"There's no way I'm a lion." Jack said. I laughed as we walked through Central Park. Jack and I had this on going agreement that had lasted us a couple of weeks at this point. We were currently arguing over what animal represent us the most. Jack was being humble and denying his lion status.
"Jack! You are literally the leader of this gang of boys and you take on the world with this ferousity and spirit. There's no way in hell you aren't a lion!" I exclaimed.
"Alright fine I'm a lion, but you are definitely a fox." He said.
"I'll take a fox, foxes are cool." I said shooting Jack a grin. He grinned back. We were walking close to the edge of the park when Jack turned to me.
"There's a poker game tonight, you in?"
"Jack, while I'd love to, I don't know how to play poker and I really should go home at some point." I said.
"C'mon you have to meet the boys at some point. And I'll have you home at some point." He said. I wasn't gonna cave but then he tilted his head, with a smile that could basically summed up as "you know you can't resist." I groaned as my shoulders slumped and Jack laughed at my non verbal admitance of defeat.
"Damn you Kelly, when'd you get cute?" I said. My filter had apparently turned itself off and a quick blush flashed over my cheeks. But it didn't faze Jack as he flashed me a smirk.
"I've always been cute, where have you been?" He said. I rolled my eyes.
"Oh shut up, just lead the way you dumbass." I said. Jack laughed and stretched out his hand. Without hesitation, I put my hand in his. He held his grip on it and started running. I had gotten better at keeping up with him. We rounded several corners until we came up on a shabby looking building with a sign that read "NEWSBOYS LODGING HOUSE" Jack dropped my hand and gestured to the place.
"Welcome home Sam," he said.
"Thanks Jack." He nodded and walked to open the door. When he did, there was a very old man waiting at the desk.
"You're back late Kelly." He said. He then turned to me, "And what have I told you about bringing girls?" I looked to Jack with a cocked eyebrow. He shook his head and rolled his eyes at the old man.
"Relax Kloppman, she's here for poker."
"When have you brought a girl just for poker?" Kloppman replied. Jack rolled his eyes and dragged me upstairs.
"So I'm not the first eh?" I joked. Jack rolled his eyes.
"Don't mind him, he's probably reffering to Sarah." He replied. I chuckled.
"Relax Jack, you act like I'm jealous. What you do when I'm not around is on you. Just don't go asking for bail from me." I said. Jack smiled at me. And I will stand by a fact that Jack's smile could save me from just about anything. When he wasn't smirking, his actual grin was something to behold.
"Thanks Sam, now c'mon, let's meet the boys." He took me into the main bedroom where all the boys were collected around a small box they were using as a table. When Jack entered the room a small comotion erupted. They were shouting over each other and I made out some of what they were saying.
"Jack who's the girl!?"
"'Ey Cowboy am I dealing you in?"
"Sam! How've ya been?" The last one clearly came from Blink seeing as he was the only one who lived in the lodging house and knew my name. I looked over and smiled at him as Jack got everyone to settle down.
"Alright! Guys this is Sam. Sam, these are the newsies of the Lower East Side. They'll hopefully introduce themselves later. She's gonna be joinin' us tonight so long as you lot don't scare her off. Now, anyone heard from Conlon?" Jack said. His speech to the boys further prooved in my head that he was a lion.
"Spot said he'd see if he could make it." A boy with curly black hair and a cigar in between his teeth.
"Figures, no straight answer Conlon." Jack muttered. I chuckled.
"Kelly, chill, c'mon let's get a round going." I said. Jack nodded and found a place among the boys sat around a box. I sat next to Blink.
"Hey Blink," I said. Blink turned to me and grinned. Though with Blink it seemed like he never stopped grinning.
"Hey Sam, how've you been?" He asked.
"Pretty good, seems like your scraping by." I said. He nodded. Jack had been telling me that even the boys could sell back the unsold papers, the headlines didn't get better after the strike.
"Yeah, haven't had a good headline in a week." Blink said.
"That sucks."
"Sam, you playing?" The cigar newsies asked.
"Umm... No. Can't." I replied. "I'll just watch this round."
"You're missin' out Sam." Mush, who Blink had introduced me to a week after Jack and I had fallen into a routine.
"What's this about missin' out?" A thick Brooklyn said. The room turned to see a blonde boy crawl in through the window. He had a gold tipped cane hanging from his belt loop. Jack stood up and spit into his hand. The blonde boy did the same and they shook hands.
"Nothin' Spot, Jacky boy just brought a guest." The cigar newsie said.
"What's that Race?" Spot asked. Cigar's name was Race, okay I'm learning. Spot had turned to Jack and Jack shrugged.
"Look, Jack, if me being here is gonna cause havoc, I'm gonna go." I said as I stood up. Spot looked at me and smirked.
"No need to worry 'bout that doll, you're welcome to stay. Spot Conlon." He said sticking his hand out. I rolled my eyes but played nice, shaking his hand.
"Sam Maddox, and call me doll again and you might have a broken manhood." I said. The boys around me laughed. Spot smirked.
"Jacky-boy, you've got a keeper." He said.
"She ain't a newsie. Just a fox with a silver tongue." Jack saod with a bit fondness shot at me. Race made a verbal gagging noise. I laughed as Spot joined the table and Jack and I sat down. We played for what felt forever, but it was probably more like a couple hours. I swear, I gained abs from laughing so much. These boys kept each other on their toes and they were clever. I swore in this moment to never let anyone tell me that newsies weren't smart. There was a banging downstairs and one of the younger newsies ran down. There was a bit of arguing when the newsie came back up.
"Sam, someone's here for ya." He said. Jack nodded for me.
"Thanks Snipes." I looked at the clock. 9 PM...
"Shit! I'm so late!" I shouted. I darted down the stairs, and sure enough, in the main lobby was my pissed off older brother.
"You're late." I looked at him and how in this moment he looked so much like my father.
"I got distracted." I replied. Jack was standing at the top of the stairs.
"Same time tomorrow Sam?" Jack asked.
"Same time tomorrow Jack." I called back as Liam dragged me out. I shut the door behind us. "Liam, you're making a big deal out of nothing, I was out an hour later than usual, but it was with friends! You keep telling me I don't have friends, but as soon as I have them, you're against them." I said. "Where did you even know where to find me?" I asked.
"I asked Mrs. Jones' daughter. Melanie?"
"Melody." I corrected.
"Fine, she said that you were talking to Jack so I stopped by the lodging house first." He said. We spent the rest of the walk to the apartment in silence. When we got to the doorstep, Liam grabbed me by my shoulders.
"Sammy, I'm not mad at you. And I'm sorry for snapping at you, I'm just a bit stressed." He said.
"It's fine Liam. Though you look like dad when your pissed." I said. Liam laughed and just hugged me.
"I felt like him, now c'mon let's get upstairs before Jacob tears the apartment apart." He said. I laughed and we jogged up to the apartment.