New York Royalty
By: PrinceOfNewYork
Chapter Ten: Rule Number One
Summary: In the world people are viewed in several different ways. Some are leaders, some are followers, some are somewhere in the middle, and some just get power through possessions. The concept of royalty can take on more than just one form.
Disclaimer: Most of these guys are mine, except for the few that ain't. And, if ya don't know which ones those are then you better go watch Newsies again.
A/N: Alright, this is my first shot at a Newsie fic, but I've been messin' with this character for over a year now, and it's about time she had her story put down (before I completely forget it all!) Thanks a bunch to all of ya who read this!
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"Heya Mary Ann!" Avalanche said shaking her awake the next morning. "Time ta get up. Time ta start your life as a newsie! Hey!" he called across the room. "Dat means all of youse up an' awake! You've had plenty of time ta sleep, get up. Keys… Keys… KEYS! How do youse sleep upside down like that… half on the bed?" He sighed and he moved away from Mary Ann.
She sat up in bed and looked around at the room. The boys looked as though they had… readjusted during the night. Some where half off the beds, some had apparently shared a bed with others, and she swore she saw one boy crawl out from under a bed at one point. Boys would jump off of their bunks wearing no shirts, long underwear, t-shirts, or a button up shirt like hers. Others were fully dressed as she was already. But Avalanche was the only one who was completely ready to go. At the Queens Lodging house that's how things worked. Will, the owner of the place woke up the leader, Avalanche, and he in turn woke everyone else up.
Prince followed suit of the other boys, and jumped off of her bed onto the floor. She pulled a hair brush out of her bag and ran it through her hair. She knew she was a total mess, but since she was currently dressed, and a little out of the loop as far as exactly what to do was concerned, she figured she could clean herself up later. And besides that, being the only girl in the place didn't offer her the privacy she was used to.
"G'MORNIN MARY ANN!" Avalanche said throwing an arm around her. She screamed when he did so, and her brush fell to the floor. She hadn't been expecting him to come up behind her like that. Avalanche was defiantly a morning person. "And how'd ya sleep?"
"Alright…" she said with a shrug as she picked up her brush and threw it in the bag. She then turned around and picked up her hat as well.
"Good, glad to hear it. Now, we're gonna get you started. "Foist thing's foist, sellin'. That's what you're gonna learn dis mornin'. Youse ready?"
"I dunno."
"Well ya bettah know! And ya bettah be! New York don't wait for da lazy newsie. So, let's get you sta-"
"Avalanche," said a boy behind Avalanche with his hands on his hips.
Avalanche turned around to see him standing there. "Hello dere Million, and how're you dis fine mornin'?" Mary Ann turned to greet the boy with a smile, but the smile faded when she recognized him as the boy who had spoken to her when that man stole her food a few days ago.
"Been bettah," the boy named Million said as he walked up to Mary Ann. "Whose this, an' what's she doin' heah?"
"Oh, Mary Ann, dis is Maximilian, better known as my bruddah, Million Johnson, and some times referred ta as Max."
Mary Ann tried smiling at the boy again, but was only met with the same sour look back at her, so she stayed quiet. "You have yet ta answer my second question," Million reminded his brother
"Right," Avalanche said. "Well, da Brooklyn boys sent her here. They figured she'd be safe, so we're gonna keep her safe for a while. Ya gotta problem wit' dat youse can take it up wit' me," Avalanche said in a threatening tone.
"Jus keep dis Princess away from me, an' we won't have any problems," Million said.
"Please," Mary Ann said rather boldly, "don't call me that."
Million looked at her as though he had just said that she was from the future. "I'll see ya around missy," he said turning away from her, and raising a hand as a farewell.
"Don't mind him. He's not a mornin' person. Trust me, he ain't all bad, once ya get ta know him."
"I'm not so sure I want to get to know him…" she said.
At this Avalanche laughed. "Come on, we gotta get youse out on da street!"
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Avalanche bought Mary Ann about thirty 'papes' which cost fifteen cents, which she promised to pay back. "Don't worry about it. It's how I start off all the new kids, including yaself. So I'm jus worried about youse bin' able ta live dat's all."
She sighed and nodded a little. "Alright, so where do we start?"
"We start with rule number one. What us newsies call 'Improvin' da Truth.' Ya know what that means?" She shook her head no. "It means we make da headlines seem a bit bettah then dey really are. All we do is spin 'em in our favah. We do da same thing da headline writers do, jus by da time people figure out dat it wasn't completely the truth we's gonna be gone.
"So… we lie?"
"No," he said shaking his head, chuckling, "we improve our odds if ya choose ta look at it dat way."
"Show me?" she asked. She wanted to see the difference.
"Alright, like heah, it says 'Greek Army Landed in Crete.' The sub headline bein' 'Plan to Liberate Island and Unite it with Greece.' Now, I dunno exactly what dat all means, but we got an army, so dat's helpful, and their gonna liberate an island. Also helpful. So, if you was shoutin' dis headline, what would youse say?"
"Greek Army Landed in Crete?"
"No. You'd say "Greeks going to take over Island! Soon plan to take over the world!"
"No I wouldn't say that!"
"Yes, trust me, it would sell da papes like no tomorrow. Go ahead, and try it. Say just what I told you to say, and when you've sold a few youse come back to me."
Mary Ann sighed and stood up walking into the middle of a group of people on their way to work she shouted what Avalanche had told her to say. And it worked like a charm just like he said. She had half of her thirty papers gone within twenty minutes. She then returned to Avalanche. "That was amazing!"
"Yeah, now youse come wit' me," he said and started walking quickly.
"Why are you walking so fast?"
"Because… their gonna figure out that you improved your odds here real quick, and ya dun wanna get caught. Come on," he said walking faster.
Once they were safe he stopped and leaned against a fence, and pulled out a cigarette. "See what I mean about improving the truth?" he asked as he lit it with a match.
"Yeah… I get it."
"Wanna try it on ya own now? Here," he pulled open a paper for her and picked out an article. "Improve dis headline here," he said pointing.
She read the headline article aloud first, "Minor Mine Collapse, None Killed." She thought for a second and then said, "Mine Collapses, death toll may climb to thousands?"
"Now you're gettin' it. See how dat woiks? Ya didn't lie because they said that none were killed, but it don't say dat none are gonna die from it… nevah know… maybe loads of people were hurt. Anyone asks… ya didn't read da article. Go get rid of dose papes, den youse can watch me."
Mary Ann smiled and walked away selling the last of her fifteen papers in a few minutes and doing it with certain grace and style. She was already enjoying herself. After nearly twenty minutes of selling she came back to Avalanche. "I think I'm getting good at this."
"Don't go get too cocky kid. Ya can boast when youse sell like I do," he said with a smile. With that he put out the cigarette and kicked off the fence. He put a paper in one hand, and tucked the others under his arm as he got himself lost in a crowed of people.
All at once Mary Ann knew why they called him Avalanche. He screamed a headline, and it seemed as though all of New York heard him. Had he been in the mountains he would have caused an Avalanche, or two. No one had to explain it to her, she knew that was the reason, it had to be. She watched in awe as Avalanche got rid of paper after paper, and sold them so fast and making so much money, he surely was setting records of some kind. He even sold papers to people who already had papers! HOW did he do THAT! She was amazed, and realized he was right, she had a lot to learn.
After a while he came back to her. "Now, allow me to buy the lady lunch?"
"How… how… how did you do that?"
"Practice kid," he said with a smile to her. "You'll get it with time. Better stick ta thirty papes for now though. With me for competition, even with Queens bein' da size it is, you'll wanna stick ta thirty for a couple of weeks, and ya know, buyin' 'em yaself. Then youse can make it forty. Most newsies stop at about fifty papes, and I know a few who can sell eighty. Me, I usually do 100, sometimes 120 dependin'. Depends on how much money I got. Sometimes, on real good days I can do 150, if I get an early start."
Mary Ann's eyes went wide as her mother's china plates. "150 papes?"
"Yeah, not a feat done by every newsie. Now come on goily, lunch is on me," he said as they started towards a small near by café.
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And that's it for updates this week! Is it just me, or did the week go fast? Maybe it's the whole school thing. But I'm getting off track. Thank you all for readin' the chapter, and I'll see you all on monday!