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

The Writing Begins

TW: Little Talk of Alcohol

Crutchie POV
I smiled at Elmer and we started walking out of the cafeteria. I would have to text my dad and tell him someone was going to come over, so he either wouldn't show up or he would just not drunk. I turned away from these thoughts and back to the present. As we entered the halls, Elmer let go of my hand. Although I missed the warmth, I knew it was probably best. Not only would the gang split in two, the school also wasn't that accepting. People had to fight tooth and claw just to get a GSA club, and even still the school is ridden with homophobes, biphobes, and transphobes.

Luckily, nobody else knew about Romeo and Specs. People also didn't know that Romeo and Finch were trans, for the teachers were accepting enough to use proper names and pronouns. I didn't know about Pulitzer, but from what Jack had said about their meeting, he probably was like the majority of the student body.

"Crutchie?" Elmer asked, tapping the top of my head. "You good? You zoned out and almost missed you class." I laughed a little.

"I'm fine, promise." I added the last part after seeing him raise an eyebrow.

"Okay, see you later," he said with a smile. I loved that smile. I smiled back before going into class. I sat down with a small sigh. This was a class I had without any of the gang. It was still fun though, because Talyn, Joan, and Thomas were in it with me.

"Hey Crutch," Joan said as they walked in. They sat down next to me, and Thomas sat down on my other side.

"Hey guys," I responded as Talyn sat next to Joan. "Whatcha up to?" I asked. Thomas shrugged.

"Nothing much, although after school we are all going to my house to film. We had a great new idea for a video, AND there is going to be a new character!" Thomas said, radiating excitement. I chuckled a little bit.

"I can't wait to see, can I get a hint of what he represents though?" I said with a smirk. Thomas glanced at Joan and Talyn, who both nodded in agreement.

"Okay, he represents creativity." Thomas said. I gaped at him, thoroughly confused. They all laughed at my expression.

"What do you mean?! Thats Roman," I said. They all laughed a little bit harder.

"I guess you will have to wait to figure it out!" Talyn said, right before the teacher started talking. I shot them a glare and focused on what the teacher was saying.

~~~Time of the Skips~~~

Once third period ended, I said goodbye to Joan, Talyn, and Thomas, wishing them good luck while filming. I met up with Spot, Romeo, Specs, Albert, and Race for fourth period. We had a class called writing and research. It was a stupid class, and the only work was every week you had to turn in a written assignment that was longer than a page. It was stupid, but also fun and mostly a study hall.

"Hey guys, maybe we can work on the Newsies Banner thing during this!" Albert said suddenly. I nodded eagerly in agreement. We all grabbed our computers and made a new document. Race, Spot, and I started writing while Romeo, Albert, and Specs did things to make it look nicer like fonts. Those three were in graphic design so they knew what looked best. We also shared the document with the rest of the gang for when they wanted to get on later.

The banner started coming along nicely, and it sounded amazing. I smiled and started to re-read and edit it. I fixed a few mistakes here and there, but mostly it was perfect. What gelt like minutes went by when the bell rang. I packed up my stuff and walked out with the others. We walked out of the school and split away from each other. I stayed to the side and waited for Elmer.

"Hey," A voice said, and I jumped.

"Geeze Elm don't scare me like that!" I said indignantly while turning around. Elmer had snuck up on me. Elmer laughed a little and smiled. I couldn't stay mad at him, so I smiled as well. "Let's get going," I said and started walking. I noticed Jack out of the corner of my eye, and I knew he probably wanted to talk to me. I'll text him later. I promised myself, then focused on the path home.