CHAPTER 6:

When they left the restaurant, she couldn't help but yell at Spot.

"What the hell was that about?" She was furious.

"What do you mean, DeCardo?"

"I thought we were past the whole Kid Blink date thing. Why did you have to be such a jerk back there?"

"Hey, I said I was sorry for hitting you. I never said you could still go with him. Do you want me to take back my apology, because I have no problem with that?"

Alyssa was speechless. He was unbelievable. She thought for a second.

If I pretend to break my date with Blink, Spot will let me go without a problem. There will be so many people there, he'll never see me if I just go around with Kid Blink. He'll probably be drunk, anyway, so he'll never know what happened that night. It's perfect.

She finally looked at him and said,

"Fine, I'll tell Blink that I'm not going to be his date. But when we go, you can't be a jerk to me all night. Deal?"

"First of all, I make the deals around here. Second, I won't even go near you when we're there. But I'm glad you realized that you better start listening to me, or you're gonna get yourself into trouble you don't want." They were at the lodging house now.

"Whatever you say, Conlon." She said and stomped upstairs. She could hear him on her way up saying,

"Exactly."

Saturday came up quickly, since the next day she tried to stay away from Spot. She sold her papers on her own, and did quite well. Alyssa had to fight back the urge to tell Spot that she sold 50 papers all by herself. She just wanted to keep him quiet at least until after Saturday night. She spent her free time making friends with some of the Brooklyn boys in the lodging house. A few of them were really sweet, which surprised her considering the asshole they had to deal with. It was a little obvious that some of them had a crush on her, but she dealt with it since she was the only girl they had time to talk to and live with.

When Saturday came, they had to leave early in the morning to go to Manhattan, since Spot and Jack had some business to take care of. On the way there, she talked to one of her new friends, Handsome. His name was no coincidence; he was very cute and had short brown hair and big chocolate brown eyes and a very nice body. When you looked at him, he let off a vibe that made you want to hug him, for some reason or other. Just to be in his arms. But Alyssa had too many boys to worry about at the moment.

"You know, Alyssa, you've taken Brooklyn by storm. Everyone knows who you are and you're the talk of the town for all the newsies." He told her.

"I guess that makes me 'news for the newsies'." She said, and they both laughed.

"I have never met a girl like you. No girl ever acts they way you do around Spot. You'd never believe it, but most girls fall over themselves for him. He's used to having a girl in his room every night, and it's never a problem. The girls just love his power, and he has this effect on all of 'em."

"Really? I can't see that," she lied. Even Alyssa knew the power of those baby-blues. His eyes could move mountains, or change the weather, she was convinced.

"Well, what's really a shocker for us guys is that he hasn't had a girl at the place for about 4 days. You know what was different that happened 4 days ago?"

She was quiet.

"You showed up." Alyssa still didn't know what to make of this. There was no way Spot liked her at all, she was sure of that. It was probably because he spent so much time trying to annoy her, he didn't have time to sleep with any girls. Wait, what was she saying? She barely saw him yesterday; he had time to do anything he wanted, so why didn't he try to get any girls? Handsome continued.

"Look, I don't know if it means anything, but I think he feels something else for you. I can't tell if it's good or bad yet, but it's something he doesn't know how to deal with. And Spot is known to lash out when he can't deal with something, so just keep standing up for yourself, and don't let him change how amazing you are." He blushed a little, but she stepped in.

"I don't think it's anything good; I mean he's always such a jerk to me."

"Yeah, but that's just how he shows his emotions…"

"Well, I don't know anything about that. But, I was kind of wondering, do you know if he was near Manhattan about 5 days ago?"

"5 days? Hmmm. Yeah, actually, he went up there for the day to see Jack about something. A favor he needed, I think. It's funny you mention that night. Ya see, he usually goes in the morning and comes back between lunch and dinner time. But that night, he didn't get in until close to midnight, and he seemed pretty shook up about something."

"Did he say anything about that?" Alyssa was finally going to get the truth about the night he saved her.

"As a matter of fact…" He didn't get to finish, because they had reached the Manhattan lodging house.

Jack came over to them immediately, and spit shook with Spot. But then he came over and kissed Alyssa on the hand.

"Always a pleasure, Miss Alyssa." He said.

"Great, she's here, you're here, and I'm here. Let's move on, Jacky," said Spot. "I thought I came here for business."

"You're right. I'll see you later, Alyssa." He winked at her, and she smiled back.

When they were gone, she went to look for Blink. Instead, she ran into Mush.

"Hey, Alyssa! It's great to see you!" He said and pulled her into a hug.

"You too, Mush! You have no idea how great it is to be here, where I'm not questioned and yelled at for everything I do."

"Eh, that's just Spot. I warned you, didn't I?"

"You definitely did. I admit I did think about coming to you for help a few times, but I thought Spot would never let me forget that."

"Hey," he smiled warmly. "The offer still stands." He squeezed her hand and then left. She found Kid Blink upstairs, shining his shoes for that night.

"Heya, Alyssa. I can't wait for tonight!" She felt really bad, knowing that she had to explain her deal with Spot to him and her secret plan. She hoped he'd understand…

"Yeah, me too. But I have to talk to you about something."

She gave him the basic story, leaving out most of her rivalry with Spot. She didn't want everyone there to know he was giving her a lot of trouble, since it would only cause more. Alyssa explained that he was really giving her orders, and she didn't want to upset the guy who was letting her live in his lodging house, since she had no where else to go. She promised Blink that it would be like she never made this deal tonight. She'd be his date and they would have a great time. When she was finished telling him she secretly crossed her fingers, hoping he'd take it well. After a moment, he smiled.

"Of course I understand!" She stopped holding her breath and was relieved.

"I can't even believe he didn't scare you enough to make you actually break our date. I know Spot can be pretty intimidating, and most girls would have dumped me, no questions asked. I can't believe you would lie to Spot and go behind his back for me, even though he could be pretty tough on ya if he found out. That's real brave of you." He smiled.

"You know, you're pretty great, Blink." She said, and kissed him on the cheek. His face turned bright red and he said,

"Don't you worry about anything, Alyssa. Tonight, you get to have a good time and I'll make sure you don't have to bother with him. We're gonna have a great time. And if he does come around, I'll help act like I'm upset that you dumped me."

"You're the best! I'm really glad I'm going with you tonight." She said.

She honestly was excited for tonight, so much that she had butterflies in her stomach. She didn't see Spot or Jack all day, since they were working on something together. She spent most of the day preparing for that night. She used some of her earnings to buy a cute outfit. Everyone was wearing their nicer clothes: even Spot was wearing his "special" blue shirt, and shined his cane a little. (not a sexual reference ;] ) Alyssa couldn't afford a big, beautiful dress like most of the girls wore. She only had money from two days of selling, so she managed to buy a tight red dress with small fringes hanging off the bottom of it. It came down to her knees, and she wore red heels. At about 5 o'clock, everyone began to get ready. She found some wet rags that she twisted her hair around to curl it a bit. This took a little while, so she had to hurry getting dressed.

When she came down the stairs to meet the boys, they were all waiting for her. They were all talking, but the room went silent when she came in. Some of the boys smiled, helplessly when they saw her. Kid Blink looked blown away, Jack pretended to step back in shock, and Mush gave her a wink. Even Spot stared at her with his incredible eyes, but they didn't look mean or overpowering. He looked honestly impressed and amazed.

He realized she was watching him, and snapped out of it, saying,

"You took long enough, DeCardo. We're gonna be late because of you."

She shook her head and stepped off the stairs. On the way out the door, Kid Blink squeezed her hand and gave her a quick smile. She smiled back, and then walked a bit away from him. They began to walk to Medda's. Jack put his arm around her and said,

"Boys, we will be at this event with the prettiest girl in the city. EVERYONE'S gonna be jealous of us!" He gave her a one armed hug, and then jumped up in front of the boys with Spot. Handsome came up behind Alyssa and whispered in her ear,

"You look beautiful tonight." He smiled, and then moved back. She was flattered. Mush came over and nudged her.

"I heard about the Blink plan, and I'll help you out. Do you mind if I walk with you?"

"Not at all." In fact, she relaxed a little. She trusted Mush. They walked together, close to the head of the group. Spot and Jack were at the front of all of them. She couldn't help but notice that every now and then, Spot would turn his head to look at all of them, but his eyes would always linger on her for a few extra moments. She pretended not to see this, but it made her think about what Handsome had said about his feelings for her. Speaking of that conversation…she never heard what Spot may have said about the night he saved her. She'd have to find Handsome later and find out. It could tell her more about what Spot really thought about her.

Looking around at Spot, Mush, Jack, Blink, and Handsome, she smiled and thought:

This is going to be a hell of a night.

It took longer than I expected but here it is! I actually love this chapter, and I'm hoping the next one is going to be incredible. I should have it up really soon, like even today maybe! Thanks for the great reviews and keep it up! It keeps me going!

Thanks guys!

-Spunkyy7