I looked at my hair in the mirror in front of me.

I turned around to Jack who was staring at me with scared, wide eyes.

"Jack," i said looking him in the eyes, "I love it! Thank you so much!"

He let out a sigh of relief, and then turned me around so that i could look at myself in the mirror. My hair was so short it was barely brushing the tops of my shoulders. It had curled up so that the curls framed my face tickling my cheeks. Jack had cut my hair in a way that made me look like a master piece.

"Oh God. Jack, why is she crying?" Mush asked. He looked nervously from me to Jack. You could tell that he wanted to comfort me, but he was afraid. 

That made me laugh.

Now he looked really freaked out. I went from crying to laughing in about 2 seconds.

I laughed harder.

"Jack," Mush edged behind Jack some, "Is she sick? We should take her to a doctor. We should-"

I waved my hand in a, "no, don't!" gesture while i was doubled over with laughter. When i had finally caught my breath, i stood up straight and said, "Jack!" he looked at me, startled at my sudden outburst.

I twirled in front of him happily and said, "I was crying because i had never felt so beautiful in my entire life! Thank you, Jack."

I ran into his arms, and he gave me a bear hug while Mush sighed a sigh of relief.

"Well," said Kid Blink, "This has been an extremely touching moment, but we gotta go or all the papes are gonna be gone."

Jack gently pulled out of the hug and yelled for everyone to get outa here before we don't get any papes. Jack quickly braided what was left of my hair and shoved a newsies cap on my head, grabbed my hand, and we barreled down the steps and down the street to the distribution center. Thankfully, we made it there before the gates had opened.

When we arrived at the distribution center, all the guys and me stood around laughing and joking around waiting for the circulation bell to ring and the gates to open. As I stood there talking to Jack, Crutchie, Mush, Stark, and Kid Blink, two boys walked up to the Newsies.

"Oh my," Racetrack said with his cigar in his mouth, "What is that unpleasant aroma?"

Bumlets answered, "I fear the sewers have backed up in the night."

"Nah," said Mush, "Too smelly to be the sewers. Must be-"

"The Delancy Brothers!" yelled all the Newsies together. They all burst into laughter.

One of the brothers walked up threateningly to all of us. Stark was running around laughing adorably in his newsies cap that was too big for his head. The Delaney that had stepped up to us reached out and pushed Stark down.

Several things happened at once. I rushed forward to pick up Stark right at the same time Mush did. Our heads hit each other with an audible crack. At the same second, Jack rushed foreward to confront the Delancy brothers, but he was stopped when he tripped over me and Mush both groaning in pain. As Jack fell, his legs swept out and took down Race and Kid Blink. Race fell forward onto the pile, but Blink fell backwards on top of Bumlets. Pretty soon the only Newsie still standing was Crutchie who had moved away from the group as we all started toppling over like dominoes.

As we all laid groaning and moaning on the pavement outside the gates, the Delaney brothers cackled loudly.

"Nice goin', Kelly!" cackled one of the Delancy Brothers. "Your Newsies are finally where you all should be. Underneath me and Morris' feet lyin' in a gutter."

The one who is now known as Morris stepped towards me and went to put his foot on my throbbing head. He stopped and put his foot on my chest instead. He put most of his weight on the foot in the middle of my chest so that it was made difficult to breathe.

"Who do we have here?" Morris growled down at me.

"None a ya bee's wax." said Mush trying to pull himself from underneath Jack and Race.

"What did ya say ya street rat?" Morris turned taking his foot off of me and walking over to better stand over Mush.

"I said, 'None a ya bee's wax' ya gotta problem with that?"

"Yeah, I do." Morris pulled his foot back to kick Mush, but as it started to move forward to make contact with its target, I grabbed it.

Morris then fell onto Mush, Jack, and Race. Race, since he was on top was the first to jump up and punch the other Delancy. Jack then jumped up and yanked Morris off of Mush and then threw Morris up against the gates where Crutchie proceeded to hit Morris over and over with his crutch.

Mush rushed over to me, and I started to stand up, but Mush pushed me back down to the ground and gently asked me to lie still. When I had tried to stand I had felt extremely dizzy so i was grateful for him to push me down because I don't think I could have stayed standing.

All around us you could hear the shuffling of fighting. You could hear the Delancys groaning in pain, and the Newsies cheering with every solid punch landed on either of the Delancy Brothers.

I watched Mush's worried face above me. He seemed to be very worried about something on my forehead. I couldn't stand the suspicion so I reached up to touch my forehead when Mush had looked away to yell something to Jack. I felt something wet on my forehead. I had assumed it was sweat because it was a pretty hot day, but when i brought my hand down in front of my eyes, I saw blood.

I am not a person who I scared easily by any accounts. I am also not a person who is squeamish or delicate in any way, shape, or form. The only thing that can make me scared, squeamish, or delicate, is blood. The worst part is, now that I had seem it, I was very much aware of how very damp my forehead was.

Mush turned around and saw me staring at my fingers which were covered with glistening blood. He turned and yelled something at Jack that I couldn't catch due to the ringing in my ears and the spinning of the world above me. Mush turned back to me and seemed to be asking me something, but I couldn't hear him. When I didn't respond, he broke into hysterics.

He started sobbing, and he pulled at his hair and clothes. He seemed to be saying something over and over. I think it was, "It's my fault! It's my fault!" Blink rushed over and grabbed Mush by his shoulders. Blink tried to console Mush, but Mush wasn't having it. Mush pulled his fist back as if to punch Blink, but Bumlets rushed forward and grabbed the fist right as it was flying towards its target.

Blink and Bumlets wrestled Mush to the ground and subdued him.

Jack soon came into view over me, and I gave him a crooked smile. He smiled back though it was more strained than his usual warm smile. He shifted me gently and lifted me into his arms bridal style. Then he ran.

He ran all the way back to the Lodging house, and he laid me on one of the worn sofas in the main area next to the dining room. The room was a flurry of movement as Jack rubbed the blood out of my hair and cap, and as he staunched the flow of blood. When he bandaged my head, I wasn't feeling nearly as bad as before, and i wanted to sit up.

After Jack finished, I sat up. It was a mistake. The room started to spin at a rate that shouldn't be possible. I leaned back against the couch, and I closed my eyes. After a minute or two, I reopened my eyes, and I saw Jack's worried face right in front of mine.

"How do you feel?" Jack asked tentatively.

"Never better." I said wryly.

Mush pushed forward and ran up to me. He kneeled in front of me and pulled my hand into his. His face was red and blotchy from crying, and he still had ragged breathing.

"I am so so-" He said looking at my hand in his.

"Don't be! I ran into you. Remember?" I gently brushed a stray tear from his cheek.

I felt Jack stiffen because he was sitting on the couch next to me now.

"But it was my fault! I was stupid and I should have been watching."

"I should have been watching too! I should have known you would have rushed forward to save your partner! Please don't blame yourself, Mush. It was both our faults."

Mush nodded and asked, "Why didn't my head split open?"

"Cause, " Said Jack with a smile already covering his features, "Like you said you gotta thick skull."

All the Newsies burst out laughing. Even Mush had to crack a smile. I smiled crookedly at Jack and Blink said, "Hey, Penny! Youse looks like Mona Lisa when you do that."

"What?" I asked confused by his comment.

"Ya know. A really famous painting of a woman with a crooked smile. The lady's name was Mona Lisa. Leonardo Da Vinci painted her. Really pretty woman too. i just thoughta somethin',"

"That's a first." One of the Newsies mumbled.

"Hey! Shut Up! This is interestin'!" Blink growled at the crowd of Newsies.

"Yeah, about as interesting as the headlines now a days." Another commented.

"IF YOU ALL DON'T SHUT YA PIE HOLES, I'M GONNA LOOSE IT!"

"Oh, Ya mean more than you already have?"

"OH! THAT'S IT YA BUMMAS! I'M GONNA MESS YOU ALL UP SO BAD YOUR GRANDKIDS ARE GONNA FEEL IT!"

Blink launched himself at the nearest Newsie who was Race. Race squealed in terror and dove into Jack's lap. When he landed in Jack's lap, Jack pushed him off and stood up to grab Blink before he could do any real damage.

After Blink had calmed down, he turned back to me and Jack who smiled at him.

"As I was sayin' before I was so rudely interrupted," He glared out at the crowd of Newsies, "Jack is an artist like Da Vinci, right?" Everyone nodded in agreement. "And Penny herself said that Jack had made her more beautiful than she was before, right?" Everyone nodded again. "Well, look at it this way. Jack is the artist and Penny is the masterpiece. When Penny smiles crookedly, she looks like the Mona Lisa. So therefore, she is Jack's Mona Lisa."

Blink looked very pleased with himself when he added, "So I nominate that as a name to be considered for her Newsies nickname."

Everyone looked moderately pleased with that option.

Jack, on the other hand, didn't look pleased. He stood and said, "That is a good nickname..........if we want everyone in New York to know she is a girl!"

"You got any better ideas?" Blink said crossing his arms.

"Yeah. I do. How about Vampire. I would be ironic because she doesn't like blood and vampires do."

"How is that any less stupid than Mona Lisa?"

"It is! It is a good inventive nickname that no one has ever had before!"

"Yeah, because it's STUPID!"

They burst into a loud argument, and I had to yell to get their attention again. When they all turned to me I said, "Don't we need to get to the circulation center?"

They all looked from me to Jack and then bolted. I stood with the help of Jack and Mush, and by the time we got to the distribution center I was walking on my own. The gates were open so we just walked right in and got in line to get some papes.

When we went to get in line all the Newsies parted to let me and Jack walk to the front.

"Did ya miss me, Weasel?" Jack said when he had reached the window.

"Weisel. My name is Weisel. And no I didn't miss you. I had a very relaxing afternoon after you beat it." Weasel countered.

"Glad to hear it." Jack smirked.

"I am sure you aren't. How many papes do ya want?" Weasel asked.

"Gimme a minute to peruse the merchandise."

"Hurry up, kid. I ain't got all day."

"Don't get ya knickas in a twist." Jack turned to me and said, "The Headlines today are crap so we will have to make up our own."

Jack pointed to the article on the front page. It said: "The Trolley Strike Drags On Into Its Third Week."

I turned to Jack and asked, "How do we fix that?"

He winked and said, "I'll show ya later." He turned back to the Weasel. "100 papes for me and 50 for my friend here."

"150 papes for the wise guy and his friend." Weasel said counting the money Jack had handed him for the papes.

Jack and I walked over to another window to grab our papes. The Delancy Brothers were there and they shoved our papes to us almost knocking my over in the process.

"You sure picked a weak Newsie to be your selling partner, Jack." said Morris.

"You better watch your back, Jack, and you better hope you don't get backed into an alley with this Newsie as your only backup." Threatened the other Delancy.

"You better hope you ain't the one backin me into an alley, Oscar. If you are then you will hear from all of Manhattan and probably parts a Brooklyn." Jack replied.

Morris and Oscar growled at Jack as we walked away.

"Well," I said, "At least they are friendly."

Jack chuckled. "Yeah, about as friendly as an angry porcupine."

We walked over to stand with all the other Newsies who were perusing the papes.

"Baby born with three heads." said Mush.

"Must be from Brooklyn." Said Race.

We were all laughing it up while reading the pape and making fun of it, so we didn't notice when a boy walked up the Weasel and asked for twenty papes. We didn't notice the boy at all until we heard Weasel yelling: "TAKE THE LOUSY PAPES AND GET OUTTA HERE BEFORE I HAVE YA FIXED SO YA CAN'T WALK, KID!"

"I just want the amount of papes I paid for." Said the Boy.

Jack rushed over and counted the papes. "How many papes did ya pay for, Kid?"

"Twenty."

"Yep. Ya only gave him 19, Weasel, but I ain't blaming you cause Oscar can't count to 20 with his shoes on."

Oscar launched himself against the bars separating the sellers from the buyers.

"Here," Jack said, "Let's do this. You give him one more to make it twenty, and I will buy 50 more papes for my new friend here."

The transactions were made and finally we left the distribution center.

"We don't need your charity." said the Boy.

"Well, you sure weren't handlin it too well yourself. I had to do something before you were killed by those Bummas." Jack said smugly.

"I could have handl-"

The Boy was cut off my a smaller boy running up to us yelling, "Davey! Davey!"

The Boy know known as Davey turned and said, "What Is it, Les?"

Les ran right up and stood in front of Jack, and he looked up at Jack as he said, "You must be Jack Kelly. I am Les. This is my older brother, Davey!"

Jack knelt down and said, "No kiddin'."