I Never Planned on You // Davey Jacobs

Twelve

The bulls had shown up. About twenty of them. And the person position, arrogant and proud, in front of them, waiting to give them the command to attack, was the sniveling, pathetic Weasel himself with the Delancys behind them. I grow cold at the sight of Snyder among the crowd, my stomach dropping and my throat starts to close up as my pulse begins to race.

Snyder flips the baton in his hand, an evil grin plastered on his face, and slams it onto a pole to the side of him. At that signal, the bulls rush forward, charging and swinging their batons at anyone close enough, eager to bust someone's skull.

"Newsies! Lets get 'em!" Jack exclaimed, waving us forward. The boys start to charge at the bulls, doing whatever they can get the upper hand.

"Please don't die." David mutters, leaning down to quickly kiss me on the cheek, before rushing off to find his brother.

I freeze up, bring my hand to my cheek, processing what he just did. I didn't waste long thinking about it. A cry for help drew my attention. One of the bulls had Romeo pinned down, crates to his back and bulls to his front. Romeo never been much of a fighter, more of a lover. He needs my help.

"This is going to hurt so much." I spit out, bouncing on my toes and shaking my hands out. Before I could think too much about it, I charged as fast as I could, aiming for the bull. Dropping my shoulder down, I slammed into him, the muscles in his back feel like hitting concrete but the force sends him soaring  into a crate and his head snaps against the wood, knocking him out. At the impact, my shoulder explodes in pain, making it hard to move it. "Shit! That was a terrible idea."

Taking deep breaths, I close my eyes and wait for the pain to fade away. The pain lessens to a throbbing. Opening my eyes, Romeo was staring at me, eyes wide open in awe and mouth agape.

"I think I might be in love."

"You say that almost everyday, Romeo. Now shove off and don't get yourself hurt."

"Yes ma'am." Saluting, Romeo runs into the fray, leaving me to go where I was needed next.

My eyes catch Jack as he scoops Les into his arms and deposits him in a barrel for protection. Dodging batons and bodies, I dash over to Les just in time to stop him from climbing out, pushing down on his head and ignoring his cries of protest.

"Let me at em!" Les's overly-excited voice calls out. Les pops his head out of the barrel and gives me a childish grin, a smile so sweet and innocent that it almost got me. Almost.

"Not today kid."

"Watch out!" Jack cry of warning catches my attention. I follow the direction his hand is motioning to and see bulls, rabid and angry, across the room, eyes locked on the prize inside the barrel.

"Les, get down!" I order, waving for Jack to come over.

"We need to get him out of here." I watch the bulls begin to come our way.

Jack nods in response and snaps his head up, calling out to someone. Quickly glancing over my shoulder, I recognize David shouting back. I can't hear what he's saying but the message is clear enough-Get Les to him.

Turning to Jack, I say "Go draw some of them off. I'll take care of Les." Jack winks, which I ignore, and sprints off, calling out insults. Taking the bait, the bulls follow, driven by angry and the desire to catch the Jack Kelly. Jack's worth more than Ler or I combined.

I warn Les before I turn the barrel sideways and push, letting it roll straight in David's direction. If this wasn't a dire situation, I'd find this amusing but I was more worried about the kid right now. David stops the barrel and pulls out Les, who looks slightly dazed and confused but shakes his head, laughing. Picking up the empty barrel, David hurls it at Oscar, who was charging at him. The barrel catches him square in the face and Oscar is down for the count.     Too busy watching David and Les, I fail to pay attention behind me. David turns my way and our eyes connect. David opens his mouth yelling something I can't understand but his warning came too late.