Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize from the movie.

Chapter One

Despite the fact that it was the middle of summer, the girl shuffling along the afternoon street could not shake the chill that permeated her body. It wasn't cold weather by any means considering it was mid summer; rather, it was the cold chill that comes from being kicked out of the only home you've ever known and being utterly terrified of your only other option. It was a chill that numbed her brain and caused fear to run rampant through her heart. She sniffled and wiped her nose on her shirt sleeve mumbling to herself. Although she generally was not the type of girl who ran around feeling sorry for herself, Owl felt as though it was justified at the moment.

She groaned and slowed her walking as the throbbing in her head intensified. When she had begun her trek the pounding that now encompassed her head had been a mere ache. Now, several hours later, that mere ache had blossomed into a throbbing headache that threatened to explode her head every time she took a step. She paused her slow walk and looked around, rationalizing to herself that if she didn't find somewhere to rest soon, the throbbing would take over.

A few feet away, between two derelict abandoned brick buildings she saw a dark alley. Owl could make out the shape of some discarded shipping cartons but she could not see what lay a few feet beyond the opening. Owl debated with herself the merits of resting in the alley. With the buildings abandoned and the alley shrouded in suspicious shadows, resting in the alley appeared less than safe. In spite of her trepidations, the blinding sun was only exasperating her pain and this alley would give her a place to rest that would not only keep the sun away but would also allow her to rest her aching body. Owl gave in and trudged into the alley.

As soon as she reached the first relatively sturdy looking carton, she collapsed onto it and laid her head against the cool brick building behind her. Her feet ached, her back hurt, she was positive she could feel the beginning of a massive bruise on her backside where she had previously fallen. The girl smirked to herself as she muttered aloud, "The only thing I really bruised was me ego." She sighed to herself and shook her head as her mind jumped back to the incident that brought her to her current dilemma.

After a morning of barely selling any papes, Owl was cranky and sullen. Rather than join her fellow newsies at the diner they usually went to for lunch, she had made her way back to the lodging house in the hopes of taking a short nap and waking up in a better mood. As Vic always told her, "A bitchy newsie don't sell no papes." Owl smirked to herself and she made her way up the stairs to the bunkroom. She noticed several other newsies in the bunkroom and frowned knowing they would not allow her any rest. Owl turned and saw that Keys' door was closed signifying that he was in there. She smiled to herself and walked over. Keys was not only the fearless leader of the Bronx newsies but he was also Owl's longtime beau.

Owl opened the door and what she saw sent her staggering out of the room in shock, slamming the door shut in the process. She gasped and tried not to hyperventilate placing her hands on her knees and folding in half. Her mind reeled as she tried to process what she had just seen. I didn't just see that. I didn't. It's all a trick. That was not him…..on top of her…doing….that, she tried to convince herself. She groaned as a feeling of nausea swept over her.

Moments later, the leader of the Bronx newsies quickly opened the door and stepped out of the room, "Owl, what the fuck are you doing here?" His broad shoulders took up the entire doorway, as if blocking Owl's view of her was going to erase what had just been seen.

Her mouth fell open and her eyes flashed in anger, "What am I doing here? Are you fucking kidding me? What are you doing here? And with her?" She pointed at the door for emphasis.

He frowned and shrugged, "Owl, it really ain't any of your business."

Owl's mouth fell open and felt her heart fall with it. "What the hell do you mean? Of course it's my fucking business who you are fucking!" Owl noticed his eyes flicker to her left. She whipped around and saw that the newsies from the bunkroom were now crowding at the door, smirking. Humiliation ran raw through Owl's veins causing her face to flame a deep crimson and in response she threw her remaining newspapers at them, "Get the fuck out of here!" The newspapers fluttered uselessly around the newsboys doing no harm to them but causing a mess in the dirty hallway.

The newsies, still sporting their relentlessly condescending and irritating grins, glanced behind her at Key and then walked away. Owl turned back to Keys, her face still flaming crimson. She sighed at him and softly spoke his name.

Keys had the good graces to look relatively ashamed and glanced away, "I didn't mean for you to find out like this."

Owl scoffed and shook her head at him, "You….how…I just…" She sighed and looked down, at a loss for words. With the multitude of emotions that were running through her mind and body, Owl could not pull together a comprehensive thought. A minute went by before she raised her head and asked the one question that was running marathons in her mind, "Why, Keys?"

She frowned at him and felt her heart harden as a slim hand slinked around his neck and a heart shaped faced appeared over his shoulder. Owl clenched her fists to keep herself from slapping the girl. Instead she spit out the girl's name, "Amber." Owl doubted the venom in her voice even impacted Amber but it made her feel better, if only a little.

A smirk was splayed across the girl's red lips and her amber colored eyes danced with laughter, "Don't apologize to her, baby. She needed to know. Everyone else did." A laugh floated out of her mouth, "It's not your fault she was too stupid to figure it out." She placed a kiss on his cheek all the while keeping eye contact with Owl.

Owl acted without thinking. She lunged across the room and before she was even aware of it, she was attacking Amber, lashing out from every direction. While Owl may not have been the most skilled fighter, she was known to cause some damage to her opponents. All of the pent up anger Owl had been holding in for the last several months burst out of her in a barrage of fists against the slightly larger girl. Each time her fist made contact, her hurt, anger, and humiliation multiplied until all she could see was red.

Amber was fighting as well in a desperate attempt to protect herself and one good punch sent Owl sprawling on the floor with a grunt. Owl's head flew back and crashed into the wooden planked walls causing red stars to dance in front of her. The impact made Owl pause in a daze as she pressed her hand to her temple and felt blood. She quickly scrambled to her feet, ready to attack once more, but an arm slid around her waist, holding her back. His voice was right next to her ear, "You need to stop, Owl. Settle the fuck down."

Owl groaned inwardly as she felt the pain from Amber's punch bloom across her face. Amber had hit her just above her left eye and blood was trickling down. Owl suddenly became aware that Keys was saying something else into her ear. As she began to listen, she realized he was using his leader voice and frowned to herself. This is not going to be good, the leader voice is never good, she thought to herself. She felt her fear and hurt rising once more and bit her lip. A second later she thought, he's never used the leader voice with me before. The last thought filled her with enough pain that she was barely able to turn and face him without tears in her eyes.

When she turned, Keys simply stared at her for a moment before speaking, "Did you hear me, Owl? I think it would be best for you to leave the Bronx." He said it slowly, emphasizing every word to ensure there was no mistake.

Owl's mouth dropped open and she pulled away from him, "You….what? Keys, you can't do that! You can't just kick me out! I can live with you being with this stupid whore but you can't just kick me out!" Her eyes frantically ran over his face in search of some sign of the young man she had been falling in love with. There was no sign of him now. Keys stared at her stoically. Her mind was reeling in shock.

Amber sauntered next to Keys and he wrapped his arms around her. Owl noted with satisfaction that Amber's nose was bleeding and it looked as though she was going to have a black eye. Keys sighed, "Owl, you know that you can't just attack someone like that. You know the rules. I have to kick you out."

Owl sneered at the couple and spat her words at them, "You know as well as I do that you haven't even used that rule in months! You didn't kick Bubbles out after he started that fight with Time! This is an excuse Keys an' you know it!" She stood tall and glared at him, challenging him. And I have no where else to go, she added silently to herself. Not that she was about to tell him that.

Keys shrugged, now in full leader mode, "Well, I'm using it now, Owl. Get your things and go." His eyes were dark and clouded. This was not a newsie fighting with his ex. This was the Bronx leader punishing one of his wayward newsies.

Owl struggled to keep her composure as she felt her heart break once again. "Never let them see you cry, Owl. Just go," she whispered to herself. She took a deep breath to push her tears and pain down before speaking. "Fine, but you know that this it bull Keys. Pure bullshit. And you will regret it." She glared at him for a minute letting him see the anger and hurt in her eyes. Owl thought she saw shame for a split second in his eyes but it was gone before she could be sure.

Owl turned and to her surprise saw Vic, Keys' right hand man and one of her best friends, holding her things. Under normal circumstances, Vic would have been the one Owl ran to but knowing that he had known about the whole situation and hadn't had the heart to tell her made her forget any friendship she had with him. She stormed over to Vic and tore her bag from his hands. "You jerk," she hissed as she walked past him.

She felt a hand grasp her arm and turned to face Vic. He leaned down and grabbed her by the shoulders, "Owl, we all wanted to tell you. We really did, but you know how it is."

Owl sneered at him as she ripped her arms from his grasp, "Yea, I knows how it is, Vic. You left me out to dry! Vic, you were one of my only friends and you…..you just…." She shook her head trying to keep tears from her eyes. "You can just go to hell for all I care." She stalked past him once again and down the stairs. She was almost out the door before someone grabbed her arm.

She whipped around to see Vic once again. He didn't say anything for a moment as he stared at her. He finally sighed, "Do you have anywhere to go? Are you going to be safe?"

Owl noted the concern for her that shown through in his sky blue eyes. Owl longed to melt into her best friend's arms and cry as she had always done before when she saw those eyes. Her pride kept her from doing so now and in her blind rage, Owl simply laughed, "Are you serious? You know that I have no where to go." She felt the tears threatening to fall, "Not that you give a damn." She jerked her arm out of his and tried to storm off before the tears she had been holding back finally fell but he caught her arm a final time.

"Go to Brooklyn," Vic whispered. "Conlon's been taking in goils too. He'll keep you safe."

Owl tore her arm away and stalked off, tears streaming down her face, leaving him stranded in the doorway.

Now, several hours later, Owl was sitting alone in an alley on her way to Brooklyn. "Brooklyn," she sneered to herself, "There's no way Conlon would take me in. He hates the Bronx ever since the strike." Owl sighed knowing that she had no other choice. Brooklyn was the only other borough that allowed female newsies. "It's Spot Conlon," she reasoned to herself. "He's got a soft spot for the ladies, right?" Her mind taunted her, Ha, but you ain't no lady, Owl.

"Shut up," she mumbled to herself as she rubbed her head. Stopping had not made her throbbing head any better. Instead it had gotten to the point where she could barely open her eyes with out another wave of nausea rolling over her. She groaned and leaned against the building. How much longer until I get to the damn Brooklyn lodging house? She closed her eyes as the throbbing threatened to make her head explode. Fear began to wash over her; Can I even make it to the lodging house?

She felt someone tap her shoulder as a velvety voice spoke close to her ear, "Heya there, goily, nice bruise you got there."

Owl opened her eyes and turned to glare at the unwanted intruder, silently praying that he wouldn't cause any trouble. She thought she recognized the chocolate brown eyes that were looking down on her but the pain in her head prevented her from seeing anything clearly, "Who're you? What you want?" She fought to keep the fear out of her voice. She was alone in an alley and couldn't even open her eyes much less fight her way out of anything.

The velvety voice laughed quietly, "You're in rough shape, Owl, if you don't even remember your pal Cowboy."

Relief instantly washed over Owl as his trademark cowboy hat fuzzily came into view. "I'm hurt real bad, Jack," she whispered. The newsie gently picked her up and began to carry her out of the alley. She leaned into his chest as the light blinded her, "How did you find me?"

A smirk played across the Manhattan leader's lips, "A lil' birdy told me you needed some help." That was the last thing Owl heard before the throbbing took over and she finally succumbed to the dark.