The Crutch's Sister

Reunited

I got excited as we walked into a large open room. There were boys everywhere, all appearing to be close to the same age. Jack walked me over to a wooden crate and sat me down. "Just rest your foot, okay kid?" he said. I nodded. Three of the boys walked up to Jack and I.

"Hey, hey, hey. Looks like ol' Jackie has a new goil." a boy with a cigar grinned, putting the end of the cigar in his mouth. Jack shoved him in a joking way.

"This is Kicks. She's just a friend who needs a place to stay. Couple of muggers tried to get 'er in the alleyway over theres." Jack explained.

"Does that mean she's available? I thinks she could use a man." another boy asked, walking next to me, smirking.

"You thinks wrong, Romeo." I said. He moved next to Jack.

"How'd she know my name?" he asked excitedly. Jack nudged him and looked behind him.

"Ay! Crutchie!" he exclaimed, smiling. I shot up and balanced on my good leg. "Woah. Kicks. What you doin'?" Jack asked, holding his arm out in case I fell. I scanned the room and saw him, crutch and all, walking through the door. I pushed Jack out of my way and hobbled as fast as I could to him. His smile was wiped off his face and he stared at me.

Crutchie's POV

I had just walked in the door when I heard Jack call my name. I looked next to him and saw a kid. I chuckled to myself. 

"That kid has her eyes." I thought. The kid shot up and started limping towards me. I felt my smile dissolve off of my face and I caught myself staring at the kid.

"It can't be Katie, could it?" I thought.

Kicks' POV

"K-Katie?" He asked. I shouted for joy and threw my arms around his neck and I started to cry.

"I-I mi-missed you s-so much." I sobbed. He hugged me tight.

"I missed you too, Katie." He released the hug and looked me up and down. "You grew!" he exclaimed. I laughed. He touched my face with his hand and looked at it in awe. "Your hair's longer, but your eyes are still them same." He smiled and looked down at my feet. His face went from excited to worried when he saw my slight, but mostly pain free, limp. "What happened to your leg?" he asked, still looking at it. I looked to the side.

"Muggers." I replied. Jack ran up to us.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. How do youse know each other?" Jack asked. I looked at Crutchie and he nodded.

"He's my big brotha." I said. The boy's eyes went wide.

"You betta not be jokin', Kicks." Jack said. Crutchie snorted.

"Kicks?" He asked, snickering. I rolled my eyes and looked at him.

"I'll explain later." I said. Jack's gaze shirted from me, to Crutchie, back to me, and finally landing on Crutchie.

"They sure do sounds the same and looks the same, especially wid da bad gam." Jack said, hand going to his chin. He bent down to me and looked at my eyes. He looked at Crutchie and did the same thing. "You have the same eyes." He nodded. "They brotha and sista." He declared. Crutchie jumped up and put me in a headlock. I laughed as we began to walk back to where we were originally.
"Hey, Katie." He stopped and shook his head. "Sorry. Kicks. Do you still sing?" Crutchie asked, moving his arm to my shoulder. My eyes went wide and I blushed slightly. I clasped my hand over his mouth.
"Crutchieeeee. I don't want them to hear." I whispered. He let out a muffled laugh and removed my hand.
"What don't you want them to hear? THAT MY SISTA'S A SINGER!?" He yelled that last part and I froze. I looked around and saw Jack and the other boys looking at me.
"You can sing, Kicks?" Jack asked. I nodded hesitantly. "Why don't you belt a couple of notes for us?" He asked. I shrugged.
"Come on, Kicks." Crutchie pleaded. I looked at him and rolled my eyes and sighed. I moved away from Crutchie and stood in the middle of the room. Jack and all of the other boys started clapping and cheering. I took a deep breath.

 "Now is the time to seize the day. Stare down the odds and seize the day. Once we've begun, if we stand as one, someday becomes somehow. And a prayer becomes a vow!"

"And the strike starts right damn now!" Jack chimed in. I turned around and smiled at him. Some of the other newsies started cheering.
"Now is the time to seize the day!" I sang
"Now is the time to seize the day!" The newsies echoed.
"Answer the call and don't delay!"
"Answer the call and don't delay!"
"Wrongs will be righted, if we're united. Let us seize the day!" We all sang in unison. All of the  boys formed a large circle and some of them started dancing in the middle. A boy with glasses started doing a million pirouettes and the boy with a cigar started tap dancing. As I was clapping, Jack grabbed my hand and pulled me out into the middle of the circle. The boys started cheering. I looked around and found Crutchie, who was bouncing on his toes and grinning widely. I smiled at him and grabbed my right heel. I took it and extended it over my head and the boys went wild. I brought my leg down and started doing pirouettes. The boy with the cigar came up to me and took my hands and started dancing with me. He spun me to the boy with glasses and we started dancing. I turned around again and started dancing with Jack. After a few moments of dancing with Jack, he spun me to another boy. He was a tall boy with dark hair and brown eyes. I was laughing happily and my hair started falling in my face. The boy started smiling and laughing. We began spinning very fast and we soon lost control. We stumbled back into a pile of wooden crates. I landed in a crate and my feet and arms were dangling out of the side rims. My hat had flown off and all of my hair was in front of my eyes. I heard someone next to me stumble to their feet.
"Hahaha! Are...haha..you...heh..okay?" A voice asked. I felt someone take my hand and lift me up. I brushed my hair out my eyes and looked at who helped me up.
"I-I'm David. But you can call me Davey." He smiled.