The Disgraced Newsie: Part 2( Rewritten)

Chapter 4: Racetrack Higgins' POV

It has been three months since Jack disappeared from Manhattan, and most likely disappeared from New York altogether. Not that I blame him since Brooklyn wanted to hunt him down, but they should have given up by now.

And it wasn't just Jack that went missing, but it was also Crutchie and Jojo. Most of the others assumed that they probably went where Jack ran off to, but some of the others thought that they just joined another lodging house in a different part of New York because they blamed us for Jack's disappearance and didn't want anything to do with us. I wouldn't be surprised if Crutchie and Jojo left to be with Jack since Jojo was one of the few boys who supported Jack and I don't think that Crutchie would stay that mad at Jack forever, especially since they have that much history with each other.

The Lodging House wasn't the same without them. Everyone missed Crutchie's and Jojo's smiling personalities and it just seemed dark without them. Not many of the boys will admit that they missed Jack, especially Finch since he still doesn't forgive Jack for the rally speech.

I have to admit that I miss him. Jack was always more fit to be the leader of Manhattan than me, despite the fact that I was his second-in-command. He may have been preparing me to take over Manhattan when he left, but I never wanted to overthrow him. I never should have rubbed it in his face that the others preferred me over him as the leader of Manhattan. Jack just knew how to handle everything without it ending up in violence, especially when it came to turf wars. All I know is that the best way to survive in New York is to fight your way through it. I just wish he would come back. At least he would know what to do about Harlem and their constant attempts to take over Manhattan.

I hate those Harlem newsies so much, especially that leader of theirs: Slingshot. Slingshot always runs his mouth that he will be the ruler of Manhattan, and ever since Jack left, his attempts became more and more relentless. I don't know what Jack has done to keep them in check, but it seemed to have made them back off unless until Harlem gotten the news that he disappeared. Now, some of the Harlem boys have attempted to kidnap some of the younger boys to hold them hostage in exchange for Manhattan, but they never would succeed.

It has gotten bad to the point where all of the younger newsies had to sell with the older ones, so they would be protected from the Harlem newsies. I sent some of the older boys to ask the other newsies turfs for help against the Harlem newsies, but all of them said that it was Manhattan's battle to fight and they didn't want to be involved with any mess that the Harlem newsies are causing. Not even Spot Conlon wanted to be involved, so we were on our own.

Everyday, it just seems like we are losing the fight against Harlem and none of the others even know that it is coming. The day where we would have to surrender Manhattan to the Harlem newsies and let them take it over. I never realized how important Jack was to us and Manhattan, and now because of our stubbornness, we chased away the brother that did so much to take care of us and brought most of us to the Lodging House and we are in danger of losing Manhattan to a bunch of stupid Harlem newsies.

What are we going to do now?