I've given up on chapter 15's shout outs just to let everyone know. Since this story needs to get going again. I needed someway to get myself more interested in it. So I decided to speed things up a little

Chapter 17's shout outs:

Sapphy: I'll have some Spot and Flame smack-ige to make up for their stupidity in the last chapter . That or it could just be fun to beat them down; I should just do it for the fun of it.

MiseryLovesCompany: Don't worry you didn't miss anything; it's just a confusing story. I like to confuse people in hopes that they will read on to become less confused. It's nice when they review too. Thanks for reviewing by the way.

BrooklynGrl: I get the feeling that you were glaring at me because this story is so slow at updating… heh. Heh. Thanks for the review.

JamieBell: I'm glad you like my story. Thanks for the review.

Chapter 17

I hate Mondays, and this was no exception. I growled fiercely at an un-expecting baker trying to get me to buy some bread as I walked to the school that morning. The walk seemed to take forever in my bad mood and my aching feet weren't helping much either. The regular street chatter seemed to annoy my ears simply by it being there. I could safely say it wasn't going to be a good day for anyone coming in contact with me.

I treaded up the steps to the school quickly as my hair flicked in my face from a light gust of wind. A buckle from my shoes caught on a lower step and I few forward hitting the steps. With a slight pout I turned around into a sitting position before regaining my composure and continuing into the school.

The day wore on uneventful except for my occasional snarling at someone. I had decided that growling was too lenient and settled for snarling instead. Upon contact with David I couldn't help but mention that I had been in Manhattan selling with the newsies there. He seemed pretty upset that he hadn't been able to sell the previous day with his friends. I had noticed that he was quite the social outcast at school. He was a newsie at heart it couldn't be helped that he just didn't get along with normal school-bound boys. One point in the day though he pointed out the small heart shaped scare on my wrist.

His finger rested lightly on the scar and he looked at me curiosity in his eyes. I blinked at him for a moment trying to figure out what kind of story to weave into an explanation. In truth the scar had gotten there from an incident involving at hot glue gun. I had accidentally placed the tip right against the wrist carelessly. How the scar had ended up into a heart I still hadn't quite figure out.

"I was playing with fire," I stumbled out with a slight jump. The story was a stretch but he seemed to accept it.

"Looks like a heart," he commented more to himself than me but after a moment he seemed to change his mind about who he was talking to and looked up at me expectantly.

"I used to joke that if a boy could get it off my wrist he could have my heart. Kind of cheesy I know, but hey I was in the 6th grade." I chuckled remembering all the cheesy stupid things I'd done in the 6th grade. David nodded.

School finished out pretty without incident. I helped Mr. Ghoti by grading tests while he was teaching and tidying up the classroom a little. My light interaction with the people around me helped my mood a little. By the time I was walking home I'd even cooled down a little bit. Not that the heat of the day had cooled at all.

I was dripping by the time I caught up with Flame selling the afternoon edition on the Brooklyn streets. I didn't see John right off the bat but within seconds he'd latched himself to me. I pried the small boy off my sticky body, picked him up and wrapped my arms entirely around his small body.

He seemed so much lighter since we'd gotten here. I held him out a little way from me and could easily see how much skinnier he'd become. I knew he didn't eat much between the anxiety of being on the streets and the simple fact that there wasn't much to eat. It broke my heart more than anything that had happened to me. I pulled him back into me and just held him as I began to cry.

Despite how hard I was working and trying to take care of him it still wasn't enough. I wasn't ready for this. I'd lived my whole life with someone there to take care of me if I needed it. But I was all on my own out here trying to take care of John. He needed my complete protection and care. I couldn't let anything happen to him. He needed me.

"Julie what's wrong?" John asked trying to wipe the tears from my face.

I sobbed harder at his concern for me. Someone pulled John from me as I started to lose my balance. A strong pair of arms held me up right in a tight embrace. I held onto my comforter assuming it was Flame, wanting to never let them go and have to face the harsh world around me.

After a while my comforter pulled away so that only one arm held me and he led me off the streets. I knew I should have stopped crying and taken John to start our own selling. I should have told myself to toughen up and taken care of the situation at hand. I had things to take care of and a shattered world to put back together. I needed to feed my skinny little brother and myself. There wasn't time to break down and weep. I needed to be sturdy!

These thoughts just made me cry harder. I wasn't made for this life. I needed real technology to survive!

My already sporadic breathing took a turn for the worse and my comforter all but picked me up. Guilt filled my body again and I looked to thank him. There was Riley all but carrying me back to the girls lodging house. All the yelling I'd done at him battled within my mind and guilty sob that followed made him look down at me.

"I'm sorry," I choked out trying to wipe the tears off my cheeks.

"It's alright," he replied setting me down on the steps of the lodging house. "Youse were placed into dis situation very suddenly. No one thinks any less of you."

He pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed the tears from my face. I found myself holding him again this time without the sobbing and tears.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered again.

"Julie—"

"No," I cut him off pulling away again from guilt. "You should be off selling. Money is scarce enough for you. I know. You can't afford to skip selling. I can't either really. I just…"

He placed a finger against my lips silencing my words.

"Don't worry about it. Youse need to work this out so ya can go back to woik tomorrow with everyt'ing ya got." His voice was yielding and calm. Suddenly he smirked that smirk that was irresistible and dragged me to my feet. "I know just what ya need!"

My hand gripped within his, we ran into the lodging house and up the stairs. Once in the bunk room, he ordered me to lay face down on the only bed without a top bunk. I gave him a glare unsure of where he was going with this.

"Trust me," he laughed at my glare.

I laid down and felt the indent of the bed as he sat down next to me. His hands began to knead my back slowly. I melted under his touch.

--

Wahoo! I actually finished it. I was going to make it longer. A big come back but when I got there I just knew that was where I needed to end it. Hopefully the next character won't take as long as this one did. We'll see how it goes. My writing has matured a lot from when I last updated so hopefully that won't throw the story off too much. Infact I've had the first half of this chapter written for a while and I just now finished it in one go. So I'm wondering if you'll be able to tell where the gap is.