Unscripted (Jack & Crutchie)

Chapter 12 - Tommy

Spot for criticism

(This is a few days after the prior chapter)

Crutchie's POV

I had been lying awake for some time. I usually woke up before the morning bell, but I woke up way earlier than usual today. I was gettin' real bored, and even though I felt bad about it, I decided I would wake Jack up. I turned my head up from his chest so I could see his face, smiling a bit.

"Hey, Jack," I whispered, shaking him a little bit.

"Hmm..." he furrowed his brows as he tended to do when he wakes up, shifting around.

"Jack, wake up," I ran my fingers through his hair to try and get him to open his eyes.

"Hm? Did I miss the bell?" He stretched out before curling back up against me, backing up a bit to see my face.

"Nuh uh. I was just lonely." I said, smiling at him.

"You're lucky I like you, Crutch," Jack laughed, smiling back at me. I laughed a bit too, smiling even bigger than before.

"I know." We laid there for a bit, talking about random things, just enjoying each other's company. Eventually, Jack sighed deeply and sat up.

"We should get ready. C'mon," He stood up and turned to help me up. Instead of hesitating like usual, I just took his hand, letting him help me. It felt nice to not fight it.

We got ready and Jack went down the ladder, waiting for me to toss my crutch. I tossed it down and started coming down, Jack waiting for me at the bottom. While I was nearly halfway there, I lost my footing and slipped, dangling from the ladder and holding myself up.

"Shit, Crutchie! Okay, uh-" Jack was panicking, honestly more than I was. I was trying to keep my cool, because despite the fact that Jack and I lived up so high, I actually was afraid of heights. "Use just your hands to climb down one ring, okay? Your foot will reach the next one. Don't worry about falling, I'm right here," He said, sounding calmer. I did as he said, and was back to climbing down normally. I got to the bottom and looked at Jack, taking a deep breath.

"Well, that's one way to wake yourself up," I joked, taking my crutch from Jack and smiling.

"That was a show!" Someone said to us. Confused, Jack and I turned behind us to see who had said that. It was Tommy. It didn't take long before Jack said what I was thinking.

"Why're you here?" He said with a cold tone.

"Oh, I got booted outta Queens. They ain't got a sense of humor there. But some fellas said I could come here," Tommy said, continuing to walk towards us.

"Well they didn't ask me," Jack sounded pissed, knowing that the fellas should've come to him as he ran the Manhattan Newsies.

"Why should they?" Tommy caught up to us, and I got my first good look at him. I didn't really pay attention to what he looked like at all, until now. He was pretty tall, taller than me but shorter than Jack. He had dark brown hair that fell around his face like mine. I don't remember what he wore that night, but today he had on a brown button-up shirt and a dark grey vest with dark brown pants to match it. I was brought back to reality by Jack answering Tommy's question.

"I know you're new here, kid, but I run this joint. Got it? So you come to me." Jack usually wasn't too picky about fellas treating him like he was some boss, but he clearly didn't like Tommy one bit, so he was bein' harsh.

"Oh wow, I hear ya loud and clear, Kelley," Jack tensed up at that, and I think it was due to Snider always calling him Kelley. I looked back to Tommy after studying Jack to see him looking at me. "See ya later, crip."