FAMILIAR | Spot Conlon

Chp. 7: Getaway

I have been living with the newsies for about a month now. I absolutely love it. I have so much freedom and I can be who I want to be, not who my mom wants me to be. I have become really good friends with all the newsies, but mainly Jess, Shoots, and Spot. I'm still pretty bad at selling newspapers but Spot says I'm getting a bit better.

I feel a tug on my hair. I turn around to see a boy probably about 17. I am selling near the Queens border about a street away from Spot, just like he told me too. He always comes to my spot when he's done selling. Since I'm near Queens I assume he's a Queens newsie because he doesn't look like any Brooklyn newsie I know.

"Yous took that customer from me" He let's go of my hair and I rub my scalp where he pulled.

"That was my customer fair and square. Plus that was my last pape." I let go of my head and try to make myself seem big and scary. It obviously doesn't work because he just laughs. I drop the act.

"Give me ya penny" I look at the coin in my hand and wrap my fingers around it.

"No" I stare the boy in the eye. He doesn't like that very much and soaks me right in the jaw. I can feel blood dripping down my neck. This is my first real fight as a newsie. Guess there's a first time for everything. I swing at him and he ducks and grabs my arm and rams it into a streetlight. I groan in pain. He kicks me to the ground and starts kicking my side. Then he leans down to punch me once more but a hand stops him.

I already know who it is. I don't even have to look at the face. Spot drives the boys arm up. He pushes him to the ground.

"If yous ever mess with her again I'll soak ya real bad. Now get outta ere" He points down the street and the boy scurries away. Once he's far enough away he quickly comes over to me and helps me up.

"Are you ok? What did he do?" He sees the blood on my neck and his eyes go wide.

"He just punched me in the jaw" He moves to the side of me and I groan.

"And kicked me in the side. Repeatedly" He starts to get angry and I can tell he wants to go beat him up bad. He puts my arm around his shoulders to keep me up and we walk to another part of town.

I see Jess and go to run over to her but stop when I feel the pain in my side. She sees me and hurries over to us.

"OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED" She looks back and forth between Spot and I.

"Peter beat her up" She looks annoyed.

"Of course he did" She makes her way over to us.

"She's stayin with you for a bit. I have some" He pauses for a bit before saying the next part.

"Business ta do. Stay here, I'll be back soon." Spot hands me over to Jess. I wave goodbye to him but he's already gone. Jess sits me down on a bench. It hurts to move.

"What do ya wanna do" Jess asks me but I'm not really sure. Then an idea pops into my head.

"Let's go see Nick!" I haven't seen him since one of my first days as a newsie. No one knows that Nick is my cousin. Not even Jess.

"Nick from Queens? The one who Is got a major crush on?" I nod my head. She looks uncertain.

"Come on, we've got nothing to lose" She shrugs her shoulders and shakes her head.

"Spots not gonna like this." I grab her shoulders and make her look at me.

"I don't care what Spot thinks" I grab her and we walk to the ferry. That's my marker of where Queens and Brooklyn cross territory. My stomach hurts whenever I move, which includes walking. I swallow the pain and convince myself I'm doing this for Jess.

"Do you know where the lodges are" I ask Jess. She shakes her head. We start walking and I hope we find them. Miraculously we do. I walk towards the door but Jess stays behind just looking at it.

"What's wrong"

"What if he's don't like me"

"Hold on, have you ever talked to him?"

"Not exactly" I am surprised. For how often she talks about him I'd think they've at least talked before.

"Well, today's the day"

"What the hell, let's go" We walk through the front door and there's no one there. As we're about to leave I feel something pull on my shirt. I look down to see a little boy. I kneel down to him. I wince but no one seems to notice luckily.

"Are you a newsie" His eyes light up and he nods his head. He points to his hat.

"Yes ma'am"

"Can you tell me where Nick is? I'm looking for him"

"Why's should I tell you" He crosses his arms and it's actually pretty cute.

"My name is Camryn." The little boy looks confused. I roll my eyes and try something else.

"My name is Alyssa"

"Oh you're Alyssa. Nick's told us all about you" I look at Jess and she looks a little betrayed. She probably thinks I'm trying to get with him. Even though he's not even hers.

"In the flesh" I spin around and flip my hair.

"Nick is out with Holly" I wish he hadnt said that. Now Jess is probably thinking this was the worst idea ever now.

"Can you give me directions" The boy nods his head and he starts telling me directions.

"And then turn at the shoe shop, got it. Thank you so much... I never got your name"

"My names Elijah" I stand up from the ground. Wincing might I add. And we walk out of the room. I turn to Jess and I start trying to comfort her.

"Look I know what you must be thinking now but it's not what you think. Nothing is going on between Nick and I. And yes my real name is Alyssa but I dont wanna talk about it. I'm sure Holly is just some newsie he doesn't give a lick about"

It makes her feel a little bit better but I can tell she's still on edge. We take a right at the shoe shop and I see Nick standing there with a girl.

"She's beautiful" Jess drops her head.

She has straight black hair and I can tell she's wearing makeup. I've never really liked it but I wore it on special occasions like parties or dinners. I don't have enough money to spend on makeup and neither do the other newsies so we don't wear any. Most of the money I brought with me has run out.

Looking at her I can tell she's definitely not just some newsie.

Jess grabs my hand and starts to pull me away. I stand my ground. She eventually gets the message that I'm not gonna move and gives up trying to leave. She rolls her eyes and I drag her over to Nick with me.