New Boy (A Javid Story)

Signs

The first day the boys planned to protest, it snowed, and they got off of school. So, they gathered in Race's grandmother's basement to make signs. Davey had dragged along Les and Sarah because Sarah wanted to finally meet Jack, and Les needed a babysitter. As the Jacobs siblings pulled up to Race's house, Davey gave the same instruction he had been repeating the whole car ride. 

"Just, Sarah, please don't embarrass me." He requested. 

"I'm not dad, Dave. Chill." She put her hand on her brother's shoulder and took a deep breath, reminding him to breath. "I won't embarrass you that much." She got out of the car quickly. 

"Wait. That much?" Davey yelled, running after her. 

"Hey, wait for me!" Les chased after his older siblings, who seemingly forgot he was in the car. Sarah knocked on the door to Race's house and was greeted by Romeo. 

"Well, hello there." He grinned at her. 

"Back off, shortstop." Sarah rolled her eyes. 

"Romeo, this is my sister, Sarah. Sar, this is Romeo." Davey gestured between the two. Les poked his head out from under Davey's arm, and the older boy sighed. "And you already know Les." 

"Oh, yeah!" Romeo grinned, giving Les a high five. "What's up, little man?" 

"I got a girl before you did!" Les announced, and the two walked off. Davey and Sarah followed them down to the basement. 

"Where's Jack?" Sarah whispered in Davey's ear. 

"You'll find him soon enough." Davey said, sitting down and kissing Jack on the cheek. 

"Hey Dave." Jack grinned at his boyfriend, then caught sight of Sarah. "Hey Sarah." 

"Yup." Davey nodded as Sarah sat down. "Sarah, you remember Jack, right?" 

"Nice to see you again." Jack smiled, sticking out his hand. 

"Nice to see you, too." Sarah nodded. "I've heard so much about you since we last met." She shook Jack's hand, smirking at her brother. 

"Oh, have you now?" Jack raised an eyebrow, looking at his blushing boyfriend. 

"Tons." Sarah nodded. "He's an artist," She started to mimic Davey. "And he's handsome and charming a-" She was cut off my Davey slapping his hand over her mouth.

"You think I'm handsome and charmin'?" Jack smirked. 

"Wow Jack your poster is looking great." Davey tried to change the subject. 

"Oh, you are not getting out of this one." Jack stayed firm. 

"Well, we are dating. I'd hope you would know I think you're handsome and charming, but maybe not." Davey shrugged. 

"But he was right." Sarah nodded, looking at the poster. "About the artist thing. The handsome and charming part is up for debate. But this," She pointed to the poster. "This is good." 

"It's a couple of drawings." Jack shrugged. 

"Still." Sarah kept encouraging. 

"Sarah is a photographer, you know." Davey interjected. 

"Really?" Jack asked. 

"Yeah, it's really cool. Wanna see some shots I took on my phone?" She asked, digging out her phone. 

"Of course!" Jack nodded, moving closer to her as Davey stood up. Davey started to walk around the room, saying hi and admiring everyone's signs. Race was covered from head to toe in red paint, and Albert was covered in green. Davey did not want to ask why. A few people actually had decent posters, like Jojo and Finch. And, as much as he loved his friends, some of them weren't that good and there were two posters that just had hand prints on them in different colors. The problem with that was, Davey couldn't tell who the hand prints were from. 

"Dave!" Jojo called him over. "Come make a sign!" 

"No, no, I'm no artist." Davey shook his head. 

"Neither is half of us." Elmer pointed out. 

"I'm words, I'm not art." Davey insisted. 

"Well, then, give us a slogan!" Mike encouraged. 

"Pulitzer gives me an ulcer!" Ike yelled. 

"No!" Mike slapped his brother on the back of his head. 

"Any slogan is a good slogan." Jojo reminded. "Write it on one." 

Ike stuck his tongue out at his brother and wrote down the slogan. 

"I've got a slogan!" A familiar voice called from the staircase. All heads turned as Katherine Plumber made her way down the stairs. 

"Kath?" Jack stood up, a bit shocked. 

"Hey." Katherine smiled. "It's good to see you guys." 

"It's good to see you too!" Jojo greeted. 

"How'd you get in my house?" Race teased. He and Katherine were good friends, but he was shocked that she had shown up at his house. 

"I broke in, Higgins." Katherine rolled her eyes.

"I invited her." Crutchie grabbed everyone's attention. "She knows Pulitzer better than any of us, and she's super smart."

"Plus, I do love some teenage rebellion." Katherine laughed. "But really, my father has been being a jerk recently, especially to my mom. I'd love to put him in his place." 

"Well then," Jack grinned. "Grab a paintbrush and get to work." Katherine nodded, sitting down next to Sarah. 

"Hey," Katherine smiled at her. "It's nice to see another girl here for once." 

"I'm Davey's sister." She jerked her head toward her brother, who's face was being painted by Jack. 

"I'm Katherine." Katherine stuck out her hand.

"Sarah." Sarah nodded, shaking the other girl's hand. The two started to work on a poster, and everyone refocused. A rare moment of quiet fell over the room until Albert started laughing. 

"Why is it so quiet?" He yelled. "Someone talk." Albert turned to Race. "Hey, Race. How was your day?" He yelled louder. 

"It's good. How's yours Albert?" Race yelled back, just as loud. With that, the boys, Katherine, and Sarah dissolved into loudness and laughter once again. 

By the time everyone left that night, the boys, Katherine, and Sarah had made enough signs for each of them to have five. Sarah had agreed to show up to the protest and help them all out. Katherine, even though Jack tried to talk her out of it, was firm on her position against her father. Besides, she wasn't going to leave all the planning to the boys, no matter how smart she thought Davey was. Their plan would be set into action in two days so they could gather more people. But by eight o'clock that Tuesday night, they had formed a solid protest that everyone was excited for.