Soulmates || A Newsies Alternate Universe

Chapter 12 - Elmer

Warning: Stress, Minor Bullying
Third Person POV

Elmer has a hard home life.

His parents died a while back, from an accident, and he has a lot of siblings, which means that he was left to protect/take care of all of them.

He would walk home everyday, with his younger sister, Emmalyn, who was a freshman at his school, though none of the Newsies knew about this.

He usually looked at the string around his pinky finger. It was red, and it was supposed to lead him to his soulmate, but he was way too busy for the soulmate stuff.

He thought it was cute, but he knew his soulmate would leave him when they found out about his siblings.

He knew where Race was coming from.

It wasn't that hard avoiding the subject of soulmates, at least for him. Not many people cared, or at least for a while they didn't.

With more and more of the Newsie group finding their soulmates, they began to care more about it.

Elmer and Emmalyn, or Emmie, as her siblings call her, walk inside the house.

Elmer puts his bag down on the table, checking the clock for the time.

"Thirty minutes." He sighs, before turning to his sister, "In thirty minutes, you go get Eden, Ethan, and Eddie from their bus stop, and I'll go get Elijah from his, and Eleanor and Ezra. Okay?"

Emmie nods, she knew how busy it got with her siblings, and she, and their brother Ethan, always tried to help Elmer.

"Thanks Em" Elmer thanks her, hugging her, and she smiles.

"No problem El" Emmalyn assures him, brushing it off.

"By the way, I have to meet with Eden and Eddie's teacher today, so I'll be home a little later than usual" Elmer informs his sister, who nods.

Elmer is 15 in 10th grade, Emmalyn is 14 in 9th grade, Ethan is 13 in 8th grade, Eden and Eddie are 11 and in 5th grade, Elijah is 8 and in 2nd grade, Eleanor is 4 and in Pre-K 4, and Ezra is 2 and in daycare, where Eleanor goes after school.

About thirty minutes later, the two siblings leave the house, and head in separate ways to pick up their siblings.

Elmer walks to Elijah's bus stop, and gets there right when Elijah gets off of the bus.

"Hey Eli!" Elmer calls, and his brother's face lights up when he sees him, and he runs over to Elmer, hugging him.

"Hey El!" His brother greets him, his voice muffled from his face being in Elmer's shirt.

Elmer laughs, and waves to the bus driver, showing a sign of appreciation.

The bus driver knew what Elmer went through, not about his parents, but about how many siblings he had, as the bus driver, Mr. John, had had Elmer and most of his siblings at different times, and will have the other two soon.

Mr. John waves back to Elmer, as Elmer and Elijah walk off, starting on their way to the daycare, like usual.

"How was your day?" Elmer asks his brother, picking him up. Elijah was pretty small for a 2nd grader.

"It was good. My friends and I played soccer at recess and I fell over and got a bruise, but other than that it was okay" Elijah tells Elmer, informing him about his day. He waves his hands around like crazy, explaining, as Elmer laughs at him, amused and enjoying the alone time with him.

"Can I see it?" Elmer asks his brother, who nods. He pulls up his pant to above his knee, still in Elmer's arms, and shows Elmer. "Good job cleaning it, but that will leave a good shiner later."

"Shiner?" Elijah questions, rolling his pant leg down.

"Sorry Eli, I've been hanging with the Newsies too much, I meant bruise" Elmer laughs, tickling his brother, who laughs/squeals, and squirms in Elmer's arms.

"Come on, let's go get Ella and Ezra and go visit Eden and Eddie's teacher, then we can go home" Elmer tells his brother, whose eyes light up.

"I get to be your helper today!" Elijah exclaims. Elmer laughs.

"Yeah, will you be a good helper today?" Elmer asks Elijah, who vigorously nods.

"The best!" Elijah confirms. Elmer laughs.

"I might just have to tell Emmie if you are" Elmer tells him, ruffling his hair.

"I'll help with Ezra and Ella while you speak to those, ew, adults" Elijah assures Elmer, who laughs at Elijah's reaction to adults.

"I hope you don't feel that way about Mr. John or Mrs. Meredith" Elmer states. Elijah shakes his head.

Mrs. Meredith was Elijah's teacher, and he loved her. His best friend was her daughter Wren, and Mrs. Meredith loved their friendship.

"No! I like Mrs. Meredith, and Wren is so nice!" Elijah tells Elmer, who nods.

"Come on, let's go so you can be the best helper today" Elmer suggests. Elijah nods.

They start walking to the daycare.

At the daycare

When they finally get to the daycare, it's not that late. They find Eleanor, sitting, playing with Ezra on the floor, away from the other kids.

"Something happen?" Elmer asks Mrs. Jackson, who was their main daycare teacher.

"One of the kids made a loud noise, and Ezra didn't deal with that well. We tried to take him out of the room to comfort him, but Eleanor refused to let him leave without her, and she comforted him. It was quite cute actually" Mrs. Jackson explains. Elmer nods, looking at his siblings.

"Thank you Mrs. Jackson" Elmer thanks her. She nods.

"Elijah, why don't you go get your siblings while Elmer signs them out?" Mrs. Jackson suggests. She had also had all of the Kasprzak children, like Mr. John.

Elijah nods, and walks over to his siblings, while Elmer signs them out.

"Elmer, just know, if you ever need help with your siblings, I could help" Mrs. Jackson reminds him. She told him this everyday. Elmer was grateful, but he didn't want to be a burden.

Mrs. Jackson saw the growing bags under Elmer's eyes, and she knew something was up. She had watched Elmer grow up, but she knew not to push it, so this was the best she could do.

"Thanks Mrs. Jackson, but everything's good. I promise" He assures her. She throws him a small smile.

By now, Elijah had gotten his siblings, and was walking over with Ezra, who can barely walk, holding hands with both of his siblings, and in the middle of them.

Elijah was leading them, Ezra in the middle, and Eleanor on the left. Elijah and Eleanor were helping Ezra walk.

"That's adorable" Mrs. Jackson awes. Elmer nods, smiling. This is why he never gave up.

"Come on guys, let's go to Ethan, Eden, and Eddie's school" Elmer tells them. The three younger Kasprzak nod, continuing to walk together.

"Remember what I said" Mrs. Jackson reminds him. He nods, waving as they all leave, starting their walk to the school.

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