Author note: This would've been out earlier but my mom had to work and my sister was on for three hours straight. Blame her.
I awoke the next morning to someone pushing the curtains away from my window. I bought them for the Lodging House a few months ago.
I shielded my eyes and rose from my bed.
"What do you want?" I asked in irritation.
"We's got lessons," Spot replied as he leaned against the windowsill.
"What lessons?" I groaned as I rubbed my eyes.
"Swimmin lessons."
"Ugh, it's too early!" I complained. I laid back down in my bed and put the pillow over my head. Spot pulled the small pocket watch out from around his neck and glanced down at the time.
"It's five thirty," he said.
"Go away." Spot rolled his eyes and walked over to my bed.
"Get up Matthews," he said, pulling on my sheets.
"No," I said from under my pillow. Spot sighed and glanced around the room.
"Alright then," he said. "I guess I'll jus' go offer some pretty goil on da streets for free swimmin lessons." I immediately rose from my bed and threw my pillow at him.
"Shut up!" I said. "Get out so I can change." Spot chuckled as he walked for the door. He still had a bad habit of just half dressing in the morning, but oh well. I groggily got out of bed and quickly washed up. I pulled out the boy pants Scout let me borrow. She cut them up to the knees so it wound be easier to swim in.
I then stared at the blue undershirt she also let me borrow. I hated swimming lessons; Spot had a habit of letting me drown. I quickly changed and felt extremely odd to be wearing this again.
After wasting about thirty minutes I tiredly walked downstairs, yawning in the process. I didn't have any suspenders, because apparently I didn't need them for swimming lessons.
Spot sat at the bottom of the stairs, petting Chance.
"Ready?" he asked. I sent him a glare and walked to the door. Spot followed me down to the docks, where the river mocked me. I sent it an icy stare before turning to Spot. He pulled his shirt off and revealed a white undershirt. He then rolled his pants up and slipped his boots off.
"I hate you," I told him as I stepped away from the water and slightly bumped into Spot. He didn't seem to be affected and just stared down at me. "Your not going to throw me in are you?" I asked in fear.
"Now why would I do dat?" Before I could say another word Spot gently pushed me and I flew back into the water. I had only just enough time to gasp for air before the impact of the water hit me.
Kick your legs, kick your legs. Damn it, why aren't I kicking my legs? I pushed my legs against the weight of the water and moved my arms around. I opened my eyes and saw the surface, but for some reason I wasn't there yet. I then grabbed onto the pole of the dock and pulled myself up.
I quickly took deep gasps of air and then looked up at Spot. He looked amused.
"Havin fun?" he asked. I sent him a death glare and shivered as Scout's clothes stuck to my skin.
"What do I do now?" I asked clueless. Spot squinted his eyes as the sun blinded his vision.
"Kick yer feet," he said.
"What do you think I'm doing?" I shot back. Spot shrugged,
"I dunno." He then sat on the side of the dock and let his legs hang over. Without hesitation he jumped in with a small splash and resurfaced in no time. His hair stuck to his forehead, which gave him a childlike look. He gave me a smile as I clung to the pole.
"It ain't dat hard," he said, laying on his back and kicking his feet.
"Easy for you to say," I told him as he continued to show off. I was a bit used to him and his stupid swimming tricks by now. Spot rolled his eyes when he realized that I wasn't going to let go of the pole anytime soon. He quickly swam over.
"Youse gotta let go of da pole," he said.
"No!" I protested, hugging the pole tightly.
"C'mon, Sage, youse ain't gonna learn if youse keep bein friendly to da pole." I sent Spot a disgusted look as he pulled my hands away from the pole. "I ain't gonna let youse drown." He put his arm around my waist and made me swim out into the open.
"I'm going to die!" I said dramatically. Spot laughed and began to move my arms in the same motion he had earlier.
"Like dis," he said. "Now kick yer feet…good." Spot then began to let me go, which caused me to panic.
"Spot, if you let go-" I didn't have time to finish because my head went completely underwater. Spot grabbed my wrist and resurfaced me.
"Youse are a horrible student," he said. "Here, hold on to yer friend again." Spot led me back to the pole, and I wrapped my arms around it. "Now watch." He moved his arms over his head and kicked his feet as he swam back and forth.
"Good job, Spot. Now you continue to do that and I'm going to go dry off." Spot sighed and caught me before I climbed onto the docks.
"I'm gonna show ya dat goin underwater ain't dat bad," he said. I shook my head,
"Going underwater is terrible! You have no air."
"Da only reason it's terrible is 'cause youse panic too much, and youse don't get ta see what kind of stuff is under da river."
"Well I'm not ever going to see if because there isn't any oxygen down there!" Spot began to think and looked around him. He then smiled and turned to me.
"If I find youse a way ta breathe underwater, den will youse consider giving it a look?" I thought this over for a minute before nodding.
"Alright. I ain't quite too sure if dis works, but I guess we can try," Spot said.
"Try what?" I almost yelled. Before I had the chance to ask anything else I was dragged underwater, and Spot put his lips to mine. I guess it's like when you're giving mouth to mouth, but the difference is you're underwater. I hesitantly opened my eyes and glanced around us. We were fully underwater, just floating.
There were little fish swimming by us, and the sun shone through, giving it a magical look. It was beautiful, actually, in a very odd way. I then began to kick my feet and pulled away from Spot and resurfaced.
I didn't have to take huge gulps of air this time.
"So, how was dat?" Spot asked. I blinked a few times.
"I never thought it would be that…different." Spot smiled.
"Hey Sage?"
"What?"
"Yer swimming." I looked around me and, sure enough, I was swimming. No pole, no Spot, no land; just me and the water. I grinned at Spot and swam towards him. I quickly wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug. He flinched as I did so, and then returned the hug.
"Thanks," I told him. Spot smirked and nodded,
"Anytime."
We must've been out there for hours, just swimming and enjoying each other's company.
"Hey Spot?" I said. Spot turned around and gave me a questioning look, but I merely splashed him.
"Hey!" he protested. He brought his hands back and water flew in my face. We began to laugh and splashed each other until we were blinded completely by water. But that didn't keep us from laughing. I pushed my wet hair out of my eyes and watched Spot go under and come back up to fix his hair.
It actually felt good just floating in the middle of the river with Mr. Brooklyn. It was relaxing.
"We should head back," Spot finally said. "It's bad enough I didn't sell papes today." I nodded as Spot pushed himself back onto the docks, and held his hands out to me. I took his hands and he pulled me up, water dripping from our wet clothes. I wrapped a towel around my shoulders and watched Spot retrieve his shirt and boots. He then motioned for me to follow him, and I obeyed.
It was kind of cold walking through Brooklyn, soaking wet. It didn't seem to affect Spot as he walked with his head held high. The children watched in awe, like he was some kind of King or something. Well, I guess he kind of was. King of the newsies, I mean.
I shivered as we entered the Lodging House. I quickly ran upstairs and washed up. I didn't want to smell like river water all day. I then changed into my normal clothes.
Just as I had finished, there was a knock on my door.
"Who is it?" I asked, pulling my shoes on.
"It's Skip." I finished putting on my shoes and walked to the door. I opened it and smiled at Skip.
"What can I do for ya?" I asked.
"Youse said youse wanted ta know 'bout da Harlem boys."
I raised my eyebrows as Skip motioned for me to follow him. I guess Spot's little secret wasn't going to be a secret anymore.
Next Chapter: Skip tells Sage about Harlem. Skip and Sage sneak out at night and follow some of the Harlem newsies after they found them hanging around Brooklyn.
Author note: This one is short…very short…kind of. Just so you know, I'm making this up as I go along. Some of it anyways. That's why its so short, I couldn't come up with anything else, and I had to leave a sort of kind of cliffhanger. Anyways, LONG LIVE THE NEWSIES!