K, I fixed most of the typos I think, thanks for pointing them out, elleestJenn. I write really late at night, and I tend to type fast, especcially when the creative juices really get flowing, and I want to get it all out, therefore, I make a lot of typos... Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter Three

Somehow Leah found her way back to the lodging house though thick sobs racked her small frame. She shoved a lock of brown hair out of her face, as she swung open the main door, and flew up the stairs. She slammed into the empty bunkroom and threw herself onto her bed. She lay there, sobbing heavily into the old pillowcase, finally allowing her tears to fall freely. She cried until she had no more tears to cry, then she sat up on her bunk, leaning her back against the wall. She pulled her knees up to her chin, and encircled them with her arms. Sitting there, she finally allowed the torrent of old feelings, and her grief to come upon her. She sat quietly, remembering, and thinking also of the future. She didn't know what lie ahead of her. Leah had never been so uncertain in her life. She was smart, but not about the streets. She new how her mother had made it, but she would never turn to that life, not even if she was close to death. She sat chewing her lip, her eyes red rimmed from crying, her face streaked in tear stains. She was hopeless.

Leah finally pushed herself up from the bunk, and made her way into the washroom. She pumped herself some water, and then splashed it onto her face, washing away the evidence of crying. She stood, staring at the mirror, with water dripping off her face, her eyes still bloodshot. "I will make it." She fiercely told her reflection. "I will survive this." Squaring her shoulders with new resolve, she turned back to the bunkroom. She eyed her bed for a moment, then turned towards the window with the rusty black fire escape. Climbing out she climbed the stairs all the way to the roof of the building, and sat on the waist high brick ledge, sitting sideways, she pulled her feet up with her, and again rested her chin on her knees. She thoughtfully studied the New York skyline.

Leah turned her head when she heard feet climbing the fire escape. She smiled when she saw Callie coming up.

"I thought you might be up here." Callie said, reaching the other girl, "Mind if I join you?" She asked with a tentative look in her blue eyes.

Leah shrugged offering her a slight smile.

"I come up here a lot," Callie said sitting down with her back to the ledge, and her legs stretched out in front of her. She took her brown cap off, and allowed a thick main of curly dark blonde hair to fall out. "To think… Or just to get away from the other girls for a little bit."

Leah nodded, and cleared her throat to speak, "Sorry I ran off like that earlier," She said studying the setting sun.

"Don't worry. Sometimes a girl needs some alone time… Would you like to talk about it."

Leah shrugged, starting off tentatively, "My Mama, she was a… employee… of Madame DeLou, who owns the brothel down on 39th."

"Yeah, I've heard of the place. One of the girls, Salt, we called her, she was a newsie, before she went to work for DeLou. Maybe you know her, Annabelle Fowlers?"

"I've seen her around. She wasn't one for talking much, and I pretty much just stayed out of the way. Anyways, we lived at the brothel, Mama and me, since I was 4 years old. But something happened. My mama took sick. I don't know what she had." Leah stopped for a moment, watching the last of the reddish clouds fade into twilight, and swallowing hard to keep the lump in her throught down. "But, she's gone now, and here I am. With no way to take care of myself and no family to call my own." She fiddled with her locket, running it back and forth on the chain.

"What's that?" Callie asked.

"Mama gave it to me, for my eighth birthday, it's a locket." Leah opened the little gold heart and held it out so Callie could see the picture, "That's my mama."

"Is that man your father?"

Leah pulled the locket back and stared at the man in the picture.

"Yeah"

"What happened to him?"

"He left. I've never met him, he was gone before I was born. Mama says he was a good man." Leah gritted her teeth before continuing, "But no man who could have left a lady like my mama could have been good. He just left, and she had to fend for herself, and look at what became of her. I love my Mama, but I don't want to become like her. I'd die first."

Callie and Leah sat in silence for a while, watching the city of New York go to sleep.

"Well," Callie said finally, "We'd better turn in. We've got to get up early tomorrow."

"Why?" Leah asked, giving her a questioning look.

"We've got papers to sell! You don't think I'm gonna let you go poor do you?"

Early turned out to be a lot earlier then Leah expected. Callie shook her awake, and groggily she sat up. She could see Ghost and Magpie getting ready across the room, and a few forms were still sleeping in their bunks.

"Shouldn't we wake them up?" Leah questioned as they were leaving the bunkroom.

"Nah, they're not newsies. Some are dancer's over at Irving Hall, Medda's place, and some work in the factories."

"Oh." Leah was to tired to put another rational sentence together.

They walked in silence for a while, before they reached a building gated off, with a crowd of boys surrounding it. Leah could also see a few girls there, but they were few and far between.

A boy who looked to be about 16 grinned when he saw them coming, he had blondish brown hair, and an eye patch covering one of his blue-grey eyes. "Hey Calliope," He said greeting Callie with a kiss. "Who's you're friend?"

"This is Leah, she's new today, I'm just showing her the ropes. Leah, this is my boyfriend, Kid Blink."

"Hi." Leah said shortly, her mistrust of all things male centered deep in her being. She bit her lip when she saw the surprised look on Callie's face, and gave Kid Blink a tight smile.

He seemed unaware of the tense moment, as the gates to the building swung open, and a great surge of bodies moved forward, forming some semblance of a line to buy their papers. Leah followed Callie through the line. When it came to be her turn, she placed a nickel on the counter, and asked the old man for ten papers.

"Only ten?" Callie asked.

Leah shrugged, "Yeah, I guess."

Callie smiled, "Well maybe it's better for the first day, just so you can get the hang of things."

They walked together down the street, Callie occasionally calling out thrilling headlines. Leah timidly would shout one out every once in a while, but none were quite as imaginative then the ones Callie was coming up with.

Just then a small boy, only about 8 years old came up to her, and tugged gently on her skirt, "Miss, my papa wants a paper. He gave me this." Proudly the boy held up a copper penny. Leah smiled down at the boy before taking the penny, and exchanging it for one of the papers she held under her arm. She continued to grin watching the small boy run down the road towards a tall man standing next to a handsome carriage. "Well, that wasn't so hard. One down, nine to go."

Three hours later, Leah stood exhausted, her feet aching, and only 2 papers short of her original ten. She sighed in relief as she saw Callie come towards her from where she had been selling, half a block away. "Hey, you about ready for lunch? How many do you have left?"

Leah smiled sheepishly, "Uh… I don't know, a few."

"A few?" Callie reached over and counted the remaining papers, "You have eight left? You only sold two!" Callie fought the urge to laugh, "Oh, don't worry, you'll get better, it was you're first try. C'mon, let's go get lunch, I'm buying." They headed back to the lodging house, where lunch was served for only 2 cents a plate, it was meager, but enough to satisfy the girls until dinner, which would be bought in the same way.

"I don't know Callie," Leah said later that night as the two girls prepared for bed, "I don't think I'm cut out to do this kind of thing."

Callie opened her mouth to protest, then shut it again. She grinned at her, "No, maybe not. Don't worry, You'll figure something out."

Leah sighed, laying down and staring up at the bottom of the bunk Callie had just crawled into. "Good night."

"Good night. Don't worry."

Leah had to smile, Callie already knew her pretty well, and they had only just met. Maybe things would turn out all right after all. Rolling onto her side, she fell into an exhausted, dreamless sleep.