Written for the Newsies Pape Selling Competition

Prompt: The newsies throw a party for your favorite newsie (in this case, its Romeo)

Objects: Sugar, "I'm not going to pretend you deserve it.", Blue

Word Count (not including A/N): 1,258

Oh, and Stars from I Got Midtown is in this (shameless self promotion). Just letting you know. :)

9:00 AM

I woke up today the same way any person would, by falling out of my bed because Race was trying to FaceTime my cell phone. Half asleep, I searched around for my buzzing phone, eventually finding it buried in my pillow case. I tapped accept, climbing back on my bed.

"What do you want, Race?" I asked, my eyes already closing again.

"Wake up lover boy." He said. "Its 9:00. Why are you still in bed? Its the middle of summer!" I rubbed my eyes, trying to remember what day it was.

"Hey, what's the date?"

"July 9th. Why?" I shot to my feet.

"Race, do you know what day it is?" I asked excitedly.

"I just told you dumb ass, July 9th." I rolled my eyes.

"No… well yeah… but besides that." How could he not know?

"No, no idea."

"I'm 13, idiot. Its my birthday." Race cocked his head.

"Oh… then happy birthday, I guess." My face fell.

"Wait, you didn't know?" My friend bit his lip awkwardly.

"Sorry, kid." He ran a hand through his hair. "Listen, I gotta go. See ya later." And with that, he hung up. Gee, thanks. I thought. I had to admit, I felt a little upset about Race being… well Race, but he had to have been joking, right?

9:30 AM

"Stars?" I called, shoving my baseball cap on my head. "I'm going to see Crutchie and the others." No answer. "Stars?" She wasn't there. I walked into the kitchen. On the counter, there was a ripped piece of notebook paper with Stars curly handwriting.

Out with Race. See you later.

Love you.

-Stars

I couldn't believe it. My own sister wasn't even here on my birthday. I shoved the note in my pocket, next to my cell phone, and left my apartment closing the door with a slam.

10:00 AM

I was walking through central park with headphones in my ears. I dug my hands in my pockets, kicking a pebble around as I moved.

"Romeo!" I turned around to see Davey sitting on a bench behind me as Les was running to me so quickly I was kind of worried he was going to topple me over.

"Hey kid, what's up?" I said, ruffling the nine year old's hair. Les looked to Davey for a second.

"Oh… nothing." He said. "You?"

"Just wondering if any of my friends are gonna… you know what… nevermind."

"What?" Les asked. I shrugged.

"Well, you know. Today's my 13th birthday." Les rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh, it is?" Les's voice went up an octave.

"Yeah, it is."

"Happy birthday then." He said, before running back to Davey. Okay, I thought. Well that happened. And I kept walking.

1:00 PM

I made a list of my friends I had talked to that morning. Race. Stars. Davey. Les. Finch. Henry. Smalls. Specs. Albert. Elmer. Sniper. Jojo. I talked to all of them, and yet not one of them remembered.

"Hey, little lover boy!" I look up from my phone to see Spot flocked by two of his friends.

"Hey, Spot." I muttered. I don't like saying out loud, but I was really afraid of the boy from Brooklyn, and always had the urge to run and hide when he began talking to me.

"You okay, kid?" He asked.

"Yeah, just not in a good mood." Spot sat down next to me, sending a shiver up my spine.

"That sucks, saying its your birthday and all." I stared at him.

"You know its my birthday?" I felt kind of shocked. Of all my friends, Spot was the one who actually remembered my birthday.

"Course. Jack told me." One of Spot's friends grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. "He also said to get you to him and the others. So… sorry." His hand closed into a fist, came in contact with my face, and I was enclosed in darkness.

I DON'T REALLY KNOW THE TIME

I woke up in the back of a red SUV, Spot at the wheel driving like a maniac.

"Dude, what the hell?"

"Sorry, kid. I'm not going to pretend you deserved it." Making me feel more annoyed, Spot smiled. "I'm also not going to pretend that I didn't sorta enjoy it."

"Gee thanks." I mumbled. "Where are we going anyway?"

"You'll see." He replied. I threw my hands in the air.

"Dude, you just kidnapped me. I feel like I deserve where to know you're taking me."

"Just sit back, Romeo. We'll be at Jack's place in a minute." I rolled my eyes, leaning back in my seat, and pulled my phone and headphones out. There was like 10 texts from a group message that I didn't know I was a part of.

Stars

Specs, do u have the music?

Specs

Yep. Almost there. Henry should be bringing food.

Stars

Cool. Spot, u have him?

Spot

Got him.

Crutchie

Did u punch him?

Spot

… Maybe…

I guessed they were talking about me, but Spot did punch a lot of people. I texted them all back.

Romeo

R u talking about me?

There was no answer to my question. The car stopped. My phone dinged again. It was Spot.

Spot

We're here.

"Spot, can you tell me where we're going now?" I unclipped my seatbelt and opened the car door. We were at Jack and Crutchie's place.

"Nope," He replied smugly. "Just follow me." I pushed my phone back into my jeans pocket. Spot hit the buzzer. "Jack, its Spot. Let us in." The door buzzed and unlocked. "C'mon, keep up." He said to me.

I followed Spot up the endless flights of stairs to Jack and Crutchie's apartment. Spot knocked on the door.

"Its open." Someone inside said. Spot opened the door.

"After you," He said. I walked inside. It was dark.

"Hello?" I asked. The lights all flashed on.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" I was met by… everyone actually. All my friends were crammed into Jack and Crutchie's tiny apartment. There was a bright blue cake on the kitchen counter, which I guessed was made by Henry, with a huge chunk missing from it. Sitting in the corner was Les, the sugary blue frosting smeared across his face. I laughed, rolling my eyes at the kid.

"You guys!" I said excitedly. Race was sitting on the couch with an arm around Stars, laughing at me.

"C'mon, idiot. Did ya really think we would all forget your birthday? I mean, even your damn sister!"

"Language!" Stars warned him. I ran to the big cake on the table and grabbed a hunk in both my hands.

"Thanks." I said, smashing the pieces of cake into my best friend and my sister's faces. And, I must say, the look on their faces were priceless.

"Oh, its on!" Race yelled running to the cake. He threw a large chunk of the cak at me. I ducked quickly, and the piece hit Finch in the back of the head.

"FOOD FIGHT!" Finch yelled. Everyone grabbed pieces of Henry's cake and flung it at each other. We were yelling at laughing at the top of our lungs, well except for Les who was picking up the pieces of the cake we had missed and was shoving it in his mouth.

"GUYS!" A shrill voice screamed. We all stopped in our tracks. Katherine was standing in the doorway, holding a big box in her hands.

"Sorry," we mumbled. Katherine's face broke into a smile.

"Now," She shaked the box. "Present time?"

Newsies forever, second to none!