Seize The Day

By BekahNicole

Disclaimer: I sadly do not own anything associated with the Newsies franchise and/or Broadway. Disney owns that, and I in no way shape or form am trying to infringe on that. This is merely for fun. Of course, I do own some OC's in this which if you know the franchise, can quickly pick them out. I do appreciate feedback but not hateful criticism. With that being said, I encourage that you review my work with positive and helpful suggestions. Thank you, enjoy.

CH. 3: Learning The Trade

"Awright, let's go" said Racetrack starting to leave. "Wait, can I make sure Gabe is okay foist?" I asked before we set out for the day. He nodded and I ran back into the distribution yard. I looked around the yard until I found my brother over with some other newsies his age. I walked up to them and smiled.

"Hey Gabe, ya gonna be okay?" I asked making sure he was gonna be alright without me. He glanced around his little group of friends before answering, "Oh ya! All four a us are gonna sell tagethah! Besides, they don't sell too far from where da lodge is." I nodded before ruffling his hair. I turned on my heels and walked back to where Racetrack was still waiting for me.

Honestly, part of me was surprised he is still standing where I had left him. I walked up in front of him and waited for him to lead me to his usual spot. Neither of us said a word until we finally arrived at an entrance to Central Park. He stopped on the sidewalk and turned around to face me.

"Okay, so lemme see what youse got." I took out one of my papers and accepted his challenge. I spotted a wealthy woman walking by.

"Her?" I asked Racetrack. He nodded while grinning at me, "Go ahead" he replied signaling the woman was getting away. With my determination building up I called, "Miss."

"Loudly!" Racetrack shouted. I nodded and yelled, "Miss!" but she barely even reacted. "Buy the morning World?" She pranced by me without even a glance. Racetrack shook his head in disapproval.

"Oh yeah, well you do it den if youse so good!" I shot back. He smirked before replying, "Nah, I'm having a much bettah time watchin' youse" he teased. I huffed and tried my luck again. "Morning World!" I waved the paper over my head back and forth.

Now Racetrack was bent over laughing. I marched over towards him. "What's so funny huh?" I crossed my arms fuming. He could barely talk.

"Nothin' jus…watchin' is all" was all he could manage to get out. I shoved the paper into his hands and growled, "Go ahead, you do it den." He quieted his laughter and shook his head, "No, you try again. But think about it. What do da people wanna heah?"

I thought for a minute before giving up. "I dunno?" He smiled before handing me my paper back. "Youse da only one who can tell 'em what's in da pape. Have ya even read anything in it?" It was then that I realized I hadn't so much as opened the paper. I shook my head slowly seeing my error. He took the paper back and opened it to a page.

"Hmm, looks like a whole bunch a mosquitoes in Chicago, more den usual, it says." Racetrack seemed happy with this story. He smirked at me before yelling, "Millions, terrifyin' the humble folk a da city!"

"Okay" I nodded starting to understand. I took my paper from him and turned back towards the street that now had more people walking by. With all my courage I yelled, "Extra! Millions of demonic pests swarming Chicago! The whole city in panic!" A man with a tall black top hat walked by and sneered, "Let me see that!"

Racetrack stepped beside me and forcefully said, "A penny sir!" He scowled back at the man, who now reached into his pocket for a penny and flipped it towards me. I caught it in my hand as the man flipped to the page in the paper, and glared down at the two of us before he briskly walked away.

"I did it! I sold a paper!" I exclaimed turning towards Racetrack excitedly. He grinned as he corrected me, "A pape." I nodded while beaming with happiness. "Nice work" he said smiling at me. Slowly our smiles faded as we realized we were supposed to be mad at each other. Racetrack turned around and headed down the street a few feet before he began to hawk his own headlines into the passing crowds. 'Did we just bond fer a second?' I thought thinking about the previous exchange between the two of us. We actually smiled at each other. I'm supposed to be angry at him! Why is that anger now fading away? I am so confused. Dismissing the whole situation, I went back to selling my 29 papers.

It took me about 3 more hours to sell all of my papers. I looked over towards Racetrack and saw he still had some of his own papers to sell. I made my way over to him and sat on the curb behind where he was standing. He turned around and quickly counted what papers he had left.
"I'se only got 12 moah papes. Won't take me long now." I slowly nodded and went back to my thoughts. Time passed by quicker than I had expected it to. I was thinking about this "newsie life" and whether I was cut out for it or better off working at some factory. Before I knew it Racetrack walked over in front of me and reached his hand out. I am sensing this is going to be a reoccurring thing between us. I, however, took his hand and he lifted me to my feet easily.

"So, how'd ya sellin' go?" he asked as we started walking back to the lodge house.
"I sold all a me papes so I guess it was okay" I replied. I mean I only had 30 compared to his 60. But that's pretty decent for my very first time right? At least I think so. Regardless of what Racetrack or anyone else says I'm proud of myself for selling all of my papers on my first day as a newsie.
"Hey dats pretty good. Don't get too used ta it dough. Ya don't always got da luxury of a decent story. Sometimes, us newsies gotta improve da truth a little. Know what I mean?" he winked.

"Ya I know what ya mean. Yer talkin' bout lyin'" I replied in which he shrugged his shoulders in return.
"Well, dats one way ta put ya. It's either dat or don't sell enough papes" he stated so matter-of-fact. Well that makes sense I guess. I mean, newsies get paid a small amount to begin with. Not selling all of your papers that day could really hurt you financially. I nodded understanding where he was coming from. We walked in silence until we came to a corner where Racetrack stopped abruptly.

"Hey, I'se hungry. You wanna go ta dis place called Tibby's and get somethin' ta eat? We can split our money while we're dere." He looked sincere in asking me. Not just because he wanted to get his money, but because he was really asking me to hang out. I pondered the thought for a minute before replying with, "Shoah, I guess I could go foah somethin' ta eat." His face lit up at my acceptance and he lead me down another street not too far from where the lodging house was. We walked in together and looked around for a place to sit. Surprisingly for me, the place was crawling with Manhattan Newsies. This was probably a popular hangout spot for them all after a good day of selling.

I followed Racetrack over to a table that seated Jack, Kid Blink, I think a guy named Mush, and another guy who I hadn't seen before. They all gave their "hello's" before they made room for the two of us to sit down.
"Hey Rosabella, I don't think you and me pal David heah have met" said Jack pointing to the guy sitting next to him. I haven't seen him in the lodge house before. I guess maybe he has a family somewhere.

"Hello" I greeted sweetly. He nodded his head.
"Hi. I'm David like Jack said. And that little kid over there at that table is my brother Les" he said pointing to a table with a bunch of young newsies. I looked over at the table and saw who he was talking about. He was actually sitting next to my own brother. The two of them seemed to be in a very interesting conversation seeing as how both of their eyes were wide and their faces looked intrigued. I chuckled to myself before turning back around to face the boys at my own table.
"Ya, he's talkin' to me own brother Gabe. I think theyse gonna be best friends." He laughed good naturedly and started back into his conversation with Jack. The waiter came to our table and asked us what we wanted. "Ham sandwich please" I said smiling at the nice man. He nodded and turned to Racetrack who ordered the same. I sat there feeling awkward now. Everyone seemed to have their own conversation going on but me. I really need another girl to talk with.

"So, Rosabella, I think it's time we found youse a nickname" said Jack smiling. I looked at him confused before asking him, "Why do I'se need a nickname? What's wrong with Rosabella?"
"Nothin's wrong wid yer name. It's just like an initiation of sorts. Every newsie has one" replied David looking around the table. He was answered with a bunch of "yeah" and "he's right" from the other boys.
"Den what's yer name? Last time I checked, David was a normal name" I stated trying to prove my point I didn't need a nickname. His face scrunched into an annoyed look. Before he could answer Kid Blink blurted, "He's da Walkin' Mouth!" a chorus of laughs rang around the table from all the boys except David. I couldn't help myself and laughed along with them at the hilarious and unfortunate name. He looked like he really hated that name as he sent glares around the table at everyone laughing.
"I prefer Dave or Davey" he said sharply, punching Blink in his arm.

"Awright awright, now lets spit some ideas. What da ya think fellas?" asked Jack.
"How about Shorty?"
"Braid?"
"Belle?"
"Hazel"
"Red!"
"How bout Rose. Not jus cus her names Rosabella, but because she's pretty like a rose. But she's also got thorns like a rose. I know that well" said Racetrack grinning at how many fights he and her have had in the past two days. Not to mention the slap she gave him across the face last night.

I glared at him before thinking more about the name. Slowly it started to sound better the more she thought of it.
Most of the boys started nodding their heads and agreeing that that was a suitable name. Reluctantly, I nodded and said, "Ya, I like dat one."

Racetrack stared at me, stunned I had agreed with him on something. Jack smiled to himself, thinking that we were making progress on the whole "Racetrack and Rosabella friendship" thing. Before too long he said, "Awright, den Rose it is."
I was beaming, now feeling I was officially part of their close knit family. But then I had a thought.

"Can I name me bruddah?" The boys looked at me strangely before nodding that I could.
I looked over at Racetrack, knowing he'd understand what I was about to name Gabe. "Pockets."

The boys looked at me with funny faces not understanding the joke. I looked at Racetrack who understood the inside joke and the two of us shared a laugh together. He finally spoke up, "Dats too poyfect! He's definitely a Pockets!"
The two of us received more funny looks from the boys who were out of the loop. I finally noticed their black faces and tried to explain things.
"Me bruddah has dis habit of takin' things he thinks is interestin' to him. Dats how we met Racetrack. Me bruddah took a pocket watch from dis guy and we was runnin' from him and da bulls. I ran inta Race heah at Sheepshead Racetrack and he led us to the lodging house. I always said he's got big pockets."

It was as if the light switch was turned on for the other guys around the table. They immediately understood after I explained and they joined Racetrack and I with our laughing. After we had quieted down, the waiter came out with mine and Racetrack's food which we quickly devoured. After we had finished eating, Racetrack and I emptied our pockets of the money we made that day and equally split it down the middle. He explained that since this was my first day, he would let me off with getting equal money as him with less papers. Both of us ended up with 50 cents. Not bad for a first day. I planned on getting more papers tomorrow though, seeing as how I sold my 30 papers easily and had some time leftover to wait on Racetrack.

After, we had all finished our business at Tibby's, the group of us newsies set off for the lodging house. It was getting dark, and we were all tired from working. Once we reached the house, I went straight up the stairs and grabbed the sleep clothes Racetrack loaned me and changed into them in one of the stalls in the washroom. I let my hair down from its braid and went back into the bunk room. I saw a few other boys were now in their beds preparing to sleep. I noticed Racetrack was one of them laying down on his back with one hand tucked behind his head. As I walked by the end of his bed and called for me, "Hey Rose!" I turned around to face him, startled he wanted to talk to me for something.

I half expected him to give some wisecrack about how I sold the papers that day or about the meaning behind my nickname. Instead, he threw a hat at me. It hit me in the face before I knew it was coming and I caught it on its way down. I gave him one of my glares he's probably used to by now and glanced at the hat. It was a dark grey cabbie hat like ones I've seen most of the other boys wear. I gave Racetrack a questioning look before he gave me a reason.
"Dat is one a me older hats. It's in good shape and ya ain't a newsie widout a newsie hat"

Shocked at his sudden act of kindness, I simply give him a smile before looking back at the hat. He was right, it was in good condition Actually, you would barely know it was used before. I could tell, however, from the apparent smell of cigar smoke and ink that seemed to follow Racetrack wherever he went. "Thanks Race" I said giving him a genuine smile. He returned my thank you with one of his own smiles and then closed his eyes so he could sleep. I walked across the isle to my bed and laid my new hat on the small table beside it. I climbed into my bed and pulled the sheet over my body getting myself comfortable. I couldn't help but think back on my day and smile. I was questioning whether I thought I was cut out to be a newsie earlier that day. However, any doubt that I had earlier that day was gone. It was replaced by the new feeling of family I felt with all the boys of the lodging house.

Feeling sleep take over, I gently fell into one of the best nights of sleep I've had in a very long time.