I woke up that morning with my fever completely gone and feeling refreshed. The boys are getting ready for work, as they go and take a bath, wash their faces and shave, then bid goodbye to Mr. Kloppman and out the door. We had to borrow some of their clothes since ours wouldn't do us any good at all. (Dawn, once again, held a protest against this. And, as usual, Taylor put a stop to it and she was forced to give in.) Hallie was completely fascinated of the old New York City. She kept looking around everywhere like a tourist on a vacation. On the way, we passed by vendors hawking their wares, a hurdy-gurdy man, grinding a tune, and a pretzel man, whom Jack graciously accepts a pretzel from. He offered it to me, but I chose the option to refuse. I think he needs it more than I do, although I'm feeling a little hungry. We passed by nuns who were giving rations for poor street children. We lined up with boys to get food. I saw Dawn's expression that she does NOT want to eat that. She has no choice, though. It's the only source of we got this time. Finally, we reached our destination. It was what the newsies call "The Newsies Square", home of Newspaper Row and The World headquarters. 'The World'...hmm, wait, I remember this...oh yeah, this was owned by Joseph Pulitzer. I can hear Hallie muttering something. I looked at her and saw that she was staring at the tall building of The World headquarters, her eyes gleaming with great interest.

"...by 1886, The World's circulation had risen from 20,000 to 250,000. In 1887..."

Okay, she's freaking me out. She's doing a very good impersonation of Hermione. Oh yeah, all she ever does on her spare time was read. I think what she's muttering came from a Collier's Encyclopedia.

"Well, goils, heah we are! This is the distribution where we get our papes." Mush said to us. Hallie nodded, Dawn ignored him, Taylor looked bored, and Gail was looking somewhere else.

"Hey, who are those two?" she asked.

Two grumpy-looking men are walking towards our direction. By the looks on their faces, they looked that they are not to be trusted around children.

"Well, look what we have heah! Da Delancey bruddas!" Racetrack said, a tone that I thought was kind of insulting was present in the way he spoke. One of them was looking at me and Hallie maniacally.

"Hey sweetcheeks! What's yer name?" he asked. I backed away from him with haste.

"Oooh, I like dat in a goil. She refuses but I know she wants me." Uh, excuse me? I backed away a little more. He's starting to scare me. I heard my friends and Hallie sniggering.

"That's nice." I said, feeling revolted.

"I could get used to this." He said, moving a little closer to me.

"Let's not." I walked away from but I felt a hard grip on my hand.

"Wanna go out on a date wid me?" he said, a malicious grin across his face.

"Hey, leave me alone!" I said, trying to free myself from his grip.

"Leave my sister alone, you freak!" I heard my sister shout at him.

"Leave her alone, Oscar." I heard a voice spoke. It came from Jack, who just arrived. Oscar turned around and faced him. His brother also did the same.

"And what'cha gonna do 'bout it, Cowboy?" Oscar said in a cocky tone. He's starting to get on my nerves.

"Yeah, what'cha gonna do 'bout it?" His brother repeated the same question. He, too, is starting to irritate me. Jack just crossed his arms and looked at them mischievously, his lips curving into a devilish grin.

"THIS!" In a fraction of a second, Jack snatched the brothers' hats off their heads. Enraged, the Delancey brothers chased him around the square. I watched in awe as he evaded them swiftly. The other newsies are cheering him on.

"Yeah! Go get 'em Cowboy!"

"Get 'em Jack!"

"WAHOO!"

Hallie and the others were also watching. I heard Gail cheering him on too.

"Get 'em dude! Yeah! Get 'em! What'cha gonna do, Delanceys, huh? BOO!"

Dawn looked at him in that way that made me feel uneasy. It was almost flirtatious. Taylor just watched without a single expression. No cheers, no jeers, nothing. Just the plain, old "just-leave-me-alone-and-no-gets-hurt" look. While he was running, though, he shot a gleaming smile and a wink at me. I think I blushed again. A memory just rushed in my mind. When boys try to bully me, Frank was always there to teach them a lesson. Then, he'd always go home with cuts on his lips and bruises on his arms. I told him that he really doesn't have to beat them up, but he wouldn't listen. He wouldn't listen...

"You're dead, Cowboy!"

"We'll kill ya!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

The Delanceys were finished chasing Jack. Exhausted, they went inside the Distribution Center. We followed the boys as they lined up for their papers.

"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!"

Then, she flashed a 'Loser' sign on her forehead with her hand. The brothers looked at her angrily, but she just pouted her tongue at them and smirked. Jack headed the line and knocked at the wooden board that covered the window behind the counter.

"Hey, Mr. Weasel! We'se heah!"

The wooden board was lifted and emerged an old fat man with gray hair, an unpleasant expression on his face, and a disappearing neck. He looked very much unhappy to see Jack.

"Whaddaya want?!?"

"Our papes, Weasel." Jack said, but I saw him mutter something after that. I read the movements of his lips. I think he said "Ya silly old man!" after that.

"How long do I have to suffer being called 'Weasel'?" he said. I think he was getting annoyed. Actually, I'm wondering if that's his real name. His mother must have not loved him if he was really named 'Weasel'.

"Try forever, Weasel!" Jack teased. The boys laughed.

"Arrgh! It's Mr. Weasel to you!" Okay, now he just called himself Weasel. This made the boys laugh harder.

"I meant 'Weisel', you idiots! Get your lousy papes, Cowboy and go away!" Jack slapped a coin on the counter, grabbed his papers and walked away with a triumphant sneer. Racetrack was next on the line.

"Mornin' yer honor! Listen, can ya let me off for this time? I got a..."

Pretty soon, all of them got their papers. We were about to walk out of the gates when Mr. Weisel (that's his real name) called us back.

"Hey, hey! Girls! You're not going to buy papes?"

We just looked at each other, then looked at him. Hallie answered his question.

"Umm, no, Mr.Weasel, oops, I mean, Mr. Weisel, we're not."

"Why not? Aren't you with these boys?"

"Yes, we are. But we're not really newsgirls."

"Nonsense! Come here, buy your papes!"

Okay, why is he urging us to buy papers? I hope he's not going to do something to us. We walked shyly towards the counter. I think we are accidentally hired as newsgirls now. Well, Hallie is all up for it. I can see that she wants to experience how people live at this time. But I can feel an outburst from Dawn.

"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.!"

What's a B.F.? A boyfriend? A best friend? A-

"It's 'bitch fit', if you're wondering what it is." Gail whispered.

Taylor cracked her knuckles.

"You wanna have a B.F.? May I suggest H.F.?"

Now, what the heck is that?

"It's 'hurtfest', if you're wondering what it is." Gail whispered to me again.

"How do you know all these?" I asked, looking at her curiously.

"Well, being the referee of all recorded catfights between Dawn and Taylor, I've heard it from them so many times." She said with a childish grin. Oh. That's really interesting.

"How many?" I heard Mr. Weisel say. I turned at his direction and saw Hallie ready to purchase newspapers. She looked confused, though.

"I...ah...eh...I don't know." She turned to Jack, who said, "I'll take care of it." I've noticed that everyone was gone. They have already gone to sell their papers and we're the only ones left.

"100 papes, Weasel." He said and he dug deep inside his pocket and took a dime. He gave it to Weasel. Then, he gave us each five newspapers. That made me think. That was the only money that he had. Losing a dime here would already be a great loss.

"Umm, Jack, you should have let me pay for my own! Here, I'll pay it back." I took my wallet out, took two dollars from it and gave it to him. He looked surprised.

"No, I can't take this, Haylie."

"It's okay. It's only two dollars." I said, closing his hand with the two-dollar bills inside. I gave him a smile and he smiled back. Next thing I know, I can't break away from his eyes. I feel like I was being magnetized to him. His brown eyes looked so beautiful that I can't break the eye contact between us.

"Uh, guys? What are you doing? Come on, let's go!" Suddenly I heard Gail's small voice speak. It was then that I was able to break free from his stare.

"Hey, you look beet red!" Gail shouted. Is it really necessary for you to say it?!?

"Haylie's blushing! Haylie's blushing!" she continued in a sing-song voice. I think I'm going to die right here! I was trying to give a message to Hallie through eye contact. I was like "Shut her up! Shut her up!", but I think she doesn't get it. We followed Jack through the whole square. He gave us tips on how to sell the newspapers.

"Okay, da foist thing dat you gotta learn is dat 'Headlines don't sell papes. Newsies sell papes!'" he said, sounding like he was a complete expert at this job. Wait a minute, what am I talking about? Of course, he is.

"What does that mean?" Dawn asked, still annoyed about the fact that she has to work.

"Well, sometimes da headlines are no good. Us newsies have ta improvise." Jack explained.

"Which means?" I asked.

"Improvin' da truth." He said. Improving the truth? That means-

"You mean lying?" my sister said, looking horrified.

"Yep."

"That's horrible! Making up things!" Hallie retorted. Well, that means that I'll be really bad at this job. According to my sister, I'm a very poor liar.

"Well, it's da only we can make money, goils. You in or out?"

We took our time to think.

"What do you think, guys? Should we give it a go?" Hallie asked.

"Who freakin' cares?!? Let's go and do this thing!" Gail said.

"No! We have to think about this! Okay, should we do it?"

"If you ask me, I don't wanna do this." Dawn said.

"Well, no one asked you, Dawn." Taylor sneered.

"Talk to the hand with the perfectly manicured fingernails, Taylor!" Dawn retorted, holding up her hand. And as usual, Taylor acted like she didn't hear anything.

"I think we should do it, you guys." I said. Wait, I didn't mean to say that!

"Yeah! Let's go!"

Well, I hope this goes well. We sold the papers we have. Although I only have twenty newspapers, I sold them so badly. Who is that great genius who came up with a head line like "Trolley Strike On Wheels!", huh? Me! I sold dismally because not one single thing I've said to try and convince people to buy newspapers worked. At lunch, I still have ten unsold papers, so I used my money to eat. We went to a restaurant called Tibby's. Gail was really surprised when she saw the prices of the food.

"Whoa! Those are cheap! Five cents! I'm getting high on caffeine!"

"Hey, you're not allowed to drink coffee!"

"Oh man!"

We ate heartily along with the newsies. Well, I guess you could call us newsies now, too. While we were eating, one of them spoke to us.

"Well now, can we know 'bout you goils, then?"

"What?"

"You. All five of you. Where did'ja come from?

I felt stunned and surprised as my friends and Hallie looked like. What are we supposed to do? What are we supposed to say? The truth? Or a lie?

"I...w-well...w-w-we...um..." Hallie stuttered. I caught her eye. I think I got what she was trying to say.

"We...uh..."I know what was Hallie going to do. She was going to put on a British accent.

"Actually, we came from jolly old England." She said in a British accent. Well, having a father who is British have its advantages. Like, for example, learning his British accent.

"Oh yes, we perfectly have." I said, using the British accent. I don't know if the others know how to do it. It'll be better if they wouldn't speak.

"But, you had American accents before." Mush said, looking puzzled.

"Oh, we have learned how to use an American accent perfectly, you know." I said. I feel like getting used to my British accent.

"It is very convincing, isn't it?" Hallie said, taking a sip of coffee in a very British way.

"Veeeeerrrryyyy convincing." Jack said. I looked at him and felt horrified. I think he doesn't believe all the fronting we're doing. I turned away from him.

"Well, how do ya explain da weird clothes you were wearing?" Racetrach asked.

"Those are costumes we've tried out." Dawn said, surprisingly in a British accent. She's pretty good. And very convincing indeed.

...Okay, I think I'm starting to think in a very British manner now. I better act it out until I can.

"Aren't they absolutely gorgeous?" Dawn continued. The newsies nodded weirdly.

"Well, there you have it. That is our story." Then, in British fashion, me and Hallie took a sip of coffee with our pinkies raised and lifting the saucer to ensure that there will be no spills from our cups. Well, it could have gone very smoothly, if it wasn't for Gail.

"Hey, Gail. What's dat yer holdin'?" Crutchy asked curiously.

We turned at her direction and saw Gail playing with her Game Boy Advance. BOOM. Our cover was blown.

"Okay, now, how do ya explain dat?"

We looked at Gail, feeling a bit angry and we just fell silent. She took notice of this and shut the GBA off.

"Umm, uh...did I just do something wrong?" she said, blinking innocently. We nodded.

"What?!?"