Brooklyn~~ Spot Conlon x OC

Chapter Ten

The next morning, all of us were outside continuing on with the strike, even without Jack. Carriages were flying through and would've run us over of they could. We were yelling and bouncing, desperate for somebody to notice us.

Some kids even started fighting each other. Spot looked over to me, confused on what to do. I just nodded for him to go over there and he did.

"Hey, hey, hey. Break it up, break it up," he said calmly, stepping in between them. He looked up and froze. "Hey, hey, race, Jo. Come here."

"What," we both asked, walking over to him.

Oh shit.

"Tell me I'm just seeing things. Just tell me I'm seeing things," he pleaded. It was Jack. Walking through with that front crowd of newboys with Weasel.

"No, you ain't seeing things. That's Jack."

"He's dressed like a scabber," Spot pointed out.

"There ain't no way!" I yelled. I mean, how could he do this to us? After we went last night to save his ass, this is how he repays us?

Mush pushed his way through Race and Spot, trying to get to Jack, "Jack, look at me, will you? It's me, Mush! Look at me, what are you doing, Jack?"

Blink and Boots started shouting at him too, catching on to what was going on. "Where'd you get them clothes," Boots asked.

"Mr. Pulitzer picked them out himself. A special gift to a special employee," Weasel said. Jack held his chin high like the backstabbing bastard he was.

"What? He sold us out!" Spot shouted.

"How could you do this, Jack?! We trusted you! Crutchy trusted you, you scabber!" I yelled at him.

"Look at him in his little suit. You bum. I'll soak you. You fink!" Race called out to him, with the police shoving him back. I warned them quietly not to touch him.

"Enough," Spot said, turning to me. "Let me get my hands dirty, Lynnie." Then, he lunged over two policemen's shoulder's and started shouting at Jack again. "Come here, you dirty, rotten scabber!" The policemen threw him back to the ground.

"Hey, I said don't touch them!"

"We don't take order's from some stupid girl," they said. Spot had gotten back up and wasn't happy.

"She ain't stupid, you numnnuts. You are," Spot yelled at them. He was mad. I'm not sure I've ever seen Spot this angry before. He was yelling and calling out to Jack because he knew Jack was hearing every word, no matter how unaffected he looked. Race and Mush had to drag him back.

Dave stepped forward next to me. Weasel apparently noticed and let him through to talk to him. Everyone was quiet and watching them two. I walked back to Spot and Race. I didn't want to look at Jack anymore than I had to.

"What are we gonna do, now?" Race asked me.

"We continue to fight, Race. This is just more ammunition to make us even more angry than we were before. If Jack wants to be one of thems, let him. He isn't why we're fighting. We're bigger than him."

Spot clenched his jaw and glared daggers at Jack. "I'm gonna kill him. Murder always was my favorite answer," he said.

I shook my head. "That'll make thing's a lot worse for us." Dave started to walk back towards us, clearly pissed off. He paused, then he turned and tried to tackle Jack. Two police officers and Weasel held him back, though.

"Dave, just beat it. That jackass isn't worth it no more," I told him. They threw him back into the crowd and marched through us like we weren't even there. People were calling out all kinds of things.

"Shame on you!"

"You make me sick!"

"I trusted you!"

"Seize the day, huh, Jack?"

Les was in front of us all. "He's foolin' em! So he can spy on them or something," he tried to tell us. Spot looked at me like his heart was breaking for Les. We all told him he was right, when we knew in reality he wasn't.

***

I was mad. I was really mad.

But most of all, I was hurt. How could he betray us like this? He said this was all for the newsies. What we deserved. But no. It was all for his personal gain. For him to get noticed and get money. I feel so stupid for falling for it.

I was sitting at the bottom of that one statue just sulking until Spot and Race came to sit next to me.

"I can't believe it," Race said.

"We trusted him," I said.

"I didn't think Jack could ever be capable of something like this," Spot confessed. "I thought being a newsies meant a bond. A bond like family. I thought loyalty was what made us strong."

"It did, Spot. Jack is the problem. Not us. I can't believe my brother got thrown in jail for him."

"Crutchy is an honorable kid, Jo. He'd do anything for any of us. We all respect him," Race reassured me.

Spot leaned his head on my shoulder and asked, "Can I hold your hand, Lynnie?" I said yes, and he gripped my hand gently, but tight. I think Spot was hurt a lot more than the rest of us, but was too ashamed to say it.

"We'll prove him wrong, guys. We'll prove that we were worth fighting for. And that we're stronger than he ever could be because we never gave up."

"You talk pretty, Joey, but how do we know we can even continue the strike without Jack?" Race asked me, I was about to answer, but Spot started messing with my hair. I had dark strands just falling into my sight.

"What are you doing, Spot?"

"Your hair was in the way of my pillow," he said, smiling. Race looked disgusted and I just flipped those strands of hair to the other side of my head.

"We can continue, Racetrack, because those words Jack was saying were all Dave's. Dave was the one leading us. Not me. Not Jack. Dave. Jack was just the voice. And we have plenty of those."

"We can't let Jack hold us back," Spot said, looking at us both somehow with his head still on my shoulder.

"We won't, Spot. And we can't give up either. You understand, Race?"

"Completely."