A/N:

It's been a long time since I updated this story. My muses have been getting tired. A gave them some caffeine. Here goes nothing!

Polly's Story

Instead of meeting at Tibby's, as was usually done after a day of selling, the boys all met around the statue of Horace Green. Most of them had forgotten about the strike while gambling with Racetrack. Others played with wooden swords and climbed the statue. It took the return of Jack, David and Boots to remind them. Jack was furious to find them in such a state.

"Jack, you know we can't do this without Brooklyn!" the Newsies told him.

"We have no chance," others said.

"That's why we have to do this," everyone was surprised to be hearing David's voice saying those words. "We have to prove that we can do something big, something important."

"And how can we do that?" Skittery asked him, avoiding Specs' eyes as much as he could.

"We just do it. We seize the day. We can do so much if we just keep trying."

They all discussed this. The decision was soon made that they would continue with the Strike, and keep trying to get all of the newsies in New York involved. They would start in Manhattan.

Pressuring most of the boys at the Distribution Office to drop their papers and join the Strike was going quite smoothly until one boy decided to go against the group, attacking them when they took away his papers. This started a short riot, which ended in the newspaper trolley being pushed over. The moment seemed perfect until the police came by, and the Delancey's dragged away a good friend of the newsies. Crutchy was taken to the Refuge.

A man had been watching the entire thing…Brian Denton. The boys met back at the statue, and decided to take a roll call and make sure they weren't missing anybody else. Polly had been present the entire time. Her name was never called.

The man named Denton found them during the roll call, and confirmed their suspicion that Crutchy had been attacked and taken. Jack made the decision that he and David would rescue him from the Refuge that night. Denton offered the boys a meal before they went back to their Lodging Houses.

"It will keep you out of the police's eyes for a while," he told them, and none of them could say no to that. As they made their way to Tibby's, Skittery stopped to say hello to the man.

"Michael!" Denton proclaimed, shaking the boys hand. "Are you ready for the interview?"

"I'm…getting ready," Skittery replied. Neither noticed that Specs had stayed behind also, listening to the conversation.

"And you're still going, I assume?" Denton asked.

"We haven't got any problems with the Sun, Mr. Denton."

"So this is him!" Specs cried, moving beside Skittery. Skittery turned his head and gave him a quick glare. "You're the man who offered Skitts here an editing job!" he continued. Skittery knew exactly what he was doing.

"I suppose I am. What's your name?"

"This is my friend," Skittery began, lifting his foot to put a silent pressure on Specs. "His name is Carlton. Jamie Carlton," he told Denton with a smile.

"Nice to meet you." Denton shook a baffled Specs' hand. "Well, I see you boys at the restaurant," he told them and left.

When he was out of hearing range, Specs pulled Skittery in front of him by his collar.

"Why the hell would you do that?" he muttered angrily. Skittery quickly pulled Spec's hands off of his shirt and answered coolly.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"What if somebody would have heard?"

"Well, they didn't, did they?"

"I told you to keep it a secret! You promised me!" Specs was yelling.

"Yeah, well you could have ruined my only chance to get a real job!" Skittery was suddenly angry.

"It would have served you right." Specs glared for a moment, then began walking in the direction of the Lodging House. Skittery sighed guiltily and yelled to Specs.

"Aren't you going to eat?" There was no answer. "Suit yourself," Skittery muttered, and made his way to Tibby's. He wasn't going to miss out on a free meal.

Polly sat silently at a table in Tibby's, listening to Jack's rescue plan. He was going to have one of the younger criminals to sneak out of his room and make his way to the door, opening it for Jack to run in and cause a distraction long enough for David to get Crutchy down the stairs and back to the Lodging House. She wanted to ask why the distraction was needed at all, why they couldn't just have him sneak out, but there was no need. She knew that Jack Kelly always needed to make a production of everything. It made him seem like more of a hero.

She admitted to herself, that this wasn't only her opinion. She heard Mush saying it to Kid Blink one day, when they were sitting at a two-person table across from her. She had never even questioned Jack's ideas until that moment. She remembered Kid Blink telling Mush to stop being so negative.

"And besides," he whispered, "what's a plan without a little fun?"

Mush simply smiled and stayed quiet. Kid Blink laughed and changed the subject quickly. A glance at the clock told her it was six o'clock and she left, hoping that neither of the boys noticed that she had been listening to them.

A glance at the clock in the present told Polly that it was six o'clock again, and she stood up to make her way to the door. Jack, who remembered his curiosity from the night before, was the first to notice Polly leaving.

"Where are you going?" she continued walking, not knowing that the question was directed at her. "Polly!" She stopped and turned around. Jack glanced at the boys around the room. They had all become silent.

"Polly, every day you leave us at about the same time. Where are you going?"

She had no idea what to answer. The blank look on her face made most of the boys turn back to their meals, knowing that they themselves were being too forward. Jack remained stone-faced as Polly finally decided on an answer.

"My curfew is seven," she answered. It was true, she supposed, if not very vague. The answer, to her relief, seemed to satisfy Jack, who told her goodnight as she left.

Blink turned to Jack. "See, I was right! It is another Lodging House."

"With a seven o'clock curfew," Jack laughed a bit. "Geez…it's like the Refuge for girls."

The next day came quickly, and all of the newsies were disappointed to wake up without the smiling face of Crutchy to greet them.

"He's fine," Jack told them, deciding not to mention of badly the Delancey's had hurt Crutchy. He knew that they would hate the duo just as much without having to worry about their friend. So, they chose that day to fight back against kids who were now being called "Scabs."

The fight was going badly until a very powerful group of boys decided to show up. Brooklyn. Polly showed up soon after them, having not known a thing about a fight until she heard the yells coming from the Distribution Office. She stayed far out of the way while the newsies won, and watched with a smile as they posed for picture.

Most of the newsies went back to Brooklyn to celebrate. Skittery, however, moved in an entirely opposite direction. He was moving back towards the Lodging House.

"Where's Skittery going?" Dutchy asked Specs, who watched his friend sadly. A few boys pushed closer to hear the answer. Specs stared at all of them, and tried to sound convincing as he answered.

"I have no idea."

They left for Brooklyn, content with the answer.

At the Lodging House, Skittery pushed the mattress off of his bunk. Underneath it sat a tattered, yet still wearable suit. He laid it out on top of the mattress, hoping the wrinkles would straighten out as he washed. Coming back, he quickly put on the suit and moved towards the nearest mirror to brush his hair. Suddenly, he heard the door opening.

"Look, Specs, don't bug me now, okay?" he yelled out as he went back into the bunkroom to make sure he had everything he needed.

"Skittery…where did you get that?"

Skittery immediately knew that the voice he was hearing did not belong to Specs. He looked up at the boy.

"God, Mush, you scared me to death." Mush didn't say anything, simply continued staring at the suit.

"It was my dad's," Skittery explained quickly, and continued looking through his things, making a checklist in his mind. "Why are you here?" he asked Mush, trying to sound casual.

"I got a bit of a cut on my knee yesterday…it opened up while we were running across the bridge." Mush made his way to the bathroom. "Figured I'd come back and clean it out a little, just in case." Skittery nodded a bit.

"Probably a good idea."

Mush looked up while running water over a white cloth. "Why are you here?"

"I was just getting ready."

"I noticed that…everybody's wondering what you've been up to lately."

"Everybody should mind their own business. Besides, hasn't Specs told them everything?"

"No."

Skittery's eyes widened. With all the spite Spec's was nursing towards him, why wouldn't he gossip the story to all of the guys?

"Nothing? What about Bumlets?"

"Not a thing." Mush went to a bunk and sat down, rubbing the cloth against the cut. Skittery was surprised to see how large it was.

"Geez…was it that big yesterday?"

"A bit smaller. Like I said, it opened up while we were running."

"Still, you'd think somebody would have noticed it." Skittery sat opposite Mush, resigning himself to the fact that no matter how much stuff he had with him, he would never be completely ready.

"Well, we were fighting, remember? I think everybody got a few scrapes."

"No kidding. And they all whined about them. You're the only one around here who never complains about anything. I don't get it."

Mush shrugged, turning the cloth over to it's clean side. "Well, as long as bad stuff is still happening, what right do I have to be a whiner?"

"Same right as the people who are. Seriously, Mush, why don't you?"

"I'm not sure you'd get it." Skittery noticed Mush's face become very serious. "I mean…it's not that you wouldn't, I just don't think you can."

Mush stayed quiet for a moment. He lifted the cloth and looked at the injury, which had stopped bleeding.

"My mother warned me when I decided to come here. My mother told me to try not to make a big show of myself, and stay as quiet as possible. Not that I've really succeeded in that." Mush smiled a bit.

Skittery watched as Mush stood up and cleaned out the blood stained cloth, returning it to its pristine white colour. He returned to his spot opposite Skittery and looked him squarely in the face.

"You see…I don't want to overstay my welcome."

"Oh." It was the only thing Skittery could think to say.

Mush stood up quickly, trying his best to return to his optimistic state. "You never told me what you were getting ready for," he told Skittery, who also stood up, making his way towards the door.

"I have a job interview for the Sun. As a spell-checker."

"The Sun. Isn't that Denton's paper?"

"Yeah," Skittery answered, pulling the door open. He stopped for a minute, wondering what Mush would say about it.

"Good luck," was what he chose to say. Skittery turned around.

"You know, Mush? No matter what colour you were, I think we'd all like you just the same."

"Why did you think I stayed here?" They both smiled as Skittery left. After a few minutes, Mush looked down at his knee, and noticed the beginning of a scab over the cut. He grinned at the irony and left, hoping to get back to Brooklyn before the celebration ended.

Skittery got to the office for his interview just in time to not be late. It went almost perfectly, he thought, if not for a few slang words he let drip out of his mouth. The man interviewing him asked him to write a few things, read a few things, everything Skittery had been practicing.

He saw Denton in his own office as he left, and on his desk he saw the photo the newsies had taken. It made his walk home a lot brighter after the sun had gone down. Most of the newsies had gone to bed when he walked into the Lodging House, and he was able to change without them noticing. He woke up feeling more than content, and as he went to give his face a morning wash, he heard the angry voice of Specs beside him.

"So, when are you walking out on us?"

Glum and Dumb became Skittery's nick name that day.

A/N: Well, that was a lot more dramatic than I expected it to be. And depressing. Anyways, keep me skinny, and turn reviews into the new caffeine for my muses. They say it's the healthy alternative.