Chasing Stars

Storm

We got back to the Lodging House around five o'clock. At this point, the blue of the sky was fading to pink, orange, yellow, and purple as the sun set across the bay. Elmer was reading on his bed as I stared out at the pastel sunset.

"Hey, Elmer?" I asked suddenly, turning in my chair.

"Hm?" He didn't sound like he was listening, but I continued anyway.

"Why does the sky turn that color at dawn and dusk?" I asked, motioning out the window.

"I dunno," he stated, brown eyes finally looking at me. "Why'd ya ask?"

I shrugged, "it's just pretty."

"I can certainly think of a special someone who thinks you's pretty," Elmer arched a brow playfully. I rolled my eyes, feeling my face grow warm. My brown-eyed brother let out a laugh. "Do ya got a torch for anyone?"

Elmer had closed his book by now, the worn cover and kind of yellow pages standing out against the wood of the floor it was placed on. I shrugged, "not that I know of."

"C'mon, Star. It's waaayyy obvious," Elmer teased, arching his brows and shooting me a playful glare.

"What is?" I folded my arms across my chest, a small smile playing on my lips.

"Stubborn as always, Luna," Elmer chuckled.

I tossed a book at his head, blue eyes widening as it tore through the thin wall and landed on the floor of Mush's room. "Umm...has it done that before?" I pointed guiltily at the hole. Race and Mush's heads appeared in the wide open hole.

"What the hell happened?" Race asked, looking at my surprised state.

"Book flew through the wall," I tried, hoping I was making sense. Race leaned on the wall to much, falling through and landing on the floor of our room.

"What happened?" Jack asked, yelping when he saw the gaping hole in the wall.

"I threw a book at Elmer, but missed and it cut through the wall." I explained again.

"Eh..We've been wantin' to get rid of that wall anyway," Jack shrugged. "Hey, Specs! Albert, JoJo! Get up here!"

The three boys appeared quickly. "Yes?" Albert asked.

"We's gonna finally tear the wall down," the Strike Leader pointed. "Racer, move. Mush, go stand by Star." Jack grinned mischievously as both Race and Mush did as they were told.

"Quite the arm ya got there," Mush whispered in my ear, watching as Albert, Elmer, Specs, and JoJo moved the beds out of the way and began kicking the wall out. I cringed away, only managing to back into Mush. Elmer turned to glare at us as Jack cast a look of approval toward the blue-eyed brunet boy and me.

I grunted, shifting away as the last bit of the sun dipped beyond my view. I sighed, biting my lower lip when a "done" sounded from Albert. I turned, gaping at the now double room. You'd never know there used to be a wall there, except if you looked at the floor.

"Good job, fellas." Jack praised, patting Albert and JoJo on the backs and ruffling Elmer's hair.

We all headed off to bed. To be honest, I was nervous. We were stopping the wagons yesterday. In all honesty, I was worried about Crutchie's capability to take care of himself. I sighed, curling up in a ball under the thin layer of sheets.

I woke up the next morning to Mush gently shaking me, Elmer already downstairs. "Hey, wake up."

I groaned, turning over. "C'mon, Stars. We gotta go," the blue-eyed boy sighed, pulling the blanket away.

"Now?" I sat up quickly, swinging my legs over the side of my bed.

"Yeah. You nervous?" He asked, an unidentifiable emotion in his eyes.

"A bit. You?" I shuddered, pulling on a blue dress and tying my hair into a ponytail with a blue ribbon. I pulled my vest and boots on, shooting Mush a smile before heading out.

"Is anyone else comin'?" Davey asked.

"I got no clue," Jack shrugged, looking around.

"Hey, well, you seen Spot Conlon, right? Hey, well, what'd he say?" Race asked, following the same neurotic pacing Jack was currently doing.

"Yeah, sure, we seen him." Jack grumbled.

"Him and about twenty of his gang," Davey sighed.

"And them Brooklyn boys is big," Les interjected.

"And I gotta say, Spot was very impressed. Wasn't he?" Jack asked Davey, momentarily halting his pacing.

"I'd say," Davey agreed, looking down his nose at me.

"Alright, so they're with us?" Racetrack asked hopefully.

"That all depends on how ya look at it. If you look and see Brooklyn, they're with us," Davey pointed.

"Yeah, they wanted proof we wasn't gonna fold at the first sign of trouble," Jack sighed.

"Are we?" I asked, voice shaky.

"We is not! No! There's us, there's Harlem..." Jack started.

"Not so fast, boss. Harlem wants ta know what Brooklyn's gonna do," Mush explained, sending me a look.

"What about Queens?" Jack turned to Specs, as did the rest of us.

"Queens will be right here, backing us up," the boy grinned, dropping his arms over mine and Jack's shoulders.

Mush, Race, and Finch all whooped. "Are you serious?" Jack asked in disbelief.

"As soon as we get the nod from Brooklyn," Specs finished.

"I got the same fish-eye in Midtown," Race stepped forward.

"Are you-" Jack started.

"Say, Oscar, it looks like we got bum information about a strike happenin’ here today. Not that I’m
complainin’. I know my skullbustin’ arm could use a day of rest," Morris grinned, looking me over.

"Hey, are you done?" Jack hissed.

"Are we doing the right thing?" Les asked, watching the Delancey's leave.

"Sure we are," Davey pat his brother in the back reassuringly.

"Hey, maybe we should put this off a few days," Race tried, his brows furrowed.

"No, we cannot just put this off--
Jack, they are not…. Say somethin’. Tell ‘em if we back down now, they
will never listen to us again!" Davey groaned, grabbing Jack's shoulder.

"Hey, hey! We can’t back down now, alright? No matter who does or doesn’t show. You like it or not,
now is when we take a stand." Jack yelled enthusiastically.

"How 'bout we just don't show up for work? That'll send a message," I offered.

"No! They’ll just replace us. They need to see us stand our ground. Eh, Davey?" Jack motioned to the taller boy.

"What?" The taller male asked.

"You tell 'em," the Strike Leader pointed to our nervous faces.

"I...Jack..." Davey looked around at us all, his brows furrowing in thought. "Now is the time to seize the day.
"Stare down the odds and seize the day.
"Minute by minute, that's how you win it.
"We will find a way.
"But let us seize the day."

Crutchie, Elmer and a few others walked in. Elmer slung his arm over my shoulder and squeezed. "Hey, Jack, look what I made. Good, huh? STRIIIIIKE!" Crutchie waved his crutch in the air enthusiastically.

"That's great!" Race said, turning to me, "that's pitiful."

"Don’t be so quick to judge. Maybe Pulitzer will see it out his window and feel sorry for us." Les said hopefully.

"Specs, any sign of reinforcements?" Jack asked, looking up at the glasses bearing Newsie. Specs gave a double thumbs down, shaking his head solemnly. "Davey, Davey, c'mon." Jack's voice cracked, causing me to loose more hope.