Delancey Street: A story untold

Prologue

Tia Higgins had always considered herself a walking map when it came to the streets of New York City.

Today, she was most certainly, undeniably lost.

It was a blow to her pride, that much was certain. But aside from that, it was getting dark, and most sensible people knew not to be out in the streets after dark. Race was gonna be upset. That wasn't much of a threat, as Race was so soft towards his little sister he could rarely stay angry with her for more than a day. Tia, on the other hand, would've gladly stayed angry with him for a decade if she had to. Just one of the many differences between them.

Racetrack and Tia Higgins were the only brother and sister who currently called themselves Manhattan Newsies, two years apart and as different as night and day. Where Race was outgoing, flirtatious, and (In Tia's opinion) arrogant, Tia was Fiery, a bit too quick tempered, and scared away every interested boy for miles. She didn't have a boyfriend, and she didn't want one.

It was getting cold, being late October, and Tia shivered as she pulled her threadbare jacket tighter around her shoulders, yanking her Newsie cap over her ears. It didn't help. She stepped underneath a street lamp, peering at the dimly lit sign across the street from her. Delancey Street, It's white lettering on a proud green background read. Tia muttered an extremely unladylike curse under her breath, and glanced about, seeing if perhaps there was a restaurant in the vicinity that would let her sleep in the backroom until morning. She knew where she was now, but the lodging house was two whole miles away, much too far to walk at nine-o-clock PM. She cursed Delancey street and the stupid brothers who paraded around with the same name, not because they had anything to do with this, but because she was frustrated and it felt good.

She couldn't see a restaurant, or any other open building for that matter, so she sank down underneath the flickering light of the street lamp. She'd known a girl who was a lamplighter once, she recalled, but the girl had died of some unknown illness sweeping through the city less than a month after they'd met. It seemed to happen a lot, that Tia's friends died. She'd grown used to it. She always chose the unlucky people.

"You lost or somethin'?"

Tia would've rather not recognized the voice, but she had. "Oscar?" A figure crossed the street ahead of her, and Oscar Delancey was suddenly standing in front of her, not even looking remotely like he wanted to soak her.

She scowled. "Waddaya want?"

"Well, are you?" Oscar crossed his arms over his chest.

"Answer my question foist."

"I want to know if you're lost."

"No, I ain't." Tia growled, standing up and attempting to push past him. "Happy now?"

Oscar blocked her with an arm. "If you're not lost, then what are you doing sitting under a street lamp?"

"Lookin' for a place to sleep."

"Don'tcha have a place to sleep?"

"Well, yeah, but I ain't walkin' two miles in the dark."

Tia stepped sideways, but Oscar blocked her again. "Then where're you goin'?"

"Away from you's." Tia shoved him, and dashed across the street, running a couple blocks before veering left into an alleyway, and crouching to catch her breath. She sighed. The fact that Oscar had stopped looking at her the same way he looked at all the other Newsies hadn't escaped her notice, but she'd purposely failed to acknowledge it. Stupid, stuck-up, Oscar Delancey. The same guy who hated her brother and his friends, who were like her brothers as well. The same guy who took pride in cornering the Newsies in alleyways and beating them until they couldn't walk anymore. The same guy who'd taken Crutchie to the Refuge during the strike the month before. Oscar Delancey was an enemy. So why on earth had he changed the way he looked at her? She'd tried talking to Race about this, but he'd just asked if she wanted him to soak Oscar to get him to stop. She'd very narrowly escaped shooting him down on that, but she had. She wasn't sure why she'd stopped him, actually. But could it be that maybe, just maybe, she didn't want Oscar to stop looking at her that way?

A noise in the darkness behind her interrupted her thoughts, and she squinted into the darkness. "Someone there?"

A figure emerged from behind a trash bin, much taller than Tia, and much more menacing, as well. Tia tensed. She knew how to throw a punch, yes, but she couldn't soak someone almost twice her size. "Nice night for a beating, ain't it, girlie?" The figure growled, and Tia stood up, stepping backward out of the alley. Run, run now! Was what every one of her instincts was screaming, but it was an unfortunate trait of hers that she tended to freeze up when she was afraid. 

"Not really," A voice drawled behind her, and Tia almost shouted in indignation. So Delancey was following her now. A new low. "My sister runs away sometimes, I'm sorry if she bothered you, Sir." Oscar stepped up next to her, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Tia almost vomited. "Come on, Mary. Mother is so worried."

Tia tipped her head down in the manner she thought a defeated young girl might, and allowed Oscar to lead her down the street before turning a corner, where she shrugged his arm away from her shoulders, and glared at him. "What was that?" She growled.

Oscar scowled. "You wanted to get soaked?"

"Well, no, but why would you's, of all people, want to save me?" Tia briefly considered kicking him in the shins and running right then, but something compelled her to stay and hear the answer to her question.

Oscar shrugged. " 'Cause I didn't want you to get soaked."

Good grief, this boy was an enigma. "Why?"

" 'Cause you didn't do anything."

"Since when do you's care about that sorta thing?"

"Since now." Oscar shrugged once more, and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Tia grabbed his wrist, and Oscar spun slowly, smirking.

"Yes?"

"Why didja really save me?"

"What do you mean, really?"

"I mean," Tia went on calmly, letting go of his wrist and looking him in the eye. "That you's clearly lyin', and I wanna know how come you's been starin' at me so much lately, and why you's ain't soaked any've us since the strike, and how come you's saved me."

Oscar avoided her eyes, slowly taking his bowler hat, and running his hand through his hair. "To answer the second question, I don't work for Snyder anymore, so I don't have to soak you anymore. And to answer the others, maybe I like you."

"What?"

Oscar brushed off her exclamation of horror, and placed his hat back on his head. "You said you didn't want to walk two miles in the dark, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah, but that don't explain–"

"I'll walk you back," Oscar cut her off, and then strode off in the direction of the lodging house, leaving a speechless Tia in his wake.