Christina

"Jack? Are you crazy?" I chided him, giving him a hard slap to the arm.

"Yeah," he said nonchalantly as he walked, keeping his eyes pasted on the ground.

"I can't sell. I've seen what happens to Crutchie when he comes back from a day of selling," I ran my fingers through my bird's nest of hair.

"You can make some good money, Chris. Why don't ya try selling today, and you can see if it's as 'horrible' as you think," Jack suggested, finally daring to make eye contact with me.

I contemplated the decision for a bit before I released a deep sigh. "Okay." I hung onto the 'y', resisting the urge to roll my eyes.

"Alright! Here are fifty papes for ya." He divided the papers and gave me half of the stack. He then stopped. "Oh! I almost forgot. Follow me." he gestured for me to walk with him. I trotted closely after Jack. He started back toward the orphanage. He led me inside. "We have to go into the boys' area, okay? Keep an eye out for the inspector." he popped a cigarette in his mouth. I gave him a nod confirming that I understood. We sneaked around the boys' area, and I subconsciously kept turning my head over my shoulder. Before I knew it, Jack stopped in front of a door. It must have been his quarter where he slept.

"Here we are. My home sweet home," he opened the door, a screech of rusty hinges echoed throughout the hallway. The first thing I saw wasn't very pleasant.

It was a boy with no clothing. And I mean NO clothing at all. He was butt-naked in the middle of the room.

"Jack! You little sh-" he grabbed a pair of pants and slipped them over his legs hurriedly.

"Ah, sorry, Mush. My bad!" Jack slapped his knee, bending at his torso as his body shook with laughter. I couldn't help but stifle a chuckle as well.

"Jack, are you crazy? You can't bring girls in here!" he walked up to us and slapped Jack's shoulder angrily.

"What are you doing here anyway, Mush? Why aren't you out selling papes?" Jack rubbed his shoulder where he was slapped. A smile still remained on his plump lips.

"I'm not feelin' so good, Jack. I'm thinking I should stay here and try to feel better for the races I'm going to with Race tonight," he said, slipping his suspenders over his shoulders.

"Yeah. Good luck with that. You know how Race is with his gambling," Jack swaggered back to a bunk bed and shuffled around it, presumably searching for something.

"What's your name, sweet face?" the boy asked me. He bared his surprisingly white teeth.

"My name's Chris. What's your's?" I returned the grin.

"I'm Mush."

"Mush? Hm. That's not a very common name." I commented.

"Yep. The boys and Jack call me that. I don't know why but I've never really have asked Jack before," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. His eyebrows lifted slightly. Jack walked back over to us. He suddenly threw clothes and a pair of boots at me. I caught them just in the nick time.

"These are mine. Go back there and change."

"What? Why?" I didn't really want to put on boy clothes, especially if they belonged to a boy I hardly knew.

"People don't buy papes from girls, they only buy papes from boys," Jack said. He then pushed me slightly to the back of the room. "Go change, kid. We're losing daylight." I went into the back room and tried to change into Jack's clothes. It was awkward and I didn't really know how to feel about it. I reluctantly buttoned the vest and laced up the boots. I went back into the front room where Jack and Mush were both smiling at me. I adjusted the vest and long-sleeve shirt that I was wearing. I twisted my hair up into a makeshift bun that was covered by the hair. Jack covered his hand over his mouth and whispered something in Mush's ear, causing the other boy to laugh a little. I frowned. Jack pulled back.

"Not bad," Jack looked me up and down.

"Thanks," I said sarcastically. I didn't know why I was putting up with this.

"C'mon, kid, we should go." Jack wrapped his arm around me, sending chills up my body for some unknown reason.

"See ya, Mush!" I managed to say before I was yanked out of the room.

Thanks for reading!!