Author's note: The newsies belong to Disney (or themselves considering some are real) but Patches, Lily, Echo, Brooklyn, Sketch, and all of those girls in Queens, Harlem... well, not Manhattan belong to me. I was listening to oldies songs one day and I found one I really loved so I sort of based a Newsies fanfic on it, the lyrics are here, Patches. This story will be followed by a story about um... some other people when I finish it. :) Well, on with the story.

Patches
By: Echo

Echo’s Journal
July 1, 1900
As a kid growing up, I always heard the stories of knights carrying princesses off to castles in the sky and living happily ever after. Almost every girl grows up with those stories, and at seven they aren’t hard to believe in. But in the past few weeks reality has recreated a newsie style Romeo and Juliet, another one of life’s reminders that it isn’t all silver linings and rainbows.

Three weeks ago Kloppman asked me to watch the Lodging House while he was taking care of business. Blink came in to keep me company and started telling me about a new girl in Harlem. Patches, that was her name. It’s still so clear to me, watching Lily walk into the room, just like it was yesterday. A girl not too much younger than us followed her. She had shoulder length curly blond hair and blue eyes. That was the first time I ever met her. She was a sweet girl, just about to turn fourteen.

At first Lily was only showing her around New York, but two weeks later they were constant companions, just like sisters. Soon after Patches turned fourteen she met a boy her own age, and that’s when all the trouble started…

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Lily’s POV
I had been looking out for Patches ever since she first came to Harlem, so naturally, I was a little worried when she told me about a boy she had been seeing. She told me, and all of the other girls, about him at our poker game in Queens. It seemed like all she could talk about. The boy’s name was William Bradly White, he was her age and his family was rich.

Most of the girls had no problem with it, they thought it was sweet. Star called it “puppy love”. I didn’t trust him though. Most of the girls left when it got late, and after Patches was asleep, I told the remaining girls, Echo, Psycho, Kit, and the girls from Queens, what I thought. “I don’t trust ‘im.”

Kit rolled her eyes. “You’re bein’ too protective, da guy sounds alright ta me.”

Star nodded. “I think it’s sweet.”

I frowned. “Sweet? She sounds like she’s in love.”

Echo laughed. “Have you ever thought that maybe she is in love?”

I glared at her. “Dat’s da stupidest thing I’ve eva’ hoid!”

Ice looked at me coolly. “Why do ya say dat?”

I pointed a finger in Patches direction. “He’s goin’ ta hoit her. Besides… I don’t listen ta Echo. She trusts every psycho that comes along.”

Psycho glared at me indignantly. “Excuse me?!”

I sighed. “I didn’t mean you Psycho… I’m just sayin’, she’s gonna trust da guy even if he’ll hoit Patches.”

Echo groaned. “Oh, leave the poor girl alone. It’s her life, let her decide whether or not she can trust the guy. Besides, she’s in love… it’ll be worth it in the end.”

I groaned. “Why do ya keep sayin’ dat?! She ain’t in love! She’s only fourteen! She’s too young ta be in love!”

Shadow sighed. “I dunno… love ain’t just something ya can predict like dat.”

Echo nodded. “Yeah… age means nothing. Romeo and Juliet were 13 and 14. She could love him, even if she is young. It’s not like she’s a little kid, she’s a teenager. She’s not that much younger than us.”

I tried to argue and prove my point, but no one would listen. A week later, I finally met Will when Patches brought him to Tibby’s. He seemed to be a nice enough guy. Echo immediately sent me a look that seemed to say, “See? What’d I tell ya?” But I tried to ignore her… and Sketch, who kept staring at me. All of the guys accepted Will immediately and even gave him a nickname, and it was clear by the look on Patches face that she adored him.

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Sketch’s POV
I stared across the room at Lily and Echo walked over when she saw me. “Sketch, you okay?”

I nodded distantly. “Yeah… she hates me, doesn’t she?”

Echo looked a little surprised but managed to shake her head. “No, she doesn’t hate you… she’s just not a um, people person. She just doesn’t know you very well and-“

I cut her off. “So you’re saying, she thinks I’m annoying and I don’t have a chance?”

She blinked. “Well, I wouldn’t say that… but she’s not going to just all of a sudden start liking you and-“

I sighed. “Echo, you don’t have to lie to me… I can handle it.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not… give her time. I’m gonna go talk to the guys.”

I sighed as she walked away, and looked over at Lily. When she saw me staring at her, she glared at me. Boy was Echo wrong.

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Will’s POV
I talked to the newsies Patches introduced me to for a while, but before long I had to go home. My father knew nothing about Patches, and that’s the way I wanted to keep it… I knew he would never approve.

I smiled as I walked in, but my face fell as I saw the angry look on his face. After his first sentence, I knew he had found out. What followed wasn’t a memory I want to look back on. He told me to stop seeing Patches, but I refused. It didn’t help me though. In the end, as always, I had to give in, there was nothing I could do. Even though it broke my heart, I stayed home the next day I was supposed to meet her. Patches had to think I didn’t love her, and I couldn’t do anything about it.

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Patches’ POV
I waited for Will in the usual spot. He was fifteen minutes late, and I was starting to get worried he wouldn’t show. I smiled and turned around as I head footsteps behind me, but it wasn’t Will. It was an older, more serious man. He glared at me silently for a few seconds. “Are you Patches?” He said, sounding disgusted by my name.

I nodded shyly. “Yes sir.”

He scowled. “I’m William’s father. I came to tell you to stop chasing after him. He doesn’t wish to have anything to do with you, he is already promised to another girl worthy of him.”

I blinked in surprise and confusion. “But-but… he told me-“

“It’s of no concern what he told you. He didn’t mean a word of it. Good day.” He said and then walked away. It took me a while to realize what he had just said. Will didn’t love me after all. I sobbed and ran towards Brooklyn.

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Brooklyn’s POV
I woke up to the sound of someone tapping on the window and looked up as Echo let Lily in. She whispered something in Echo’s ear then walked over to me while Echo walked over to Psycho. “Brooklyn, you’ve gotta help me. Patches is gone.”

I shrugged. “So? Lily, yer too protective. She’s probably still out with Will.”

Lily shook her head. “No. Will stood ‘er up. His fadda’ told ‘er he was supposed ta marry dis otha’ goil, an’ dat he didn’t care about ‘er.”

I sat up and rubbed my eyes as Echo and Psycho walked over. “She probably just wants ta be alone.”

Echo nodded. “Brooklyn’s right. Patches will be fine.”

Lily shook her head. “I don’t think so. When she told me about it, she was really upset.”

Psycho shrugged. “She’ll get over it. Life’s just dat way.”

I nodded but Lily shook her head. “No, I know Patches. She don’t just run off like dat wit out tellin’ me.”

Echo frowned. “Lily, she’s only been around for a little while. I know you’re close, but maybe she just wasn’t thinking.”

Lily looked down. “I din’t wanna tell ya, but Patches is me sista’. She just got outa one a dem orphanages. I really need ya ta help me find ‘er.”

A few of the girls seemed surprised but I nodded. “Okay, we’ll ‘elp ya.”

Echo sighed. “Where do you think she’ll be?”

Lily shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought maybe we could split into groups.”

Psycho nodded. “I’ll go wit Brooklyn, Echo wit Lily.”

I sighed. “Okay, lets go.”

“Wait!” We all looked at Echo as she stopped us. “Meet at Lodging House in Harlem. Lily, do the girls in Queens know?”

She nodded. “Yeah, they’re out there looking already.”

Psycho grabbed Brooklyn’s arm. “All right, then lets get out there already!”

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Psycho’s POV
I walked into the Harlem Lodging House the next morning with Brooklyn right behind me. “Lily, we didn’t see her anywhere.”

I heard a sob come from Lily and Echo pulled me away. I grabbed her arm. “Echo, what happened? Is Patches okay?”

She shook her head. “No.”

Brooklyn looked at Lily and then back at Echo. “Whatta ya mean, no?!”

She shrugged managing to hold back tears. “They found her in the river… I guess she was running and she slipped or something and hit her head on the dock and drowned.”

I looked over at Lily. “Ya think we should stay wit ‘er?”

Echo nodded and looked concerned. “She’s taking it really hard Psycho… I’m worried about her.”

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Jack’s POV
“Blink, do you know where da goils are?” I asked when he walked into Tibby’s.

He shrugged. “I dunno.”

Right after I asked the question, Ice and Echo walked through the door. Echo managed to smile, even though there were tears standing in her eyes. “Hey guys.”

Sketch and Race, walked in laughing and play fighting, until Sketch saw Echo standing there. He froze. “What happened?”

Echo started to say something, but stopped and shook her head. We all looked at Ice, who took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes but remained silent. Dutchy stared at the two girls. “Echo? Ice?”

Echo bit her lip and started to say something again, but seemed to change her mind. “Jack, I’m not… I’m going-“ She stopped and thought for a few seconds. “I’m goin’ to Harlem and I’m not gonna sell papes.” I tried to stop her to see what was going on, but she turned and walked out the door. We all looked at Ice again, who calmed down enough to finally tell us what had happened.

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Echo’s POV
I stared at Lily for a few seconds. “It’s gonna be okay.”

She wiped her eyes and sniffed. “I couldn’t help her… maybe if I had kept her from leaving…”

Kit looked at me and sighed. “Come on Lil. Ya know ya couldn’t ‘ave stopped ‘er.”

Lily shook her head. “I can’t help it. I feel so horrible.”

I bit my lip. “You think someone should tell Will?”

Everyone stared at me increduously. Finally Brooklyn spoke up. “Why? He’s da reason she was so upset.”

I blushed as Lily muttered something under her breath about knowing Will couldn’t be trusted. Kit rolled her eyes. “We should tell ‘im… it’d be a great guilt trip.”

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Still Echo’s POV
I looked up at the house and then over at Lily. “You sure you’re up to this?” I said, a little worried about Will.

She nodded. “Yeah, might as well get it ova’ wit.”

We walked up the sidewalk and knocked on the door. A maid answered and brought Will to the door. He stared at us for a few seconds and then smiled. “Echo, Lily, how’s Patches?”

“Dead.” Lily said simply.

All the color drained from his face and he shook his head. “Patches? No.”

I sighed. “Your father told her you didn’t love her and that you were betrothed to another girl. She was upset, and she was running by the docks, fell, hit her head, and drowned.”

He seemed to be in shock for a while, and then the realization of what I had just said passed over his face, and then what looked like anger. “My father told her that?”

Lily nodded. “Yeah, and ya could ‘ave at least had da courtesy ta do it yerself.”

He seemed hurt by her comment. “I didn’t want to hurt her. I really love her… but my father wouldn’t let me see her anymore. I’m so sorry… I’m gonna miss her so much.”

I sighed and hugged him. “We’ll all miss her kid.” Lily glared at him and walked away, so I followed her just as it started to rain.

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Will’s POV
I walked into my father’s study and slammed the door. “What did you tell Patches?”

He looked up. “I only told her what I needed to get rid of her.”

I clenched my teeth. “You did better than you should have.”

He shrugged and looked back down at his paperwork. “She’s not worth missing anyway.”

I glared coldly and told him, in very strong words, just where he could go, and ran out the door and into my father’s room. It didn’t take me long to find where he hid the gun, and as soon as I picked it up, I ran out the door into the rain.

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Echo’s POV
I looked up as someone knocked on the door of the Harlem lodging house. I opened the door and saw an old rich guy standing there. He seemed to inspect me skeptically for a few seconds, and then glared. “I’m looking for my son.”

I stared, taken aback by his abrupt statement. “Uh, who?”

He seemed annoyed. “William. He ran away. Stupid really.”

I glared at him when I realized who he was. “No, I haven’t seen him. But if I do, you’ll be the first to know.” I finished, lying through my teeth.

He slammed the door and walked away. I looked at Lily, Ice, Shadow, and Kit. “Think we should go look for Will?”

Shadow nodded. “Yeah, maybe we should.”

Kit shrugged casually. “I’ll stay with Lily.”

Lily shook her head. “No, I’m going too. Echo, I’ll look wit ya.”

I smiled. “Alright, come on Lily.”

We searched for a while, but it was cold, and the storm had just been getting worse, so we started to head back to the Lodging House. Lily stopped suddenly two blocks away. She frowned and stared at me. “Something’s wrong, I know it.”

I followed her gaze into a nearby alley and my eyes widened in fear as the lightening flashed and I saw Will standing there. My heart stopped when I saw a flash of silvery steel.

Lily started to run forward. “Will, no!”

I stared in horror as Will pulled the trigger. Thunder crashed loudly at the same time, but not loud enough to drown out the sound of the gunshot. My knees buckled and I closed my eyes as tightly as I could, trying to block out what I had seen. What must have been just a few minutes later, Kit, Ice, and Shadow came running up. I don’t remember much of what happened after that. Just hours of questioning from the police before I finally decided to go back to Manhattan. Kloppman had locked up by the time I got there, and for once the window was locked, so I just sat on the fire escape too much in shock to notice the rain.

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Blink’s POV
I rolled over and looked over at the window to see if it was still raining, and it was, just like before. But unlike the last time I had looked, there was someone sitting on the fire escape this time. It didn’t take me long to realize it was Echo. I sighed as I stood up and walked over to let her in. I opened the window and held out a hand. “Ya just gonna sit dere all night, or come in?”

She stared at me blankly for a few seconds before she finally put her shaking hand in mine and crawled through the window. “Thanks.” She whispered under her breath.

I shook my head. “You’re soaked. Why didn’t ya wake us up?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t want to bother anyone.”

I stared at her for a few seconds. A drop of water fell onto her nose, but she didn’t seem to notice, she just stared off into space with a blank look on her face. Her hair had fallen out of the french braid it had been in, and damp brown strings were hanging into her face. I grabbed my blanket and wrapped it around her when I saw her shiver. “Ya okay?” I asked as I got her to sit on my bunk.

She nodded. “Why didn’t I stop him Blink?”

“Stop who? Did someone hoit ya?”

She seemed surprised by my statement but kept talking like I knew what she had happened. “I should have stopped him. I should have. But I didn’t, and now Lily’s gonna blame herself when it’s really my fault.”

Mush leaned down and stared at me sleepily. “Hey Blink, what’s Echo doin’ in heya?”

I shrugged. “She was sittin’ outside in da rain, an’ I thought I’d let ‘er in fore she got sick.”

“I didn’t mind sitting out there. I like the rain. Besides, I deserve to get sick.” She said bitterly.

Mush and I both stared at her silently for a few seconds until Mush finally decided to get Jack. I wrapped an arm around her as she sneezed. “Should ‘ave made someone open da window. Yer gonna get a cold.”

She shrugged. “Oh well…”

Crutchy looked up from his bunk next to mine. “Echo? What’re ya doin’ in heya? Ya okay?”

She didn’t shake her head or even nod, she just leaned against my shoulder and mumbled quietly about some kid’s father, using language I had never heard her use before. Sketch, who slept in the bunk under Crutchy looked up. “What’d she say?”

“I don’t think I should repeat it.” I said in a shocked tone of voice.

Spot walked up from across the room. “Could ya shut up?! I’se tryin’ ta sleep ova’ dere!”

Echo shivered again. “Sorry Spot.”

He squinted. “Who’s dat goil dat looks like Echo, what’s she doin’ in heya, an’ why’d she just apologize?”

I smiled. “It’s Echo, ya told us you’se tryin’ ta sleep, so she said she’s sorry fer talkin’.”

He glared at me. “I know dat ya moron. But she ain’t neva’ done dat before.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, an’ she ain’t neva’ said what she just said before, but I heard ‘er say it.”

Jack walked over and kneeled in front of her. “Echo? What’s goin’ on?” Her lip quivered a little but she didn’t say anything. He looked annoyed at the small crowd of newsies that had formed but tried to ignore them. “What happened an’ why didn’t ya tell me bout Patches?”

She closed her eyes and whispered something unintelligible, which seemed to annoy Jack a little. I pulled her a little closer. “Hey Jack, she’s upset, she’s soaked, an’ she’s cold. Give da goil time.”

Sketch nodded. “She’s never been a real people person. She don’t like talkin’ about stuff that’s buggin’ ‘er… not even ta ‘er close friends.”

Jack sighed and grabbed her hand. “Echo? Come on, what happened.”

She bit her lip and started shaking a little. “I could have stopped him if I would have been paying attention, I know I could have. Why didn’t I look sooner?”

Jack looked at me but I just shrugged. “That’s all she’s been sayin’. I don’t know what happened.”

Sketch sat beside her and brushed some hair out of her face and then hugged her. “Come on Chris. What happened.”

She started crying softly, and after a while she finally whispered. “He killed himself. We looked down the alley and he had a gun, and I didn’t say anything, and he killed himself.”

Spot stared at her. “Who?”

She didn’t answer his question, didn’t even seem to hear it, but kept talking. “If I had looked a little sooner I know I could have stopped him… and I should have said something to him. Poor Will, I shouldn’t have let him do it.”

Sketch blinked. “That’s ridiculous. You couldn’t have done anything.”

She glared at him, the first time she had really responded to anything any of us had said. “I could have. Just like I could have helped if I had walked into the bank instead of just-“

He groaned. “Oh for crying out loud.”

She glared at him indignantly. “Well, it’s true.”

He sighed. “Yeah right. That was your fault, so is this, and while you’re at it, why don’t you add the civil war to that list. I’m sure you caused that too.”

She frowned. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Crutchy looked worried. “Don’t give ‘er any ideas Sketch. She might believe ya.”

“Yeah, she probably would at this point.” Sketch said quiety.

Echo looked away. “Only because it’d be true.”

Jack looked concerned as she sneezed again. “Now ya got a cold from sittin’ in da rain.”

She glared at him. “I’m not the one who locked the window.”

Sketch rolled his eyes. “What? You can blame yourself for the civil war but not a stupid cold? Too small of a disaster for you?”

She stood up and sat on the floor where Jack wrapped his arms around her. When he gave her a questioning look she just shrugged. “He was annoying me.”

Sketch ignored the comment and stared at her for a second. “Are you gonna be okay?” She tried to fake a smile, didn’t succeed, and nodded instead. He looked concerned for a minute but finally stood up. “Okay, I’m getting’ some sleep then. But you know where to find me.” He said and went back to his bunk.

Echo still seemed to be mostly over the shock by now and handed me my blanket. “Thanks for letting me in Blink.”

I nodded. “Get some sleep Echo, an’ don’t worry too much.”

Jack kissed her softly and sent her a worried frown before she walked back to the girl’s room. Sketch rolled over and looked at Jack. “Are you guys gonna let me sleep now?”

Jack looked up slowly. “Why wouldn’t she answer our questions?”

Sketch shrugged. “Shock.”

I stared at Sketch for a while. “What did she mean when she was talkin’ bout da bank?”

He blushed a little. “When her father was killed in the bank robbery, she was outside.”

Jack looked over at the wall that separated the girl’s room from ours, still worried about Echo, and more than a little upset about Will. “Ya think she’ll be okay?”

Sketch nodded. “Yeah, she usually takes this stuff pretty well, an’ she’ll get ova’ it afta’ a while. I think she was just messed up cause she saw it happen.” Jack decided to leave it at that and walked back to his bunk.

A couple days later Patches and Will were buried in two separate cemetaries, two different services, and worlds apart even in death.

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