This Ain't Just Newsies No More ~ Sprace & Javid

12 | Lion's Den | Jack

Ok so technically it's Jack's perspective but it's more of a fluid Jack/David omniscient narrator--which is exactly how I like it. Dang I do a lot of Jack's perspective. It's just that you can see how much he adores David. After the strike...actually I won't guess whose perspective will be most dominant, but I think it'll be Race (you're welcome :) ). I prewrote most of this, and I used the Newsies script to write this scene, so it will look a lot similar to the movie, but I added in a few finishing touches and missing scenes ;). Anyway. Enjoy! :)

Jack doesn't try to repress the smirk he feels forming when he walks in the building with David by his side and finds everyone working there in a mess. Nothing like this has ever happened.

"Extra, extra, Joe." he puts a paper on Pulitzer's desk. "Read all about it."

Pulitzer picks it up, silent. "I promised that if you defied me, I'd break you," he says. "I'll keep that promise, boy. All your friends, they can go to the Refuge right away. Your friend here, he'll go too. Now, I gave you a chance to be free. I don't understand. Anyone who doesn't act in their own self interest is a fool."

"Then what does that make you?" David blurts out, mind racing. All three of them are surprised. A small smile creeps up Jack's face. David's come so far.

"What?" Pulitzer spits out.

"Oh this is my pal, Davey," Jack tells him, putting an arm around David and turning to look at his face, grinning. "The Walkin' Mouth."

David grins back. Then he continues on. "You talk about self interest, but since the strike, your circulation is down by 70%. Everyday you're losing thousands of dollars just to beat us out of one lousy tenth of a cent. Why?"

"You see, it ain't about the money, Dave," Jack realizes. "If Joe gives in to nobodies like us, it means we got the power. And he can't do that, no matter what it costs. Am I right, Joe? Or am I right?"

"I sent for the police," Pulitzer says coldly. "They must be here by now."

"I'm not going back to jail, Joe," Jack responds instantly, voice shaking only a little. "No one else is either. Look out here. RIght out here is where the power is." He opens up the window wide.

"STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE!" the people down below are chanting.

"Close that window!" Pulitzer screeches, horrified. "Go home! Go home! Go home!"

"I can't hear ya, Joe!" Jack shouts.

"Go home! Go! Go home!" Pulitzer continues to yell at the people outside to no avail.

"I can't hear ya!"

"Now you listen to me, boy!" Pulitzer turns around to face Jack.

"Maybe you should listen!" Jack shouts.

"No, you listen to me!"

"No! You listen!"

"Shut the window!"

"No! You wanna know why, Joe?" Jack doesn't hold anything back. "There's a lot of people out there and they ain't just gonna go away. They got voices now, and they're goin' be listened to. Putting them in jail ain't gonna stop them! Any of them! They're just gonna keep comin' back. Nothin's gonna stop them! Ya hear? Nothin'! That's the power of the press, Joe." He breathes in deeply. Then, to finish his statement, "So thank you for teaching me about it."

"I ordered a printing ban on all strike matters," Pulitzer mutters. "Who defied me? Who's press did you use?" Pause. Nothing. Only Jack's smug smile. "Answer me! Who's. Press. Did. You. Use?"

"Well we only used the best, Joe." Jack tells him innocently.

"So for both of us," David adds, making a bold move. He gets in Pulitzer's face. "And all of us out there, I say, thank you."And then he backs away. Jack has never felt prouder of him. When the realization hits Pulitzer, they watch his face change to an expression of sheer horror.

And then they leave.

Jack closes the door behind him.

"So," David starts. "He talked about putting everyone in jail and not acting in self interest."

Jack knew this was coming. "Yeah." They continue to walk down stairs.

"Any correspondence with what happened that night before you turned on us?"

Jack winces at that. "Not my best decision. But Davey..." he sighs. "He threatened you and Les. It was really bad. He threatened everyone. But...it hit differently when he mentioned you."

"Hey." David stops them. Jack averts his eyes. David puts his finger on Jack's chin and turns his head to face him. "None of it could have been easy for you. If I were told either to join Pulitzer or watch you suffer and have it be my fault...I may have chosen Pulitzer as well."

Jack gives him a small smile. David smiles back. David laces his fingers through Jack's. "Now let's go out there and tell the world that we won."

And with that they head to the door out of the building.

"Hey look! They're back!" They hear Spot exclaim as they open the door. Suddenly Spot and Race and Les and others are on top of them, wanting to know how it went.

Jack whispers in Les's ear, telling him the good news. Les pulls away, smile wide. Jack puts Les on his shoulders and turns to face all the people, all of whom are waiting for an answer.

They all go silent.

Jack smiles. And then, he opens his mouth to say...

Okay I know that it's not actually suspenseful but I can fool myself into believing I'm clever, okay?

There will be A LOT of Race's perspective in the future, because most of what I prewrote is from his perspective haha.

I wanna see if I can get this to a thousand words. This was a shorter chapter.

Javid develops so quickly and really well and my heart is just--

The next chapter is coming up soon, like a couple hours or within the hour, I don't know. I just know it'll be today, and that'll be the end of all strike matters, so Pulitzer won't have to worry about THAT for too much longer haha. ;)

Like said I can pretend that I'm clever and funny.

(Unless I actually am...?)

I hope you enjoy reading my scattered Authors note thoughts...things...

Please, no homophobia, profanities, hate, etc in the comment section.

Best,

~Your Beloved Author (who will shamelessly say that they only watched Disney's 2000 Dinosaur because of a) DINOSAURS and b) Max Casella)