Reincarnated ~ A Modern Newsies Au (Nowsies)

14 | And It All Went Wrong

In which going back to school was worse than expected.

I'm kinda scared that this is going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy haha. (Edit: oh, you sweet innocent me from a year ago. You had no idea this was going to come true.)

Read: it was all going so well (at least it kind of was), and now it's not.

You know how a lot of times I have sentences that you read as foreshadowing that actually aren't? That are *kind of* a mix of foreshadowing and irony? Yeah, that's gonna be real in this chapter.

Wow who has possessed me and written this dark intro?

Well, we'll just have to see how this turns out...

Enjoy! :)

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Warning: transphobia and homophobia

Monday morning came brutally and unforgivingly.

Especially for Tony, who accidentally couldn't fall asleep until 1:00 am. Legitimately not his fault; but no one--especially the school--would ever believe him.

Especially for Jack, who hates that his two week escapism period is over.

No matter how everyone is feeling, there is one thought that they all have in common:

All right. Let's get this over with.

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Nearly everyone at school looks tired. There are the rare few who look refreshed.

Tony envies anyone capable of falling asleep before midnight.

"This has got to go under cruel and unusual punishment," Tony grumbles as he and Sean walk into the building together, neither feeling fully awake.

"Probably," Sean agrees. "But the government and the country and the school like to pretend that the school system is completely functional without any faults, so no one's going to do anything about it."

Tony groans. "Are they aware of how many studies are in favor of middle schools and high schools starting later in the morning? And how some people are night owls, and can't go to sleep at the right time to get 8 to ten hours of sleep in the world we live in? Why did neurotypical cishetallo early birds get to make all the decisions of how the world works, and criticize anyone who doesn't follow their particular lifestyle?" He scoffs and shakes his head. "This is homophobic."

"Okay, I know it's fun to call everything homophobic," Sean reasons with him, "but I know that there are plenty of gays who can function before 9:00 am."

"Yeah, well, I'm not one of them," Tony mutters.

Sean gently steers Tony out of the way of nearly bumping into someone. 

"See? I rest my case," Tony declares.

Not that he clearly stated his definitive point anyway.

"Normally, I'd advise against ADHD and coffee..." Sean comments, "but I think you need it right now."

"False," Tony corrects him. "Coffee calms down people with ADHD. Too much science to explain right now. Still. You would be calming me down instead of waking me up."

"Oh, I didn't know that," Sean responds. "Sorry about that. I'll keep that in mind."

If Jack didn't get to see David first thing in the morning, he'd probably lose it.