girls like me

Getting the crew

"Hey Lil, sis, wake up. We're going to Brooklyn."

Jack shook me awake as my blurred visions were becoming apparent. It was still dark out, and I could see Crutchie still sleeping, holding onto his crutch like it was someone he didn't wanna let go.

"Um, Jackie? What time is it?" I ask him, rubbing my eyes.

"Uh, right about dawn. We should head no since Spot Colon's place is pretty far."

"Are you out of your mind? Who else is coming?" I yawn, getting up.

"Us, Davey, and Les," He responds.

Great, I got a whole reunion with my brother, the guy I'm falling for with his little brother and so-called ex, who happens to be a leader in Brooklyn. This should be fun. Jack kept his outfit of all dark blue and black slacks while I changed into a grey shirt from Jack's clothes stack. I tucked my long hair inside my cap, licking my baby hair back. Jack and I check ourselves out in the mirror, which leads us to push each other to get more room. We met up with Davey and his little yawning brother Les outside of the Lodge.

"Good morning," Davey says, coming up to me, reaching for my hand.

"Uh, Hi, we should get a move on," Jack interrupts by blocking him out of his way to me.

"Yeah, right."

"Mornin, boys, ready for an adventure?" I say, trying to lighten the mood.

It was silent, thanks to Jack's rude awakening to Davey's sweet approach to me. Whatever he had said may have changed his opinion of me or thinking if he ever wanted to be part of our family. Wait, did I just say that? I am way too young for marriage; then again, we're in New York, girls are getting married at the age of 14 to men who are 30. Gross, am I right?

"This Spot Colon...is he really as bad as they say?" Davey asks quietly to me.

Jack was carrying Les since he was still asleep. Les's little snores that I stared at him until he opened his eyes, looking at Davey and me. He winked and went back to fake sleeping...what a sneaky little boy.

"Well, he's the leader of the Brooklyn newsies. Spot can be a little intimidating, challenging, and his ego is up to the tallest building of New York," I say, remembering my times with Spot Colon.

It was about a year ago that he and I had a thing going on. We would challenge each other to sell the papes the quickest. Obviously, I won unless he let me. A king he was, and I became queen. Brooklyn and lower manhattan newsies would cross over because our love was blossoming. During that "blossoming," Jack had found out, and he wasn't too happy about it. Jack and I argued the entire night that I ran to Medda's and told her everything. She comforted me, and from that day forward, I started working at her theater. Spot found out and sent his minions to watch over me, which I didn't like because he wasn't giving me space. Eventually, I began losing feelings, which, to be honest, my feelings for him weren't as strong as I have for Davey. I confronted Spot about our relationship, and he wasn't too happy about it.

"He wasn't mean to you, was he? Cuz I'll knock him out-."

"Davey, no. Trust me, Jack and Spot already agreed on a deal that no crossing over shall be done. I just hope he's no hard-headed when we need their help..." I say the last part quietly.

The four of us neared Brookylns territory, and I could hear all of our steps slowly down, seeing a group of Brooklyn newsies running towards us. Jack made a complete stop in front of Davey and I, making Les do a half body turn to face who's in front of us.

"Morning fellas, looks to me you're about to enter the wrong side of town." One of them said, crossing their arms.

"Listen, we're just here to talk to Spot-"