FAMILIAR | Spot Conlon

Chp. 32: The Chase

*Camryn perspective*

I look around the room at all the boys making signs and posters for the rally tonight. I am sitting with Race and Kid Blink. I'm focusing on my sign when Kid Blink elbows me. Hard.

"Ow that hurt!" I rub my elbow and start cursing. He covers my mouth with his hand. I lick his hand to get it off my mouth.

"Ewwww" He rubs his hand on my pants. Now I have to go get new ones. I probably should go get new clothes anyway. I flash him a smirk and he hits me again but not hard.

"Do you want me to lick you again"

"Whoa did you mean to say that Brooklyn" Race butts in.

"Not like that. Get you head out of the gutter" He shrugs his shoulders.

"So whadda you want Blink"

"Look" points at Mr. Kloppmans desk and I see Mr. Snyder standing there.

"You have a boy who calls himself Jack Kelly. I wish to see him" This reeks of trouble. What did Jack do this time.

"Jack Kelly. Never heard of him" Me Kloppman responds. That man is a saint. He would do anything for us. Even protect us from assholes like Snyder.

I stand up and lean on the railing and so do Race and Kid Blink.

"Any of you boys ever heard of Jack Kelly" Mr Kloppman shouts.

"Well that's an unusual name for these parts" I say. Race catches something by the door and starts talking really loud and staring at some boys.

"Oh you mean Jack Kelly" I look where he is looking and see Jack. Why does he have to be here now of all times. He looks at me and I raise my eyebrows and look at the door.

"Yeah he was ere. But he put an egg in his shoe and beat it" All the newsies burst into laughter and so do I. Snyder starts walking towards us and Jack with him. Jack is walking behind him. Snyder turns back towards Kloppman and almost sees Jack. Yeah he's definitely not listening to me.

"I have reason to believe that he is an escaped prisoner, possibly dangerous" I hold in a laugh.

"Oh. Is he dangerous" Mr Kloppman acts dumbfounded. Jack puts his hand over his heart and acts hurt.

"I's better look in my files. Come this way please" Snyder follows Mr. Kloppman but he looks back. I quickly grab a sign and cover Jack. Race slides next to me with another sign.

"Give to the newsie strike fund, mista?" Snyder pulls out a nickel and hands it to Race. We put down the signs when he walks to the other side of the desk with Mr. Kloppman.

"Get outta ere. Now" I whisper to Jack. He nods his head and goes out the door. I sit back down on the floor with the rest of the boys.

"Oh and one more thing" Mr Snyder says. He walks away from Kloppman. I am back to painting my poster. Then I feel 2 hands grab my arms and pull me up. Before I realize what's happening Mr Snyder starts tying my hands together with a rope. All of the newsies start panicking.

Any time anyone tries to touch me Snyder is too strong and throws them off. Guess I'll have to do this myself.

"Mind telling me what this is about Mr" I look at Snyder the best I can.

"Your mother paid me a visit"

"How did she find me?" He pulls the ropes tighter and I wince.

"All I care is the large sum of money she's giving me to bring you to her"

I start panicking and don't see a way out of this. Then I see a pair of small scissors on Mr Kloppmans desk.

"Let me just do one thing"

He finished tying my hands together so now he is just holding my arm really hard. He follows me over to the desk.

I kiss Mr. Kloppman on the cheek. But my hands are doing more important things. I grab the pair of scissors and slip them into my pocket. I use the kiss as a distraction so no one sees what I'm actually doing. Learned it from a magic show I saw a while ago. The art of deception.

"He's like a dad to me" I mentally shudder at the word but I have to do it.

Mr Snyder pushes me towards the door. I wink at Mr Kloppman and he looks at my pocket then back at me and smiles. I don't know how he saw me do that since I'm pretty sure none of the other newsies saw. I willingly go with Snyder and we walk onto the streets.

"Your mom is gonna love having you back home and i'm gonna love the paycheck"

"It's funny you think I'm letting her take me back there" Before he can respond I kick him in the back of the knee and take off running. I stunned him a bit but he'll be chasing after me in a second.

I run into an alleyway. I cut my hands free with the scissors I stole. Not as easy as it sounds.

I then realize I'm trapped in the alley. Unless I'm not. I go up a small flight of stairs and see an awning on the other side of the alley. I carefully climb onto the railing and jump to the awning. I was half expecting it to rip but luckily it didn't. I get up onto the rooftop and Snyder finally gets into the alley.

He looks all around then looks up and sees me. I flip him off and I can tell he's mad now. Good, I wanna mess with him a bit. I look down around me for somewhere to go. I see another alley with some crates and a very short path connected to it. Perfect.

I look down and see Snyder on the awning. I open the door of the building i'm on and go in. Snyder follows. I go down the stairs and I can feel him behind me but not too close. I turn into the alley and quickly get to the end. I push the crates to block the alley it connects too and hide behind the crates. I can see through a little crack between them.

He looks around and when he doesn't see me he throws a nearby tomato at a window. The owner opens the window and yells at him. I laugh but not loud enough for him to hear. When I know he's definitely gone I move the crates and start walking to the newsboys lodging house.

I peek in through a window and see all of them frantically trying to figure out some way to get me back. Mr. Kloppman just stands there smirking. He looks towards the window and smiles at me. He nods and I walk up to the entrance.

"Miss me" I lean on the doorway of the entrance. All of the newsies stare at me and gasp. I hear things like "How'd you get out" and "your back already?" Then they all come over and hug me. Then Jack comes up behind me.

"She was real good" I look at him and raise my eyebrows.

"I's saw it all from a nearby rooftop. The crate thing was really smart"

"Ooh ooh what crate thing" Les asks.

"You guys wanna hear the story" All of the younger newsies nod and cheer and the older ones just kinda shrug and nod.

So I sit down and tell them everything.