Time Truly Divides || Newsies Time Travel AU

Chapter 13

TW: Violence, injuries and blood.

Jack leapt away from Davey suddenly, breathing heavily as the shock of what he just did started to set in. "Davey, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do that. I'm sorry."

"Jack, breathe, you're panicking," Davey said slowly, placing a hand onto Jack's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Dave. Please don't hate me." Jack stood and shoved his notes and pens into his bag roughly. "I'm going to go. I'm sorry."

Davey tried calling after Jack as he rushed out of the apartment, saying a quick goodbye to Davey's parents as he left. He tried to talk to Jack in school the next day but was unsuccessful when Jack kept avoiding him and Crutchie and Race wouldn't tell him where Jack was.

The next time he saw Jack was covered in blood, unconscious on the ground at the back of the school.

~~~

Jack had been avoiding Davey and he knew for definite that Davey would be in the cafeteria at lunch. So Jack took to eating his lunch in either the abandoned bathroom or the abandoned staircase.

The staircase was less embarrassing in case anyone else saw him.

It also proved to be a nice place where he could just eat in peace and quiet and draw in his sketchbook. Medda had noticed him drawing one day and asked if he'd like to design the sets for the school shows. She said he might even get to paint them too, if he wanted to.

So Jack took the alone time to design the sets and take a break from trying to perfect drawing Davey.

It wasn't weird how much he drew Davey. Davey just happened to have a face that Jack could never do justice in his drawings and he was determined to do a perfect portrait. Not drawing Davey was also a perfect opportunity to ignore what had happened with him just a few days before.

"Francis?" A voice caused Jack to freeze, his pencil still midway through drawing the mountains for the main set design.

"Um, hello? Francis?" Jack didn't want to turn. He wasn't Francis anymore. He was Jack. Not Francis.

"Francis Sullivan? What the hell are you doing here?" Another voice asked. 

The angry tone in the voice scared Jack. He knew who's voices they were but didn't want to dare looking for fear that it would be true.

"Hey, we're talking to you." A hand roughly shoved Jack's shoulder. Jack closed his sketch pad and held it close to his chest.

"Leave me alone," Jack said, pulling away from the hand and trying to walk back to the corridor he'd come through to get to the staircase.

"That's no way to greet old friends, Francis," Oscar sneered.

But it couldn't be Oscar, Oscar was from 1898. Jack was imagining things. Then again nobody else knew his real name was Francis and that he just wanted a new start as Jack.

"We're not friends." Jack looked between to two brothers as he spoke. "Now leave me alone."

"Leave me alone," Morris mocked. "Little Francis thinks he can tell us what to do. After we were such great friends with him back in The Sun. But, no, Francis moves to The World and suddenly we're nothing."

"We were never friends."

Morris rolled his eyes. "Can you believe this, Oscar? After our years of friendship he just says that. I think we should remind him just how good of friends we were."

Oscar grabbed Jack's arm suddenly and pulled him in the direction of the door to the running track that was strictly out of bounds at lunch times. Jack tried to fight but found it futile when Morris grabbed his other arm and the brothers nearly dragged him to under the bleachers just off the track.

"Listen, fellas, we don't gotta do nothing we'll regret. Let's just talk this out."

"It's too late to talk, Sullivan. You said all we needed to know."

A memory flashed through Jack's mind. A school, similar but different to where they were right then, and Morris and Oscar, standing in front of him, threatening him. Jack felt like he was going to throw up.

Taking advantage of his second of weakness, he was shoved backwards into the bleachers, his head hitting off a metal bar. With sloppy movements, Jack tried to push away the brothers when they came near him but was almost always overpowered.

Hits and hits came upon him and Jack did all the could to fight back. It never worked. He was never good enough.

"Oscar, you still got those brass knuckles Uncle Weisel got us?"

Jack looked between the two, shaking his head. "Please. Please don't."

"Oh, he said please. I guess we should leave him alone."

"But, Morris, our brass knuckles haven't busted any skulls in ages. They'll be so sad," Oscar sneered, putting a fake pout on his face.

"You're right, Oscar. It'd be rude to the knuckles. I'll let you have some fun."

Oscar grinned and slid the brass knuckles onto his hand. As he stepped up to Jack, Jack tried to move away but was stopped as Morris grabbed him from behind.

"Let me go," he shouted. The bell ring loudly, making Jack realise just how long it had been. "The bell went. You'll get us all in trouble."

"That's seriously not our biggest problem."

"Please," Jack begged as he was beaten and shoved to the ground and kicked and spat on and his ankle stood on so hard that it cracked loudly and made Jack scream in pain.

"Morris, we gotta get out of here. Someone's probably heard him."

Morris looked at Oscar, then Jack, before looking back at Oscar and nodding. "Yeah. I say we just ditch."

"Sound good."

Morris kicked Jack one last time in the ribs before him and Morris rushed away, leaving Jack alone, cold and in pain on the hard concrete ground.

~~~

Davey wasn't skipping class when he heard it, although some might have thought that. He was on his way to gym class from the guidance counsellor's office after a check-up on how he'd been settling in.

The scream had sounded so familiar but he couldn't put his finger on it. Being a curious person, he went past the track to get to his gym class instead of through the halls.

When he was walking past the bleachers and saw someone on the ground behind it, especially when that someone had an awfully familiar hairstyle to Jack's, he couldn't help but go see if the needed help. At the sight of Jack, he dropped to his knees beside him and hovered his hands above Jack, not sure where would hurt the least to touch.

"Jack?" he called. "Jack? Are you okay?"

Jack turned his head slightly and blinked. "Dave?"

"Jackie, what happened?"

"It hurts."

Davey felt something stab his heart at the sight of Jack so hurt. "I know, do you think you can walk to the nurse's office?" Jack shook his head. "Even if I help."

"I can't, Davey. My ankle."

"Okay," Davey said slowly, trying to plan a strategy to get Jack help. "I'll go get help and you stay awake. Promise me?"

"I'll do my best."

Davey tried to give Jack a reassuring smile but it came out as more of a grimace than he would have liked. After a few minutes of Davey being gone, Jack fought hard to keep his eyes open and his mind awake but failed when everything just became too much for him.

~~~
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