Chasing Stars

Strike

There was now red in my vision, followed by threatening whinnies. I wiped my eyes, seeing Mush had blocked Thunder with Rusty. The blue-eyed boy dismounted, helping me up and pulling me away. Once we were far enough away from the horses, he sat me down on the sand. "You okay?" He whispered, looking me over. When I didn't answer (adrenaline had overridden my senses so I couldn't move), he grabbed my arm and gently rotated it, checking for injuries and doing the same to the other arm. 

Once he found no injuries on my arms, he moved to my face, gently caressing the tender skin with his thumb. I winced when he accidentally pressed on a bruise already forming on my cheekbone. His brows furrowed as he continued to check my face. Surprisingly, his hands were soft and he was extremely gentle. You'd expect a Newsboy to have rough hands and not know how to be gentle, but this wasn't the case with Mush. 

He found a couple other bruises that were just starting to surface from a fight I had yesterday and a cut on my lip. "What did this come from?" He asked, tracing the now healing cut on my lip with his thumb. Little jolts of electricity shot through my body as I scanned his face. 

"I got into a fight yesterday, the tree cut me," I replied, trying to hide the tremor in my voice. 

"Elmer's gonna think I did it," the blue-eyed Newsie sighed, his thumb lingering on my bottom lip for a second. 

As much as I hated it, I pulled away from his hand. "I'll explain what happened to him," I reassured him, watching as his face lit up. 

"C'mon," he stood up, extending his hand to me. I took it, hoisting myself up. We walked down the beach, talking most of the time. 

Time Skip: Next Day

"Man, then fire sirens kept me up all night," Racetrack complained. 

"Sirens is like lullabies to me," Mush shrugged. "The louder they wail, the better the headline. The better the headline, thebetter I eat. And the better I eat-." 

"The further away from you, I sleep," Race joked, getting a punch from the blue-eyed brunet. 

"Mornin' everybody. Sorry we're late. We had to help our mom with something," Davey apologized, rushing in with Les. 

"Oh. They got a mother? I was gonna get me one of those," Race joked. 

"What'd ya do with the one ya had?" Romeo asked. 

"He traded her for a box of cigars," Buttons grinned. 

"Hey, they was Coronas!" Racetrack protested. 

"We have a father, too!" Les declared proudly, a grin on his face. 

"A mother and a father?" Buttons asked, dumbfounded. 

"Hey, ain't we the hoi polloi?" Race asked, nudging Buttons. 

"So how's it goin'?" Les asked. 

"Ask me after they put up the headline," I groaned. 

"Here it comes now!" Les pointed to the big sign. 

"Stop crowding him!" Les exclaimed, pushing us away from Jack.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey," some of the boys protested.

"Let the man work it out!" Les declared, doing his best to keep us all away from Jack.

"Woah, woah," Crutchie protested, loosing his balance. I caught him, helping him stand upright again. The cripple sent me a thankful smile and I nodded.

"Hey, Jack, you still thinkin'?" Les asked, turning to the older boy.

"Sure he is. Can't you smell smoke?" Racetrack joked, nudging a few boys after sticking his cigar in his mouth.