Race walked down the street, thumbs hooked in the pockets of his pants. He could hear the change jingling in his pocket, only adding to his good mood. He turned down a dirty alley, one of his personal shortcuts to Jacobi's, kicking at a bottle and whistling as he took another turn. Maybe he would have enough extra money to actually buy something.

A few more turns and Race was out of the grimy alleyway and standing in front of the small deli, He swung the door open and walked in, grinning when he saw that his friends were gathered there too. Despite the heat, today was definitely going in Race's favor.

"Hey Jack!" Race dropped into a seat at the middle of the table, across from Jack and next to Les.

"Hey Race. Good day at the tracks?" Jack said, noting his friend's wide grin.

"It's been a good day all ova'," he replied. "Sold all my papes pretty quick and spent an hour more than usual watching the races. Made myself an extra dime while I was there."

"You made a whole dime just from watchin' horse races?" Les asked, mouth falling open.

"Les, that's not exactly how it works," Davey shot Race a warning glance from his spot next to Jack.

"Yeah, I made a dime, kid. But I better not catch you 'round there, got it?" Les pouted but nodded his head. "Anyway, I was sayin', even my day started well. Just this mornin' I was headin' to the track and Spot Conlon himself wished me well."

"Oh, he did, did he? And those were the words he used?" Jack rested an elbow on the table, eyes sparkling as he waited for Race's response.

"It was more along the lines of, 'Hurry up and get to Sheepshead, Higgins, 'fore I throw your sorry ass outta Brooklyn!'" Race imitated the older boys deeper voice as Davey glared at him again, having covered Les' ears a second to late. The young boy stared at Race, eyes wide, and Race grinned back.

"I'd appreciate you not using that language in front of my little brother," Davey hissed.

"Now wait a minute Dave, Race here was just tryin' to educate Les, right?" Jack smirked and Race gave a quick nod.

"See Davey, it ain't gonna kill him."

"Yeah, it ain't gonna kill me," Les chirped, pushing his brothers' hands away from his ears. 

"Isn't," Davey corrected under his breath. Race chuckled and turned back to his dark haired friend.

"So, how was your day? Run into any pretty reporters?" Race winked at Jack and nudged his arm.

"I sure did. Ace and I went out for lunch today," Jack grinned.

"Aww, how sweet! Our Jacky's in love!" Romeo exclaimed, throwing an arm across Jack's shoulder as he joined the conversation.

A few boys looked over at them after the shout, and even more crowded around as Les innocently asked, "Jack, if you're in love with Katherine, does that mean you're going to marry her?"

"Of course he is! He might as well marry her, cause half the time he ain't with her, he's talkin' about her."

"You shouldn't be talkin' Romeo. We've all seen how you are with girls," Buttons said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Every other day, it's "Oh, I've found the one, this time for sure! Someone help me! Ise swoonin'!" Albert cried, collapsing onto Race.

"Hey! Get off of me, ya filthy bum!" Race shoved Albert onto the floor and brushed his shirt off. Davey sighed, shaking his head at the antics of the other newsies.

"Theyse somethin' else, ain't they Davey," Jack threw an arm around his shoulder and smiled fondly, looking at all his brothers in the deli.

Davey watched as the boys went back to their conversations. Elmer and Romeo were arguing as Specs tried to help Sniper read the menu. In the corner of the room they could see Albert had grabbed Henry's hat and he and Race, who had grown bored of the conversation, were tossing it between themselves.

"Mmmhmm, they sure are."

***

Three days had passed since the heat wave in New York had begun, and the boys were still in an awful mood about it. The fact that the headlines had been getting worse every day didn't help.

"How much hotter can it get?" Albert whined, frantically waving his hat in front of his face.

"Lucky for you, not much," Specs wiped his face on his shirt sleeve. "Your face already matches your hair, I don't think you can get much darker without people thinkin' youse a crab."

"Well he sure acts like one," Jojo said as he counted through the pennies he'd made during the day.

"Can't we go back to the lodge already?" Albert was complaining again. He reached up to touch his face and winced when his hand made contact with the burnt skin.

"No," Crutchie said firmly. "You can go if you want, but I said that I'd make sure Sniper got back from Midtown okay."

Albert let out a groan, but stayed where he was, tapping his foot impatiently against the ground. "Well he sure is takin' his time, ain't he."

"Midtown's  a long walk, Albert. Just give him some more time."

Fifteen more minutes had passed. There still was no sign of Sniper. Crutchie glanced around nervously, biting his lip and wondering where the small boy could be. Midtown was a long walk, but not so far that Sniper would be so late.

Specs, noticing how tense his friend had gotten, reached over a rested a hand on Crutchie's shoulder. "He's fine Crutchie. Snipes is smart, he won't get himself into any trouble."

"Yeah, he probably just got lost," Jojo added. Crutchie paled, and his head turned quickly to the boy. Realizing his mistake, Jojo backpedaled. "You know what, I bet he ran into some of the other kids and started talkin' to him. He probably lost track of time." Crutchie ignored the last sentence.

"Lost? What if we don't find 'im? He was my responsibility. What if he stays out here all night, lookin' for us and gets hurt, or-"

"Crutchie! He's fine. But if it makes you feel better, I'll start headin' to Midtown, alright?" Jojo suggested. Critchie let out a sigh and nodded. "Okay, I'm goin'. I'll be back with Sniper, safe and sound, within the hour." Jojo turned and left, giving the boys a quick wave. In a minute he was out of sight.

Specs tried to make small talk as they waited, but Crutchie was too worried about their brother, and Albert was too hot and cranky to talk civilly about anything. Instead he watched the street that Jojo had disappeared down, waiting for him to come back.

Half an hour passed. Then another fifteen minutes. It was getting darker now, and there'd been no sign of Jojo yet. Crutchie was pacing a well as he could with his leg, and Specs was now too worried to try calming him down. Even Albert had stopped his constant complaining and whining about going back to the lodge.

A few more minutes passed before Crutchie decided he'd have enough. "Albert, go find Jack and the others. Tell 'em Sniper's missing."

At this, Albert's bad attitude quickly came back. "It's too hot to go runnin' around the city! Can't Specs do it?"

"I said go find Jack, Albert!" Crutchie snapped. "That means go right now!"

Albert and Specs looked at Crutchie in surprise. Crutchie had never gotten angry at any of them, he'd never snapped or lost his temper, even when the boys crossed the line.

Finally realizing the severity of the situation, Albert gave a silent nod, and turned away, sprinting down the street.

"Wait!" Specs shouted, squinting at the end of the street. Albert heard him and stopped immediately, spreading his arms out for balance as his shoes slid across the ground.

"Is that them?" Crutchie asked hopefully.

"I think so. Hey! Jojo!" Specs called. His voice echoed through the emptying streets, earning a few dirty looks from passersby. Neither of the boys minded though, they felt only relief as the taller figure waved enthusiastically. Crutchie laughed and waved back as his shoulders relaxed and his white-knuckled grip on his crutch loosened.

"What took you so long?" Albert asked as the boys drew closer.

"Nothin', I was just thinkin'," Sniper replied, uncomfortably.

"Just thinkin'? You was sittin' in the middle of an alley, Snipe. You weren't 'just thinkin'," Jojo said, hand resting on Sniper's shoulder.

"What's wrong with ya, Snipe? Are you hurt?" Crutchie immediately stepped towards the boy, checking his face for any bruises, before laying the back of his hand across his forehead to check for a fever.

"I'm fine Crutchie. Can we talk about this later?"

"'Course we can, let's just get back to the lodge. I'm sure wese all tired and hungry, and Jack'll be wonderin' where we are." Sniper looked uncomfortable, but he followed the older boys anyway.

***

The walk back had been quiet. Albert had made no attempt to disguise how annoyed he was with Sniper, instead he shoved the young boy to the side and stormed ahead of the group. Sniper still said nothing.

"Don't worry 'bout him Snipe, he's just bein' dramatic," Specs said, but sighed when Sniper continued to watch his feet. He and Crutchie both decided to just leave him alone.

Jojo tried to tell some jokes to lighten the mood, but after receiving no reaction, even he was quiet.

By the time they reached the lodging house it had grown dark. Jack and Race were sitting on the stoop talking, Race, as usual, was smoking a cigar.

"Jack! We're back!" Crutchie shouted. Jack glanced at them and smiled as he stood up.

"We was wonderin' where you guys were. Race and I were thinking 'bout going and lookin' for ya."

"Wese fine, just had a little trouble, that's all," Crutchie replied. Jack leaned forward a bit and spoke quietly.

"Was it your leg? Did it act up again?"

"No Jack, my leg is fine." Crutchie looked away from Jack. He was always asking about his leg, especially since the refuge, acting as if Crutchie were less capabe because of it. Jack caught the motion and sighed.

"That's not how I meant it Crutch, you know that."

"We'll talk about this tomorrow," Crutchie ended the conversation and looked back to Sniper. "So, you ready to tell us why you were sittin' in an alley?"

"He better be," Albert interjected. "I stood in the sun hours longer than I should've, waitin' for you, and you was havin' yourself a ball sittin' in an alley!"

Race strode over to the boys, placing a pale hand on Albert's shoulder. "I'm sure Snipe had a log-i-cal  reason for sittin' in an alley."

"I'd like to hear that reason. Preferably inside," Jojo spoke up.

"Jojo's right, let's go inside and talk about this," Jack said, herding the boys toward the door. He waited for all the boys to walk in, but paused, noticing that Sniper hadn't moved.

 "You coming Snipe?" The boy shuffled his feet and shook his head. The other boys also, stopped, turning around on the stairs.

"Come on Snipe, youse been out here all day," Specs coaxed. The boy remained standing where he was, biting his lip as he shook his head again.

"Listen Sniper, Ise been out here waitin' for you for ages. I'm not waitin' any longer. You're gonna get your ass up these stairs right now, or I'll drag you up them!" Race smacked Albert sharply on the back of the head, shooting him a glare.

"I can't!" Sniper cried.

"What do you mean, you can't? You've got legs, ain't ya?"

This time it was Jack's turn to glare. "That's enough Albert, you keep it up and you'll be sportin' a black eye." Jack's face softened as he turned back to Sniper. "Why can't you come in?"

"I ain't got enough for boardin' tonight," Sniper admitted quietly.

"Why don't you have enough for board? Did you buy somethin'?" Specs asked.

"No, I didn't sell much today."

"Why didn't you ask any of us for help? You know we would've."

"I know that Crutchie, but I didn't need help."

"How many'd you sell?" Jojo asked.

"Seven or eight..." Sniper mumbled. Specs blinked in surprise as Jack grabbed Sniper's shoulder.

"Did you say seven?" He asked, incredulous.

"Or eight," Sniper joked with a weak smile.

"Look, I know the headline wasn't great, but it didn't stink that bad," Race said, rolling his cigar between his thumb and forefinger.

"It's not that I couldn't sell 'em, I just lost 'em."

"How'd you 'lose' twenty papes?"

"Some guys took 'em." Sniper looked back at his feet, face burning red.

"Someone took 'em?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, a couple guys pulled me into the alley and ripped 'em all up. Now I don't have enough for board, so I figured I'd sleep in an alley 'til tomorrow."

All of the boys were angry, but none more than Albert, who clenched his fist as guilt from his earlier statements washed over him.

"Who did it?" Albert demanded.

"I don't know, they was from the Bronx. I didn't recognize them."

"Why'd they do it?" Jojo asked, as he placed his hand on Albert's back, mostly to keep him from running off to the Bronx to find the boys who had messed with Sniper,

"They said I was on their turf."

"Weren't you in Midtown?" Crutchie rubbed his knee as they talked, trying to get some feeling back in it.

"No, I was a little closer to Harlem, Finch said I might sell better up there."

Jack shook his head. "That's still our turf. I'll keep my eyes open for them Snipe. Now come on, we should all be gettin' inside."

"I can't, I don't have enough, I told you that."

"We'll help you out. You should've just told us, cause you don't wanna know what I'll do if I ever catch you sleepin' in the alley." Jack started to reach into his pocket, but Albert stopped him.

"I got it Jack."

"You sure?" At his nod, Jack and the other boys headed inside. Albert dropped a couple pennies into Sniper's hand.

"You don't have to give me any money, I'm okay," Sniper insisted.

"Just take the money, 'fore I change my mind," Albert said starting up the stairs.

"Wait! Albert! Thank you, it's real nice of you to-"

"Save it kid, I'm tired and I need my beauty sleep," Albert said with a small smile as he lightly punched  the boy's shoulder. Then he turned and walked up the rest of the stairs, heading into the lodging house.

Sniper stood there for a minute, glancing at the coins in his hand. Slowly, a grin crossed his face and he hurried up the steps and into the lodging house.

Okay, I fully intended to make a plot diagram, but only put four events on before deciding to wing it, so I wasn't quite sure how to write this chapter. I'm not exactly happy with how it turned out, but I'm also very critical of myself, so I'm just gonna cross my fingers and post it anyway.

Also, this chapter is twice as long as the last one. Was it too long? What do you guys think?

Thanks for reading, and have a beautiful day!!!!!