Teal

First I'll tell you about myself. My name is Teal. I've had that nickname. Since I was a kid, my brother gave it to me because of the heart necklace I always wear says Teal on it. I got the necklace from my mom before she died.

Anyway, I'm 15 years old and I live in New York. I have lived here all my life. When my mom died my brother and I had no where to go. My dad left right after I was born, so a big help he was.

My brother and I went our separate ways. I mean I loved him but we decided that we probably wouldn’t get to stay together because of the whole boys are better than girls issue.

I have been a newsie for about a year now. I’ve been with the Manhattan newsies which is led by Cowboy or also known as Jack Kelly, he’s a great guy, bad temper, but a great guy. All the guys are sweet especially Kid Blink. I’d have to say that Blink is my best friend or at least the best one I’ve ever had. I tell him everything, well almost everything.

“Hey, Teal get up!” Race and Blink yelled simultaneously

“I’m up and thank you for scaring the shit out of me.” I remarked

“You’re welcome.” Blink remarked with the same amount of sarcasm as me but he added a smile.

“Time for another glorious day of selling papes, so hurry and get ready!” Race said as he walked away.

So I got up and got dressed in my usual ensemble of pants and a button up shirt. What can I say I don’t do that whole dress thing. I met the guys outside and we started our walk to the distribution center to get our papes.

“Hey ya, Teal, how’s it going?” Dutchy asked from behind me.

I turned around and said with a yawn “Considering it’s morning and I don’t like mornings. And considering I’m going to work and I don’t like work I’m just GREAT.”

“Well that’s good....I think.....anyway I was kinda wondering if....” he was acting nervous as he continued “You would like to go with me to Medda’s tonight, if your not busy?” he remarked quickly.

Shocked I said, “Are you asking me out on a date?” I asked trying not to sound excited.

“Yes, I guess I am, so will you?” he asked sounding a little impatient.

“Yes....yes I will, I suppose you would like me to wear a dress?”

“Well, if you wouldn’t mind, I mean you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“Don’t worry I’ll find something.” I said. Luckily I haven’t grown much in two years so my dresses must fit me......I hope they fit me.

By the time we had finished dour little conversation we had gotten in line to get papers. The rest of the day was just like a regular day. I got my hundred papes, went to Central Park, sold my papes, all of them I might add. Now I was on my way to Tibby’s to meet up with the guys and get something to eat, I was starving!

As I was leaving central Park I saw Blink walking so I yelled for him to wait up. I couldn’t wait to tell him the good news about Dutchy and me!

“Hey Blink” I said as I caught up to him.

He smiled as got to his side. “How’d ya do today?” “I sold the normal, how ‘bout you?”

“I sold the normal too--” he said before I interupted him.

“Guess what happened this morning, never mind I’ll just tell you, Dutchy asked me out. We are going to Medda’s tonight!” I said not even trying to hold back how excited I was.

“That’s Great! You like Dutchy?” he asked.

“.....Yeah he’s a sweetie!” still sounding excited.

“Wait a sec are you going to wear a dress?” he said with a smirk.

“Yes, Why?” I asked with an evil look. He started to laugh but he stopped when I hit him in the stomach.

“This I gotta see!” he said between snickers.

So I hit him again and gave him another angry look and he just smiled. Somehow that smile always stopped me from being angry at him.

“Why do you do that?” I asked trying to still sound angry.

“What?” he asked.

“Smile, you no I can’t be mad at you when you flash that smile!” I said not sounding even remotely angry anymore.

“No, I didn’t know that but now that I do I think I’ll use that to my own advantage.” He said with another big grin.

I went to hit him again but this time he dodged it. So we continues our walk to Tibby’s. By the time we got to Tibby’s most of the guys were already there. I saw Dutchy, I told Blink, and went over to sit by him.

“Hey, Teal!” Dutchy said as he stood up to pull the chair out for me.

“Hi.” I said as I sat down, “Thanks.” We ate lunch and we talked the rest of the afternoon along with Blink, Mush and Specs. We weren’t going to Medda’s until 6:30, so we had a lot of time to talk.

At a little after 5:00 I got up to leave, “I better go get ready.” I started to walk out.

Then Mush said, “Yeah it does take girls forever to get ready and I do mean forever!”

I was standing behind Mush at that time so I hit him upside the head (yes I hit a lot), “How would you know?” I asked him.

“Well......um......cuz....I just know!” he mumbled

Everyone laughed.

“Yeah whatever Mush!” Specs said laughing

So I went Back to The lodging house to get ready.

When I got to the lodging house I asked Kloppmen if I could get into the closet. I had him keep all my dresses in a closet downstairs so they wouldn’t get all wrinkled and stuff.

I pulled out a simple lavender dress. Which had white flowers along the bottom, sleeves, and around the neck.

I went upstairs to put the dress on. Then I brushed my hair and pulled up the sides and curled the rest of it. I then looked in the mirror and said “Not much better but it is good as it’s going to get.”

Then I went into the bunk room on my way downstairs and there was Blink. He then looked up from his paper and whistled at me.

“Shut up!” I snapped at him.

“Okay, but I have to say you look good in a dress, you do I mean it.”

“You sound surprised.” I said giving him one of my evil looks.

“No, I knew you would look good.” He said quickly “

Well thank you, why are you here anyway?” “I told you I had to see you in a dress so here I am.” he said with his usual big grin.

“Okay, so where is Dutchy?” I asked a little annoyed by his remark.

“He is downstairs waiting for you, I was supposed to tell you that.” Blink said quite proud of himself for remembering.

“How did he get ready to go anyway?”

“He snuck upstairs, grabbed his suit and got dressed and ready in the bathroom downstairs”

“Okay, thanks!” I said as I went down the stairs.

There was Dutchy he looked up as he heard me coming down the stairs. He looked shocked as he stood up to greet me.

“So, what ya think?” I said as I spun around.

“WOW! you look really, REALLY good!” he said still looking shocked.

“Thanks.” I said as he took my arm and led me out the door.

The rest of the night was great. We talked, laughed, danced, and listened to Medda sing. (which personally wasn’t one of my favorite parts)

Dutchy and I are still going out, we do stuff together all the time. He’s a great guy and he’s even an okay kisser!

Anyway it was Monday morning and I was getting in line for papes as usual. When Blink yelled “They jacked up the price, ten cents a hundred!”

Then the line turned into a group surrounding Jack and Davey. Everyone looking at them blankly as if we couldn’t think for ourselves.

Jack decided that we should go on strike. Davey was against the whole thing but somehow Jack talked him into it. So we started to plan stuff when Jack decided to send “embasdards” to get people for the strike.

“Blink, Teal, and Dutchy you take Harlem!” He yelled at the top of his lungs. Thank god I was standing right next to him or I might not of heard him.

I was so thrilled (Yeah right) at least I was going with people I like. He sent other people to other places in New York. Except Brooklyn that is where Davey, Boots and him were going. No one else wanted to go there because they were afraid of some Spot person.

So we went to Harlem to talk to some guy named Burn (sounds real scarey).

“Hey, Burn! How’s it going?” Blink asked.

“Okay, have you come back to join the ranks of Harlem once again?”

“Sorry no--” Blink started to say when Burn interrupted.

“Who’s the chick with ya?”

“Chick! Do I look like a little chicken to you?” I said sharply.

“No.” he said with a puzzled look on his face, “Its just you’re so damn pretty.”

“Well she’s taken’!” Dutchy said sounding annoyed.

“By who? You?” Burn asked. “Yeah, by me. You have a problem with that?”

“No, sorry!” he said while kinda laughing, “So why are you guys here?”

“ To get people for our strike.” Blink replied.

We explained to him the whole “strike story” and he decided to join. We headed back to the square to meet Jack and the rest of the guys to tell them that we got Harlem, we were quite proud of ourselves. We were the last ones to get to the square.

Everyone had joined the strike except Queens and Brooklyn. Queens wouldn’t join because Brooklyn wouldn’t join and Brooklyn wouldn’t join because they didn’t think we were serious enough about the strike.

The next day were hanging out in the square when Jack thought it would be great to soak the Newsies in Manhattan that weren’t on strike. Of course Davey didn’t think that it was a good idea, he was against the whole thing.

So we went to see if anyone was buying papes and there were some. Most gave up before we even started fighting. But there were the few stupid ones that refused to give up. So the yelling started. Jack saw that I was still there so he told Dutchy to escort me out the gates.

“I never get to have any fun” I said as we got out of the gates.

“We just don’t want you to get hurt, Teal please promise me you’ll stay out here!” He said as he gave me a look that said he ment it.

“All right, I promise.” I said reluctantly.

“Thanks.” he said with a sigh of relief.

“ Be careful!” I yelled as he ran back in to fight.

I slid down the wall to sit down. When a well dresses man came up to me and asked “ Are you the girl in the newsie strike”

“Um, what?Yeah, why? And who are you? I asked a little confused.

“I am Brian Denton with the New York Sun. I’ve been assigned to the newsie strike. I’ve been watching you guys for a couple days now that’s how I know that there was a girl in the strike. I figure it would be a lot easier to ask you questions then to ask the guys in there fighting don’t you think? he asked

“Okay, I’m Teal and I’ll tell you what you wanna know, but Jack and Davey would know a lot more than me.” I said.

“In that case I’ll wait to get you all together.” he said with a friendly smile.

We then talked a little about me being a girl newsie, what it is like, what the guys were like (and I said they weren’t TOO bad) etc... and even less about the strike.

The guys then came out most of them with black eyes or other bruises, they didn’t look very well. Since I have seen them get in a lot of fights I wasn’t real worried about this I’ve seen them look worse.

“Right now you guys are the most handsome bunch of men I have ever seen!” I said with a grin. They all gave a look that said that they weren’t amused.

I then introduced them to Denton. Denton then took Jack, Davey, Race, Blink and me to Tibby’s for an interview. The rest of the guys went back to the lodging house.

After the interview (the interview had seemed to take forever) we all got up to leave, Denton thanked us for coming. Then Blink offered to take me home and since it was late I excepted.

Jack, Davey, and Race decided to go drinking at Medda’s so they were already out the door.

We said good bye to Denton and started our walk back to the lodging house. Blink was silent, way, way to quiet for him considering he usually can’t stop talking.

“Are you okay?” I asked cuz I was worried.

“Fine. Why?” he said acting a little jumpy.

“ Cuz you aren’t talking and you usually well,...... can’t shut up.” I tried to say that as nice as possible but it still sounded pretty mean.

“ There is something bothering me.” he said acting a little nervous.

“What is it? You know you can tell me.”

“Um........when I saw you in that dress and when I see you and Dutchy together........I.........”

“You what?”

“I realize how much......I Love you.” he said while looking into my eyes.

From the way he was looking at me and the way he said “I love you” I knew he didn’t mean as friends. I was speechless, I mean what was I supposed to say to that. But before I could think about it anymore he leaned and kissed me. I relaxed after a second to enjoy a long sweet kiss with his arms around me and mine around him.

We pulled away from each other slowly and just gazed into each other’s eyes before he pulled completely away.

“I’m sorry, I am SO sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” he said looking away.

“It’s okay, cuz I feel the same way.” I said as we looked into each other’s eyes once again,

“You do?” he said sounding and looking a little surprised.

“ yeah, I just never realized it until you kissed me, and I was wondering if you would do me a favor?”

“Sure. What?”

“Could you do that kiss thing again?’ I asked with a smirk on my face.

So he came closer and put his arms around my waist. Then I put my arms around his neck. And we both leaned in for a kiss. This one was longer but just as sweet!

We then continued out walk to the lodging house when we got there everybody was already sleeping so we both went right to bed. I fell right into a peaceful sleep.

I woke up early the next morning before everyone else. I realized that I would have to tell Dutchy about Blink and me and I would have to tell him today. I got up, got dressed and went outside to get some fresh air before I talked to Dutchy.

When I got out side there was a boy hanging out by the door. “Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m Spot” he replied as he lifted his head to see who I was, “Teal?”

“How did you--- Oh my God---” Before I had even started to say his real name.

“Don’t call me that” he interrupted, “the name is Spot now, okay?”

“My brother is the leader of the Brooklyn Newsies, I am so proud” then we hugged, “ I’ve missed you so much?”

“Well don’t be getting all mushy on me.” he said as he pulled away. “Don’t tell anybody I mean ANYBODY my real name, okay?”

“I won’t tell anybody your real name if you don’t tell anybody mine, deal?”

“Deal!” he said as we did a spit shake.

“I’ll go upstairs and wake up the guys.” I said with a big grin.

“You don’t have to, we’ll wait” “We’ll?”

“Yeah the rest of the Brooklyn group is waiting at the square.”

“oh. No, I’ll wake ‘em believe I would love to!” I yelled as I started in the door “I’ll be right back!”

I quietly went up the stairs and into the middle of the bunk room and yelled for everyone to get up. Most of them opened their eyes, gave me an evil look, closed their eyes to go back to sleep. Except Jack and Race who didn’t even hear me cuz they were out all night drinking and probably couldn’t hear me.

“Guys, get up Spot and his gang are waiting for you guys in the square!” I pleaded

They started to get up slowly, very slowly. So I went wake up Jack since he was still very much asleep. “Rise and shine sleeping beauty” I said into his ear.

He opened his eyes, looked at me and said “I’m tired leave me alone, and besides what the hell do you want?”

“The Brooklyn Newsies are waiting for you at the square so get the HELL up!” I said with a smile. I had the smile because of all the fun I was having waking everybody up.

He got up to go get ready so I went to wake up Race who was already half awake so it was only half as fun.

So everybody was up and getting dresses and stuff. So I went and sat on my bunk and waited for them, which wasn’t that exciting.

When I saw that Dutchy was ready and that everybody was leaving for the square I called him over “Hey Dutchy, come over here I have to talk to ya.” I said in a sad type tone.

I think he knew something was wrong because of the way his face went from happy to see me to a concerned type look. “Hey Teal, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know an easy way to tell you this so here goes. Last night after the interview thing Blink offered to walk me home and.....”

“And. And what?” he asked impatiently “come on, tell me!”

“And we kissed.” I got out quickly.

“What?! He kissed you I’m gonna kill--”

“No, we kissed each other it is as much my fault as his!” I said quickly cuz I REALLY didn’t want Dutchy to kill Blink. That would so not be good.

“I can’t believe you did this to me!” he said looking like he was going to cry.

“I am sorry, I really am but I never felt that, you know that feeling when we kissed and I wouldn’t want to go out with you for any other reason than love. do you understand?”

“Yeah I do!” he said in an angry tone, “I’m not good enough for you!” this time he was trying to hold back tears.

“No, that’s not it, I like you as a friend. The love just isn’t there for it to be more of a friendship. So are we still going to be friends?” I said now crying my eyes out.

He looked at me for a sec no longer able to hold back the tears “I understand because I feel the same way about you as you feel about Blink. But about the friends thing it is not that easy, you hurt me real bad and......well I just don’t know” he said still crying.

I was now crying even harder because I could see how much I hurt him “ I am sorry!” I said “but I couldn’t just lead you on please can we still be friends?”

He didn’t answer he just turned away and went down stairs.

I felt so bad about hurting him. I was crying still but there was nothing else I could have done, right? So I just sat there on by bed and cried into my hands.

Blink came up the stairs, “Teal?” he said kinda softly. He then came over to my bunk “Are you all right?” he said putting his arm around me.

“I am okay......I think.” I said trying to stop crying.

I then explained to him what happened, which made me feel a little better. So I wiped away the tears and smiled at him and he gave me a hug, which made me feel a lot better.

“You ready to meet the rest of the guys at the square, if your not I’ll wait here with ya” he said.

“Just give me a few minutes so my eyes aren’t red, k?”

“Sure, then I can introduce you to Spot.”

“we’ve already met.”

“Really? When?”

“When he was about one.”

“Huh?”

“he’s my brother.”

“Are you sure we’re talking about the same Spot?”

“Yeah he’s at the square, brown hair, pale blue eyes. leader of the Brooklyn Newsies.”

“That would be the one. Why didn’t you tell me that Spot was your brother?”

“Cuz I didn’t know until this morning when I saw him. You know his name hasn’t always been Spot.”

“Oh, I see so what is his real name?” he asked with one of his big smiles.

“I can’t tell you, we made a deal he won’t say anything about my real name and I won’t say anything about his.”

“Okay” he said disappointed, “You ready to go?”

“Yeah let’s go!”

We went downstairs and outside to the square to meet the group of boys. Apparently Brooklyn and Queens were going to join the strike now. Which was really helpful.

The rest of the day was boring they just talked about “the old days” like any of us are that old. It was boring until Jack came up with the idea to have a Big Rally with kids from all over New York, and not just newsies!

It was Friday the day of the big rally. The rally was to be held at Medda’s (Where else). The guys were all down at Irving Hall getting the place ready for the big night.

I was at the lodging house deciding on what to wear, how to do my hair, stuff like that. I wanted to look perfect for Blink (or almost perfect).

So I went to the closet and pulled out my favorite and nicest dress. It was white, a silky,shiney material. The bottom, the sleeves and the neck were all trimmed with a thin line of light blue lace. It was ankle length (like all my dresses). It had those layers of material underneath to make the skirt part of it flare out.

Anyway I put up all my hair on top of my head and curled it. I put on some make-up (which I hardly ever do) but it was a special occasion my first official date with Blink. I was really excited. I just hope that Blink likes it. it was almost time to go so I was putting on the finishing touches. When I heard someone coming up the stairs.

“Teal?” Blink asked.

“Just a sec I’m almost ready” I said as I made a final check in the mirror. “Here goes.” I whispered to myself as I walked into the bunk room.

Blink just stared for a second and then he said “You look... beautiful gorgeous, and WOW!”

“You don’t look so bad yourself” I replied. He was dresses in a nice brown suit and vest ensemble. He looked very, very, very, (you get the idea) handsome.

He then took my arm and we began our walk to Irving Hall. I was so very, very, very, (I am sure you get it this time too) happy!

We arrived at Medda’s the place which was litterly crawling with boys. They were everywhere.

Blink led me farther inside. He led me to a table that he had reserved for us. The table was near the stage.

“I reserved it for us I hope you like where I put us.” he said with his usual sweet smile. He then pulled out a chair for me and I sat down. “You want something to drink?” he aked still standing.

“No, I’m fine.” I said and so he sat down.

We talked for awhile about everything from our lives before being newsies to the weather.

“Do you wanna dance?’ I asked hoping very much for a yes.

“Sure, I’d love to!” he said standing up and holding out his hand. I put my hand in his and he led me out to the dance floor.

Just then a slow song came on and he put his arms around my waist. Then I draped my arms around his neck and laid my head on his shoulders. This had to be one of the best moments in my life. I closed my eyes, took a breathe and just took it all in. I wanted to savor ever minute.

Then I opened my eyes to see Dutchy looking at us from his table on the edge of the dance floor. He looked like he was going to cry. The happy feeling that I had just had sank.

After awhile we went back to our table. Then Jack, Davey, Spot, along with newsie leaders from all over New York got on stage. They talked about the strile a little and then the music came back on and the party resumed.

Dutchy came over to my table. “Teal, I need to talk to you, so would come and dance with me?”

I glanced over to see if he cared, and he didn’t. “Sure.” I said as I stood up and took his hand.

It was another slow song but I didn’t dance quite as close with Dutchy as I did with Blink.

“I am sorry about the other day, I don’t want to lose you as a friend” he said right away.

“Really!” I said not even trying to hide my excitment, “You wanna be friends again?!”

“Yeah, I really miss talking to you and besides I could never say no to you. So will you be friends with me?”

“Yes, I would love to be your friend,” I said almost ready to cry, from being so happy.

“Don’t worry I am not mad at you anymore, or not as mad as I was. I understand why you did it, I shouldn’t wreck that for you. I was selfish, so I am REALLY SORRY!” Dutchy said sounding way to mature for Dutchy.

“I accept your appology, that was very sweet and mature.” I said as I hugged him.

He lead me back to my table where Blink was now sitting with Spot.

“Hey Teal!” Spot said standing to grab another chair so we could all sit at the table.

“Thanks, so what have you guys been talking about.” I said as I was sitting down, hoping that it wasn’t about me.

“We’ve benn talking about you.” Blink said with his now famous smirk.

I turned to Spot, “What did you say?”

“Nothing bad, I just threatened Blink. Cuz if he hurts you I’ll kill ‘em.” Spot said casuallyas if killing Blink wsn’t a big deal.

“Yeah, and I promised that I would never hurt you.” Blink said in a very serious tone, which kinda surprised me.

“Well that’s good, since you dead would not be a good thing. I mean what would I do with a dead Blink.” I said jokingly.

The rest of the night was great. Probably because I relized how very, very, very (you get it by now i’m sure) much I love Blink!

It was getting late and well most of the guys that were still at the rally were wasted.

“You wanna get out of here?” Blink asked, by the way he hadn’t had anything to drink all night.

“Yeah.” I said as I stood up.

“Let’s go then.” he said as he also stood up.

“Wait you guys can’t go yet the party is just getting started!” jack shouted as he stumbled towards us.

“Teal wants to go, so we’re leaving!” Blink said sternly.

Jack then came over to me and put his arm around me. “You don’t wanna leave, do ya Teal? The party is just starting!” he shouted at me even though he was about 2 inches from my ear.

“Yeah, Jack I’m going to go.” I said as I removed his arm.

Then Race came over he was also very drunk. Let me try that again he tried to come over but he couldn’t really walk. I noticed he couldn’t walk when he fell falt on his face. But he got up and said, “Let em go we can have fun without them, Jackey Boy!”

“Your right race.” jack replied.

“Of course I’m right.” Race said as he put his arm around Jack and led himaway from us.

Blink and I gave eachother the same confused look as we walked towards the door.

When we got outside it was really quite cold. And I started to shiver a little. I mean I was wearing a short sleeved dress.

“Are you cold?” Blink asked looking concerned.

“No.......yeah, well a little.” I replied.

He then took his jacket off and put it over my sholders, “Here maybe this will help.”

“Thanks,’ I said as Iput my arms in the sleeves.

He looked at me and made this face that said that he was trying not to laugh.

“Are you laughing at me?” I asked knowing that he was.

“No!’ he said now between laughs, as I gave him an evil look.

“It’s just that you look kinda silly with my jacket and your dress” he said still between laughs.

“Well thank you.” I said sarcastically.

“I’m sorry.” he said not laughing anymore, “Even in that outfit you still look gorgeous” he said with that smile of his.

I could tell he was trying to save himself from that last remark. So I said, “You added that smile cuz you know that I can’t be mad at you when you give me that smile!”

He nodded with the grin still on his face, “Yeah, but I really am sorry ‘bout calling you silly.”

“Thanks for the apology.”

We walked in silence for a while until Blink asked “Do you mind if we......um........hold hands?”

He was so sweet how could I say no to that, “No, I don’t mind if we hold hands, I’d actually love it if we would.” I said happily.

He then took my hand and we talked about a lot of things. He was so easy to talk to, I felt as if I had known him forever. After a while it was silent because we were almost to the lodging house. This time I broke the silence, “Blink?”

“Yeah?”he said sounding a little suprised.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too!” he said as he leaned forward and kissed me, those kisses always seem to get better!

So we went into the lodging house still hand in hand. we had to be quiet since some people were already asleep in their bunks.

I went into the bathroom and got ready for bed. I then went downstair to hang up my dress. Blink was already for bed when I had went downstairs.

I came back up to the bunk room. I sat down on my bunk and was going to lie down. Blink then came over and gave me a kiss and said, “Good night Teal, I love you.”

A little shocked but galad that it happened, “I love you, too, night.”

I went right to sleep..........