My Ray of Sunshine

Chapter 5

I rolled over, eyes closed as I tried to erase Raya's smile from my head. It wouldn't work. A shadow covered my face and I opened my eyes wide, only squinting against the daylight. "You okay?" Raya asked, her face finally coming into focus.

I sighed, "mhm."

"What's wrong?" She asked hauling me up.

"Ummm..."I trailed off, searching for a good excuse. "Nothing?"

"Liar," she smiled.

"I's fine," I sighed. "Besides, if I'm not allowed to ask you, why are ya askin' me? Plus, don't you hate me?"

"Look, people change and you ain't as oblivious as my brother. And Race is just flat out annoying," she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. Awww! She's so cute when she's mad! STOP IT!

"Race means well, and Jack hasn't seen you in years. I'm sure he don't know how to handle having a lil' sister again," I tried.

"First of all, I'm only twelve minutes younger than him. Second, I'll give Race a chance like I'm giving you one. Jack needs to try harder because he ditched me twice," Raya huffed, blowing a piece of her dark brown hair from her chocolate colored eyes.

"You's givin' me a chance?" I joked, a smirk playing on my lips.

"Don't push your luck," she laughed, stealing my hat.

Raya's POV:

"You's givin' me a chance?" Albert joked, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. That smile...no, stop. You're just starting to like him as a person. He doesn't want to or need to deal with your crap.

"Don't push your luck," I chuckled, pulling his hat off and holding it away from him.

"Hey! Give it back!" He laughed, trying to grab the grey cap.

"I think it looks betta on me," I grinned, placing it loosely on my head. "Don't ya think?"

An emotion that I couldn't figure out passed across his face for a split second, before he pulled a thinking face, "nah. Get yer own hat."

"Only if you can get yours back," I laughed, sidestepping when he tried to grab it off my head.

"No fair!" He yelped, making another grab for it, but only managing to grab my arm (I had held it up). As soon as his hand wrapped around my arm, butterflies erupted in my stomach. Stop it!

"Ha!" I laughed, shoving him to the ground and attempting to jump over him. That plan failed. He caught my ankle, sending me face-first into the pavement. Only, I didn't actually land on the pavement, I landed on Albert.

"Ha!" He grinned, snatching the hat off my head.

"Cheater," I retorted, trying my best to ignore the pigeons hammering into the sides of my stomach (it's more intense than butterflies).

"There wasn't any rules," he replied, ruffling my hair.

"Get a room!" Elmer laughed, jogging up to us.

"Stuff it!" I giggled, clumsily rolling off Albert and attempting to tackle Elmer. Yeah, that failed. I'm literally the queen of clumsiness. That being said, I fell flat on my face.

"Aw, Princess can't walk on her own? Lemme help," Race cooed, reaching to help me up. Immediately, I slapped his hand away, putting my guard up again as I stood.

"I need to talk to Katie, I'll be back at the Lodging House before dark," I sighed, leaving the boys to meet Katie at the theater.

"Hi! You ready?" The blonde girl asked, eyes shining with a mixture of excitement and sadness (that's a thing right?)

"Of course. I've got some news for ya though," I breathed, remembering the man from earlier.

"Oh?"

"We should go to the orphanage to make sure, before I tell ya," I decided, pulling her along behind me.

"Raya, what's wrong? Why're we going to the orphanage my brother's in? Stop, you're scaring me," the blonde girl croaked, tears shining in her eyes.

"I'm sure everything is fine, I just need to make sure," I sighed, pushing the front door open and walking in. "Hi, sista."

"Raya! Haven't seen you since a few days before your parents dropped you at the Refuge and ran. I'm sorry I don't know where they are, but I have a feeling that's not why you're here?" The woman grinned, adjusting her headpiece.

"No. Is...um..."

"Patrick."

"Right. Is Patrick here?"

"Katie?" A small boy with brown hair and greenish eyes asked, running up and hugging Katie's leg.

"He was bluffing," I mumbled.

Later That Night

"You goils left in a hurry," Race commented, leaning forward, blue eyes shining.

(A/N: STORYTIME. I've had Ben Cook's face stuck in my head all week. Like, it won't go away. HIS EYES ARE FREAKING BEAUTIFUL. I don't think humans like him belong to this planet. He's too pretty. Am I right? (Oh boy, do any of you think he'd be on this site? Probably not.) Okay, bye.)

"Yeah, I had a thought," I shrugged, leaning into the back of the couch. Albert was sitting on my left with Katie and Elmer to my right.

"And what was that?" The blond boy asked, a playful, boyish smirk playing on his face.

"Nonya."

"What's that?"

"Nonya business," I laughed.

"Guess who," a ginger girl smiled, her hair a dark red as opposed to Albert's. There I go again, thinking about Albert.

"Rose!" The boys and Katie all jumped up, rushing over to greet the girl. I was left sitting on the couch by myself.

"I'm here too!" A brunette girl chimed in, getting a small kiss from Mush.

"Missed ya, Stars," he grinned, squeezing the girl's shoulders.

(A/N: FAMILY REUNION)

"We brought you guys something," both girls smiled, passing out a variety of items. Instead of awkwardly coughing like I had originally wanted to, I stayed silent and observed from the couch. Albert broke free, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me into the hoard of Newsies.

"Oh! I don't think we've seen you 'round here," the brunette girl smiled. "I'm Star and this is Rose."

"Raya," I grinned, spitting into my hand, waiting for the girls to do the same before we shook.