"Ash! Ash! Ash, wake up!"

I feel my consciousness come back to me as I hear someone calling my name. Opening my eyes, I see Jackie looking down at me, and he seems a bit confused. I look up at him and smile.

"Hey, Jackie. What's up?" I ask him.

"Did you give up your bed for Leo?" Jackie asks, I nod. "Well, you know that you can just take my bed, right?"

"Oh yeah. I could've done that. Could you do me a favor and watch Leo for me? I've gotta go buy some stuff," I say. He turns around and looks at the sleeping boy on my bed.

"Sure. Just stay safe, we don't want you getting hurt," Jackie says. I hug him and kiss his cheek.

"Thank you so much! Love you, bro!" I say as I run out of the lodge with a few extra coins in my pockets. 

As I run through the streets, I keep an eye out on things that look interesting or would be good gifts. I'm running past buildings when something catches my eyes. Snow globes.

I walk into the small store, looking at the snow globes and all different types of souvenirs. I find a small snow globe that says the words 'Santa Fe' on it and it has mountains inside it and pick it up. I find a golden painted necklace with a heart with the words 'Heart Of Gold' etched into it and decide that it's the perfect gift for Spot. And finally, I find a small pair of binoculars and think of Renner, because he's a spy and might need a pair.

After picking all of these gifts up, I walk over to the counter, where I see a little old lady standing there.

"Hello, miss. How much would this be?" I ask her. She takes a good look at me and then at the gifts.

"Oh, it's lovely to see someone in my shop these days. You're one of those newsies, aren't you?" She asks. I nod. "Well, congratulations on winning the strike. Now, who are these gifts for?"

"Well, the Santa Fe one is for my brother, the binoculars is for a friend, and the heart one is for my boyfriend," I say. She nods, thinking for a minute before deciding.

"Hmm, then I'd say fifteen cents. Is that a good price?" She asks. My eyes widen at the cheap price of the objects. 

"Uh, sure. But at least let me give you an extra five cents, as that's way too low of a price for such beautiful souvenirs," I say, but she shakes her head.

"No, that's alright, darling. It's just good to know that people are buying gifts out of the kindness of their hearts," she says. I can't argue with her, so I just nod and fish out the cash from my pocket. I place 17 cents down and make my way out of the store as fast as I can as to not be roped back in because of the two extra cents.

I feel a sense of kindness, knowing that I'm doing something good as I cross over the Brooklyn bridge. While walking to the docks, I see Renner walking along the streets and run over to him.

"Renner! Just the guy I was looking for! Here, you've been really kind as to watch over me, so please, have this gift!" I say happily as I hand him the binoculars. I see his eyes light up as his hands take the small object.

"Holy crap! Where did ya find these? I've been lookin' all ovah for a pair a' these bad boys," Renner says while inspecting them.

"Well, I just went to a souvenir shop. It didn't cost too much and I thought that you might need it," I say. He doesn't respond, just looks at everything through the lens. "Well, I best be off to go see Spot."

I turn around and continue walking down the docks. One of his boys tells me that he's in his room, so I walk up to the lodging house, where I see another girl walking in. I rush as fast as I can to catch up to her.

"Hi, there! I haven't seen you around here. What are you here for?" I ask the girl, who looks like she's probably not a newsie based on her nicer clothing. She turns around to look at me, and once she sees me, she smiles.

"Oh, hi! I could say the same thing. Well, I'm just here visiting my boyfriend," the girl says. I take a moment to look at her appearance. She has slightly long dark brown curly hair with beautiful blueish grey eyes and a very soft face. She looks like a living angel.

"Hey, so am I! So which of these bad boys did you manage to snag?" I ask her. She laughs slightly.

"Well, only the king himself," she says. I feel a lump of fear get caught in my throat only at those simple words. I know that my face must be as white as snow right now.

"I'm sorry, what?" I ask her, not in a rude way, but more in confusion. I can see that she notices my confused face as she also gains one.

"My boyfriend. Spot Conlon. The leader of the Brooklyn newsies," she says. I feel tears pricking at my eyes.

"But... But he's my boyfriend. We've been dating for about a month and a half," I tell her. Her face looks as pale as mine, which is only a bit more pale than her face before.

"We started dating about two, maybe two and a half weeks ago," she says. We both stare at each other for a moment in utter confusion when suddenly her face gets serious. "So this dude has been playing the both of us?"

"It seems so," I say, my voice shaking with every word. "Truce?"

"Truce. Us girls need to stick together. Especially when some scum is cheating on us," she says. I nod. "What's your name?"

"I'm Ash Kelly, the sister of Jack Kelly, who started the newsies Strike. Who are you?" I ask her.

"I'm Sofie, spelled with an 'F'," Sofie says. I nod and we both walk into the lodging house. As soon as we do so, all the newsboys look at us then look up to Spot's room. "Let's do this."

We walk up there and knock on his door. There's a muffled sound of footsteps before the door swings open to reveal Spot's shocked face.

"I can explain-" Spot starts but Sofie cuts him off by charging into the room, pushing him further back.

"'You can explain'?! Explain what? Because when we first started dating, you said that you didn't have a girlfriend! What the fuck was that about?!" She yells, shocking me but I join in.

"Spot! You fucking piece of trash! I was in the hospital after nearly dying from your own fucking brother and you went and cheated on me?! You came and visited every day, kissing me, holding me, and telling me how much you loved me, and the entire time you were just cheating on me behind my back?! While I was in the goddamn hospital?! Is that any way to thank someone for bringing you back your little brother who you thought was dead?! How many other girls were there?!" I yell at him. I can see the saddened shock on Sofie's face after I say where I was in all of this.

"It was just you two, I swear! Please! Let me explain!" Spot tries to speak, but Sofie pushes him onto the floor, letting him know that he is in no position to try and argue right now.

"Explain why you cheated on such an amazing person?! You must be a complete waste of life to cheat on someone who did so much for you! So please, do explain why you did this to us!" Sofie yells, taking a step back to let him speak.

"I... I didn't know how to process you bein' in da hospital, Ash. I was so scared that you was gonna die, and then this other goil comes along and I just felt pressured to not be grievin'. Sos I was trying to prepare to not be depressed if anudda part of mah family died. I'se so sorry, both of yis. What I did was wrong. I don't expect ya to forgive me. I'se so... so sorry," Spot says, covering his face in shame.

"Yeah. I don't know about Ash, but I don't forgive you. I never will. Fuck you, you prick," she says and walks back to the door, waiting for me to choose. I don't even need to think before I say what I believe.

"Burn in hell, you liar," I say, more spite in the words than in the delivery.

I then turn back to Sofie, who's frowning at Spot, who looks like he's about to cry. I don't even bother to pity him before walking out of the room with Sofie at my side.

"Hey, you did good back there, Ash. What do you say that we go buy some brunch?" She asks, her anger not directed anywhere near me, even though I was her boyfriend's girlfriend.

"That would be nice," I say. I feel her wrap an arm around my shoulder in an attempt to cheer me up.

"Good, because I know this place that makes killer pancakes!" She says with such excitement that I wouldn't even know the person she just was a minute ago to Spot. I nod and she starts leading me to a small shop that smells like sugar.

As we walk into the shop, Sofie sits me down in a booth and orders some food at the counter. It's only when I'm sitting down do I remember that I still have my gift that was meant for Spot. Sofie sitting back down breaks me from my thoughts.

"Let me get some things out of the way before we stop talking about him. How did you get in the hospital? How long were you in the hospital? Did you two ever kiss or go further than that? And how was your relationship before the hospital?" She asks. I try my best to explain everything in as much detail as I can provide. She nods at each thing I say and sometimes I can even see her clench her jaw.

"And our relationship was amazing. He was my first boyfriend, my first kiss, and the first time I ever consented to that kind of stuff. Because I got sent to a jail for underage kids for loitering, and his brother was in that jail and he raped me. But that was years ago and no one, not even he knew that it was his brother. I would have never expected that he could have done something like this to either of us. How were you two?" I ask her. 

"God, he was the sweetest. I never would have expected that he had a girlfriend. I'd visit him every night and we'd go on dates, we'd go back home and fool around. He promised me that he'd be mine forever and for always. We met after I bought a paper from him and he started flirting with me, I asked if he was single, he said yes, so we went on a date and hit it off. God, he's such a sleaze," she says, shaking her head with each thing she lists off.

"Yeah... Let's talk about something else. Where do you go to school?" I ask her, which makes her smile.

"Well, I recently started going to this all girl's school called 'Liberty Academy'. Where do you go? If you go to school, that is," she asks. I feel my eyes go wide.

"Hey! I'm going there next year! I used to go there for a couple years, but then it got really expensive for just my brother to pay, so I took a year off to earn some extra money for school, which is how I became a newsie!" I say excitedly. She smiles and the server walks over with our pancakes.

"Well isn't that awesome! Does this mean that I'll be seeing you next year?" She asks, I nod. 

"Hopefully. How old are you?" I ask her.

"I'm sixteen. How about you?" She asks.

"Fifteen, turning sixteen in a couple months. It's really nice to talk to a girl. I live with boys, hang out with boys, watch over boys, and am surrounded by boys every second of my day. So it's nice to get a break from that," I say.

"Yeah, I feel you. I live in a house with four brothers, one older, three younger. I can almost never leave my house without one of them clinging themselves to my legs," she says, which makes me laugh.

"It's the same with me, hun. Only the boys who cling themselves to my legs are the same age as me," I say.

"Oh, well the ones who cling to mine are fifteen and fourteen. Not exactly the littlest of kids either," she says which makes me laugh again. 

There's silence for a moment before I get an idea. I reach into my pocket and pull out the heart shaped necklace.

"This was going to be a gift for Spot, but I think you deserve it more. It fits you," I say, handing it over to her. She takes it in her hands and reads it before smiling and looking back up at me.

"You know, I also had a gift for him. And now that I think about it, you're probably the real owner of it. And plus, they basically match," she says, digging into her purse and pulling out a silver bracelet with a pendant that reads 'Eyes like diamonds, heart like gold' carved into it in very classy cursive.

"I guess we both have a similar style of gifts," I say with a laugh, which she returns with her own laughter.

"Yeah, I guess we do. Now let's eat before the food gets cold!" Sofie says, which I nod to and start digging into the pancakes. The second I take a bite, I feel my body start to shut down from the delicious flavor of food.

The more I eat, the more happy I feel. I haven't had anything this sweet in months. After we finish eating we both stand up and head outside.

"Well, I'd better head back home. This was a pretty shitty day, but at least I made a new friend!" She says, which I return with a nod. I can't help but to hug her, which she returns by hugging me back. As we pull away, she smiles at me.

"Thank you so much. I thought that this was going to be a horrible day when I found out that my goddamn first boyfriend ever, cheated on me, but you made it a fun day. Thank you so much. I hope to see you at school sometime, because I really like you! You're cool. I never thought that I'd think of my boyfriend's girlfriend as a cool person, but I do. Anyways, I'd also better get going. See you at school!" I yell as we begin to walk away.

"Yeah, see you!" She yells. I turn around and begin skipping back to the lodging house. 

I finally arrive after what feels like a day of just walking and thinking. As I open the door, Leo has now attached himself to my waist in a hug. Jackie runs over to us, out of breath from what I assume was him chasing Leo.

"Me and the little guy was playin' tag. How did ya morning with Spot go?" Jackie asks. I look to the small boy standing next to me and then back to my brother.

"Not too good. I found out that he's been cheating on me. But hey, I made friends with the girl it was with! She's really cool," I say, trying to lighten the mood. I can see his face of sadness as he pulls me into a big bear hug.

"Hey, Ash, I'se so sorry. I can't believe he would do sumthin' that scummy. When did he start their relationship?" He asks.

"About two weeks ago," I say, which makes Jackie even angrier.

"Wait, he was already dating yis when he started datin' her? Not even dat, you was in the goddamn hospital because his brudda beat you up! He's gonna get it now!" Jackie yells, but I stop him.

"While, yes, he's a fucking piece of trash who gets it from Luis. I have something for you," I say, reaching into my pocket to pull out the Santa Fe snow globe. "I know that you're not going to Santa Fe, but here's a little piece of it to keep with you."

I hand it over to him. I watch as he stares at it in awe. He then pulls me into another big bear hug, which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

"Thank you so much, sis. you'se a real sweetheart. I can't believe he would do somethin' like that to someone as amazin' as you. I swear, when I see 'im again, I'll kick his ass so hard-"

"Jackie, Leo is standing right here," I say, pointing to the small boy who doesn't understand what's going on.

"Sorry, Leo. Jus' don't be like your bruddas," Jackie says, then turns and smiles at me. "I also have some really, really good news. We have more than enough money tah pay for your school until you graduate."

I feel my heart stop. I thought that we only had enough money for another year of school, not enough to graduate.

"What?! How?!" I ask, which makes him smile.

"Well, with the extra money from Louie boy, the money we'se saved up from you skippin' a yea, and a couple extra dollahs 'ere and dere that's been earned. What do ya say? Ready fah school in a month?" Jackie asks, which makes me freeze.

"Wait, school's in a month? But I thought it was in two months?" I say, confused. But he just shakes his head.

"Nope. It's august, rememba?" He asks. I scoff, thinking about all the time during the strike, which must have taken up four months or so. God, it feels like everything is happening so fast.

"Not really. But I just can't wait to go back! I have so many friends I need to see and subjects I need to catch up on! I can barely wait!" I yell. But Leo looks at me confused for a moment.

"Wait, did Spot huwt you?" Leo asks. I shrug a bit then get down on my knees to get on his level.

"Not physically, but he hurt me really badly emotionally," I tell him. But Leo punches his fists and looks up at me with pride.

"Well, phycically ow not, if he huwts my fwiends, he'll have to go thwough me!"

Am I the only one who kinda ships Sofie with Ash? I mean, I know I made her but... It's kinda cute.