AN: Hi guys! Welcome to my first fan-fiction! Hope you enjoy!

My parents had abandoned me about a month ago. It'd been hard the first few days, but after I found a small little alley in an okay part of town, I'd settled into a daily routine. Wake up, beg and scrounge for food or money, sleep, repeat. Hardly anything interesting happened. Today was different. I'd just gotten back from eating a nice apple, courtesy of a few shiny pennies provided by a rich lady. I was sitting against the wall, deciding not to enter my little 'house', a found tarp over a couple trash cans, until later. It smelled in there, for obvious reasons. Then, I heard someone running towards me. I dived towards the tarp-covered trash cans. Peeking through a small hole, I watched as a kid come running in, breathing hard, carrying a newspaper. I listened and watched, waiting 'till the boy left. After a minute or two, I realized he was crying. My heart broke. Ever since I was little, I'd always been compassionate. I loved comforting people of any age, animals of any kind, I was just a natural-born sunshine. Before I knew what I was doing, I had crawled out and was half-way towards him. The boy was, well, kinda cute. He had blonde, slightly curly hair, with a cap perched on top of his head. When I was 2 feet away, he noticed me. He shot to his feet, fists raised, ready to fight.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise." I said, raising my hands in surrender. " I just want to know what's going on." He looked at me suspiciously, before lowering his hands.

" Why would ya wanna know?" He asked skeptically. " Street kids gotta worry about themselves." I sighed, that was true.

" I haven't talked to a kid in a long time. Please?" I took a step closer, he in turn backed further away.

" I dunno, it's dangerous." The boy smirked. I took on the ultimate overpowering move, puppy dog eyes. He slowly dropped the smirk.

"Alright, alright. What's youse name?" He asked, warming up to me.

" I'm Kate. Why were you crying?" I asked.

" I'se Race. Snyder was afta me again, and I ain't never going back to the Refuge. And I wasn't cryin'." I raised an eyebrow, but continued on.

" Nice to meet you, Race."

" Right back atcha Katie. What's youse story?" He asked taking a seat on the ground. I sat down next to him, and explained what had happened to me. He seemed hesitant, only sharing that he was a newsie in lower Manhattan.

" What's the Refuge? And who's Snyder?" I asked. He paused before answering,

" It's a jail for underage kids, an' Snyder runs it."

" You've been to jail?" I almost yelled.

" Ya, Ya. Don't be so loud." He said simply. I opened my mouth, trying to ask the dozens of questions swimming around in my mind. Suddenly, his head tilted. A noise, like footfalls on the stone of the alley. Race blanched. "Hide!" he whispered. I dove behind my trashcans and motioned for him to join me. Race hesitated, realizing there wasn't enough room for the both of us without one of us having a limb sticking out. He pushed me in farther, then turned away from the tarp-covered cans. I started to climb out, I was going to make room for the both of us, when I heard Race yell. I immediately leaped to the small hole in the tarp to see what was happening. I saw a well-dressed man holding Race by his shirt collar. " Hey, get offa me!" Race shouted.

" Ah, a familiar face. One that reminds me of a certain escapee?" Race, who had been struggling and cursing, slowed down, looking scared. " What about it boy?" The man pulled Race up so they were face to face.

" Well, I'se ain't gonna tell ya am I, Snyder." Race shot back. The man slapped Race, hard.

" I know for sure that's it's you now, Higgins." Snyder smiled. He held Race in one hand, and with the other fished out a pair of handcuffs. He cuffed Race saying, " It's back to the Refuge with you, Higgins." Snyder laughed, dragging a still struggling, cursing Race behind him. Race glanced towards me and I could see the relief in his eyes. His blue ones made eye contact with my green eyes, and he silently asked for help. I nodded slightly before Snyder dragged him out of sight.