Thanks for the reviews Joker is Poker with a J and ConlonsGirl !

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I stood in the middle of the room staring at the door when a "Hurry up wouldja?" echoed up the stairs. A boy with curly brown hair burst through the door but turned around swiftly to respond.

"Keep ya pants on!" He ran over to a bunk and took a brown hat from under it. Getting up he quickly shoved it on his head. When he turned back to the door he caught sight of me and jumped slightly, startled. It was obvious he found his little jump to be embarrassing as I saw a soft pink color climbing to his face. "Hey, I didn't know you was up yet," he said, regaining his composure. He had swiftly removed his hat when he saw me, and then, feeling a little foolish, slipped it back on his head.

I just shrugged in response. I recognized this boy from before, I thought he was the one I followed into the park that day. After a somewhat awkward pause he spoke again.

"A few of us are headin' ova to Tibby's . . . You wanna come?"

I stared at him blankly and found my voice to ask, "Tibby's?"

"Yea it's an eatin' joint not to far from heah, you gotta be hungry right?" He asked me, a smile spreading across his face. "By da way, me names Mush," he said this as he came closer and held out his hand.

I grinned and took it in mine, mumbling my name quietly in response, though I was sure he already knew it.

Giving me a cheeky grin he replied, "Nice ta meetcha Rosie."

I felt my face burning as I silently wondered why everyone insisted on adding an 'ie' to the end of my name. Glancing up at him I saw he had reached the door and turned to face me once again.

"So you comin' or what?"

As I shook my head and mumbled a "No thank you" my stomach made its frustration known with another growl. I sighed and looked back up to him, he hadn't moved and was giving me a knowing look.

"Aw come on, you gotta be hungry, ya haven't eaten in days!" I couldn't resist his infectious grin and found myself smiling and stepping towards to door.

"Alright, I 'spose," I said softly, knowing I must still be blushing furiously.

As we made our way downstairs, I found three other boys waiting impatiently. Among them was the boy with the patch, a tall brown haired boy, and a boy in a yellow shirt.

"Bout time Mush, lets git goin heah," the particularly hungry boy in yellow said.

As I followed Mush down the stairs and came into view, I hoped they would just ignore me. When we reached the bottom, we never paused as we headed towards to door. Not until we wandered out onto the sidewalk was I acknowledged at all.

"So your up. . . ya feelin' any bettah?" The patched boy asked casually, pulling out a cigarette as we walked.

"Yea, bettah," I replied, watching the sidewalk pass by beneath me.

As we walked a few more blocks, the boys talked about what I gathered was a poor selling headline in the paper today, and every once and a while a mention of the severity of his hunger came from the taller boy.

After a brief lull in their conversation, Mush then turned to face me. He continued to walk backwards not wanting to waste any time, and motioned to the others in turn.

"Dat there in da yellow is Pie Eatah, Skittery next to 'im, and dat's. ."

He was cut off by the boy with the patch.

"Yea, we already've met." He said, giving me a head nod in greeting.

I grinned sheepishly, feeling bad about forgetting his name. "Yea ..." It was obvious from my tone what I was getting at, and the other boys tried to hold back their laughs at the patched boys expense.

I was relieved to see he wasn't bothered by my stupidity, or by his friends grins. He simply smiled and kept walking.

"It's Blink... Kid Blink?" He said grinning. I nodded quickly, pretending that it was all coming back to me.

"Oh right, Kid Blink," I tried to hide my grin, hoping to look sincere. "Of course..." Unfortunately, my sincere looks didn't carry through with my voice. They caught my somewhat sarcastic tone and all chuckled, even Blink.

My stomach leapt when I caught sight of the sign above the small restaurant. I couldn't help but quicken my pace slightly, my hunger driving me forward.

We walked in and the boys were greeted by a group at a table by the windows. I was pleasantly surprised with the place, it felt very local and quaint, even in such a city as New York. They led the way over as I tried to hide behind them. When enough room was made for all, we each took a seat. I noticed a few glances thrown my way from the faces around the table, but was relieved that they seemed to find me less interesting as I found them.

Mush looked to me, his mouth full of some food he took off another boys plate, and motioned to the boys around the table.

"Dats Bumlets, Specs, Swifty, Snitch, Itey, and Tumbler."

The boys nodded or mumbled in greeting between bites of food. I grinned at the smallest boy, feeling the sudden girlish urge to hug the little fella. He quickly turned red and looked back to his plate and fork smiling.

A waiter came over and started taking the orders that came flying out of the boys mouths. I looked down at my lap. I felt Blink nudge me in the arm and looked up to him giving me a "go ahead" signal – the faster I ordered the faster their food would come. Giving me another nudge to get my attention again he said quietly, "Don't worry about it, I gotcha this time alright?"

I looked at him for a moment before he turned to the waiter and ordered another hot dog. I was embarrassed that he was not only paying for me, but ordered for me as well. I hoped no one was noticing how completely helpless I was.

Angry at myself, I sat up a little straighter, hoping it would feed my confidence. It would have worked too, perhaps, if at that very moment the boy who had the cigar hadn't walked in. My brief confidence was deflated and I sank down, trying not to groan. Great.

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I promise the next chapter will be more interesting!