A/N: Yup! My second chapter of the night! lol Hope you like this one. It's a little different than the rest, but you'll understand it when the time comes. Anyway, read, review, and enjoy! Criss-Cross
Disclaimer: I do not own Newsies, nor any of their characters, Disney does.
Chapter Eighteen: Henna, Corsets, and Curls
Alleyway was supposed to be on guard duty at noon, but instead, she found herself standing in a Harlem back alley, watching the injured Criss-Cross knock on the Harlem Lodging House's backdoor.
"Who's dere?" an annoyed, rough female voice called.
"It's Criss-Cross, Henna!" Criss-Cross called through the thin door. Immediately the door burst open and a grinning girl threw her arms around Criss-Cross's neck.
"Wheah yas been goil!" the auburn-haired beauty who was even shorter than Criss-Cross exclaimed.
"You'se'll nevah believe wheah I'se been," Criss-Cross replied, her grin mirroring the other girl's.
"Wheah!" Henna asked, but her voice was drowned out by a squeal and another flying form that landed on Criss-Cross. Her grin brightened as she found herself eye-to-eye with the quirky, bouncy head full of curls, named Curls.
"Wells, I'se been in Colahradah!" Criss-Cross replied, laughing as Curls's bright blue eyes turned frustrated as she tried to shove a handful of curls out of her face unsuccessfully.
"Well if it ain't da great Criss-Cross Kat'rine Conlon," a sensual, approving female voice said from behind Henna's shoulder, and Criss-Cross looked up into the warm honey-brown eyes of Corsets, a newsie known for her looks, and tastes in men.
"Why's ya heah?" Henna asked, grabbing her hand and pulling her inside. Alleyway and Curls followed, introducing themselves to one another.
"Wells, I'se in needa help goils," Criss-Cross responded as Corsets shut the door with a snap and began the walk up the darkened stairway to what Alleyway had heard described as "the preparation room". She knew who the three girls were, and knew that they were known for making girls more beautiful than their wildest dreams would allow.
"What d'ya need us ta do?" Curls asked, giggling prettily.
"What da you'se usually do? Yas doll goils like me up. An' dat's what I'se in needa right now."
A small smile that was half-grin, half-smirk lit Corsets face as she held open a door and allowed all the girls to walk through before entering herself and closing it abruptly. "Good…" was all she said as she shoved the shorter girl into a chair in the center. "D'ya want Henna's specialty too? Because, don' take dis ta offence goil, but I'se t'ink you'se need it. What's in ya haiah by da way?"
A sheepish, yet delightedly wicked grin lit Criss-Cross's face as she responded, "Blood…"
Curls gave a nervous giggle, but set to pumping water into a pot and then putting it on the hearth to heat. Henna grinned and walked over to a cupboard, and pulled out her supplies, while Corsets left the room. After a minute she came back with some clothing articles and a smirk on her face. Turning to Alleyway, she said in her manner that there was food in the kitchen, and that she could wait downstairs with the boys while they helped Criss-Cross out. Alley grudging went down the stairs, leaving her friends in the hands of three of the most sinful girls in New York.
Three hours later, Alleyway was quite fed-up with the Harlem boys, and was ready to see her friend again. Walking back up the stairs, she found the door, and walked right in to find Criss-Cross pulling a red shirt over her head as Curls poured the water out the window, and Corsets and Henna slumped into chairs.
With a small smirk, Corsets said, "You'se jus' in time." And she tossed Criss-Cross a corset and pointed to Alley asking, "Wells, what da ya t'ink?"
Criss-Cross slipped the bodice on and tightened it up until her breathing was slighty shallow, but then she turned with a grin to the girls and gave a surprisingly graceful twirl.
"You'se look like a dream, Criss-Cross!" Alleyway exclaimed, taking in the sight of the new, improved Criss-Cross Kat Conlon.
Her friend's now chin-length hair had taken on the red-brown shimmer of henna dye, and her front two locks were curled in tiny spirals, creating a frame on her beaming face. Her lips had been dyed a deep, dark red by cherry juice, which was also been pinched onto her cheeks to give them a rosy pink coloring.
A full black skirt graced her slender hips perfectly. And for once, Alleyway would see her best friend's sensual feminine curves, revealed by the red-laced black corset which lay over a red peasant top that revealed her slender, well-toned shoulders.
Alley noticed the large silver hoops that now fell from Criss-Cross's newly-pierced ears. A tiny silver chain clung around her neck and topped off the ensemble. The fearless, usually boyish Conlon girl gave another twirl, revealing a pair of high-button black boots under the full skirt.
With a sweeping motion, she turned her twirl into a graceful curtsy, coming up beaming brighter than Alleyway had ever seen her smile before. The affect of which caused her to seem more beautiful that she had even seconds before.
"What?" Criss-Cross asked, laughing at the surprised look on the Higgins girl's face. "You'se didn' t'ink I'se could clean up real nice an' actually look like I'se a pretty goil?"
"Ya clean up jus' as good as da t'ree a us," Corsets remarked, draping a white silk shawl with silver and gold embroidery over Criss-Cross's revealed shoulders, making her seem even more decadent, if it was even possible. "Ya shoah ya don' wanna join us in ouah job?"
Criss-Cross giggled prettily like a normal girl would, and shook her head, blushing slightly behind the cherry juice.
"Wells she ain't done yet!" Henna exclaimed, pulling Criss-Cross across the room and shoving her into a chair at a table. The table was set with a bowl of henna paste, and her henna tattooing tools.
"Dis'll get borin'," Curls told Alleyway, and she and Corsets pulled Criss-Cross's friend from the room and back down the stairs to the kitchen, where the three girls sat discussing trivial things for the next two hours, until Henna and Criss-Cross arrived down in the kitchen at the same time as a rather unexpected disturbance, that was sent by the new ruler of Brooklyn, Trigger Jones.
A/N: Well, hope you enjoyed it. Sadly, there's no Shout Outs this time around. But oh well! I'm hoping for lots on the next chappie! (Assuming I don't post it tonight. lol) Criss-Cross