Love is Not Just a Book || A Javid Strike Story

Chapter 4 - Quit Snatching My Papers, Will You?

- Chapter 4 - This Kid Asks Way To Many Questions -
Warnings: The Refuge. Snyder.
Third Person POV

Davey was trying to sell a paper, but he was failing, badly. "Paper, paper! Get your evening paper here!" He calls.

A man walks past him.

"Evening paper, here sir." Davey tries to hand him the paper, but the guy just shrugs him off.

Davey sighs. Why is this so difficult?

Jack shakes his head slightly, walking towards Davey. "Sing 'em to sleep why don'tcha?" He taunts.

Davey rolls his eyes. I'd like to see you do any better, he mentally fires.

Jack smirks as if he heard Davey's challenge.

Jack snactches the paper out of Davey's hand.

Davey stares at him, a slight glare in his gaze. Quit snatching my papers out my hands, will you?

Jack turns around, chuckling softly as if he could read Davey's mind.

Jack waves it around, above his head. "Extra extra! Terrifying flight from burning inferno, you heard the story, right here!" He shouts.

A man hands him a nickel for the paper.

Jack hands him the paper.

"Thanks, mister!" Jack states, smiling, as the man walks away.

Davey saw the man roll his eyes.

Jack clicks his tongue, waving the nickel around in front of Davey, as if bragging that he did better.

Davey just stares at him in shock, though he wanted to roll his eyes. "You just made that up..." he accuses, his voice quieter than he wanted.

"Did not!" Jack whips around to face Davey, defending himself. "I said he heard it right here, and he did."

Davey rolls his eyes, crossing his arms. "My father taught me not to lie." He mutters.

"Yeah, and mine taught me not to starve," Jack retorts. "Guess we all got an education."

Davey rolls his eyes. This kid was getting on his nerves.

Jack agreed silently.

They were very different.
(A/N, but I ship it.)

Les comes running over to them. "I just sold my last paper!" He jumps up and down, grinning.

Davey pulls a paper out of his bag, before looking down at his brother. "I have one more." He says.

Les takes the paper from his brother.

Davey nods.

Les runs to a lady who walk walking by, pretends to cough. "Buy a pape from a poor orphan boy?" He asks, using puppy eyes..

The lady gives him a sympathetic smile. "Aww, you dear thing, of course I'll buy a newspaper!" She reaches into her purse. "Here's a dime." She hands Les a dime and walks away.

Davey stares impressed at his brother. My brother is a better Newsboy than I am. Davey almost facepalms.

Jack smirks. "Born to the breed," he states, laughing.

Les runs to his brother and shows off his little dime. "This is SO much better than school!" He exclaims.

Davey shoots him a stern look. "Don't even think about it. When Pop goes back to work, we go back to school."

"Hey, how about we divvy up the money, grab some chow, and find you two a place to spend the night?" Jack asks Davey, while he counts his money.

He hadn't heard Davey's response to Les, and it was a bit obvious.

Davey shakes his head. "We gotta get home, our folks will be waiting on us for dinner." He counts his money as well.

Realization seems to hit Jack. "Oh," He mutters. "You got folks, huh?" He asks.

Realization seems to hit Davey, too.

Les looks confused. "Doesn't everybody?" He ask/ innocently.

Davey mentally cringes at his brother, pushing him back a bit.

He felt so bad. "Uh, our dad tangled with a delivery truck on the job, messed up his leg real bad, so they laid him off." He explains, sounding very awkward. "That's how come we had to find work."

Jack nods, not making eye contact with Davey. "Yeah, sure, that makes sense."

Davey felt so bad for mentioning it.

"Why don't you come home with us for dinner?" Davey suggests. "Our folks would be happy to have you." He smiles softly.

"Mom's a great cook!" Les exclaims, grinning.

Jack smiles slightly. "Thanks for the invite." His smile falters a bit. "But I just remembered that I got plans with a fella. He's probably waiting on me." Jack points in a random direction.

Jack turns to leave, but Les' voice stops him. "Is that the guy you're meeting?" He points behind a street corner at a man behind the building.

Jack looks where Les' pointing, before turning to face Les and Davey, eyes wide.

"Run for it!" He panickedly grabs Les' arm, pulling him as he started running.

"Jack Kelly!" Weasel shouts, before starting to run after the three boys.

Davey's eyes widen. What is happening?

"Davey!" Jack shouts. "Stop thinking of logical explanations, the worst that could happen in this case, and questions, just come on!" He makes a gesture for Davey to follow him.

Davey looks at the guy who was running at them to Jack, realizing that he probably didn't want to meet this guy.

Davey runs after Jack, hating life at this moment.

After a good bit of running, they finally stop in a Theater.

"Slow down, we lost 'em," Jack tells the Jacobs brothers, catching his breath.

Les looks around, awing at the Theater and how pretty it was.

"Someone wanna tell me why I'm running?!" Davey exclaims, trying to catch his breath too. "I got no one chasing me! Who was that guy?" He asks.

This kid asks way to many questions, Jack thinks to himself.

Jack turns to face Davey, annoyance clear in his eyes. "That was Snyder the Spider. A real sweetie." He snaps bitterly. "He runs a jail for underage kids called 'The Refuge'. Problem is, all the money goes straight into his own pocket."

Jail? Davey's eyebrows furrow. He sounds like a horrible person.

... but if he knows him, it means he has to have gone to jail... Davey's eyes widen.

Jack turns to face Davey and Les. "Do yourself a favor and stay clear of him and the Refuge." He states.

Davey just stares at him. I have so many questions...

1040 Words
I'm sorry, I probably won't post more than one chapter today.