Once In a Blue Heaven

By: Coneflower

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The silent New York night was abruptly interrupted by a bunch of hootin' and hollerin' by a groups of boys. They goofed around on the street, playfully fighting and singing the song Medda had sung at her show that night. It was a very exciting time at Irving Hall that night.

The boys didn't care if they woke up all of Manhattan, they were too hyped up to calm down.

"An', when does goils started kickin' `cross da stage……" Kid Blink said, smiling, thinking of the big show stopper.

"Dat was da best part, bro" Kid Trey - Blink's long lost twin brother - remarked, with his arm around his brother's shoulder.

Racetrack lit up a cigar. "Medda sure knows how ta put on a show."

"Don' I know dat" Jack grinned, elbowing Mush in the side.

Mush sighed. "Yeah." His mind was on the girl who smiled and winked at him.

They were walking pass a certain building that only a few people lived at - or so they thought. Blink glanced up to see something very interesting. A shadowed figure was sitting in front of the window. Another figure appeared then another one. He squinted his eyes to get a better look at him, but the glare from the lamp drowned the features of the figures out.

"Hey fellas. Look up dere" he told the other.

"Wha'?" Trey commented, looking up at the window Blink was pointing at.

"Dere's someone lookin' at us" Mush said, after coming out of his `dream' state.

"Who da heck would look down at us?" Race remarked, with a drag of his cigar.

The boys burst out into laughter except for Mush. He looked at them confused. "Wha'? Wha'd he say?"

Jack threw an arm around his naïve friend. "I'll explain when ya's older Mush."

That received another round of laughter. Mush got serious. "Youse guys are tryin' ta play a trick on me again, ain't ya?"

"Wese jist havin' a little fun wit ya" Race remarked, playfully punching Mush on the chin.

~*~

Jewel looked up from her book she was reading, and peered over at the window. Coneflower had been sitting there for over an hour now. Ever since she'd started watching the newsboys that sold by their corner, Cone would just sit by the window and stare out of it. She would still do other stuff with her room mates, but staring out the window was a new hobby for Coneflower lately. Jewel shock her head and went back to her book.

"Hey" Copper said, as she walked pass Cone. Cone didn't seem to notice, so, Copper clamped her hand on her shoulder. "Hey!"

Cone flinched, and turned to Copper with a deadly expression. "What are you trying to do - kill me?"

"No! I just want you to get your face away from that window and back in here" Copper replied, walking over to her bed and sitting down.

Cone slumped. "What are you saying?"

Clink bounced on her bed, making the floor shake. "You are always looking out that window now! Haven't you even noticed?!"

Cone shrugged. "Not really. Why? Is there a problem with me wanting to look out there?" She offered a pretty good come back.

Pearl snorted, slipping her brown hair into a pony tail. "When you always looking out that window, yes!"

"We're just trying to help you, cousin" Damsel said, standing up and walking over to the window - where she leaned up against the wall. "You know that."

Cone bit her lip. She had been spending a lot of time staring out the window, but no telling when those newsboys were going to walk by.

"You know what Mr. Snyder say…" July started, standing on her bed, and posing in a stiff stance. "You have to keep your head out of the clouds and in the books where you belong!"

All the girls burst out into laughter. Patch held her side. "That was just like him, July!"

Everyone composed themselves a few minutes later. Ace looked around.

"Where is Mr. Snyder anyway? He would of been up here by now?"

"Yeah" Clink shouted, jumping off her bed. "…To. Tuck. Us. In." She was dripping with sarcasm. This received some more giggle fits from the girls. Making fun of `Mr. Snyder' was the highlight of their day.

"Where is ole' bushel britches anyway?" PT asked.

"No telling! I don't know! And, I don't care!" Copper said, shaking her head.

The girls were quiet for a few minutes. It was almost time for `lights out'. Jewel closed her book and laid it on the night stand. "I'm going to bed now" she announced.

"Night Jewelies!" came from everyone in the room.

"Good night" Jewel said back, laying down underneath her cover. "And, Cone….don't stay up too late looking out that window."

Cone smirked, and threw a look at Jewel who smirked back.

Patch stood up from the desk against the wall, and walked over to the window. "What is so interesting about looking out the window?"

"Yeah, especially at night!" Damsel added.

Cone blushed. "Well, you never know when something interesting might walk pass the window." She turned back to her position. Good thing she did, because a group of boys were walking by as soon as she looked.

Her eyes grew wide and her mouth fell open. "Look!" she shouted. Even though it was dark, Cone could still recognize the newsboys who sell by their corner. "It's them!"

Patch and Damsel peered out the small window, excited. The boys were cutting up and were very loud - the girls could heard them through the glass.

Cone grinned widely, proud of herself. "I told you - you never know when something interesting might walk pass the window." She was pelted by a half a dozen pillows. "Hey!"

"Now you can go to sleep, Cone" Pearl said, raising her head from her second pillow.

Cone made a face, and threw everyone's pillows back to them. She frowned the whole time.

July observed this. "Uh…Cone, you saw what you wanted to see. Why are you still down?"

Cone planted her rear on her bed. "I have to wait till morning to see them again!" She fell backwards, as everyone groaned.

"Y'know Coneflower, you are hopeless child" Patch remarked.

"If you go to bed sooner, you'll get to see those newsboys sooner" Clink suggested, hopping into bed herself.

"Great idea, Clinker! G'night everyone!" Before they knew it, Cone was in bed. But, they weren't going to have peace just yet.

A solid sound of footsteps was traveling toward the door of the girls' room. All the girls groaned, and pulled the cover over their heads - well, the ones who were in bed. Patch, Damsel, and July hurried to get in bed before the footsteps made it to their door, but it was too late.

The heavy wooden door creaked open, and a tall, round, balding man stood there. The girls' cringed at the sight of him. The man walked in slowly, looking back and forth at each girl. He made it to the end of the room where Patch, Damsel, and July was. He glared at them seriously.

"Hi Mr. Snyder" July greeted. She wasn't afraid of him or his whip, but it wasn't good to tick him off.

"Hello July. What are you girls doing up so late?" he asked.

Damsel keep her eyes down at the floor. She didn't want to look Mr. Snyder in the eye - she was his height or maybe taller. "We were just talking, sir."

"Yeah, that's all" Patch added, innocently.

Mr. Snyder glared at them with his disappointed fatherly glare. He glanced over at July, who's night gown was disapproving. He grabbed the strings on the front of her gown and tugged on them tight. July could hardly breathe as Mr. Snyder tied her strings on her gown.

"Much better" he said, after tying a bow. July curled her lip, and wanted to kill him about now. "Now!" Mr. Snyder turned to face the direction of the door. "You three will do twice as many chores and school work tomorrow."

The trio groaned, but kept it to themselves. If Mr. Snyder would hear they're complaining, he'd give them even more work.

Mr. Snyder grinned. "So will everyone else in this room…everyone will get twice as much work tomorrow." He started to walk to the door. "I know you girls are still awake. Don't even try to convince me you aren't. Except for Jewel, she always goes to sleep early. Goodnight ladies." He stepped out and locked the door behind him. Once they knew Mr. Snyder was out of hearing reign, they all sat up ready to complain about the next day.

"Awe geez, I don't feel like doing even more work tomorrow!" Copper protested, sitting up in her bed.

Cone stared at the ceiling. "He is such a hard rear. I wish we would just get out of here."

July sauntered over to her bed, loosing her strings on her gown.

"If you will remember the great escape last year, it was a disaster!"

"Yeah, Mr. Snyder sniffed us out like a bloodhound" Ace added, shifting to another position.

"Well, we need to do something about this situation we're in." Cone sat up, leaning on her elbows.

"Like what?" Clink asked, putting out the candle by her night stand.

Cone shrugged. "I don't know yet, but I'll think of something."

Everyone in the room sigh frustratedly. The girls had been knowing each other for a while now. Each one had become orphans some way or another, and had been hand picked by Mr. Snyder himself to live in a boarding house type place - where he would teach them edicts and junk. The girls hated living there. They had to do tons of school work and chores. Mr. Snyder and his housekeeper, Lila, were the only ones watching over the girls. Lila was an okay person, but needed to take a few manner classes.

The girls were all great friends. Since they had been knowing each other since they were kids, they were pretty close. Except, some of the girls were becoming more than just a `kid' now, and they were going to be `auctioned' off by Mr. Snyder to some of his rich `friends' sons.

Patch was the oldest and she didn't want to be married to someone she didn't love. It was wrong. All the girls knew they had to do something.

They had tried to escape the year before, but Mr. Snyder caught them before they could even turn a corner. July commented that he must have psychic powers. It was a hardship, but something good was going to come the girls way soon.

~*~

Cone was at her usual post late in the afternoon. She knew the newsboys would be walking by at anytime. She waited for a few more minutes while everyone else was doing their work. She was slacking off, and would get in trouble if she didn't do her work, but she didn't care. This was going to be the day she did something or, at least started to do something.

Cone glanced down for a moment until something familiar caught her eye.

She saw three of the newsboys walking down the street. She ran over to the more visible window and flung it open. Everyone in the room watched her thinking she was crazy. Cone slipped two fingers in her mouth and blew hard. A loud, echoing whistle rang throughout the buildings.

The three boys -one with brown curly hair, another with an eye patch, and the last looked just like the boy with the eye patch - spun around to see where the whistle came from.

"What in the world are you doing?" asked Patch, walking up behind Cone.

Cone smirked. "Just having a little fun." She pointed to the boys below.

Patch's mouth dropped open when her eyes fell on the boy without the eye patch. "Whoa." She had never really got a good look at the newsboys before.

Cone whistled again, finally catching the attention of the boys.

She grinned when they stared straight at her. "Hey babas!" The boys looked confused as Cone slammed the window shut and closed the curtains. The room burst into laughing. Ace, Clink, and Copper were watching from the fire escape window. They fell on the floor in giggle fits, seeing the confused expressions on the boys' faces.

"Cone, I can't believe you just did that!" Pearl got out, trying to hold her giggles back.

Cone went back to the window to peek out. The boys were gone. She snapped her finger, and murmured, "Drat!"

"Awwww….." Patch whined. "They left."

"I wonder if they'll ever come back to this corner after what you did?" Copper asked, jokingly.

"Of course they will" Cone replied, peering at her.

~*~

Mush, Blink, and Trey sauntered into the lodging house with grins on their faces. Girls had whistled at them for a change.

"Now we know how girls feel when we whistle at `em" Blink remarked, leaning against Kloppman's desk - fishing out six cents for the night's stay.

"Yeah, it feels great" Trey laughed.

Mush sighed. "Da goil who was hanging out da window was kinda pretty."

Blink slapped him on the shoulder. "You say dat `bout every girl ya see, so, stop droolin'." Mush slapped his friend back.

"Dat goil behind `er was pretty too" Trey said, thinking of Patch.

Blink rolled his eyes. "Ise can't believe me bro an' me best friend have gone off da deep end." He trudged upstairs. Mush and Trey shrugged to each other, and followed Blink to the bunk room.

"Heya fellas!" Jack greeted, sitting on his bed.

"Cowboy, ya already in bed? It's jist gettin' dark out" Trey said, going over to his own bed.

There were a few newsies scattered around the big room.

"Ise jist restin'. Can't I do dat?"

Blink shrugged. "We don't care ." With that, he received a pillow in the face.

Mush jumped up on his bed, slipping his vest off. A starry-eyed expression on plastered on his face.

"Say Mush" Racetrack called, from across the room. "Meet a goil today?"

Blink snorted. "We found a lot of goils."

"Pretty goils at dat" Trey added, clamping onto his brother's shoulders. Blink spatted him off.

"Oh really?" Jack asked, interested.

"Yeah. It was those goils dat were lookin' at us in da window last night" Mush replied.

"But, dis time, we got ta see `em real good an' one whistled on us an' stuff" Trey finished, excited.

"Yeah." The starry-eyed look fell across Mush's face as he thought about the mystery girl.

Jack rolled off his top bunk. "So, dere were two dis time?"

Blink shock his head. "Dere were five."

"Five what?" they all heard a voice from the fire escape window.

"Goils!" Trey answered to Spot, who was quickly climbing through.

"Five!" Race yelled. "Wha' is dat place?"

"I don' know, but I wish I lived dere too" Blink remarked, finally admitting he liked the girls who grabbed their attention.

Trey gabbed his rips. "So, ya gonna join in on our fun, ay?" He didn't get a return back.

"Why are we talkin' `bout dis?" someone asked from the corner of the room. Everyone turned to see Skittery frowning.

"Wha' youse talkin' `bout?" Jack asked.

Skittery's mouth twisted. "Well, wha's da use a talkin' `bout an' wonderin' when wese could jist go ovah dere an' see wha' dere story is."

Silence fell over the room for a moment then Trey's face lit up.

"Let's do it!"

"Yeah, wese got nuttin' else ta do" Jake, all the sudden, jumped in.

Jack grabbed his cowboy hat. "Okay. C'mon."

The guys who were in the room - Jack, Mush, Blink, Trey, Race, Jake, Spot, Skittery, and Bumlets - started down the stairs.

"Wese goin' out fer a while, Kloppy" Jack yelled, as they filed out.

Kloppman groaned and shock his head in fatherly disgrace.

Rounding a corner, they saw a familiar figure walking up to them.

"Davey!" Jack shouted.

"Jack! Hey everyone!" Davey greeted back. All the guys said `hey' and stopped. "What's going on?"

"Wese gonna go check out something" Jack replied, grinning.

Davey cocked his head. "Check out something?"

Jack threw an arm around Davey's shoulder. "Jist come wit us. You'll see."

The nine newsies strolled through the New York streets heading for the building housing the mystery girls. They arrived there a few minutes later to see a light on in that certain window.

"Dat's it." Mush grinned, pointing to the window.

"Now wha' do we do?" Bumlets asked.

"I don' know" Jack replied, blankly.

"But, Cowboy, youse an intrinsic part a dis" Trey shot back, pushing Jack's shoulder.

"Intrinsic……didn' know ya could use big woids like dat, bro." Blink smirked. Trey smacked his brother's shoulder this time.

Race snorted. "Why don' wese jist go up dere an' knock on dere window?"

All the guys thought for a moment. "But, what if they called the bulls on us?" Davey asked, frankly.

"Dey da ones whos been lookin' at us an' whistled at us too" Blink said. "Dey won't!" Davey shrugged and went along with it.

"C'mon fellahs" Jack said, walking off to the fire escape. They all followed him, kind of hestitatly. It took no time for them to climb the fire escape stairs. Jack was the first up, and was preparing himself to knock on the window.

"Do it, Cowboy" Race murmured, from over his shoulder.

"I will. Jist give me time. I don' go around on peoples fire escapes all da time."

"That's not what my sister said." Davey smirked.

Jack pretended to back-hand Davey, but went back to the subject at hand. He raised his knuckle, and knocked...

The knock was softer than Jack expected it to be. They waited for a moment. No one asked.

"Jack, do it again" came from someone in the back. Jack knocked softly again until Spot got impatient, and banged on the glass.

"Dat's how ya knock on a window if ya wanna get someone's attention, Jacky-boy" Spot said, irritated.

"Now da whole building is gonna know something is up, Spot" Jack retorted, slapping Spot on the shoulder.

Race stepped between them. "Will youse two jist stop." Jack and Spot glared at Race, who was looking very innocent.

With all the commotion, none of the boys noticed that the window had opened and a girl was watching them amusingly. She smirked. My plan worked - she thought to herself.

"Hi" Cone greeted. The nine boys - or at least the ones who could see the window - looked over at her. "Can I help you?" For once the boys were speechless. Not because Cone was the most beautiful thing they ever saw, because someone answered. She stared wondrously at the boys.

"Uh…" Jack stuttered. "Do ya live heah?"

"Yeah, why?" Cone answered and asked, bluntly.

"Wese jist wonderin'. We'll go now." Jack turned and started walking down the fire escape, leaving everyone else just standing there - speechless.

"Hey, wait a second!" Jack turned back around. "You're not going to come in to meet my friends?"

"Friends?" Race asked.

"Yes, my friends. Now, come on! We need some company." Cone disappeared into the room while the boys exchanged dazed looks. They basically shrugged it off, and climbed into through the window. All the boys eyes widened in shock when they saw all these girls in white, knit night gowns just sitting there staring at them.

"Where did youse goils come from?" Race asked, his cigar almost falling out his mouth.

"Our parents……if we had any" Clink commented.

"Oh no, we have a mentor" Cone cackled, holding back a giggle.

Spot stepped up. "Question - why are youse goils heah?"

"Can we at least introduce ourselves first?!" July yelled out.

Spot glared at her with his intense eyes. The girls and boys knew that there was about to be a show down. Spot stepped up to July a little more. "Oh yeah…yeah…den whatcha name?"

July crossed her arms. "July, for your information."

"Ise Spot Conlon" he smirked.

Jack rolled his eyes and didn't pay anymore attention to them. "So, wha's all ya names?"

"I'm Coneflower, but everyone calls me Cone" Cone being the first to reply. She looked over at Mush, who was blushing, and thought - what was his problem. "And, these are my friends - Clink, Patch, PT, Copper, Jewel, Ace, Damsel…" Cone leaned in toward the boys "…she's my cousin. You know July, and Pearl is over in the corner."

Jack looked over to where Cone was pointing, and saw a brown headed girl sewing ((don't worry Pearl, I'm not portraying you as Sarah)). He smiled at her when she caught his eye.

"Now who are you?" asked Cone, openly, really wanting to know. I mean, she'd been watching these guys for a while now, and was more than ecstatic that they were in her room.

"Ise Jack Kelly and dis is me newsies - Racetrack, Kid Blink, Kid Trey, Mush, Skittery, Davey, Jake, Bumlets, and you know Spot too. Now, tell us, why are youse goils heah?"

Copper pulled her legs up on her bed. "That seems to be a very popular questions, and we'd like to know the answer to that too."

Davey looked dazed. "You don't know why your here?"

"No!" Ace spoke out.

Patch frowned. "If we knew the answer, we'd tell you."

"Yeah" agreed Damsel.

Blink spoke up. "What do ya do den?"

All in unison, the girls replied. "We do chores, school work, and sit in this room day in and day out bored out of our minds."

"Did that answer your question?" Clink piped up from across the room.

"You don't get to go outside?" Mush asked, in disbelief.

"No" Cone retorted bluntly. "But, we do get to go to these huge rich parties at ballrooms that we have to dance at, but we enjoy that part."

"You like to dance?" Mush asked, his beautiful brown eyes lighting up.

Cone smiled. "Yeah."

Mush stepped up her and offered his hand. "Da lady wanna dance?"

Cone didn't say anything, but just took his hand and they started waltzing around - just forgetting about everyone else in the room.

Davey frowned as Copper kind of secretly scooted over beside him. "I wish I knew how to dance."

"I'll teach you!" Copper blurted out. "I love to dance too. Come on."

"Uh…okay." Copper grabbed Davey's hand and pulled him to a vacant side of the room, because the room was really big.

Since everyone else was slowly scattered throughout the room, Racetrack and Skittery strolled over to Ace and PT. They were sitting across from each other whispering when the two boys walked.

"Heya! Ise Race, and dis is Skittery." Race took out his pack of cards and was shuffling them.

"Yeah, we remember. I'm Ace and this is PT" Ace told them.

"Youse goils know how ta play poker?" Skittery asked, grinning.

"No" PT said, shrugging. "What's poker?"

Race and Skittery exchanged nonchalant glances before sitting down next to the girls.

Jack was curious about the girl in the corner. They're eyes had met, and it made Jack want to talk to her. He walked up, planting himself on the bed next to the girl's chair.

"Pearl, roight?" he asked.

"Yeah, Jack right?" Pearl asked, looking up from her sewing.

"Yeah, so, whatcha makin'?" Jack looked at the bunched up piece of cloth that Pearl had laying on her lap.

"A dress. It's for Jewel's birthday, but she doesn't know it's for her" Pearl whisper, leaning closer to Jack - showing him who Jewel was. "So, don't tell her."

Jack shook his head, smiling. "I won't." They peered over at Jewel for a moment, who was back to reading her book.

Bumlets stared around to notice a girl all alone reading a book.

"Is dat a good book?"

Jewel glanced up to see Bumlets standing over her. "Yes, it is. Ever read it?" She showed him the book cover.

"No" Bumlets replied. "Ise don't get ta read many books."

"Come sit here and I'll read you some" Jewel scooted over to let Bumlets sit next to her on her bed.

Mush spun Cone around a few times then started to waltz again.

"You are such a good dancer" Cone told him.

"Thank you" Mush replied, blushing. They danced a little over to where Copper was trying to teach Davey how to dance.

"Now, take one step forward and then step back" Copper informed Davey.

He stepped forward as Copper stepped back then he stepped back as Copper stepped forward. "That's it!"

Davey smiled. "I did it right?"

"Yes! Now lets do it again so I can teach you how to turn me." Copper latched onto Davey, and started their lesson again.

Mush and Cone danced over to where Spot and July were stilling `arguing'. Cone rolled her eyes. "July, would you stop that."

July glared over at her. "I'm too busy to hear your command, Cone."

Cone shrugged and danced off with Mush. "Now, where were we?" July asked, pulling her attention back to Spot.

"You said that you are better than me" he replied, fiddling with his cane stuck in his belt.

"Oh, yeah. I am better than you because you are a big jerk" July started up again with the insults.

"You only think ya bettah den me, but ya jist denin' dat ya aren't!" he smirked, right in her face.

July stared him straight in the eye, all the `good-natured' anger welling up inside. But, suddenly, they jumped in each others arms and started kissing.

"Get a room!" Race shouted, from his poker game. He shook his head going back to the game. "Now, where were we?" he asked.

"Um…I was beating your butt at this" Ace smirked, holding up her cards.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know" Race said, glancing down at his cards.

"Good thing we ain't playin' fer money" Skittery remarked at Race.

"You play this game for money?" PT asked, surprised.

Kid Blink and Kid Trey sauntered over to the girls they had recognized from the window earlier that day. "Can we join you?" Trey asked, smiling.

Patch couldn't say anything. She was even surprised the two boys had come over to her and Damsel.

"Of course, you can" Damsel said. "Sit down if you want."

Blink sat by Patch and Trey sat by Damsel. They all just sort of stared at each other till Blink said something. "Is dat all you goils do is do chores and school woik?"

Damsel nodded. "Yeah. It's a very boring life. How about you?"

"We jist sell da papes an' goof around" Trey answered.

Patch sighed. "Sounds more fun than our lives."

Trey smirked. "So, do youse goils always spy on unknowing newsies?"

Damsel and Patch exchanged glances and started giggling.

"Wha's so funny?" Blink asked, looking mostly at Damsel.

"Oh, nothing" she replied.

Jake felt a little lonely with all the guys going off in different directions until he spotted a girl jumping around on her bed. "Heya! Ya haven' fun?"

Clink stopped jumping and fell to the bed. "Yeah. I do it all the time, but sometimes I get in trouble for it."

"Ise Jake, an' ya…." He got cut off.

"Clink" she said, shaking his hand. "Or Clinker or Clinkerpoo. They have all kinds of names for me."

"I like that name" Jake told her, taking off his bowler.

Clink watched as he handled his bowler, fidgety. "Can I see that?"

"Sure." He handed his bowler to her. Clink fiddles around with his bowler for a minutes, handing it back to him.

"I love that hat" she told him. "Come on. Let's jump." She pulled Jake up and they started jumping on the bed.

After a few minutes of dancing, Cone and Mush got tired and was resting on her bed. "So, who is dis poison who keeps ya locked up heah?" he asked.

Cone slumped. "A really mean man named Mr. Snyder."

Mush's mouth dropped open. "Snyder…." He murmured slowly.

Cone nodded. "Yeah. He's really strict. I sometimes wonder why the heck he keeps us here all locked up."

"Mr. Snyder" Mush murmured again. He looked like he was about to fall over.

Cone looked at him in concern. "You all right?"

Mush stared up at her, nodding. "Wait one sec. I'll be roight back." He ran over to Jack and told him who was keeping the girls locked up there.

Jack almost fainted. "What?!" he yelled, standing. "But, Snyder is suppose ta be in jail!" That's when he caught everyone's attention.

"What `bout Snyder?" Race asked.

"He's da one who's keepin' da goils heah" Jack answered him.

"But, he suppose ta be in jail" Davey throw out.

"Snyder in jail?" Cone snorted. "He's been here every night for the pass several years we've lived here."

"Maybe we're talking about a different Snyder?" Copper inquired.

"Round, almost bold, has dis really scary father look to `im?" Jack described.

Cone's eyes grew big. "That's him! Which reminds me, he's going to be coming up here soon."

"We bettah get outta heah den" Jack told them. He turned to Pearl. "It was nice ta meet ya, Pearl." He turned to everyone. "C'mon boys."

The boys all said their `goodbyes' to the girls then climbing out the window. They had to literally pulled Spot away from July. Mush was the last to climb out the window. Cone sat there as he did.

"Will you come back, please? I haven't had this much fun since forever" Cone said, giving him pleading eyes.

Mush sighed. "Like I can't stay `way from ya now dat I know ya."

Cone smiled. "You better mean that."

"Would I lie ta ya?" Mush said, looking taken aback.

"We'll see" Cone remarked, slapping his hat down over his eyes, and closing the window. She turned back to everyone in the room, and sighed. "That was fun!"

Lila hauled her wide load into the girls' room and pulled the curtains open, making light flood the room. Some of the girls groaned; others pulled the covers over their heads.

"Get up girls! Time for breakfast!" Lila yelled, with her deep German voice. "Mr. Synder does not like a slacker ((lol…Slacker!))."

"I don't care" Clink murmured, from under her cover.

PT walked over to her after slipping out of her bed. "You better get up, or I'll drag you out of bed myself." Clink just shrugged under her cover and PT moved onto the wash room.

Cone smacked her pillow, but then remembered what had happen last night and smiled. Lila catch sight of her smile, and wondered what was wrong.

"Coneflower, you got something to share. You never wake up in good mood" Lila remarked.

"Uh…I had a good dream" Cone replied, weakening her smile and standing up to go to the wash room.

Lila just stared at the ground, shaking her head. "Hurry up! Mr. Snyder wants you downstairs now!" Ace mocked Lila from behind, but acted all innocent when Lila looked behind her. She snorted and walked out the room.

Patch sat up and stretched. "I had the most wonderful dream last night and it had that boy I was talking to last night in it."

"I had a dream about him too" Damsel spoke up. "But, it was his brother, Blink, instead of…"

"Kid Trey" Patch cut her off, standing up with a dream-like expression on her face.

"I hope we get to see them again" Jewel said, walking to the wash room mainly thinking of Bumlets.

"Yeah, I have to finish my dance lesson with David" Copper smiled, tossing her auburn hair over her shoulder.

"We're not!" July spoke out, cynically.

"And, why?" Ace asked, planting her hands on her hips.

July turned back around to face Ace ((*hehehe* that sounds funny)).

"Because, those guys are jerks! Especially that Conlon guy."

"Didn't look like you minded him being a jerk last night" Cone remarked, rolling her eyes.

July turned a little red then got serious again. "It's not just that! Mr. Snyder will kill us if he finds out we're seeing `young men' he wouldn't approve of. Remember, we're to be married to rich boys with sense like an ape." ((hmm…the Delanceys maybe))

"Thank goodness we know better" PT said, brushing her brown hair.

"Yeah…" Cone agreed, sauntering over to Clink's bed. "Hey Clinker." She didn't move. "Clink." Cone bent down and shook her.

"Go away!" Clink yelled from under the covers.

Cone rolled her eyes. She had to think of something crafty to get her friend up. "Hmmm……Oh, look! It's that newsboy you were talking to last night!"

"What! Jake!" Clink jumped out of bed and ran to the window. She turned around a second later. "He's not there."

"You missed him then" Cone smirked, receiving a smack on the shoulder.

"I'm ready!" Pearl said, coming out of the wash room before hardly anyone else could even get in there.

"Geez Pearl! How did you get ready so fast?" Copper asked.

"I didn't goof around like some people." She grinned peering over at Cone and Clink.

After everyone was dressed and ready to go no where but downstairs, all the girls headed down to the huge kitchen table where Mr. Snyder was sitting there, looking at a paper. He looked up when he saw the girls enter the room.

"Good morning! You finally made it" he said, placing the now folded paper on the table.

All the girls said `good morning' and sat down quietly waiting for Lila to serve in breakfast. Cone saw the paper Mr. Snyder was looking at and became very curious ((that's me for ya!)).

"Mr. Snyder, where did you get that newspaper?" she asked, being very cautious about how she questioned him.

Mr. Snyder clamped his hands together, and stared at her with those scary blue eyes. "From a newsboy."

The girls tried not to smile. "What did the newsboy look like?" Cone asked, even more curious.

"He looked…" Mr. Snyder leaned in close to her, b/c she was sitting right next to him. "…like you shouldn't care about what the hoodlum looked like."

Cone snapped her finger under the table and murmured, "Drat."

Mr. Snyder looked around the table to see the faint smiles on the girls' faces. "What are you girls so happy about? Ready to do chores?" The smiles faded and was replaced with frowns. "That's better." He evilly grinned at his work.

Mr. Snyder turned around for a minutes to see what Lila was doing. July - who was sitting on the other side of him - leaned over and pretended to smack him in the back of the head while he wasn't looking.

This received a few mumbled giggles, but Mr. Snyder turned around right when they all went back to the sad, frowned faces. They had learned well from all these years of how to mask expressions. It was an art to them now. Just like it was an art for the newsies to escape from The Refuge.

After all the eggs and sausage was gone, Mr. Snyder wiped his mouth, slipped his napkin in his sleeve ((to save for a rainy day…ewww)), and beckoned `goodbye'. When he walked out the door, the girls wanted to get up and cheer, but Lila appeared from the kitchen.

"Time for school work then some chores! Now!"

The daily routine was about to begin. Cone and Damsel were the last to walk out the dining around when the sound of a boys hawking the headlines caught their ears. They exchanged glances and snuck off to the front door. Cone opened it slowly, not to make it creak. That's when they saw two of the boys from last night. Their boys at that. Mush and Blink somehow caught sight of them and smiled.

"What are you girls doing?!" Lila yelled, behind them.

Damsel and Cone turned to her with stunned faces. "uh…." They both stuttered.

"This is NO NO!" Lila slammed the door shut and locked it. "GO!" She shuffled the two off to the school room to meet their tutor.

Outside, Mush and Blink were in confusion. "Wha' jist happen?" Mush asked.

"I don't know. Dat was da girls and dey were looking out at us den dat huge scary lookin' woman slammed da door on `em" Blink said, thinking out loud.

"We need ta help `em now." Mush said, determining himself.

"Yeah, let's go get da others." Mush and Blink ran off to find the other newsies.

~*~

Mush and Blink trekked to Tibbys where they knew they'd find the rest of the newsies ((what can I say? *shrug* It took them a while to get there)). They burst into the door and ran over to Jack - who was just sitting there talking.

"Jack! Jack!" Blink shouted, as him and Mush ran to the table.

Jack turned around and stared at them strangely. "Wha'?"

"Ya remember da goils from last night?" Mush asked, leaning against the table with his palms.

"Yeah, why?" Jack cocked his head.

Blink answered. "Dere's something strange goin' on wit `em!"

"There sure is" they heard a voice from the door. Davey walked up to them. "I found some interesting things about our girls."

"What is dese interestin' things?" Trey asked, from across the table.

"Well, I found out that Warden Snyder is still in jail." Davey folded his arms as confused looked fell on his friends' faces.

"I knew he didn' get out!" Jack said, a little too loud.

"Den how is da same Snyder keepin' dose goils locked up?" Mush asked.

Davey frowned. "How should I know? I just say we keep out of this although I would like to see Copper again."

Blink and Trey exchanged grins. "We'd like to see Damsel and Patch again too."

Mush fell into his own little daydream world and sighed. "I wanna dance wit Coneflower again."

"C'mon boys! Wese got some…uh..wha'd ya call it?" Jack stuttered, standing up.

"Investigating" Davey answered him.

"Yeah, investigatin' ta do."

The same guys who went to see the girls the night before, followed Jack out the door and down the street to the building. They strolled up ever so cautiously - just in case this `Mr. Snyder' might show up. The guys went back to the fire escape in the alleyway only to find a familiar stick figure looking up at the window.

"Hey Spot!" Jack greeted loudly, thumbs jammed in his pocket.

The fearless leader of Brooklyn whirled around with a surprised look on his face - his cane raised ready for a fight. "Jacky-boy! Youse nearly gave me a heart attack!" All the boys laughed at seeing Spot Conlon so shocked.

"Wha' youse doin' heah, Spot?" Racetrack asked, grinning.

"I was jist passin' through" he replied, trying to look tough again.

Jack wanted to laugh. "Thinkin' `bout visitin' whats-her-name?"

Spot tried not to make eye contact, just stared at the stairs and mumbles, "July."

The boys laughed again, but got back to business. They'd rub this in later.

"So, who is gonna go up dere?" Skittery asked, sounding doubtful about the whole situation.

"Uh…" Jack murmured. He peered around at his newsies. They were all staring at him. He cursed. "I guess dat's me cue."

"I'll go wit ya, Jack!" Mush spoke up, stepping out of the group.

Mush and Jack started to climb the high fire escape up to the girls' window.

~*~

The girls dragged their feet while walking back into their room. Lila had worked them today and rest was very rewarding to them. Copper was the first to walk in the room and collapse on her bed.

"Why?!" Ace let out, dramatically falling on her bed.

"I think if we gang up on Lila, we can take her out!" Clink suggested, receiving a slap on the back of the head by Cone. "Hey!"

"You have to be kidding?" Cone asked, scrunching up her face.

Clink shrugged and dropped the issue. All the girl just sorta collapsed somewhere in the room. Lila had worked them to death today with school work and chores. Mr. Snyder hadn't come home yet, and he probably wouldn't until late that night.

Cone sat up from her bed and said, "I have a feeling that someone is coming."

"What?" everyone in the room said in unison.

"Uh…never mind." With that, Cone went into the washroom to wash her face as a knock came from the window. Pearl stepped over to the window to see two guys kneeling on the fire escape to see inside.

Pearl grinned recognizing one as Jack. She opened the window. "Hi Jack! Hi Mush! What brings you by?" It only took a second for Cone to run out of the wash room and knock Pearl out the way of the window. Well, knock is too harsh of a word; it was more like gave-her-a-little-push out the way. ((*hehehe* Sorry Pearl!…lol))

"Hey! What are you guys doing here?" Cone asked, a huge smile coming across her face.

"Can I come in?" Mush asked.

"Of course!" Cone moves out the way so Mush could come in. Pearl sat by the window to talk to Jack while all the other girls just watched ((?)) excitedly. "What are you two doing here?"

Mush smirked. "Me and da othahs are heah ta take you goils out fer da night. Ya think dis Mr. Snyder would mind?"

Cone thought for a moment. "Mr. Snyder has spies down there that could catch us. Trust me, he is very sneaky and has many connections."

"Well, we'll protect ya. All you goils will have ya own poisonal bodyguard."

Cone couldn't help but laugh at the thought. "What do you say girls?" Cone asked, turning around seeing that no one was there. "Looks like I have my answer."

Mush grabbed her hand and helped Cone out the window. Everyone was down on the ground already saying their `hellos' to the guys. Patch and Damsel strolled up to Blink and Trey real calmly with big grins on their faces; the boys mirroring them. Clink ran up to Jake and stole his bowler - playing keep-away with it. Copper and Davey started a chat right away like they'd known each other forever. Ace walked up to Racetrack wanting to play some more poker right away. PT just sort a stood next to Skittery, and they keep glancing over at each other without saying a word. Bumlets had met Jewel by the stairs and gave her a daisy he `borrowed' out of someone's flower pot. Spot and July stared at one another kind a growling for some reason ((?…lol)). Jack offered his arm to Pearl, and she excepted right away. Mush and Cone exchanged glances and wanted to laugh at all the different ways their friends were greeting each other.

"All right! Everyone ready to go out tonight?" Jack called out to everyone.

"Where are we going?" Pearl asked.

He smirked. "It's a surprise."

"I'm up for a surprise!" Clink yelled, dropping Jake's bowler as he grabbed her by the waist.

"Den let's head out!" Jack said enthusiastically.

************

The large bunch of kids walked down the streets of Manhattan. It was a very different scene for the girls. They had never really had the chance to walk on the street very often from living in Mr. Snyder's boarding house for years. It was a wonder for them to be in the commotion of life, and not just watch it from a small window in their room. This was definitely going to be an adventure. Good thing they had the newsie guys there with them. It made the adventure twice as exciting.

Mush and Cone were walking at the rear of the group hand in hand. Jack with Pearl were leading the group. PT and Skittery started talking to each other and was having a good time. Copper and Davey were playfully kicking down the street ((*hehehe*)). Ace was bugging Race to give her one of his cigars. The two brothers had sneakily slipped their arms around Patch and Damsel's waist. Spot and July were having a silent competition of trying to stay ahead of one another. Jewel and Bumlets was the second to last couple heading the rear; talking lowly. Jake had finally given in to let Clink wear his bowler, but he was keeping a close eye on her especially b/c she had his hat.

The group came to a stop in front of a large showy building with a big picture of a lady in a purple dress. The sign read "Irving Hall".

"This looks interesting" Ace commented, elbowing Race in the ribs. He rolled his eyes and didn't pay no mind to her remark.

"What is this place?" Jewel asked, looking up at the sign.

"You goils will see soon. Let's go get us a seat down in front" Jack said, leading the way again.

They all walked in to see a comedy skit being acted out by a two guys.

Patch and Damsel stopped and watched them for a moment. One guy `hit' the other guy and the other guy went tumbling backwards.

"I can do that!" Damsel blurted out. She blushed when she realized how loud that had came out.

Patch leaned in near Trey's ear and whispered, "What are those two men doing?"

Trey looked at her strangely, but remembered the girls had never been to something like this before. "Dose two guys are doing slapstick comedy. It's suppose to make people laugh."

Patch turned to watch the skit again. "Oh, okay."

The `hall' was kinda empty. It was a Thursday night and not very many people were out. They all walked up to the front where no one was sitting. There were four people to a table. Of course, each guy pulled out a chair for each girl with the exception of Spot and July. They were such gentlemen. The announcer suddenly came on right after the kids got settled and said, "Presenting Miss Medda Larkson." The guys started to clap, trying to hold back hoots and hollers for the girls' sake. The girls just clapped along with them. Medda sauntered on stage with her purple feather in her hand. She started to sing her famous "My Lovey Dovey Baby", and noticed all the boys in the audience with dates. She grinned to herself, thinking `they finally got over me'.

"I use to be your tootsie wootsie" Medda sang, doing a little shimmy then started to saunter around the stage again.

PT leaned over to Skittery sitting besides her. "What is so great about this?"

He faced her and smirked, "It's entertaining."

"Really? I guess I'm not use to seeing that kind of `entertainment'" she replied back.

Skittery could see she was a little jealous, so, he slipped his around slowly around PT's shoulder. She smiled, knowing her job there was done.

Damsel and Patch glanced at their `guys' at the same time to see they weren't paying much attention to Medda's performance.

"What are you looking at?" Patch asked Trey, playfully.

"Let's hope it's you and not only a dream" he replied. ((*muhahaha* EYC!))

"I know if you were a dream, Dame, I'd never wanna wake up again" Blink said enchantingly, making Damsel blush.

"I feel that same way" she got out, before giggling into her hand.

Ace bounced up and down on her chair, clasping onto Race's shoulder. "Oh c'mon, can we play one game of poker?"

Race finally gave in, and took out his cards. "I gotta deal for ya, Ace. How about we play poker like…" he leaned over and whispered in her ear.

A huge grin came across her face. "YES! I'll play like that. Naughty…but right here?"

"Uh…" Race peered around then grabbed her hand. "I know a place where we can play." ((No! It's nothing bad, so, quit with your dirty minds…LOL!))

"Can I have my hat back?" Jake asked Clink, who was actually sitting very still watching the show.

She looked over at him real blankly, and keep him in suspense until she smirked. "Of course, you can't."

Jake's mouth was catching flies when she said that, but he smirked back, "Y'know, I'm stronger than you and I can take ya down, goily."

Clink was a little shocked at that statement from him. "I got muscle."

He flexed his muscle on his right arm ((*swoon*)). Clink just sat there as Jake took his bowler off her head and placed it back on his.

"You like that stuff?" Copper asked Davey.

He turned to look at her. "Maybe…why?"

Copper shrugged. "I don't know. Ever think of having her teach you how to dance?"

Davey played an arm around Copper and scooted closer to her. "Like I want anyone but you teaching me how to dance. Which reminds me, we haven't finished our lesson."

Copper jumped up taking Davey with her. "Let's do that then." They disappeared somewhere backstage.

"Isn't Medda a great performer?" Jack suddenly said.

Pearl cocked her head. "Does she do this for a living?"

Jack scratched his neck then answered, "Yeah. She's been doing this stuff for as long as I been around."

"Oh, so have you been knowing her a while?" Pearl was digging from after seeing Jack stare at Medda SO hard.

"Uh…I been knowing her for a while. What's the deal?" He was a little confused.

"Just wondering" she replied, leaning back into him.

Bumlets glanced over at Jewel. She appeared to be having an `okay' time, but not the greatest. He tapped her on the shoulder, and whispered, "Are you enjoying yourself?"

Jewel shrugged. "Yes, a little."

"I'm not really into this stuff. Ya wanna go on the roof and just talk. I bet the stars are out by now."

"That sounds much better." Jewel took Bumlets hand, and they walked up to the roof.

"Who wrote that song?" Cone asked Mush, who was currently staring off into dream world at Cone.

He snapped back into reality, and said, "I think Medda writes `em herself."

Cone smiled. "You think I could write a song like that?"

"Of course, you can! You can do anything you want." Mush kissed her cheek. "You want to write a song like that?"

"Well…" Cone muttered, "Maybe not as cuddly wuddely." She grinned, imitating Medda.

Mush burst out into laughter causing Medda to all the sudden stop, but she regained her bearings quickly and started to sing again. Cone smacked a hand over her own mouth not to laugh too loud. The two received a glare from Medda, which was a very rare thing. Mush grasped Cone's hand and they ran out for no reason at all. Medda finally finished her song and dance. Applause came from all the people who were still……there. It seemed that most of the front row had disappeared.

Mush and Cone ran down to the backstage area. The newsies were allowed back there at anytime and it seemed that that was the place where some of the newsie guys and some of the girls disappeared too. Mush and Cone slowed down to a steady walk, with grins plastered on their faces.

"I can't believe we just did that!" Cone said, giggling. "I have never had that much fun in a long time!"

"And the night isn't over yet" Mush commented.

"What are we going to do…" Cone was cut short when Mush abruptly stopped before passing a dressing room door. The door was only half-opening and they could hear voices inside. They peeked into the crack to see Ace and Racetrack playing a very 'interesting' game of poker.

"What do you have?" Ace asked, excitedly.

Race snorted, and laid down his cards. "Three of a kind."

Ace squealed, bouncing up and down in her chair. "I have a straight flush!"

"Again?!" Race glared at her suspiciously. "You sure you ain't cheatin'?"

Ace grinned innocently. "Of course not. Now, time for what I won! The neck this time."

Mush and Cone pulled away from the door. "Uh…I don't think we were suppose to see that" Cone said, a little shocked.

"Yeah, but a kiss on the neck is nothing to ashamed of?" Mush smirked.

Cone planted her hands on her hips, with a serious expression on her face.

"Courting is more my style. Now, where are we going?"

Mush grabbed her hand again - without answering - and lead her up a flit of stairs. They emerged outside on the roof. The stars were high up in the sky, and the night was quiet - with a few exception of some voices taalking. The couple looked around to see Jewel and Bumlets were talking lowly by the edge of the roof.

"Heya" Mush and Cone greeting happily.

"Hey" Bumlets and Jewel said back.

"Can we join you two?" Cone asked, still holding Mush's hand.

Jewel spoke up first, "Yes, of course, you can."

"We was just 'bout to go in, but I think we'll stay out heah a little longer" Bumlets said.

Mush and Cone sat down on some crates next to the edge, across from Jewel and Bumlets. They were quiet for a little while until Mush spoke up, "Have you goils enjoyed this night so far?"

"Yes, silly!" Cone slapped him gently on the cheek ((oh no! She was already picking up on the slap game!)).

"I'm having a great time" Jewel replied, glancing over at Bumlets. He was staring off a little in her direction.

They were interrupted by a loud fall from behind the stairs building thingy. Some laughter came next, and Copper and Davey peeked out from behind it.

"Uh…hey" he said meekly, trying to hold back one of his 'Ha's".

"We were just……" Copper looked around for something to say, but only found Davey beside her. She grinned and pushed him away playfully. "…out of here."

She ran down the stairs. Davey looked up, shrugged, and ran after her.

Cone turned back to everyone. "What just happen there?"

Her three companions shrugged, and went back to talking. After a few minutes, a roar of thunder was heard from a distance and lightening flashes from far off. The two girls jumped, holding onto their guys. They really hadn't ever been outside when a storm was coming, so, it scared them.

"Looks like a storm is coming. We better get da others and get you goils back home" Mush stated, putting his arm around Cone.

"Yeah. Don't wanna get caught in the rain" Bumlets commented, holding onto Jewel just the same.

The two couples went down the stairs, and back into the main area of the Hall. Medda had stopped performing, and was talking to the newsies guys and greeting the girls. Mush pushed his way to Jack, telling him about the storm that was coming. Jack rounded up everyone ((*hehe* with his rope…J/K!)), but two people were missing from the group.

"Where's Spot and July?" he asked, scrunching his nose for no reason.

"Haven't seen 'em since the show began" Race answered.

Jack smacked Race in the back of the head. "Of course, ya haven't seen 'em since da show began. Youse and ya goil have been in a dressing room da whole time."

All the sudden, a closet door backstage came open, and Spot and July fell out. Everyone started laughing at them. Spot and July turned red, and sorta scooted away from each other.

"Let me guess, you two weren't just talkin'." Skittery remarked, actually making a funny comment for the first time in his life.

Now that everyone was ready, they all said 'good-bye' to Medda to head back home. The thunder and lightening was getting closer, and half to the girls' boarding house - it started to rain. They all ran as fast as they could to the boarding house over hang under the fire escape. It was kinda cramped under there, so, half the group migrated to the over hang on the building next door. They were all soaked to the bone from the rain.

It was time to say goodbye. No one wanted too. That night was more than just fun. But, Cone told everyone to hurry b/c Mr. Snyder would be home at any minute. Clink hugged Jake and knocked his bowler over his eyes then run up the stairs of the fire escape. Blink and Trey kissed Damsel and Patch on the hand. PT and Skittery gave each other a big hug. Jack touched Pearl's cheek and whispered something to her which made her blush. Race hugged Ace as she goosed him. Bumlets kissed Jewel on the cheek. Copper tweaked Davey on the nose, and ruffled his wet hair. Spot and July were pushing each other, but Jack came up behind them and pushed them together - causing a complete different action. Mush and Cone stared at one another, not wanting to leave.

PT called her to get her butt inside. Cone turned back to Mush, receiving a surprise, a quick kiss from him. She stared at him in shock until he told her she better get inside.

Cone climbed the stairs looking down at all the guys leaving. She crawled through the window, pushing it down just in time before Mr. Snyder knocked on the door - walking in. He glared at his girls when he saw they were all wet.

"What is this?" he said in disgusted, pulling on Patch's sleeve.

"Um…a sleeve" she replied, meekly.

He growled, and looked at all the girls. "What have you been doing? Have you girls been playing in the wash room or outside in the rain?"

Everyone gulped, not knowing what to say. Mr. Snyder walked over to July and Ace. "I have a feeling you one of you are the culprits."

Cone's temper was beginning to get heated, and she stepped up between Mr. Snyder and her friends. "I'm the one who got everyone wet."

Mr. Snyder glared at her in that 'fatherly disappointed' way. "Miss Adams, I would have never expected this from you."

"Well, what can I say? You don't really know me at all" she retorted. The girls were getting scared now.

Mr. Snyder wanted to exploded, but he keep his anger down. He grabbed Cone by the arm and dragged her out the room. Some of the girls closest to the door ran up to it, but it was already locked.

"I'm scared for Cone. No telling what he's going to do to her" Damsel said, almost in tears.

Pearl put an arm around her. "It's okay. Cone knows how to take care of herself even when it's from Mr. Snyder."

July stepped up to her. "Yeah, Cone will be okay."

"Let's prey she will" Patch said.

Mr. Snyder dragged Cone by the arm all the way down stairs to a room on the other side of the home. He opened the door, setting his lamp down, and making Cone seat in a chair. Cone peered around at this room. It was dreary feeling with a desk by the back wall and a bed by the door. Mr. Synder fiddled around by his bed then finally sat down at his desk - staring at Cone through the dim light. She stared nervously back at him.

"You knew your family, right?" Mr. Snyder asked.

Cone glared at him a little confused. "Yes" she answered, slowly.

Mr. Snyder leaned in against his desk. "Then you know how it feels to lose them."

Cone took it as more of a questions. "Of course, I do! I was nine when they died in the fire." She became uneasy for a moment. He was never interested in the girls' family before they became orphans.

"Then you know exactly what I'm going through." Mr. Snyder leaned back into his chair.

"Um…what do you mean?" Cone was even more confused now.

The bolding man sighed dramatically. "I have a brother." Cone mouth dropped open, literally! He saw the stunned expression on her face, and smirked evilly. "A twin brother."

Cone almost fell out her chair. "There's two of you!" she yelled, very bluntly.

Mr. Snyder shook his head and stood up - walking behind Cone. "He ran the House of Refuge." Without warning, he firmly placed his hands on Cone's shoulder. "But, they arrested him. For what reason, I do not know."

"Maybe he was being a donkey butt, I bet it runs in the family." The remark only got Cone in more hot water.

Mr. Snyder tightened his grip making her cringe. "Do you like when I do that?"

Cone wanted to smack him by now. She took a deep breath and answered truthfully, "No, I do not. So, please get your hands off me."

He backed off, and shrugged. "I'm finish with you tonight, Miss Adams. Go back to your room. I'll have Lila escort you." Cone stood up, leaving in a not-so-discreet way.

"What happen?!" was the popular question as Cone sauntered back into the room, not so casually. She made eye contact with everyone encircled around her and replied with a snort, "A very disgusting thing."

July cocked her head. "Say what?"

Cone rolled her eyes and started pacing around the room. "Snyder told me something that you guys will not believe." Pearl glanced up from her sewing as everyone's attention was caught."Tell us, Cone!" Damsel demanded, innocently.

Should she tell them about the evil spawn of the Synder 'clan'. Cone shrugged, thinking why not. "There are two of them." A lot of 'huh's?' rang around the room. "Synder has a brother!" Cone spilled out, without thinking.

She smacked a hand over her month, realizing she said that a little too loud.

Instead of 'huh's?', gasp came from everyone's mouth. No one really knew what to think. Cone didn't really either, but Synder had something up his sleeve with the whole 'brother' thing.

Finally Ace spoke up. "And, why did he tell you about this?"

Cone shrugged. "Don't ask me!" She plopped down on her bed. "I can tell ya, I'm disturbed. Mr. Synder knows that we've been doing stuff."

"Maybe he's just trying to scare us" PT said half-smiled, seeing if her statement would lighten the tension.

"Yeah" Copper threw in. "He just might be scaring us b/c he knows we did something."

Everyone nodded - agreeing or not. Cone snorted again. "I don't know what to think right now." She leaned against the bed on her elbows. "He mentioned that his brother - oh, I forgot - he said twin brother…"

That just railed the girls up more. "Two Synders!!!!" Clink yelped.

Patch clamped a hand over Clink's mouth. "Clink, not so loud."

Cone rolled her eyes once more. "Like I was saying…" She grinned slightly, knowing the fact would really stir things up. "He mentioned that his brother ran the House of Refuge. One of the newsie guys has to know what that place is."

Jewel jumped up, excited. "Bumlets said something about a Refuge place where it was like jail."

"Really?" Jewel nodded. "Then that has to be the place."

"Next time the guys visit, we could ask them about that" Damsel declared, eagerly."We can, but I'm afraid for the guys now."

July pressed, slightly. "Why Cone?"

She sighed, laying back on her bed. "Because Mr. Synder probably knows about them visiting us. You never know what he might do if he knows."

A somber mood fell over the room, almost distracting. Nerves were going to be on the edge now. Pearl's mouth twisted, like she was thinking.

"Let's just try and be careful. Warn the guys before they make their way here."

"Not tonight" Copper spoke up. "I hear Mr. Snyder or Lila coming up the stairs."

"We probably can wait on the warning the guys. It's not like they're going to come early in the morning" PT commented, dragging the covers from her bed and hopping in. All the girls did the same as Mr. Snyder slithered his way in to say 'Good night'.

~*~

The next morning arrived as usual and the girls did their usual thing…except for one thing - a knock at the window.

"What are the guys doing here so early?!" Jewel asked, a little panic.

Cone slung open the window. "What are you doing here?" She noticed there was only five of them, and almost sighed in relief.

"It's kind of dangerous for ya'll to be here right now" Pearl said, walking up behind Cone.

Jack quirked a smile at her. "Wese live fer danger." Pearl whirled her eyes at him - blushing, not commenting about it.

"Where's Davey?" Copper asked, hanging out the other window a few feet away.

"He had ta go ta school taday" Jack answered her. Copper growled, ducking back into the window and closing it.

"Can we come in fer a sec?" Spot shoved his way to the front.

Now July was hanging out the other window. "We don't want YOU in here!" The two started arguing.

"Will they ever stop fighting?" Mush asked, hands crammed in his pocket.

Cone shook her head and grinned. "Only if the world spins off it's axis."

Mush cocked his head, thinking about that remark.

The two 'Kid' brothers - who had been quiet - were getting anxious on the fire escape. "So, can we come in?" Trey called from the back of the cluster.

"Oh, come on, Cone. Let them in for a moment" Patch said, peeking out the other window with July.

Cone sighed, knowing she was going to say yes. Glancing up at Mush's dazed expression, she moved out the way for the guys to climb in.

"Where's all the other guys?" Clink frowned not seeing Jake in the group. "I want to see Jake!"

"Some of da guys sell 'way from dis part a town so dey couldn't come" Blink replied, climbing in and meeting Damsel on the way.

Ace strolled out of the wash room. "What are you guys doing here? and why the heck is Race not here?"

"He's at da track" Jack replied, hurrying over to talk to Pearl before anymore questions were asked.

"Look guys…" Cone trailed off, getting serious. "We need to know something about the House of Refuge."

All the newsies present turned to her almost in shock. "What about it?" Spot blethered, nearing the closet with July.

Cone plopped down on her bed with Mush sitting down next to her. "Mr. Snyder mentioned it last night and he also mentioned he has a twin brother who use to run it but is in jail now."

Jack's month was hanging open. "So dis Snyder guy dat's keepin' youse heah is da brodder of da Snyder who tried ta put me in jail so many times?"

"I guess so." Cone shrugged."Dat can't be good!" Trey spouted, out of no where.

Blink smacked his brother's shoulder. "Naw, wouldn't a thought."

The pounding of footsteps came suddenly. "Oh no! That might be Mr. Snyder!" Clink exclaimed, being closest to the door.

"No time to climb out the window. Guys, hide somewhere." Cone slammed the window down, and told Mush to get under her bed. Jack did the same, but slid under Pearl's bed. Trey and Blink went to hide in the wash room as July pushed Spot into the closet, but his key 'somehow' got tangled together with her necklace and they were stuck together. They rushingly fiddled around with it for a moment, but it didn't help.

Spot sighed frustratedly. "Take off your necklace."

"I can't! Why don't you?!" July's voice was a little edgy. Patch was fixing to run over and help when they heard the door knob start to turn. July pushed Spot behind her, and he sort of hide in the clothes. July keep her hands behind her back, holding on to Spot's hand in the process.

The heavy door swung open slowly as Mr. Snyder made his way in the room. The girls tried not to look too obvious that something was wrong especially July, but she was failing.

"Girls, what have you been up to?" he asked, his blank blue eyes wavering around the area.

"Nothing. Why?" Ace answered him, acting calm.

Mr. Snyder sighed heavily like he was exhausted. "I just don't know about you girls sometimes." He peered over at July like he was going to walk up to her, but veered off in the direction of the washroom. Patch and Damsel nearly screamed out 'don't go in there'. Good thing Jewel was there to stop them before they did. Mr. Snyder strolled over to the windows on the far side of the room, and bolt the them shut. The girls watched in horror.

"I am off girls." Mr. Snyder dismissed himself and left. Every person in the room let out a sigh of relief. PT stood at the door to make sure he was gone while the boys crept out of their hiding places.

"Oh my goodness!" July shouted, keeping her voice down to where the downstairs wouldn't hear it. Spot came out of the closest holding something in one hand. His other hand was red and basically wet from July squeezing it from nervousness.

"Is dis yours?" he asked, holding up a garter. July would of smacked him if they didn't still have the 'stuck together' issue to deal with. Patch - now - ran over there to help them, and Ace sseized her garter away from Spot.

Pearl and Jack tried to pull up the window, but it was bolted down tight.

"It won't move."

Cone sat on her bed once again, grimacing. "Now what?" Mush sat down beside her, slipping his arm around her shoulder.

"How are we going to get the guys out?!" Damsel said, nearing tears. Blink came to comfort her.

"The only way to get the guys out is either through the back or front door" Jewel suggested, pushing a thin strain of hair out her face and frowning.

"The back door would be the best bet" Ace added, sounding kind of like Racetrack.

"Yeah, because the front door might look pretty suspicious" Clink inquired.

Cone grappled with the decision. "I think we'll have to do that. We'll just have to be very, very careful."

"Wait, how are we going to do this?" Patch asked, finally getting July and Spot unattached.

"At least two of us has to sneak the guys down to the back door" Cone explained, in deep thought of the structure of the building.

"I'll go!" Patch blurted out, glancing at Trey - blushing.

"That'd be good, because me and Patch know this place pretty well." Cone stood up. "Let's get our boys out of here."

Like usual, the guys who were there bid 'goodbye' to their girls, and snuck out the door with Cone and Patch. Cone lead the way with Patch in the back - watching for strays ((*hahaha* LOL!)). They crept down the back stairs then into the hallway. Cone suddenly stopped, thinking she had heard Lila coming but it was just her 'active' imagination. Proceeding into the kitchen, they made it to the back door and the newsies got out the building safely.

"Sorry we caused ya trouble" Mush told Cone.

"It's okay. I was idiot. If you weren't so cute, you guys wouldn't gotten pass so much as to the fire escape" Cone remarked with a jokingly smirk.

"I guess I'll take dat as a compliment." Mush shrugged, and kissed her on the cheek - shifting into the alleyway pass the door.

Cone waited for Patch to finally let Trey go then closed the door, taking a deep breath. "I think that went well."

"I think so too" Patch replied with a faint smile. "I'm just thankful we got them out."

"Me too." Cone and Patch started to walk back to the room when Mr. Snyder came out of no where.

"Patch!" The two girls nearly jumped out of their skin. Cone had a tense hand over her chest like she was about to have a heart attack.

"Yes, Mr. Snyder?" she squeaked out, turning toward him.

"What are you and Cone doing down here?"

Patch swallowed. "Just doing something for Lila."

The man nodded - half-heartedly - and continued on with what he looked like he anxiously wanted to say. "I have someone for you to meet." He turned to Cone. "You are excused to go back upstairs."

Cone started back to the stairs, glancing back to see Patch's distraught expression. Mr. Snyder lead her off to the parlor where she made eye contact with the 'guests'. There sat a man in his 50's and a boy around 18. Patch was a little confused by now.

"This must be Kelly Patchin" the older man said, stepping over to her. "You are a lovely young lady."

Patch made a funny face, totally dazed. "Thanks."

"I told you, Basil. My little Patch is a wonderful girl" Mr. Snyder smiled ((it still looked evil)) and clasped a hand on Patch's shoulder. "I've raised her to be a proper lady." Patch's thoughts weren't so proper while Mr. Snyder said that.

"She is quit pretty" the younger man said, nodding and staring at her in approval.

"May I ask, what's going on?" Patch threw in, thinking of any situation this was going to.

Mr. Snyder turned to her, delighted as heck for some reason. "Why, Patch my dear, this is your betroved."

"WHAT?!?!?!?!" Patch screamed, almost fainting and literally making everyone in ten miles of her - deaf.

In the bedroom, all the girls jumped at the scream. July leaped up into her bed. "That was Patch! Mr. Snyder is hurting her!" She ran to the door, slung it open, and ran out. Cone and Clink following after her. They had no idea what Snyder was doing to Patch, but they knew if July would do something crazy if he was hurting Patch.

********************************

Cone and Clink rammed into July at the bottom of the stairs. She had stopped suddenly when she saw the 'company'. Patch was bent over trying to breathe, and the young man was at her side. She pushing him away, but he keep coming back. The three girls on the stairs watched, quietly.

"Are you okay?" the young man, who seemed concerned, asked.

Patch stood up straight, pushing him away again. "Can you please tell me…" she took another deep breath. "…what's going on?"

Mr. Synder grinned widely. "You didn't know, my dear?" It scared Patch because Snyder was acting TOO nice. She shook her head. "A few months ago Mr. Basil - here - saw you lovely girls and wanted his son, Harrison, to be married to one of you. Since you are the oldest, you shall be married first."

"Oh no…" Clink murmured as the three on the stairs were still listening and grumbling.

Cone uttered, lowly. "This isn't good."

"What's going on?" Damsel asked, all the sudden, coming down the stairs. All in unison, July, Cone, and Clink, 'shh'ed her.

"And there's more good news" Mr. Snyder stated.

Patch looked at him in shock. "There's good news?!"

"Mr. Basil has three more sons. So, three of your friends will actually be related to you by marriage."

"I'm not marrying him" she announced, more calm, pointing a finger in Harrison's direction. She turned and run up the stairs - almost in tears.

Harrison's expression was confused. The four girls on the stairs - still - sized him up. He looked like a nice guy concerned about what was wrong with Patch, but Kid Trey was the only guy she wanted.

Mr. Snyder turned to them with a deadly glare in his eye. It only took one glimpse of it for the girls to hurry back upstairs to their room. He brought his attention back to his guest. "Why, I don't know what got into my dear Patch. I'll have a talk with her. Don't worry Harrison, you'll have a bride."

With that, Mr. Basil and his son left. Mr. Snyder started to make his way to the second floor. Meanwhile, Patch was crying on her pillow.

"I can't believe this" she murmured, wrapped around her pillow. "How could he do this?"

July was sitting beside her trying to comfort her friend. "It's okay. We're not going to let this Harrison guy marry you."

Patch sniffled as Pearl handed her a handkerchief. "And how?"

"We'll do something" Cone informed, staring out the window at the guest that just left.

"I wish Trey was here!" Patched cried.

Over at the boy's lodging house, the newsies were just doing their normal activities that they always did except one thing was wrong. There was this strange feeling in the room. All the guys who knew the girls was had that feeling. Finally, Mush broke the tension.

"Guys, I think somethings wrong" he said, jumping off his top bunk.

"Yeah" Trey agreed. "Somethings not roight and I think it's da goils."

Jack shook his head. "I know. But wha' we suppose ta do 'bout it?"

"Rescue 'em!" Spot shouted, cane in hand and ready to go to war.

Davey, who was staying at the LH that night ((just because I say so!)) , rolled his eyes. "We just can't storm in there and carry them away. We need a plan."

Skittery snorted. "Oh yeah, like the strike." Everyone threw a yell his way and went back to thinking about the situation.

The other newsies, who really had no clue what was going on, minded their own busy.

Jack's eyes whirled around the room, thinking. "Y'know Dave, dat ain't such a bad idea."

Davey's month hung open. "What?"

"Like, wese go dere, get da goils out, and hide 'em somewheres. Jist don't know wheres."

The guys thought for a few minutes, then Spot spoke out with a mischievous smirk, "Dey can stay in Brooklyn."

"Oh yeah, you really like dat, huh Spot?" Race remarked.

Spot growled at Race, but nothing more. Davey spoke again. "Since we're going to go there with this anyway, we need a plan."

The girls were all upset over listening to Mr. Snyder 'plans' for them that Patch told them. After a while, they all just slumped around doing silent activities. Jewel was reading. Ace was playing solitaire with the cards Race gave her. Clink was already asleep. PT was talking to Pearl in the corner as Pearl was finishing up on her sewing. July and Patch were sitting around thinking up ways to get out of this situation. Copper was staring out the window. Cone and Damsel were busy making up a song.

They were all interrupted when a soft knock was heard on the door. The door opened slightly as an unfamiliar person peeked in.

"May I come in?" It was Harrison - the young man Patch was betroved too.

July threw him an evil look. "You're not welcome in here."

"Please…" he stepped forward, hat in hand. "I just need a few moments."

The girls were fixing to rally around there betroved friend when Cone stopped them. "Girls, let the boy talk. If he doesn't have anything worthwhile to say, then we'll soak 'em!" She smirked after going into her fake accent.

Harrison averted his eyes to the floor, fiddling with his hat heavily. It seemed he was quit intimidated by a bunch of girls. "I'm sorry that this has to happen this way." He glanced up mostly at Patch as he spoke. "I didn't plan on it, but my father and Mr. Snyder are just too big…jerks."

"You can say that again!" Ace remarked.

"What I'm trying to say is…" Harrison took a deep breath. "I don't want to marry you either."

"Really?" Patch stared in surprise.

"Why? What's wrong with her?!" July lashed out. Patch jabbed her in the ribs.

"Oh! It's not that you are nice and a lovely person. It's just I have someone else I love."

"Ohhhhhhhh……" all the girls said in unison.

"I hope you understand."

"I understand fully!" Patch smiled, jumping onto her bed. "I have someone I love too."

"Well, that's wonderful. But we have to do something to get out of this arrangement."

"Leave that up to us…" Jack Kelly appeared behind Harrison, arms folded like he was proud of something he just did. Well, he should be proud because him and Spot just snuck into Snyder's boarding house without getting caught so far - remember the windows had been bolted down.

"Jack? What are you doing here?" Pearl asked, in shock - running up to him.

Jack grinned happily. "Let's just say it was my slick wits."

Spot came barreling into the bunk room. "More like my slick wits and good looks." He slipped a hand through his hair.

"Would you shut up, Spot." Jack rolled his eyes.

"Boy, you can just smell the ego in the room" Copper quirked.

"Excuse me" Harrison said, very confused. "Who are you?"

"Ise Spot Conlon, otherwise known as Brooklyn."

"And Ise Jack Kelly." Jack put out his hand to shake, but Harrison just sorta stared at it.

"Look heah…" Spot started. "We need ta get da goils out before Snyder and dat fat guy comes back."

"That fat guy is my father" Harrison informed, placing his hat back on his head.

Spot shrugged. "Whatevah."

Cone finally stepped up. "Harrison, can you do something for us?" He nodded.

"Good. Be useful and go be the look out so we can get out of this joint."

Harrison left and went to be a 'look out' while Jack and Spot got the girls out there the kitchen. Lila was a sleep, so, that was a good thing. Of course, the other newsie guys were waiting on the alley close by ;)

************************ "So where are you guys going to hide us?" Pearl asked, as the group walked down a back alley.

"Wese gonna hide ya at Medda's place till we can figure out where ta bring youse" Jack replied.

They made it to Irving Hall a few minutes later. Medda was just fine with the girls staying there, and decided to put them to work after the guys left - since it was late and all. The girls sleep in the several dressing rooms that night and got to sleep in late for once in the morning.

"Hey Medda, can I talk to you?" Cone asked, pulling the older lady aside that morning.

Medda nodded. "Why sure. Whatcha need, kid?"

"Me and Damsel wrote a song and we kind of hoped that we could perform it here" Cone said, holding up a piece of paper with words on it. "You think your piano player can set a tune to this?"

Medda looked over the works and smiled widely. "This is the perfect song to sing here. I'll get Fred on coming up with a tune right away." She scampered off with the paper.

Cone just stood there for a little while just thinking until she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to find two girls around her age standing behind her. "Hi" she greeting.

"Hi, your Coneflower, right?" the blonde girl asked.

Cone nodded. "Yes, that's me."

"Medda told us to come and help you. She's already got Fred making music to your song" the other girl said.

"Really? That quick?" Cone looked surprised.

"Yes!" the blonde girl said enthusiastically with a smile. "Oh, we forgot to mention our names. I'm Dot." She shook Cone's hand.

"And I'm Shadow" the other girl said and shook Cone's hand also.

"Do you two work here?"

"Yes, we do" Shadow answered. Cone looked at her a little surprised. "Oh, not like that!" She flushed, as well as Dot.

"Shadow is the seamstress for Medda and I'm the cookie baker!" Dot smiled, happily, as she pulled some cookies out of her pocket. "Want one?" She held a cookie in front of Cone's face.

"Sure!" Cone took the cookie and started eating. "So, what'd you want again?"

Shadow held up her needle and thread. "We've come to sew your costume."

Cone's face went blank. "Huh?"

~*~

"Um…I don't think this is a good idea" Damsel whimpered a little as Shadow sewed together the green material on her puffy sleeve.
"Are you sure Mr. Snyder won't come in here? Or what about his goonies?" Pearl asked sitting in a big orange chair with her blue satin dress already one.

"Y'know, Medda has some very interesting taste" Copper remarked, staring strangely at the flower patterned wall paper.

"Counting flowers on the wall, that don't bother me at all" Cone sang out of no where ((that's a real song too!!)).
"Where'd that come from?" Clink asked, waiting at the dressing room door for someone to walk in.

Cone shrugged. "I have no clue."

"Hello?" Jewel shouted from huge purple couch. "What if Mr. Snyder comes in here while you guys are performing?"

"I don't think he'd recognize us with all this make-up on. We look like prostitutes" July remarked, as she stood in front of the mirror.

Medda had gotten some of the girls to be part of the show, singing and dancing to Cone and Damsel's song they had made up back at the boarding house. Of course, Cone had asked earlier but didn't know they'd have to dress so 'revealing'.

"Yes, we sure do" Cone replied, straightening out her corset. "but it will be the only time we do this."

"Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, this is risky" Patch exclaimed, worriedly.

Damsel sighed. "I don't think I want to."

"Ouch!" Cone screamed, as Pearl helped tie her corset closed.

All the 'what if's and groans were interrupted by the door swinging opening. "Anybody want some cookies?!" Dot yelled, entering the room with a trey of cookies. All the girls ran and collected a few.

Medda entered the room right after Dot with a huge smile. "You girls look wonderful!"

"Hey girls! Guess who's…" they heard next from the door way. Just then, Ace and PT appeared. "Uh…" they both stuttered.

"What's going on?" PT asked, walking over to the purple couch and sitting down.

"They're singing and dancing in Medda's show" Jewel replied to her.

"And why wasn't I informed of this…so I could do it too!" Ace yelled, pouting.

"You two just had to go bug the stage hands up in to rafters" Copper said, rolling her eyes.

"We couldn't help it though!" PT protested.

"Yeah, we were having a little fun" Ace said, exchange a mischievous grin with PT.

"Girls, I think you should start practicing now" Medda interrupted, pointing her pink feather at them.

Cone, Damsel, Pearl, and July got up and walked out the door behind Medda. The rest of the girls followed.

It was late-afternoon when some of the newsies arrived early at Irving Hall. The guys tried to go backstage, but Medda stopped them and told them to sit up front for a 'special' show. The newsies exchanged curious and mischievous glances.

Davey leaned close to Jack and asked, "What do you think the girls are up too?"

"I don't know" he replied, with a huge smile. "But I bet it's gonna be good."

Race smirked at the hearing his favorite word and tried to get Jack and Davey to take that bet.

The lights turned out and a spotlight shone on the center of the stage. A drum roll came out of no where, and an announcer's voice was heard. "Gentlemen, put your hands together for the newest Irving Hall show…we present to you…the Newsgirls!" The curtain cut in the middle reveal a surprise.

Coneflower was standing there in a blue, slender dress with her hair swooped up in a braid. Blink elbowed Mush who's mouth was hanging open. Whistles rang from around the room to which Mush turned around and glares at all the predecessors.

The song started… "Whoever thought I'd meet the boy of my dreams…whoever thought he'd want me…I spent my nights alone without a song in my heart…until one day…" The curtain opened up and the newsies got the shock out of their lives. Damsel, Pearl, and July were all dolled up. They started to do touch steps till they got on the side of Cone. "Now I never have to be lonely…because I have him by my side…oh oh oh…I never have to be lonely…I'll have him forever…yeah yeah…"

The song went on for another minute. But, within that minutes, something evil slithered in. Mr. Snyder and Warden Snyder came sauntering in. *gasp* Two Snyders! Mr. Snyder stared at the stage while a group of young ladies danced and sang. He squinted to see them clearer. "They look oddly familiar" he told his brother.

Warden Snyder stared at them too. "Oh really…" his eyes fixed on the boys sitting in the front tables. "Those boys look awfully familiar too." They both exchanged evil smirks.

Meanwhile, Jake and Skittery were late getting the Irving Hall. They slip on into the door, but suddenly came right back out when something ugly caught their eye.

"Was…was…dat jist two Snyders we saw?" Jake asked, hesitantly.

Skittery nodded slowly. "Yeah."

"We should go warn da others!" The two newsies ran to the back way into the building.

After the girls had finished their song, they bowed and went back stage where the guys came walking back there.

"You goils were great!" Jack said, smiling, mainly at Pearl though.

Mush walked up to Cone. "Dat was beautiful."

"Thank you" she replied, hugging him.

"You girls were just perfect" Medda tweaked in, flittering her feather around. "But I have to go perform now. We'll talk later about you performing more."

The girls looked surprised. "Performing more?" July stuttered. "Yay!"

"Hey baby, you should perform every night." Spot smirked.

"Stop trying to butter me up!" She smacked him on the shoulder then kissed him.

"Guys!!!" Jake and Skittery came burrowing through the crowd on the backstage. "Da Snyders are heah!"

"Dere right out front!" Skitts added in.

"We better get out of here. Mr. Snyder might of brought along his croonies!" Damsel said, frantically. Blink ran over to her to comfort her.

"We didn't see anyone else wit de, but doesn't mean dey didn't bring anyone." Skittery said. Everyone started to find each other so they could leave before the Snyders found them. Skittery looked around for PT. "Where's PT?"

"Oh no!" July gasped. "Her and Ace went to go talk to that stagehand guy somewhere around here."

"We gotta go find 'em!" Racetrack looked a little panicked now.

"We'll go search on the other side of the stage!" Cone yelled, running off with Mush behind the curtain. Racetrack and Skittery went to look upstairs while the others snuck out to the alleyway.

"Dang it, where could dey be?" Mush sighed in frustration.

"Oh no telling when it's Ace involved." Cone held Mush's hand as they started back to the right side of the stage where the others were. They stopped when they saw that the others weren't there. "Okay, where'd they go?"

"Maybe they left you high and dry to deal with us" an wicked voice came out of the darkness of the backstage. The two were horrified when the two Snyders came out of no where. Mr. Snyder was holding a gun on them.

Cone's grip on Mush's hand grew tenser as he pushed her behind him acting as a shield. The two Snyders laughed at this act of chivalry. Mr. Snyder snorted. "You thought that you could escape me, Coneflower. I always knew where you girls were. I thought it was quit hilarious that you all were befriending these newsies which were my brother's most hated foes." He cocked the gun.

"You kids caused me enough trouble. I think we should end this little fiasco right now" Warden Snyder threw in, throwing his head back and laughing.
"Were ya plannin' on endin' it da coward way 'er take all us down at once." Mush and Cone let out a sigh of relief when they saw the rest of the gang standing behind the two Snyders with various large, heavy object in their hands just waiting for the Snyders to make a move.

Spot cracked a smirk. "Go ahead, make our day."

The Snyders stood there for a moment staring at all the newsies and the girls. Mush took the opportunity to pull Cone to a safer place - away from the aim of Mr. Snyder's gun.

"What is going on here?!" Medda screeched, seeing the scene. She spied the gun, and immediately called for help. Some of her big thug looking guy came.

After a while, the policed arrived and the two Snyders were carted off to jail with evil smirks on their faces. The newsie guys and their girls rest in the now empty Irving Hall. The police had questioned mainly the girls, finding out about the boarding house. They proclaimed that the girls were now free to live the life they should. Everyone was overjoyed.

"Now where do we go?" Jewel asked, frowning at the thought of going back to live at the boarding house.

"Yeah, we can't go back to the boarding house!" July chimed in.

"You couldn't get me to go back there even if you paid me a thousand dollars" Copper commented, wrinkling her nose.

"Y'know goils" Jack started with Pearl sitting conveniently on his lap. "Ya can come live at da lodgin' house wit us and be newsies too."

Kid Trey lit up. "Yeah! We can turn the attic into a bunkroom for ya'll and teach ya'll how ta be newsies!"

"That would be great!" Patch exclaimed, kissing Trey on the cheek.

"Then we'd all be together all the time!" Damsel added. She looked at Blink, and blushed at her outburst.

"Wait!" July stopped everything. "But, Spot lives in Brooklyn. I wouldn't get to see him much."

Spot nodded. "Dat's true, but how 'bout ya come wit me ta Brooklyn?"

"Really?!" A smile came across July's face, but disappeared. "But, I don't want to leave Patch and Damsel and Cone and Copper and all of them! They're like my sister."

"Den I'll jist have ta make it a habit a comin' ta Manhattan" Spot smirked.

"Sounds good to me." July mirrored his smirk, and they started to make out…what else is new.

"Hey! Get a room!" Skittery called from the stage. He and PT had been up there together. But not really talking like they usually did.

"Get a room, yaself!" Spot called back, mockingly.

"It's gettin' late. We should be headin' back before Kloppman locks us out da house" Racetrack commented, knowing exactly what happens when you get back to the lodging house late.

"And, we need to go start a poker game!" Ace grinned. "Will we be sharing a washroom with you boys?"

"Uh…ya gonna have ta" Race replied.

"Yeah, 'cause we only have one" Jack added in.

Ace jumped up. "Oh me on my, what fantastic news!"

The gang piled out of Irving Hall going the direction of the lodging house. Everything was great now.

"Mush…" Cone murmured, as they walked at the end of the gang - holding hands. "Did you push me behind you tonight out of impulse or were you protecting me?"

Mush stopped, looking her in the eyes. "I did dat to protect ya. I love ya, Cone." Then he kissed her.

"Aww…Mushie, I love you too." He grinned that goofy grin at her, and they started walking behind the gang again. Cone laid her head on his shoulder. "I have a feeling that nothing will ever split any of us apart now."

The End!