My Girl ~Racetrack~

seven

I woke up around 11;00 pm. I looked to my right and see Specs asleep. I smile at the sleeping boy and I leave the lodging house with my savings. I was going to get Race his birthday present.

It was tomorrow. I looked at all my savings. I sighed and decided I would spend 40 cents on his present and save the other $1. I save all my money to make sure I can survive.

I walk into a small shop that looks like it would get robbed every night, but I still go in. I look around and see a whole box of cigars. Perfect. I smile to myself. He's been chewing on the same one for months, I bet he would want new ones.

I pick up the box and walk to the counter. The man at the counter looked at me and stared at me. "Why do you have blood on your face." He asked. I tensed up, realizing I forgot to wash it off. "I fell. Mind if I wash this off?" I ask, pointing to the restroom. He hums and I run in there and look at my face. There was dried blood dripping from my nose. I had a black eye and the skin had peeled off from my chin. I lowered my head to the sink and cupped my hands so the water could file in. I spread the cold liquid all over my face, scrubbing off the blood. I gasped in pain when the water entered the wound on my chin, but I ignored it.

I left the bathroom, back to the counter.

"This for you?" He asked, holding up the cigars. I shook my head. "For a friend." I say quietly. Friend. It will always be like that. "10 cents." He says. Wow I thought it would be more expensive. "Hold on." I leave the man at the counter and attempt to find another thing for him.

I see a rusty gold chain. It might be rusty but it would be cheaper than the newer ones. I grab the chain and slip it on the counter next to the cigars. "30 cents" He said. I gave him the 40 cents and grab the products.

I walk back to the lodging house with no problems. The day before his birthday, Race stays up until midnight and hangs out on the roof. I climb to the roof at midnight and quietly open the door. His head snaps toward the door.

"Hey. What are you doing up here?" He asks. I smile at him. His eyes glow so well in the moonlight. "It's your birthday." I smile at him. "Happy birthday." I walk closer to him.

"You didn't forget this time!" He teased. I elbowed him in a friendly banter. "I got you something." I smiled again.

"Kitty, you didn't have to" Race declined. "No, it's the least I could do for forgetting your birthday last year." I pull the present out of my pocket.

I hand them to him. "Cigars! Thank you." He admires the cigars. "And..." I smirk. He looks behind the box of cigars and sees the chain. "Wow." He said.

"Sorry it's rusty. It was the only one I could afford. I-" He cut me off with a tight hug, "It's amazing." He said "How much did you spend?" He asked

"40 cents." I say quickly, lowering my head. "40 cents!" He exclaimed. "Kitty, that's almost half your savings!" He pulls away from the hug.

"You deserved something good." I shrugged my shoulders and smiled. He stood there, looking at me.

Then he slowly lifted his hand up to my face. He steered my face closer to his and our lips brushed together. I moved closer to him so my body was against his. Our lips moved perfectly together. He wraps his other hand around my waist and I slither my arms around his neck.

I pulled away and I rested my forehead against his and smiled. "You don't know long I've waited for you to do that." I purred. "Oh, I can tell" He smiled and brought my lips back into his. I smiled against his lips. "Don't tell Jack." I said in between kisses.

He pulled away. "I won't" He smiled. He was about to go in for another kiss, when he saw the wounds on my face. "Kat. What happened?" He asked, very concerned. I sit down on the roof and explain everything I told Specs.

Tears fall again, I don't cry much, but The Refuge has horrible memories stuck in my brain. Race held my face in his hands "I won't let anything happen to you, love" He promised.

-

Very early in the morning I woke up before everyone else and stood outside, taking in the warm air. "Kat Kelly?" Asked a girl.

I turned around and saw the girl from yesterday. "Hi!" I greet. "I'm Katherine Plumber. I was wondering if I could interview you for the article" She asked

I nodded eagerly. "So. What's your story? Are you selling newspapers to work your way through a performing arts school?" She asked

"School? Pft! Nah." I said. "But you have an amazing voice. I've seen you perform at the theatre!" Katherine exclaimed

"Thank you. But, I've never had the slightest idea of goin' to school. I've always wanted to travel to Paris to be a performer tho" I said

Katherine jots down something. "Does anyone know that?" She asks. I shook my head. "I don't have the heart to tell Jack that I don't want to go to Santa Fe with him." I explain.

Katherine nods, interested. "Do you have a boyfriend?" She asked suddenly.

It caught me off guard and she realized it. "Oh. I'm sorry. Now I'm being nosey." She giggled, embarrassed.

"Nah. It's fine. I just, uh, last night. Me and another newsie, Race, kissed. I don't know what it means for us tho." I said

Katherine's expression softened. "You should ask him." She said. Wow it's nice to talk to a girl about stuff like this.

"I might." I smiled at her. "Anyway. Why do you want to follow thru with this strike?" She asked. Back on topic of the matter.

"I have been a newsies for so long. Made just enough to get by in life. Mr, Joe just raised it. My guess is that he needs to sell more papers. With the raise of the price we can only buy so much. So we would buy less papes than we usually do. Which doesn't help him. My goal is to have him lower the price, but to also but back any papes we don't sell. He will be worried about if the newsies will but hundreds of papes that we can't sell. But we won't haul around papes we won't sell. Butttt if we can buy a few more without the risk of having to pay for it, we might sell it. The circulation will begin to grow. Slowly but surely." I explained

Katherine quickly wrote down everything I said and bud me goodbye.