up. Boots and Skittery nodded earnestly though. Race smirked and began to toss out the cards.

"You know what, boys?" Jack spoke, glancing up at the steps.

"What?" replied Race, popping an unlit cigar in his hand. He then proceeded to place his bet.

"Aw, I shouldn't have played again," moaned Boots as he stared sadly at his cards.

"Yeah, me neither," spoke Skittery as he peeked over Boots shoulders. "Hey, I need dat one!"

"Get outta 'ere!" Boots shouted at the cheater. He shoved Skittery away then placed his bet.

"Spot's coming today," Jack said even though he figured no one was listening to him anymore.

"Why's dat, Jack?" said Dutchy. He looked up at the Manhattan leader, running his hands through his hair.

"Remember that girl he was flippin' out 'bout?"

"Yeah, I do!" Race smirked; remembering the panicked state the Brooklyn leader had been in. He then glared at Skittery who hadn't yet placed his bet. "You gonna sit dere all day?"

"Gimme a second!" Skittery said defensively. Race rolled his eyes.

"She's that new girl," Jack said, waiting for any reactions.

Race's jaw dropped, the still unlit cigar toppling out. He jumped to his feet, dropping his cards in his hurry. He dashed to the front desk that Jack was sitting on, "You serious, Cowboy?"

"Hmm," Skittery shuffled through Race's fallen cards. He picked out the few that would give him a winning hand then dropped his bad cards off. Skittery then placed his bet.

"You cheat worse then Race," grumbled Boots as he too shuffled through the fallen cards.

"Aw, shaddup," Skittery replied.

"Yeah, I figured it out today. Spot said she was shy and she was shy last night after ya made fun of 'er shirt," Jack glanced out the door again, waiting for an angry Brooklyn newsie to appear.

"That's not good, Jack. Spot will kill Blink, you know that right?" Race asked, also glancing outside.

"Eh, you never know. Maybe Spot dun like 'er anymore," Jack said. He then went silent, pointing outside. Race caught sight of Spot, storming for the lodging house and raced up the stairs to tell Blink and the girl.

"All right, Jacky-boy," came Spot's cold voice as he stepped into the Manhattan lodging house. He quickly scanned the occupants of the main room, noting that some newsies must still be selling their papes. "You get any new newsies?"

Jack glanced over to Spot, shrugging. "What's it to ya?"

Spot growled, whipping out his cane. He shoved it in front of Jack's face. "Jacky-boy, yer me pal but dat dun matta now. Tell me if you got new newsies."

Jack shrugged again, pushing the tip away. "You lookin' for that girl?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Wanna tell 'er something."

"What?"

"That I'm sorry."

Jack blinked. Bumlets pulled the pape away from his face. Dutchy stopped playing with his hair. Boots and Skittery stopped rigging the game. And they all stared at Spot who seemed to shrink back towards the shadows.

"What? What?! Why dey starin' at me, Jacky-boy?" Spot questioned, glancing at the Manhattan newsies.

"Yer sorry?!' Skittery said, in shock. "Yer never sorry!"

"Well, I'm sorry now," Spot growled. He narrowed his eyes, daring Skittery to say another word. Skittery just shrugged and looked away.

"She's upstairs with Blink an' Race" came Bumlets' calm answer. He smirked at Jack before returning once again to reading the pape.

"Good," Spot mumbled. He shoved his cane back into place. Then the newsie raced up the stairs, trying to remember what he was supposed to say again. What had Sarah said?

~~~~~"Whoa, Spot! What are you doing here?" questioned Sarah when the boy had showed up at her apartment.

"I made her do something she didn't wanna do. Now, what do I do?"

Sarah fumbled around for a response. She knew better then to ask the boy questions because he always got angry when interrogated. And she knew she had better hurry up because she was backed up in sewing.

"Tell her you're sorry, Spot. That's about it," Sarah couldn't even finish her words before the boy was racing back down the stairs of the building. She smirked, hoping she got to meet this lucky girl some day. ~~~~~

"Hey, Uhm!" Spot yelled, flinging open the door to the bunkroom.

"I'll get ya an edition of the Tribune if ya'd like," Blink murmured to the girl. She hadn't said much when he had asked what was wrong. All he could make out was something about the murder in Brooklyn. That was when Race had come up, yelling that Spot was coming.

~~~~~"Spot's comin' soon, Blink!" Race said, flinging wide the door. He looked at the two, breathing a sigh of relief. He was glad they weren't doing anything too friendly.

"Think he'll still be mad 'bout dat ugly thing?" Blink asked, glancing to Selece who was sitting on the floor across from him. She shrugged.

"Yeah, he might be," she murmured.

"Hey, I got an idea!" Blink crawled across the floor to sit by her. "Let's pretend yer my girl then maybe he won't get that mad."

"No, no, that's a real bad idea, Blink!" Race said urgently. He didn't care what happened to the girl but he didn't want Spot to be angry with his best friend.

"That's actually a really good one," Selece spoke. Maybe if Spot saw she was happy, he wouldn't want her to go 'face down her fears' again like she was certain that was what he wanted. Blink grinned at her and she forced on a smile. Knowing Spot was near was bringing back all those bad memories. As Blink wrapped his arms around her, all she could feel was the weight of hers mothers body toppling on her. Even though he was warm, all Selece could feel was coldness.

"No, Blink! She's the girl that," but Race wasn't able to finish his explanation. Just then Spot flung open the door and Blink began his act. ~~~~~

Selece smiled softly, "You will?"

"Yeah, sure.  Anything for my goil," Blink said, running his fingers through Selece's hair. He glanced over to Spot. "Oh, hiyas, Spot. What's the occasion?"

Spot stood stock-still. He glanced to Selece then Blink. "Argh, yer so annoyin', Uhm! You think I'm gonna get jealous or something?" Spot grumbled. He didn't understand just why Selece was doing this but he knew it was annoying him. "I'm not jealous, Uhm," Spot grumbled, stomping over to the two. Blink was confused. He glanced up to Spot, confusion showing on his face. The next thing Blink saw was a fist, coming straight for him. He doubled over, letting go of Selece and flopping onto his back. Blink moaned as Spot put his hands on his hips. "See? Not jealous at all, ya dumb goil."

"I saw that one comin'," commented Racetrack from where he was leaning against his bunk. He shook his head; people never listened to him.

"Uhm, listen, I'm sorry 'bout makin' ya go to," Spot began. He stumbled around with his wording. This whole sorry thing was something very new to him. He couldn't remember a day he had ever said he was sorry about doing something.

"I'm not going back there," Selece said, jutting out her chin. "I don't care if I didn't face down my fear. You can't make me," she stood up, using Blink's stomach to push off of. She crossed her arms, narrowing her amazing blue eyes.

Spot blinked. So that was what the act was for. He had figured it out! She thought he still wanted her to go back to her apartment! He smiled a bit, "No, no, that's not it. You dun hafta go back there. I'm just sayin' I'm sorry 'bout makin' you go. Are you okay?"

Selece's face softened. She searched Spot's eyes, wondering if he really meant that then slowly nodded, "Thanks, Spot."

"Wow, is this yer goil, Spot?" came a voice from the doorway. Spot turned to see Mush standing there. He grumbled, when had that annoyance come in?


  "Whoa, that's yer goil, Spot?  Damn," Swifty mumbled, peeking over Mush's shoulder.

       "What?  Oh, uhm, no, you see.  Spot and I are just," Selece began.  Once again, she was being stared at.  She hated that.  "We're, uhm, just," she searched to find the right word.  Friends?  Selling partners?  Selling partners seemed to be the best bet; she opened her mouth to say it but was stopped short.  Spot grabbed her round the waist, pulling her closer to him.  He winked to her before smashing his lips into hers causing the girl to nearly scream from the shock.

       "Damn," Swifty said again.

       Blink sat up, rubbing his bruised chin.  Then dropped his jaw, seeing the two.  "I coulda died," he mumbled, flopping back onto his back.  The poor newsie thanked God that he had only gotten one harsh punch for messing with Spot's girl.

       "Woo, they moved quickly!  Wonder what dat 'nice' thing was!" Race jeered, speaking about Sarah's advice.  He chuckled although he was the only one for the rest of the newsies in the room hadn't been at Tibbys that day or were too busy thanking God.

       "I thought he was gay," muttered Mush.  He itched the back of his head, shrugging.  "He never had a goil before, did he?"

       "Nope, Mush, he didn't," spoke Jack, leaning on the boys shoulder.  He had just arrived, smirking.  "He was too busy being tough."

       The present newsies then waited for the two to pull apart for air.  They finally did, causing Race to cheer.

       "No, no, you guys got it all wro-" Selece began urgently.  Her face was beet red.  She wasn't his 'goil'!  She barely knew him!

       Spot chuckled, "So shy," then grabbed her, tossing her over his shoulder like he had the other day.  "We'll be back!"  He dashed out of the room, moving as quickly as possible so no one could hear Selece say repeatedly that she wasn't his girl.

       Bumlets, Boots and Skittery all glanced up as Spot dashed through the main room to the door.  They all then shrugged and went back to the card game they had suckered Bumlets into playing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

       Spot laughed his head off as he set Selece down on the grass near a tree in Central Park.  He flopped besides her, watching her angry expression in amusement.  Spot slugged her softly in the shoulder, "Dun get so mad!  It was just a kiss.  Thought you'd like it."

       "Humph, no.  And I'm not your girl.  That was a lie and you know it," she poked her finger at him.  Even as she said the words, the only thing she could think of was how she desperately wanted him to contradict her.

       "Yer right but if I didn't say that, they'd just tease me to no end.  Say I was lyin' and stuff like that.  If you just admit it, they let ya go," Spot said, staring at her out of the corner of his eye.  "Why?  Do you want it to be true?"

       "No, of course not.  Do you?" it was Selece's turn to stare at him from the corner of her eye.

       "Oh, nah," Spot mumbled. "Anyway, listen, Selece, I'm real sorry 'bout yesterday."

       "Oh, that's all right.  It wasn't your fault," Selece said.  She smiled, glad he had said sorry.

       "Yeah, well, I'm still sorry.  And, Uhm, I'm wonderin' if yer gonna stay in Manhattan?"

       Selece glanced over at him, squinting as she stared at him.  What did he want her to say?  Did he want her to go back to Brooklyn?  She sighed, of course he didn't. "Yes, I am."

       "Oh, well then I guess I'll hafta stay here too.  For a little while at least," Spot said slowly.  He wondered what her reaction would be.

       "W.. why?" Selece turned to stare at him, her eyes wide.

       "Well, just in case, ya know," he hoped she'd let him go on that. 

       "Well, all right," she said causing Spot to breath a sigh of relief.  "Thanks, Spot."

       "No problem, Uhm," Spot spoke.  He glanced over at her, watching her watch the many people in Central Park.  They didn't fit in there but it didn't matter to either one.  Suddenly, and without warning, Selece scooted a little bit closer, laying her head down on Spot's shoulder.  Spot nearly jerked away, staring down at Selece.  But then the boy, cautiously and slowly, wrapped his arm around her shoulders, relieved she was holding no grudges.  It felt so right to him for some reason.  Her head fit perfectly on the knook between his shoulder and neck.  He sighed, these feelings were driving him insane.

            The two of them remained in that position for quite some time, lost in their own thoughts yet always together.

How long will Spot stay in Manhattan?!

Will Race do something mean to Selece?!

Aren't you glad Sarah was in this one?!

Find all this out and more Sarah in..

The next part of..

THE..

STORY..

OF..

UHM!!!!!!