New Boy (A Javid Story)

Postcards

After school, Davey met Jack outside of what looked like an abandoned classroom. He was a few minutes late because he was still getting used to the new school, but he found his way there. 

"'Bout time there, Dave." Jack commented, leaning up against the wall next to the door. "Almost thought you was gonna stand me up." He pushed himself off the wall. 

"Sorry, I got lost on my way here." The taller boy confessed. 

"Ah, don't worry about it." Jack waved a hand dismissively. "Now, are ya ready to see my kingdom?" He grabbed the door handle, smiling excitedly. 

"Uh, yeah, I guess." Davey nodded, ready to go in. 

"You can't guess, Dave, you gotta know." Jack removed his hand from the handle, waiting for an answer. 

"Yeah, I'm ready." Davey confirmed. 

"Then let's go." Jack opened the door, revealing a very busy room. The boys Davey had met at lunch and more were shuffling about the room, talking, laughing, and sitting on tables. The room was loud and smelled like old paper, but it was oddly relaxing to Davey. Except for the yelling. 

"Ay! Kath! Gotta headline for ya!" Mike yelled

"Romeo get down from the table!" Buttons pulled at Romeo's leg.

"Albert, those are my Twizzlers!" Race reached for the red package in Albert's hand. 

"Jojo I swear-" Specs ran his fingers through his hair. 

"Boys!" Jack yelled at the top of his lungs. Everybody kept on moving, ignoring him. So Jack whistled loudly, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. "Thank you. Now, Davey here is gonna be joinin' us today. Most of ya  met 'im at lunch, so don't act like he's a stranger." Jack turned back to Davey as the room turned loud again. "So this is where we hang out after school. We help," Jack put air quotes around the word help. "Kath write the school paper. Mainly we just distract her, but occasionally we'll find her a good story." 

"Cool." Davey nodded. "It's really nice in here." He complimented, even though the room was run down and would have been long forgotten about if not for the boys and Katherine using it after school.

"Ah, it's not much. Katherine is really what keeps it up and running." Jack shrugged, walking over and putting a hand on Katherine's shoulder. "Right, babe?"

"Uh-huh." Katherine muttered, keeping all her focus on her writing. 

"She ain't listening. That's what happens when she starts to write. Albert nicknamed it a 'writer's coma.'" Jack explained. 

"Damn right I did!" Albert chimed in from his position on a nearby table, eating Twizzlers with Race. 

"Language!" Crutchie reminded. 

"Ah, shut it Captain America." Race commented, taking a bite of a Twizzler. 

"You're into Marvel?" Davey questioned. 

"He cried for two days over Infinity War." Albert informed. 

"Did not!"

"Yes you did. Then you cried for an hour over the Endgame trailer." Jojo added. 

"Jerks." Race mumbled, grabbing another piece of candy from the bag. 

"Anyways," Jack changed the subject. "We gotta get Dave to add a postcard to the bulletin board." Jack pointed to a bulletin board on the other side of the room filled with postcards. "Every one of us adds a postcard of somewhere we've been and a piece of paper with the name of somewhere we wanna go."