The Only Girl Newsie

Chapter 2: Delancy Brudders and New Kids

"Heya Morris, Oscar, been a while since I've seen ya. I'll be honest, I liked it better when I didn't see ya," Crutchie says, making us laugh.

Morris seems unimpressed and shoves him instantly, making us all become protective over Crutchie. Race and Romeo help Crutchie up, and Jack joins me in front of the Delancys.

"Leave 'em alone, would ya?" Jack asks, stepping closer to the Delancys.

"What's the fun in that?" Oscar asks, mirroring Jack and stepping closer to us.

"The fun is dat you two gets to leave da way you came," I say. A few Newsies laugh, but it makes Oscar and Morris mad. It was kinda my specialty to make them mad pretty quickly.

"What did you say to us?" Morris asks me, pulling up his fists like he was about to fight.

"Are youse stupid? She says youse wouldn't get hurt. Now scurry along," Jack tells them, backing up, ready to walk away.

They don't move, and just to make them even madder, I grab Oscar's hat. I quickly hit him with it and then run off. I hear them chasing me and turn around running backward, facing them. I throw it over their heads and over to Jack.

He catches it and starts running away as well. I run after him climbing onto the gate. Jack throws the hat up at me, and I catch it. I'm too high for the brudders to get to me. I throw the hat over the top of the gate, and it lands on the ground. Finally, the gates open, and I climb down them. A few of the boys cheer, and Jack comes over to me.

"Nice job Madie. They don't even know how ta handle ya." Jack says, and the others cheer even more for me.

As we walk in, we all settle down, and I go to order my papes. "Morning, Weasel," I say, stepping up to him.

"Again, it's Wiesel. When will you ever figure that out?" He asks me, clearly agitated already.

"Never," I reply, setting down my money for my papers.

He fake smiles, takes the money, and hands me my papes. I make my way to wait for some of the boys to get their papers before heading out. I flip through the pages to see what stories I can try and sell.

Two new boys walk in, one older, one younger. The older one buys some papers, and I don't pay much attention until Jack gets involved.

"Don't worry, it's an honest mistake. Oscar can't count higher than ten with his shoes on." Jack's comment makes me smile, knowing he was antagonizing them for the fun of it.

I get up as they continue their conversation and make my way over. "Hey, what's your name, newbie?" I ask the older boy.

He looks at me, confused. "None of your business," he tells me.

"Then I'll just call you Newbie and Little," I say, referring to the younger of the two.

"I'm not little," the little boy says defensively.

"Sorry, kid," I say, and his older brother begins talking again.

"Why are you here?" He asks me, and he sounds confused.

I hold up my papes, "I'm getting papes to sell."

He looks at me, still confused. "But you're a girl," he says. A few boys come around, making noises clearly hearing what he said.

"Davey, I suggest you stop talking, like right now," Jack says, suddenly very serious.

"Why, she's just a girl. Shouldn't she be doing something, you know, safer?" Newbie asks, not picking up that Jack thought he should shut up.

I sigh before getting ready to argue with him. "Well, Davey."

"It's David," he remarks, cutting me off.

I ignore him and continue talking. "Davey, I suggest you follow Jack's advice and stop talking." I turn around and walk away before turning to say one more thing, "by the way, never say I'm just a girl again. I'm being nice this time because, you're new, but next time, I won't be so nice." I turn around and walk out of the Distribution center and out to the streets for my day of work.