A/N-this is kinda a second shot for this story...it didn't do too well to begin with so I'm changing it around a bit. There originally weren't any newsies in this story, but that's changing. There's only one in this first chapter, but more will enter later. As for a DISCLAIMER, I don't own Newsies, Santa Fe is a real place, I don't know if Lake Barren even exists cause I made it up in my mind. Please, if you live in Santa Fe and it's nothing like this take no offense, I just thought it would be a good place to set my fic in cause that's where Jack wanted to go. Lake Barren High probably doesn't exist and if it does I doubt it's as run down as this place is. Please review!!!
COME TOMORROW
Lake Barren High
"C'mon girl! Up and at 'em" Eve rolled over in her bed with a moan as the familiar voice echoed in her ears. "Let's go. Rise and shine!"
"I'll rise but I sure as hell won't shine" Eve muttered, slowly sitting up. In front of her stood her mom, brown hair swept away from her face and tan skin glowing.
"Of course not" her mom smiled warmly at Eve. "Go shower, you'll be late" and with that her mom exited from the disorganized room. Eve stretched her arms with a yawn and stuck her bare feet over the side of her bed. Slowly, she made her way to the bathroom and took a surprisingly short shower, mostly due to the fact that her kinky dark brown hair was in cornrows. She stepped out of the shower and wrapped a fluffy blue towel around herself before trudging back to her room. After drying herself off, she pulled on a pair of semi-tight flared jeans, resting on her hips, and a white tank-top with a blue and gray vertically striped three-quarter sleeved button down shirt, unbuttoned of course, over it. After applying a layer of liner around her chocolate brown eyes and smiling at her reflection in the mirror she headed downstairs for breakfast.
"Looking gorgeous, as usual" her mother commented cheerfully as Eve stepped into the kitchen.
"I have you to thank for that" Eve smiled and sat down at the table, dishing her mom's signature scrambled eggs into her mouth and gulping down a glass of orange juice.
"You're shining" her mom joked as Eve stuck her dishes in the sink.
"Only til I leave" Eve scrambled to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. She then slipped on her blue and white Adidas shoes and put the gray one strap backpack on her back. Then she rushed back to the kitchen and kissed her mom on the cheek.
"Bye" she said and her mom kissed her daughters mocha forehead.
"Bye sweetie, have a nice day" Eve laughed at that and stepped out of the house into the stuffy, sandy air of Santa Fe. She walked past the houses similar to hers and joined others at the bus stop. As usual the bus arrived late and not to Eve's surprise, it broke down five miles from the school for the third time that month. After a ten minute wait, another bus came and took them to the school, leaving about five minutes before the final bell rang. Eve made her way through the thinning crowd in the run down halls of the school, smiling at familiar faces and passing quite a few lockers that had doors hanging on one hinge and others with no doors at all. As Eve made her way to her locker, she passed a white boy she had never seen before about to put a TI83 into his locker.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you" she said, stopping next to his half locker.
"What?" he asked in surprise, turning to Eve. He looked at her with intense bright blue eyes.
"I wouldn't do that. Watch" and she slammed his locker shut.
"Hey!" he exclaimed but she gave a look that cut him short. She spun the dial about ten times and then pulled the door open as easily as if she knew the combination.
"Don't put anything in there that you care about" she advised and turned to walk away.
"Wait!" he cried. She spun around on her heel, brown eyes filled with impatience. "I'm new here."
"I can tell" she said flatly.
"Can you tell me where. . ." he looked down at his schedule, finding what the room number of his first class was. ". . .B107 is?"
"Yeah" she said. "Follow me, it's my first class too" she headed down the hall, not bothering to stop at her locker, with the boy following behind her. He watched in wonder as they passed several buckets catching drips and leaks and plenty of walls with peeling paint. A good number of the fluorescent lights above him were either flickering incessantly or completely dark and even parts of the floor he was walking on was missing.
"What's up with this school" he asked, jogging to catch up with Eve who was expertly avoiding gaps in the flooring.
"It's not just this one, it's all of them in this area" she explained. "They're all pieces of shit. The government doesn't care about the schools so we get like no funding whatsoever" she turned into a classroom. "Here we are" she informed him briskly and went to sit down with friends. The boy stood at the back of the classroom, staring at the broken and uneven desks in shock. Even one leg of the teachers desk was propped up with text books and the chair was torn. He then took a seat in a cracked chair, at a wobbly desk in the back of the classroom as the bell ran and an old woman stepped into the room.
"Hello everybody" she said in a slightly nasally voice. "Please just respond here when I call your name and nothing else" she instructed, glaring at a boy with spiky green hair who snickered.
"Eve Adams?" she began.
"Here" Eve said, not bothering to look up. The teacher continued with attendance in this manner and then got to the bottom of the list. "And, I believe we have a new student. David Jacobs?"
""Here" said the boy from the back of the room.
"Welcome to Lake Barren High School David" she said unenthusiastically and then continued on with the class.
Finally, to David's relief the bell rang. He got up to leave when he was stopped by someone calling his name.
"David!" he turned to see Eve, accompanied by a pale blonde girl heading toward him.
"Yeah?"
"You're gonna eat lunch with us" she commanded of him, more than asked.
"Says who?"
"Says her" the blonde girl shot in. "It's the chance of a life time ya know."
"Oh. . . ok" he said hesitantly. Eve nodded and headed towards the door. "Thanks Eve" he called at her retreating back.
"One more thing" she said, turning on him. "Don't call me Eve."
"Then what am I supposed to call you?" he asked in confusion.
"That would be for you to find out" and with that Eve and her friend left the classroom, leaving David standing beneath a flickering light that within seconds went dark.