"Like it doesn't every other time?" Kelli thought to herself. And normally she would have said it out loud, but from all the beatings she had gotten very weak.
A few months ago her parents had been killed in a carriage accident. And since her Aunt Claire was her only living relative she was forced to leave her happy life in Manhattan to go live in a home where she wasn't loved, had no friends, and was all the way in Maine. She still remembered her happy life in Manhattan....
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
"Kelli, sweetie, it's time to wake up." Her mother would say, gently waking her up for school. Her mother was a kind woman with brown hair, and hazel eyes, and a warm, friendly smile.
"Okay." She would say, rolling over, trying to get five more minutes. Then she would hear the blinds go up and the light would glow in through the window. "All right, I'm up." She moaned.
She's always get ready for school, give her mother a kiss good bye, and get a penny to buy a paper. Her father thought it was because she cared about the news, but her mother knew why she really wanted it. She liked to buy a paper from the cutest Newsie.
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
"Building Burns, Many Die." A big newsie, whom she knew as Cowboy yelled.
"Shed Set on Fire, Man Receives 2nd Degree Burn? C'mon Cowboy, ain't dat stretchin it a little too far?" A short newsie named Racetrack asked his friend. Jack just flashed him a smile. She thought Jack was pretty cute. And almost bought a paper from him and then saw the most gorgeous boy she'd ever seen in her life. He was medium height, medium colored hair, and the most gorgeous gray eyed she'd ever seen. She knew he wasn't from around here, other wise she'd recognize him.
"Um, I'd like a paper, please." She said, approaching the gorgeous boy.
"Shoa, whad's yer name, dollface?" He said, giving her a wonderful smile.
"Kelli. Thanks for the paper. I have to go now." She replied sadly.
"Bye." He said, to the beautiful girl, but she was half way gone.
"Jackie Boy, you see 'er? Ain't she goigeous?" Spot asked, still in awe.
"Yeah, she was. I think she likes ya Spot. Whadda you waitin' foa? Follow 'er!" Jack knew he must really like her because he was just standing there, in a trance, normally he'd be right behind her.
"Oh, yeah, good idea Jackie Boy! Why didn't I'se tink a dat?" He said, already running to catch up to her.
Much to his dismay he saw her going into the school building. "I wonder what it's like ta go ta school? You crazy, you lucky you don't hafta do dat. But den you'd be wid her. Hmmm...Davey! 'E's back in school, he could find out fer me!" Spot thought to himself.
So Spot sold all his papers and waited outside the door for David Jacobs to come out.
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
"Class, you have no homework tonight. Have a nice weekend!" Mrs. Findley, Kelli's favorite teacher said, just as the final bell rang.
As she walked out she noticed that the same newsie from this morning was outside talking to one of her friends, David Jacobs. "Naw, he's just buying a paper. That's all. Well, if they were friends...." She was interrupted from her thoughts as her best friend, Tara, came up to her.
"Kelli, who you starin' at? Not David, he's just your friend, your over that, remember?" She said, giving Kelli her "Look of Disgust". Tara had never really been the type to have a lot of crushes, and thought Kelli was crazy, considering she had a new crush every week.
"Naw, not David. The newsie with him." She said, still staring at the newsie.
"Oh. He's all right, I guess."
"All right? Are you 'all right'? He's the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen!"
"Really? Last week David was, and the week before Jon was, and the week before--"
"All right! I understand! But this is for real. He is."
"Sure Kelli!" She said, dragging the love sick girl to her apartment.
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
Meanwhile...
"Spot? What are you doing here?" David asked, a little frightened wondering why he had been waiting for him. Spot and David hadn't always agreed on things in the past.
"It's a goyl, Davey. She goes hea, maybe ya know 'er, name's Kelli." Spot said, staring at her across the school yard.
"Um, well, is she short, brown hair, brown eyes--"
"And goigeous, yeah, dat's her. Ya know 'er?"
"Yeah, we're friends." He said, feeling a little unhappy. He had liked her a little more than friends. But he knew not to mess with Spot's girls. He had learned that the hard way.
"Well, um, I was wonderin', do ya know where she lives?"
"Yeah, follow me."
So David took Spot to Kelli's apartment building and told him which apartment it was. Spot just nodded, and wrote it down on one of David's book covers.
"Tanks Dave. I betta be goin back ta Brooklyn, befoa it gits dark."
"Your welcome." As he said that Spot was gone.
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
Every morning on her way to school she looked for the newsie, and never found him. She thought about asking David if he knew where she was. But for some weird reason she didn't want to. And the even weirder thing was that she never bought any papers. She felt like she'd be "cheating" on the other newsie. The newsie whose name she didn't even know, the nameless newsie.
On her way home she was walking down the alley she always did when two big newsies that she didn't know started following her. "Oh God! They're gonna beat me up, and I'll lay here in this alley and no one will know where I am." She thought to herself as she picked up the pace. The two boys behind her did the same.
"Hey, goyl, stop!" One of them screamed. She made the mistake of looking back and saw something in his hands. She was sure it was a knife. She started to run, and the boys ran up faster, and then they caught up to her.
"Goyl, we ain't gonna hoit ya. We was jist wonderin' if you are Kelli. Are ya?" The second one asked.
"Yes, I am, why?" She asked warily.
"Our friend sent us. He wanted you to have this." He said, handing her a beautiful rose, the one that she thought was a knife.
"Who sent you? What friend?" She asked, still in shock. But as she looked back the newsies were gone. "Great, I've got a nameless newsie, and now a secret admirer. Unless, they are the same person. Naw, I'm not that lucky." She thought to herself.
She walked home, visioning her nameless newsie, and secret admirer...as the same person.
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
When her mother woke her up and opened the blinds she screamed. Laying just inside the window were a bouquet of roses. There was a card. The envelope said, "Kelli".
"Um, Kelli, I think these are yours." Her mother said to her daughter, who was rubbing her eyes, just getting out of bed.
"Oh my," her mouth dropped. She grabbed the card.
She counted them and sure enough, there were eleven. This narrowed the people down a lot. They had to know where she lived, and only her friends knew that, unless... unless someone followed her. She shuttered at the thought. He could have been right behind her, and she never knew it. This practically eliminated her newsie. He had never been able to follow her home, after they met she went to school, and after school Tara had dragged her home while he was talking with David. Unless this newsie was a friend of someone who knew where she lived, like, David!
She hurried and raced to school, almost forgetting her penny.
"David,"
"Yes?"
"I was wondering, about a week ago you were talking to a newsie, and I was wondering, are you two friends?" She asked, turning a little red.
"Well, yeah, I suppose you could call us that." He said, remembering his conversation with Spot about her.
"I know this probably sounds dumb, but do you know if he remembers me? I bought a paper from him that morning." She asked, now bright red. "Well he sells papes to a lot of girls everyday. So I don't know if he would remember you specifically." David lied, not wanting her to like Spot.
"Yeah, well it was a stupid question." She said, walking away heart broken. David felt really bad.
"Kelli, wait. Now that I think about it he did ask me if I knew a beautiful, no gorgeous girl with brown hair and eyes, named Kelli." He said, sheepishly.
"Your lying!" "No, I'm serious. He did."
"Wow! Thanks David!" She said, walking away, imagining the newsie waiting outside the door for her.
Much to her surprise, when she walked out he was waiting there. But she pretended not to noticed him, and walked to find Tara.
"Um, Kelli?" She turned around sharply, he was there, calling for her.
"Yes?" She asked, giving him one of those "Do I know you?" looks.
"Hello, I'm Spot. I sold a pape ta you last Friday. Well eva since den I can't git you outta me head. I tink you'se goigeous. And you may have gotten some roses last night? Well dose are from me. And I was wonderin', would ya like ta go out sometime?"
"Oh my gosh! Spot Conlon, the Spot Conlon?" She thought to herself. She had heard a lot of stories about how gorgeous he was, but never would she have guessed this to be Spot.
"Uh, you still dere?" Spot asked, waving his hand in front of her face.
"Yeah, sorry." She said, coming out of her trance. "I'd love to go out with you some time."
"Ya would? Dat'd be great. Um dere's dis restaurant 'round hea, Tibby's. Would ya like ta go dere wid me, maybe tanight. If you ain't busy?"
She was supposed to spend the night at Tara's, but she was sure that she'd understand. "Yeah. Tonight's good."
"Awright. I'll pick ya up at 6:30?"
"All right, see you then." She said, walking off to find Tara. They had talked about what she would wear, how to do her hair, and all that stuff. Little did she know what would be there when she got home....
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
As she walked into her apartment she saw her Aunt Claire sitting in the chair waiting for her.
"You're parents were killed today in a carriage accident on their way to lunch. I took the liberty of packing your things, you will be moving immediately to Maine, to live with me." She said, without shedding even one tear.
Kelli couldn't believe what she heard. All of a sudden she blacked out, and woke up in a carriage.
"You fainted, from shock I guess. We're almost in Maine." It was the voice of her evil aunt.
She checked the pocket watch, her father's old one, 6:30. Right now Spot was at her apartment wondering where she was. And she was on a carriage to Maine. The it finally it her, her parents were dead, and she would never see them again. And she started sobbing, all the way until she reached her aunt's house.
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
That's what had started it all. Now she was laying in her bed, sobbing, remembering how happy her life had been. It had been almost two months and she couldn't stand living there any more.
"Girl, you stop crying or I'll smack ya into tomorrow!" Her aunt yelled through the door. She wanted to fall back asleep and remember her past some more, but she knew what she had to do.
That night she packed as little as she could and stole some money from her aunt. When she was asleep Kelli snuck out and ran to the train station. She bought a one way ticket to Manhattan.
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
When she woke up she was in Manhattan. She remembered it here, and knew exactly where to go. When she finally reached the Newsies Square she saw a lot of familiar newsies buying papers, unfortunately there was no Spot.
"Hey, ain't dat da goyl Spot liked dat disappeared?" Cowboy said to a boy with a patch over his eye.
"Yeah, and boy can I see why." The kid with the patch said.
"No kidding!" A boy they called Snoddy said.
"Hey, goyl, you lost?" Cowboy said to her.
"Naw, I was just wondering, do any of you know where I can find Spot Conlon?"
"He ain't hea. He's in Brooklyn." The kid with the patch said, "I'm Blink, dis is Jack and dat's Snoddy. Can I walk ya ta Brooklyn?"
"Nice to met you. I'm Kelli. Would you? That'd be great! I can't wait to surprise him." Kelli said, already forgetting her horrid past.
"Awright, let's go. By da way, where da hell were ya fer two months? Spot's been lookin' fer ya like crazy."
On the way to Brooklyn she told Blink the whole story. And when they crossed the bridge she saw the red suspenders and knew it was Spot.
"Thanks, Blink. I'm gonna go talk wid 'im. See ya 'round."
"Yeah, I hope so. Bye!"
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
"Um, I'd like a paper, please." She said, tapping him on the back, using the same line she had two months ago.
Spot recognize the voice and whirled around. When he saw her his jaw dropped. Then he wrapped his arms around her in a big bear hug.
"Where ya been, kid?" He said, looking down at the beautiful girl in his arms.
She told Spot the whole story, like she had to Blink just minutes ago.
"How awful! You awright?" He asked, feeling bad for Kelli. He had never had parents, and couldn't imagine what it was like having loving parents and loosing them like that.
She nodded as they walked to the Brooklyn Lodging House. When they entered she was met with a lot of hoots, hollers, and whistles.
"Hey, pipe down fellas, dis is me goyl. Da one I toined New Yoik upside down lookin' for." Spot said, addressing the boys in the lodging house. She blushed, "'...turned New York upside down looking for'? Wow!" She thought.
"Um, you gotta dress in dere?" he asked, pointing to the bag she had been carrying. She nodded. "Good, you can go up dere, dat's da spare washroom and wash up and put da dress on and maybe we can make it ta Tibby's by 6:30?" He said, flashing her a huge smile.
"Dat'd be great." So she ran up to the washroom and got cleaned up and put her nicest dress. When she ran down she heard a gasp.
"You look even more goigeous dan before, if dat's possible."
"Thanks. You look very nice too." Spot had washed up and put on a "clean" shirt and looked great.
"Well den, whadda we waitin' foa? Let's go!"
So they walked to Manhattan and had a great time. She met all the Manhattan Newsies, including a few she already knew. That evening was perfect and didn't think it could get any better....
While they were walking back, as they were over the bridge, he leaned over and gave Kelli a kiss. It was unbelievable! Now it was the perfect night. She thought she had lost Spot forever, and he thought the same of her, but they were both glad they had found each other.
Thanks for reading the story. Tell me what you thought, send me
