It was just another day at the races for Racetrack and Spice, they had headed out to their usual selling spot just after Cowboy and David made their deal and were now fighting their way through the crowds hawking headlines as they went.

Spice cringed as yet another person elbowed her in the side as they attempted to see how the current race was going, she never quite understood why Race seemed to love this place so much. To her it was just an obnoxiously loud place where people went to waste their money; it smelled of sweat and horses and always made her feel grimy afterwards. Truthfully she hated it at the races and only ever went because it was Racetracks favorite place in New York City, its only redeeming factor was that the horses were beautiful. Sometimes she would sneak into the stables after she was done selling and just stare at the majestic creatures, they were so large and powerful yet they managed to be more graceful than she could ever hope to be.

Spice sold her last paper at around eleven and was about to head off to find Race when she felt an arm wind around her waist, she looked back expecting to see Races smiling face, it wasn't her friend. Behind her stood a rather scruffy looking man who appeared to be in his early twenties, he had yellow rotting teeth, greasy hair, and his clothes were rumpled as if he had been wearing them for days.

"Hey sugar, why don't you come with me and we can have a little fun." His voice was just as sleazy as the rest of him and it took Spice everything she had not to gag, he was one of the most disgusting people she had ever been around.

"My names not Sugar, and thanks but no thanks." She started to worm her way out of his grasp but he simply tightened his hold pulling her into his chest.

"Aw come on sweetheart, I promise I'll show you a good time."

Spice started to panic, she knew what came next and there was no way she wanted to end up like all of the other rape victims that she had read about in the newspapers. Just as she was about to start yelling for help she heard a familiar voice from somewhere behind her.

"I's don't think the lady wants ta go with ya, so why don't ya let 'er go and we's won't have no trouble, yeah?"

She let out an audible sigh as the scum bucket let her go and she was free to run into Race's arms, she had probably never been so grateful that her best friend was a rough and tumble newsie. When she was younger she had often been teased for having mainly male friends and it had made her extremely insecure, looking back she realized that the other girls had simply been jealous. Now that she was older she knew that their taunting had been petty and that she had had nothing to be embarrassed about, in fact, she was proud of who she was friends with; they made sure that she was safe and taken care of, which was more than she could say about the other girls "friends".

"Are you okay Spice, I's is sorry I left ya all alone. I went to go check on ta race and when I's looked back you's were gone. I tried ta find ya as quick as I could I swear!"

Spice didn't respond verbally, nodding instead. She didn't trust her voice not to betray just how frightened she had actually been, so to avoid further questions she buried her face into Race's chest and clung to him for dear life instead. He seemed to understand that she didn't want to talk about it so he wrapped his arm around his her shoulders and led her to the front of the crowd where they could see the races perfectly.

They stopped by Tibbys for a late lunch before spending the rest of their afternoon walking around Manhattan, to make up for what happened at the track's Race took her to the park where they played card games in the shade of the trees until night fell. When it got too dark for them to see their cards they simply laid back in the grass and stared up at the stars, before Spice knew it she found herself drifting off to sleep; She rolled over and rested her head on Race's shoulder quickly falling into a deep sleep.

Race looked down at her and smiled at his sleeping friend, she always seemed so young when she was asleep, her expression innocent and free of worry. He didn't let on but the incident that had occurred earlier that day had deeply shaken him, he had never thought of the races as a dangerous place for Spice to be but today had been a harsh wakeup call. She was growing up and it would seem that men were starting to take notice, part of him wanted to tell her that she wasn't allowed to come with him to Sheep's Head anymore but knew that she would never agree to it; even if he tried to keep her away she would find a way to follow him.

The two of them laid there under the stars for about an hour and they probably would have spent the entire night there if it weren't for the rain. Race looked up as he felt the first few drops hit his face before looking down at Spice, the rain didn't seem to bother his companion and he was sore pressed to just ignore it. Unfortunately the weather seemed to have other plans, as more and more drops started to fall Race realized that if the two of them didn't leave the park soon they would get soaked to the bone and run the risk of getting sick; and being sick was like a death sentence for newsies, seeing as how it meant they couldn't sell papers.

Race leaned over and shook Spices shoulder getting up as soon as she moved her head. He held out his hand and hauled her up before leading her out of the park quickly; they ran for a while before stopping under one of the overhangs of a nearby shop and it quickly became apparent to Racetrack that his friend wasn't going to make it all the way home. Spice's eyes were drooping and her posture was slumped, he rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh before stepping in front of her and hunching down.

"Hop on Spice, if ya expect to get back to the lodging house before the end of the week we're gonna need ta pick the pace."

While Spice usually would have pitched a fit about being able to walk herself she found that she was just too tired to care, the excitement of the days previous events had left her exhausted and she wanted nothing more than to climb into her nice warm bed and sleep. So she climbed onto his back without a single complaint and within minutes was fast asleep. They reached the lodging house at the same time Jack did and he nodded at Race as he walked up.

"Hey Race."

"Hey Jack."

"How was your day at the track?"

"Remember that hot tip I told you about? Nobody told the horse."

Jack laughed at Race's joke before looking down at Spice.

"Seems she wore herself out huh? Here let me take her your back must be killing you."

Race was about to protest, Spice was actually quite light, but Jack had already slipped her off his back and into his arms. He watched as the older boy carried her up the stairs before following. Truth be told, he had no idea if the horse he bet on had won or not; he had been so concerned about Spice that he had totally forgotten about it, and now he couldn't care less. To him the fact that he was able to get to Spice before something bad could happen to her was good enough for him.

The next day Spice, Race, and Jack walked up to the distribution center to find their friends in complete outrage.

"They jacked up the price. Did ya hear that, Jack? Ten cents a 100. It's bad enough we gotta eat what we don't sell. Now they jacked up the price! Can you believe that?" Kid Blink was fuming and Spice could practically see the steam coming from his ears.

"This'll bust me. I'm barely makin' a living right now."

"I'll be back sleepin' on the streets." Spice gasped as she looked at Boots before quickly making her was up to him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

"There is no way we would ever let that happen to you. I promise we'll figure this thing out, don't ya worry." Spice continued to comfort Boots and the other younger boys quietly while the others continued to debate what was happening.

"It don't make no sense, all the money Pulitzer's makin'. Why would he gouge us?" She smiled as Mush spoke up, his faith in the good in people warmed her heart.

"He's a tightwad, that's why." She sighed, of course Race would take the cynical point of view. She loved him dearly but sometimes she had trouble dealing with his negative outlook on life. Jack seemed to be the only one who wasn't worried about the whole mess, not that it surprised her. He seemed to think that he could control everything in Manhattan and she was afraid that he was about to get a rude wake up call.

"Pipe down, it's just a gag. So why the jack up, Weasel?"

"Why not? It's a nice day, why don't you ask Mr. Pulitzer?" Wiesel's sarcasm wasn't appreciated at all and Spice glared up at the man from where she sat next to Boots, she didn't know what had happened to the man to make him such a jackass but she figured that it was because his mother never loved him enough.

"They can't do this to me Jack." Spice wanted to get up and hug Blink but figured that he wouldn't appreciate being coddled in public.

"They can do whatever they want, it's their stinkin' paper." At this point Spice couldn't help herself, she stood up and walked over to Race, smacking him on the back of the head for being such a downer. Jack took her spot on the stairs and Boot's turned to him to add his two cents.

"It ain't fair. We got no rights at all." Apparently Race hadn't gotten the message when she had smacked him the first time because he insisted on opening his mouth again.

"C'mon, it's a rigged deck. They got all the marbles, okay?"

"Jack, we got no choice. Let's get our lousy papes while they still got some." Jack surprised everyone when he jumped up. Spice had been pushed to the back of the crowd by some of the more eager boys so she didn't catch everything they were saying but she caught that they were apparently going to go on strike like the trolley workers. At first she thought they were joking but as the boys started to clear out of the center she realized they were serious, she wormed her way back to the front and watched as Jack took David's words and turned them into a rousing speech that got every newsie excited to strike.

Pretty soon they were talking about gathering others and Jack started sending kids out to the other boroughs, apparently they were going to be "ambasstards" for Manhattan. Kid Blink took Harlem, Race took Midtown, Mush took the Bronx, Crutch the Bronx, Bumlets, Specs, and Skittery took Queens, Pie Eater, and Snotty got East Side and Jack sent Snipeshooter with them so that he could be a part of the action. When it finally got to Brooklyn though no one wanted to go, apparently Spot made them nervous.

Spice sighed stepping up, "I've got Brooklyn Jack, don't worry." The others looked at her in awe. They knew that she supposedly sent to sell with Spot every once and a while but they never actually guessed that the rumors were true. Jack agreed to let her go but decided that he, Boots, and David would tag along as well. She nodded somewhat exasperated that they didn't trust her on her own before setting off. She heard David stop Jack and tell him he had to take their demands to Pulitzer but she didn't stop walking, she wanted to go see Spot already, they would catch up eventually.

As it turned out they didn't catch up and soon she found herself walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and down to the docks where Spot and his boys liked to hang out. She smiled as she walked by a few boys she recognized from previous visits, they tipped their hats to her but didn't pay her much attention other that. As she came to the pile of crates that Spot used as a throne she felt her smile getting wider, it had been a while since she had been to Brooklyn and she had missed her friend.

"Hey Spot did ya miss me?"

Spot looked down and let a rare smile slide across his face at the sight of his old friend, she was probably one of the only people who could act however she wanted around him and not get in trouble; he motioned her up before moving over so that she could sit on the crates with him. They talked a little about what had been going on and Spice told him about what had happened at Sheep's Head the previous day. He had been furious and made her promise that she would never wander around without someone there to protect her, she was just about to argue when Jack and the others walked up.

"Well, if it ain't Jack be Nimble, Jack be Quick."

"So you moved up in the world Spot, got a river view and everything." The two boys stared each other down and for a second Spice was worried that they were going to have a fight, however it would seem they were just messing around and soon they both spat in their hands and shook just like old friends. She decided that she would stay perched where she was and just watch what was about to transpire. She and Spot had already talked and he had agreed to let her spend the night in Brooklyn so it wasn't like she had any reason to move anyways.

"Hey Boots, how's it rollin'?"

"Hey, I got a couple of real good shooters here." Spot took one of the marbles and fired it at a bottle that was sitting up on a ledge, of course he hit the bottle dead on and Spice smirked; he was obviously showing off.

"So, uh, Jackie boy, I've been hearin' things from little boidy's."

"Yeah?"

"Things from Harlem, Queens, all over. They're chirpn' in my ear, Jackie boy's newsies is playin' like they're goin' on strike."

"Yeah well we are."

"Well, we're not playin'. We are goin' on strike."

"Oh, yeah, yeah? What is this, some kind of walkin' mouth?"

"Yeah it's a mouth, a mouth with a brain. And if you got half of one, you'll listen to what he's got 'ta say."

Spot sat down and stared up at David expectantly and Spice was impressed when David didn't act intimidated.

"Well, we started the strike, but we can't do it alone. So we've been talkin' to other newsies all around the city."

"Yeah, so they told me. But what did they tell you?"

"They're waitin' to see what Spot Conlon does. You're the key. That Spot Conlon is the most respected and famous newsie in all of New York, and probably everywhere else, and if Spot Conlon joins the strike, then they'll join. And we'll be unstoppable. So you gotta join us because—well, you gotta."

"Well, you're right, Jack; brains. But I got brains too, and more than just half of one. How do I know you punks won't run the first time some goon comes at you with a club? How do I know you got what it takes to win?"

"Caus I'm tellin' you, Spot."

"That ain't good enough, Jackie boy, you gotta show me."

Spice watched as the boys walked away dejected before turning to Spot as he climbed back onto the crates next to her.

"You are gonna help them right? Because if you don't then they're gonna get themselves into a fight they wouldn't have a dream of winning."

"Don't worry your pretty little head, I'll step in before things get too out of hand."

Spice huffed but bumped her shoulder playfully into his, she trusted Spot, now she could only hope the others did too.

And there it is chapter 4 done. This is the most I've written in a while… I'm not sure if this is going to be a Spot/OC story or a Racetrack/OC story so leave a review or shoot me a PM to let me know who you think she should end up with.

To Newsgirl015: Thanks for the review, I tried to give Spice some more lines, I was actually thinking the same thing as you haha. Thanks again for reviewing you rock!

To Guest: I'm glad you have enjoyed the story so far and I hope you liked this chapter just as much. Thanks a ton for reviewing I hope you continue to read and enjoy.

PEASE REVIEW! I AM DESPERATE FOR FEED BACK!

Thanks to everyone who has read my story so far you rock.
-Ambercat999