"You're a girl?"
I froze, and opened my eyes, looking down at the end of the alley, and there, with his mouth open, eyes wide, cheeks stained pink, was Spot.
I scoffed and rolled my eyes at him, giving him a dirty gesture as I picking up my striped undershirt and tugging it over my head. "Shut your mouth Conlon, you're catching flies."
He shut his mouth, his face a dark shade of red at finding me with no shirt on, and started asking questions as I pulled on my over shirt, buttoning it up.
"What? How are you a girl?"
I chuckled darkly, despite the fear that he might rat me out to everyone who didn't know. "Do I really need to explain the birds and the bees to you?"
I tugged on my vest as he asked. "How long have you been leader of Queens?"
"Three years."
"Did you fight in the turf war?"
I blinked in surprise. He just found out I was a girl and that was the question he asked me? "Yes. I did."
"Do the boys in Queens know?"
"None of your business." I barked as I shoved my hair into the hat.
"Does that mean I'm the only one who knows?"
I didn't respond and he laughed as I walked towards him, an angry glare on my face.
He wasn't expecting it, and that was what made it so easy to just walk up and deck him in the face. He fell to the ground and I crouched, grabbing his shirt, twisting my fist in it.
"You tell anyone about me," I hissed. "I will not hesitate to make your life miserable and beat you up until you beg for mercy."
His eyes widened in fear and he tried to squirm out from under me.
"Understand?" I asked.
"Yes, geez, get off of me." He snapped.
I obliged, stepping back and letting him get up. He glanced at my blood stained side, but said no more as we turned and headed back towards the gates.
He continued glancing at my side, before I turned and demanded. "What?"
He put his hands up. "I was going to ask if you were okay."
I scoffed. "I've had worse."
He growled. "You are impossible."
"I don't remember asking your opinion." I spat at him.
He flipped me off as we turned, heading into the gates. Ladders approached me with a worried look on his face as Spot walked away.
"Are you good?"
I nodded. "All good. Spot saw me." I whispered.
"Is he going to tell anyone?" Ladders asked.
"I don't think so. I threatened him, and he seemed pretty scared."
"You resorted to threatening?"
I scoffed. "I wasn't going to beg. He thinks he's the only one who knows, so let him think he has that power over me."
Ladders nodded and changed the subject. "Clothespin got a hard hit to the head, but besides you and him, no one got hurt."
I was about to respond, but stopped as a whistle went off. My head shot up. The cops. We had to get out of here. I whistled as loud as I could and the Queens boys all turned to me. I gestured for them to follow Ladders, who took off into jog, leading the boys through the gates as the cops began coming in.
I counted quickly, making sure every one of my boys got out, and once I was satisfied, I ducked around the cops, letting them chase around the other boys. I broke into a jog, heading away with my boys. Let Brooklyn and Manhattan rot, I had other things to worry about, even if Spot tried to tell them, he had no proof.
We made it back into Queens and slowed to a walk, nobody here was going to harm us, even if we did just cause a riot in another turf.
A women approached me and asked. "Excuse me? Are you selling papers?"
I turned and looked at her. "I'm sorry ma'am," I paused, it was now or never. "We are on strike, you're going to have to look elsewhere."
"Are you coming or what?"
I looked skeptically at Spot, who stood at the door to the lodging house once again, a annoyed look on his face on once again finding himself at the door to Queens.
"Why exactly are we supposed to come to this place?"
He sighed angrily, and tugged on his hair slightly, holding his hat in his other hand. "Because, the
girl who took our picture wants to show us something, not to mention that Crutchie was taken, and Jack has vanished. For some peculiar reason that I cannot fathom, the Manhattan boys want you there too, even after you left us alone to face the cops."
I nodded slightly, mildly disinterested. "Nice speech, although I'm sure you did fine without me. Where exactly is this happening?"
"Jacobi's Diner, Manhattan, in three hours."
I gave him an impartial look. "Okay. We'll be there."
He nodded and jogged down the steps.
"Oh, and Conlon," I said. He turned back, eyebrows raised. "Send a bird next time, I'm not sure I can stomach seeing your face much more."
He flipped me off as I let out a laugh and turned, heading towards Brooklyn.
I shut the door, still chuckling to myself.
Ladders looked up at me. "You are getting a kick out of this, aren't you?"
I looked at him with a smile on my face, pulling my hat off. "Yes, I really am. How often do I get a chance to bother people other then you? Plus, it's really entertaining to watch him turn red."
Ladders gave me a bemused look. "You aren't worried about him knowing?"
I shrugged. "He has no proof. It's my word against him, plus I have all of you to back me up, he only has him. I'm not too worried."
Ladders shook his head. "Okay then. I'll back you up if worse comes to worse. What did he want?"
"There is some silly thing happening in Manhattan later, and for some reason we are supposed to attend."
Ladders raised an eyebrow, shoving his dark hair back from his eyes. "Is it worth it?"
I nodded. "Probably, if we want to continue being part of this strike."
Ladders twisted in his seat. "How are we going to play it?"
"Tough. We are still not letting them in, no matter what they want, keep it cold."
Ladders nodded. "Okay."
We walked into the diner, Ladders right behind me, followed closely by Clothespin and the few newsies from Queens I had allowed to come. The ones I trusted to keep their mouths shut, and to not get into small chatter silenced as we came in and I smirked, knowing we had made a good entrance. I nodded silently, and Ladders tilted his head toward the empty table on our left.
Together, the ten or so of us sat down, looking around. It was quiet for a bit and I looked around at the Manhattan and Brooklyn boys that were all silent, bruises on their faces. One little boys had his arm in a sling and I blinked in surprise. What was a kid that young doing at that fight yesterday?
Spot looked over at me and gave me a death glare. I smirked and stuck my tongue at him. He huffed and turned back to the boy he had been talking with, his second from earlier.
An older man walked out and began handing boys glasses of water. "Drink up boys, and don't say I never give you anything, and before you say that water is nothing, just ask a fish, in the desert."
I stared after him as a boy from Manhattan sat up and asked. "Why do old people talk?"
I chuckled slightly. "To proves they's still alive." I smirked at the boy who turned and gave me an amused look.
"Well good afternoon gentlemen!" I turned and looked at the red head who had taken our picture the other day. She had a smile on her face and was holding a paper. I looked her over. I had seen her before. I stared at her for a moment, where had it been?
"Well, get a load of these glum bums. Can these really be the same boys who made front page of the New York Sun?"
"Front page?" I asked. What was she on about?
"Well would you look? That's me!" I watched as all the boys crowded around the one boy holding the paper.
I walked towards the girl, staying cautious. I wasn't sure where I knew her from, but it bothered me.
"You got us in the papers?"
She nodded. "I don't think I've met you. Where are you from?"
"Crown, leader of Queens." I told her.
She smiled. "Pleasure to meet you."
I smiled back. "What else can you do?"
She sighed and brushed her hands on skirt. "Not much. Pulitzer has had me black-listed from every news desk in town."
That's where I knew her from. She was Pulitzer's daughter! I had seen her with her father before. I glanced around at the other newsies, who didn't seem to see anything amiss.
I knew what it was like to keep a secret, and I was not about to go ruin this girls friendship with these boys out of spite. I'd leave her be.