Wisecracker88: I was trying to make it a mystry of who the girl was, but o well. I guess newsies fan fic readers are just too smart. You're name is Jenna. How cool, I've only met one other Jenna my whole life. Cool! Please review again. Thank you!
Chapter 2: Lost in a book
Jenna had been walking around the streets for a couple of hours, looking for a place to stay and a job. But had no such luck with finding either. Every store that she had walked into trying to find a job, had rejected her because they didn't need anyone or becasue she was a girl. Sometimes she wished she was a boy because no one would give her looks when she walked around town in pants or doing boy's chores around the farm. Everyone thought of her as a tomboy but they looked at her like a young girl. They treated her as if she was only a child when she was seventeen.
She stopped right in front of the next store and walked inside. She saw shelves filled with books. She loved reading back home, she could get lost in a book all day if she wanted to.
"Can I help you miss?" the store clerk asked her, who happened to be another young girl around her age, maybe a couple of years older. She had light brown hair and hazel eyes. She was pretty and she was tall about, 5'6". Jenna had always been jealous of girls who were taller because she was almost 5'1", a bit short fo rher age.
"Can I talk to the owner of the store, please."
"Let me go get him. I'll be right back" the girl told Jenna.
A couple of minutes later
"I'm Mr. Johnston, the owner of the store. What can I do for you young lady?" A man about middle aged came up to her. He was dressed in a three piece suit and his black hair looked as if it was once combed back. There were also dark rings around his eyes as if he has been getting barley any sleep.
"I was wondering if you're looking for any help around the store?" Jenna asked, with a bit of hope left in her voice.
He looked at her for a couple of minutes, wondering if he could help this young girl in front of him. "Actually I do need another person to help out around the store. You'll be splitting the work with Betty." referring to the other girl who worked in the store. "Now what is your name young miss?"
"Jenna, Jenna Touhey sir."
"Well, Jenna, when can you start working?" Mr. Johnston asked.
"Right now if you want me to." Jenna said with excitement. One task down, one more to go she thought.
"Great. Splendid. Now Betty will show you what to do."
"Thank you sir. I won't let you down I promise. Thank you."
"No problem Jenna. Now I need to get back to some things." With that he walked to the back of the store into his office.
A couple of hours later
"Well that's pretty much it." Betty said. She just showed Jenna what they had do around the shop, which included sweeping and cleaning the store, helping customers find books, putting the incoming shipments on the shelves and whatever else Mr. Johnston needed them to do.
"How long have you been working here?" Jenna asked trying to get to know her coworker a bit more.
"Almost eight months now." Betty responded. During the time Betty was showing Jenna what to do around the shop, Jenna noticed that she was very outgoing. She always had something new to talk about, was never afraid to ask a question and was being nice to Jenna. She realized that Betty could become one of her best friends in New York. Well her only best friend at this moment.
"So why is that you need a job? You seemed kinda desperate to find one. I don't want to pry into your life so you don't have to answer if you don't want to. It's just that I'm curious to know." Betty said smiling.
"O, I don't mind. I just came into New York last night and well I need to find a job so I could get money so I can get a place to live." she answered.
"Well you know me and my roommates are looking for another person to share the apartment with. You can come live with us." Betty said excitedly.
"Umm, I'm not sure." The truth was that Jenna was a little unsure about the whole thing. She would have a place to live but she never really got along with girls and she had a hard time trusting people.
"O come on, it will be fun. You'll make more friends hanging out with us and you won't find anyone else to room with that are as nice as us." Betty said smiling. She was hoping that she would say yes. She seemed she needed some friends and staying with her she could definitely help with that. She also seemed a bit a shy around people, she noticed this while Jenna was trying to help out some customers and Betty knew she would be coming out of her shell with them. "Please. You can try it out and if it doesn't work then you could find some other place."
Jenna was biting her bottom lip, not sure if she really wanted to do it but said "Sure why not."
After their day was done at the shop, they said their byes to Mr. Johnston and locked up. The sun was starting to set and the streets had very little people. Those who were out were either on their way home from work to eat with their families, or were people trying to find something to eat and an empty alleyway to sleep in.
Jenna and Betty arrived at the apartment and the other two weren't back from work yet. "You'll be sharing a room with me, which is right there. And Marie and Clara share the other room over there." she said pointing the respective rooms.
"How old are the other two?" Jenna asked putting down here shoulder bag, which contained some extra shirts, a skirt, one dress that use to be her mother's, a pair of pants, and little things that meant a lot to her.
"Well Marie and I are 19, she's almost turning twenty and Clara turned eighteen not too long ago.
"Ok." she paused "Where do the they work?" Jenna inquired about the other two roommates.
"Well Marie works at the flower shop that's only a couple of blocks down from the bookstore and Clara works Medda's."
"Medda's?" She never heard of a place called Medda's or even a name like that.
"Ya, Medda owns a Vaudeville theatre and Clara works there during the day and sometimes night. She just cleans up from the previous day and gets the place ready for that night. She sometimes works at night being a waitress if Medda needs her. Marie and me will go visit her when she does." Betty said, talking about her two other friends. "She's actually working tonight, you're more than welcome to join us." she said this as Marie walked in through the door. She was as tall as Betty but had black hair and green eyes. She was also very pretty.
"Join us where?" Marie asked looking at the new girl in their kitchen.
"To Medda's tonight. Marie this is Jenna. She's moving in with us." Betty said introducing the girls to each other.
"Really. How exciting. You definitely have to come with us to Medda's tonight. It's so fun, you'll have a blast. Plus, I ran into Jack today, he said that they'll be coming tonight." Marie said mostly saying the last part to Betty, who also knew the newsies.
"They are! You have to come us with tonight Jenna." Betty said hoping that her new friend would say yes. She really wanted to introduce Jenna to the newsies including Blink. She started staring off into space.
"Will you quit daydreaming about Blink." Marie said to her friend more focused at the task at hand, getting Jenna to go with them. "You're going to come right? Please say you'll come."
"Umm, I'm not sure." Jenna was a little reluctant about meeting any boys. It's not that she didn't mind hanging out with boys, including those she knew and grew up with, its just she had some past experiences that weren't so great and plus she would get nervous when she didn't know them.
"O come on, you'll have lots of fun and you'll make lots of new friends." Betty was now practically on knees begging her to go. Jenna looked at her and started giggling at her seeing how ridiculous Betty looked. "What?" not sure what Jenna was laughing about.
"I'll go under one condition." Jenna said through her laughter in a little bit of an Irish accent. "If you get up from the floor."
Betty looked at her a little confused and then realized what she was talking about. "O, of course" Betty said getting up from the floor laughing a little as well.
"Good now that's all decided." Marie said coming over the two girls and putting her arms around their shoulders "I say we better start getting ready." And with that said all three girls went off to get ready for the night.