“I did too, only it din’t turn out like I planned.”

At that very moment, there was a blare of thunder, and a shower of rain suddenly fell upon them. Bumlets looked up to see lightning flash and jumped a little. He then looked at Seven and noticed that she didn’t have a coat to cover her nice clothes. He didn’t have a coat either, but he had his hat, and it was covering his greasy hair. ‘Aw, she needs it more than me,’ he thought. He pulled his hat off and put it on Seven’s head.

“Ya need it more than I do.” He said.

Seven suddenly began to laugh out loud. Bumlets couldn’t understand why she was laughing, and he had the urge to laugh to.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

“This.” She answered. “It’s so ironic. Once I tell you I had a wonderful time it starts to rain. It just makes you want to laugh.”

Bumlets then burst out laughing, and it began to rain harder and there was another clap of thunder. They only laughed harder, but a minute later, Bumlets suddenly stopped, and his face was filled with emotion. Seven also stopped when she saw the look on his face and she shared the same expression.

Slowly, Bumlets held his hand up and placed it on the side of her face. Seven shut her eyes briefly and reopened them a few seconds later. Bumlets was leaning closer to her, and she knew what was coming. She leaned forward too and his lips met hers.

Once their lips met, there was another boom of thunder, but neither of them heard it. Bumlets wrapped his arms around her and pulled her even closer to him. Seven also wrapped her arms around him and almost felt like there was magic in the rain. She was falling in love, and she knew it.

When they finally drew back minutes later, they decided to head back to the lodging house, for they were almost soaked to the skin. When they reached the lodging house, Kloppman scolded them and demanded where they had been.

“We lost track of the time.” Seven answered.

“Well, you’d better head to bed, for the lights went out fifteen minutes ago.”

“No prob. See ya in th’ mornin’.” Bumlets said.

The two walked up the stairs to the girls’ bunkroom where Bumlets stopped. Before Seven entered the bunkroom, she kissed Bumlets once more and thanked him again for a wonderful night.

When Seven entered the bunkroom, Bumlets walked up the stairs with a huge smile. And he felt even better that she hadn’t noticed his greasy hair.

“Hundred papes.” Seven ordered.

“Hundred papes!” Weasel shouted.

Oscar pushed Morris away and set Seven’s newspapers on the counter with a suspicious smile. “Here ya are, sweetheart.”

Seven only took her papers and frowned at Oscar. “I’m not your sweetheart.”

Bumlets then came to Seven’s side and looped his arm around her. “She’s MY sweetheart, so back off.”

Seven smirked at Oscar, and then she and Bumlets walked down the platform to read over the headlines. Bumlets then asked Seven if she would like to be his permanent selling partner, and she accepted.

Together they walked away from Newspaper Row and began calling out the headlines. By lunchtime, they had sold nearly half of their newspapers. As they headed for Tibby’s for lunch, Seven had the feeling that someone was following them.

“Bumlets,” she whispered, “is someone following us?”

Bumlets looked over his shoulder a minute, then turned to Seven and nodded. “Sure looks like it.”

“Just stay calm and ignore him. Maybe he’ll go away.”

They ignored him for a few minutes, and finally, Seven looked behind her to see if the stalker was still behind them. When she saw him, her eyes widened and she quickened her pace.

“Bumlets, we need to get ta Tibby’s right now.” She said, her voice quivering a little.

“Why?”

“Just do it!”

Bumlets also quickened his pace and they were nearly running toward Tibby’s. When the restaurant was in view, Seven felt the stalker grab her shoulder and pull her around. She was staring into the cruel eyes of Quentin Peck.

“So I finally caught up with you.” He sneered.

“What’re you doing here? Don’t tell me you came all the way to New York just to find me.”

“I came here to visit my cousin, and I ran into a very considerate gentleman who told me that he knew you.”

“Seven, what’s goin’ on?” Bumlets demanded.

Quentin looked at Bumlets and frowned. “Who’s this?”

“She’s my goil.” Bumlets answered.

“I see. You not only ran away from me, but you cheated on me as well.”

“Wha-“

“You’re wrong, Quentin. I was never yours to begin with.”

“I paid your uncle, and he was ready to give you to me.”

“You may have money, but you can’t buy me. You can’t fool me; I know that you don’t love me. You just looked at me and wanted me for what I seemed to you.”

“And I still intend to keep you.”

“Well, ya cain’t have ‘er.” Bumlets growled. “She’s gotta will of ‘er own, so let ‘er choose.”

“I cannot. If I do, I know what choice she’d make.”

“Then let’s make this interesting.” Bumlets said, pulling his vest off. “One on one. Winner takes Juliet, loser leaves empty-handed.”

“Bumlets, no!” Seven cried, grabbing his arm.

“Fine.” Quentin said with full assurance. “But I’ll have you know, I have been training in fighting.”

“Only one rule.” Bumlets said. “Ya cain’t be down fer more than ten seconds. If ya are, yer beaten.”

“Done. We should also take this where it won’t bring attention.”

“We’s right in front of an alley.”

“Very well. Juliet, I shall see you when I win.”

“No, you won’t.” Seven said, her voice low. “You may get me, but you’ll never have my heart.”

Quentin pulled off his leather gloves and took his coat off. While he was preparing, Seven rushed to Bumlets and hugged him tightly.

“Please don’t do this.” She whispered. “I know him. He’s a good fighter an’ he can beat you.”

“Don’ worry.” Bumlets coaxed as he stroked her hair. “I luv ya, an’ if ‘e does beat me, always rememba that I luv ya. Yo te amo.”

“I love you too.”

Bumlets pulled away from Seven and prepared to fight Quentin. At first, the two just circled around; the silence between them deafening to Seven. She could feel the tension even though neither of them were fighting yet. After several minutes, Quentin broke the barrier and he threw a punch at Bumlets. He ducked, and the fight began.

He lunged at Quentin, slamming him into the brick wall behind him. Quentin punched him off and jabbed him in the stomach with his elbow. Bumlets staggered back and Seven covered her mouth to keep from screaming for help.

The fighting between the two now was intense. By now, both of them had bloody knuckles and were growing weary by the minute. Bumlets connected his fist to Quentin’s head and knocked him to the ground.

“One, two, three,” Seven counted.

Quentin was up again. As he blocked a punch that Bumlets threw, Seven could hear shouts coming from behind her. She then saw Snoddy, Pie Eater and Jack appear next to her.

“What’s goin’ on?” Jack demanded.

“They’re fighting.” Seven answered, her voice now trembling. “They’re fighting over me.”

After that, Seven couldn’t take it anymore. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she watched the fight. One man was fighting for her as a possession while the other was fighting for her as a person. She hoped that the fight would soon be over.

Quentin suddenly grabbed Bumlets’ arm and twisted it around. Bumlets gritted his teeth, but he wasn't going to give up that easily. He kicked his leg back, sending Quentin back. But when he released him, he hit his head against the other side of the wall, scraping the skin of his forehead.

“One, two, three,” Quentin counted, sure he was winning.

Bumlets staggered to his feet, though he knew he couldn’t keep going like this for much longer. When he was on his feet, he threw a careless punch that Quentin easily blocked. He returned by slamming his knee into his stomach. Bumlets doubled over, but he wasn’t going to lose Seven, especially not to someone who didn’t love her as he did.

He slowly brought himself to his full height and blocked a punch while holding his stomach with one arm. He then swung his leg around, ignoring the pain that was tearing through his stomach, and knocked Quentin to the ground. His head was bleeding, and it seemed like he couldn’t get up. He tried, but had no success.

“Eight, nine, ten.” Bumlets muttered. “You lose.”

It was at least five seconds later when Quentin finally got to his feet and left in a white rage. When he was gone, Seven ran to Bumlets and he collapsed into her arms. As Bumlets clung tightly to her, holding her like she was a puzzle piece that he was fitting in to him, he began to feel light-headed. Seven then looked at his face and could tell that something was wrong.

“Bumlets?” she whispered.

“Bumlets, you ain’t in good shape.” Pie Eater said. “We’d bedda getcha to da lodgin’ house.”

“C’mon, let’s go.” Jack said.

Bumlets only took one step when his knees gave out. Seven caught him before he could hit the ground, and the other three newsies rushed to help her get him to his feet. But Bumlets was so weak that he couldn’t stand if he wanted to. He reached up and placed his hand on the side of Seven’s face.

“Yo te amo,” he whispered before he succumbed to the darkness.

A blur of many colors swam before Bumlets’ eyes as they slowly opened. His head throbbed, and there were few places of his body that weren’t in pain.

“Bumlets?”

Bumlets slowly turned his head to see Seven sitting beside his bed. Her eyes were red, but she seemed overjoyed to see him.

“You’re awake.” She whispered as she took his hand. “How do you feel?”

“Terrible.” Bumlets answered, almost inaudibly.

“Shh, I should’ve have asked that. Try not too talk so much. The doctor left an hour ago, he said that you may have some internal bleeding, so you’ll need to stay in bed for about a week and take it easy for a while. He also said that your wounds oughta heal within the week, and you’re gonna be okay.”

“Where’s Quentin?” he whispered.

“He’s gone. I wish you two hadn’t fought over me, but if you hadn’t, I wouldn’t be with you. Thank you.”

Bumlets smiled weakly and squeezed Seven’s hand, despite the pain it brought to his knuckles. Seven raked her fingers through his hair as she stared into his eyes when something came to mind. She knew that it was better if Bumlets didn’t talk a lot, but she needed to know this one thing.

“Bumlets, that thing you said before you passed out, ‘yo te amo,’ what does that mean?”

“Ya don’t know?”

“No.”

“It means ‘I love you.’ I thought ya understood when ya said I love you too.”

“Well, I said it to when you told me to remember that you would still love me, so that’s why I said it. And I want you to know that I meant it.”

“I meant it too.”

Seven the bent down and gently kissed Bumlets’ lips. She knew that she truly loved him, and that he felt the same for her. And for the first time in years, she was free. Now all she had to do was soak Oscar Delancy for telling Quentin where she was.