Secrets Beneath Teenage Love: A Mighty Ducks and Newsies Story

Chapter 26 | Three Strikes

Saturday, October 25th
Location: Anastasia's bedroom

Anastasia cuddles deeper into her covers with a tear stained face as she thinks about her break up with Dean Portman. Everything in her wanted to run back to him and tell him that she didn't mean anything she said. But she knew that would be dishonest and unfair. As she grabs her cellphone from the white bedside table and turns it on she sees a picture of herself and Dean sitting in the grass smiling. Looking at the picture for several minutes running her fingers over Dean her heart aches even more. Anastasia closes her eyes as she reminisces about the memories she had with Dean. How his hand engulfs hers and how protective he was over her. As she took time to remember every moment with him a tear escaped her eye.

Was it worth us breaking up? Maybe I should call him? I miss him so much it hurts. I still have his leather jacket that could be my excuse to see him. She shakes her head knowing that was a bad idea when she knew she had feelings for Adam Banks too. That's how this mess was created in the first place. A picture of Adam Banks flashed before her eyes as she let a small smile sweep over her face. She picked up her phone and began to scroll through unanswered messages when she landed on 20 unread messages from the newsies chat Newsies of New York. She knew she neglected her friends in New York; but with all the current drama her life had she hoped that they would understand. She decided to only text Spot Conlon and Mush Meyers. Clicking on their names a new chat formed.

Lion Vlanterrin:
Mush? Spot? I know
we haven't talked in a
long time and I'm sorry.
A lot has happened and
I just well message me
when you can.

King of Brooklyn:
Ya haven't talked to the
Newsies in months. Ya only
talk to us when somethin
bad happens.

King of Brooklyn left the group chat.

Mush:
Spots right. That's not a
friendship worth havin.
I tried to text ya so many
times before you got kicked
out. You never replied.

Mush left the group chat.

Anastasia reads the line "before you got kicked out" numerous times letting it sink in. There was no way she got kicked out of the newsies. No one got kicked out unless they made three offenses and usually Jack would let them off easily. There had only ever been one Newsies kicked out; but that was because he was a Bronx newsie trying to get information for his leader about the turf war. That was before Jack became the leader of the Manhattan newsies. It was now clear why Mush and Spot wouldn't dare talk to her. One to show Jack they respected him and two Brooklyn and Manhattan were allies breaking that trust could cause damage for both
territories. The only way she could be a newsie again was if she talked to Jack himself. So, she clicked on his name as a new chat opened.

Lion Vlanterrin:
Hi Jack. Can we talk?
Delete.
Hey Jack, I know I
haven't been around
lately.
Delete.
Hey

As Anastasia sent the message her profile bubble popped up with a picture of her and Dean. It had been four days since they broke up and it had not gotten any easier. She clicked on her profile as a larger picture of her and Dean loaded. She decided to change her profile picture to a picture of herself. She then clicked on Portman's profile and saw that her name was not in his bio officially showing they had broken up. She went back to her bio and edited it deleting in a relationship with Dean Portman, #21 ❤️ She then saw she had messages from people in class wondering what had happened between her and Dean, not that it was any of their business. She began deleting their messages as a reply from Jack appeared at the top of her screen.