It was a hot day, hotter than usual, meaning that the streets also stunk more than usual. Finch tugged at the collar of his shirt as he hurried down the busy streets towards the lodging house. Today he'd been lucky and there'd been a good headline, resulting in him finishing selling an hour before he normally would. A small smile crossed his face at the thought of getting back to the lodge, maybe going to Jacobi's with the boys...
"Hey Finch, wait up!" Finch looked over his shoulder and slowed down when he saw Sniper, cap clenched in his fist, pushing around people and trying to catch up. After a minute the younger boy reached Finch's side, smiling at him.
"Hey Snipes, how was sellin'?"
"Pretty good, I finished 'bout an hour ago."
"An hour ago? Where were you sellin'?"
"I was over in Midtown." Sniper said as he swept a few curls out of his eyes.
"Midtown?" Finch had to admit that he was surprised. Though Sniper was thirteen, and very independent, he had never really strayed far from the lodge without any of the older boys. "What were you doin' there?"
Sniper let out an exasperated sigh. "I told ya I was sellin'!"
Finch shook his head, but smiled at the boy. They walked in silence for a minute. Sniper once again reached up to brush his hair out of his face, only to have the stubborn locks immediately fall back into his eyes.
"Might 'ave to get this cut soon, huh," Finch chuckled, ruffling Sniper's hair.
"Hey!" He exclaimed, swatting away Finch's hand while rushing a few steps ahead of him. "My hair's fine Finch, leave it alone!" Finch laughed and after a minute Sniper gave a small grin in return.
While Sniper was ahead of him, Finch took a minute to do a quick scan of the boy, trying to find a bruise or slight limp, anything that might suggest that he was hurt or sick. He seemed fine but Finch could see something in his pocket, and, remembering a recent conversation he'd had with Jack, he couldn't help but feel suspicious.
"Whatcha got there?"
The boy turned to look at him, brow crinkled in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"What's in ya pocket?"
At that, Sniper's eyes widened. "Nothin'," he responded quickly.
"C'mon Snipes, hand it over," Finch said, eyebrow raised. Sniper reluctantly reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigar, placing it into Finch's outstretched hand.
"Where'd you get this, Snipe?" Finch sighed. The boy didn't answer, only shrugged and looked away. "You know Jack don't want you smokin'!"
"But Race does!" Sniper cried, turning to face Finch.
"Race is older than you. When you're older you can start doin' what you want too."
Sniper's shoulders slumped and he kicked at the ground while Finch tucked the cigar into his own pocket. Maybe he could make a trade with Race later on...
*****
After a bit more walking, the lodging house came into view. A group of the older newsies stood in front around the door, having finished selling their daily papers. As they drew nearer to the boys Finch placed his hand on Sniper's shoulder and gave him a slight shove toward the door.
"Why don't ya go inside and play cards with Tommy Boy."
"Fine," Sniper grumbled, heading into the lodge. Finch made his way over to the boys, nudging Henry to the side to make room for himself.
"Finch! It's about time you showed up!" Specs said, interrupting Albert's story. All the boys turned to Finch except Albert, who's arms dropped from their dramatic gesturing as he shot a glare at Specs.
"What took you so long? We all finished ages ago!" Henry said, giving Finch a shove.
"I don't see Romeo here yet." Finch crossed his arms and scanned the group more closely, making sure he didn't overlook anyone.
"That's cause he's still out, but with his face, we all know he sold out hours ago," Specs said, undoing the top button of his shirt, trying to cool off.
Elmer let out a sigh. "If I looked like him, I'd be eating good."
"Yeah, but if you looked like him, you wouldn't have nothing up here," Albert smirked, knocking on the side of Elmer's head. "Not that you do anyways."
"Fellas! Any o' you seen Race?" The laughter was interrupted by Jojo who had just joined their circle.
"He ain't here yet," Elmer spoke up. "But don't worry 'bout him. We all knows where he is."
"Yeah, he's probably at Sheepshead, gamblin' all his money away," Finch sighed as he wiped sweat from his brow.
"No, he ain't gamblin'," Albert said wisely. Henry looked at him, an eyebrow raised.
"How do you know he ain't out bettin'?"
Albert glanced around the group, ensuring that their attention was on him. His eyes sparked and a small grin crossed his face.
"He ain't got no money to bet!"
The boys chuckled, except for Buttons, who appeared to remain unamused as he rolled his eyes at Albert. "Neither do you, ya bum."
Albert glanced toward Buttons, grin unfaltering. "I don't need money, Ise got everything I need."
"All youse got is fleas." Buttons leaned back against the wall of the lodging house and crossed his arms over his chest, closing his eyes. Albert leaned forward and snatched Button's cap off of his head. Buttons immediately opened his eyes and jumped forward, trying to get his hat back.
"Well you would know all about fleas, wouldn't you!" Albert teased, holding the hat out of Buttons' reach. " And I've got more than fleas. Just look around." Albert motioned around the square, and Buttons almost got a hold of his hat. "This whole city's my kingdom! Ain't it beautiful!"
With a final lunge, Buttons grabbed his hat back and glared at Albert, stuffing it tightly back on his head and leaning back against the wall as the other boys glanced around the square. The buildings in their part of town were rundown, not exactly the kingdom Albert was describing.
"Oh, sure, it's amazin'," Henry mumbled, rolling his sleeves up to his elbows.
Finch scoffed. "Your 'kingdom' is fallin' apart."
"You guys just don't have the vision," Albert said, tapping his temple.
"Oh, I've got vision, plus a brain, and right now my brain's tellin' me that youse crazy!" Jojo laughed, ducking quickly as Albert swung a fist toward him. "Oh, too bad, ya missed!"
Albert grabbed the front of Jojo's shirt, pulling him forward, and wrapped his other arm around Jojo's neck. "Who's laughing now?" Jojo's eyes widened and he grabbed Albert's arm, trying to pry it off of him.
"Could you stop fightin'?" Elmer groaned, fanning himself with his cap. "It's too hot for that. Just watchin' you twos is makin' me tired."
"Now there's something I'll agree with," Buttons said from his place on the wall. His head was tipped back against it and he had pulled his cap down to cover most of his face. "It's hotter den hell out here."
Albert seemed to finally notice the sun, and he quickly reached up and tipped his cap forward to shade more of his already burning face. "We could head to Jacobi's for a bit. The old man won't mind. What do ya say?"
"As long as wese out of the sun, I don't care." Jojo lifted a hand to shield his eyes as a cloud moved and the sun grew brighter. The other boys nodded their agreement.
Specs smiled. "Looks like wese goin' to Jacobi's.
And that's the end of Chapter 1. Honestly, I've had this idea floating around in my head since the end of March, but the release of Newsies Live finally gave me the inspiration to write it. I'm not sure if this is any good, but if any of you like it, I'll continue it.
Also, this story is going to be mainly centered around Race, Spot, and Jack, but I feel like the other newsies don't get nearly enough attention, even though they're just as important, so I'll also have chapters around them, and they'll be very important to the story.
Thanks for reading!