Ready or Not, Here Comes Brooklyn

Chapter 6: Unbearable B.O., Fists, and Bad Tempers

Hello fellow Newsies Enthusiasts! I am going to try to update at least once a month and if I don't then I am a disgrace to the Newsies Fanfic Community. We should be obsessed with Our Boys and no one else. Once a Newsie always a Newsie. You can take the girl outta the musical, but you can't take the musical out of the girl. Right? Also, I'm so sorry I haven't posted in a while! I have been super busy signing up for college classes and getting my life together as best as I can.   -Lizzy Topaz

The crowed of boys surged away from Jack Kelly when the young boy verbally assaulted them.

"GET BACK AND LET THE MAN THINK!" Les yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Shut ya trap, Pip squeak." Said Race about to shove Les outta the way to get back to Jack.

"Don't touch my brother." David said grabbing the collar of Race's dingy shirt.

"Let go a me ya lousy-"

"Yeah!" Interrupted Mush, "Who are you two newbies ta come in here into our territory and to try to tell us what to do? News Flash:" Mush waves a paper in David's face, "We don't like it when you mess wit our bruddahs."

"Yeah, well, I don't like it when you mess with my brother." David retorted.

"Youse two started it foist." Said Kid Blink coming up behind Mush.

"No, we didn't!" David yelled over the exploding crowd of Newsies.

This only made more Newsies start yelling and they all started attacking each other viciously. As they picked Race's side or Les', they pulled on each other's clothes and punching each other square in the jaw. All the Newsies became battered and bruised.

I just watched it all happen. I couldn't get them to stop. I wasn't loud enough and they wouldn't listen to me. Some random goil that Jack rescued from an alley way a couple days ago. They would never listen to me. But they would listen to Jack.

All I had to do was make my way through a crowd of boys who where tearing each other apart. Piece of Cake?

I made my way to the edge of the roiling mass of B.O., fists, and bad tempers.

As I stepped into the edge of the crowd, I took a deep breath and began pushing through the guys. I ducked and crawled. I was stepped on and accidentally punched. Boys fell on top of me and tripped on me.

By the time I made my way across, I had been punched, kicked, sat on, fallen on, crushed, scratched, bruised, flattened, pushed, and slapped.

I burst out of the tangle of arms and legs and fell onto Jack's lap. I know what you're thinking. You probably think the I landed there all sexy like "Hey babe". No. Just No. What I mean by falling into Jack's lap is, I fell into his lap. Or more accurately, I crashed into his lap. My head hit his stomach and my hands punched his little boy parts as I attempted to catch myself.

Jack yowled like a wounded animal as he shoved me off of his lap onto the stone street. I landed so hard that my teeth rattled in my head. Jack leaned forward as he attempted to catch his breath.

"What.......was that.......for?" Jack panted.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, Jack." I said gently.

"It's........okay........i'll..........be fine........I just........need a.........minute......"

"Okay, but as soon as you're done, please make them stop fighting each other, please."

Jack looked up and noticed the boys fighting one another.

"What the hell?!" Jack stood and immediately groaned. "That was not a good idea."

He stood bent in an odd way while he waited for the pain to subside. When if finally left him, he straightened up and yelled, "WHAT ARE YOU SCABBAS DOIN'? YA IDIOTS, LEAVE EACH OTHER ALONE! THIS ISN'T GOING TO SOLVE ANYTHING!"

At the sound of his booming voice, the crowd parted and separated. They stood ashamed of themselves in front of Jack.

"I don't pay attention to you numb nuts for two seconds and you all dissolve into a civil war."

The boys started yelling at each other and pointing fingers.

"SHUT UP! I am sure that all of you have what you think is a good excuse. Well, guess what? No excuse is a good excuse when you have turned on your brother and destroyed him. I expect you all to apologize and to try to act like the family and men that you are." Jack stared at the boys who all hung their heads in shame. "The only one who had an ounce of good sense was Penny who was the one who alerted me to all of you acting like little boys. I expect all of you to apologize to her for your awful behavior."

When Jack finished, the boys hugged each other and apologized to one another.

Davy came up to Jack and asked, "What are we going to do? About the Prices, I mean."

Jack looked at David solemnly and shook his head, "I donno, Dave."

"You have to have an idea. You are the great Jack Kelly. The legend. The Newsie that all other Newsies want to be. You must have an idea."

"No, David. I don't have an idea."

"If only we had a union, then we could strike. Honestly, I don't know what we are going to do if you don't have an idea."

Jack's head shot up. "What did you say, Davy?"

"'I don't know what we are going to do if you don't have an idea'?"

"No, Before that."

"'If only we had a union, then we could strike.'?"

"Yes! You're brilliant, Dave!" Jack spun him around and kissed him on the cheek.

When Jack sat him down, he looked shaken and scared for Jack's mental health.

After Dave collected himself, he said, "Jack, we can't strike without a union. We have to have a proper cause and a leader and hats and badges."

Jack looked at David as if he had grown three heads, "David." Jack swung an arm around David's shoulders, "We have a proper cause."

"Really?" David crossed his arms.

"Yes, really. The prices were raised without our permission or consent. We need to have rights to oppose that."

"Well, we still don't have a leader." David said.

"Ya know, Dave. Ise thought you were the smart one. If we don't have a leader, who am I?"

"Point taken. We don't even have a proper following." 

Jack looked at David like he was on crack, "David. What do you call those guys?"

The crowd of Newsies had begun listening to the conversation and waved when Jack gestured to them.

"Jack." David said, "We're just a bunch of angry kids with no money. We aren't a threat to Pulitzer in any way. We're like knats. We'll be a nuisance for a couple days and then we will die off, and it will be like we never existed."

"We'll make sure that won't happen. Les," yelled Jack, "How'd you like to see the Big Man's office?"

"I'd love to!" Les squeaked as he pushed through the crowd of battered boys. Les was covered in dirt, had a black eye, but looked happier than ever.