To Be a Newsie

Chapter Twenty-Six: Chapter Twenty-Six: Who Says a Bum Leg's Gotta be a Bummer?

Chapter Twenty-Six: Who Says a Bum Leg's Gotta be a Bummer?

Crutchie was in a bit of a pickle, and he didn't know what to do. Most of the Newsies hated school, but Crutchie was one of the exceptions. He genuinely enjoyed learning, and didn't mind the assignments. And, of course, there was one thing that made it a bit sweeter.

Alice.

Every time Crutchie saw the girl his heart beat 1,000,000 miles an hour. He would try to 'play it cool,' as the guys said, but often times would trip over Nothing (Nothing was Race's foot, he named it... Kenny slapped him).

One day he fell in the hallway -- 'fell' meaning 'was tripped by a Delancey but wasn't sure which one so he played it off' -- and she rushed over to help him up.

"Are you okay?" She asked, very concerned for the Bean™. Crutchie stared at her for a good five minutes (Romeo counted) before reacting.

"Pzjehfia AH!" He stumbled out the most random exclamation, more random than the ones Jack utters when cornered by Davey during an argument, and took off down the hallway, hopping on one foot because he forgot his crutch in his haste to get away from Alice.

He avoided her for a week. The Newsies made fun of him for it all hours of the day, except for when he was trying to sleep -- the Bean™ was literally treated like a child by the rest of the house. Romeo, Race, and Mush were especially relentless; as they prided themselves on their relationship skills, they begged Crutchie to let them help him. Knowing they would only make it worse, he refused. He had to avoid them for the week too.

The worst part of that week, however, was the fact that Crutchie was crutch-less. He had never retrieved his crutch from the hallway, and none of the Newsies had grabbed it -- they were too busy laughing at their friend's misfortune. Alice had grabbed it, and thus Crutchie struggled to get around for a while.

As he was retrieving his books from his locker the following Monday morning, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Knowing it wasn't one of his friends, as they were never nearly that polite, he gulped before turning around. He was shocked to see Alice standing there.

"I, ah, grabbed your crutch last week and wanted to return it. I spent all week looking for you, but I couldn't find you around anywhere. I hope this last week hasn't been too rough on you," she stumbled to get out these few sentences, obviously smitten by the boy in front of her (to anyone but him, that was). The rest of the Newsies stood behind the pair making kissy noises -- the twins were even pretending to make out with themselves like in the movies -- while Crutchie stood there blushing and stuttering.

"He likes you, he thinks you're pretty, and says 'THANKS BOO!'" Kenny, the Relationship Saver™, said, pausing and leaning over to the two momentarily before she and Albert continued their walk to their study hall. Crutchie rapidly shook his head no, glaring at Kenny's retreating figure and blushing an even deeper shade of red.

During his first period art class, Crutchie was trying to draw a unicorn for Daisy and continuously messed up. Defeated, he gave up and pouted slightly for the remainder of the period. As he rose from his seat when the bell rang, a paper was slipped onto the desk in front of him. It was a beautiful unicorn, more amazing than Crutchie had even imagined his coming out. There was a post-it note stuck to the front of it with a name and phone number on it. Crutchie grinned as he grabbed his crutch and made his way to his second period, still clutching the drawing in his hand.

At the end of the day, Crutchie approached Alice while she was at her locker. He tried to do the 'cool guy leaning against the locker' thing, but tried a little too hard and banged his head on the locker. Alice, amused by the boy, raised her eyebrows questioningly, though a smirk played on her lips.

"So, ah, will you go out with me sometime?" Crutchie asked the girl with all of the confidence he could muster. He was shaking with anxiety, so much so that Kenny was waiting around the corner in case she had to butt in and save him.

"Sure." Alice's simple response was enough to overwhelm Crutchie with relief and excitement. He fought the urge to run down the halls screeching with joy.

"I-I'll pick you up at 7 tonight?" She nodded in response, kissing his cheek before walking down the hall toward the front door. Now free from the girl's judgement, Crutchie squealed in excitement. Kenny came up and hugged him, the two of them cheering and doing all sorts of victory dances.

Upon finding out about the date, the rest of the Manhattan Newsies Family™ insisted on helping him get ready for it. They knew it would probably be disastrous, but they couldn't not help.

Because the Newsies would do anything to make sure their brother didn't blow his chance with Alice Roosevelt.

A/N: Highkey excited for January.. I got tickets to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (both parts!) AND Mean Girls in the same weekend!! All I have to say is a) Benjamin Racetrack Higgins Billy Elliot Tyler Kimble Tyler Cook better perform, and b) I need to see aforementioned bean at the stagedoor. That is all. - AB

(Also guess who wrote this at some point before January and never uploaded it.. my plan is always to get a few chapters stockpiled before posting more and I've been ridiculously busy this school year so that hasn't happened. Just a few more weeks until summer, so I'll write a whole bunch then :D - AB)