STRIKE! ; davey jacobs

FIVE

v. BROOKLYN SAID THEY WANTED HER THOUGH

JOSEPHINE STOOD WITH THE MANHATTAN
newsies. her back was against the base of horace greeley's statue. "jack. so, where's spot?" racetrack asked. josephine's gaze fixed on jack, a slight frown on her face. jack looked up at his friends, "he was concerned about us being serious. you imagine that? spot did make sure to make it known that they was interested in keepin' our girl, jo though." "well, jack, maybe we ought to ease off a little. without spot and the others, there ain't enough of us, jack." racetrack stated. mush agreed, "maybe we're moving too soon. maybe we ain't ready, you know?" "i definitely think we should forget about it for a little while." skittery stated, smoking a cigarette. josephine narrowed her eyes at skittery as she took the cigarette from him, "are you serious?" "yeah, i am." skittery sassed, taking his cig back.

david turned his head to look at skittery, giving the boy a dirty look. "yeah, i mean, without brooklyn... you know?" racetrack said, sighing. josephine scoffed, "see spot was right! you boys think this is just a joke! this exactly why we're all by ourselves." "we're by ourselves, no one invited you." skittery sarcastically stated. josephine glared up at the boy. les jabbed the boy with his sword, "don't talk to her like that!" josephine pulled les into her side. she began to walk with the younger boy, "thank you, i don't need protecting from skittery. it's okay, les. go play swords." les smiled as he ran off, finding another younger newsie to sword fight with.

she turned back around, locking eyes with david. "say something." she mouthed to him. david nodded as he thought for a moment. he walked around, talking loudly to the newsies. josephine smiled as she wrapped an arm around jack's waist, "we can't just give up! i believe in you boys more than i've believed in anything. i know you guys can do it." skittery nudged the girl, smiling softly, "i guess we should also thank spot for not keeping you." josephine chuckled as she nudged the boy back. boots smiled, "actually, david was the one who didn't let her stay." the boy said. josephine blushed as she pulled away from the boys. "so david! what do you think we should do?" she asked. just then the circular bell rang out. "anybody hear that?" jack shouted. the group shouted, "no!" back at their leader. "so what're we going to do about it?" jack yelled loudly.

"soak 'em!" the newsies shouted, rushing into the distribution center. josephine made sure to grab ahold of les. she had no idea what would happen, but she knew with this group of boys it could be anything. one thing led to another and a small fight broke out with jack and one of the scabs. it quickly turned into the newsies trashing the place. newspapers were being thrown and ripped to pieces. the boys had knocked over one of the delivery carts full of newspapers. josephine cheered along with the boys as her and les began to rip countless newspapers together.

as soon as josephine heard the blow of whistles she knew they had to get out of there. "cheese it! cheese it! it's the bulls!" jack had shouted running. "les!" she shouted, reaching out for the younger boy. everyone was running so they could avoid getting caught and thrown in the refuge. it took seconds for her and les to be grabbed too. she panicked when she whipped around, finding david. "come on!" david shouted. josephine had a tight grip on the jacobs brothers. "where's jack? did he make it out?" josephine had shouted as the three ran. "yeah. he ran like hell."

once far enough, the three slowed down. les looked up at josephine, "are you okay, jo?" she was sweating and breathing heavily trying to catch her breath. she had almost tripped about five times, luckily david kept her up as they had ran. "yeah, just this stupid dress. i have to go find jack. i need to make sure he's okay." "no! what if you go back and they catch you." david complained. he didn't want her getting into trouble. the girl nodded as she looked around, "we'll go see him at the lodging house. not now. in a little bit." david nodded his head as he leaned against a bench. les sat down, relaxing a bit. josephine sat next to les on the bench, "thanks kid. without you i probably would've been in that fight with jack." "i could've protected you." les stated, holding up his sword. josephine smiled as she leaned back, looking up at david. she smiled softly at him, "thanks, davey. i think i would've fallen about twelve times back there."

"it's not a problem. couldn't let us get caught."

~~*~~

later in the night, josephine, jack, and david were on their way to the refuge to see crutchie. "i can't believe i left without making sure everyone got out." josephine said, kicking herself for something that wasn't her fault. jack gave her a nudge, "it ain't ya fault, jo. i did the same thing." "besides, i'm the one who pulled you out." david sheepishly said, kicking a rock as they walked.

"there it is." josephine said, pointing to the building in front of them. "the refuge. my home sweet home." jack had joked. david stared up at the building. "how can you be sure they sent him here?" "how can i be sure the delancey's stink? it's just how things work, ya know. an orphan gets arrested, snyder makes sure he gets sent straight here, so he can rehabilitate him. the more kids in the refuge, the more money the city sends to take care of them, the more synder sticks in his pocket." jack spoke only with distaste for what synder does.

but josephine's ears perked up, "delancey? like oscar and morris delancey?" "yeah. they're the one who caught crutchie. how you know 'em?" jack asked, giving the girl a look. she frowned immensely, "my father wants me to marry oscar delancey." jack and david looked at each other. "so why the rope?" david mumbled, changing the subject. before jack could answer, he was shoving the two to hide. they watched a carriage leave the refuge, giving them to perfect opportunity to sneak through the open gate. the three rushed up to the roof.

"gently. gently, dave. that's good." jack said to the two. david looked over at josephine as she tried to listen to jack. "are you really going to marry oscar delancey?" he whispered. the girl shook her head, "no. i've never met him. i told my father i wasn't ready for something like that." the two leaned over the edge, listening to jack and crutchie. "you know who's on the roof? dave and jo." "is that dave and jo? heya dave! hiya jo! how ya doin'?" crutchie shouted. david shushed the boy with a slight smile on his face. "hey, crutch, we're here to take you home." josephine stated. that's when crutchie told them about what oscar and morris did to him. josephine didn't even know the delancey's and she already hated them. "cheese it!" crutchie told jack. jack pushed away from the window, hiding next to it to avoid being seen. "pull him up, david!" josephine whispered yelled as they both rushed to pull jack back up on the roof.

"so you still marrying oscar?" jack sourly asked as the three left the refuge. josephine glared at jack, "i wasn't marrying him to begin with. i never met him, i don't even want to meet him. he better hope i don't. it doesn't matter, i'm interested in someone else and he's nothing like oscar delancey."