I was shaken awake by a loud, "Wake the hell up!"

I sat straight up and screamed. Jack was already awake.

"Race!" Jack screamed. "How the hell did you get in here?"

"Open door." Racetrack laughed.

"Get out of my room." Jack said sternly.

Race walked out of the room laughing so hard he could barely stand.

"Lovely way to wake up in the morning... He scared the shit out of me." I mumbled.

Jack laughed, "You said it. Ready to sell papers today?"

"Yeah."

"You can't wear the cloths your used to wearing." Jack said.

"Why?" I asked.

"You'll sell more papers. You can wear some of my cloths, if that's what you want."

"Sure, I don't have a problem with it."

I felt a little stupid, idiotic and out of place. I felt like such a dumb ass asking why I should I wear my usual clothing. But I shoved that out of my mind. Why think about it? I didn't need to. I'd be one of the newsies before I knew it.

He nodded and picked out a shirt and some pants for me from a pile in the corner.

"Thanks." I said.

"Faith'll teach you how to sell today. I'm sure you'll get used to it quick."

I blushed and looked down. He brushed my cheek.

"I love you."He whispered.

"I love you too."

He smiled, "Alright, I'll let you get dressed."

He kissed my lips and walked out of the room closing the door behind him. I changed out of Jacks cloths and got into his other cloths. I smiled because I'd just realized... No more corsets!

"I'm done Jack." I called.

Jack walked up to me and wrapped his arms around me.

"Looking stunning as always." He kissed my cheek.

"Handsome as always."

"Ready for your first day on the job?" Jack asked.

"You know it."

He nudged me lightly, "Alright lets head to the newspaper stand."

I smiled at him.

Jack and I walked to the news stand. Faith was there. She walked over to us.

"Hey, ready to sell?" She asked me.

"Yeah."

"Alright. Jack we'll see you after we finish selling, okay?"

He nodded his head and kissed me goodbye. Instantly she started talking about papers, how to sell them, how many I should buy.

"I usually by about fifty papers. Some buy one hundred, but for me fifty is easier to sell." She explained.

I nodded trying to take in all of the information she continued saying. We bought fifty papers each. The man in the stand gave me a huge bundle of newspapers which I could barely carry.

"So your going to need a selling spot..." She paused to think. "Well you're going to want to stay far away from your old apartment."

"We're pretty far."

"How far?"

I shrugged. How would I know? How many yards or miles are you from your old house?

"Well than we go farther." She declared.

She grabbed my wrist and pulled me through crowded city streets. It was so difficult to carry those damn papers! We pushed past people until Faith finally called out, "This seems like a good place."

She inspected the street.

"Yes, defiantly a good place. You're lucky, we've got a good headline."Faith said.

The headline read: Man Burned to Death in Queens.

"That horrible!" I exclaimed.

"It's wonderful." Faith smiled.

I glared at her. Faith just shrugged, "It sells. I thought Jack said you know good headlines."

She nudged me and winked.

"Just watch what I do and repeat." She told me.

She took out newspaper out of the bundle and held it up high.

"Extra! Extra! Read all about it, man burned to death!" She screamed.

In an instant a few people stopped and turned their heads. They each brought a newspaper.

"You try now." She said.
I took one paper out of the bundle raised my arm and shouted,"Extra! Extra! Read all about it, man burns to death in Queens!"

Four people stopped and bought newspapers from me. I smiled proudly. It was nice to be able to do something on my own. I'd never really done anything on my own or been able to do something on my own. I'd never been able to. I was free. I was on my own.

"Alright now keep shouting that headline."

I did. Eventually Faith and I sold all of my newspapers. Faith also taught me how to trick people out of their money. She said I was pretty good at that. She told me how to "play sick".

"Hey Faith," I asked. "what was your worst day on the job?"

"Why do you ask?"

I shrugged, "Just curious."

"Some guy came up to me stole all my earnings. Barely had enough to pay for dinner. Lucky me though I was seven and still cute enough to beg." She gave me a fake smile.

"Well isn't that nice?" I said sarcastically.

"Yes, yes it was."

I figured I'd make nice talk. I'd need to be a newsie and that means I'd needed to know the rest of them. We started walking back to the boarding house. Faith pulled a cigarette out of her shirt pocket, she lit it with a match and put it in her mouth.

"You want one?" Faith asked gesturing to the cigarette in her mouth.

"I don't smoke." I said instinctively.

She nodded. Suddenly I realized I didn't have to be "lady like" anymore!

"Actually," I said. "I'll have one."

She looked a bit surprised.

"Alright."

She took a cigarette and match out of her pocket. Then she handed it to me. I lit the cigarette and put it in my mouth. In a second I started hacking.

"Fist time?" Faith asked.

"No... Second." I mumbled.

She smirked.

"Just trow it on the ground, for your own good." She joked.

I blushed from embarrassment. I dropped the cigarette on the ground and stepped on it to put it out. We continued walking.

"Race and I are going to Tibby's tonight. You want to come?" She asked.

"Sure, I'd love to."

She smiled, "Good to hear."

We finally reached the boarding house.

"Hey, you guys!" Race shouted from the fire escape. "Get inside, we've been waiting!"

He crawled inside the boarding house yelling, "They came back!"

"We're the last one's back." Faith muttered.

"How do you know?"

"Race is... excited."

Faith walked inside and I followed. Jack greeted me with a hug at the door.

"I was waiting for you." He whispered in my ear.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

He laughed bit.

"I got invited to Tibby's with Racetrack and Faith."I said.

"Thats great!"

I smiled, "And I sold all my papers today."

"I'm so proud of you."He kissed my neck.

"Hey, you guys want to stop... that and come up stairs." We heard.

Racetrack stood on the stairs.

"We're coming." Jack mumbled.

"We should head upstairs." I said.

"Alright. Come on."