FAMILIAR | Spot Conlon

Chp. 41: We Won

The mayor opens the gates and all of the newsies swarm us. The 3 of us walk out with me in front.

"Hey fellas they're over ere!" Spot comes up to me and the rest of the newsies run towards us.

"So did we win?" Spot asks me.

"What's they say huh" Race says too.

"Did they give in?" Someone else says.

I whisper into Les's ear. Then I hoist him up onto my shoulders like Jack does.

"We won!" I yell loud enough for everyone to hear. Everyone erupts into cheers.

"Outta me way. Outta me way" Weasel and the Delaney brothers come through the sea of kids looking defeated.

"Jack Jack it's the bulls. Camryn let me down"

I set Les down and start hurrying Jack away.

"Jack it's over" Denton comes out from behind us and stops us.

"Yous don't have ta run anymore. At least not from the likes of him anyway" We reluctantly return to David who is right in front of the carriage.

A guard opens the back door of the carriage and kids start pouring out. That's when I see a familiar face. Crutchy comes out and immediately sees me. I run over to him and give him the biggest hug possible. He hugs back but then pulls away. He still has something to do. I nod and let him do what he needs.

"Rememba what I said Snyder. The first thing ya do in jail is make friends wit da rats. Share what yous got in common" Crutchy pushes Snyder into the back of the carriage and shuts the door on him. We all cheer again.

"We won't be seein much of em anymore. Say goodbye Warden" We all wave goodbye and shout at him.

"Jack you outta have seen it. He comes stormin into the Refuge wavin his walkin stick like a sword and he's leadin his army of lawyers and cops~" Crutchy starts ranting about the hero that saved them in the Refuge.

"Who comes walking in?"

"Ya know, your friend"

"Him" Crutchy points at a man with a tall black top hat on.

"Teddy Roosevelt" Jack seems real surprised for them being best buds and all. I'm starting to think he was 'improving the truth' about Roosevelt.

"The governors very grateful you brought this problem to his attention"

"Roosevelt?" A wide eyed Race says from next to me.

"I said you might need a lift somewhere. He's glad to oblige, anywhere you want" I know exactly where he wants to go. It's his dream and he'd be stupid not to go.

"And this time you ride inside" I knew it.

"So could he uh drop me at the train yards?"

"If that's what you want"

Jack goes over to Roosevelt and shakes his hand. He hops inside the carriage and they pull out of the square. I knew he was gonna go but I thought there would have been a sliver of doubt. Instead he just got in with no hesitation.

I wave goodbye to him like everyone else. She takes his hat off and throws it to me. I catch it easily and replace mine with it. At least I'll still have a part of him with me always.

I look over in David's direction and he and his siblings all have sad looks on their faces. Sarah especially considering they had a thing going on. I've gotta get her to tell me all of the details later. And Les is crying too. I go over to them and pull them all into a hug.

The circulation bell rings and we all go over to get our papes with me in front. I hand the new guy my 50 cents.

"Hundred papes"

"All right Cam" A few boys pat me on the back.

I hear cheering and look at where it's coming from. A carriage pulls in and I see none other than Jack Kelly. I run over to him leaving David at the stand.

"Long time no see"

"Ain't that right Cam" He pulls me into a hug. Then he walks over to David.

"How's the headline today?"

"Headlines don't sell papes" David puts his hat on.

"Newsies sell papes" There's more cheering.

"Come ere Davey" David hands his papers to Crutchy and goes over to Jack. They spit shake. Sarah comes through the crowd crying tears of joy now. She gets to us and Jack kisses her passionately on the mouth. I whistle and other people cheer.

"Guess you'll be wantin this back" I take off Jack's hat but he pushes my hand away.

"Keep it. I's can always get another"

I hug him again and wish I could just stay there forever. I pull away and look around.

I see Spot hop into Roosevelt's carriage and I run to follow him.

"Where are we's goin" I ask as I sit down across from him.

"Brooklyn"

"You're kiddin right" He shakes his head no.

"We's hitchin this fancy ride ta go to Brooklyn?"

"Why of course" Before I can say anything else Spot leans forward and kisses me. I kiss back and I can hear the newsies cheering for us.

We pull away and I look at my friends. David looks a little sad but he's still cheering for us. Jack and Sarah are kissing but they pull away long enough to cheer for us.

Then I look at Race. He sends me a wink and I laugh at his gesture. Then I look back at Spot.

"I've been wantin ta do that since yous turned up on me bridge"

"Oh so it's your bridge now huh"

"Hell yeah I'm the king of Brooklyn"

"And I's the queen"

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Hey guys so sorry I didn't update for like a week and a half. I had finals these last 2 weeks so I was really busy studying. Well that's the end guys! I really hope you liked it. I would love to hear your thoughts and also what you would like to see next. I love all you guys and thank you so much for all the support and love on this book.