Standard disclaimers apply. Here's Race's question, as suggested by several people:)

"Who is everyone's lady friend?" Race asked mischievously to the room at large. There were a few whoops and cat-calls. "Or who do you wish was your lady friend?" He had moved back between Jack and Crutchie in the commotion between the questions. "Crutchie? You first."

Crutchie grinned, his ears turning red. "I don't have one," he said.

"Liar!" Race said calmly. "Everyone does. Say it right now, or you're kicked out."

"It's not gonna leave this room, Crutchie," Jack said, leaning across Race towards Crutchie.

"Ah, fine...you guys gotta promise not to tell. And not to make a big deal out of it." He gave the younger ones a stern look. "Promise?"

There were murmurs of agreement.

"Okay then. I kinda got the sweets for this girl we always pass on the way to the counter. You know who I'm talking about?"

"No," Race said flatly. "Describe her."

Crutchie gulped. "Well, she's real pretty..."

"Ain't every girl you ever seen?" Romeo asked, looking frustrated. He was clearly deep in thought, probably deciding which girl to choose for his own answer.

"But she's real pretty. Long black hair, all tied up, pretty blue eyes..." Crutchie sighed, then sat up a little straighter. "Well, anyways...next?"

Elmer grinned. "You know that young nun?"

"Not all right, Elmer,"Jack said, rolling his eyes. The rest of the boys took their cue from him and started booing Elmer's choice.

"Why can't I choose her? I can choose whoever I wants!" Elmer said.

"That's true," Davey said, looking as though it pained him not to join in the boos, "but she's a nun. They take a vow of celibacy."

"What's that mean?"

"They can't get married...and stuff," Davey replied, looking a little uncomfortable.

"So? I can still have the sweets on her. She's pretty, ain't she?"

No one could argue with that, so they moved on to Mush, whose answer was too boring to argue with. Finally it was Romeo's turn, and he was still frowning indecisively. "Give me a minute..." he muttered.

"No minutes. It's your turn." Race grinned.

"Just hold on...um..."

"Don't you got enough to choose from?"

"Yeah, that's just the problem. I gotta choose just one, ain't I?"

"Yeah, and don't waste our time trying to decide between Blondie and Blue Eyes."

"You think I should choose Dark Eyes then?" Romeo asked earnestly.

Race groaned. "I was joking...just choose, why don't you?"

"Fine. I'll go with Dark Eyes Maria. No, wait..."

"So Dark Eyes Maria. She's pretty?" Jack interrupted impatiently.

"What? Oh, yeah. But so is Blonde Betty..."

Finally they had to just skip Romeo, before he could go through his entire list of girls he had the sweets for-which might possible have taken hours.

Albert said without blushing that he liked a factory worker from down the street.

"What's her name?"

"I dunno. She's nice, though."

"How do you know she's nice if you don't even know her name?!"

"She's real nice. We just never got around to names. It was just...you know...a quick smooch and then she was off."

"Oh! I see!" Catcalls filled the air. Albert shrugged.

"It's true. You guys is surprised? You think I ain't never kissed a girl before?"

"Well, yeah. That was kind of our understanding," Jack said, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, you understood wrong. I kiss girls."

"Like who?" Jack was suddenly looking stern.

"Like...I kissed a chimney sweep. I kissed a factory worker. One time I even convinced this little rich girl that I was rich too and she kissed me. What're you all looking so surprised for?" he demanded, glaring around at the open mouths.

"What do you mean, you kissed a rich girl?" Jack exploded.

"So what if I did? You don't mind when Romeo goes around kissing ten girls a day! You don't get mad at him! Why am I different, huh? I'm older than him! You ain't the boss of me! I can kiss whoever I want!"

Jack leapt to his feet, but Davey quickly tugged him back down. "Thanks for sharing, Albert," he said with a glare at Jack. "You learn something new every day." He exhaled. "Well then. Now...Les." He rested his chin on his hand and gazed at his little brother, who was reddening fast.

"Me, what?"

"Your turn. Who do you like?"

"Who do I like?"

"What have we been talking about for the past half hour?" Jack asked, looking as eager as Davey to hear Les confess.

"Half hour?"

"Stop repeating everything we say," Davey commanded, "and spit it out. I'm waiting."

"Well, you don't gotta stare at me!" Les said, starting to sweat in the intensity of Davey's gaze. "You ain't gonna tell Mother and Dad, are you?"

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't," Davey said, clearly enjoying messing with Les.

"Don't say that, he won't tell us anything!" hissed Jack.

"Fine...I won't tell them, Les. Now, answer Race's question, or-"

"Fine!" Les said. He looked around. He mumbled something no one could hear.

"What?"

"What'd he say?"

"Speak up, Les," coaxed Davey.

"I said it. Not my fault if you didn't hear me. Next! Next!" Les said, starting to look panicked. He glanced at Jack and quickly looked away.

"Say it louder."

"Well, I know it's stupid..." Les said, looking at Jack again.

"And?"

"And ain't never gonna happen...cause it's just stupid, I mean..."

Jack suddenly burst out laughing. "You got the sweets for Katherine, don't you?" he howled.

Les's jaw dropped. "How'd you-"

"It's obvious, ain't it?" Jack slapped his knee, rolling with laughter. "You're just-so-oh, how didn't I see it before?"

The other newsies were picking up on his laughter too. Soon the Lodging House was ringing with their mirth. Les slouched down in his chair and crossed his arms over his face so only his red ears were showing. Davey was so relieved at his brother's innocent answer that he couldn't stop laughing either.

When it all died down, Les emerged looking stony. "It wasn't that funny," he pouted, setting off another round of laughs. Finally, they all settled down, wiping tears from their eyes and settling back in their seats.

No one's crushes brought the reaction Les's had. Les tried to get everyone to make Davey's announcement that he liked a certain factory girl into a big deal, but no one really found it surprising. They were too busy bracing themselves to tell Jack to shut up once he got started on Katherine. But he surprised them.

"I love the most beautiful girl in the world." There were groans; they'd heard this all before. Jack held up a hand. "She's the kindest person, and most amazing woman. But I'm not gonna bore you all..." he grinned. "I think Les said it all for us."

Les buried his head in his hands again as the laughter rang.

Don't forget to review and give more question ideas!

-Sis