I Never Planned on This (A newsies fanfiction)

Chapter four

The Newsies just stood there, staring at the paper in disbelief. Another juvenile jail? Here? They thought that Governor Roosevelt had shut down The Refuge...but then again, he never said anything about opening a new jail. And at the worst time, too. Jack was away at art school. What were they supposed to do if this new jail decided to check up on them? What if something happened, and Pulitzer decided to raise the price of papes again? With this new prison, it would be way more risky.

They all looked back at Wiesel. He was screaming at them. "Ya buying, or ya moving along?!" He exclaimed. One by one, the Newsies each walked to Wiesel's cart and slammed their money down. Henri knew that they would have to make up something exciting for this snoozer of a headline. After Accepting their papers from Wiesel, they ran off to deliver them. What could they possibly call out to get people's attention?

Seeing a large crowd of people coming her way, Henri pulled out a paper, hiding the headline. "Extra!!! Extra!!!" She exclaimed. "Serial killer captured after thirteen years, ya heard the story right here!!!!" Soon, she had sold about a quarter of her newspapers just to that crowd. She ran away soon after, because usually when the people of New York find out you've lied to them, it isn't pretty.

That's pretty much how the day went, up until evening. In the evening, all the Newsies met back up next to the new juvenile jail and stared at it. A sign nearby read The Wall. It wasn't anything fancy, just a big black cube with barbed wire around it. As far as the Newsies could see, there was only one door. One way in. One way out.

It felt cold next to The Wall, with a guard passing by the door every few minutes. A sense of fear lingered in the air, and something told Henri that it was worse on the inside than inside of The Refuge. She looked at Crutchie. She was shaking, clutching her crutch as if her life depended on it. Henri couldn't blame her, she was one of the only Newsies who had ever been unfortunate enough to be caught and taken away to The Refuge. That had been one of the worst days of the Newsies' lives, they couldn't do anything to get Crutchie out without being caught and locked up themselves. They had all felt helpless...until Roosevelt was on their side.

Henri noticed that when they were near The Wall, Davey wouldn't take his hands off of Les's shoulders. Henri couldn't say that she blamed him; no one knew what this jail would be like, much less the warden. If they were to get caught for something, Davey's number one priority would be to keep Les safe. And that's what the rest of the Newsies were sure to do as well.

A man came outside of the jail. He had all black on, as well as a tophat and a whip in his hand. He had a short mustache, similar to Pulitzer's. His name tag read Kennedy. He stared at the Newsies, and they stared back.

"Well?" He asked. "You're trespassing on my property." He crossed his arms. "If you don't wanna end up in there," he motioned to the large black building. "I suggest you move along."

The Newsies quickly shuffled away, almost afraid that if they moved too slowly, Kennedy may try to try out his whip.

The sun was down by now, and stars were beginning to form. Henri was surprised that this day had gone by so quickly. She and the others journeyed back to the rooftop, where she again said goodnight to the others, and she and JoJo headed to their spot. Up stairs, across the fire escape, down ladders.

Finally, they made it and began to kick off their shoes, throw off their caps, and yank off their bags. Henri layed down on her back, looking at the stars. They formed millions of constellations, looking back at her. She attempted to close her eyes to sleep.

She tossed. She turned. She layed there with her hands on her face in frustration. The sirens wailed. Street dogs yapped. She sat up again, frustrated. JoJo was asleep. Henri pulled on her shoes and hat, and began to climb higher. She finally made it to the rooftop, where you could get the best view. She noticed that Crutchie was awake as well, leaning on the rail and looking up at the stars. Henri climbed up and joined her, staring at the night sky.

"Trouble sleepin'?" Crutchie asked. Henri nodded. "Yeah, me too." Crutchie answered. She shook her head. "for one, that new prison." She looked back at the sky longingly. "And Jack ain't even here to help if there's trouble this time." She sighed.

"Things ain't been the same without Jack bein' here." Henri admitted. "And if there's trouble, Katherine ain't here to help neither." She said. "Katherine was like, fifty percent of the reason that the strike was even settled." She sighed, then looked at Crutchie. "What are we s'posed to do?"

Crutchie shook her head. "I dunno." She looked at her shoes, saying in a small voice, "but I don't wanna go back to jail, even if it's not The Refuge." She looked terrified. "I'm still healing from the time I was caught." She was right. Henri could still see a faint brown patch around her eye. She put her arm around her.

"Don't worry, Crutchie." She smiled. "While Jack's gone, we're still a family. And ya know that a family looks out for each other. You ain't never alone." Crutchie smiled back at her.

"Nice to know I've got great friends and family on my side." She answered. Then they both proceeded to look at the stars, as they twinkled against the dark blue sky.