folklore

- 11 -

"well hello, hello, hello beautiful." Romeo greeted sweetly as a brunette in newsie attire walked past him.

She turned around and raised an eyebrow. "you talkin' to me?"

"there ain't no one heah as pretty as you." He winked. The girlsie only walked faster in which Romeo quickened his pace to match her's. "I ain't seen you 'round. You ain't from here, are ya?"

"I ain't, but I has a meetin' ta go to so stop pesterin' me." She replied, quickly growing irritated.

"the leadah's meetin'?"

"the one yer leader called." She reminded and rolled her eyes. She walked away in hopes of leaving Romeo there, but instead he followed her.

It was going to be difficult to get rid of him.

"you's a leadah?" Romeo's eyebrows furrowed and the two stopped.

The brunette scoffed and faced him, arms crossed. "no, I was plannin' on sneakin' into tha meetin'-" She threw her hands up in the air. "yes, I's a leadah!" She yelled and let them fall.

"which turf?"

"look Charmin'," Romeo smirked at the nickname that was given, whether it was sarcastic or not. "it don't matter where I's from, we ain't gonna see each other evah again." With that said, Romeo finally left the mystery leader alone and returned to his selling spot.

Something about her intrigued him and he hoped that he would see her again one day.

And maybe she had been somewhat interested in seeing him again too. What can she say? He was cute! But she has heard of his reputation among not only the newsies, but girls. He was the biggest flirt in probably all of New York and when it came to charming a girl, he had no trouble.

After all, he was good at it.

She thought that maybe there was more to him than everybody thought- yet she couldn't think of reasons why. His eyes showed a sort of genuineness that she has never seen before, even though she just met him. He had a light in him that drew her to him.

But instead, she continued her way to the Manhattan lodging house, where Race stood in the middle of a circle of sitting newsies, who all looked up at him. He eyed each and every one, recognizing them. There was Skittery from Harlem, Smalls from the Bronx, Boots from Staten Island...

There was one leader that Race didn't recognize. It was her. Her brown hair was done in a low bun but she had some baby hairs that framed her face. She was quite pale, but her skin wasn't white. It was clear that no newsie in the room recognized her as they snuck glances towards her, wondering why she was at the meeting in the first place.

"so," She started, growing impatient. "what is we here for?"

"I's sorry, who are ya?" Race furrowed his eyebrows as he studied the girl.

She stood up, approached the blonde and spat onto her palm. "Eden Matthews, Queens." She held her hand out. Race hesitated as the other leaders' eyes grew wide. They knew more than to speak petty remarks of her gender, but they all knew that they had the same thing in mind.