Author's Explanation:

Love is like Jazz. You make it up as you go along and you act as if you really know the song. But you don't, and you never will. So you flaunt your mistakes, and you make them until they were you. Love is like jazz. The same song a million times in different ways. "Strange Fruit" with and without wind chimes. It's divine. It's asinine. It's depressing, and it's almost entirely window dressing. But it'll do.

-Love is Like Jazz; The Magnetic Fields

I am a lover of Jazz music. I also love writing with a song in mind. And so, I decided to dedicate a series of fics with Jazz songs as the motivation and backdrop. This is the "Love Is Like Jazz" Series. Hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them!

Guilty
Is it a sin
Is it a crime
Loving you dear like I do
If it's a crime then I'm guilty
Guilty of loving you

Maybe I'm wrong dreaming of you
Dreaming the lonely night through
If it's a crime then I'm guilty
Guilty of dreaming of you

What can I do
What can I say
After I've taken the blame
You say you're through
You'll go your way
But I'll always feel just the same

Maybe I'm right
Maybe I'm wrong
Loving you dear like I do
If it's a crime then I'm guilty
Guilty of loving you

Author's Notes: This is the third story in the "Love Is Like Jazz" series. This story was inspired by the song "Guilty." My favorite version is performed by Al Bowlly. Jules, Chatterbox, Blondie, Sadie and Poke are all characters that I have created. I'm taking a little break from the Skittery story line, but don't worry, there will be more coming up!

Guilty
By: Stubby the Newsgirl

Chapter One: Pennies from Heaven?

Julie "Jules" Caplan was a newsgirl who appreciated the improvement of her circulation. Walking helped her clear her thoughts. Some days, walking along the dirty streets of New York City, she would trouble over her past, in lieu of selling the papers. At least she didn't have to eat what she didn't sell, of course, sometimes it meant sacrificing her board at the Newsies' Lodging House.
There were lots of things that troubled her. Her mother and father had died of hay fever when she was only three years of age, and she was left in the care of her only living relative- her grandmother. Her grandmother died of old age when Jules had turned fifteen. She had no inheritance, and rather than being sent to an orphanage, the young woman found a use for herself, and she began working as a newsgirl a few months after the newsies' strike.

Despite the deaths she had experienced, Jules was an optimist, and moreover, she was a hopeless romantic. It had been two years since her grandmother had passed away, and she was now 17, but she still remembered the love stories her grandmother would tell her - Romeo and Juliet, Lancelot and Guinevere, Tristan and Isolde... of course they had tragic endings, but their love was full of passion! Lately, the stories occupied her thoughts. Jules wanted to fall in love, very badly. The only problem was that she had no one to fall in love with.

When it was announced that the lodging home for newsgirls would be demolished and turned into a sewing mill, and that the newsgirls would be sent to the boys' lodging home, she and her close friends, Chatterbox and Blondie, were the few girls who were excited about the move. Most of the other newsgirls quit selling papers and to work at the mill, and avoid the impeachment of their modesty, living with men. Perhaps Jules and her friends were more brazen, but they found that being out and about selling papers was much more fulfilling than being stuck inside a sewing mill all day.

Jules didn't think she was brazen at all. She didn't plan on whoring herself out to just any handsome boy who came her way. She thrived on the idea of finding true love. And being surrounded by boys, she thought it would be easy to find "the one." There were so many handsome young men around, but the more she was surrounded by these young men, the less she was attracted to them.

She first set her eyes on Jack Kelly, but then he was in an intimate relationship with Sarah Jacobs. She her sights were on David Jacobs, but he seemed more interested in books and conversations about Bryan Denton than anything else. Bumlets was nice, but he was always concerned about his hair. Racetrack made her laugh, but he gambled too much. Skittery was too moody. Swifty was already in a relationship, but she thought he was too thin anyway. Specs had bad breath. Snoddy was the handsomest boy she had ever seen, but he often picked his nose in public. Spot Conlon was beautiful, but who wants to go all the way to Brooklyn to see him? Crutchy was too optimistic. Itey chewed on his suspenders when he thought no one was looking. Snitch was a snitch. Kid Blink was a flirt- also, he was in a new relationship, and claimed to be in love. Mush was strong, but intellectually inept. Dutchy always needed affirmation when it came to spelling and reading- it was too much of a chore. The others were too young or too immature for her.

"Hey, Jules! You dropped a penny!" a voice called out to her as she was walking. She turned around to see a familiar face about a twenty feet away from her. It was Pie Eater. Pie Eater was a nice guy.

"Aw, thanks Pie Eater. You just saved me from having to sell another pape tomorrow," Jules said waiting for him to catch up to her.

She twirled her finger around the end of her brown, braided pony tail as she waited. Then, Pie Eater came nearer, and held out the penny. She held out her hand.

"There ya go." Pie Eater pressed the penny into her palm, and then kept his hand on hers.

"Thanks," Jules said, pulling her hand away. Pie Eater pulled it toward himself.

"Actually, you didn't really drop the penny," Pie Eater said, blushing slightly.

"But you just-" Jules asked.

"Nah, I made it up. I just wanted to talk to you," Pie Eater said.

"About what?"

"I dunno. You look really pretty today," Pie Eater said.

She blushed, as she usually did when she was paid a complement. She didn't think much of herself. She was rather plain. Brown hair, brown eyes, medium height, nothing really made her beautiful.

"Thanks."

"So whaddaya got planned for Saturday?" he asked.

"Gee, I hadn't really thought about it," Jules answered

"Because I thought maybe if you have no plans, you might want to go with me to Irving Hall and see one of Medda's shows," Pie Eater said.

"That'd be nice. Who else is going?" Jules asked, not understanding Pie Eater's intentions.

"I thought it might be nice if it was just us two. You know?" Pie Eater said with a shy smile.

In all the stories that her grandmother had told her, the heroine knew who "the one" was right when they met. When Jules saw him, she couldn't tell if he was "the one" or not. He was handsome, muscular, friendly- there was no reason for her not to like him, but she didn't feel particularly drawn to him.

"Oh. Um. I don't know what to say." Jules answered honestly.

"You could say yes," Pie Eater said.

Jules hesitated. She wanted to be someone's girl, but until today, Pie Eater had never shown any interest in her.

"Um. I didn't know that you had romantic feelings towards me," Jules began to say.

"I'm not crazy in love like Jack, or Blink, or Swifty, but I like you just fine. You're pretty, you're not too loud like some of the other girls around the lodging house, and I thought why not, maybe we could get to know each other better," Pie Eater said. He really knew how to woo a girl.

"You like me 'just fine'," Jules repeated, disappointed. "Gee, thanks!" she said rolling her eyes.

"You know what I mean, and hey, I did say that you're pretty," Pie Eater said.

"What brought all this on?" Jules asked, unconvinced.

"I'm a good guy, and I just want to be with a good girl," Pie Eater said, as if it were obvious.

"Pie Eater, you are a good guy, but I want to be swept off my feet," Jules said.

"Look, never mind, forget I said anything." Pie Eater said, unaffectedly.

"We're still friends, right?" Jules asked.

"Yeah, of course." he said good humoredly. "But do me a favor, would ya?" he added

"What is it?"

"Don't mention this to anyone- especially your friend Chatterbox," Pie Eater said.

Chatterbox was a newsgirl who was known for being a talker, as her name indicated. She loved to be the center of attention, and she loved to be in the middle of everything. She and Jules often sold together.

Jules thought that Pie Eater had a point. If word got out about his asking her out, and her "rejection," all the newsies in Manhattan would know before the day was done.

"I won't," Jules promised. She wouldn't want to embarrass him in front of the others.

"Thanks. Oh, and um, could I get that penny back?" Pie Eater asked.

"What?" Jules asked.

"The penny I gave you. You didn't really drop it. I just made that up so I could talk to you," Pie Eater said.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Jules said tossing him the penny back.

He caught it, blushed, then walked away from her, shouting out a headline.

Jules smiled, then shouted out her own. She wasn't swept off of her feet, but somehow she had a little ego boost, knowing that someone wanted her, even if he was the least romantic man in Manhattan.