All is fair in Love and Strikes (Sprace)

Chapter 15 | Race

"Stop da Woild! No more papes! Stop da Woild! No more papes!" The whole lot of us were chanting outside the distribution center. When the hell is Pulitzer finally get the message and give in? Tumbler and another kid start fighting and Dave called out to me. "Race! Help me! I need some help!" 

"Alright! I ain't deaf!" I replied, annoyed. Spot pushed to the front of the mob, breaking up the fight Tumbler was in. "Hey, hey, hey! Break it up." Tumbler retreated to Skittery and Spot called to me. "Hey, Race, come here."  I glanced at Dave and he nodded in response. "You'll be fine," he whispered. Spot grabbed my arm and pulled me over. I took a deep breath to calm me down. "What is it?" 

"Tell me I'm seeing things. Just tell me I'm seeing things." I followed his gaze. There was Jack. Dressed in some fancy suit. "No, you ain't seein' things. That's Jack. What's he doin'?"

"He's dressed like a scabba!" I rolled my eyes. "Thank's captain obvious," I mumbled under my breath. Mush noticed Jack and pushed to the front with us. "Jack? Jack, look at me, will ya? Come on, it's me, Mush. Look at me. What are ya doin', Jack?" While the police were trying to hold us back, Blink and Boots joined us up front. "This ain't happenin'. This can't be happenin'. What're ya doin' Jack? Come on, what're ya doin'?" Blink asked in denial. "Come on. What is dis? Where'd ya get dem clothes?" Boots asked. 

"Mr. Pulitzer picked them out himself. A special gift to a special new employee." Weasel said smugly. Spot got mad. "He sold us out!" 

"I'll give you a new suit! Ya bum! I'll soak ya!" I added. Everything that had happened in the past few days washed away in a flood of anger. Why would Jack, our leader, sell us out for those assholes? Spot pushed me away so I wouldn't go beat the shit out of our so called leader. "Hey, hey, hey! Lemme get me hands dirty. Come 'ere you dirty rotten scabba! Traitor!" He tried jumping through the wall of police but me, Mush, Boots, and Blink pulled him back. All of a sudden Weasel called over to Davey. "Aww. You wanna talk to him? Come on, come on. Sure. Go right ahead." Davey walked up to Jack. They conversed for a bit (not kindly I may add) before Davey yelled: "Well, that's good. That's good because we don't need you! We don't need you! All those words you said, those were mine." A few more words were exchanged before David walked back toward us, spun around, and lunged back at Jack. Weasel and few of the cops pulled him back and tossed him back into our ranks of ragged newsboys. Jack was taken back into the distribution center while the rest of us called out things like "traitor!", "you make me sick," and "I trusted you". "Seize the day, huh Jack?" I yelled. 

Les looked up at us and suggested: "He's foolin' 'em, so he can spy on 'em or something. Yeah, yeah, that's it. He's foolin' 'em!" 

"Yeah, he's spying on them kid," I falsely assured him, annoyed but in that calm tone you use with little kids. We headed to the lodging house. "I'll meet you'se lata!" I called out to the others before ducking into an alley way. I pulled a cigar out of my pocket and lit it, the soft glow of the match lighting the shaded alley.  Well shit, I thought. First  crutchie is caught, then the boys catch me committing suicide, Jack gets thrown into the refuge, then it turns out he's now a good for nuttin' scabber. I took a drag from the cigar, numbing my brain some. I looked at the burning end of the cigar. Subconsciously I pressed it on my arm. I hissed from the pain and pulled away the cigar. I watched as the burn blistered and filled with fluid. Suddenly, a bundle of garbage cans started clanging together. I retreated into a shadow just as an old, stray, tabby cat jumped out. I let out a sigh of relief and walked back to the nearby lodging house, dubbing this as a good time to scram.

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As I came up the stairs, I heard hushed whispers. Like the day I found the boys with the pictures, they were crowded in the middle of the room. The whispers stopped as I walked in. They all looked at me, some with that glassed over look in their eyes that you get from crying. "Hey?" I said, though it came out more like a question. I turned to go to my bunk but something was wrong. The mattress was propped diagonally between the floor and the side of the bed frame. I rushed over, praying that it wouldn't be the worst but those prayers were left unanswered. The wooden panel hiding the secret compartment was slid back.

I spun on my heel facing the others who were still watching me. I choked back the fear though it was still slightly audible in my voice. "How did you know?" 

"I saw you hide it last night. I took it when we came in as a joke but..." Albert trailed off and glanced back at the worn out journal that had only been read by me up until now. I felt my anger boil. "HOW COULD IT BE A JOKE IN DA FOIST PLACE?!?" I screamed. "DAT'S POISONAL STUFF AND YOU THINK IT'S FUNNY TO SNEAK INTA POOR OL' RACETRACK'S PRIVATE INFO'MATION??"  The newsies cowered back. I stomped over and stole my journal back, swatting Albert with it several times before I broke down and collapsed. I laid on my side with my face in my knees. "Race," 

"SHUT UP," I yelled, cutting Specs off. "JUST SHUT DA HELL UP!" Mush and David came and put an arm around me and I sank in to the small gesture of comfort. "You guys knew didn't you'se?" Skittery asked the two in a calm yet accusatory tone. The two shared a glance and nodded. "When?" 

"The day when we were spreading the word, we had to drag Race across Brooklyn bridge so they explained the situation to me," Davey answered. "An' I kinda always knew. Same fo-ah Jack," Mush added. Skittery turned to me. "Why didn't ya tell us Racer?" 

"Did ya not read da entry?" I mumbled. He sighed. "Racetrack," Buttons started. "We wouldn't have chucked you out." 

"Right."

"No, we wouldn't 'ave. You're just as good as any of us, even with your quirks. We all have 'em."

"Yeah!" Blink added, then turned to face everyone. "Imma take dis moment to announce dat I, Louis 'Kid Blink' Ballatt, am also a homosexual!" As soon as he said this, Blink pulled Mush off the ground where he was comforting me and smashed their lips together. "Ha! Jojo ya owe me a buck!" Finch cheered. Blink and Mush pulled away very red in the face as Jojo reluctantly handed Finch a dollar. "I knew Blush would happen," I lightly chuckled, wiping the remaining tears off my face. "Shut up," Mush laughed. "Well I'se jus' wanna say on behalf of all da newsies that we still love all of you'se no matta what!" Buttons said as he wrapped us in a hug. The others agreed as they joined the hug. This time, I didn't push them off. I was too lucky to have this group of people.