The Disgraced Newsie( Tommy Boy Alternate)

CHAPTER XVIII

FINCH CORTES' POV

How? How could Tommy not have hated me? He should have the most hostility toward me. He should have all the reasons in the world to despise me, but somehow he still cared about me. Tommy still considered me as his brother. It surprised me; Tommy surprised me. However, Tommy still wanted to avoid me as if his life depended on it, so with that slight chance available, how could I ever make it up to him? What could I ever do to make it up to him? Perhaps, opinions from some of the boys who made amends with him could help me. At least if any of them even want to speak with me. Out of everyone, Davey, Crutchie, and Jojo would be the friendliest and should not be that hostile toward me. Jojo was the nearest to me, so I spoke with him first.

"Jojo?" He turned around and stared at me with the angriest and harshest expression he ever had.

"What do you want, Finch?" He asked me coldly. Jojo had never talked to anyone like that before, and it scared me and even caused me to slightly back away from him. Still, in order to make amends with Tommy, I desperately needed to know how to make it happen.

"Look, I am not here to bother you or annoy you too much, but I needed to ask you a question."

"And you came to me for an answer? What could I possibly know that I don't?"

"How did you make amends with Tommy?"

"I apologized."

"And that was it?"

"Of course. After all, I never beat Tommy up or pushed him down the stairs, did I?" I looked down at the floor in anger and shame. Do all of them have to constantly remind me about what happened between Tommy and me? That incident was one of the worst mistakes I have ever made, and I don't need the other boys using that incident against me.

"Look, please, don't remind me about that. Look, forget that I even asked. Bye." I walked away from Jojo as soon as possible. Well, that conversation didn't go as well as I expected and could have gone better. Well, hopefully, Crutchie will be friendlier, as he usually is. Jack and Crutchie were on the rooftop, but since I wanted to be alone with Crutchie, I needed Jack to step away for a moment. "Jack, can Crutchie and I talk alone for a moment?"

"... Sure?" Jack looked at me, confused, while Crutchie looked at me, bewildered and shocked. Regardless, Jack walked passed by me and went downstairs.

"What do you want, Finch?" Unlike Jojo, Crutchie didn't speak with me in a harsh tone or stare at me coldly, but that didn't mean Crutchie was that much friendlier than Jojo.

"Look, I don't want to bother you that much, but I want to know what you did to make amends with Tommy?"

"What do you mean? I didn't have to do anything. The last time I checked, I never attempted to beat up Tommy. I always tried to defend and protect Tommy whenever you guys would chase him around or beat him up. So what could I have done to make amends with him when I had never done anything wrong?" Crutchie had a point. Of course, he had a point. How could Crutchie ever purposefully hurt anyone, especially someone he cared about?

"Right, it was a stupid question to ask you. Sorry for bothering you; I will get out of your hair now."

"Wait, Finch?" I turned around and looked at Crutchie, shocked and surprised that he called out to me. "Hopefully, you and Tommy will make up. It is hard to watch you two be so distant from each other."

"... Thank you." I returned downstairs to find Jack standing on the edge of the staircase.

"You know I can see what you are planning, Finch."

"Where is Davey?" I asked, ignoring the comment that Jack made.

"Les and he went home, but you can catch him tomorrow. We can head to his house tonight if you can't wait for that long."

"No, it's fine; I can wait until tomorrow. Thank you for telling me."

"Thank you for trying to make up with Tommy. Anyway, see you tomorrow at Newsies Square."

"See you tomorrow." It wasn't that hard to find Davey the following day. Surprisingly, when I approached Davey, he looked at me with a genuinely friendly expression. If he knew anything about what I had done to Tommy, Davey wouldn't look at me like that. Tommy most likely didn't tell him about the staircase incident, which confused me because Tommy would have informed Davey about it, but if he won't, then I will, as Davey deserved to know, and I don't want to deny that the incident even happened. "Hey, Davey. Can I talk to you alone for a second?"

"Sure, no problem. Stay with Jack, Les." Les ran over to Jack, and then it was just Davey and me. "What did you want to ask me, Finch?"

"Well, first of all, how much do you know about Tommy running away from the lodging house?"

"Tommy didn't tell me much. All he said was that he got into an argument with someone he cared about, then willingly left the lodging house. I am certain there is more to that story, but I didn't want to push any uncomfortable boundaries."

"Well, I will explain what happened because I was there. Heck, it was my fault that it happened." Davey looked at me, confused, but I ignored it and explained what had happened. Davey looked at me, shocked and slightly disappointed about what I had done.

"Finch, I- -"

"I know. I know. I already feel bad about it. I will always regret what I did, but I desperately want to fix it."

"So, what do you expect me to do? Provide you with instructions on how to apologize? I can't do that for you, as I never even had to apologize to him. It would be best if you figured that out on your own, Finch. Anyway, it is time to sell our newspapers. I will see you out there." Davey left me alone to meet up with Jack and Les. What does Davey think I am trying to do? That I want someone else to do it for me? That I genuinely don't want to make amends with him? But, as always, Dave, y was right. It looks like the opinions of the others wouldn't help me. Instead, it needed to be done by myself. Obviously, it will take a lot of work and time, but eventually, it will be worth it if I finally can have my brother back.