My Girl ~Racetrack~

sixteen

BUBBLES' POV

I left the attic with Kat's letters. Not gonna lie, I'm kinda scared to go to the 'Hattan newsies. Their kinda famous. What if they see the Queens badge I have on and blame me for Kat being held there.

I was about to leave when Jumper stopped me. "Where ya going?" He asked. "Ain't ya sellin?" Patches comes up behind Jumper.

"Nah. I-I'm seein a friend. Over in t-the Bronx. He just came back to New York" Jumper nods suspiciously at my behavior. Patches does the same. "Bye, dude!" Dummy jumps on me and rubs my head. He really lives up to his nickname.

I left the building and walked all the way to Manhattan. I arrived and am standing outside the Manhattan lodging house. I take a deep breath and knock. A boy with a crutch answers the door. "Crutchie! I told you I would get it!" A boy came beside the crippled boy.

"Sorry. Hi, may I come in?" I ask. "Why should we let you in?" Asked a boy with red hair as he appeared behind the second boy. "Why do you have letters?" The first boy asked.

"I-" I got cut off. "You have a Queens badge. You a Queens Newsie?" One asked. I nodded. "Whatcha doin' here?" Another asked.

The three boys bombarded me with questions. "Kat sent me!" I yelled. The three boys shut up and pulled me inside. "How do you know Kat?" The red haired one put a fist to my chin. "Aye! I have a letter. From Kat!" I said.

The boy backed off. "Is any of the other boys here? Kat wants all of you." I inform. The boy with the crutch nods. "Mush. Go get the rest of the boys" The boy points to another room.

The boy runs off and then a minute of awkward silence the boy comes back with a crowd of boys yellin and making noise.

"Kat?"

"Why's he here?"

"Is she ok?"

"She better not be hurt, boy!"

"Shut it!" A boy with a slingshot yelled.

I pulled out the letter with 'boys' on the front. "Who here is Mush?" I ask. The boy that I saw before slipped his way to the front of the crowd of newsies. "Me." He says

"Kat told me to have you read aloud." I inform. "Ugh. Why Mush?" One asks.

Mush starts to read. "Dear boys, It's your favourite Kelly! I hope your cheering. And if you're not. You better be now. I give you some time" The boys start cheering and laughing. I could tell they haven't had a laugh in days.

Mush continues "Ok, Specs, I know you get very productive when you're stressed, but don't annoy everyone with your cleaning. I'm speaking for everyone." The boys laugh and who I assume is Specs groans. "I can't help it!" He shouts.

"JoJo. I know you are remembering every single thing we've ever done and it's making you sadder. Don't think about it! I'll be back soon enough." Who I think is JoJo speaks. "How does she know?" He asks

"She's your bestfriend, Jo! I just hope I don't get called out." A small boy says as he puts his arm around JoJo.

"Romeo! Don't flirt with Katherine. You know how angry Jack gets!" The boys laugh as the boy next to JoJo lowers his head. "I jinxed it." He said. I guess the small boy is Romeo.

As the boys are laughing and teasing each other at Kat's words, a girl comes in. "I heard my name." She looks like she hadn't slept in days. Mush looked at the letter again and laughs. "Katherine! Check this out, you're in Kat's letter!" He yelled.

Katherine grabbed the letter and read. "You're my favourite, Katherine! (If you're there. but you probably are.)"  Katherine laughed. "She knows everything!" She said. Mush grabs the letter back and tries to continue reading.