Okay, haven't updated for a while! How long was it? 48 years? Ages? Centuries? Millenia? Damn! Well, this chapter is mostly around the hours where Jack the others are negotiating with Spot to join the strike. Some of the situations in here (which is just quite a few) are taken from the original Newsies script, as I'm trying to merge the events of the original the one we have now. But there will be some turning point in this story that would change most of the events in the movie, to make way for the whole Selene mystery. And I better stop talking now. Let's get this thing going on!
My heart sank like a ship when I turned around to see who it was. It was just Racetrack, passing by, finished with his negotiations with the newsies in Midtown.

"Racetrack! Oh my God, you scared me."

"Sorry." He said. "What'cha doin' heah anyways"

"Nothing." I answered.

"Did'ja eat lunch? You look a bit pale." He said. I nodded.

"Well, c'mon den. Let's go back to da square."

I walked with Racetrack back to the Newsies Square, which most of the other boys have gathered. Racetrack whipped out his deck of cards and challenged the others with a game of poker. Dawn was sitting at the far end of the statue, and next to her was, of course, Dutchy. They were talking about something, and they looked quite…smug. I wonder what? My sister is nowhere of sight. I think she went along with Jack, Davey and Boots to Brooklyn. Gail probably went forcibly along with them. (I don't know why she insisted to go. Maybe it has something to do with that person she was mumbling curses about…) We waited for them to show up with the Brooklyn newsies. The kids were playing with their wooden swords, like the Three Musketeers or something. Les, who was one of them, beat the others at it. I was kind of bored already, so I went over to him and talked to him.

"Hey, those were some pretty slick moves back there."

"Oh, hi, Ms. Haylie." Les replied shyly. It's true that I never really talked to him that much, but I was surprised with the formality.

"You needn't be so formal, Les. Just call me Haylie."

"Okay, Haylie." Les said, smiling.

"So, you really admire Jack, huh" I asked. Les beamed at me, his admiration and enthusiasm sparkling within his eyes.

"Oh yeah! When I grow up, I wanna be just like him. I want to be as strong as he is."

"Yeah, that's probably the trait he's most to be admired with." I said, thinking about it.

"And he's also good with girls, too. I mean, many girls like him so much." Les said. I snapped out of my delusion and looked at him. He looked back at me, too. There was a glazed look in his eyes.

"And you're one of those girls, aren't ya"

Boom! That came down to me like a nuclear bomb. If I would have Les' point of view, I'd say I'm blushing like crazy right now. And I'm probably right.

"Hey, you're blushing"

"N-no, I'm not! It's just hot out here, you know! When it's hot, my face goes red like this, you know. I-I'm not blushing." I stuttered, saying things like that defensively. Les' lips curved into a mischievous smile.

"Okay, I'll take your word for it. But I still think you like Jack."

"No, I don't! Really" But the truth is, I like him. Denial's the only option I can choose right now to keep this little secret kept SECRET. I don't know why all of a sudden I started liking Jack. Sure, I admitted that to myself already, but I don't know why. And I can say for sure that it's not because of Frank. I can't keep myself in the past anymore. But…remembering what I saw before, in that place where an apparition of Selene showed up, along with that faceless apparition. Francis Sullivan, yes, that was his name. Lucille told us about him and Selene's story. When I think about it, it's as if I can almost feel what's she's feeling that time, when she left for England. But what's more sorrowful than that is her father erased the memories of all those who knew his daughter, especially Francis' memories. How cruel! Why does that have to happen to her? I felt hot tears form behind my eyes. The more I think about it, the more I seem to feel the sadness of that story. This, for sure, has happened to me in that vision of that 'Field of Souls'. As in another person's emotions flowed through me.

"Haylie, why are you crying"

Without noticing it, my tears slid down, crystal-clear beads drenching my cheeks. I hastily dug in my pocket and took out my handkerchief and wiped my eyes and face. An alibi flashed through my head and out of my mouth.

"Oh, I-I'm not crying, Les. I just yawned. When I yawn, my eyes get so teary, it looks like I'm crying. So…"

"Oh, okay. Are ya sleepy"

"Umm, kinda."

I looked around my surroundings, watching these boys prepare for the strike in an atmosphere of innocent fun and chaos. Racetrack stopped playing poker for a while and directed a group to make picket signs, but they ended up throwing paint at each other. Dawn, knowing her, not wanting to get splattered by paint, got away from the spot as soon as possible. But she was almost successful. One of them smeared red paint on her skirt.

"OH-MY-GAWD! My skirt"

It was Dutchy who did that. Dawn chased him around the square and tried to splatter him with paint.

"You're not going to get away with this, Dutchy! Say sorry"

"Only if yer gonna give me one"

Oookay, I think Dawn's enjoying herself, except for the fact that her skirt is smeared by red paint. After a few moments, I saw a small, blond-haired figure walking towards us. I recognized the person right away. It was Gail. As she was approaching, she looked mighty pleased with herself, grinning ear to ear, skipping and prancing all the way.

"What are you so happy about" Dawn asked, noticing this not very unusual happiness of Gail.

"Oh, nothing. It's just that revenge is sweet, and I'm currently on sugar rush." She replied with her usual high-toned voice, sounding extremely glad.

"'Currently'? It seems like always to me." Skittery remarked glumly. You know, I don't know why, but it seems like he's always on a bad mood. Kinda like Taylor, although she's much worse.

"Dude, I just had the best day of my life. You wanna ruin my parade, then you gotta do better than that." Gail answered back, still grinning like The Joker. Skittery just crossed his arms and went back to being even more grumpy.

"Hey, I thought you went with Jack and the others." I said, noticing that they're not here. "Where are they"

"Oh, umm, still back in Brooklyn. I just went along 'coz I needed to make an arrangement between my foot and someone's ass." Gail said casually. I cringed a bit when I heard that. Gail is kinda violent. She settles things by fighting with other people. Shortly after, Jack, David, Boots and Hallie arrived, faces marked with disappointment. Hallie made her way towards us and talked to us in whispers.

"Damn, this sucks." She said.

"Why, what happened" I asked.

As we are having our own conversation, I heard the boys' conversation from here. Some of them aren't joining the conversation. Several young newsies are playing marbles beside a "Don't buy World or Journal" sign. Playing games, throwing stones at passing carriages and basically having a good time. Some of them just came back from collecing rotten fruits and vegetables from vendors nearby. I saw Mr. Denton nearby, setting up a shot. The others looked curious on where the other newsies are.

"Jack, so where's Spot" Racetrack asked this question. Jack frowned and answered back.

"He was concerned about us bein' serious. Ya imagine dat"

"Well, Jack, maybe we oughta ease off a little, ya know" Racetrack suggested.

"Widout Spot an' da others, there ain't enough of us, Jack." Blink said, a lighted cigarette in his hand. I'm not really a big fan of smoking…

"Maybe we're movin' too soon. Maybe we ain't ready, ya know" Mush said, also a bit discouraged without the sight of the Brooklyn newsies here. I went back to our own conversation about this pressing matter.

"Well, Spot Conlon, the leader of the Brooklyn newsies won't join us. He won't join in because he wants some proof from us, I mean, them that they can do this thing and win the strike." Hallie explained. Then, she turned at Gail and pointed her finger at her. "And this blond-haired monkey over here made it much worse"

Gail, still happy about that revenge thing, just smiled back and batted her eyes.

"Well, the asshole deserved it."

"Yeah, okay, whatever! He was our only chance to win this strike, Gail! When the Brooklyn newsies join, the other newsies from the different areas of New York will join too. This is so gonna be your fault if history gets screwed because they didn't win the strike."

"Oh yeah? Well…well…"

"Well what"

"Well, he still deserved it! He was such a meanie! I hate him"

Hallie had reached her boiling point.

"ARRRGGHHH"

The newsies looked at her, curious of what happened, but she chose the option of ignoring them. She stomped her way out of the square and went somewhere else.

"What's her problem" Gail said, crossing her arms. Dawn and I glared at her. She chewed on her tongue and kept rolling her eyes. It was a long time before she even noticed we were looking daggers at her.

"What"