Cbg ch2
Waking up the next morning was not fun by any extent of the word. It was too early to comprehend anything, and I for one didn't want to realize how stiff I was going to be when I stood up. But as they say, the show must go on. So I struggled to stand up and shake myself off. I found a corner of the room where I could change into today's attire. Next was to go see if Jacob was awake, he usually was. I blame this on the fact that kids still have something to look forward to in the day. I knocked on his door and a fully dressed four year old greeted me.
"Morning Sammy!" He said with a grin. I smiled back.
"Morning kid. Come on, let's go to Mrs. Jones's." I said, taking his hand and leading him down the hall. I knocked on the door and Mel answered.
"Hey, Sam right?" She asked, letting Jacob run into the apartment.
"Yeah, hey Mel." I replied. She shut the door to the apartment and stood in the hall with me.
"Wanna walk with me, see how far we can get before we split?" Mel asked, adjusting her ponytail a bit.
"Yeah sure, where're you headed?" I said. We made our way down to street level.
"Tibby's, it's a resteraunt. I'm a waitress." Mel said. I nodded.
"Interesting, well I'm going to a school a little bit away so I think you'll be leaving before I do." I replied, Mel shrugged and a holler of a newsie on the street corner caught Mel's attention.
"Blink!" She yelled, running ahead. I laughed and ran after her as the newsie on the corner spun her around.
"Hey ya Mel!" He grinned. I realized why they called him Blink when I got close enough and noticed the eyepatch.
"Where's Mush?" Mel asked, looking up at Blink.
"He's down for the day, wasn't feelin' well." He said. He then looked at me. "Sorry Miss, I'm Kid Blink. You can just call me Blink." He said. I smiled and nodded.
"Sam Maddox." I replied. "I should be headed, I'll see you tonight Mel, nice meeting you Blink." I said, walking the rest of the way to school alone. When I got there, Ms. Mathew was scrawling on the board. "Morning Ms." I said as I sat on my usual desk. She turned around and smiled at me.
"Morning Sam, Jack's already brought the morning paper if you were looking to see him this morning." She said with a wink. I laughed.
"What makes you think I want to see him again?" I asked with my eyebrows raised.
"I watched the two of you walk together yesterday, I'm not blind Sam." She replied with a chuckle.
"Uh-huh, sure. And you totally don't look at Mr. Jordan with googly eyes." I replied. Ms. Mathew blushed crimson and I knew I had won. At that moment, a few other kids came in, including David Jacobs.
"Hey Davey," I said, "how was selling yesterday?"
"Hey Sam. And not bad, but not great." He replied sitting in the seat next to me. While David and I weren't exactly best friends, we talked to each other rather than the rest of the kids in our class who were usually the children of sweatshop owners. Or I suppose the proper term is "factory owners", but both David and I know that the factories are legal death traps. The other kids came in and sat in their seats, so I decided now was as good of a time as any to actually sit in my desk like a normal person. And as on schedule as ever, Ms. Mathew started class.
"Welcome to those who weren't here yesterday, hope you had a good day, now onto our first lesson." She said with a smile. The class got going and was a blur of things I learned yesterday. There really wasn't much to the day so it was practically a godsend when Ms. Mathew released us. David and I walked out together and discovered that Jack and Les were waiting.
"Davey!" Les said, running up to his elder brother. I couldn't let out a chuckle as Les nearly tackled David to the ground. I turned to Jack.
"Hello Jack." I said with a grin. He raised his eyebrow.
"Why is there a girl stalking evily towards us?" He asked, slightly concerned. I whipped around.
"Oh joy, Annabelle. I was hoping to not have to deal with her today." I mumbled turning to face her.
"Hello there Samantha." Annabelle said with a sickly sweet smile. I rolled my eyes and glared.
"Annabelle, a pleasure seeing your shineing face. I thought I noticed a street wide IQ drop." I said with a smirk. I heard Jack bite back a laugh behind me. Annabelle glared.
"Oh you must know, it's something that happens as you walk home with this street rat."
"If you had one brain cell, it would be lonely." I fought back.
"I can hear mine commiting suicide."Jack noticed me tence up and grabbed my wrist before I could launch myself at her.
"Your father reaks of elderberry and your mother is a hamster. Good day miss." I said, regaining my composure dragging Jack off before not even he could hold me back from letting the fists fly. When we were about a block and a half away, Jack asked the question.
"Who was she?" He asked.
"An old friend from when I was still high class. Her name's Annabelle Murphy. We were great friends, but then my parents died and Liam had to move us. Basically her parents carved it into her brain that I was basically the enemy. It's a dark and brutal warfare between the two of us." I replied as Jack and I fell in step.
"I gotta ask? How was what you said an insult?" He asked.
"What? Your father reaks of elderberries and your mother is a hamster?" I asked looking for clarification. Jack nodded once. "It basically means your dad's a drunk and your mom's a whore." I said with a simple shrug. Jack let out a laugh and even I couldn't not smile at that.
"I might have to borrow that." He said.
"Be my guest." I said with a chuckle. We made it back to the Lower East Side, and stood on a street corner.
"When do you actually have to be at your apartment?" Jack asked, looking at me.
"Um... Before 8?" I suggested. "I just have to be able to get my baby brother from my neighbors." I said. Jack nodded.
"How much do you trust me?" He asked with his eyebrow raised.
"More than I should." I replied. Jack smirked and put his hand out.
"Then come with me." He said. I put my hand in his and he proceeded to drag me down the street. I'm sure we were quite a sight. A newsboy dragging a slightly more refined girl down the street. But who cared didn't matter and those who mattered didn't care. Jack turned a couple corners before we reached a resteraunt reading "Tibby's"
"My friend Mel works here." I said as Jack opened the door. As soon as that came out of my mouth, Mel came to seat us.
"Hey Jack, table for one?" She started, then saw me, "correction, table for two. Hey Sam." She said with a grin.
"Hey Mel," I said with a wave.
"Hey Song, yeah table for two." Jack said with his ever cool demenor. Mel walked us over to a table and sat us down. She went to the kitchen and came back with two cups of coffee. To be completely fair, I wasn't much of a coffee person. But I figured for Jack's sake I'd try. So I took a sip and man was it bitter. "Sorry, it's not the best." Jack said as he watched my reaction.
"I'm just not used to it." I said with a shrug.
"It is somethin' you need to get used to." He said. We sat and chatted as he finished his cup and I made my way through mine. Once you got through the initial shock, it wasn't half bad. Mel strode over to us.
"Hey Sam, wanna walk back to the apartment with me?" She asked. I looked to Jack who stood up.
"Go ahead, I better be headin' back to the lodging house. Same time tomorrow Sam?" He asked.
"Same time tomorrow Jack." I replied. Jack nodded and strolled out of the diner. Mel took my hand and dragged me in the direction of the apartment.
"So, you and Kelly hm?" She asked with a sly smirk.
"Oh shush it's nothing, we were just headed in the same direction one day so we walk home together. No big deal." I said, with a shrug.
"Big deal! Look, I know the newsies quite well and I know Jack pretty well. And if there's one thing I know is that their aren't many women he deals with. It's probably just me, you, and Davey's sister once in a blue moon." Mel said. We jogged up the steps to the apartment complex.
"So why bother with me?"
"You've intrigued him Sam, not much more to it." Mel said. We went up the stairs to our floor where Mel opened her door and handed Jacob off to me. "All I'm going to say, is that Sam Maddox, you are one lucky girl." She then shut the door. Jacob looked up at me.
"What was she talkin' about Sammy?" He asked.
"Just my friend." I replied, walking him to our apartement where Liam had already come home and had passed out on the couch. So I led Jacob to his room and then borrowed Liam's room for the night. I might actually get a full nights sleep.
And that idea alone was enought to put me into a deep sleep.
A/N: Hey guys! Sorry about the slow turn around in terms of a second chapter but I had a bit of trouble starting it. So if you'd like to share your thoughts on how this plot is doing please do and I shall see you in ch. 3