Sarah looked at Y/N with a raised eyebrow, "Kelly?"
"Yeah, you might o' heard of my brother, Jack?"
"Oh um yeah, he actually visited us." Sarah smiled awkwardly. Y/N thought for a second.

This girl definitely had some liking towards the Kelly boy.

"Well, it was nice meeting you Sarah, but ise gotta go." She announced, not sure whether she like the thought of her brother being with someone. Although, the thought of having a girl friend sounded nice considering she'd been around boys almost her whole life.

"Okay, well you seem like a nice boy," Sarah winked, Y/N really had to try better at disguising herself. "I'd love to see you again sometime."
"Yeah, I guess I'll have some time free tomorrow, near noon."
"Great, want to meet at Tibby's?"
"Sure"

The girls said their goodbyes and headed separate ways.

✄

Right as Y/N turned the corner and saw the Newsboys Lodging House, rain began dropping heavily onto the streets.

She picked up her pace, and ran to the door of the home. As she entered the house, she was greeted with most of the boys huddled together, "Ok, well us three will look by the Brooklyn Bridge, maybe she heard about Conlon?"
"I'll take Dutchy and we'll look by the Refuge."
"Jack and Dave are goin' there anyway."
"And why are Jack and David headin' there anyway?" Y/N asked, leaning into the group.

All the boys looked at her, seemingly startled. They recovered from the shock and immediately engulfed her in hugs, their shirts getting wet as hers was too from the rain.

All they boys were asking her if she was okay and "where were you?" And "you're safe, thank god!" And others.

Skittery was sat away in a corner on a chair, his hand rubbing his chin as it was propped up, an annoyed look on his face.

"Y/N!" A boys voice called out. Tumbler ran down the wooden steps and up to her, she laughed and picked him up.
"Hey kiddo, aren't yous supposed to be asleep?" Y/N flicked his nose to which he squirmed and some of the boys laughed.
"Well I was gonna... but you weren't here!"
"I wasn't gone for that long," she put him down and shooed him off to bed.

"Why are Jack and Davey goin' to da refuge?" The boys suddenly became interested in their shoes and with hands.

Skittery stood up, walking over to her. "Earlier today, we got into a fight with 'em scabs," Y/N furrowed her eyebrows. She was gone for a couple hours and they all get into a fight. "But then the bulls showed up and Crutchy didn't get out in time." He finished. Trying to decipher her facial expression.

She took a deep breath in.

"What was it about that Conlon guy?" She slowly looked up at him to see the pained expression.
"Jack, Dave and Boots went to talk to Brooklyn's leada' if he was gonna join," Boots cut in. "But he said we have to prove that we'se bein' serious, and the other boroughs won't join until Brooklyn does." Y/N nodded slowly. She grabbed Skittery, pulling him into a corner.

"Bad timing but the Delancey's know ise a goil." Skittery's face went from shock, confusion, to anger in milliseconds. He stuttered, trying to ask how. "But we'se got more important stuff ta worry 'bout. Don't wait for me." She said quickly and ran out of the Lodging house.

She had yet to figure out how to get to the famous Brooklyn Bridge by memory, so Y/N took many wrong turns and stumbled across one too many drunken fights. Yet, she finally managed to find it.

She pulled the front of her cap lower, nervous as she heard that the Brooklyn Newsies tended to get violent when someone would pass through their territory uninvited.

She saw the old, run down building that was filled with light on the inside. Laughter and yelling made its way out of open windows.

"Oi! Who are you?" A deep voice called out, a well built boy made his way out of the shadows. He was definitely a Brooklyn Newsies.

You see the Brooklynites were famous for their strong build and thick accents as well as a very strong stride that this guy definitely had.

But Y/N wasn't scared of no Newsie. However large, the wooden club, in his hand was. "Ise here to see, umm, Spot. Spot Conlon that is." Y/N cursed herself mentally for the evident worry in her voice.
"Spot don't take no visitors. Go back or I'll have to soak ya-"

"Burly, let the boy be,"Another voice called out from somewhere in between the crates that were lined up in front of the building. A short boy with a pimp cane came out from behind his spot. "Go inside, I'll deal with it." The short boy with red suspenders dismissed 'Burly'.

"What're ya doin' here in Brooklyn?" He asked sharply staking slow strides closer to the girl.
"Ise wanna talk to Spot Conlon."
"Well it's ya lucky day, he's right in front of yous." the thick accent breathing up into her face.

Y/N let out a sigh, maybe it was going to be harder than she originally thought.

"I'm a Manhattan Newsie, Ballad Kelly. I'm here to talk about da strike-"
"I don't wanna hear about ya strike. Ya brudder already came here and ya can tell him to fuck off if he's gonna send another after you!" Spot's face looked like it began to turn red.

He wanted to protect his boys, and he wasn't going to let a bunch of kids that were upset or angry let them get hurt. And Y/N understood that, but at the same time: Manhattan needed Brooklyn.

"Jack didn't send me." She said softly, forgetting to make her voice deeper.

Spot squinted his eyes a little, and in a swift motion knocked her hat off with his cane.

"Hey!" She squeaked, quickly picking the cap up and placing it back on her head. "Youse really bad at hiding the fact that youse a goil." He laughed as she glared at him.

"OneofourNewsieshasbeentakenbythebullsduringafightthatbrokeoutbetween'emandscabs." She breathed out, trying to get a lot of information into him. He looked at her confused, trying to comprehend what she said.

"One of our-"
"I know." He bluntly replied with before she spoke again.

"You know?" She spat.

Y/N was slowly getting annoyed with the boy.

"'Course I know, ise got spies everywhere," He motioned with his hands, "One of the reasons I knows that there is a certain girl Newsie in Manhattan called Y/N Kelly." He smiled slyly. Steam was practically coming out of her ears.

"Then why did you do nothing?"
"I wanted to see if ya got what I'm lookin' fo'. I'm still making up my mind though." He leaned back again a lamppost tapping his chin with his cane.
"If I didn't have dignity you'd be lookin' at me through a black eye." She mumbled, and started walking away.
"Where yous goin'?" He called out.
"Home."

✄

She entered the Lodging house, it was nearing midnight so most boys would be asleep. Y/N climbed up the stairs and headed towards the bunk room. A lit candle was sat on a table next to the door, she picked it up so that she could see where she would be walking and hoped to not trip.

The girl made her way to the corner and sat the candle down on a small table. Sitting down on the lower bunk, she took her shoes off and then her socks followed by the old brown jacket. Turning around, she looked at her pillow. A small brown envelope was placed upon it.

She furrowed her eyebrows and picked it up. Moving closer to the candle, she opened the envelope and took the piece of paper out.

To Y/N
   Your smile can light up a room
-love

Even though it was short, it took her quite a while as she only attended school for one year and her brother had to teach her some more.

Y/N found the note cute, or creepy; she couldn't decide. But she appreciated it and smiled.

The only thing that confused her was who it was from. She put it under her pillow, blew the candle out and climbed into bed.

Skittery looked up from his bed, seeing her soft smile in the candlelight gave him a fuzzy feeling. He watched her blow the candle out and go to sleep, the smile still on her face.

••••

Edited : 17 October 2020
Words: 1445