Time Truly Divides || Newsies Time Travel AU

Chapter 11

Davey and Jack grew very close in the following weeks so much that Medda saw him at her home almost as much as she saw her own sons.

Jack pretended he didn't feel strange feelings whenever he saw Davey. That was how people dealt with feelings, right? Just ignore them.

"Do you get it?" Davey asked after an hour of studying.

"I thinks so," Jack started slowly, "so a guy got shot and they started a war over it and it's called a World War even though it was basically just in Europe?"

Davey went to argue before nodding. "Sort of. That's better than earlier, though. I'll help you with dates and stuff, we only really need to know the cause, course and consequence so once you get those down, it's easy. Course is hardest because all the battles and everything is in there but I promise once you figure out which type of studying works best for you it's really easy to learn and... I'm rambling, sorry."

Jack, who had not listened to a word Davey had said, blinked and shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Dave. You can ramble all you want to me. I like listening to your voice."

"Thank, Jackie." The sound of Davey slapping his hands over his mouth rang out in the silent room. "I'm sorry, I don't know what that was. It just slipped out."

"No, Davey, I like it."

Davey looked at Jack and placed his hand on Jack's. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Good," Davey smiled before snapping back to his story mode. "Now, we should move onto English."

"English is boring," Jack complained. "And I don't get why they make us study it if we all speak it. And why do they take away marks if we spell stuff wrong when the letters are all funny. Why do they say a word is spelled one way when it looks another? It doesn't make sense."

"What do you mean?"

"Well some words are backwards to how people say they are spelled and other times they aren't and sometimes the letters are wrong. And some words just don't make sense."

"Jack, have you told anyone about this before?"

Jack shook his head. "No, just you. And everyone thinks I'm stupid but it's not my fault they won't make up their mind on how words are."

"Jackie, you should talk to Medda about this," Davey suggested.

"No. She has enough to worry about. I don't need to tell her."

"I can tell her for you, if you'd like. If it's a case of being scared to tell her."

"I'm not scared," Jack said quickly. "I just, I dunno."

"It's okay, Jack. You're able to ask for help." Jack just shrugged. "I'll talk to Medda when I'm going home, say I just noticed it. I'll pretend we didn't even have this discussion."

"Thanks, Davey, you're a good friend."

"No problem, Jackie." Jack didn't notice the sad smile of Davey's face.

~~~

A week later, Jack and Davey were on Jack's bedroom floor again studying.

"Thanks for helping me with studying, Dave," Jack said as they were about to start working on a new topic.

"It's no problem, Jack. I like being around you."

Davey smiled and pulled out a book, flicking through it until he found the right chapter. "How did you do in that test on Friday?" he asked, as he kept flicking through pages.

"I got a B plus," Jack said. "I know it's not great but I guess I'm happy enough."

"Jack, that's amazing. I'm so proud of you."

Jack blushed and fiddled with his pen. "Thanks. I guess it's not a terrible score."

"It's a great score. You're really smart, Jack, even if you don't believe that you are."

The studied for a while, Jack even getting to help Davey with math. It made him feel good to repay Davey for helping him.

"Miss Medda is bringing me to a special doctor today," he blurted out. "Because of when you talked to her."

"What kind of a doctor?"

"I don't really know. Miss Medda thinks I've got dyslex-something."

"Dyslexia?"

Jack's eyes lit up as a smile came over his face. "You've heard of it?"

"Yeah. I know one or two people with it."

"Really?"

Davey nodded and told Jack, "It's not something super rare. About 30 million or so people have it just in America."

"So I'm not weird? It's something normal?"

"Kind of," Davey shrugged. "It's not not normal. But it isn't something abnormal. You definitely aren't weird, Jackie." Jack nodded slightly, his face giving everything away as he tried to look sure. "What I'm trying to say is, you're not weird. You're cool."

"Oh, thanks."

The door opened suddenly, hitting the wall with a bang. "Oops, sorry, didn't mean to push it so hard," Race mumbled, laughing slightly to himself. "Jack, Momma says you need to get ready to go. Oh. Hi, David. What are you doing here?"

"I'm helping Jack study. Is that okay?"

"No. Wait, yes. I mean- it's okay. Just Momma wants to leave in five minutes and Jack doesn't even have shoes on."

"I'll put my shoes on and be down in a minute, Race. Tell Miss Medda that I'm finishing up with Davey."

Race shrugged and left. Jack turned back to Davey and smiled. "Sorry. But, yeah, I have that fancy appointment and I guess it's now. I didn't realise."

Davey placed a hand on Jack's shoulder and looked at him with that expression that could calm Jack down without fail. "Jack, you're going to be okay. I'll see you tomorrow in school."

Jack nodded and watched as Davey packed his things up and left the room. Reluctantly, he grabbed his nice shoes from where they were sitting by his bedroom door and pulled them on. A moment later he pulled them back off again and decided that he would just wear the comfortable shoes Medda had bought him that had yet to prove bad.

"Jack, are you ready to go, darling?" Medda asked as he sat on the floor by the front door.

"Yeah," Jack answered, standing up and shoving his hands in his pockets to fight the urge to fiddle with them.

Medda just smiled at him and led him out of the house and to the car. Jack wasn't sure if he'd ever get used to the concept of a car. He supposed it was similar to a carriage but he'd never been in a carriage so he couldn't know if it was similar. Well, he had sort of been in a carriage but Jack didn't think that hiding under a carriage counted as being in one.

"What were you and David working on today?" Medda asked as they left the house and started to make their way.

"Just some English stuff. Poetry and whatnot."

"You and David seem to be getting on very well."

Jack smiled to himself and shrugged, trying to hide the fact that his smile kept broadening. "He's really nice to me and doesn't mind if it takes me a while to get stuff. I think he's my best friend."

"That's great, honey. I'm glad you're so happy."

~~~
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