All is fair in Love and Strikes (Sprace)

Chapter 1 I Race

"Ha! Hand ova tha money!" I yelled as the horse I bet on crossed the finish. Angry, the man I bet against handed me two dollars and I walked outta Sheepshead, as I already finished sellin' my papes. It was a daily ritual, place some bets, sell some papes, and repeat. I did it everyday, it's why I'm called Racetrack, Race for short.

Today was different though. As I walked away from Sheepshead and toward the Brooklyn bridge, I saw a boy with dirty blonde somewhat light brown hair and stormy blue eyes staring at me. He was wearing the unmistakable red suspenders of a Brooklyn newsie. It made sense that he was from Brooklyn, I was the only Manhattan newsie who sold on this side of the bridge and places like Queens and Harlem tended to stay in their borough. You couldn't deny it though, the boy was hot. He smirked at me. I looked away. I didn't want him to think I was checking him out, even if technically I was. I ran across the bridge. I wonder what his name is, I thought. I walked into the newsies lodging house, daydreaming about the mysterious boy.

"Race, hey Race is someone in there? Ya wanna play poker or what?" Blink was yelling at me. "Huh, what? Sorry, I was just..." I trailed off. The Manhattan newsies smirked. "Met a goil didn't you'se?" Skittery asked. I blushed and shared a knowing look with Jack and Mush. They were the only ones who knew I was gay, they were grinning ear to ear. Mush winked at me. "Nah," I said, probably red as the suspenders that mysterious boy was wearing. "Sure," Boots said sarcastically, he turned back to counting his marbles. The boys all looked at me, expecting me to cave but Jack and Mush dragged me to another room.

"What's his name?" Mush asked. "I'se don't know. I just saw him as I was leavin' Sheepshead," I said, laughing. They knew me too well. "Well den what did he looks like?" Jack continued. "Dirty blonde, kind o' light brown hair and stormy blue eyes. He was wearing red suspenders, ya know? Like tha Brooklyn newsies wear," I said dreamily. Mush looked like he was about to shit himself laughing, whereas Jack just smirked. "What?" I asked. "What's so funny?" Mush couldn't hold it anymore, he fell over laughing and was basically crying from laughing so hard. Jack just chuckled and patted my back. "Racey boy, you'se just fell in love with Spot Conlon."