A New Beginning

Chapter 3

Welcome Back!

I do not own Newsies or any of the characters :( I wish!

Enjoy!

Sunlight streamed into Jess's face the next morning. She blinked sleepily before sitting up and stretching. She yawned and looked around. Crutchie and Jack were both up and dressed. They continued eating their breakfast as they turned toward her. "Mornin'!" Crutchie greeted happily. Jess smiled and stood to go join them. Picking up her bagel, she grinned at the boys. "Why didn't you wake me?" Jack laughed. "We was actually about to when youse woke up." Jess rolled her eyes. "Sure you were."

Crutchie gave Jess a knowing grin before standing and pulling Jack with him down the ladder.

Jess quickly changed and finished her breakfast before meeting the boys in the alley. The three laughed and talked all the way to the distribution center. As they entered the gates, Jack suddenly stopped laughing and stopped. Crutchie and Jess stopped and stared at him. "Jack? What's the matter?" Jess asked with confusion. Crutchie caught sight of what Jack had seen and pushed Jess behind him. "Delancys," he muttered. Jess began to panic. "Jack, what if they recognize me?" Jack turned to her. "Just keep your head down and you'll be okay," he replied. "Stays between me and Crutchie when the gate opens." Jess nodded, her anticipation and fear growing as more newsies arrived and the seconds ticked away. Race walked up to the trio with his trademark cigar in his mouth. "Wat's up, Alleycat? Ya okay? Youse don't look too good..." Crutchie glanced over at Jess and could see she was on the verge of a panic attack. "He's okay; Alleycat here just didn't get enough sleep last night," Crutchie managed. "Ain't that right, Cat?" Jess took a deep breath. "That's right," she replied, deepening her voice and feigning a yawn. Race shook his head. "If youse don't wanna tell me then just say so." Race walked away to join a newsie named Jojo just as the gates opened. Jack led the trio to the back of the line as Jess and Crutchie followed.

As they waited in line, Crutchie noticed that Jess's hands were shaking. He reached down and held her hand. Jess glanced over her shoulder and gave Crutchie a smile before dropping his hand and stepping up to the desk behind Jack. Jack put down his money, picked up his papers, and suddenly it was her turn. Jess stepped up and placed two quarters down on the table. "A hundred papes," she said in a deep voice, keeping her head down. As Oscar handed her the papers, Morris began to study her. "A new one, huh?" he sneered as Jess took her papers. Oscar snickered. "Just as bad as the rest of 'em," he replied. Jess left the line as Crutchie stepped up and became the new target of the brothers. She waited for Crutchie at the gate and they began their walk to the harbor. Jess was ecstatic. "They didn't recognize me!" Crutchie smiled as they continued down the sidewalk. "You'd be surprised how some dirt and old clothing would change your appearance." Jess grinned and turned to Crutchie. "How about some more selling lessons?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Days passed and Jess settled into her new lifestyle. She continued to live with Jack and Crutchie on the roof and they, with the exception of Katherine, were the only ones to know her secret. Jess and Crutchie continued to be selling partners and made quite a good team, brining in a lot of money and selling a hundred papers each every day. Jess became so comfortable around the boys that she became used to the name Alleycat and even began passing her normal voice off as her "boy voice". Jess loved her life with the newsies, but Katherine began to believe that she was losing her "girly side" and decided that she needed a girl's night out. Around 5 o'clock, Katherine approached Jess and Crutchie's selling spot with Jack. They stopped a block away and observed them. Jack smirked as he watched Jess's cheeks pinken when Crutchie lightly bumped her after she seemingly teased him about something. Katherine smiled. "We need to set them up." Jack nodded as he continued watching the two. "I've been wanting to take Jess on a girl's night! I'll do it today! I'll take her home, fix her up a bit, and take her out to Medda's. You and Crutchie can stay here and do something together. Maybe see if you can get anything out of him... Like how he feels about Jess. I can do the same with her, and when I drop her off later, you can walk me home so they have some time to hopefully talk," Katherine rambled excitedly. Jack shook his head and smiled. "What if it don't work?" Katherine stared at him in disbelief. "It's going to work!" she exclaimed. Jack laughed and pulled her close to his side. "Ace, youse is a genius." Katherine smiled and hugged Jack before walking up to Jess and Crutchie.

Jess had just finished selling her last paper and was walking with Crutchie toward the lodging house when Katherine came jogging up to her with Jack trailing behind. "Alright, Jess. Let's go." Jess looked at Katherine in confusion. "Huh?" she asked.

Katherine placed her hands on her hips and smirked at her. "We're having a girl's night, and there's nothing you can do about it." Jess rolled her eyes as she turned to Crutchie and gave him a pleading look. He backed away. "Hey, don't look at me. Ise ain't helpin' you." Jess laughed. "Fine," she said with a smirk. Katherine grinned and grabbed her hand. "Let's go!" Crutchie and Jack watched with amusement as an excited Katherine pulled Jess down the street towards her apartment. Jack glanced over at his friend. "Well, whadda ya say to eatin' in tonight, Crutch?" Crutchie nodded and followed Jack back towards the center of the city.

**************************************************************************Jess was dragged up the stairs into Katherine's apartment. It was a small, simple apartment, but it fit Katherine perfectly. They entered into a sitting room with a small fireplace, couch, and desk complete with a typewriter. Off of the sitting room was a kitchen with a small table and two chairs. The sitting room also gave entrance to a hallway that led to a bathroom and bedroom. Jess sat down on the couch and glanced over at her friend. "So, what's the plan for tonight?" Katherine smiled. "I was thinking a show at Medda's theatre." Jess' smile faded. "But I don't have anything nice enough to wear to a theatre." Katherine shook her head. "You're going to borrow some of my stuff! But first, we are going to get you cleaned up," she said, shooing Jess off of the couch. Katherine led Jess into the bathroom and started the water for her. "Go ahead and take your time. I'll have some clothes ready for you when you are done." Katherine studied Jess for a second then smiled. "Your eyes are so pretty. I know just what to dress you in." As Katherine left the room, Jess undressed and stepped into the water, pulling the bath curtain shut behind her. She was surprised to find it very warm as she had become used to the frigid water at the lodging house. After finding soap and washing her hair, she stepped out of the water. Jess discovered that her newsboy clothes were gone and replaced with a beautiful bright blue dress that fit her body perfectly and fell to her ankles. She slipped it on as Katherine entered, already dressed, with her newsboy clothes freshly washed. "Wow, Jess, you look absolutely stunning!" Jess blushed. "Thank you for the beautiful dress!" Katherine smiled. "Now, sit down and let me finish getting you ready." Jess sat down and set to work curling Jess' hair. After her hair was down, Katherine applied some light makeup to her eyes, lips, and cheeks. "Okay, I'm done," she said. Jess stood and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She hardly recognized the girl in the mirror. Her curled blonde hair fell perfectly on her shoulders. The blue dress hung beautifully on her body and showed off her figure, unlike her newsboy clothes. She understood now why Katherine had insisted on this dress. The blue of the dress caused her blue eyes to really stand out. Jess gaped at herself as Katherine laughed and clapped her hands in excitement. "Let's go!" Jess laughed and allowed Katherine to thread her arm through her own. The two left the apartment and began down the street.