To Be a Newsie

Chapter Eighteen: Chaos and Consolation

Chapter Eighteen: Chaos and Consolation

After they got home from the zoo that night, everyone disappeared to their various 'territories.' Katherine, Darcy, Bill, and Sarah were sitting around the kitchen table while David tidied up the kitchen. Jack was with Elmer, Spot, Rat Cat, Finch, Buttons, and Specs in the living room watching TV while Romeo was outside looking for ladies. Albert, Kenny, Henry, Jojo, Race, and Crutchie were in the basement with Mike, Ike, and Horny, who had allowed the Fort Lifestyle™ to make a revival in the basement. Blink and Mush had gone upstairs to one of their rooms, as had Les and Daisy, the two younger ones to their respective rooms.
As she was walking to the bathroom, Daisy heard a noise she had become quite familiar with whilst at the zoo: crying. Following the noise, because Daisy hated it when anyone was upset, she found Les crying alone in his bedroom. She opened his door and ran to where he was sitting on his bed, jumping onto it to join him.
"Uncle Les, what's wrong?" She worriedly asked him. Les looked up at her.
"Sally was holding hands with another boy!" This spurred Les into a harder fit of crying, and Daisy glanced around the room until she found what she was searching for: a plastic wiffle ball bat.
"C'mon, Uncle Les, lets go!" She turned on her heel and ran out his door and down the stairs, screaming a war cry as she went. Jack stopped her before she could run out the front door, David poking his head through the kitchen door to see what was happening.
"What's wrong, Jackie?" Jack asked as he scooped the girl into his arms.
"I'm gonna go hit Sally into tomorrow! Or yesterday! She cheated on Uncle Les!" Jack turned and grabbed the Super Cool™ sunglasses off of the table next to him and slid them onto his daughters face.
"Okay, I'll take you." He shifted her onto his back and ran out the front door, deciding to run to the George residence instead of driving. David sprinted after them, Les following behind his brothers. Most of the other Newsies ran out of the door too, excited at the opportunity to get out of the house again. Most of the fort crew stayed, however, as they were still avidly building.

Jack finally stopped running when he reached Sally's house, and bent down to let Daisy off of his back before straightening up and politely knocking on the door. Mrs. George answered the door.
"Hello, I'm Jack Kelly and this is my daughter Daisy. Is Sally home?" Mes. George smiled at the two of them before turning around and calling Sally from inside of the house. A moment later the young girl came bounding down the stairs, a grin on her face.
"Hello!" She greeted the two brightly, recognizing Jack. Daisy poured at the girl's happiness before getting ready to swing the bat.
Suddenly David swooped in out of nowhere, snatching the bat from Daisy and tossing it behind him as he scooped her up. "Sorry about her," he apologized to Sally as Les hid behind Jack. He turned around and left the George residence, dragging jack behind him with Les scurrying along with them.
When they arrived home, they were greeted by the rest of the Newsies, who had gone out and bought tubs of ice cream and had moved the living room TV into the basement. At the insistence of Race, Henry, and Finch, the massive group huddled in the new basement fort and watched Mean Girls. Daisy fell asleep leaning against the twins from her spot between them, the two of them sitting up and leaning against the bottom of the couch with Mike's head on Ike's shoulder and the latter's head on top of the former's. Les fell asleep curled into Race's back as the blond boy clutched Spot to his chest; Kenny was sandwiched between the Brooklynite and Albert. Blink and Mush were huddled together in the corner, and Sarah and Katherine had fallen asleep with their hands interlocked. David and Jack were laying in the middle of the fort, David practically on top of his boyfriend. The rest of the boys, including Darcy and Bill, were clutching the empty tubs of ice cream, none of them regretting the decisions they had made that day.

Because what was life without a bit of chaos and consolation?

A/N: Guess who used their study halls to write this today instead of working! Yikes I've been busy the last few days but hey here's hoping I can bang out some writing this weekend and stock up on some content. - AB