A/N: Whoa it's been awhile hasn't it? I had the deadly disease! ::sigh:: Writer's Block! ::shudder:: to make it up to you I made this chapter extra long. Then I threw a shoe at my sister and got in major touble....plus I got my computer time cut way way down to half an hour which really sucks. So ladies and....um ladies, my longest chapter yet!
Disclaimer: I own no one except myself!
Marbles- Hey cool, you like it? Yay!
BlackWiltedRose- lol it's fine. It makes me feel so sentimental when people say they love my story ::sniffle::. I feel special
Dreamless-Mermaid- I want a rock like that too! I waaaaaan- no what am I saying?! I neeeeeeeed that rock!
Racetrack's Dealer- I liked that part too lol
Dimonah Tralon- Thanks I try lol
TheAngryPrincess13- Thanks! So very please you like it!
Joker is Poker with a J- Awww I'll miss ya! Hope you have mucho fun in Boston, it's supposed to be a beautiful place. I've never been there but ::shrugs:: maybe you can tell me how it is? Gald you liked the chapter!
Dottie- Don't worry ::heroic music:: it's a struggle but we shall fight the dreaded WB(writer's block)!! ::music halts:: It took me awhile to write this chapter, enjoy!
Chapter 5- Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
My papers were gone in like 5 minutes at the Sheepshead Races. It was a blur, people wanting papers right and left and I loved it! Racetrack had bet on a spindly black horse with white feet. For Race's sake I hoped that horse is faster than he looks.
"Go Thundah!" Racetrack yelled. He reminded me of those basketball guys, you know the ones that go crazy over each point? It was fun watching the horse but it ws boring too, not to mention a bit smelly. Like watching golf on t.v, fun to play but not as fun to watch. Boring enough that you'd rather watch Barney...how pathetic is that? A big purple dinosaur singing and dancing! Isn't Barney supposed to be a carnivore? Wouldn't he eat the damn kids?! You'd think he'd think of them as hamburgers! "Hell yeah!!" Racetrack cried
"Did you win?" I asked
"What da fuck do ya think?! Yeah, I won!" Race wooped and hollored then started to push and shove his way into the crowd.
"How much money do you think?" I asked Viper
"Sad as it may seem, I'd say maybe 2?"
"The way he acts you'd thnk 1,000"
"The most he's won is 10," she said as we followed Race, who was yelling at the guy behind the counter. "He's addicted," she whispered. Sounds a bit like me, addicted to chocolate, I can't resist anything chocolate.
"20 bucks!" Racetrack said waving his ticket under the guys nose
"Alright already, I heard you the first time," he grumbled handing him some bills. Ah the poor child, how much money did he have to hand out day after day? They're like bank tellers.
"Excuse em," I said "How many races have there been here today?"
"Bout 5"
"How much did the first guys win"
"Well...let's see first guy won 50 dollars..the second 5-"
"Okay, that's enough thanks," I left and joined Viper and Race
"What were ya doing?"
"Just finding out how much money slips through the guys fingers"
"Ya don't ask," Race said disgusted "You just take what you've won and thank the lord ya didn't lose"
"But I didn't win anything"
"Thank da lord I didn't lose den," Racetrack said stuffing his money in his pocket "If you see anyone suspicious tell me. I was real stupid yelling like dat. Think it's time for lunch what d'ya say?"
"I'm starving!" Viper said.
"Find a penny pick it up and all the day you have good luck" I chanted picking up a coin. [1] I remembered the time when my family went hiking and my sister found a clear stone. I was so jealous until she reached out and tried to pick it up only then did we, or rather she, discovered it was spit. She spent the rest of the day with her hand in front of her, absolutely hilerious! Best birthday I'd ever had. When we got to Tibby's I slumped in chair all tired out. From my relaxed position I looked around. Most of us newsies.....haha I'm a newsie! Anyways most of us there were sore from walking all day and we had inkstains not only on our clothes but on our faces too. HAS ANYONE EVER HEARD OF SOAP?! Asking for directions from a nearby waiter I made a beeline to the washroom. Inside was Half Pint, Myya, Sunrise, and Marbles. It was pretty crowded.
"How was your first day of selling?" Half Pint asked as she shook her hands out and spraying water all over the place.
"It was..... actually a bit hard." I said washing my hands
"Don't worry first day's hardest" she said. Just before she left I cupped my hands and threw some water at her. Unfortunetly at that time Sox entered and when Half Pint stepped out to let her in the water hit her right in her face.
"Oh.....wooopsies" I said as water dripped down her face.
"What was that for?" she sputtered
"I missed my target"
"Who me?" Half Pint looked insulted.
"Yeah..." I turned around and got some more water before turning around and throwing that at Half Pint.
"Hey!" Before long we were all throwing water at each other.
"Don't slip!" Mya said. I think she was referring to the floor.
"Incoming!" Half Pint said putting her hand over the faucet and spritzing everyone within firing range. Sunrise was laughing so hard she had to lean against the door, she stopped laughing when she got a mouthful of water though. Marbles put her hand over the drain and filled the sink up, then with her other hand she started splashing water at everyone nearby. The door opened and Dottie stepped in.
"......You're so lucky the waiter's too lazy to come and get you out" she said grinning.
"Uh-oh are we in trouble?" I asked
"Ummm, no I don't think so. So long as they don't see the mess"
"Well, then we gotta clean....?"
"Yep," she said closing the door "Wait till they hear about this!" she said as she left shaking her head. We cleaned up and headed back to our table.
"Who started it?" Seer said
"Guess" said Sunrise
"Oh, I have no idea," Seer said sarcastically. I was gonna say 'me' except it came out more like-
"Meep". 'Cause right in front of me was Spot! Eeek cant breathe can't breathe can't breath can't breath! Oh, wait yes I can. Oh my lordie lord lord. My absolute favorite newsie in the flesh! I'm so haaaaaaapyyyyy! So very happy! If there hadn't been any people I believe I would've started doing my own little jig! Ah well, I'll do it when we get back home. Sigh. Home...oh boy not now! Not homesickness now! ....too late. Sniffle, would Artemis Fowl ever remember about the fairies? What about Harry Potter?! Would he defeat Voldem- youknowwho?! The questions of the universe would have to go unanswered....damn.
"I'se Spot".....you're cute that's what you are. I shook hands with him....I shook hands with Spot Conlon......
"Nice to meet you," oh my yes, so very nice! "I'm Chaos"
"What would you like" asked a waiter frowning at my wet clothes. What, it's not like this is a posh resturant. More like a....school cafeteria. With much better food I hope.
"Chicken soup," I said. As soon as they brought food over Jack started in about the strike. He made it seem much more exciting than it actually was, and almost skipped the part about him turning scab until Spot so happily reminded him.
"Humiliations galore!" Myya quoted when Jack turned red and started at his interesting half-eaten sandwich.
"Yeah well....What was I supposed ta do?"
"Stick with the strike" Mush said reaching across the table for the salt shaker.
"How many times are you going to keep bringin that up?" Jack grumbled
"Two times a day at least" Racetrack said lighting his cigar.
"Take it outside, this is a smoke free restuarant!" a man said. Half Pint snatched the cigar out of Race's mouth and snuffed it.
"Hey that's mine!" Race complained.
"You heard the man, it's supposed to be smoke free," she said calmly. Race frowned
"Are you still mad about the tomato?"
"The- no! Besides....I was right it's a vegatable"
"Is not"
"Yes it is"
"Says who?"
"Everybody! Everybody except you". While they were busy talking about tomatos and other veggies I was trying to figure out how to talk to Spot. He helped by starting first.
"What are you doing?" he asked. I had taken the salt shaker from Mush and was making a neat pile of salt.
"Drawing" I said making swirlies with the salt. I'm gonna hypnotize him just you watch.
"Hey!" I looked up and saw another fellow newsie, Specs. With him was a girl with blue eyes and brown hair with was in a semi-messy bun. She was wearing a greyish newsie hat , black boots, brown pants, off-white lace up shirt with a black spagetti strap shirt underneath. She had medium sized hoop earrings and a few rings.
"Tumbler!" she said hugging Tumbler "Long time no see!"
"Heya Bookworm," Jack said pulling up a chair. "We'se got new people. This here is Bookworm, Bookworm this is Sunrise, Myya, Marbles, Touchdown, Chaos, and Seer. They came in last night."
"Oh hey that's great, more girls!"
"It ain't fair," said Skittery "Now we all have to be decently dressed all the time"
"It'll do you good," Bookworm said
"It ain't that bad," said Slider drinking I believe. Sure hope that kid isn't going to get drunk.
Slider didn't get drunk, just really super hyper by the time we returned to the lodging house.
"What are we gonna do today?" he asked bouncing around
"We were thinking about exploring. Wanna come along?" Touchdown asked
"Kin we play pirates instead?"
"Why don't we go visit the Jacobs and you can play with Les" Dottie suggested. Thank goodness, if I spent one more minute with a superly hyperactive kid I'd go bonkers!
"Okay!" and he ran off
"....he's gonna come back isn't he?" Sox said
"Oh yeah". We were quiet watching the people on the streets. We could see horses and people selling their wares. Sigh, this was the first day I'd actually met Spot and it was a total bust. Neither of us talked much to each other which left me very disappointed and moody.
"Watch this," Half Pint said. She walked over to a vender and started poking through his oranges and tomatos. Picking one up she pointed to it and started asking questions. Then after a while she nodded and left joining us again.
"What'd you do now?" Viper asked
"Asked him if tomatos were vegatables," she said innocently
"You're still on that?" Marbles asked surprised. Half Pint shrugged
"I was...am right" then she motioned us inside. When we were in the lobby she took out some tomatos and oranges.
That night we all watched as Racetrack picked up the cup Half Pint had set on the dresser.
"What's this?"
"Well, I wanted to apoligize about the ah, tomato incident and fixed you a drink. It supposed to help make you more intelligent" Half Pint said. Racetrack looked at her suspiciously then at his cup. He sloshed it around before handing it to Half Pint[2]
"You drink it," he said. Half Pint looked at the cup before taking a swig
"Yum," she said smiling "tastes just like lemonade". Soon as he looked away she stuck her finger down her throat and made gagging faces.
"Hey, Mush c'mere!" Racetrack yelled. Mush walked over an cheerfully sat down. "I want you to taste this and tell me what ya think"
"I made it!" Sunrise piped up quickly. "Everyone else said they loved it, what d'ya think?" Mush tasted it and an odd look came over his face.
"It's...good" he said before handing it back to Race. Satisfied Ractrack gulped more than half of the stuff before spitting it back out.
"Orange and tomato...what a delicious combination," Bookworm snickered.
"How was it?" Seer asked grinning
"You mean you didn't make it?" Mush asked Sunrise looking rather insulted
"Nope"
"Oh yuck," Racetrack was still sputtering "Dat's the most disgusting thing I've evah tasted! Including Jack's idea of cooking."
"Jack cooks?" this was news to me! Jack in an apron, heh heh isn't that a Kodiak moment!
"He thinks he does" Specs said sitting beside Bookworm
"What'd he do?" Marbles asked
"He tried to make some chicken. Ended up burning the damn thing"
"Oh lord I wish I had been there," I sighed. Mush shook his head
"Us boys up here thought there was a fire. We all ran for the fire escape and someone made a hole in the wall. It's right there," he pointed to a hole near the window. Race laughed
"Dutchy made it tryin' to calm everyone down-"
"He threw a pitcher," Viper said
"Of course they forgot about us girls," Sox added "While the boys were trying to get away, we went downstairs to find out why everything was in smoke"
"Girls rule!" Touchdown laughed
"Jack poured water at the chicken. Kloppman was so mad!" Dottie said grinning
"He made him clean everything! Even upstairs and he was going to make him clean the girls bunkroom too, except none of us wanted Jack rifling through our things" Half Pint said
"You should've made him your slave when you had the chance" Myya said.
[1] This little event is very true.
[2] Whatever you do don't do this, it does not taste good...trust me on this. The only thing you should try with orange juice is with milk, yum. I think it's a Brazilian recipe. A cup of milk and then you add some orange juice.
Whew! How's that?
SPOT: ::enters dripping wet with moldy cane:: I'll get revenge!
Try it and I'll make sure you'll regret it for the rest of your life...you stink.
SPOT: ::mutters::
RACETRACK: Lighten up, it ain't that bad
SPOT: Oh yeah? YOU didn't have to dive in the middle of da ocean!
::whimpers:: But you......live near the docks
SPOT: Doesn't mean I LIKE swimming!
You don't?
SPOT: Well yeah but..... Hey, dis is totally different!!!!
It's water. You swam. Same thing
SPOT: ::gapes and sputters::
::sticks out tongue:: Ha! Knew it! ::beams at audience:: Please review!