"Sweetheart!" 

I hear Jackie calling my nickname across the docks, once I get close enough to him he grabs me and I see his worried face.

"Ash, are you alright? He didn't try to do anythin'?"

"Nope. He just wanted to know, as your 'brother' if I was serious. Sadly though, he said he still doesn't want to join," I hear his groans let out. We start heading out, and I turn around and see Spot watching us leave, so I wave goodbye.

"Bye, Sweetheart! Comes back soon if you've got bettah news!" Jackie turns to me like he's about to kill me.

"How did he know your nickname, Ash?" I start sweating, thinking of what I can say as a cover up, it's not the only time I've had to lie to my brother.

"Well, he told me about how he has spies everywhere. And that he heard the other newsies calling me that. So he used it to pick on me, because it's a very feminine nickname," Jackie scoffs.

"Of course, that sounds like him. He's a huge joik tah everyone,"  I nod, even though what we talked about was proof that he's actually a good person.

"He really seemed like it. Now anyways, let's head back home," Boots laughs.

"I can vouch for that."

I lie in my bunk, praying for the strike to just be harmless, that the prices will go back to normal, and no one gets hurt. Pulling the blanket my best friend kid blink made for me after I got him his eye patch.

I toss and turn in my bed for a solid hour. Not knowing what else to do, I get up and look around for any awake newsies, but alas, all are asleep. I sneak over to Racer and snatch a cigar and lighter from his pocket. I grab my jacket and head out of the lodging house for fresh air, as I step outside, I light the cigar, putting it to my lips, I take in a breath of smoke to try and calm myself down enough to get sleepy. Deciding to move farther away from the house in fear of a newsie seeing me, I decide to take a walk.

It starts raining harder and harder, more and more, it seems like there's going to be a storm. While standing out here, I see a figure hiding in the shadows, watching me.

"Hello?" The figure moves slightly, but doesn't leave, "were you sent by Spot?" The figure stops moving.

"Nah, but I'm friends with the guy. Are youse Ash?" The person asks, his voice is masculine, which lets me know they're a boy. But for some reason, his voice is familiar.

"That's the name. May I know yours?" The boy slinks out of the shadows.

"They calls me Tops. And Spot told me that if a pretty goil asks if I was sents by Spot, then it's Jackie boy's sistah, but I didn't expect youse to be a goddess," I feel my face flush, thank god it's dark and he can't see me. But it's also too dark to see who the boy is.

"Well, thank you, but you can't even see me, so how would you know?"

"You comes to the docks very often, and I'm a close pal of Spot, sos I go there as well sometimes. I'll see you and wonder if you're his goilfriend, but you never really talks tah him. So I'm guessing youse not that," I shake my head.

"Not his girlfriend, I just go there to read, I like it there. And I don't even know Spot that well," taking a puff of air into my lungs, feeling a sense of calamity fill my body.

"Well, he's told me that he's takens a likin' to yah. That youse has a poifect poisonality. Like an angel. And I'd bet that'd be true."

"Not really, I'm a person, not an angel," he walks closer to me, allowing me to his newsie cap, "are you a newsie?" I ask.

"Yeah, more or less. I hear you are too," I feel my heart stop.

"How many Brooklyn newsies know?!" I yell at him, he holds up his hands in defence.

"None that I know of, I'm the only one who knows," even though I can't see his features, I can still notice his wink. I pull my cigar to my lips and take another breath in. He notices and makes a comment, "shouldn't a little lady like you not be smoking?" I look at him, realizing that he's a good few inches taller than me, so he has no right to call me a 'little lady'.

"Yeah, but I can't sleep, so what else can I do?" He scoffs.

"When I mets you at the dock, I didn't know you smoked," He says.

"Yeah, I don't usually smo- wait what? You never met me at the docks?" 

"I mean- Uh- shit- you're going to be a bit upset, so no-" 

CRASH!!!

A strike of lightning appears nearby, lighting up the entire street, including the boy in front of me.

Spot Conlon.

I jump back and fall in a puddle on the street.

"Wait! Ash, Ise can explain!" He tries to help me up, I back away.

"Why did you lie? Why couldn't you have just said it was you, Spot?"

"Because Ise thought tat you would think I'm a weirdo," he turns away, embarrassment covering his body like a blanket. I look at him and start to feel bad.

"I'm sorry for yelling, I was just shocked," I try to stand up but slip back into the puddle from all of the rain wetting up the street, after falling, I cut my hand from a shard of glass, "Ah! Crap! Ow!" he turns around and helps me up, taking a look at it with the nearest streetlight. It looks like a deep cut.

"That could get infected, here, follow me, I know a place in Manhattan where I could get a better look at this," he rips off a bit of cloth from my night dress and wraps my hand with it. He takes my other hand and he starts to lead me down the streets.

After about 10 minutes, we reach an abandoned building. I can tell it's abandoned because all the windows are boarded up with wooden planks. He takes me to the side of the building and into a small opening. The inside of the building has some furniture that's covered by white sheets.

He leads me up a set of stairs where there's a window with enough light from the street so that he can look at my hand and I can look at him. He pokes around carefully and with a very pretty- I mean focused face.

"Yeah, if we don't clean this up, youse gonna get an infection. I'll take care of this for you," He finds a bit of sheets and washes it out in the rain, then presses it on my hand. I wince and pull away, but he holds my hand still and starts cooing me.

"Hey, I know it hoits, but it'll all be bettah in the end." I feel the tears forming and he sees it, it's not just a small cut, it's really deep. He takes one hand and wipes away a tear. He ties more bits of sheet to my hand to hold in the blood, and leaves the room.

He comes back in and calls me over, leading me to a room that has a full sized with a sheet lying on it. 

"Youse should lie down, I'll take care of ya."

"But what about the newsies? They'll be worried. And the strike? What about-"

"Hey, youse should be good enough by tomorrow, so theys shouldn't notice very much hopefully. You could just say you had to take a walk but ended up hanging out at a friend's house," he knows how to lie to Jackie just as good as me. I nod.

I pick up the sheets and lie in the bed, but failing to fall asleep from the lack of boys sharing body heat with each other like in the lodge. Spot leans on a wall, watching me shivering myself awake. After about five minutes of this, he sighs and saunters over to me. He takes off his boots,  jacket, cap, and red overalls. Leaving him in only some shorts, and a shirt that's slightly unbuttoned. He crawls under the covers with me, wrapping his arms around me, I feel my heart skip a beat.

"What are you doing?" I ask, feeling a spark in my heart but still worried.

"Don't worry, I'm not going tah hoit you. I'm just keeping youse warm, is that alright?" I freeze for a moment. He asked for permission? I just nod.

"Yeah, it's fine," I feel my body stop shivering  from the cold, and shivering from a strange feeling in my chest. It's warm, and cozy. I feel safe and protected for once.

"If you wants me to stop, you just tell me. Okay?" I nod. But I doubt that I'll ever want this to stop. This feeling is better than anything I've ever felt in my life. I still can't sleep because the feeling in my chest forbids me.

"I can't sleep," I hear him turning, as he sits up.

"Okay, do you just wanna talk until you feel like sleepin'?" I nod. So he batters up a question.

"'Aight, why do they calls you Sweetheart?" I laugh a bit.

"Well, Sweetheart is because both me and Crutchie are the nicest newsies. I used to be very mean, like the other newsies, but then the incident at the Refuge happened, so I decided it was just best to blend in, hide away from the attention, so that the whole thing doesn't happen again."

"The Refuge?" He questions, I know he's heard of it, all newsies have.

"That's where it happened. I disguised myself as a boy to stay with Jackie, so he could protect me. But one night when everyone was asleep, a boy... Did an unspeakable act," He nods.

"Ise so sorry, Ash. I wish I could've been there."

"Nah, it's okay. I can't keep looking back to the past to see if I could change it. I've just got to keep going on." There's a moment of silence, "Hey, can I hug you?" I ask, wanting to just feel warm, both physically and emotionally. He nods and pulls me into a hug, my face is rested on his shoulder/collarbone. 

"Thank youse for lettin' me take care of ya," He says, I laugh, feeling warm tears form in my eyes. Not those of sadness, but those of happiness.

"No, thank you for taking care of me. If there's anything I can do as a thank you, let me know," now it's his turn to laugh.

"Just you letting me hold you and finally be able to take care of someone is thanks enough," I feel my eyes shuttering closed as I finally rest my head on his chest one last time before I pass out.