PULITZER PREP – Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies. Disney does.

A/N: New fic from moi! Enjoy! :)

Ryan Matthews angrily stared out the window of his family's car. They had been driving for well over three hours already, and he was uncomfortable.

But that wasn't the only reason why he was angry. The reason was that he was being sent to yet another boarding school. See, Ryan was what you would call a 'military brat'; His father is an officer in the U.S. Navy. In his eleven years of schooling, he had already been to ten different schools, six of them being boarding schools. Every time Ryan finally got comfortable in a school, his father would get reassigned and he had to leave.

You'd think that going to a boarding school would eliminate that problem. But no, Ryan's parents are anal like that and always wanted Ryan to be at least be at a school in the same state or country his father was stationed in. That meant going to school in seven different states and three countries.

This time, his dad was stationed in New Jersey. The school he was being sent to, Pulitzer Prep, was halfway across the country from the last school he attended in Texas, and Ryan was not pleased at all.

Finally, the family car slowly pulled to a stop in front of Pulitzer Prep's main building.

"Well, here we are! And it looks just like the brochure!" Mrs. Matthews said, way too perky for Ryan's taste.

"Oh joy," Ryan answered, readjusting the eye patch he wore over his blind left eye, and exited the car.

"Ryan, at least try to be happy." Mr. Matthews said.

"Happy? You want me to be happy? Why should I be happy when I have to change schools in the middle of my junior year when you promised me that once I hit high school, I could stay in one school? Has that promise been kept? NO. This is the THIRD school since freshman year."

His father sighed. "I know I promised. But I can't help that I was sent from Paris to Texas. I didn't want you to stay in France for school."

"Why couldn't I have stayed in Texas then?"

"Because we want to be close to you, honey," His mother chipped in, and Ryan groaned.

"Ry, the Navy promised me that I'd be here for at least two years. That gives you enough time to finish high school here."

"If that promise is broken Dad, I will hate you forever."

"I know. That's why, as long as we stay in the U.S., no matter where we move to, you can finish here."

"Thank you."

"Are you two finished? We're already fifteen minutes late for our appointment with your new principal." Mrs. Matthews said, looking at her watch.

"What fun." Ryan said under his breath.

"Ryan…" His mom warned.

"What fun!" He repeated, in an obviously fake cheerfulness.

"That's better." Ryan just rolled his eyes.

The family started the walk up to the door of the main hall. Unfortunately for them, the bell signaling the end of the school day rang, and students began pouring out of the doors.

A few looked at Ryan weird, giving him the once over, for it was obvious he was a transfer. Ryan averted his eye, suddenly self-conscious about his eye patch.

He looked behind him and saw his parents slowly meandering their way up the path, and inwardly groaned. It was bad enough he was here, but the first time people saw him, it had to be with his parents!

"Will you two please hurry up? It's freezing out here!" Ryan quietly called to his parents.

"We're coming Ryan. We're just admiring the view." Ryan rolled his eyes and groaned at his mother's comment and walked inside the building.

Once inside, he was greeted with the sight of numerous students sill inside, just hanging out in the lobby. Ryan wanted to die as soon as his mother opened her mouth, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Oh Ry – Look at all the kids! Why don't you ask one of them where to find the office?"

One group imparticular looked right at Ryan, then back to their group and cracked up, pointing and laughing in his general direction.

Ryan turned toward his mother and said through clenched teeth, "I think we can find the office fine without them." He stalked off toward one end of the hall, his parents following behind him. Thankfully, he chose the right way, for as soon as he turned the corner, the office was in full view.

The Matthews entered the office and was greeted by one of the secretaries who informed them that the principal would be right with them. After waiting (quite impatiently on Ryan's part) a while, a lady with fiery red hair wearing a pink suit that clashed horribly with her hair greeted them.

"Welcome! You must be the Matthews's. Come on in to my office. I'm Medda Larkson, by the way, but everyone just calls me Medda," She said, ushering them into a back room. "Sit! Sit! Make yourself at home!"

They obliged, and Ryan of course slouched in the chair and sulked. He didn't sulk for long, for Medda's obnoxiously perky voice made him jump.

"And you must be Ryan! You're going to love it here at Pulitzer Prep." She turned toward his parents and asked them, "Has Ryan ever been in a boarding school before?"

Ryan snorted and muttered under his breath, "Only like, twenty."

"Ryan," His mother hissed, "Behave."

Medda looked oddly amused by this. "So I'm guessing he was then?"

Mr. Matthews nodded. "I'm in the Navy, and have moved around a lot. He's been in a boarding school since fourth grade."

"Great! So he knows the basic rules. But here at Pulitzer Prep, we have some other rules as well…"

To Ryan, Medda's voice quickly turned into something that resembled Charlie Brown's teacher. "Mwah mwah, mwah mwah, mwah mwah."

Ryan basically stared off into space as Medda rambled on and on about all the dorm rules they had. He found it funny that his parents were listening so intently to that bullshit. Nobody ever paid attention to the dumb rules anyway.

Ryan was soon snapped out of his daze. "Ryan. RYAN!" Mrs. Matthews said, lightly slapping her son's arm.

"Huh? What? Oh, um… Sorry."

"I was just asking you, Ryan, if you would like to know your roommates and go set up your dorm," Medda said, almost smirking, for she knew he hadn't heard anything she had said beforehand.

"Oh… yeah."

"Well, you're in a triple, so it's a slightly larger room. Your roommates are Daniel Meyers and Kyle Harrison." She handed him a key and a piece of paper. "Here's your key and information about your room and the rules. You are in room Three-Eleven in Brown Hall, the upperclassmen dorm."

"Um… Thanks."

"Okay, I'm done here. Go on, scoot! Off to your dorm!"

The three of them thanked Medda and walked back out to the family care.

Ryan popped the trunk and grabbed his luggage – two duffel bags. He turned around to see his mother eagerly waiting.

"NO. You two are not coming with me."

"But Ryan –"

"It's alright, honey. I think we've embarrassed him enough."

"Thanks, Dad."

"Bye, Ryan." Mrs. Matthews choked back a sob.

"Oh god, Mom. Don't be so melodramatic."

"Ryan…" His dad said.

"Geeze, sorry. Now can you leave? Please?"

"Yes, yes, we're leaving Ryan."

They exchanged hugs (his mother fully breaking into hysterics) before his parents entered the car and drove off.

"This better be the last time we do that before college," Ryan thought as he watched them leave the campus.

Once the car was out of sight, Ryan sighed, shifted a duffel bag to the opposite shoulder, and walked off toward Brown Hall.

A/N: Yesh. I like this fic.

I know, I promised myself I wouldn't have two multi-chaptered fics going at the same time, but… I kinda have a bit of writer's block on TJORH. It will be finished, I promise.

Oh, to anyone who was confused… Ryan is Blink. You'll find out who his roommates are next chapter!

This will eventually be slash too… and the boarding school plot was taken from my dead story Clear Water Academy. It was het fic, and I wanted to write a slashy version, so this is it! But really no plot details are coming from that. Just the boarding school part.

Okies, enough of me rambling. REVIEW!

.Braids.