34 parts Complete "Race, what's goin' on? Where 'ave ya been?" Crutchie asked, eyeing the boy with worry. Race ignored him and continued limping to the stairs.
"Race, get back over here. Crutch and I stayed up waitin' for ya, the least you can do is tell us where youse been."
"I'm fine," Race mumbled, not stopping. Jack quickly stepped forward and grabbed the younger boy's arm, not missing the way he tensed up.
"C'mon Race, look at me. What's wrong?"
Race slowly turned around, keeping his eyes down with the brim of his hat casting a shadow across his face. "I just had a run-in with a couple of guys who were lookin' for a fight. I got a little beat up. Really, it's nothin'."
"It's not 'nothing' Race. You're walkin' worse than I do!" Crutchie exclaimed.
Jack grabbed Race's chin and tipped it up and Crutchie gasped. Jack's eyes widened too as he and Crutchie got a glimpse of their brother's face.
Crutchie's face turned red with anger, his hand clenching his crutch tightly. "Who did this to you?"
***
It's a month after the strike, and everything is going great... until it's not.
It starts with small arguments with newsies from the other boroughs, and only gets worse. None of the boys know whats going on, but they're trying to ignore it, until one day something happens that none of them can ignore.
A/N: Sorry about the sucky summary, I'm bad at writing those.
