Prologue


	First I'll you about myself. My name is Teal. I've had that nickname. Since I was a kid, my
brother gave it to me because the heart necklace I wear always wear says Teal on it. I got the
necklace from my mom before she died.
	Anyway, I'm 15 years old and I live in New York. I have lived here all my life. When my mom
died my brother and I had no where to go. My dad left right after I was born, so a big help he was.
	My brother and I went our separate ways. I mean I loved him but we decided that we
probably wouldn’t get to stay together because of the whole boys are better than girls issue.


Chapter 1

2 years later......
	I have been a newsie for about a year now. I’ve been with the Manhattan newsies which
is led by  Cowboy or also known as Jack Kelly, he’s a great guy, bad temper, but a great guy. All
the guys are sweet especially Kid Blink. I’d have to say that Blink is my best fried or at least the
best one I’ve ever had. I tell him everything, well almost everything.
	“Hey, Teal get up!” Race and Blink yelled simultaneously
	“I’m up and thank you for scaring the shit out of me.” I remarked
	“You’re welcome.” Blink remarked with the same amount of sarcasm as me but he added
a smile.  
	“Time for another glorious day of selling papes, so hurry and get ready!” Race said as he
walked away.
	So I got up and got dresses in my usual ensemble of pants and a button up shirt. What
can I say I don’t do that whole dress thing. I met the guys outside and we started our walk to get
our papes.
	“Hey ya, Teal, how’s it going?” Dutchy asked from behind me.
	I turned around and said with a yawn “Considering it’s morning and I don’t like mornings.
And considering I’m going to work and I don’t like work I’m just GREAT.”
	“Well that’s good....I think.....anyway I was kinda wondering if....” he was acting nervous as
he continued “You would like to go with me to  Medda’s tonight, if your not busy?” he remarked
quickly.
	Shocked I said, “Are you asking me out on a date?” I asked not trying to sound excited.
	“Yes, I guess I am, so will you?” he asked sounding a little impatient.
	“Yes....yes I will, I suppose you would like me to wear a dress?”
	“Well, if you wouldn’t mind, I mean you don’t have to if you don’t want to.” 
	“Don’t worry I’ll find something.” I said. Luckily I haven’t grown much in two years so my
dresses must fit me......I hope they fit me.
	By the time we had finished dour little conversation we had gotten in line to sell papers.
The rest of the day was just like a regular day. I got my hundred papes, went to Central Park, sold
my papes, all of them I might add. Now I was on my way to Tibby’s to meet up with the guys and
get something to eat, I was starving!
	As I was leaving central Park I saw Blink walking so I yelled for him to wait up. I couldn’t
wait to tell him the good news about Dutchy and me!
	“Hey Blink” I said as I caught up to him. 
	He smiled as got to his side. “How’d  ya do today?” 
	“I sold the normal, how ‘bout you?”
	“I sold the normal too--” he said before I entreated him.
	“Guess what happened this morning, never mind I’ll just tell you, Dutchy asked me out.
We are going to Medda’s tonight!” I said not even trying to hold back how excited I was.
	“That’s Great! You like Dutchy?” he asked.
	“.....Yeah he’s a sweetie!” still sounding excited.
	“Wait a sec are you going to wear a dress?” he said with a smirk.
	“Yes, Why?” I asked with an evil look.
	He started to laugh but he stopped when I hit him in the stomach.
	“This I gotta see!” he said between snickers.
	So I hit him again  and gave him another angry look and he just smiled. Somehow that
smile always stopped me from being angry at him.
	“Why do you do that?” I asked trying to still sound angry.
	“What?” he asked.
	“Smile, you no I can’t be mad at you when you flash that smile!” I said not sounding even
remotely angry anymore.
	“No, I didn’t know that but now that I do I think I’ll use that to my own advantage.” He said
with another big grin.
	I went to hit him again but this time he dodged it. So we continues our walk to Tibby’s.
	By the time we got to Tibby’s most of the guys were already there. I saw Dutchy,  I told
Blink, and went over to sit by him.
	“Hey, Teal!” Dutchy said as he stood up to pull the chair out for me.
	“Hi.” I said as I sat down, “Thanks.”
	We ate lunch and we talked the rest of the afternoon along with Blink, Mush and Specs.
We weren’t going to Medda’s until 6:30, so we had a lot of time to talk.
	At a little after 5:00 I got up to leave, “I better go get ready.” I started to walk out.
	Then Mush said, “Yeah it does take girls forever to get ready and I do mean forever!”
	I was standing behind Mush at that time so I hit him upside the head (yes I hit a lot), “How
would you know?” I asked him.
	“Well......um......cuz....I just know!” he mumbled
	Everyone laughed.
	“Yeah whatever Mush!” Specs said laughing
	So I went Back to The lodging house to get ready.


Chapter 2

	When I got to the lodging house I asked Kloppmen if I could get into the closet. I had him
keep all my dresses in a closet downstairs so they wouldn’t get all wrinkled and stuff.
	I pulled out a simple lavender dress. Which had  white flowers along the bottom,
sleeves, and around the neck. 
	I went upstairs to put the dress on. Then I brushed my hair and pulled up the sides and
curled the rest of it. I then looked in the mirror and said “Not much  better but it is good as it’s
going to get.”
	Then I went into the bunk room on my way downstairs and there was Blink. He then
looked up from his paper and whistled at me.
	“Shut up!” I snapped at him.
	“Okay, but I have to say you look good in a dress, you do I mean it.”
	“You sound surprised.” I said giving him one of my evil looks.
	“No, I knew you would look good.” He said quickly
	“Well thank you, why are you here anyway?”
	“I told you I had to see you in a dress so here I am.” he said with his usual big grin.
	“Okay, so where is Dutchy?” I asked a little annoyed by his remark.
	“He is downstairs waiting for you, I was supposed to tell you that.” Blink said quite proud
of himself for remembering.
	“How did he get ready to go anyway?”
	“He snuck upstairs, grabbed his suit and got dressed and ready in the bathroom
downstairs”
	“Okay, thanks!” I said as I went down the stairs.
	There was Dutchy he looked up as he heard me coming down the stairs. He looked
shocked as he stood up to greet me.
	“So, what ya think?” I said as I spun around.
	“WOW! you look really, REALLY good!” he said still looking shocked.
	“Thanks.” I said as he took my arm and led me out the door.
	The rest of the night was great. We talked, laughed, danced, and listened to Medda sing.
(which personally wasn’t one of my favorite parts)


Chapter 3


2 weeks later.......

	Dutchy and I are still going out, we do stuff together all the time. He’s a great guy and he’s
even an okay kisser!
	Anyway it was Monday morning and I was getting in line for papes as usual. When Blink
yelled “They jacked up the price, ten cents a hundred!”
	Then the line turned into  a group surrounding Jack and Davey. Everyone looking at them
blankly as if we couldn’t think for ourselves.
	Jack decided that we should go on strike. Davey was against the whole thing but
somehow Jack talked him into it. So we started to plan stuff when Jack decided to send 
“embasdards” to get people for the strike.
	“Blink, Teal, and Dutchy you take Harlem!” He yelled at the top of his lungs. Thank god I
was standing right next to him or I might not of heard him.
	I was so thrilled (Yeah right) at least I was going with people I like. He sent other people
to other places in New York. Except Brooklyn that is where Davey, Boots and Jack were going. No
one else wanted to go there because they were afraid of some Spot person.
	So we went to Harlem to talk to some guy named Burn (sounds real scarey).
	“Hey, Burn! How’s it going?” Blink asked.
	“Okay, have you come back to join the ranks of Harlem once again?”
	“Sorry no--” Blink started to say when Burn interrupted.
	“Who’s the chick with ya?”
	“Chick! Do I look like a little chicken to you?” I said sharply.
	“No.” he said with a puzzled look on his face, “Its just you’re so damn pretty.”
	“Well she’s taken’!” Dutchy said sounding annoyed.
	“By who? You?” Burn asked.
	“Yeah, by me. You have a problem with that?”
	“No, sorry!  So why are you guys here?”
	“ To get people for our strike.” Blink replied.
	We explained to him the whole “strike story” and he decided to join. We headed back to
the square to meet Jack and the rest of the guys to tell them that we got Harlem. We were the
last ones to get to the square.	
	Everyone had joined the strike except Queens and Brooklyn. Queens wouldn’t join
because Brooklyn wouldn’t join and Brooklyn wouldn’t join because they didn’t think we were
serious enough about the strike.
	The next day were hanging out in the square when Jack thought it would be great to soak
the Newsies in Manhattan that weren’t on strike. Of course Davey didn’t think that it was a good
idea, he was against the whole thing.
	So we went to see if anyone was buying papes and there were some. Most gave up
before we even started fighting. But there were the few stupid ones that refused to give up. So
the yelling started. Jack saw that I was still there so he told Dutchy to escort me out the gates.
	“I never get to have any fun” I said as we got out of the gates.
	“We just don’t want you to get hurt, Teal please promise me you’ll stay out here!” He said
as he gave me that said he ment it.
	“All right, I promise.” I said reluctantly.
	“Thanks.” he said with a sigh of relief.
	“ Be careful!” I yelled as he ran back in to fight.
	I slid down the wall to sit down. When a well dresses man came up to me and asked “ Are
you the girl in the newsie strike”
	“Yeah, why? And who are you? I asked a little confused.
	“I am Brian Denton with the New York Sun. I’ve been assigned to the newsie strike. I’ve
been watching you guys for a couple days now that’s how I know that there was a girl in the
strike. I figure it would be a lot easier to ask you questions then to ask the guys in there fighting
don’t you think? he asked
	“Okay, I’m Teal and I’ll tell you what you wanna know, but Jack and Davey would know a lot
more than me.” I said.
	“In that case I’ll wait to get you all together.” he said with a friendly smile.
	We then talked a little about me being a girl newsie, what it is like etc... and even less
about the strike.
	The guys then came out most of them with black eyes or other bruises, they didn’t look
very well. Since I have seen them get in a lot of fights I wasn’t real worried about this I’ve seen
them look worse.
	“Right now you guys are the most handsome bunch of men I have ever seen!” I said with
a grin. They all gave a look that said that they weren’t amused.
	I then introduced them to Denton. Denton then took Jack, Davey, Race, Blink and me to
Tibby’s for an interview. The rest of the guys went back to the lodging house.


Chapter 4


	After the interview (the interview had seemed to take forever) we all got up to leave,
Denton thanked us for coming. Then Blink offered to take me home and since it was late I
excepted. 
	Jack, Davey, and Race decided to go drinking at Medda’s so they were already ouy the
door.
	We said good bye to Denton and started our walk back to the lodging house. Blink was
silent, way, way to quiet for him considering he usually can’t stop talking.
	“Are you okay?” I asked cuz I was worried.
	“Fine. Why?” he said acting a little jumpy.
	“ Cuz you aren’t talking and you usually well,...... can’t shut up.” I tried to say that as nice
as possible but it still sounded pretty mean.
	“ There is something bothering me.” he said acting a little nervous.
	“What is it? You know you can tell me.”
	“Um........when I saw you in that dress and when I see with Dutchy together........I.........”
	“You  what?”
	“I realize how much......I Love you.” he said while looking into my eyes.
	From the way he was looking at me and the way he said “I love you” I knew he didn’t mean
as friends. I was speechless, I mean what was I supposed to say to that. But before I could think
about it anymore he leaned and kissed me. I relaxed after a second to enjoy a long sweet kiss
with his arms around me and mine around him.
	We pulled away from each other slowly and just gazed into each other’s eyes before he
pulled completely away.
	“I’m sorry, I am SO sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” he said looking away.
	“It’s okay, cuz I feel the same way.” I said as we looked into each other’s eyes once again,
	“You do?” he said sounding and looking a little surprised.
	“ yeah, I just never realized it until you kissed me, and I was wondering if you would do
me a favor?”
	“Sure. What?”
	“Could you do that kiss thing again?’ I asked with a smirk on my face.
	So he came closer and put his arms around my waist. Then I put my arms around his
neck. And we both leaned in for a kiss. This one was longer but just as sweet!
 	We then continued out walk to the lodging house when we got there everybody was
already sleeping so we both went right to bed. I fell right into a peaceful sleep.

Chapter 5


	I woke up early the next morning before everyone else. I realized that I would have to tell
Dutchy about Blink and me and I would have to tell him today. I got up, got dressed and went
outside to get some fresh air before I talked to Dutchy.
	When I got out side there was a boy hanging out by the door. “Who are you?” I asked.
	“I’m Spot” he replied as he lifted his head to see who I was, “Teal?”
	“How did you--- Oh my God---”
	“Don’t call me that” he interrupted, “the name is Spot now, okay?”
	“My brother is the leader of the Brooklyn Newsies, I am so proud” then we hugged, “ I’ve
missed you so much?”
	“Well don’t be getting all mushy on me.” he said as he pulled away. “Don’t tell anybody I
mean ANYBODY my real name, okay?”
	“I won’t tell anybody your real name if you don’t tell anybody mine, deal?”
	“Deal!” he said as we did a spit shake.
	“I’ll go upstairs and wake up the guys.” I said with a big grin.
	“You don’t have to, we’ll wait”
	“We’ll?”
	“Yeah the rest of the Brooklyn group is waiting at the square.”
	“oh. No, I’ll wake ‘em believe I would love to!” I yelled as I started in the door “I’ll be right
back!”
	I quietly went up the stairs and into the middle of the bunk room and yelled for everyone
to get up. Most of them opened their eyes, gave me an evil look, closed their eyes to go back to
sleep. Except Jack and Race who didn’t even hear me cuz they were still sound asleep.
	“Guys, get up Spot and his gang are waiting for you guys in the square!” I pleaded
	They started to get up slowly, very slowly. So I went wake up Jack since he was still very
much asleep. “Rise and shine sleeping beauty” I said into his ear.
	He opened his eyes, looked at me and said “I’m tired leave me alone, and besides what
the hell do you want?”
	“The Brooklyn Newsies are waiting for you at the square so get the HELL up!” I said with a
smile. I had the smile because of all the fun I was having waking everybody up.
	He got up to go get ready so I went to wake up Race who was already half awake so it was
only half as fun.
	So everybody was up and getting dresses and stuff. So I went and sat on my bunk and
waited for them, which wasn’t that exciting.
	When I saw that Dutchy was ready and that everybody was leaving for the square I called
him over “Hey Dutchy, come over here I have to talk to ya.” I said in a sad type tone.
	I think he knew something was wrong because of the way his face went from happy to
see me to a concerned type look. “Hey Teal, what’s wrong?”
	“I don’t know an easy way to tell you this so here goes. Last night after the interview thing
Blink offered to walk me home and.....”
	“And. And what?” he asked impatiently “come on, tell me!”
	“And we kissed.” I got out quickly.
	“What?! He kissed you I’m gonna kill--”
	“No, we kissed each other it is as much my fault as his!” I said quickly cuz I REALLY didn’t
want Dutchy to kill Blink. That would so not be good.
	“I can’t believe you did this to me!” he said looking like he was going to cry.
	“I am sorry, I really am but I never felt that, you know that feeling when we kissed and I
wouldn’t want to go out with you for any other reason than love. do you understand?”
	“Yeah I do!” he said in an angry tone, “I’m not good enough for you!” this time he was
trying to hold back tears.
	“No, that’s not it,  I like you as a friend. The love just isn’t there for it to be more of a
friendship. So are we still going to be friends?” I said now crying my eyes out.
	He looked at me for a sec no longer able to hold back the tears “I understand because I
feel the same way about you as you feel about Blink. But about the friends thing it is not that
easy, you hurt me real bad and......well I just don’t know” he said still crying.
	I was now crying even harder because I could see how much I hurt him “ I am sorry!” I
said “but I couldn’t just lead you on  please can we still be friends?”
	He didn’t answer he just turned away and went down stairs. 
	I  felt so bad about hurting him. I was crying still but there was nothing else I could have
done, right? So I just sat there on by bed and cried into my hands.
	Blink came up the stairs, “Teal?” he said kinda softly. He then came over to my bunk “Are
you all right?” he said putting his arm around me.
	“I am okay......I think.” I said trying to stop crying.
	I then explained to him what happened, which made me feel a little better. So I wiped
away the tears and smiled at him and he gave me a hug, which made me feel a lot better.
	“You ready to meet the rest of the guys at the square, if your not I’ll wait here with ya” he
said.	
	“Just give me a few minutes so my eyes aren’t red, k?”
	“Sure, then I can introduce you to Spot.”
	“we’ve already met.”
	“Really? When?”
	“When he was about one.”
	“Huh?”
	“he’s my brother.”
	“Are you sure we’re talking about the same Spot?”
	“Yeah he’s at the square, brown hair, pale blue eyes. leader of the Brooklyn Newsies.”
	“That would be the one. Why didn’t you tell me that Spot was your brother?”
	“Cuz I didn’t know until this morning when I saw him. You know his name hasn’t always
been Spot.”
	“Oh, I see so what is his real name?” he asked with one of his big smiles.
	“I can’t tell you, we made a deal he won’t say anything about my real name and I won’t say
anything about his.”
	“Okay” he said disappointed, “You ready to go?”
	“Yeah let’s go!”
	We went downstairs and outside to the square to meet the group of boys. Apparently
Brooklyn and Queens were going to join the strike now. Which was really helpful.
	The rest of the day was boring they just talked about “the old days” like any of us are that
old. It was boring until Jack came up with the idea to have a Big Rally with kids from all over New
York, and not just newsies!


Chapter 6


	It was Friday the day of the big rally. The  rally was to be held at Medda’s (Where else).
The guys were all down at Irving Hall getting the place ready for the big night.
	I was at the lodging house deciding on what to wear, how to do my hair, stuff like that. I
wanted to look perfect for Blink (or almost perfect).
	So I went to the closet and pulled out my favorite and nicest dress. It was white, a
silky,shiney material. The bottom, the sleeves and the neck were all trimmed with light blue
lace. It was ankle length (like all my dresses). It had those layers of material underneath to
make the skirt part of it stick out.
	Anyway I put up all my hair on top of my head and curled. I put on some make-up (which I
hardly ever do) but it was a special occasion my first official date with Blink. I was really excited.
I just hope that Blink likes it.
	it was almost time to go so I was putting on the finishing touches. When I heard
someone coming up the stairs.
	“Teal?” Blink asked.
	“Just a sec I’m almost ready” I said  as I made a final check in the mirror. “Here goes.” I
whispered to myself as I walked into the bunk room.	
	Blink just stared for a second and then he said “You look... beautiful gorgeous, and
WOW!”
	“You don’t look so bad yourself” I replied.
	He was dresses in a nice brown suit and vest ensemble. He looked very, very, very,  (you
get the idea) handsome.
	He then took my arm and we began our walk to Irving Hall. I was so very, very, very, (I am
sure you get it this time too) happy.