'think fast!' I thought annoyed and I looked around for something to use and I didn't have enough time I dodged him again and I saw my escape and I ran for it my shoes hitting the ground and I bolted out colliding with someone and we both tumbled to the ground and I heard the man yelling for me.
"GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE BITCH!" he roared and I panicked and the person under me grunted a bit as I struggled to get up.
"what da 'ell!" he roared at me and I looked down getting caught up in his icy and numb eyes and I noticed it was spot shit! Good first impression Amber..
"ummm I was um never mind" I said getting off of him and I held my hand to help him up and he looked at me annoyed and got up himself and I saw the key had fallen out of his shirt…so that's where it went. "sorry" I muttered and I saw a group of guys and I glared and wrinkled my nose a bit "ugly sewer stinkin thugs.." I muttered and they heard me and I gulped and spot looked at me like I was nuts.
"boys back off a kid is mine" he said and they shook their heads with brass knuckles on
"not this time spot this kid got me…and its payback.." the thug said I saw a nice bruise forming on his chin and snickered a bit.
"are you crazy?" he hissed and I shook my head pursing my lips together and the guy said something that made me act irrationally.
"she your new whore conlon? What about silver?" he asked and I glared and ran at them catching them off guard I am not a whore! I thought angrily pounding his face in and the guys grabbed me and I used my instincts and knocked my head back hearing a crunch from breaking his nose and kicked out at the guy in front of me. I attacked them all and when I was done they were all on the ground and I went back to normal and looked around me confused.
"did I do that?" I asked and he looked at me and I looked at him he started to laughed.
"hey whats your name?" he asked and I smiled at him and shrugged a bit at him.
"Amber bennet current runaway.." I said grinning at him and he nodded at me thinking it over.
"that wont do…cannon works betteh.." he said with a thick Brooklyn accent I smiled at him he was more muscular then I thought he would be and looked around my age.
"thanks…I think.." I said and he laughed a bit and shook his head at me and he gestured for me to follow him and rolled a smoke and I took out a tin…weird…and my old smokes are now rolled and I shrugged putting on in my mouth and he lit his and stopped me and lit mine. The flame light flickering on his face looked eery….okay Amber stop…
"now…how good are ya at getting peoples attention and sellin tings?" he asked and I thought about it and smirked a bit.
"pretty damn good why?" I asked exhaling the smoke and he looked at me and eyed me up circling me and I put my hand on my hip. "hey…hey were youse a vulture in another life?" I asked and he got that stupid smirk on his face and nodded his head at me.
"you will do..your good at instinct fighting but we have technique to work on..which will come later…silver is head of the girls..listen to her and us with respect things will go smoothly…now how about being one of my newsies?" he asked and I thought about it…I need this to help him and to get on his good side..
"sure" I said and he spit into his hand I first thought disgusting then ghost spots floated in my head 'when I spit in my hand or another newsie does…you spit in yours and shake hands…if you don't..well I don't think I need to tell ya that it shows disrespect..' I spit in mine and shook hands cringing at the gross feeling in my head and we pulled away and when he went ahead I wiped my hand on my pants and followed him down the alleys and sighed a bit. I put out my smoke and we ended up at the docks and a building was there.
'Brooklyn Newsies Lodge…Home of King of Brooklyn Spot Conlon' I snorted internally at his ego and I felt warm when we went inside kids gambling, smoking, drinking, fighting…I felt slightly uneasy and sighed a bit as a beautiful girl tackled spot and kissed him and he smiled at her and kissed her back as everyone hooted and hollered.
"silver baby.." he said grinning and she turned to me her black hair to her shoulders and sparkling silverfish blue eyes and a thin body with a pair of longjohns on that are dirt and a pair of black pants with suspenders over her small shoulders nice chest and she looked thin the pants are baggy on her. "dis here is cannon..newest recruit.." he said and she eyed me up and down and I crossed my arms over my chest and she looked me over and gave me a spot-conlon-is-mine-don't-touch look and I raised an eyebrow.
I shot her a I-don't-care-about-him look and she nodded at me warily and I sighed a bit and she walked over and spit in her hand and I did the same spit shaking with her and she smiled it made her wary face light up a bit.
"alright come wid me" she said in a Brooklyn/irish accent and we walked around and she told me the rules "we cook, clean, and take care of the kids along with selling…and you stay away from conlon ya hear?" she asked turning to me full of business and I smiled at her.
"I promise I am not after him Silver…he seems…too annoyed for my tastes.." I said trying to think of a word and she laughed a really annoying laugh. I smiled at her and she nodded at me and showed me the bunks and I sighed taking my vest off relaxing and setting it on my bunk apparently one of the newsgirls got married and moved out. I also sat my cap down and ran a hand through my hair and she looked at me approving and I let my suspenders hanging down.
"alright come on we have to cook dinner.." she said I nodded and followed her down as a few girls came in. One with red hair was holding hands with a tall guy with a grisly scar on his neck and she looked at him adoringly. "that's Fire…" she said I nodded and she whistled and the girl looked up and nodded coming over hyperly.
"heya…" she said grinning at me and I nodded waving at her "I like your hair.." she said touching it and I froze and silver looked stern no wonder she is with spot.
"thanks..cut it myself.." I said smiling at her she got an eager look on her face and the guy walked over his messy brown hair all over the place and sparkling green eyes looked a bit haunted but full of love.
"im Wolf.." he said I nodded and shook hands with him.
"cannon.." I said and they nodded at me and fire was begging me to cut her waist length hair and I agreed to it.
"sweet!" she said and wolf looked at me amused right now as we went into the kitchen
"you can cook right?...we cant really.." fire said I cracked my knuckles and neck
"what are you working with?" I asked and I saw chicken, beef, veggies, and noodles…I thought about it. "do you have potatoes with the carrots…green beans?" I asked and they nodded and I smiled looking through the spices. "alright…I got this…get me a pot of water..and start to boil it" I said thinking fast and I cut the meat..put seasoning in the water and I worked on the veggies showing them what to do as a sprite of a girl walked in she has short brown hair and brown eyes with tan skin.
"dinner time already?" she asked and fire smiled hyperly right now.
"yeah Cannon here is a good cook shes teaching us!" fire said and silver looked jealous and I toned it down a bit.
"hey silver do you guys have coffee?" I asked and she looked shocked and nodded at me looking deep in thought and guilty.
"yeah..want me to make some?" she asked I nodded and smiled at her I want to get in her good books too.
"yeah please" I asked and she nodded and went off to start it I put everything in and sighed and put the right temp on and the smell filled the kitchen I was feeling happy my mom taught me to cook. The coffee was almost done too. I also baked some cookies a small recipe that makes a lot of them. I grinned and wiped my forehead and looked at the brunette girl.
"im maple" she said smiling and I shook her hand and looked at the clock 30 minutes to go…thank you mom.
"nice to meet you.." I said thinking harder about how to get into spots good books…this might be harder then I thought it would be.
"so girls hows da food?" spot asked amused and i was still far off in the distance as the coffee was almost done along with everything else.
"good..cannon here knows how to use small things and make it into a huge thing…shes also making cookies and coffee she really knows how to make small rations of food be good for a whole army.." maple bragged and I still was far off thinking of my mom..my dad…my brothers…I missed them a lot..and now I am here with people who might actually care if I disappear…maybe. I guess ill have to see..
"really?.." spot sounded amused "and nothings burning…hmm maybe we will keep her.." spot joked but I ignored it as the timer went off and I shook myself out of my thoughts and I walked over grabbing tons of bowls and I started to fill them having the girls pass it to the boys in line along with mugs of coffee and a cookie each.
By the end there was enough for another round which the boys did excitedly and I ate my own bowl of soup happy how it turned out and drank my coffee and ate a cookie.
"you did good cannon" spot said next to me and I jumped a bit in shock and he grinned down at me and I smiled up at him warily.
"thanks spot.." I said softly and I chewed on the meat in thought and looked around "what do you guys want for breakfast?" I asked and he looked at me shocked and laughed a bit.
"we don't do breakfast only coffee in the morning…we get food from the nuns and lunch is on your own." He said I nodded and sighed a bit.
"I don't have money to buy papes spot.." I said looking down and he looked at me shocked and nodded a bit.
"ill spot you tomorrow and then your on your own from what you sell" he said I nodded and looked out. The kids were ushered up by the girls and silver looked antsy like she wanted to finish fast and leave…weird.
I smiled and picked up all the bowls telling the girls it was fine for me to do it and spot lingered a bit looking at me like I was a mystery. Which I guess I was I put them into the trough and pumped the water in and I started to wash the bowls and the pot and the mugs. When I was done it was late and I set them out to dry and I sighed a bit and looked down and I blew out the light and I ducked down when I heard soft footsteps coming down the stairs and I heard the door open and close.
I got up and followed out the door staying to the shadows and I followed the person down and I saw a boy and the girl I guess kissing and whispering to eachother.
"sunshine I missed you.." she whispered I went bug eyed it was silver..oh my god..
"I missed you too babyface.." he whispered kissing her again "how is the spying what is conlon up to?" he asked eagerly and she laughed that annoying laugh and I watched her stroke his chest in rhythmic circles.
"he let a new newsie in….shes nice..and beautiful…but also weird..very weird.." she said her irish brogue coming out and she talked about me. "she could help…she isn't in debt to conlon…her names cannon I don't know much else except she is a good cook…and she seems genuine….." she purred and I rolled my eyed and kept watching.
"hmmm she could be an asset….break conlons heart let them get close…let them become lovers….help it along.." sunshine said thoughtfully I bit my lip 'shit now I definitely cant get close to spot..shit..i could be used against him if that happens "but conlon isn't stupid either.." he said thoughtfully.
"hmm I could work something out.." she said purred stroking his cheek "also on top of that baby…he deserves this for cheating on me…" she said harshly and spit on the ground in anger. "she is also prettier then me…they both deserve death" silver said in a crazy voice.
'wow they deserve eachother' I thought annoyed and I narrowed my eyes in annoyance and sunshine laughed a crazy cackle and they kissed again and I turned to leave bumping into someone it was wolf and I looked up at him and he sighed and put a finger to his lips to be quiet.
I agreed and we edged away till we were at the lodging house and I let out a big sigh and looked at him he didn't look too happy.
"how long were you there?" I asked warily and he shot me a look
"I have to tell spot everything and you are going to help me.." he said looking down at me his voice is raspy but not too bad to listen to.
"no..i cant him everything.." I said shaking my head and he shot me a look and sighed a bit.
"We are tomorrow night.." he said I nodded in understanding looking at my shoes. 'damnit…'