Ok, I finished another chapter. One of our MANY new characters makes an appearance in it! Woo hoo! Enjoy! (CASTING CALL is still opened)

Now that another storm was coming, he knew that the others would be waking up once again.

As he was walking back, the rain started to fall again. Lightly at first, tickling the back of his neck as it hit him, but then it soon started to downpour again. Instead of going straight down the street toward the lodge, he turned and went up a few streets, ending up in front of Irving Hall.

Jack had always loved Irving Hall. He had known it all his childhood. He could always remember walking past and looking up with a dreamy look in his eyes at the woman whose picture was above the entrance.

Medda Larkson… Jack said to himself, reading the sign like old times as he approached it …The Swedish Meadowlark…

Being drenched in rain and having a feeling that no one was inside, he walked to the back door of the Hall which was always left opened, and went in. The moment he entered, his nostrils filled with the lingering smells of liquor, smoke, and candy; the usual smells of Irving Hall that had been left over from the last show. Jack closed the door, blocking out the sound of the rain. It was then when he heard the soft, sweet sound of someone singing. He listened in for a little while, and then he realized who it was.

Jack walked up the stairs next to the door and walked out onto the dark stage. There, sure enough, he saw Lark sitting on the edge of it, her legs hanging over the side. Lark was his friend, and also a fellow newsie. He walked up behind her, not making a sound.

"Heya Lark" he called to her. She jumped a little, quickly stopping her singing and turning to face Jack. Once she saw it was him, she let out a laugh and sighed a sigh of relief.

"Jack Kelly, what are you doing here?" she asked, her speech practically flawless. Unlike the newsies, Lark lacked an accent. She was quite proud of that, too. She brushed her short brown hair behind her ears and looked up at him, waiting for an answer. Jack shrugged.

"Couldn't sleep." he said as he walked beside her. "Rain kept me up."

"So you came here?" she asked with a tilt of her head and a raise of an eyebrow. Jack sat down on the edge of the stage.

"Yea. I was walkin around. Rain started commin down harda, so ise came in hea."

"Oh."

"Yea." Jack said. "Anyway, what bring yous hea? Ise don't rememba yous commin back ta da lodge tonight. Out sellin dis long?" he asked with a smirk.

"No. I was filling in for one of Medda's girls tonight. She was short one and asked me to come in." Lark replied. "The show went on longer than I thought. We did so many encores. It was great! We didn't end until after 12. I didn't want to go back to the lodge and disturb anyone who was sleeping, so I just thought I'd stayed here for a while." Jack gave a little laugh.

"You wouldn't 'ave distoibed no one. We were all awake. Storm kept everyone up."

"Oh. So you weren't the only one the rain kept up, huh?" she asked. Jack shook his head.

"Nope."

The clock in the lobby of Irving Hall rang, and echoed to the stage. Both Jack and Lark sat there, counting how many times it rang. one… two… three… Lark's eyes widened.

"Oh no! Its three already?" she exclaimed. "Great! Not only am I going to be completely sore selling the papers tomorrow, but now im going to be half asleep!" with that, she leapt off the stage where she was sitting and hurriedly went over to one of the tables to grab her jacket that she had left on it.

"I wouldn't rush yaself too much" Jack said to her as he also got off the stage and walked over to the table. He stood quite a bit taller than her. "Don't think wes gonna be sellin tomorra. Streets'll probably be flooded out." Lark slowed down her pace.

"Your probably right." she said. She then sighed. "No money tomorrow, then. Guess im not going to be eating."

"You and da rest'a us" Jack said as they both walked out to the lobby. Lark then put on her jacket and they both walked out of Irving Hall into the pouring rain.

"I think we picked a bad time to leave!" Lark yelled over the sound of the storm as she was pelted with raindrops.

"Yea! Maybe if we run, it wont be so bad!" Jack yelled back. Lark nodded and the two bolted down the road through the puddles and mud, getting completely drenched. To the left and right, they ran passed alleyways filled with orphans and homeless people trying to shelter themselves from the storm.

Unable to hear any other sounds other than the rain and thunder, the two of them did not hear the sound of a full speed horse-drawn wagon that was about to turn around the corner. Lark, being a little ahead of Jack, ran across the street before it came. As Jack was about to cross, he turned to the side to face the wagon that was coming head-on to him. His eyes widened, and he realized that the driver did not see him through the rain, and also because of the fact that his dark clothing made him blend in with the surroundings. He jumped out of the way seconds before being run over, and ended up falling back into a puddle.

Lark turned around and realized that Jack was no longer behind her. She then looked down the street and saw him in a puddle. With a slight laugh, she turned and ran back to him. When she got to him, she helped him up and laughed.

"Smooth Move, Kelly!" she said to him. Jack shook his head at her and smirked. They turned to start to run back to the lodge again, but something that was floating in the puddle caught Lark's eye.

"Jack, I think you dropped something" she said as she leaned down and picked up Jack's book that he kept in his back pocket. It had fallen out as he hit the ground.

Jack turned to see what Lark had found just as she picked it up. As she handed it over to him, his train ticket fell out and landed in the water again.

"What's that?" Lark asked with a raised eyebrow as Jack rapidly scrambled to pick it up. He then quickly shoved it into his pocket before Lark could tell what it was.

"N- Nothing! Nothing!" he said quickly. Lark gave him a don't-give-me-that-bull-Jack-Kelly-I'm-not-stupid look, but he brushed it aside and acted like nothing had happened. "C-Come on! Lets get back to the Lodge" he said. He then took off running, leaving Lark with her hands on her hips and watching him run off.