Nowhere to Turn
By: Echo
I walked down the street and sold my papes slowly, since it was only my first day. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself here. My name's Brian. Like most newsies, I don't like talking about my past, sometimes it's just better to forget. I'm tall with short curly blond hair and blue eyes. I became a newsie when I saw a guy named Dutchy selling on the street. He told me about it, and it seemed easy enough, so I went to Tibby's to meet the rest of the guys. Jack, the leader of the Manhattan newsies, showed me the ropes, and that's how I got to be where I am now; on a street corner trying to make the lousy headlines sound interesting, and by some miracle, I was succeeding.
I started to yell out a headline when I bumped into someone. I turned around and saw a girl with shoulder length, ash brown hair, and blue eyes. She seemed to be in the upper class, or so I assumed from the green dress she wore. I smiled at her and took off my hat. "Excuse me miss, I didn't see you."
She looked over her shoulder and smiled uneasily. "Don't worry about it."
I twisted my hat around. "Um.. I'm Brian."
She stared at me suspiciously for a few seconds and then shook my hand. "I'm Kristan, and I'm late." She said and then walked away. I watched her until I couldn't see her anymore, and then walked to Tibby's.
"Hey Brian, how was your first day of selling papes?" Jack's girl, Echo, asked congienally. I hadn't talked to her much, but she could be dubbed official greeter person, since she seemed to say hello to everyone that walked in, even if she had just been talking to them.
"Pretty good." I replied vaguely as I sat down at a table with Dutchy, Pie Eater, and Snoddy. The waiter took my order and I was pretty quiet while I ate. I kept thinking of Kristan and whether I would ever see her again. "Hey Brian, yer kinda quiet taday... somethin' wrong?" Snoddy asked.
I shook my head. "Nah, I was just thinkin'."
"Bout what?" Pie Eater asked curiously.
"Just a goil." I said and frowned a little when I heard the New York accent I was beginning to pick up from the others.
The other guys gave each other the, "Someone's gonna have fun tonight" looks and finally Dutchy asked, "What's she look like?"
I smiled as I thought of her again. "She was about 5'6", with silky brown hair an' dese amazin' blue eyes."
"Well, where's she from? When're ya gonna see 'er again?" Pie Eater asked.
I cleared my throat. "Well uh... actually, I don't know. We just kinda ran into each otha' and then she had ta go."
Dutchy shook his head and sat back, having lost all interest. "Ya'll probably neva' see 'er again." I nodded and agreed, but couldn't stop thinking of her no matter how hard I tried.
The next day I was selling my papes when I saw her again. I almost didn't recognize her. She had her hair pulled up into a hat like most of the newsies wear, and the shadow of the hat fell over her face. Unlike yesterday, she was wearing pants and a shirt. I watched her walk into an alley beside my selling spot, I followed but stopped just beside the entrance of the alley, where I saw her leaned against the brick wall. "Why are you hidin' in that alley?" I asked, just loud enough for her to hear.
"That's none of your business!" Came the sharp reply.
I walked into the alley and stood beside her. "Kristan, right?"
She stared at me suspiciously. "How did you know my name?"
I smiled. "We met yesterday, remember?"
She thought back and then loosened up a little. "Oh, Brian?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I was just wonderin'. Do you wanna get somethin' ta eat?"
"Why?" She asked coldly.
I shrugged. "It's almost noon, I thought ya might be hungry."
She thought about it for a little while. "Okay, I'll go."
I smiled and we started walking out of the alley. "Great! So, you ever been ta Tibby's?"
She shook her head. "No, is that where you're going?"
I nodded. "Yeah, that's where all of the guys go."
She stopped. "Who are the guys?"
I laughed. "The newsies, who else?"
"On second thought, I'm not hungry." She said coldly and started to walk away.
"Wait!" I yelled and tried to catch her, but lost her in the crowd. After a few minutes, I gave up and walked to Tibby's alone. When I got there, I sat with Jack and Race. I was so busy thinking of Kristan that I wasn't paying attention to them though. "Hey Brian! Ya in dere? Or should we leave a note an' come back lata'?" Race said as he waved a hand in front of my face.
I looked up. "Huh?"
No one said anything, but Jack pointed across the table to a new guy. He had light blue eyes, brown hair, and had an arrogant smirk on his face. After a few more minutes I noticed a black cane with a shiny gold top, and a slingshot. "Who are you?"
Jack started to say something but stopped as someone walked in the door. We all turned to see Echo walk up to the table with a delighted grin on her face. "Well, if it isn't Spot Conlon... the most respected, famous, not to mention feared, egotistical, and over-rated newsie in all of New York... and probably everywhere else."
He glared at her and looked at Jack. "Jacky-boy, how can we call Dave da Walkin' Mouth wit 'er around?"
Jack shrugged. "I dunno... but she's a lot betta' lookin' den Da Mouth."
Spot stared at her and his eyes lit up for a second as he thought of something. "I dunno Jack.... it's a close call."
Echo glared at him and started to say something, but couldn't think of anything. Blink smiled. "Brian, dis is Spot. Spot, dis is da new guy, Brian."
Spot stared at me for a few seconds and then nodded his approval, but got a little preoccupied when Brooklyn walked in. Blink smiled. "So, what were ya thinkin' bout?"
I sighed. "Dat goil I met yesterday."
Echo looked up from her conversation with Jack and smiled. "Girl? You met a girl?"
Blink smiled. "Yeah, I hoid bout dat goil. Pie Eater was sayin' dat he met a goil yesta'day an' he din't know nothin' bout 'er, an' probably won't eva' see 'er again, but he couldn't stop thinkin' bout 'er."
I blushed a little. "That's not true, I saw her today."
Echo smiled again. "Really? So, what happened?"
I looked down at my plate. "Well, I asked 'er if she wanted to get somethin' ta eat, and she agreed."
Jack looked around. "Whera' is she?"
I shrugged. "When I told 'er I was eatin' wit newsies, she changed 'er mind."
"She changed 'er mind afta' ya told 'er youse eatin' wit newsies?" Spot asked, suddenly interested. "What'd she look like?"
I took a deep breath. "Well, she's real pretty. She's got shoulder length, ash brown hair, real blue eyes... today she was dressed like Echo or Brooklyn, but yesterday she was dressed like she was upper class or somethin'."
Spot looked at Jack. "Ya know, I've been hearin' things from little boids. Some a da guys in Harlem an' da Bronx is sayin' dat Psycho has been on da prowl. An' dat goil he just described sounds a lot like 'er."
Echo rolled her eyes. "Serious talk? I'm leavin'."
I watched her leave, and then Brooklyn decided to go to. I stared at Jack. "What's he talkin' about?"
Spot seemed annoyed by my question, but answered it anyway. "Da goil ya've been talkin' bout sounds like dis goil from da Boury, Psycho. Her an' 'er boyfriend, who just happens ta be da leada', 'ave caused a lot a problems for us in da past."
I smiled. "You're jokin'... right?" I stopped smiling when Spot shook his head, and I realized I had been collaborating with the enemy... at least, it seemed that way.
Part 2
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