Chapter Three

A gentle knock made Kat jerk her head toward the door. Quietly, she climbed off her bed where she had been reading and tiptoed to the door. She carefully unlocked and opened it a crack to peer out at who ever was disturbing her good book. Standing in her line of vision was a group of nine boys including the two boys who she had 'met' that morning. With a squeak of fright and embarrassment, she tried to slam the door shut, but was kept from doing so by the patch kid's foot that was placed in the way.

Her eyes must have shown how terrified she was at that moment; because the boy named Jack stepped forward and smiled.

"Relax, miss, we ain't goin' ta hoit youse. We was just wantin' to meet the goil who had the courage to enta the sleepin' courtas of the newsies." His accent showed that he truly was a New York boy. He was tall and broad. He had hazel eyes and shaggy brown hair. His crooked grin made Kat's terror slowly disappear.

Kat slowly relaxed her white knuckled grip on the door frame and opened it far enough that the boys could see her whole face not just half of it. They were all hit again with the realization that she was one pretty dame, even if she wore trousers. Feeling more at ease, she opened wide the door and then glanced at her room. Turning back to the quizzical looks on the boys' faces, she quirked an eyebrow and gave a shy smile,

"I'd ask you suhs in, but I'm afraid that there isn't enough room for y'all."

Her soft accent was met with surprised grins that seemed to tease her about calling them 'suhs'. Kat felt herself blush with the embarrassment of their gaze fixed solely on her. Jack seemed to sense her discomfort because he shook himself before sticking out his hand toward the girl.

"Name's Kelly. Jack Kelly 's what my mudder called me."

To his and the others' surprise, the girl spat in her hand before shaking Jack's, the handshake of the newsies. A girl was giving Jack the most disgusting handshake in all of New York City!

"Mah mama called me Katlin James. But mah brothers and cousins refer to me as 'Kat.' I'd be obliged if you fellows would do the same."

After a few seconds of staring at Kat with bug-eyed expressions, Jack introduced Kat to his mates. The blonde kid with the eye patch was named Kid Blink. Beside him stood a short dark haired and eyed kid with a cigar in his mouth. He went by the name Racetrack or Race. In front of him stood a black kid who was named Boots. Then there was a small, sweet looking boy with shaggy medium brown hair that was constantly in his big brown eyes. This was Les Jacobs. Next in line was Les's big brother David. He had the same color hair (only his was curly) and dark blue eyes instead of brown. Behind Davvy stood a kid with a thatch of curly black hair and bright black eyes. His grin shined with genuine kindness and fun. This was Mush. Beside him was a rather arrogant character named Spot Conlon. He had bright cold eyes that were hard but kind. He sported a sandy blonde haircut and a golden handled cane that had to have been stolen at one point.

When introduced, Spot gave Kat a mock bow of politeness, making the boys roll their eyes with annoyance, and Kat suppress the laughter welling up inside her. The last boy was tall and gangly. He had a head of dull auburn curls and dark brown eyes that were soft and kind. This was Crutchy. Named this because of his bad leg and the crutch he had to use to get around. When Kat held out her hand to shake his, Crutchy took it in his and bowed before raising it to his lips with a soft kiss. This gentlemanly act caused every one of the boys' jaws to drop in amazement and Kat to blush her cheek a light pink that made her even prettier.

Jack was the first to recover from his shock. He shook his head in wonder before smacking several of the boys out of their stupidity. This caused Kat to giggle, and the boys to blush with embarrassment before they could recover themselves. Kat rolled her eyes at them. Boys were so fickle at times. Wondering if all they had come to her door for was meet her, Kat crossed her arms, shifted her weight to lean against the door post, and raised an eyebrow at Jack, waiting for him to gather himself once again.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Jack turned his attention to a now impatient Kat. "We was goin' to go get our papes now and start sellin' if youse was interested in joinin' us."

Kat shook her head in amazement, "That's what took you fifteen minutes to ask me? If I wanted to go sell papes?" Again she shook her head and grinned in amazement at the brains of teenage boys. "Let me put mah book away, and I will be honored to join ye gentlemen." She said this with a low sweeping bow with her hat before she turned back to her bed to mark her place in her interesting book and put it on the shelf with the other ones. She sighed knowing that it would be a few days before she would ever get back to reading it.