I Never Planned on This (A newsies fanfiction)

Chapter one

Henri woke to the morning bell. She moaned but began to pull her suspenders over her shoulders and comb through her pigtails with her fingers. Sitting up, she grabbed her cap and yanked on her shoes, quickly tying them before standing up and shaking JoJo awake.

JoJo screamed in surprise before seeing that it was only Henri. She moaned as well and took her shoe, trying to hit Henri with it to make her go away. But Henri only dodged and tried to push JoJo to sit up.

"C'mon." Henri said, trying to get JoJo on her feet. "Morning bell just rang. You don't wanna get the last stack of papes, again, do you? Those are usually the most ripped, they almost never sell." JoJo sat up and rubbed her eyes sleepily.

"Would it kill them to give us a few more hours?" She yawned, to which Henri replied,

"I guess it would. Now get up!!!" She exclaimed. JoJo got to her feet while Henri continued to get ready. "We're gonna miss breakfast if you don't hurry!!!" She called. As she descended the steps towards the gate, she ran into Race, who smirked.

"You're up early, Henri." He remarked, snatching her hat and holding it above her head as she jumped to grab it back. "So what's that about? Usually it's a while before we start selling papes."

Continuing to jump, Henri answered, "Just heading to Jacobi's, Race." Finally snatching her hat back, she put it back on and continued to wait for the others to get ready. "It's Friday. The day Roosevelt pays for breakfast." Race looked down at her and said sarcastically,

"Naw, really? I thought it was the day that Elmer finally sold a decent amount of papes."

For that, he received a shove from Henri. "Shut up." She said, as JoJo and Specs joined them. "Unless you'd like to go back to that crappy coffee, while we go to Jacobi's."

"You don't scare me, Henri." Race laughed. He then saw Albert come up behind Henri. "But I do think you've got a point. Wouldn't ya say so, Albert? Sunny side up eggs and bacon or concrete doughnuts sprinkled with mold?" He asked.

"Hmm, let me think..." Albert pretended to think and tapped his finger on his chin a few times. He then said, "Oh, I don't know. This is tough." JoJo yanked his hat over his eyes.

"Stop being stupid, you two." She said. "If we don't get there soon, other customers will come into Jacobi's and we'll miss our chance."

The Delancey brothers soon came on the other side of the gate as more Newsies came down. The Delanceys looked at the Newsies with upmost disgust. Oscar took out his keys and the Newsies spoke to them.

"So, Morris. Word around town says that you two were caught flirting with that Hathaway girl on the job, and she responded by smacking ya with her purse." Specs said playfully.

"Oooooh..." The Newsies said teasingly. Davey and Les came shortly after, and proceeded to open the gate as Oscar and Morris stood there, angry.

"How would your face like to flirt with my fist?" Oscar muttered.

"Come on, Specs." Davey said. "If that's news, then so is a crooked politician. You can't say that you're surprised, can you?"

"It's better news than the recent headlines." Remarked Albert.

Crutchie nodded. "When is Pulitzer gonna give us something good? All that's a headline nowadays is deaths of old people." She said.

"Cheer up." Davey said. "It's almost the time of year for the election. Headlines should be exciting during that time."

"You don't think that Roosevelt will get kicked from office, do you?" Henri asked as they walked to Jacobi's. "Would we still get meals at Jacobi's on Friday if he's no longer governor?"

Davey shrugged. "It's not up to us. It's up to the voters. Hopefully they re-elect him. Oh," he smiled at the newsies. "I forgot to tell you. I received a letter from Jack yesterday. We can look at it once we get to Jacobi's." The Newsies excitedly chattered amongst one another. They hadn't had word from Jack in a while. They did miss him, but were happy that he had finally been able to enjoy Santa Fe. He would be back, but while he was at art school, none of the newsies really knew what to do with themselves. Of course, Davey was fine at being the leader while Jack was away, but that didn't mean that they didn't still miss him.

Finally coming to Jacobi's diner, they met up with Mush, Splasher, Romeo, and Tommy boy and found a few tables to have breakfast at. Jacobi handed out plates of eggs and bacon and glasses of water. Fridays were one of the things the newsies looked forward to. The one day of the week where they didn't have to worry about going hungry until their next meal. There were three great meals for them every Friday at Jacobi's diner. Of course, they always had to come in really early or really late, so that they wouldn't disturb any of Jacobi's paying customers, but they were willing to do that if it meant good food.

After everyone was finished eating, they all gathered around Davey as he pulled out the note. "What the-?" Race exclaimed, seeing the writing on the letter. "Jack's learned cursive? He learned the fancy writing? What does that even say?"

Specs cleaned her glasses and put them back on, squinting. "yeah, I can't make no sense out of that."

Davey laughed. "I can probably teach you guys how to read and write cursive later if you want." The Newsies thought about it.

"I'll learn cursive to read what the heck he said." Henri said. "But don't count on me to write in it. I ain't gonna write in fancy."

The Newsies murmured their agreement while Davey laughed again.

"Can you read it to us, Davey?" Crutchie asked, and Davey nodded.

Dear Davey,

Hey. Read this to the guys, too, would ya? This is Jack. Katherine and I are enjoying Santa Fe. Although I am enjoying art school, I miss the fellas in New York. My old man-in-law Joe says that I could probably start drawing for the papes once I get back. They make you learn cursive here. It's really weird. Katherine says that it's proper, but who cares about proper? Not me. Anyways, I wanna know how youse guys has been. I hasn't seen you in a while. Maybe I'll visit when they give me a break. Oh, by the way. Medda says that on the fourteenth of April, at six pm, youse guys have to go to her theater. Says she's got a surprise for you. But I'm not allowed to know what it is, so tell me about it in your next letter.

Miss ya and the Newsies,

Jack Kelly

The Newsies stared at Davey. Then they stared at the letter and tried to read it themselves. A surprise from Miss Medda? On the fourteenth of April? That was tomorrow!!! What sort of surprise could Medda have for them? They discussed what the surprise could possibly be.

"Maybe it's good news for us, maybe she'll announce something worthy of a headline." Les suggested.

"Or it could be a special showing just for us." Romeo said.

"For all we know, she could be telling us that she's retiring." Said Davey.

"Nah." They all said. It wasn't likely that Medda would be retiring. She was the star of the Bowery, and the owner. That couldn't possibly be the surprise. But still, the newsies were excited. A surprise from Medda as well as news from Jack? Could this day possibly get better?