The New Newsie at the Square

Am I Really That Unusual?-Chapter 3

(TW: none)

An entire day had passed since Grace's initial embarrassment. She tried to stay hidden again this morning but after being called out it was definitely much harder. She felt a few eyes on her but kept her eyes on the ground. 

Her feeling was true, Finch and Romeo were watching her a little. 

"She definitely seems...odd doesn't she..?" Romeo asked "She doesn't stop moving often..."

He wasn't wrong. Grace's left foot anxiously tapped, her eyes so fixated on its movement it helped calm her just a little.

"And she also seems almost...terrified to be around people, the way she talks and the face she stays so far from us.." Finch added

Cora overheard from where she was standing with Davey. She felt her blood boil a little, she had just scolded those boys for talking about her yesterday and they were already doing it again!!

"Finch. Romeo. Cut it out." Cora scolded with a simple glare to the boys

Davey gave her hand a very gentle and comforting squeeze knowing she was getting a little angry. The boys quickly stopped talking when they got scolded and looked away from Grace. Grace felt a sense of relief wash over her as the gazes on her faltered. Luckily she hadn't been paying attention to the world around her so she didn't hear Romeo and Finch talking about her, or Cora's scolding. 

The headline was soon being written and all the newsies raced to see what it would be. They talked over each other with ideas on what it would be and they only got louder and louder as the headline came closer to being finished. Grace found herself covering her ears subconsciously at the increasing volume.

When the headline was nothing more than a disappointment, the Newsies back off and the volume went back down, much to Grace's appreciation. She had finally looked up, forcing herself back into reality, just in time for Weasel to yell at the newsies again. His booming voice scared her once again but she did her best to push it down. As she carefully walked to the line she tried to see if she could put the names she'd been hearing to the faces she saw. The only ones she knew for a fact she could get right were Cora's and Davey's. That's some progress, right? At least Grace thought so. 

She anxiously rubbed the back of her neck, lucky the redness from it was well hidden by her hair. She kept a bit of a closer eye on the other newsies, that was until one of them even somewhat looked in her direction. In that case her eyes averted quickly back down to the ground. 

The more nicknames she heard and could place a face to, the more confused she got at why they were all named such silly things. She shook her head a little at the names, finding them a little dumb at times. She remembered that just the day before she'd gotten called "Red" and she hoped to any god above that the name didn't stick.

She suddenly had become aware of her stimming and quickly crossed her arms, pressing them tight to her chest to stop herself. She mentally scolded herself so she'd stop. It hurt a little to have her arms pressed so tightly into her chest and her ribs but she didn't care. She forced her foot to stop tapping. She looked so concentrated on stopping that a few newsies saw it and couldn't help but laugh a little. She heard the laughter and tensed, just sensing the fact it was directed at her. 

She hung her head a little and pressed her arms tighter to her chest. 

"Don't tap, rub, flap nothing...just stand still..." She repeated over and over in her mind

Cora had gotten her papers and was waiting for Davey. She spotted the Newsies laughing and could tell who it was directed at. She hated seeing her get outcasted even though they'd barely met..

She knew she was going to try and help, even if it was only a little that she could do...Just something to make Grace feel welcome and show her that she isn't weird or all alone...