New York Gem

Chapter 9

"What?" Dad didn't have his usual smile on his face.

"I have a suitor." I said again.

"Who?" Momma asked, eyes wide. 

"Hear me out," I prefaced. "He's really nice. I think you'll like him."

"Who?" Momma asked again.

"It's JoJo." I told them.

"The Newsie?" Dad gaped. Amber nodded slowly from beside me.

"The Newsie." We said quietly.

"I want to meet him." Momma decided. 

"Okay." I nodded. I'll get JoJo to come by later. 

"Let's go get him!" Amber suggested. Or now. 

"Go for it." Dad nodded tightly. 

Later, we managed to snag JoJo when he passed on his way to the Lodging House. He instantly caught on, putting on his most polite front.

"Hi!" He smiled, holding his hand out for Momma and Dad to shake. They did, Momma pulling him in for a hug. I could tell he was shocked. In fact, they had us wear the exact same thing. Keep in mind our uniformity. We wore our light blue work dresses, black flats, white socks, with our hair tied into a low ponytail with a light blue ribbon. I was told to sour-up like Amber. 

"You can only begin dating Brooke if you can tell us which she is." Dad informed him, motioning towards Amber and I. We were told to stare at the floor so that neither of us gave any indication of who we were. 

"That one." We both looked up and saw JoJo pointing at me.

"How?" Momma gaped. 

"Yes!" I exclaimed, clasping my hands together. A wide grin spread across his face.

"Brooke has softer features." He told my parents. Momma squinted at me.

"They look the exact same." She decided, turning to the Newsie. "Welcome to the family, my friend!"

I looked at Amber. That was fast.

He then conversed with my parents for a moment and they ushered him and I away. 

"Where're we going?" I asked, stumbling after Amber shoved me. 

"The park." He replied, then glanced at me. "That's okay, right?"

"Yeah!" I nodded quickly, then finished with a laugh: "Hopefully Oscar doesn't have another whack at us."

"I can take him!" JoJo puffed out his chest jokingly. I mulled over topics to talk about in my head.

"If you could live forever, would you?" I asked suddenly. 

"Yes." He replied quickly.

"I wouldn't." I shuddered, grinning. "What do you want to be after being a Newsie?"

"Rich." JoJo laughed dryly. We came across the small wooded part of the park. I charged straight in, JoJo tagging along. 

"I wonder if any animals live in here." I murmured. 

"I don't know." JoJo glanced around, searching for any sign of an animal.

"Let's find out." I decided, poking around bushes and trees. After a few moments, I realized that I had drifted away from him to the point that I had absolutely no idea where I was. I was fairly deep into the forest, surrounded on all sides by trees and brush. "JoJo?" I yelled to get a stance.

~JoJo's POV~

As soon as I turned back around to face Brooke, she was gone. My heart dropped seemingly to my feet when I looked around frantically for her. 

"JoJo?" She called from much deeper into the forest. I let out a relieved breath and went to find her. Just before reaching her line of sight, I paused. 

~Brooke's POV~

I shuffled through the trees to come the way I thought I came from when I heard a startling rustle in a thicket. I hooked my front of my dress onto the metal hooks that lay on my waist just in case I had to run from a bobcat or something. I stopped walking and glanced around.

"JoJo, if that's you, I'm going to shove a sour pie in your face." I called to seemingly nothing. I then continued on my way. While my back was turned, I heard quick shuffling to further in front of me. I had narrowed down my options in my head. It was either a bobcat or JoJo. Or I'm about to die. I picked up a fair sized stick and armed myself with it. The instant I continued my route, a being popped out at me.

"Boo!" JoJo yelled. I yelped and whacked him with my stick. "Ow!"

"Sorry!" I grimaced, dropping the stick. He was rubbing his shoulder, which is where I struck him. "Are you okay?"

"It was expected." He laughed with a warm smile despite the cold. I stifled a shiver. "Are you cold."

"It's freezing out." I laughed. It was supposed to snow in about a week.

"Let's go somewhere else, then." JoJo suggested, taking my hand and leading me out of the woods.

~Amber's POV~

After Brooke left, I was sitting at a corner seat by a window at the diner. Nearly bored to tears, I stirred my chamomile tea and stared out the window. I jumped when someone tapped on the window. I turned to see Henry on the other side. I grinned and he came in and sat across from me.

"Hi!" He smiled

~Brooke's POV~

The sun was setting when we finally exited the park. Once I had finally admitted the chill, I was near numb. JoJo held my hand in his as we rushed into a nearby building. It turned out to be a church. 

"It's usually pretty warm in churches." JoJo explained, sitting us down in one of the back rows. 

"JoJo!" A woman with a soft voice said, shuffling over. I looked up and saw a nun.

"I grew up in  a church closer to Brooklyn." He informed me quietly, then looked to address her. "Hi, Sister Mariah!"

"I'm Brooke." I introduced myself with a smile. 

"Hi." She beamed, then turned back to JoJo. "Proverbs 22:24-25."

I looked at him for elaboration.

"I think the verse she's referring to is 'Don't befriend a hot-tempered man, and don't associate with one who harbors anger: lest you learn his ways, and ensnare your soul.'." He informed me. "She always liked how I was always happy, and I guess she's knowin' that you got a spectacular personality."

My face flushed and I gripped his hand.