Newsies One-Shots

Chapter 110 - The Jacobs

Ship - The Jacobs (familial)
Era - Cannon
Triggers - Violence, injuries, mentions of broken bones.

David felt terrible.

Les finished school at 2:45, Sarah at 3:00. He didn't finish until 4:00.

Sarah and Les would go back to the tenements together after school. Les' teacher let him do homework or read while he waited for Sarah to finish.

David would get home at 5:00, the school was nowhere near home so he had quite the walk to face every evening. Rain, hail, or shine. He wanted to stop. Leave school and sell papers full time but when the summer was over and Mayer got a new job in a factory, and they stopped working as Newsies.

That's why he felt so terrible.

His parents worked so hard, sacrificed their sleep and meals just so ha and his siblings could have a better life.

And David was taking it all for granted.

~~~

Sarah could read him like a book without fail. "What's going on?" she asked him.

"Nothing's going on," he brushed her off.

"I'm not stupid, David. I can tell you're upset."

"Keep your voice down, Sarah." David nodded to Les, who was sound asleep, his head on Davey's shoulder.

"Okay. But, David, please talk to me. I don't like seeing you sad."

"I know, Sarah. It's just school stuff. It doesn't matter."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. If anything happens, I'll tell you. You'll be the first person I tell."

"I better be."

~~~

David clutched his books to his chest as he walked out of school. His old, beat-up satchel the had once been his father's had broke the day before so he had to wait until Esther got around to being able to see it back together to have a bag again.

"Look at Jacobs, he doesn't even have a bag."

David ignored the taunts of his classmates and held on tighter to his books as he tried to pick up his pace without making it obvious that he was doing so. Good things never came when he tried to rush away from his classmates.

"Hold on, David," one of his classmates sneered. David could tell the voice from a mile away. William made it his life goal to torment him. Him and John seemed to have it out for David and he didn't understand why.

"I said hold on, David."

David stumbled as he was pulled backwards by his shoulder, struggling to stop his books from slipping out of his arms.

"I have to get home," David tried to say but his voice was shaking so badly he barely got it out. "I'm sorry."

"Wait a minute, David. We just want to talk." David looked past William to see John walking over to join him.