Alright, I know this is a short chapter, but that's all I got for now, okay? Next update will be a few years into the future.
Disclaimer: Sorry for forgetting to put this in earlier, but I own nothing, 'cept my characters and my plot.
"-alright! That should do it." Said Denton, putting the finishing touches on the bandage around Lenna's head, which had started bleeding slightly on her temple from where her head had hit the sidewalk. Denton had put some sort of cream on Maxy's neck where the bruising was, and he had not liked the feel of it at all, if his squirming had been any judge. Bumlets had to hold him down, which he had found rather amusing, since he had been smiling, eyes shining. Lenna was awake now, and the two kids seemed to be inseparable. They were in the bunk rooms, where all the Newsies slept every night.
"Dat was some good fightin' ya did out dere." Said Jack, who was leaning against a bunk bed pole. He had been studying the two kids for a while now. "Where'd ya learn?" he asked quietly. Lenna and Maxy both turned to look at him, Maxy doing so with a slight wince.
"In da suburbs," Maxy replied. "-Mastah Suni taught us Tae Kwon Do, so we'd know 'ow ta fight once 'e knew we was comin' 'ere." Jack lifted an eyebrow in surprise. Tae Kwon Do? Six-year-olds? Some how that just didn't fit…
"'E was like fadah an' da mudder we nevah 'ad…" Lenna piped in. "'E loved us like we were own. 'E didn' 'ave no kids dough…nevah 'ad a wife." She said with a little humor. A few newsies snickered in the background. "'E was da one dat 'elped us get out of da orphanage." She added as an afterthought. Maxy shot her a warning glare too late. The others had heard.
"Really?" Race piped up in the corner. "'Ow'ed ya leave?" he asked, as though it was an every day question, which it probably was. Maxy sighed and shook his head, giving up the secrecy now that Lenna had blurted. He glanced over at his sister, and saw her trying to apologize with her face at him; he rolled his eyes and then smiled at her, letting her know it was alright.
"'E stole us in a way, simply put." He said. "Den 'e brought us 'ere."
"We lived in da streets foah a couple a weeks," Lenna added on. "-den some fat, bald guy in a black bowler hat caught us an' put us in dis place called da Refuge." Maxy laughed a short laugh at his sister's description of Snyder.
"'E was called Snyder, Lenna, don't'cha remembah?" He smiled, and a spark of familiarity caught in her eyes. "We 'ad a ball in dat place," he said, talking to Jack and the rest once more. They raised their eyebrows in surprise. They had fun? In the Refuge? Unthinkable. How? "We put lemonade in his shoes, potatoes in his hat, locked 'is office door an' stole 'is keys so dat 'e couldn't get in, and finnaly, we shrunk all 'is clothes and ripped da seams so dat he would feel fattah!"
The two sniggered at the memory, leaning on each other. The other Newsies were grinning by now, thinking up all the reactions that Snyder would've had to all those pranks played on him by the twin terrors.
"Once we got tired of all dat, though," Lenna added again. "-we just left. It gets boring there after awhile…" she trailed off. Another surprise for the newsies. They just left? That had never happened before.
"How did ya manage that?" Jack asked, surprised. Maxy grinned up at him remembering.
"I fell out da first floor window and into a tree," he laughed. "-and Lenna worried about me and jumped aftah me!" He laughed lightly, and Lenna rolled her eyes at his back. Apparently he had bragged about this before. The newsies all laughed, and Denton grinned.
Jack laughed, and grinning, he plopped down on the bed next to the two of them, and wrapped an arm around their shoulders.
"You two have some pretty good stuff there," he said. "How'd you like to join da Manhattan Newsies?" he asked, and the room went quiet, waiting for their answer. Every one in the room liked these kids. They looked at each other and grinned. They looked back at Jack and took in a breath.
"SURE!"
The whole room burst out laughing. They had both tackled Jack from either side, mussing us his hair. Jack just fell on the ground with the two midgets on him, laughing with the crowd, play-fighting, though gently, since they were small. Lenna poked him in the stomach, then ran off around the bunkroom, yelling gleefully: "Catch me if you can!"
Jack just laughed and tore after her, Maxy still holding on to his shoulders with a wild grin. It was a good life, being a newsie.