Queens of New York

Chapter 2

It was the same as every morning. An orderly line of girls, usually in twos or threes depending on their mood, walking as a large group headed to the distribution centre. Ringer was front and centre of this group, leading them with Genie by her side who keeps everyone in order.

When they reached the entrance of the centre, Genie takes the lead. She flashed her charming smile that disarms Mr. Woodwork, their distributor. This allowed the girls to get more papers at a cheaper price. He's too distracted by Genie's two greatest assets to pay attention what he was actually distributing and receiving in return. While Genie keeps him busy and talking to Woodwork, the girls stealthily pack in at least 2 stacks of 100 papes for the usual price.

Rags thumbed through one of the copies for interesting new headlines. It was her best selling tactic. Interesting headlines also had people hooked and it motivated them to buy papes. She hit the gold mine when she saw the Journal had covered the recent trolley strikes. Just wait till the public got a whiff of this. Rags knew exactly how to play this headline as well. She imagined herself making quite the pile of cash today: Extra! Extra! Streetcar Strikes, get out of their way folks before they ram you over! Read more on pg 5!

The closer the page of the article was to the front page, the more importance it posed.

Rags looked up in time to see Genie kissing Woodwork on the cheek as Hatter - the last and smallest girl in the line - sneaks off two more extra stacks of papers. Woodwork is left delirious from Genie's magnetic presence as the Delanceys come over to the girls. While they may be known for terrorising the boy newsies on the other side of town, they were rather the sweet with the girls. Rags' heart skipped a beat when she saw Oscar. He was the more attractive of the two and most of the girls tend to gush over him.

It was Kitty who spoke out what everyone else was thinking. She made sure that Oscar was in earshot.

"Girls, let's be honest. Oscar knows how to treat a girl right." Kitty wagged her eyebrows for comedic effect and Genie let out a low whistle for him, agreeing with Kitty. Oscar blushed before tipping his hat at the ladies. Morris could only scoff behind him.

Rags had enough of the girls giving Oscar suggestive looks and she felt especially threatened by Genie because the Lord knows she could get any guy or girl she wants. She stormed over to Oscar who beamed at the sight at his girlfriend. She snuggled up to his side and he instinctively wrapped his arm around. They did make quite an adorable couple.

"Lay off, girls. You're right, he could treat a girl right and that girl happens to be me." Gasps all around while Hatter slow claps.

"I saw that comin' from a mile away. I knew they were involved romantically with people. They were too happy. Just didn't think it was with each other." Kiwi looked to Hatter in mild disbelief.

"How come you always seem to know everything?" Kiwi's skepticism was clear in her tone. Hatter smirked in a creepy manner in response.

"I do know everythin'. Kind of like Specs, he told me a thing or two about you, Kiwi." The girl named after a fruit widened her eyes. She jumped out at the Chinese girl and slapped her hand across Hatter's face to keep her from revealing her secret.

Before Hatter and Kiwi could break out into a full on fight in front of the distribution centre, Ringer intervened.

"Break up it, ladies. We's got a job to do. Lovebirds," she gestured to Rags and Oscar still in an embrace, "there's more than enough time for love fests after your rounds. We wouldn't want to go hungry tonight, would we?"

Genie clapped loudly to gather the girls.

"Now, you know where your usual spots are, girls. I hope you all sell all the papes you can. Take a break whenever you need to and drinks lots of water. Take care of yourselves and each other. Be safe." As always, the girls giggled and cue the daily remark from Freckles.

"Since when did you become our mother?"

"Since forever, my child." Genie winked at her. That running gag never gets old. With that last line, they split off to their respective parts of Manhattan to sell their papers.