Carrying The Banner//A Modern Day Newsies Story//COMPLETED

New Kid in Town

TW: 'Crip' Used as a Slurr

Jack POV
I tapped the new kids shoulder lightly. He spun around and looked at me with... fear? I chuckled silently and wrote on a paper 'you dont have to be scared. i'm jack.' The kid seemed to calm down a tiny bit and wrote 'I'm David.' I was about to write something else down when the teacher yelled,

"Okay everyone time is up! Come put your papers in the tray and you have the rest of the period to talk with each other." I smiled and turned to David.

"So I take it your new here?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yep, but hopefully this will be my last school before college." I noted it sounded like he moved around a lot.

"You can say no, but I was wonderin if ya wanted to eat lunch with me and my friends?" I asked. David seemed to think it over for a second then nodded, smiling.

"I would love to!" I smiled too and looked at the clock.

"Bells 'bout to ring. I'll see you at lunch." I said to David, who nodded. I went back over to the cluster of desks with Elmer and Crutchie.

"So is he joining us?!" Crutchie and Elmer asked at the same time, dissolving into a fit of giggles after. I smiled fondly.

"Yeah he is."

Crutchie POV
I clapped my hands together. I was excited the new boy was sitting with us, for he seemed nice. We chatted a little bit longer until the bell rang. I walked out last, having to grab my crutch as well as my other things. Jack and Elmer had offered to help but I declined.

I walked outside and towards my next class, english. I was nearing it when I heard voices. I knew exactly whose.

"Hey there, crip." At this, I tried to speed up. I felt a hand roughly grab my arm, spinning me around. I came face to face with Oscar and Morris Delancy.

"Thought you would get away?!" Morris spat at me. I felt fear take a hold of me as I stiffened. Morris drew his fist back and-

"Boys?" I almost smiled with relief as a teacher walked over to us. Oscar growled and let me go.

"This isn't over crip!" He snarled at me. I was barely able to hear, so I knew the teacher didn't. Him and Morris stalked away. I thanked the teacher and made it into english. English was mostly just getting to know each other games. Once the bell rang I sprinted towards the cafeteria. When I got to our table Race, Specs, and Elmer were already there. I sat down next to Elmer and where Spot would sit. People trickled in and soon we were just waiting for Jack and the new kid.

I looked over and saw Jack walking into the cafeteria with the new kid, who looked nervous. It looked like the poor guys head was spinning. Jack sat down next to Kathrine and patted the other seat for the new kid.

"Hey everyone, this is Davey, he's new and I thought he could eat with us." Jack said. Everyone nodded. "Davey this is Kathrine, Specs, Spot, Crutchie, Elmer, Finch, Romeo, Race, and Albert." Jack pointed to us in turn. When he said my name I smiled, and I saw Davey had a confused look. Once Jack finished I spoke up.

"By the way, they call me Crutchie because of this." I said, holding up the crutch so he could see it. I saw a little bit of pity in his eyes, that made me annoyed. Other than that it was mostly just understanding. We talked for a little, just to get to know the new kid.

"What clubs are you gonna sign up for?" Spot asked Davey.

"Oh uhh, what clubs are there?" Davey asked.

"GSA,"
"STEM Club,"
"4H, for some reason,"
"Volleyball Club, 'cause we don't have a real team."
"Book Club,"
"Experiment Club, they pretty much just do science experiments."
"And the best of all, Newspaper Club." Elmer finished off.

"All of us are in Newspaper Club." Katherine said. Davey nodded and looked like he was thinking it over. He smiled and looked around.

"I do like writing news,"