Seizing The Day//A Modern Day Newsies Story//COMPLETED

Assembly

TW: Mentions of a nightmare, mentions of injuries

Crutchie POV
I woke with a start, my hands clutching tightly to the sheets. Again? I thought. The same dream, the same terrifying reaction. I checked the time and dubbed it reasonable to wake up at. I quickly got dressed and silently got ready for school.

Soon it was time for me to go, so I left with a quick goodbye to Rosie. I walked to school, which thoroughly woke me up. As I got to the entrance of the school, someone tapped my shoulder. I jumped, higher than I normally would, and spun around.

"Wow Crutch, you okay?" Elmer asked, putting his hands up.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine, you just startled me." I explained. It is more than that though. It has to be because of my nightmares. I concluded.

"You sure? Is there something you want to tell me?"

"It's fine, I just had a bad dream last night." I shrugged it off before turning to walk to our table. Elmer caught up to me and we walked side by side.

"Oh! I forgot to ask you," I said as we neared the table. "Do you have this Sunday off?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Rosie may or may not want to steal you for a day to quote 'test your worthy-ness of being my boyfriend'." I answered. Elmer looked slightly shocked.

"I mean, sure, I'll hang out with her for a day. Great now I am nervous about that." I chuckled at his statement. We finally made it to the table and sat down in our normal places. Soon enough, every one of the gang was accounted for.

"So I heard there is going to be an assembly today, something about a big announcement." Finch informed.

"Watch it be some stupid rule we have to follow again," Albert laughed, and we all laughed along.

"Probably the annual dress-code assembly." Race mused.

"I hate the dress-code, it is so sexist." Spot growled.

"I know right! Us girls have so many more rules we have to follow!" Katherine agreed.

"Yeah! And the justification for all of them is that 'it could distract the boys', like I don't care if some people are distracted by my shoulders. That is their fault." Sarah added. This sparked a lengthy discussion about the dress-code, and how all of us hated how sexist it was. Too soon the bell rang, and we were headed off to class.

~~~Time of the Skips~~~

It was some time in the middle of third period when the assembly was called. Of course the teachers tried to wrangle us into assigned seats, but it didn't work. Our gang managed to get seats next to each other, so we started talking. I was mostly talking with Elmer, Jack, and Spot.

"-and then it hit me in the head! After that, I really don't remember much." Elmer finished off the story he was telling us. Something about a baseball hitting him once.

"Ouch, I remember I was once playing football and one guy tackled me. But it was a type of illegal tackle that ended up breaking my ankle." Spot seemed to shiver at the memory. "Probably the worst pain I have felt."

"This reminds me of the time when I broke my toe because I was bouncing in a bouncy castle. I didn't even notice until we went home that day!" Jack shared with a smile.

"My worst injury was probably..." I trailed off as Jack and Spot gave me sympathetic looks. Elmer glanced at me in a confused way and I nodded my head to my leg. His mouth made an "o" shape and he looked guilty. I was about to tell him not to be, when Pulitzer walked onto the stage.

"Now everybody quiet down!" He yelled, although it didn't do much. Hannah walked over and grabbed the microphone.

"Hey!" She yelled, and everyone shut up. Pulitzer gave her a withering look before turning his attention back at all of us.

"Now that everyone is down here I would like to start. This assembly is for a new rule put in place. I know about the backlash from the last one, and trust me, we will not have that this time."