My Bet

Drunk Lads

It's been months since Jack was taken to the Refuge and he is yet to come back. Newsies were missing their leader but they had to get on with work. They couldn't wait around for him. It took about a week for Bet to be able to get back to work. 

Crutchie stayed behind with her that week. Because he didn't feel well, but also to keep an eye on her. Race and Albert's orders since Bet had been fantasizing of rescuing Jack from the Refuge by herself. Which would most likely just leave with her being captured. 

Now she was working normally. Selling papes on her usual spots every day. Making money so she and the other boys could eat. She got better over time, didn't blame herself with every waking moment anymore. True there still was that guilty pang inside her heart any time someone would mention Jack. But she was getting better. 

Today she was selling near a very frequently visited bar. She knew Albert was just a few blocks away and that he would come get her when he is done with selling. It was the agreement she had with the boys. When going home she had to be accompanied by one of them. No one wanted another Refuge situation happening. 

"Extra, extra, Young beauty charms three older men then poisons them with arsenic! Fresh news right here fellas!" She was on her last two papers. Her day was going well. The headline was a little blunt, but she made it work. A group of young boys walked out of the bar and stopped by her. All of them snickering. They had glasses with liquor in hands.

"Can we get a pape then?" One of them asked. Bet nodded, digging into her bag to pull out the paper and handing it to the guy. "Well, look it. Ya weren't lyin'. The bitch really did poison them didn't she?" He grumbled, reading through the newspaper with his mates. The problem was, he still didn't pay to Bet. 

"Um, excuse me. I needs money for the papes." She said to the guy. All of them glared at her. 

"Would you look it? The little scum's askin' fo' money." Another boy said. 

"Should be happy enough to have a job." 

"Job's supposed to pay money ain't it? I just wants what I deserve for the papes." Bet stood her ground. Growing up with boys taught her not to give up easily. Boys were teases. They usually dropped their act once the girl stood up to them properly. If you don't they won't stop harassing you. 

"What you deserve is rot on the streets, not sell newspapers!" The guy pushed Bet, her newsie hat falling off her head. As she went to pick it up a foul-smelling liquid got spilled all over her head. One of the boys spilled the contents of his glass over Bet's head, making the girl shiver in the cold breeze. 

The other boys started laughing. All drunk out of their minds to be paying any attention to the people around them. They cared about having fun and teasing Bet seemed to be providing that. They didn't notice Elmer on the other side of the street. Watching in horror as they taunted his friend. 

Elmer wasn't the most skilled when it came to fighting. And he wouldn't be able to take four boys on his own anyway. But he could do something. He knew Albert was just a few blocks away. If he got Albert, he could help. And so Elmer sprinted to find the ginger newsie. 

Meanwhile, the boys made fun of Bet, pushing the girl to the ground and when she tried to fight back they kicked her. In a desperate attempt to get from them, she kicked one of them in the crotch, only to have glass smashed against the back of her head. Bet groaned in pain, sinking to her knees on the ground. Her hands wrapped around her head, hiding the spot that was now bleeding. 

The boys laughed at her pathetic state. She did put up a fight, but she was no match to the four of them. If she hit one other three would come at her from other directions. The fight was lost the moment it began. Bet wondered, while her head pounded if it wouldn't be better to just let them humiliate her. Become a laughing stock rather than suffer the pain. But she was proud. Too proud for her own good. Another thing that comes from living with boys.