Thank you all for such nice reviews! I never expected this would get a response let alone some of the kindest feedback I've ever received! So, without further adieu, here is chapter 2, please review :D
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In this chapter: "Hey since you goils don't got no place ta go would you be int'rested in a business deal?"
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"Well what would be the gentlemanlike thing to do Mistah Rockefellah?" asked Kloppman sarcastically.
Jack smirked stretching as he staggered closer to us, "Well foist we could, uh, give 'em some pants ta where."
Shannon frowned as his gaze lingered on her bare legs for a moment, "We just wanna leave, we'll be fine!" she said in attempt to divert his gaze.
"Well where da ya gotta go doll face?" asked a boy from the crowd.
"Back ta da whore house?" mumbled another.
"Or da asylum," wondered another yet.
I suppose the shorts we had been wearing did not qualify as decent nineteenth centaury clothing, possibly not even as underwear.
"Aright, Aright!" announced old man Kloppman, "Everybody out! Carry da Bannah! Sell da papers, OUT!"
We watched as the boys took their clothes quickly and passed us, I looked to Megan who had been very quiet the whole time, uncharacteristic of her though given the predicaments, I couldn't blame her.
"It's Jack!" she whispered barely being able to contain herself, "Racetrack! Mush! Mush? Mush is here, I'm in the same room as Mush! Can you believe it, we're in the movie!"
I slapped her across the face, for once having a good reason to, "What are you talking about? This isn't good! This is bad. Very bad!"
"Ow," she replayed feeling the side of her face.
Shannon butted her head in between us, "Which one of you are in on this?"
"In on what?" I asked.
Shannon looked to her with narrowed eyes, "Spill everything you know. Now!"
Megan smiled back to her, "Don't you guys get it? It's 1899, the streets of New York are echoing with the voices of newsies, peddling the papers-"
"Shut up, stop rambling! There's no way in heaven or hell…" I half whispered half shouted.
"I'm not rambling, something must have happened, something magical to send us hear."
I frowned, "Golly, thanks for that super special assessment, I figured I just rode a unicorn here."
"Stop it Roser, Megan, are you saying that this is Newsies, I mean that crappy movie you were going to make me watch?" Shannon asked.
"It's just like the movie, Shannon. This is exactly how it starts… and it's not crappy!" I said as Megan nodded along.
She began to nod as well, "I think I know what happened, it was right after the power went out, it was so weird, everything changed after I jammed the DVD into the player…"
"What do you mean you jammed it in, it's not mine you know!" I pointed out, she rolled her eyes.
"Well maybe that's it then, maybe the DVD player gods are punishing me!" she exclaimed sarcastically.
"They. Had. Better." I threatened through my teeth.
"Shhh!" hushed Megan this time. "Either we can argue here all day or we can be apart of history, be apart of the Newsies strike!"
I quieted her as a figure walked through the door. His crutch and ever present smile immediately giving away his identity.
"Here we are goils, I found them in the old closet down the hall," the tall, skinny, boy hobble over to us with a heap of cloth stuffed under his left arm. "They're almost all poifectly new!" He unveiled to us three pairs of worn in pants, "I know they ain't suitable for ladies but dey should hold 'til yous get home."
Megan stepped forward and took the clothes from him, "Thank you very much, Crutchy, they'll hold just fine."
His face lit up, "Say, have wes met before? I figure I'dov 'membered a goil like you."
Megan shook her head, "Naw, I just heard your name before."
"Really? Gosh! You make me feel like old Pulitzer 'imself!"
Me and Shannon exchanged glances as Megan giggled.
"What's your name then, Miss?"
"I'm Megan, the one with the dark hair is Rose and the tall one is Shannon, we're from… Bronx," she lied.
"Da Bronx?" he asked with a smile, Megan nodded as I covered my face with my hand.
"Well Pleasuh ta meet ya goils, if yous need anythin' just call for me, I'sl be outside," he was about to leave when he stopped and looked back to us. "Say, just why is it none of you are wearing any pants?"
There was a long silence between the three of us before Megan began to laugh, "You know how it is, sometimes you just forget things… like pants!"
"Yeah, we were in a real rush to leave," I added trying to make Megan's excuse sound even a bit plausible.
He nodded slowly, wordlessly assuming we were crazy before hobbling out of sight. I held my breath until he left and shut the door.
"What the hell? Sometimes you just forget things?" I shouted to Megan as I leaned against the door.
"Well someone had to say something!"
"You couldn't think of something normal?"
"I didn't hear you coming up with anything smart by the way!" she pointed out.
"Well at least I wasn't the one flirting," I retorted.
"What? I was n-"
"Flirt! You are a flirt who flirts with cripples!"
This silenced her for a moment, she shrugged, "Well why not? I don't see anything wrong with it."
"It's too weird, everything about this is too weird. One of us just has to be dreaming," I said collapsing on a bed.
Shannon pointed a accusing finger at us, "Well whoever it is better wake up fast."
I looked to Megan and she glanced to me, we all knew it wasn't a dream, if it was, then it was the damnedest I'd ever come across. Shannon frowned to our silence realizing how our situation couldn't possibly be a dream.
"Well shit then." She sighed and also found herself on an unmade bed.
"Could be worse," I began, "Could have been High School Musical."
Megan laughed without humor, "I would have found a hand gun by now."
I shook my head, "So. We're here. Now what?"
"NO!" cried Shannon as she sprang to her feet, "We are not here. It's physically, mathematically, physiologically… grammatically, impossible!"
"Calm down Shannon," I said as she paced back and forth in front of where I sat, "You're not making any sense."
"Obviously we can't tell anybody where we're really from, they'll think we're insane!" she said throwing out ideas as she paced.
"Right," injected Megan, "We'll just have to go along with things for a while before we figure out exactly how to get back."
"See that's all Shannon, now put on your pants," I said having to pull her to the ground.
I looked to the garments that Crutchy had retrieved for us. They were big, dirty and anything but feminine. I wondered just how many women would dare to wear but an unraveling skirt during this time, I figured zero, if any at all.
Getting to her feet and pulling her own trousers on, Shannon made the discovery that they stopped around her ankles and had to be held up at the waist.
"Now who is it that looks ridiculous?" I laughed as she mumbled something and cuffed the pants at the bottom before removing the waist tie from her shorts to use as a makeshift belt.
Thankfully, mine and Megan's pants fit well enough without such crafty hemming.
After I had finished I looked to Megan as she walked around the room poking through various draws and unmade beds.
"What are you doing?" I finally asked.
She shrugged rummaging through a draw, "Lookin."
"For what?" Shannon questioned.
"Hello? How often is it you get to look through their stuff? Look!" she exclaimed holding up a cigar. "It's Racetrack's!"
"Don't touch that!" I exclaimed hitting it out of her hand, "Now come on, let's… leave I guess."
"Wait!" said Shannon just before we were about to exit the room, "What exactly happens after this in the movie?"
Her question stopped the both of us in our tracks, the same thought springing into both our minds. We knew everything that was about to happen. Every line we laughed at, every moment we had cheered for; it was all about to take place.
I opened my mouth in a gaping smile, not being able to contain my excitement I grabbed Megan by the shoulders, "I've gotta be either dead or dreaming!"
"Finally you're getting it!" she said with a smile that suddenly turned into a serious expression, "Wait, what if we are dead?"
"Who the hell cares, we're in Newsies!" I exclaimed before we both began to jump up and down again.
"Wait," began Shannon ceasing our celebration, "I care!"
"Don't worry Shan," I said walking to her side placing an arm around her shoulders, "there'll be plennnnty more of Jack Kelly."
She crossed her arms, "I don't know what you mean."
"You almost fell over when he looked at us," I recalled from earlier.
A smile slowly crept across her face, "I'm in too… I guess, but not for Jack, for you two."
Megan jumped up and down, "Carrying the banner, carrying the banner!" she cried.
"Now just hold on," I said as a sudden thought came to mind, "we gotta be careful here, one wrong move and it could alter the course of history… or this movie at least, still we could really mess stuff up and who knows how that will effect things!"
"So we stay in the shadows and observe, there's nothing wrong with that, it'll be like watching the movie in 3D only better!"
"No. That's not good enough. We need to stay in the shadows of the shadows, not interfere with a single person, not flirt with a single person."
Megan didn't seem to listen.
"So you didn't tell me yet, what happens after this?" Shannon questioned again. I sighed aggravated.
"I'll explain it all later, now let's go see the boys before we miss everything," I said opening the door. Just as I was about to step out, a tall figure stood in the way. I looked to his face, his piecing brown eyes starred down to me. I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing Jack Kelly in person.
"Uh, sorry, Kloppman sent me heah to walk ya goils home" he said ringing a cowboy hat in his hands.
"Walk us… home?" I repeated dazed. Thankfully Shannon stepped in.
"We don't live around here, you don't need to waste your morning selling papers or whatever it is you do."
"No please, allow me, I don't mind one bit miss," his kind words turned Shannon into a giggling mess rendering her useless.
Jack laughed, "I'll take dat as a yes?"
I nudged Shannon for her to answer him, she glanced back at me mouthing a desperate 'please' making her blue gray eyes look as sad as possible. I shook my head with my own silent 'no, no, no, no!'
"Uh… ladies?" he asked getting Shannon to look back to him, her composure suddenly reappearing.
"Yes, please escort us home… Mr. Kelly."
"Call me Jack, what may I call you?"
"Shannon," she said quickly offering him her hand.
Megan rolled her eyes to me as he took Shannon's hand, "And I'm the one you call a flirt?"
"Actually, Jack," I said cutting between the two, "She means no, you can't escort us home because, well we aren't from anywhere around here."
"Really, where do yous live den?"
We looked to each other wondering which one would spill the beans.
"What, don't tell me yous don't know how to get back?" he asked.
"That's it!" Megan exclaimed, "You're exactly right Jack, we just lack any sort of direction-"
"Or navigation skills," I added.
"We get lost just looking at a map," said Shannon not wanting to be ignored.
Jack raised an eyebrow and glanced between the three of us each presenting him a nervous grin.
"So… you don't know how to get home?"
"Nope!" we simultaneously agreed.
"Aright," he mumbled looking away from us seeming to work out some plan in his head, "Would your parents come lookin' for yous?"
We exchanged looks again, I decided I would answer in hopes for a normal response.
"All of our parents are dead."
Yeah, that was a no go on the normal.
Megan and Shannon looked to me confused, Jack creased his brow, "Sorry ta heah that, Miss. Yous are orphans then?"
We all nodded, "That's right. Orphans! All of us," I stuttered.
"Yeah!" Megan agreed, "Orphans. It's the hard knock life for us, aye Jack?"
I could only stare to Megan mortified as she made jazz hands in his face.
Jack (still utterly confused) forced himself to nod, "Right… well there are only so many orphanages in New Yawk, Is'l find which on yous are from."
"No," said Shannon, "we…" there was a brief pause as she searched fro an excuse, "we ran away," she finally stated sticking her nose in the air.
"Yes!" I repeated just as confident, "And we are certainly not going back there!"
He could only stare to us once more, he seemed to have much trouble finding his next words, "Uh… I'm sorry but I didn't catch you twos names yet."
Ah, the old changing of the subject, it works for me.
"They call me Roser," I said as he smiled and shook my hand.
"Megan, I'm her sister," she said taking his hand next.
"Pleasuh to meet you, it's Jack Kelly but I guess you've already hoid of me."
I made a mental note to not call these people by their first names.
"Right, everyone's heard of the best Manhattan Newsie!" I said nudging his arm.
He smirked to me, "Is that so?"
"Sure."
"What's it like being a Newsie?" Shannon asked inching closer to Jack's side. He looked to her frowning for a moment before the smile flickered back to his face.
"It's aright, most of da times… Hey since you goils don't got no place ta go would you be int'rested in a business deal?"
Me and Megan cocked our heads to the side, "You mean like… partners?" I asked.
"Shoar! I mean, goils willin' ta sell papes are hard ta find," he looked to Shannon, "but with a puss like yours, sellin' would be real easy."
She raised an eyebrow at Jack as me and Megan looked to eachother horrified.
"Les!" she whispered.
"David!" I said back.
