Governor's Daughter (A Mush Meyers Love Story)

Chapter 1: Stupid Newsie

I was sitting in class looking at the clock tick its way to 3:00. 5 minutes to go. I was supposed to be reading until school was over, but I didn’t want to. The book was boring and all I wanted to do was get out and go to Tibby’s Diner for milkshakes with my friends. I glanced at the clock again. 3 minutes to go. I looked around me at the students in the classroom. Being in 9th grade was a drag. I brushed my skirt down as I looked at the clock again. 1 minute. I closed my book and the teacher said it was time to go. I grabbed my books and walked out of the school. I took my school tie off. Going to a private school meant I had to wear a uniform and the ties they made us wear were choking. I got to the front stairs of the school where my best friend, Grace, was waiting for me. Grace had been my friend since 4th grade. She had long blonde hair and pretty brown eyes. All the boys in school wanted to take her on a date, but she didn’t like dates very much.

                “What took you so long to get out here?” Grace said, “I was waiting.”

                “Sorry,” I said, “My class was all the way in the back of the school. It’s not my fault that we had two different 9th grade teachers. You act like Tibby’s is going to run out of ice cream.”

                “I don’t care about Tibby’s running out of ice cream. I want to get there before those newsie boys. You know they like to hang out in front of the diner.”

                “They’re loud and rowdy. I don’t understand why Tibby let’s them stand in front of his place. It’s bad for business. They can’t afford the food anyway.”

                Grace and I were about to walk away when I was stopped by the voice of my sister, Jane. Jane was 2 years older than me and bossy. Most of the time we got along great, but then she would think I was doing something wrong and treat me like a daughter and she was my mother. I turned around to Jane who was walking down the steps of the school. My sister and I looked a lot alike and some people got us confused. We both had long brown hair and brown eyes. We had the same nose and the same smile. The only thing different was that she looked older than I did and was a little skinner.

                “What is it, Jane?” I huffed.

                Jane had her hand on her hip. “Aren’t you forgetting that the Bateman’s are coming over for dinner tonight? Daddy said we had to be ready by 6 before they got there at 6:30. Plus they’re bringing their two sons and we have to entertain them.”

                “I know. I know. It’s not like I forgot. I was just going to go to Tibby’s first. I’ll be home in enough time to get ready.”

                “What am I supposed to tell Daddy?”

                “Tell him a stayed later to go over some homework with my teacher. He’ll never know I went to the diner.”

                “I’m tired of covering for you.”

                “Trust me. I’ll be back.”

                I grabbed Grace’s arm and pulled her along as we took off down the street. We laughed and talked the whole way to the dinner. New York City was buzzing with life. Carriages hurried down the streets and men and women walked to and fro. As Grace and I neared the diner, we saw the newsie boys outside of it laughing and smoking. Grace stopped in her tracks.

                “I told you,” she spat at me, “Now I don’t even want to go in.”

                “Oh come on,” I said, “It’s not like they’re going to bother us.”

                “You don’t know that.”

                “Yes I do. You know you want a milkshake.”

                “Fine.”

                We made our way over to the dinner. The boys stopped talking when we neared them. It was then that I noticed there were girls there with them. One of them was sitting next to a crippled newise with a crutch. Another girl held hands with a short newise with a vest and a pocket watch with a cigar hanging out of his mouth. I recognized the girl as Sydney Pulitzer who went to my school. Everyone knew about her and her newsie beau. I thought it was disgusting she would even think about that. The last girl had her arms around a newsie with a slingshot hanging out of his pocket and pimp cane in his hands. She eyed me coldly and I could tell she was the toughest one of the girls standing with the newsies.

                “Good afternoon, ladies,” the boy with the crutch said.

                Grace and I didn’t say anything back to him. We heard another voice as we stepped a little closer to the entance of the diner. “Well, ain’t it rather rude not ta say hello?”

                The voice came from a curly haired newsie with brown eyes and bushy eyebrows. He had a slight smirk on his pink lips. The amused look on his face forced me to say something. “Hello. Are you happy now?”

                “I guess. The name is Mush. Mush Meyers. What’s your name, pretty girl?”

                “Nothing that you need to know.”

                “Aw come on. What are ya? Scared or somethin’?”

                “No. More like not interested. You’re disgusting.”

                “Ouch, ya hit me right in da heart.”

                I rolled my eyes as the newsies started to laugh at Mush’s joke. Mush opened the door for me and Grace. I eyed him sternly but pulled Grace in with me. “See ya around, pretty face.”

                “Not likely,” I spat back.
                Grace and I took a seat at our normal booth. She fixed her hair and smoothed out her school blouse. “I thought we were going to have to call the police or something,” she said.

                “I told you they were harmless,” I said, “Although I would have loved to see that Mush kid get pepper sparyed. He’s nauseating.”

                “Do you think he’ll try something on you?”                                                                                                         

                “He’s the same age as us at least, Grace. You act like he’s an underhanded criminal.”

                “He might as well be. Do you think newsies go their whole lives without committing some kind of crime?”

                I shrugged my shoulders. I looked behind me out the window of the diner to where the newsies sat outside. I looked at Mush who had been looking at me while my back at been turned. He smirked again and turned his attention to his friend with an eye path that had been talking to him. Stupid newsies.