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Later they went to the roof of the Lodging House for a good game of cards. It was still early, and they weren't hungry yet, so they played cards for a while.
"Yer still not gonna tell me why ya hate Spot so much, huh," Race said, he was really curious.
"I don't really know why, Race. But dere's somethin' 'bout Spot I don't trust. Somethin' in 'is eyes I don't trust. I really cain't explain it," Fox said.
"Raise anodda penny. Ya really don't trust 'im? D'ya know why?" Race asked as he tossed a penny into the center. They were playing poker.
Fox rolled her eyes. Race obviously hadn't been paying too close of attention to the conversation. "I don't really know. Jist somethin' he's hidin' behind dose gray eyes a his. I jist don't trust 'im. Yer penny 'n' t'ree more," Fox said as she put four pennies into the pot. She pulled her hair away from her eyes.
Race looked at her; she was beautiful. He wondered why he'd never noticed it before. He was lost in his thoughts, and her beauty.
"Race, hey, Race. Ya in dere?" Fox said as she waved her hand in front of his face.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm still here," Race said, snapping back to reality.
"Ya gonna bet er what?" Fox asked.
"Uh, yeah. How much was it again?"
"I saw yer one 'n' raised ya t'ree," Fox answered.
"Right," Race said as he put three pennies in the pot. "I call."
Fox nodded. "Awright," she said as she put her cards down on the floor. She laied down four of a kind, three kings and one wild card.
"Aw, drat!" Race said as he threw his cards down, face up. It was a full house.
"Sorry, Race, ya cain't win 'em all," Fox said as she picked up the cards and straightened them up.
"Yeah, but I wanted ta win," Race pouted.
"Race, if ya want yer money back, take it. I don't need it," Fox offered.
"Naw, ya keep it. I jist hate loosin', ya know dat. It ain't right." Race pouted again.
Fox laughed and tied the cards up with a small piece of string. "Here ya go, Race," she said as she tossed the deck at him. He caught it and set it on the ground next to him. Then he gathered up the money and poured it into her hat.
Fox stood up and walked to the edge of the roof. She looked down into the street below. Several newsies were hastilly trying to sell the last of their papes. Race stood up and walked over to her.
He stood behind her and studied her for a second. He couldn't believe he'd never thought of her as a girl before. She looked like a girl. Her figure was very girlish. He'd never noticed it before. But she was 17, and Race was worried that he hadn't noticed. They'd spent so much time together when he thought she was a boy. They were best friends, and she never told him about this.
"So, Race, ya gonna come obsoive wit' me er not?" Fox asked, not turning to look at him.
Race snapped out of his trance and walked over and stood next to her. "Kin I ask ya somethin', Fox?" he said as he looked down at the street.
"Shoa, Race, anythin'," Fox replied.
"Why'd ya do it? Dress like a boy 'n' all, be a newsie, 'n' keep yer secreat dis long I mean."
Fox sighed and looked at Race. Race looked back at her. There was something in her eyes that was painful. "Because I wanted ta be as different from my life back home as possible," she finally said with a little hesitation in her voice.
"Why?"
"Because I hated my old life. My parents, my sisters, my friends..." she trailed off.
"Yeah, but ya musta had dozens a guys t'rowin' demselves at cha. I mean, yer real pretty. I kin only imagine what ya'd look like in a dress," Race said.
"Yeah, but dat's da only place yer gonna see me in a dress," she said with a bright smile.
Race realized that he hadn't meant to be so blunt. He blushed and looked back down to the street. "Uh," he mumbled.
Fox put a hand on Race's shoulder. "Thanks, Race," she said quietly. "It's nice ta be a goyl again after all dis time. But I liked da way ya all treated me when ya thought I was a boy. I was jist one of da guys, 'n' ya didn't treat me no different. I liked it dat way," she explained.
"Yeah, but taday, ya got so mad when we was tawkin' 'bout goyls and..." Race started.
"It's jist dat it gits borin' after a while. You guys tawk 'bout 'em too much, ya know. All I've ever wanted was ta fit in somewhere, 'n' I found it here. Ya guys accepted me fer nuthin' more den da clothes on me back 'n' a bright greetin'. I didn't hafta impress ya or nuthin'. Dat's what gits me 'bout goyls. Dey awways hafta try 'n' impress ya. Den you guys do da same. It's a viscious cycle," she said and shook her head.
Race laughed a little. "I guess we do act a bit funny sometimes, huh?"
"A bit?" Fox asked him rhetorically.
They both laughed and went down to Tibby's. The other guys were there, and Fox had put her hat back on, hiding her hair like before. Some of the guys had forgotten, but not Race. He couldn't forget about his best friend. Nothing was going to change between them. Nothing.
Race was glad his best friend was a girl though. Now he had a good source to ask advice about dating girls instead of Jack, who permenantly had his foot stuck in his mouth with some girls. Fox had given him some great advice before Race knew about her, but sometimes she just told him to do what he felt was right. And he usually did the opposite. Knowing Race like she did, she knew what he was getting himself into most of the time. She tried to protect him from some girls in the city, but she could only do so much.
Fox and Spot still pretty much hated each other. But Spot sterred clear of her for a while after the fight they'd had. He'd been teased enough about his black eye that he wasn't looking forward to getting another one. Fox never did figure out why she didn't trust Spot. It was just those penetrating gray eyes of his. Or, perhaps, something Spot was hiding behind them.
Fox continued pulling her hair back into her hat every day. Several of the newsies had ultimatly forgotten she was a girl, like Blink and Snipeshooter. A few others knew, but never said anything about it. They all knew she just wanted to be one of the boys, so they let her be that way. After all, she'd gone to a lot of trouble to make it look like she was a boy. Even though her figure was a little misleading for her to be a boy. Though she did continue to be a newsie and the guys treated her like they'd always treated her, like and equal, like a boy.
The End
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