All or Nothing

Ch. 5

posted 7/22/06

Disclaimer : I still don't own newsies

Callia let herself be pulled out of the restaurant and through the shadowy deserted streets. The winter wind whipped through the square and Cal shivered. She would be glad when they reached their destination. Not that she even knew where that was.

Just as she was about to ask Jack where the hell they were going, they stopped.

"We're here!" Jack stopped in front of a wooden door and pushed it open. The warm air that it was emitting made Callia forgot her suspicions and she stepped into the brightly lit room. It was filled with boys and girls, who were all laughing, talking and dancing. Or they had been, until Jack, his boys, and Callia walked in. Cries of "Cowboy!" "Blink!" or some other ridiculously obscure name filled the room, as the occupants crowded around the newcomers. Feeling extremely out of place and awkward, Callia edged towards the side of the room.

"I haven't seen you around here before" a male voice sounded out above Callia, she looked up, startled. The startling green eyes that locked down on hers shocked her.

Callia was having trouble finding her voice "Oh, yeah, Well I'm-"

"Not interested"

This was a new voice, Cal whirled around and came face to face with the scowling boy who had made fun of Jack at Tibby's.

"You heard me Catch, the girl ain't interested, now scram." The boy was glaring past Callia, obviously waiting for the other boy, Catch, to leave.

Smirking Catch sauntered away, "Nice seeing ya Spot." He winked at Callia and then disappeared into the crowd.

Spot made a small sound in the back of his throat that could have been a laugh or a growl, before he turned to leave.

Cal grabbed his arm, "Just what the hell was that about buddy?" she seethed.

Unfazed, Spot only shrugged, "Ise don't think I've ever heard someone swear and use the word 'buddy' in the same sentence, this is new."

"What do you think you are doing? Do you make a habit of going up to random girls and scaring away perfectly nice guys?"

Callia suddenly found herself staring directly into the blueness that was Spot's eyes.

"You think Catch over there"' Spot gestured vaguely to where to Catch had disappeared to, "You think he's perfectly nice? Do you even know the guy?"

Callia fidgeted, "Well, no."

"See, you know nothing about this place, and you go and throw yourself at the first guy who talks to you?"

"Throw myself at him? I barely said one word to him, and you are you to tell me who I can and can't talk to?"

"Hey, Spot? Cal? What are you guys talking about?" Jack walked over to them with a puzzled look on his face.

"Nothing, who don't you teach your friend Spot here some manners." Callia pushed past Spot and Jack and walked off, not really caring where she was going. Shoving past the groups of strangers, Cal tried to think rationally. She knew that the smart thing to do would be to go over and make nice to Jack's friend, after all counting Jack, that would make two people she knew here. But as she turned around to face this unpleasant task, Callia couldn't even remember which direction she had come from.

As the panic in her began to rise, Spot's words ran through her head, "You know nothing about this place." Well, he had at least been right about that.

"Callia!" Jack called her name again, pushing through the crowds. "Damn it Spot! What exactly did you say to her?"

Spot scowled down at his shoes, so he might have been a little out of line, but it was Catch that they had been talking about, even Jack would have to understand that. "I dunno Cowboy, she just kinda ran off."

"Well could ya at least help me find her, I feel kinda responsible because I was the one who brought her here."

"I'm on it, I'm on it." Spot sighed, but began to search though the crowds for the missing girl. Shoving rudely through the clusters of merrymakers, Spot saw a blonde girl huddled up against the wall. Walking over to her, he tried his best to sound pleasant,

"Uhh, Callia?" She looked up at him, and he was startled by the amount of relief in her brown eyes. He held out a hand to pull her to her feet, she stumbled and without thinking he grabbed her waist. To someone else at the party it would have looked like a lovers embrace. Callia opened her mouth to say something, probably to thank him, but nothing came out.

For the second time that evening, Jack spotted Callia and Spot standing very close to one another. He didn't have time to think about it as he rushed over to them. "Hey! Cal, there you are, I was looking all over for you!" Pushing Spot out of the way, he took in Callia's weary features. "Youse are looking pretty beat, why don't you head home? I'll walk ya."

Callia looked up in confusion. "Home?" she questioned. "Oh, well there is a small problem there. At the moment, I don't really know where home is."

Spot interjected. "Hold on a second, youse are homeless?"

"No Spot, I am not homeless, I just don't have a home right now." Callia snapped back at him, why were these boys so blunt?

"Wait, Cal", She turned towards Jack and wondered irritably why he was smiling, "You need a place to stay?" She nodded slowly, what had they been talking about for the past five minutes? Of course she needed a place to stay!

Jack grabbed her arm, "I happen to know just the place." Without another word he pulled her through the party until they were face to face with a reliable looking boy in a blue shirt. Spot followed, he hated being left out.

"Hey Davy!" Jack greeted the boy brightly, "What's going on?"

"Oh, hey Cowboy!" The boy smiled happily.

"So, Davy, is your family still looking for a boarder?" At David's nod Jack continued, "Well then dis is going to work out well! I've gotta goil here who needs a place to stay."

David looked at Callia, she was shocked by the directness of his gaze. "Is this the girl?"

Jack nodded, and David shrugged, "Well, I dunno Jack, you can't just go picking girls up off the street and expecting me to house them."

Callia looked down miserably, she knew it was stupid, but she had just expected Jack to be able to fix everything.

"I think youse should let her stay." Everyone turned around in surprise at Spot. He scowled, "Well, I dunno, she doesn't seem like the kind of goil who is going to be trouble. Why don't you just give her a chance?" His gaze bore into David's eyes challengingly.

David nodded, "Yeah, sure Spot." He lowered his eyes and looked at Cal, "You want to stay at my house?" She nodded vigorously. "I guess I can trust you, I mean Spot said it was ok." His tone of voice changed subtly. "Well, I guess I should go home and tell my family about this. Jack, you can take her." Nodding his goodbyes, David abruptly turned and left.

Jack looked at Callia, "Well then, this is good news."

She looked doubtfully at where David had disappeared from. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Listen", Jack caught Cal's eyes, "Hey, I know David might seem a little standoffish, but his family is going through a real tough time right now. His father couldn't find a job here, so he is living in the city right now, working there. They are having a tough time making ends meet."

Callia nodded, "I understand." But she really didn't see what the big deal was, at least he still had parents. No matter how much she had loved the orphanage, the absence of her parents still hurt her.

"So, are you ready to go?" Jack motioned for Cal to follow him outside.

"One moment," Callia turned to face Spot who had been standing there, following their conversation. "I wanted to thank you for sticking up for me with David."

Spot nodded and shrugged, "It was nothing." But his seemingly perpetual frown lightened, and he gave her a half smile. "Youse aren't all bad."

Cal smiled back at him and followed Jack out the door. She shivered slightly in the dark stillness of the night as Jack turned to her with a grin. "So, what exactly went on between you and Spot?"

Cal looked at the ground innocently, "I really don't know what you're talking about."

Jack laughed, "Well, all I know is that Spot neva gets involved in stuff that don't affect him. So Ise was just wondering why he stuck up for you with David back there."

Cal spent the rest of the walk there listening to the stories Jack had about being a newsie. She felt a little twinge of jealously at the group of friends Jack had, she didn't really have any life long friends like that.

She was tired by the time they reached the door of the apartment that David and his family occupied. Cal was feeling apprehensive when Jack knocked on the door, and was even more shocked when the door opened and she came face to face with the girl from the bookstore.

AN: Heyy.. I am very sorry that it has been over a month since my last update. I know, I suck...but I was really busy...

Well..review and tell me what you thought of this chapter! I wrote it when I was watching that new disney channel movie, READ IT AND WEEP! it was the funniest thing I have ever seen and I hope all of you get a chance to watch it.

read and review!

xxxxxx-hollywood