Chapter 9

Hello lovelies! It's a three day weekend! *hold for celebration dance* Which also means I may get more of a chance to update. I have relatives coming to town but I should be able to squeeze another chapter in there somewhere. Anyways, on with the chapter!

It had been a few hours since I had last spoken to Jack. I busied myself with teaching the younger boys, trying to squeeze in a lesson before Conlon's territory arrived. I have to admit, I was a little anxious to see Spot again, we had only actually talked for about five minutes when I first met him. The conversation between Spot and me replayed in my head. I was so into my own world, I didn't even realize one of the young lads pulling on the hem of my shirt.

"Ms. Kate, what's the matter?" Buttons asked with wide eyes, all innocent and childlike at seven years old.

"I'm just a little sad is all. People get mad at each other every once in a while, and the boys aren't very happy with me right now." I told him, giving a sad smile.

"My parents fought with each other a lot," he said thoughtfully, probably remembering a dark past that nearly all newsies had, "But we'll never get mad at you. You're the bestest teacher ever. You're so nice and you smell really good too." A toothy smile forming on his lips, and gave me as big of a hug as his small frame could muster.

"I'll always love you guys too," I told them laughing lightly, sounding like the tinkling of bells.

I heard the door creak open downstairs, and greetings being given to the visitors. The younger boys gave me a pleading look, asking permission to say hi to their friends from Brooklyn, I shook my head in approval. Spot may seem rather tough, but he was surprisingly good with kids. I now stood alone in the bunk room, playing out scenarios of what would happen if I walked downstairs. I didn't have to make up my mind, though, because I could already hear the muffled conversation of a group of people approaching where I was.

"Let me get my new deck of cards. Bought it with my winnings from Sheepshead the other day." Race told them, walking up the stairs and through the doorway. The group consisted of Race, Spot, and Blink. Race and Blink stopped dead in their tracks when they saw me standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

"Oh, hey Kate." Blink said, his voice taken off guard, but still possessed an uncaring attitude. Well, at least I now know they were still mad at me, not that that's a good thing. Meanwhile, Race ignored me altogether and was searching around his bunk for his deck of cards. Spot seemed to not even notice the tense atmosphere, and started a conversation with me.

"So my boirdies are tellin' me ya live full-time here now. Is that true?"

"Yeah. Things happened and the boys were nice enough to take me in. I'm sure glad they did cause who knows where I'd be living if they hadn't." I could hear Race scoff and Blink mutter something under his breath.

"You'll have to come to Brooklyn sometime. See where the real newsies-" Spot started, but was interrupted by Race.

"My cards aren't here! I put them right in the mattress fold by my pillow," Race said, speaking faster the angrier he got.

"Whoa, calm down buddy," Spot quelled. "Did you check beneath your bed?" Race looked at him with an impatient and very annoyed facial expression.

"I swear- if anyone stole my cards I'm gonna soak the livin' daylights outta them," he said threateningly.

"Okay, when was the last time you saw them?" Blink asked.

"Lunchtime."

"Let's think about it. Who has been up here since lunch?" Blink wondered. Both of their eyes landed on me.

"I promise I didn't touch them," I told them, putting my hands in the air as if to surrender.

"Really? Because you seem to not be tellin' all of the truth lately," Race said accusingly. This time Spot caught on to our little feud, but quickly dismissed it with a shrug.

"Found them," Spot called from Race's bunk. He was holding up the bag that held Race's newspapers.

"Must not of put them away," Race grumbled.

"No kidding," Spot added teasingly, rolling his eyes. "Let's go play poker. Ya comin' Kate?" he asked. I protested but Spot quickly stopped me. "I wasn't really askin'"

A few of the Brooklyn boys noticed the shorter temper of Manhattan, but it didn't really affect the overall mood. That is, until Spot told them I would playing too.

"No!" Jack shouted, jumping out of his seat.

"Why not?" Spot asked in confusion.

"Jack, I understand you're mad, but I am so sick of the way you guys are treating me. It happened eight years ago. Let it go!" I yelled, releasing my frustrations.

"Ugh, your just an arrogant and stuck up bitch. Why don't you just go back to the orphanage where you came from, or better yet why don't I just go and turn you in to Mr. Dunnigan myself?!" Jack yelled in reply. Jack came up to me, and out of pure rage, shoved me into the wall. It went silent - dead silent, which is saying a lot to be able to shut up a room filled with some of New York's loudest residents. I held back tears that were gathering in my eyes, and clamped my mouth shut so hard I could begin to felt the copper taste of blood. Now was not the time to let my emotions get the worst of me. But then again, they probably already had. Spot held a look of bewilderment, incredulous at the event that just took place.

"I don't know what is going on with you guys, but you need to fix it," Spot demanded, his leader instincts kicking in, "I didn't come here to get in the middle of whatever this is."

I didn't wait to hear what Jack had to say, I ran out of the room as fast as my body could carry me and shut the door with a bang. I really didn't want to see Jack's face. I mean, he hit me, and I was supposed to just accept an apology. Plus, I wasn't sure how much longer I could hold back the tears. And to just my luck, it was pouring outside. I knew I shouldn't go far in the dark, so I made my way to the side of the building and ran up the fire escape. About halfway, I collapsed onto the cold stairs and began full-out sobbing. What had I done to screw all of this up? Why does everything happy in my life end up in sadness and frustration?

"Why did the newsie climb through the window?" A voice said, talking louder over the rain so I could hear his version of "why did the chicken cross the road?"

"What?" I said completely lost at the owner of the voice's random question. The boy looked to be my age. He was very different from Julian though, more of a lighter complexion, with curly brown hair, and dimples to match. But somehow he gave off a very charming aura.

"To get to the beautiful girl, who is even more beautiful when she's not crying and completely drenched from this rain." He said cheekily. I laughed at his lame attempt of a joke.

"Aww, there's that pretty smile," he cooed.

"You must be from Brooklyn. You act like it too." I added.

"Yep, the sexiest bastards around. By the way, I'm Cryptic, Spot's third-in-line." He told me, proud of the fact that someday he might be the leader of Brooklyn.

"Neat." I said, granted I didn't sound like I was very interested.

"Very neat," He corrected me.

"You're a bit full of yourself aren't you," I told him.

"Why don't you find out for yourself what I'm really like? I'll pick you up at 7 sharp on Saturday. What do ya say?" He offered. I thought about it for a moment and decided I should probably get out some. The boy seemed nice enough, he did make me feel better after all.

"Sure, but where will we be going?"

"It'll be a surprise," He told me before leaving when he heard shouts of his name from inside the lodging house. I peered through the window to see Spot saying goodbye to everyone. I sighed and waited till I knew the Brooklyn boys were further down the street. I then made my descent down the stairs. I was about to enter the lodge when I saw the back of a middle-aged man at the front desk interrogating Kloppman through the window. It must have been the housing official coming in for an inspection. I held my ear to the door, desperately trying to listen in to their conversation.

"There have been various reports coming in of a girl staying at this lodging house. I hope you do know Mr. Kloppman that it is a violation of your contract with the state to house any gender other than males with an occupation of being a newsboy," The man told Kloppman gruffly.

"I can assure you we are not housing any girls here at this time," Kloppman informed him.

"Please note that if you are ever caught housing a girl, this facility will be shut down. And if you're really saying the truth, I am sure you won't mind me having a look around," The man proposed. Kloppman got up from his seat with a grunt and guided the man to the numerous rooms throughout the battered-down complex.

Specs saw me through the window and motioned for me to get away from here. I guess the only other alternative would be to spend the night in the alley next door. I could go to Medda's, but it is too far from here at this time of night. I settled underneath the part of the roof that hung over the ground, so I wouldn't be constantly getting rained on all night long. I ended up falling asleep in the fetal position.

I know the pace of this story has been rather slow, but it should pick up after the next chapter. Feel free to comment or PM with any suggestions you have. Thanks for reading!