Carrying the banner ||Newsies|| (♡ Jack Kelly)

v.

~ There is change coming, once and for all ~

[ C h a p t e r  f i v e ]

{ p a s t }

We walk up the stairs and towards the last room on the left. Snyder is holding my wrist and I am trying to get out of his grip and run out of this godforsaken place. "Let me go!" I yell. "I am sure you are going to enjoy your time here." he says pulling me towards the room. "You bastard! You bribed the judge! You probably do every single time someone comes to you. You are a disgusting man!" I continue to yell as I try to get myself free. Snyder gives one hard pull and we stop at the door of the room. Before I even read the look on his face he slaps me hard across my cheek. "You need to learn some manners, little girl. While you are here you'll do exactly as I say or else you will be in a cell." he says. Before I can make a sassy comment back he opens the door and throws me into the room. He throws me with such force that I stumble and fall on the ground. He closes the door and I growl loudly. I stand up with a grunt. Then the door opens again and he throws some clothing at me, I don't catch it but look angrily at him. "You are expected to wear this." he says. I lunge towards the door but before I reach him he closes the door and I slam my hands hard onto the door. "You bastard! I will get you!" I yell as I kick against the door. I let out a frustrated sigh and flip my hear out of my face. I turn around and see that everyone is looking at me sheepishly. "What?" I say with a harsh voice as I take the clothes Snyder threw at me of the ground. "We've never heard a girl stand up to Snyder like that before, or a boy for that matter." a boy says. It's the same boy with brown hair and hazel eyes who called me sweetheart just like Snyder did when he brought me to this room earlier this day. "Well, you should stand up to him, Dan Leno." I say. "That's not my name you know." he says. "Well then gentleman, what is your name." I ask with a hint of irritation in my voice. "Jack Kelly." he says as he extends his hand. "Clara Anderson" I say as I shake his hand.

{ p r e s e n t }

Jack crouches down so he can hear what Dave is going to say. "If we stick together like the trolly workers, then they can't break us up." David says. Someone smacks a pile of newspapers onto the pedestal, Jack grabs one and starts singing.
"Pulitzer and Hearst they think they got us.
Do they got us?" Jack sings as he rips the newspaper in half.
"No!" everybody yells. Everybody bends towards David to listen to what he is gonna say. "We're a union now, the newsboy union. We have to start acting like a union." he says and everybody nods.
"Even tho we ain't got hats or badges.
We're a union just by saying so.
And The World will know." Jack sings. "What's to stop someone else from sellin' our papers?" Boots asks as Jack crouches down. "We'll talk with them." Jack says. "Some of 'em don't hear so good." Racetrack says. "Well, then we'll soak them!" Jack yells. "No." Dave and I yell at the same time. "We can't beat up kids in the street, it'll give us a bad name." Dave says. "Can't get any worse." Crutchy says as he throws a stick at Jack.
"What's it gonna take to stop the wagons?
Are we ready?" Jack sings, totally ignoring me and David.
"Yeah!" everybody yells. "No!" Dave and I yell again, but everyone is already cheering.
"What's it gonna take to stop the scabbers?
Can we do it?" Jack sings.
"Yeah!" everyone yells. I sigh Jack is being such an ass right now.
"We'll do what we gotta do until we break the will of mighty Bill and Joe." Jack sings and he uses his leg to break the stick in half at the word break. "And The World will know." everybody sings.
"And The Journal too
Mr. Hearst and Pulitzer have we got news for you." they continue as they turn around to look at The World building.
"Now The World will hear
What we've got to say
We've been hawkin' headlines
But we're makin' 'em today
And our ranks will grow." Everybody is singing except for me and David.
"And we'll kick their rear." Crutchy sings.
"And the world will know
That we've been here" they all sing as they start ripping up the newspapers. Jack jumps off of the pedestal and starts to walk behind it.
"When the circulation bell starts ringing
Will we hear it?" he sings.
"No!" everybody yells as they follow Jack around the back of the statue.
"What if the Delanceys come out swinging
Will we hear it?"
"No!"
"When ya got a hundred voices singing
Who can hear a lousy whistle blow?" they all sing as they walk onto the road and look at The World building and then they start dancing. Dave and I look at each other as we are the only ones left in front of the Horace Greeley statue. We start to walk towards the road.
"And the world will know
That this ain't no game
That we got a ton of rotten fruit and perfect aim." they sing as they walk towards the gates which are closing. A few boys leap up against the gate and everybody punches their fists into the air.
"So they gave their word
But it ain't worth beans
Now they're gonna see what stop the presses really means." they sing as they start to walk through each other and face the entrance of The World building once again. Dave and I are standing in the middle of them as they continue to sing and dance.
"And the day has come
And the time is now
And the fear is gone." David and I walk cluelessly between the boys.
"And their name is mud." Boots sings.
"And the strike is on." everybody sings.
"And I can't stand blood." Boots sings.
"And the world will..." they all sing. David and I walk towards the front.
"Pulitzer may own the world But he don't own us!" Jack sings. I look around me as the boys start dancing again. I must say it looks pretty funny. I walk towards the entrance doors of The World building, lean against a pillar and look at the guys. David is standing in the front row now looking clueless.
"Pulitzer may own The World but he don't own us." everybody sings. Jack steps towards David and grabs his shoulders.
"Pulitzer may crack the whip but he won't whip us." he sings as he shakes David's shoulders.
"Pulitzer may crack the whip but he won't whip us!" everybody sings and Jack releases David's shoulders and runs towards the ladder that leads towards the little platform so that people can write the headlines onto the chalkboard. Jack starts climbing the ladder as everybody keeps singing and dancing.
"And The World will know
And The World will learn
And The World will wonder
How we made the tables turn." everybody sings and they split up and two boys do these fancy cartwheeling tricks in the middle.
"And The World will see
That we had to choose
That the things we do today
Will be tomorrow's news." everybody comes together again.
"And the old will fall." they sing as they go down towards their knees which leaves David standing in the middle of the crowd.
"And the young stand tall
And the time is now
And the winds will blow
And our ranks will grow and
Grow and grow." they stand up one by one and walk behind David.
"And so The world will feel the Fire and fin'lly know!" David is singing with them now. They take a few steps forward and raise their fist slowly into the air.
When the song is over they all start to cheer and throw their hats into the air. I look around the square. There are quite a few people standing watching them and talking with each other while pointing at the chalkboard. "Strike! Strike! Strike!" the boys begin to chant. Jack climbs down the ladder and all the boys cheer at him and he gets a few pats on the back. Jack walks towards David, enjoying all of the attention he is getting. Jack stops in front of David who is standing in front of the double doors leading into the building. "We gotta get word out to all the newsies in New York. I need some of those...uhh...What do you call them?" he says towards Dave as he makes some weird motions with his hands. "Ambassadors?" Dave asks. "Yeah." Jack says as he steps in front of the double doors and faces the boys, David joins him on his right and I am leaning on the pillar on his left. "Right, you guys gotta be embastards and tell 'em we're on strike!" everybody chuckles at his embastards joke. "Say, Jack, I'll take Harlem." Kid Blink says and he walks away. "Yeah, I got midtown." Racetrack says and walks after Kid Blink. "I got the Bowery, Jack." Mush says and walks after Racetrack. "Hey, I'll take the Bronx." Crutchy says. "Come on." he says as he grabs a little boy and takes him with him. "All right, Bumlets, Specs, and Skittery, you take Queens." Jack says as he points at the boys. They nod and walk away. "And Pie Eater, Snoddy, east sides." he says and they walk away. "Snikeshooter, you go with them." Jack says as he pushes Snipeshooter out of his sitting positions and Snipeshooter runs after them. "So, what about Brooklyn? Who wants Brooklyn?" Jack asks. They all try to avoid Jack's eyes by scratching their necks, looking to the sky or the ground. "Come on, Spot Conlon's territory." Jack tries to encourage them. They turn even further away when they hear his name. Hah, they are afraid of Spot? I try to hold in my laugh because these boys being scared of Spot Conlon is too much to handle. "Whatsamatter? Scared of Brooklyn?" Jack asks. "Hey, we ain't scared of Brooklyn." Boots says with a though attitude. "Spot Conlon makes us a little nervous." he says in a weaker voice. "Yeah." a boy in the crowd says. I burst out laughing and for the second time this day, all eyes turn towards me. I can't stop laughing because of the look on their faces. "Let me guess you are laughing because Spot Conlon makes them a little nervous?" Jack asks as he turns around to look at me. I stop laughing and look at him. "Yes." I say. "And you aren't scared of him?" Jack asks me as he takes a step towards me. "Off that little guy? No." I say crossing my arms and taking a step towards him too. "Well rookie. How 'bout you and I go to Brooklyn." he says as he takes another step towards me and grins at me. Rookie? How dare he. All I wanna do now is wipe that stupid grins off of his face. I look at him angrily. "I have a name you know." I say. "Yeah, well what is it?" he asks me. "Hunter." I say. "Well Hunter." he says mocking my voice. "We take Dave with us." he says and he swings his arm around Dave's shoulder. "Right, Dave?" Jack asks him. "Sure, just as soon as you take our demands to Pulitzer." Dave says. Jack stands up straight. "Me to Pulitzer?" he asks. "Well, you're the leader, Jack." I say placing my hands on his shoulder and shaking them. I grin at him as he looks a little nervous. Jack looks at the huge doors of the World Building, steeling himself. He starts for them, then has a thought turns around and grabs Les. "Well, maybe the kid will soften him up a little." Jack says and everybody cheers as they enter the building. They all start chanting strike again and slowly walk away waiting for Jack and Les to come back. Dave and I look at each other. "So we are really going on strike huh?" he says. "Yep we are." I say and we laugh. A little boy walks up to David and starts to shake is hand. A man with a brown hat walks up to us. "What is this strike? What's going on?" he asks. "We're bringing our demands to Pulitzer." David says. "What demands?" he asks. "The newsies' demands. We're on strike." David says. "Huh. I'm with The New York Sun. I'm Bryan Denton. You seem like the kid in charge. What's your name?" he asks David. I look at him suspiciously. What does this man want? "David." David says a little suspiciously. "David. David as in David and Goliath?" he says. Dave chuckles. "You really think old man Pulitzer's going to listen to your demands?" he asks. "He has to." David says and at that instant the big doors swing open and Jack and Les are pushed out of the building. "Out, hooligan!" a man yells. "So's your ol' lady! You tell Pulitzer he needs an appointment with me!" Jack yells back at the man as the doors slowly close. "Yeah!" Les yells in agreement just before the doors fully close. They turn around and face us. "Guess that didn't go to well did it?" I ask Jack with a smirk on my face. He makes a face at me and looks at David. He sees Denton standing beside David. "Who's that?" he asks as he steps forward. "I'm Bryan Denton. I'm with The New York Sun." he says as he holds his hand out for Jack to shake. Jack looks at his hand and then at the man. He decides to shake it. "Jack Kelly." he says. "Jack is our leader." David says. Denton takes a good look at Jack. "How about I buy you boys some lunch and you can tell me the story." he says. "Whatdya mean story?" Jack asks. "The story of the newsies who are going up against the most powerful man in New York?" Denton says. Jack's face brightens up. Yep, he loves attention, and getting in a newspaper will certainly sound interesting to Jack. "Sounds like a plan." he says. They start walking away and I am debating if I should follow or not. "Keep up rookie." Jack says to me as he turns around to face me with a big smirk on his face. I point at him with an angry face, take a deep breath and ball my hands into fists and then I follow them.

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2530 words
(21/09/2020)