Hey guys! It hasn't been to long, has it?

Anyway, sorry if this chapter isn't to good. I've been waking up in the middle of the night throughout last week and I had a really busy day today so I've been a little tired. I'll do my best to make this good for you all!

If anyone has a fanfic of their own that they would like me to read just comment it! I would LOVE to read all of your guy's work!

Thank you for all the reviews! they all put a smile on my face:)

Review and Read On!

- Emily

Braid woke up earlier than usual the next morning. Groaning, she rolled over across the bed...only to fall of and land with a loud thump! Sighing, she picked herself up from off of the floor and walked into the washroom. She quickly scrubbed her face and untangled her hair through her fingers. Well, at least she tried to. It seemed to be one of those days where no matter how hard you try your hair just doesn't want to corporate. She decided to throw it into a low messy bun instead.

Braid stepped outside the door and only to run face to face into Kloppman.

"Braid! Nice to see you up and ready this morning!" He said, smiling at her. She gave him a smile back.

"Morning, Kloppman. I woke up earlier today." She said.

"Well, at least I can trust you to get moving," He said, then tuned his voice down to a whisper. "That cannot say about the boys." He finished, giving her a wink. Braid laughed as Kloppman walked into the boys bunk room.

Ten minutes later the boys were ready and filing out of the lodging house. Braid, as usual, stuck by Mush and Race. Race didn't mention a word about what had happened that night, to which she was thankful for. He was still the carless goofball he was every morning.

"So, you think the headlines will be good today?" Mush asked, spiking up conversation. Race laughed.

"Headlines don't sell papes! Newsies sell papes!' He said, throwing a fist in the air. Mush rolled his eyes and looked at Braid.

"What about you?" He asked. She shrugged.

"Please, the headlines are never good. Those scabs wouldn't know a good headline if it fell out of the sky and hit them in the head." The trio stepped up to the desk.

"40 papes, please." Braid said.

"Well, would you look at that:

Man Claims The Sky is Falling" She laughed.

"What?" Race asked, walking up beside her.

"Check page three. A man claims that a piece of sky fell and hit him in the head."

"Dang, what are you? A psychic?" Mush teased, playfully elbowing her on the arm. She laughed.

Maybe. Now shut up, we have selling to do." She said, pulling them back to seriousness.

By noon she had sold all of her papes and had even earned a few tips from gullible customers. But hey, when you play the My daddy will make me sleep on the streets with the rats if I don't sell my papes card what do you expect?

Race and Mush had already taken off to Tibby's. They had asked her to go, of course, but she told them she had some business to take care of. First, though, she had to find Jack.

"Jack!" She called out, turning the corner of a street.

"Looking for me?" A voice asked. Braid jumped and quickly turned around, her face instantly turning bright red.

"Relax, it's me. What do you want?" Jack asked, crossing his arms. Braid cracked her fingers.

"Um, I was wondering if, um, I could go visit an old friend today? He, um, is in the city for a few days and, er, yeah." She said, stumbling over her words. She could have slapped herself in the face right there and then. Jack stared at her for a minute, then smiled.

"Sure, kid. Have fun." He ruffled the top of her cap and walked passed her in the direction of Tibby's. :Letting out a sigh of relief, she took of down the road toward Queens.

Braid pounded on the Lodging House door. It was opened by an older newsie Braid hadn't known very well. He had jet black hair and dazzling green eyes. His skin appeared to be kissed by the sun, meaning that it was so tan that it looked like he had fell asleep on the beach. Braid didn't know much about his, but she did remember that he was known to be funny and easy-going.

"Whisk? What's new?" He asked.

"Um, hi Surfer. Is High-Brow or Scrunch here?" She asked, looking behind him into the front room. Surfer nodded.

"Yeah, they are both upstairs talking to Fly." He stood aside so that she could come into the house. Braid glanced up the stairs.

"Oh great." She mumbled. The stairs creaked from under her as she made her way up. The closer she got to the top, the more clear the voice's of the two leaders were. By the sounds of it, they were not in a good mood.

Just my luck. Braid thought as she stood outside the door. The knocked softly on the door and stepped back, waiting for it to be opened. The room got silent in an instant as the door finally crept open. She stepped in and shut it behind her.

"Whisk." High-Brow said sharply. She knew that she was in trouble.

"Um..." She started, but High-Brow cut her off.

"You've got some explaining to do, Whisk. Fly tells me you're hiding something." He snapped at her. Braid quickly shot a glare at Fly, who was staring at the ground in the corner.

"About what?" She asked, sounding confused. High-Brow slammed his fist on the desk and jumped up.

"ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING OVER THERE IN MANHATTAN. WE TOLD YOU TO COME BACK AND REPORT EVERY NIGHT AND YOU HAVEN'T! THE, WE FIND OUT FLY WENT TO SEE YOU AND YOU WERE HIDING SOMETHING FROM HIM?" He yelled, causing Braid to flinch back slightly. Although she had never been subjected under High-Brow's rage, she had witnessed a few newsies get a black eye or a missing tooth due to him.

Scrunch walked over and put a hand on her arm.

"Whisk, we went you over there to spy. We need to know what's going on at every second to win this war." He said.

"I understand that, but nothing has really happened worth telling!" She defended herself.

"Really? Nothing has happened?" High-Brow demanded, his tone harsh.

"Only the other day! Jack and Spot had a meeting with Jig and Robber at Medda's." She said. High-Bro paused, letting it soak in. Slowly, he sat back down.

"That means they are teaming up with Staten Island too." Scrunch said, thinking out loud.

"Thank you, Scrucnh, for pointing out the obvious." High-Brow said. rubbing his hands over each other.

"Fine, let them have those boroughs. I'll talk to some of the street gangs around this area and see if they will help us out." High-Brow said, writing things down. Braid cleared her throat awkwardly.

"So...can I go?" She asked. High-Brow chucked.

"Not a chance. We still have an incident to go over. All of you, sit down." He demanded. Fly took the chair on the left side of his desk, Scrunch sat on the right side, leaving the middle chair open for Braid. Once they all sat down, High-Brow looked up.

"Now, last night Fly came in saying you had a bruise on our eye. We didn't think much about it, considering a bruise isn't much. However, he said you seemed nervous when he asked about it and wouldn't tell him how you got it. So, this time I am going to ask as your leader. How did you get the bruise?" He asked. Braid let out a laugh.

"Seriously? It's just a bruise! It's mostly faded! Why is everyone making such a big deal out of this?" She asked. High-Brow glared at her.

"Whisk, answer the question."

"It's non of your business." She said firmly. The last thing she wanted was to give Queens a reason to attack Brooklyn. It wasn't like she didn't want her borough to win the war, she just didn't want them to make a rash decision and attack before they were ready.

"You are my newsie, it is my business. Now, stop acting ridiculous." High-Brow said.

"I'm not acting ridiculous! You're the one who is obsessing about things that aren't important when you have a freaking war to take care of!" Braid fired back. High-Brow stood up.

"I KNEW YOU WOULD BETRAY US!" He yelled. Braid stood up as well.

"I DID NOT! DIDN'T I JUST TELL YOU ABOUT A MEETING?" She yelled back.

"THEN TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED!" By now the veins in his forehead were ready to burst.

"SPOT HIT ME!" She yelled, but then quickly covered her mouth with her hands. The room was still in stunned silence.

"Spot...he hit you?" Fly asked, looking up at her. Braid kept her hands over her mouth, her eyes now wide with realization of what she just said.

"Whisk-" Scrunch started, but he was cut off by Braid.

"It's...it's n-not what you think. J-Jig said he didn't trust me. S-So Spot hit me to prove a point."

"Yeah? And what point was that?" High-Brow asked.

"To try to convince Jig that I wasn't a spy. See? it's no big deal-"

"Yes, Whisk, it is a big deal! He attacked one of my newsies!"

"But he thinks I'm Jack's newsie now!" She protested.

"It doesn't matter! He hit a girl!" Fly said.

"I can take care of myself, and you know that Fly!" Braid said, trying to calm the boys down. She could practically feel the tension in the room.

"That's it, we are going to show Spot not to mess with us." High- Brow said, starting for the door. Braid jumped in front of him.

"No! No, you can't! Not only will it make you look stupid, it will blow my cover. Is that what you want?" She challenged him. He locked eyes with her. After seeing the determined look on her face, he sighed.

"Fine. We won't attack Brooklyn." He said.

"No rash decisions?" She asked.

"None." High-Brow told her. She sighed.

"So, can I go now?" She asked. high-Brow nodded and she ran out the door like a lightning bolt.

"High-Brow, you seriously aren't going to let Spot get away with this, are you?" Fly asked. High-Brow sat back down at his desk and started to write angrily with pencil.

"No, we aren't. I want a message to be sent to Spot. Fly, you and Bulk go and soak one of the Brooklyn newsies. I don't care which one, just make sure Spot get's the message." High-Brow ordered. Fly stood up.

"When?" He asked. High-Brow looked up.

"Now."

I hope that wasn't to bad. I feel like I am making Braid/Whisk to weak. Am I? She has such a complicated personality it get's a little hard to get it to mash just right. So, you tell me. What do you think about her? Also, just to clarify, she didn't want to tell them about the bruise because she feared that it would only anger the boys enough to make a rash decision and blow the entire war. Does that make sense? Cool.

Haha, thanks for reading! Review please:)

- Emily