Chapter 2
"This is just great," I muttered, walking into the classroom. Teenagers were everywhere in the small space. They had separated us out by age group, simply telling which ages to go into each classroom.
Living in New York, you’d think I would be used to cramped spaces and the claustrophobia would have faded long ago. The fact was, I wasn’t claustrophobic, but I did hate being around a lot of people at once. More so when I was touching them and pushing to get through.
I scanned the group of people, searching for anyone that I recognized. There were several guys that I knew were newsies, but I didn’t know them that well. Mostly all that I knew were their names.
I sighed in relief as I spotted someone I knew. Joseph had been a good friend of mine for years. He was like a brother to me. Carefully, I made my way through the crowd to where he sat, looking about as excited as I felt.
"Yo Joe," I greeted him, smiling at his reaction.
"Don’t call me that," he grumbled, blue eyes narrowing behind his glasses. I simply grinned…he was so easy to annoy.
"Hey, I need something to keep me entertained while I’m here," I told him, "I’ve only been here for a few minutes and I’m already bored."
"Well, find some other form of entertainment," he replied, raking a hand through his brown hair.
"You’re no fun," I muttered, scowling and turning away from him to look around the room again.
A lady walked to the front of the room, looking like she really didn’t want to deal with a bunch of teenagers at the moment. I bet she only took the job because she needed the money. She sighed loudly before beginning to speak.
"Good morning class," she called out. A wave of groans swept through the room. The lady sighed again, "I’m your English teacher, Miss Hudson." Another groan sounded, this time because we got the hardest class first.
"Perfect," someone muttered from in front of me.
"Isn’t it," I sarcastically commented under my breath to their answer. I guess I must have been speaking too loud because the guy turned around to face me.
"What did you say," he asked, glaring at me.
"I was just agreeing with you," I replied, "I didn’t know anybody heard me." He was one of the Manhattan newsies and that’s about all I knew about him. I think I had heard his name before.
"Hey Skittery," Joseph said from beside me. I looked at him in surprise. I didn’t know that he knew more people than I did. Then again, I wasn’t the most social person.
"I didn’t know you were coming here," Skittery commented.
"What other school in New York takes in homeless kids," Joseph asked him.
"I know that," Skittery said, rolling his eyes, "but I figured you wouldn’t have wanted to come."
"Who does," I questioned, speaking more to myself than to him. Looking over at Joseph, I quickly poked him in the shoulder, "Do you Joe?"
"No," Joseph muttered, "And don’t call me that." Skittery raised an eyebrow at this, while I laughed at my friend. With my friend there, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.