The Disgraced Newsie( Tommy Boy Alternate)

CHAPTER XXII

TOMMY BOY'S POV

I haven't interacted with Henry or Buttons since last night, but that incident only happened last night, so it wasn't that unexpected. Regardless, I hoped they would leave me alone and forget that whole encounter. Unfortunately for me, the following morning, as soon as I walked downstairs, surprisingly, Henry and Buttons were at the bottom of the staircase. What did those two want? Hadn't they already caused me enough trouble? I don't have the time and energy to deal with them now, mainly because we are newsies. I didn't want to speak with them at all, so I tried to walk past them and decided to head into Newsies Square without grabbing some breakfast, but of course, both of them followed me. Can't these two leave me alone?

"Stop following me," I stated angrily and irritatedly. However, it wasn't as temper-based as when I said it to Finch.

"Can't we just talk to you for a second?" Henry asked. Did they seriously think I would want to speak with them after what happened last night? They aren't that serious, are they? I can't believe Henry even said that to my face.

"No." I would have said something angrier and meaner than that, but with the current stressful situation with Finch, I seriously didn't want to deal with a similar situation. "Look, I don't want to do this right now. There is already too much on my plate, and I don't want to add any more to it, so leave me alone before I get mad and we all end up in a tense situation."

"Look, we want to talk with you. Since when was that a problem? Honestly, what is your issue with us?"

"I think you two know my issue with you very well, but I will not waste my time explaining anything. Now, for the last time, could you please go away and leave me alone!"

"Why do you have it out for us, Tommy? Just explain it to us. What did we do wrong to you?"

"I don't want to talk to you two. Go away!" I would have burst into tears because I immediately became too overwhelmed to control my emotions. My vision became blurry, and I started to breathe heavily and slightly stumbled back. What was happening to me? Why was I acting like this? Suddenly, as I almost fell to the ground, a pair of arms wrapped around my chest, which freaked me out even more because it was someone who I didn't even know who it was because I had my eyes closed and refused to open them. But it was so comforting that it made me slightly relax, especially when the person tried calming me down further by rubbing my head. I heard a couple of voices shouting at Henry and Buttons, and I instantly recognized one of those voices was Jack's, but I couldn't determine the other voice, who was the closest to me and most likely the one holding me. Perhaps, it could have been Crutchie, Specs, Jojo, Racetrack, or even Davey, but at that point, it didn't matter who it was because everything went black, and then I went limp from exhaustion.

JACK KELLY'S POV

I carried an unconscious Tommy back to the rooftop and laid him down on my side of the penthouse. I couldn't believe all of that happened, and I may have already chewed Henry and Buttons out for the incident, but mark my words; both of them would hear more from me.

"What happened to him?" Crutchie asked with concern as he was about to get ready to join the others in Newsies Square.

"I am not exactly sure what happened in between, but Henry and Buttons looked like they wanted to have a conversation with him, and then Tommy had a panic attack."

"Will he be alright?"

"Yeah, he only needs some time to sleep, but you can go ahead and head downstairs. I will stay up here with him until he wakes up."

"Alright, hopefully, he feels better."

"Yeah, he will." Crutchie headed downstairs, and then Finch came upstairs. He instantly looked at Tommy with concern and regret. "You know, you can stay here and watch over him with me. I am sure he will appreciate it if you told him that you were the one who comforted him."

"No. No, you know that Tommy wouldn't like that; we still don't have a good relationship, and he won't believe you. It will be better for you, him, and me if you let him think you comforted him."

"You know I don't want to lie to you guys ever again, especially to him. I will tell him the truth when he wakes up."

"Fine, do whatever you want, but I won't be here when you tell him. He will hate me even more than he already did."

"Finch- -"

"I am going to go sell my newspapers now. Just let me know if Tommy will be okay."

"Sure." Finch walked back down the staircase. I still didn't understand why Finch would not want me to tell Tommy the truth. Wouldn't telling the truth to Tommy improve their relationship rather than destroy it? Well, Finch never liked to take too many risks, especially when it came to his safety and his relationship with his brothers, so it was evident that he was too paranoid and didn't want to take a chance, whether good or bad, that would drastically change their relationship for the better or the worst. Regardless, Tommy deserved to know the truth about what happened, but at the same time, I needed to know what happened to Tommy, especially with his panic attack. It was unusual for that to happen, but if it happened again, then not only would I make sure to keep Henry and Buttons away from Tommy at all times, but Tommy wouldn't be selling newspapers for a while, at least until he learned to deal with his panic attacks around those two, and possibly the others, more reasonably. Of course, he wouldn't be alone in dealing with his recently discovered hardship; I would help him out, and I am sure that the others who Tommy was on good terms with would also help him out. But the poor kid couldn't catch a break, could he?