Chapter 6

As David and Heather were walking to his house, he looked over at her carrying a sleeping Les and said, "If he's getting to heavy for you, I can carry him. It's really no problem."

"Don't worry about it. No matter how much my friends give me shit for being weak, I'm actually pretty strong and can handle carrying a scrawny 9 year old boy." He chuckled and they continued the walk in a comfortable silence.

Finally, they arrived at an apartment building. David led her up the stairs to his apartment. He opened the door and they were instantly met with a woman saying, after looking at Les, "My God, what happened?"
"Nothing Ma," David assured her. "He's just sleeping."

David's mother took the boy from Heather's arms. "David Jacobs, you let this lovely young woman carry your little brother all the way home."

"I offered to carry him, but Heather refused."

"We've been waiting dinner for you," a man that Heather assumed to be his father said. "Where have you been?" Instead of answering, he just reached in his pocket and took out all the change he made that day selling. "You made all this selling papers?"

"Well, half of it is my friends' Jack and Daisy."

"And who is this?" He pointed to Heather who had just been standing there awkwardly, not sure of what to do.

"This is also my friend, and my selling partner today, Heather Montgomery. Heather, these are my parents, and that's my sister Sarah." He pointed to a girl sewing in a chair who looked up and smiled. Heather smiled politely back. She had never been a fan of the character of Sarah.

"Esther," David's father said to his wife, "perhaps David's partner would like to join us for dinner. Why don't you add a little more water to the soup." He kissed her cheek and she playfully shoved him away.

Heather felt nervous as she sat down to eat. She had a few reasons to be. One, she was sitting next to David who she had just met and was already giving her butterflies. Two, she was eating alone with his family. And three, it was eating. She really wished she could refuse the food, but that would be rude. And considering she hadn't eaten lunch that day, David would be suspicious as to why she was refusing food. So she only asked for a small amount. When she tasted it, she was hoping she would hate and therefore not eat much, but it was so good that she devoured the whole bowl.

"So, Heather, how are my boys at selling?" Mayer, David's father, asked her at the end of dinner.

"Well, from what I saw today, your boys are a couple of born newsies. So with their hard work and my, Jack's and Daisy's experience, I figure we could peddle a thousand papes a week and not even break a sweat," she said.

"That many?"
"More when the headline's good?"
"So what makes a headline good?" Sarah wondered.

At that moment, Heather was beyond glad Jack wasn't there. In the movie, whenever Sarah had said that line to him, it always sounded so desperate and it was Heather's least favorite line. But right now, she just sounded curious.

"Oh you know, catchy words like maniac or corpse." She then turned to David. "Lovenest or nude." David smiled and bit his lip to keep from laughing. She started laughing too, but caught herself when she noticed the other three set of eyes on the two of them. "Excuse me, maybe I'm talking too much."

"Sarah," Mayer spoke up, "Go get the cake your mother is hiding in the cabinet."

"That's for your birthday tomorrow!" Esther responded.

"I've had enough birthdays. This is a celebration!"

"I'll get the knife," David offered.

"I got the plates," Sarah followed.

"This is only the beginning Papa. The longer I work, the more money I make."

"You'll only work until I go back to the factory. And then you are going back to school like you promised." Heather's heart broke when she saw Esther, David and Sarah all exchange glances to each other. But they replaced those looks with grins as they walked back to the table.

"Happy birthday Papa," Sarah said, kissing her father on the cheek.

Esther started cutting the cake and was handing out pieces. When she handed one to Heather, Heather tried to refuse, "Oh, no thank you. I'm full."

"Oh hush. There's always room for cake. Besides, you're too thin," Esther retorted.

If only that were true, Heather thought, accepting the cake.

After dessert, David asked if she wanted to come out onto the fire escape with him.

"Sure, I'll be right there. I just need to use the bathroom first. Where is it?" He pointed her in the direction and she walked away. She locked the door behind her and turned on the water so that the family wouldn't hear her. She knelt in front of the toilet and emptied the contents of her stomach. She always felt guilty right after, but then that went away and the thought that she was getting thinner entered her head. She rinsed her mouth, then went to join David.

The two stood side by side for a little while in silence, but then Heather asked, "So how'd your dad get hurt?"
"At the factory. It was an accident. He's no good to them anymore so they just fired him."

"That's so unfair. Was it your idea to drop out of school and work?"

"Yep. It took a while to convince them that it was the right thing to do, but they finally came around."

"Do you miss school?"

"Not as much as I thought I would. I mean, I had friends, but not a ton. I was more into learning than being popular."

"Did you...did you have a girl?" She looked down and played with her fingers.

David shook his head. "Nah. I mean, I've liked girls at my school, but none of them have ever liked me back. This one girl pretended to like me so she could copy off me during tests. They just see me as a book nerd. That's really all everyone sees."

"That's not what I see." She looked up at him and saw him looking down at her.

It looked like he was about to say something else, but then Mayer interrupted him, "David, it's getting late. Why don't you walk your girl home and then get to bed."

"Papa, she's not my girl," he said shyly, blushing. Heather just chuckled.

"It was great meeting you Mr. Jacobs."

"You too Heather. You're always welcome here." She smiled and he disappeared back inside.

"You know Lace, you're welcome to spend the night," David offered.

"Thanks, but I got my own place. But you're family's real nice."

"Thanks. Now let's get you home." They climbed down the fire escape and started in the direction of the Lodge House.

As they were walking, David asked, "So you asked me if I had a girl, do you have a guy?"
"I told you, Race and I are just friends."

"I know that. But you live with a bunch of guys. You haven't liked any others? Or none of them have liked you?"

"Well, Mush had a thing for me for a while. Tried for a long time to get me to be his girl."
"And you never said yes?"
"I just didn't see him that way. It's like they're all my brothers."

"But you saw Race that way?"

She pushed him a little. "For a week a couple months ago. God, you sound like Daisy and Delilah."

"Sorry. I'm just trying to get to know you. You're fun to talk to." He smiled at her. Heather hoped it was dark enough that he couldn't see her blush.

"Well, what do you wanna know?"

"How'd you get the name Lace?"

"I love lace dresses. I have three."

They kept on like this all the way to the Lodge House. When they arrived, they saw Race, Delilah, Jack and Daisy all outside.

"There she is," Daisy announced when the two came in sight.

"How long have you guys been waiting out here?" Heather wondered.

"Race and I just got back," Delilah said. "We went to Sheepshead."

"Did gambling Race scare you too?" Delilah nodded. They all loved Race. But when he got into watching races, he definitely got into it. Heather turned to David, put a hand on his arm, and said, "Thanks for walking me home Davey." She stood on her tip toes and kissed his cheek.

David felt all the blood rush to his face. "Um, no-no problem. I'll see you tomorrow. All of you." He quickly turned and walked away.

She watched him go for a moment, then turned to her friends who all had knowing smirks on their faces. "What?"

"Thanks for walking me home Davey," Delilah mimicked. "Could you be any more into him?"

"Oh shut up," Heather replied, walking past the group.

"You kissed him!" Daisy exclaimed.

"On the cheek! And I was just being nice."

"You ain't nevah dat nice ta any of us," Race pointed out.

"That's because you all disgust me."

"Heather likes David! Heather likes David!" Daisy sung out. The rest of them joined in, chasing her up the stairs and into her room. She slammed the door on them.

"It's our room too," she heard Delilah say through the door.

"Are the boys gone?"
"Yes," the girls answered.

She opened the door and the two girls stood alone. She opened the door wider and they walked in.

"So how was dinner at David's?" Daisy asked.

"Fine. His family's real nice."

"Even Sarah?" Delilah questioned in disgust. She hated Sarah the most out of the three of them.

"She was okay because Jack wasn't there for her to hang off." The three got ready for bed.

As they were getting washed up, Daisy asked Heather, "Hey, I got a question. When you were telling David about the refuge, why didn't you tell him about...you know...the thing?"
"You didn't tell him?" Delilah repeated, shocked.

"He doesn't need to know," Heather answered plainly. "I want him to like me. Not look at me like I'm some dirty criminal."

"What happened wasn't even your fault."

"He doesn't know that."

"Look, it's probably gonna get out one way or another," Daisy told her. "And if he hears it from anyone but you, he's gonna be hurt and upset."

"There;s no need for him to know. It's never gonna come out because you girls know to keep your mouth shut and so do the boys." Heather just set down her hairbrush and walked out of the washroom. Daisy and Delilah just gave each other worried looks.

What is Heather hiding Keep reading (and reviewing) to find out!