next chapter! im really updating fast, arent i? im so proud of me

elleestJenn-chicken, got it. thanks

Garen Ruy Maxwell-yes, as you'll come to realize, my spelling is terrible and my typos in-numerable

right then, movin on-

Dutchy awoke to a good deal of urgent whispers and pokes. Most of it was utter jibberish to his still-asleep brian, but he made out a few words and managed to put them together. Mustang. Outside. Fainted. He got out of bed and went outside without a word of explanation. He nodded to Cowgirl and touched her ears, hoping she wouldn't lable him as an enemy.

"Mustang," he whispered, shaking her shoulders and tapping her face. She didn't move. It had been worth a try. He started to lift her and realized that wasn't an option. She was a bit shorter than him, but wasn't light. She was a newsie and spent her days carrying papers, soaking those who got in her way, and riding her horse. Her eyes fluttered open and she gave a small laugh.

"Can't even lift me, huh?" He gave a small sigh of relief. At least she was awake. His now damaged pride would get over not being able to lift a girl.

"Yeah, come on, can you get up?" She sat up, placed a hand on her head, and quickly lay back against Cowgirl.

"No. Must've hit my head when I fell. Really dizzy." Dutchy nodded and looked to Kid Blink, who nodded as well. They each took one of her arms, pulled it over their shoulders, and lifted her.
By the time they reached the base of the stairs, Mustang had gained a bit of a hold on the situation and had her feet mostly under her. Kid Blink, not knowing where she had been staying, began to move toward the stairs.

"It's alright. I've got her. She doesn't stay upstairs." For some reason, Dutchy found he didn't like the idea of anyone else knowing where she stayed. Blink shrugged.

"Night Mustang, Dutchy." He nodded and Dutchy returned the gesture, but he couldn't help noticing that her hand lingered in his for a bit too long to be normal he headed up the stairs. He suddenly found that he wanted to punch Kid Blink as hard as he could. The smile and glow in Mustang's eyes broke off as she felt the hand around her wrist tighten. She turned back to Dutchy, smiled, and brushed some blonde hair out of his face with her free hand. He smiled back and breathed a little easier.
Back in her room he released her arm and she flopped onto her bed with a sigh. The toy horse fell at the movement and Dutchy picked it up. Mustang took his hands in hers and looked him in the eye.

"You said you'd help me remember. I want to remember everything. You can't leave things out. There's something about Kid Blink, something significant. You have to tell me. Please." Despite how he hated that pleading look in her eyes his mind whispered, "what she doesn't know won't hurt her."

"Yeah. You guys didn't get along very well. He did something that made you really hate him. I can't quite remember what it was." Her eyes dropped to her hands that still cradled his. He really didn't want to lie to her, but it seemed very important to keep her to himself; to protect her from anything and everything the world might do to hurt her.
She lay down and pulled the worn blanket over her shoulders. "This time," he laughed, "stay in bed until morning. I don't need half the lodging house waking me up again." She smiled, but as he shut the door, her face fell. Something seemed strange. the way Kid had said her name, the way he had embraced her, the way that instead of just letting go he had let his hand slide down to hold hers. The look in his eyes, er...eye, just didn't seem like that of one greeting someone he hadn't gotten along with. But Dutchy wouldn't lie to her. She hugged the stuffed horse he had left in her hands against her cheek. He was her best friend, he wouldn't lie. Would he?

Kid Blink lay awake with his hands behind his head. Listening to the quiet, steady breathing of the other newsies, he realized that he felt very content. With a sigh, he flipped up his eye patch. Beneath it was a fully functional, but vibrantly green eye. It wasn't that having different colored eyes bothered him, but it made people stare, and no one would buy from a newsie people stared at. He wondered fleetingly if it would bother Mustang, then wondered why he had thought that. True, he was crazy about her, but Dutchy was obviously gaurding her with his life, and he supposed he couldn't blame him. She didn't remember anything and could there for be easily made to believe anything. Something in the back of his mind wondered if this was already happening. He pretended to be asleep as Dutchy came up the stairs and fell into his bunk. Slowly he drifted into real sleep.

Dutchy traced doodles on the bunk above him with his finger. Why had he done that? The truth was Mustang had really like Kid Blink and they had spent lots of time together. He could only remember the feeling in his stomach when he had seen them one day when he was out selling and they had been holding hands. He felt just terrible. She trusted him. He realized what it was. She was staying in a lodging house filled with boys and he wanted them all to stay away from her. He wanted her to be safe, but more so, he wanted her to be his own. No newsie had anything they could truly call theirs. To have a person that would say she was only his. He was her best friend, but he knew that he wanted so badly to be more. He loved her, and didn't want anyone to get in the way of that. He knew she trusted him, but why couldn't she see how he felt. It seemed that when she looked into his eyes with her soft brown ones that she was reading his mind, so could she see that she was always on it?

ok, please note, im trying to make my brilliant idea work without making Dutchy seem evil here. use your imaginations