When Star finally slogged back into the fort it was very cold outside. When she walked in all the newsies looked up. Star felt her cheeks burn but mercifully they all turned back to what they were doing before.

Across the room, Mush was sitting shirtless while Mouse patched up some of his deeper cuts. Mush didn't look up. For a moment Star contemplated just leaving. Going somewhere else entirely. Just then Racetrack came up and patted her arm. Just that simple gesture made Star feel a lot better. It was a far cry from how she felt with Mush, but she knew those feeling had come and gone.

---

Switch shivered in spite of himself. He'd woken a few minutes previously on the cold, slick mud of the Hudson river and that didn't help his mood at all. He was bruised all over and had several scratch marks on his shoulder. He hauled himself off the ground and stood still for a moment. He refused to go back to the fort, begging for shelter like some helpless child. Instead he went for a nice long walk.

He had no idea where he was going. He vaguley registered that last time he wandered like this he ended up getting thrown into a cellar. But then again, being stuck in the cellar had led to one of the best things that had ever happened to him... oh well.

He walked and walked. It seemed like he should have fallan off of the face of the earth already but there was walking still to be done.

"Spare change?" A voice said from behind him. A small current of electricity seemed to run through Switch's body. He ignored it. He turned around. There was a medium figure, hunched over in faded brown pants standing behind him.

"Do I look like I have any spare change?" he asked nastily.

"I-" the other boy stopped. He was more of a man than a boy. Maybe seven or eight years older then Switch.

Switch felt the electicity surge through him again. This time he knew why. He had recognized that voice. He recognized that face.

"You," Switch said. His lips were thin lines and his eyes stabbed at the man. The other guy smiled slightly, shivering from the cold. It was him. Switch didn't even remember his name. It was the heavy sleeper from so many years ago. The one that Switch hadn't killed.

"I thought you'd be dead," the young man said.

Switch plunged forward, grabbing the guy's thick neck

"And why's that?" Switch roared into his ear.

"Can't you guess?" He choked out, clearly enjoying this despite his position. Switch was stumped. What the hell was he going on about? Then it hit him. Like a ton of bricks.

The fire.

"You... you started the-?"

"Fire, yes... that was me. Thought I'd got ya to, but I had to leave when that damn newsie woke up and warned everybody."

Switch shook with fury. He used his free hand to clobber his tormentor across the face. Blood shot out from the young man's nose and mouth. He coughed. Switch kept hitting him, mercilessly. When both boys faces were almost compleatly covered inthe other man's blood, Switch stopped. He tightened his grip around the neck and squeezed. After a moment he let go and the limp body fell to the ground. It had taken nearly a decade... but now he'd killed them both.

---

Knock knock knock.

"Who's that?" Jack asked, standing up and walking towards the makeshift door. He pulled it open and standing outside in the pouring rain was Switch.

Switch started to open his mouth but Jack socked him in the face. Suprisingly, Switch didn't retaliate.

"Hell no, you get the hell away from us!" Jack shouted at the drenched boy before him.

"What I was going to say before you hit me," Switch paused to make sure Jack wasn't going to hit him again, "... is that I know why the lodging house burned down,"

"Yeah.. the fire-" Jack started impatiently but then he stopped. His mind was on rewind. He pictured that night. After Mush and Star had left. The card game had ended. They went into the living room to chat. Mouse went into her cupboard with a blanket.

Blanket.

It had been cold. They didn't light a fire that night!

Jack started at Switch open mouthed.

"An old friend," Switch explained sarcastically. He made to step inside (despite his resolution earlier).

"Hey wait a second," Jack said, stepping in front of him, "you're not exactly welcome here," he said gesturing to Star and then Mush. Mush was still shirtless and wrapped with multiple strips of cloth, from which the blood could be seen soaking through.

Switch opened his mouth but again was cut off. This time by Mouse.

"Come on Jack," she said softly, "it's damn near hailing out there,"

Jack hesitated for a long moment but finally stepped inside.

"You stay over there," Jack said.

Switch wasn't really one for taking orders, but he wasn't about to sleep outside either.

One by one the newsies nodded off to sleep. Jack had swore to himself he'd stay awake to keep on eye on Switch but he too fell asleep. It had been a long day.

---

The next morning dawned bright and early.

For everyone except Spot that is. When everyone else had gotten up, he decided to stay in bed. He's had troubling dreams and felt like more sleep. But hey, it was his domain, he was allowed.

Quite a few hours later he opened his eyes again. The sun was streaming in through the spaces in the walls and he felt quite cozy. He yawned big and loud and stretched out in every which way, making ridiculous childish noise.

"You're funny,"

Spot sat bolt upright. He'd thought he was compleatly alone. It was Jamie.

"How'd you-! What're you-!" Spot stutterd, getting over his initial embarassment.

"Oh, I'm desperatly ill, there's no way I could sell today!" She said dramatically, letting her upper body fall back down into her pillow.

Spot just stared.

Jamie sat up again and her blankets fell halfway down her body. Spot swallowed hard when he realized she was only wearing panties. No pants.

"Uh..." Spot started to say but the next thing he knew Jamie was on top of him, force feeding him her tongue.

"Mmmphh!" Spot tried to say, but speaking was quite impossible at the moment.

'You're an idiot' Spot told himself. 'You have this girl sitting on top of you and you're fretting!'

With that, Spot relaxed a little and slid his own tongue into Jamie's mouth. They made out ferousiously for god-knows-how-long until Jamie lifted her head. She reached down and began unbuttoning Spot's shirt. At first Spot was hesitant but then he mentally smacked himself again and let her do it.

Jamie ran her tongue up Spot's body, starting at this navel and ending at his mouth. The sensation sent shivers up Spot's spine. In most of his previous relationships, Spot was always expected to take control... be the dominant male that he was rumored to be. But not with Jamie. With Jamie it was like... he didn't even know how to describe it. He wasn't entirely sure if he preffered it this way or not, but he was willing to experiment. Spot propped himself up a little and pulled Jamie closer. When she was leaning over him he took the oppertunity and reversed their postions. Now Spot was on top, trailing kisses up and down Jamie's neck.

"For god sakes Spot," Jamie said. She (control freak?) reached down and grabbed Spot's hands and pushed them under her shirt. Spot froze for a moment. This was all backwards!Not one to ignore such an obvious preposal, Spot reached his hands up further until they were resting on Jamie'sgenerous assets.They began to kiss again.

"Wahh! Holy hell!" Spot fliched and fell to the side, off of Jamie and onto the foor. Jamie looked up at him expectantly. She had been in mid act of unbuttoning Spot's pants and her hand's were still hanging in that general area... only now it lacked the Spot to make it all work.

"Somthing wrong?" Jamie asked sweetly.

"Erm..." Spot struggled to find a compatable lie, "I... uh..."

Jamie raised an eyebrow.

Spot smiled for lack of words.

"You've never done this before have you?" Jamie asked, almost enjoying this.

"Uh..." Spot stammered. 'Shit' he thought. This couldn't get out. It could not get around that Spot Conlon, Brooklyn Sex God was a nervous virgin. It would kill his reputation.

"Really!" Jamie said, that huge smile engulfing her face once again, "I never would have guessed!"

Spot just stuttered some more. "For the love of Brooklyn, don't tell anyone," Spot pleaded.

"Oh don't worry!" Jamie said, rushing over and taking Spot's hands, "it's not like this is somthing that can't be fixed..."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks again to all my wonderful reviwerd! You make this story writin' thing a lot more fun!

And brace yourself!The 'Spot and Jamie' part of this story is really gonna pick up in the next few chapters! Hope the way I'm writing this is ok! REVIEW PLEASE!

ecHo1899:
OMGSH my mouth was wide open when mush found out! i was like oh my god! he found out! this is so so good really, seriously. wow i like switch but now i really really don't! but i kind feel bad for him. he personality causes u to have mixed feelings about him. love it love it love it!

NewsieGoil1899:
Poor Mush! (No matter how mean he is, I still love him. And besides, it's pure logic that he be angry. Switch was stealing his girl!) Hrm... Now that I dwell on it a bit, I feel bad for Switch too... thinks Well, this is hard to figure out... AND POOR STAR! ...though, she rather deserves the pain. Maybe not that much, but she did get what was coming. I mean, having sex with another guy is, in itself, a huge offense. It should be expected that Mush would dump her. But, Switch beating her up was wrong. He deserved getting thrown in the river for that. (As you can see, I'm a very good rambler. ) Anyways, very good chapter. I really like it. It was hard to stop reading until I was through. Very compelling. Nicely done. A few spelling errors...but that is rather usual. Great chapter! Keep up the good work!
--Truth.Truth like a blazing fire.An eternal flame.--
--GiNnY--

madmbutterfly713:
VERY VERY VERY BAD STAR!

skitteryx3:
Poor mush! sniffle sniffle
I think I like Mush more than Switch... b/c Mush is a sweety pie! If Mush ends up dumping Star please at least get him a new girl! Pleaase! I really enjoyed it! It was REALLY well written! Please update soon!