Chapter 1: New Kid on the Block

Disclaimer: Me? Own Newsies? Only in my dreams. All of the items you recognize, songs, dance groups etc. don't belong to me. Everything else is a product of my imagination.

Sean "Spot" Conlon was trying very hard to ignore the insane beeping that was going on next to his head with very little success. He groaned as he rolled over to hit the off button on his alarm.

Why is my alarm even set? He wondered to himself for a split second before…

"FUCK!" He yelled as he sat straight up in bed. It was a Monday, and it was his first day at his new school, today was going to be hell.

"Sean Conlon!" His mother's angry voice reached him through his closed bedroom door and he flinched. "If I EVER hear that word out of your mouth again I will ground you for a month, now get your lazy ass out of bed and come get breakfast." Spot heard her footsteps retreat down the hall and then heard the creak of the stairs as she went down them.

Spot sighed. He really couldn't blame his mom for yelling at him for his language, she had done a lot for him the last couple of weeks and the least he could do was try and obey her "rules". He chuckled to himself, the only rules were to watch his language, basically not say the f-word, and be home by eleven on school nights. She didn't have to worry about anything else…like him sneaking girls in…this train of thought made Spot's bad mood turn into a dark ugly mood. The only good thing about starting at a brand new school was that no one would know him or his past. He could start off with a clean slate.

Spot rolled out of bed and started getting ready. He pulled on a pair of close fitting jeans and a light blue, tight fitting, button down shirt. He walked into the bathroom and started at himself in the mirror. His dirty blond hair was easy to style with a little gel. His blue gray eyes peered out from a pale face. The only blemish on his skin was a small scar on his left cheekbone. The last few bruises, which had made him look like a multi-colored leopard, had faded a couple days ago. His nose was crooked but you couldn't tell it had been broken recently. There was no evidence left from the beating, or the events that had followed, at least, nothing physical. He refused to visit the past; today was already going to suck enough.

"Sean! You're going to miss the bus. Move it!"

Spot rolled his eyes and finished brushing his teeth before grabbing his shoes and backpack and racing down the stairs. He was a senior in high school and he had to ride the bus; what a great way to start off his first day. His mom was in the kitchen buttering toast. She was a short woman; about two heads shorter than Spot's six feet. Her hair was a honey blond and her clear blue eyes were the easiest way to read her mood. Right now they were sparkling but when Spot looked closer he could tell that she was nervous and apprehensive about the day, even though she was trying to look happy for him. He set his backpack down on a chair and turned to face her.

"Mom, I'll be fine. I promise." He said trying to get rid of some of the worry in her eyes. "I won't do anything dumb. I'll sit in the back of all my classes and be on my best behavior. I won't even talk."

"Well, you could try and make a couple of friends." She hinted.

Spot winced. "Maybe, but I doubt, it most people don't like me."

"Sean….no one knows you here. Just try."

"Mom, that's the thing. No one knows me, and once they learn who I am they won't want to and we will be back to square one." His words came out slightly defensive.

"Well what about common interests? You could get into a dance-"

"NO! I don't want to dance. Ever again." His tone left no room for argument.

He grabbed the piece of toast from her hand and took a monstrous bite out of it, choking slightly as he tried to chew. His mom rolled her eyes but she was laughing as she handed him the cup of coffee she had just poured.

"Thanks," he replied; happy that he had broken the tension that had started to build. He quickly finished the coffee and grabbed his bag, the piece of toast still in his hand as he started towards the door.

"Where are you going?" His mom asked.

He turned and gave her an incredulous look. "To the bus stop. I am going to be late. Remember?"

She smiled and threw something at him. "A senior in high school shouldn't have to ride the bus. Go see what is in the garage." He was so shocked he almost dropped the keys she had tossed at him. He ran to the garage door and yanked it open. Sitting next to his moms powder blue jeep was a bright red, two door, 2005 Chevy cavalier.

"Thanks mom!" He gave her a quick hug before jumping down the steps and racing over to the car.

"Sean, if you crash the car you will be grounded until your thirty. Got it?"

Her voice was serious but her eyes were smiling. "Got it."

"Good, now try and have a good day at school."

"Well my morning has been good so let's see if the luck holds." He climbed into the car and headed towards the school, hoping that the day wouldn't turn into a total disaster.

Spot pulled into Southern Mountain High School's parking lot and easily found a place to park. Larkside was a small town where everybody knew everyone; Spot would be amazed if the senior class had more than two hundred students in it. Spot would easily stick out as the new kid. It was going to be a lot different than his old school in Utah; his old senior class had been close to eight hundred students. He shut off the engine, climbed out of his car and looked around trying not to be too obvious about how lost he was. His mom had delivered his transfer papers two weeks ago and the school had suggested that he wait until the first day of second quarter to actually begin. He hadn't gone with her when she had dropped off the papers since it was a school day, and his face had still been a lovely color of black and blue. He had no idea where the main office was and that was where he needed to go to pick up his schedule. With a sigh Spot followed a group of kids into the building, trying his hardest to ignore the curious looks he was getting.

The exterior of the building was covered in brown bricks; there wasn't any litter on the ground either which was surprising. The windows on the first floor were clean and easy to see into; Spot hoped the inside was just as nice as the outside. His old school had been covered with graffiti both inside and out, after a while nobody had bothered trying to clean it up; beer and cigarette butts had littered the ground but the administration had done nothing.

The inside of SMHS was just as clean as the outside; which made Spot happy. Students stood in groups around lockers, laughing and talking about what had happened that weekend.

"Hi!" Spot turned and saw a very short girl standing at his elbow. Her brown eyes sparkled as she looked at him.

"I don't recognize you so I am guessing you just transferred. This isn't a big school so we tend to notice when someone is new." She laughed, and didn't give him any time to reply. "Do you have your schedule? Do you know where your first class is? What grade are you in?"

His mouth dropped slightly. She was rattling off questions faster than he could answer them. "Umm…Your right, I just transferred. I'm a senior and I don't have my schedule yet. Do you think you could tell me where the main office is?"

"Of course!" She was practically bouncing up and down as she answered. "I'll show you where it is come on." With that she set off down the hall. Spot trailed after her hoping that she might be in some of his class, she was friendly.

Look mom, I don't even have to try to make new friends. He thought sarcastically.

"I'm Emma, by the way." She said turning to smile at him.

"My name is Sean." He gave her a tentative smile in return.

She stopped. "Here is the main office, I'm sorry but I have to go. I hope we have a couple of classes together. Good luck" She turned a disappeared into the crowd leaving a stunned Spot in her wake.

Oooookay, he thought, she is totally weird, nice, but weird.

Spot turned and walked through the open doors into the office. A couple computers hummed but only one lady was in view.

"Excuse me…" he began.

She looked up and saw him, "Hi, you must be Sean Conlon."

"Yes, I am. I'm here to get my schedule."

She thumbed through a couple papers sitting on a desk and pulled out a half sheet of paper.

"Here is your schedule. Math and science classes are on the second floor, English, history, the library, and the cafeteria are all on the first. You have first lunch which is right after fourth period. If you have any questions ask one of the teachers. Have a good day."

Her dismissal was abrupt and caught Spot off guard. "Ummm…thanks." He grabbed his schedule and started to turn and walk away only to bump into three boys that were talking behind him. It was the shortest one that he had actually bumped into, and it was the shortest one that caught Spot's attention. The boy's hair was a dark brown and laughter shown out of his brown eyes. Spots heart started to beat hard and butterflies were not fluttering they were stampeding through his stomach. His brain had short circuited and nothing was coming out of his mouth.

"Sorry," the boy's voice was sincere.

Spot nodded and left the office; trying his hardest to not look back. He leaned against the wall and took a deep breath, trying to clear his mind and focus on the classes and where he was supposed to go first. He looked down at his schedule but all he could see were laughing brown eyes.

Dammit! Focus Spot! He yelled at himself. If you are lucky you won't have any classes with that boy. We can get through the rest of senior year and then move on. You can do this.

With the mental coaching still going on in his head Spot looked at his schedule again and sighed in relief when he saw writing.

Sean Conlon Senior Homeroom: Engl. 125

Class:Teacher:Room:

Period 1 English 12 Miss Ward Engl. 125

Period 2 U.S. History Mr. Larson SS. 136

Period 3 Biology Miss Christensen S. 254

Period 4 Library aid Staff Library

Period 5 Film Studies Mr. Portman S. 211

Period 6 Algebra 2 Mr. Johns Math 205

Period 7 Computer Basics Miss Henning Computer Lab

Even though he was a senior Spot had to take Computer Basics, which was usually a sophomore class. The course, unlike his old school, was required at SMHS, but not even being the only senior in a sophomore class was going to be the worst thing of the day. Lunch was bound to be the worst period; nothing screamed "New Kid" like sitting alone. Spot sighed, and headed off to first period English.

English passed with no incident, the class read the first chapter of Hamlet, which held no interest for Spot; he found the entire thing confusing. He walked into his History class right as the bell rang, Mr. Larson, the teacher, stopped him. "We have a new student here with us today, everybody please welcome Mr. Colon."

"Actually, it's Conlon." Spot corrected.

Larson blinked at him, and then looked at the paper in his hand. "I am sorry; I thought that was a typo."

"It's alright," Spot replied, not sure if they were actually going to get along if he was already correcting the teacher.

"Take any seat that's empty." With that Larson turned around and headed toward the board, ready to start class.

Spot headed towards the far left row; the desks had been pushed up against the wall and he would have something to lean on. He sat down and the boy in front of him turned around.

"Hi, I'm Michael, and this is Ryan," the kid sitting in front of Spot gestured to the kid on his right.

"I'm Sean, but most people call me Spot." His nickname came out of his mouth like word vomit. Had he really told these strangers his nickname? Well it was too late to take it back now.

"Spot?" the kid named Ryan asked.

"Uh…yeah, it's an old nickname." Spot said reluctantly.

They could tell he was uncomfortable so they did the one thing in the world that could have made him comfortable. "We understand old nicknames," Michael told him, "Ryan here goes by Blink most of the time." Ryan was glaring daggers at Michael.

"Blink?" Spot was very confused.

"Yeah," Michael laughed, "When we were kids he wore this eye patch to school one day, his mom couldn't get him to take it off for weeks, a kid called him Blink and the name stuck."

"Yeah well you think that's bad?" Blink asked, "Michael goes by Mush."

Spot didn't get a chance to question the nickname Blink just kept on talking.

"In our dance group one year we were learning a hard lift, Mush was scared he was going to drop the girl. When our director asked him why he wasn't practicing he told him his muscles felt like mush."

Spot laughed. He couldn't help it. Blink and Mush had to be the dumbest nicknames high school boys could go by, but dumb nicknames or not the two seemed nice.

"And you've already met our other friend, Anthony," Mush was talking again.

"Anthony?" Spot was confused again, the only boys he had met were the two in front of him and…oh hell…the three boys he had ran into in the main office. It had been Mush, Blink, and…Anthony, the boy with the gorgeous brown eyes.

"Yeah we accidentally bumped into you in the office."

"Oh, yeah, I remember. Sorry about earlier."

"It was our fault," Blink said, "If you need help finding any of your classes let us know."

Blink and Mush faced front again before Larson could yell at them. Spot was amazed, it was barely nine and he had already talked to three friendly people. Maybe being here wouldn't be so bad.

Third period biology and fourth period library aid passed quickly, as the bell rang signaling lunch Spot grew nervous again, yeah he had talked to some people but that didn't mean that he could sit with them at lunch. Spot walked down the hall and towards the cafeteria as slowly as he could, hoping to kill time and make the forty five minute lunch end as quickly as possible.

"Spot! Hey SPOT!"

He turned trying to see who was yelling his name. He had a pretty good idea who it could be. The only ones who knew his nickname were Blink and Mush; sure enough both of them were walking down the hall towards him. "You have first lunch too? Great! Do you want to eat with us or are you eating with someone else? If you are, that's cool."

Mush was talking a mile a minute and Spot wondered idly if he was related to Emma at all. "I am not eating with any one, and I would like to eat with you guys."

"Great!" Mush exclaimed, before he dashed to get in line. Blink rolled his eyes, "Mush gets very hyper when he hasn't had anything to eat in a while. Sorry."

Spot laughed as he joined Blink in the line for pizza, "That's fine; it takes more than that to scare me off." They paid for their food then headed over to the table Mush was sitting at with…Emma. Well speak of the devil.

"Spot this is Emma; she is a friend of ours." Blink explained as he sat down next to Mush. Spot took a seat next to Emma.

"Spot? I thought your name was Sean?" Before Spot could even begin to explain he realized she wasn't done. "Blink your behind on introductions, we have already met. Mush, breathe in between bites or you're going to choke." It seemed that Emma was a chatterbox even when she wasn't hungry.

"Spot's a nickname, my birth name is Sean." Spot explained.

Emma nodded and turned to Blink, "Are you ready for tonight?" she asked. Not only was the girl talkative, she changed topics fast.

"Yeah, I think so, I am still a little nervous about the basket toss but I think Courtney and I will be fine."

"Well I'm not ready!" Mush, who had finished his burrito, jumped into the conversation, "I'm still only hitting the correct key half the time. Even thinking about tonight makes me feel like I am going to puke."

Spot had no idea what they were talking about so he toned them out and concentrated on the other students in the cafeteria. Lunch ended and Spot headed toward Film Studies; he was one of the first kids in the door and most of the seats were empty. Mr. Portman told him there wasn't a seating chart so he could sit where ever he wanted. Spot chose a seat in the middle of the room and waited for the class to begin. The door opened and Spot's head lifted, Anthony walked into the room and took a seat in front of Spot. Spots palms started to sweat and he watched, as if in slow motion, Anthony turn in his chair to face him.

"Hi, Blink and Mush told me that they have history and lunch with you, they also said that they explained our weird nicknames. I'm Anthony but a lot of people call me Racetrack, or Race for short. I like Nascar." He added the last part with a sheepish grin.

Spot didn't get a chance to say anything; Mr. Portman turned off the lights and Race turned to face the T.V. at the front of the room. Spot couldn't focus on anything for the rest of the class. Instead of seeing 'A Christmas Story' he saw Race's eyes and grin. Spot sighed, Why? Why did he have to have a class with him? It was a very long time until the bell rang for seventh period.

Computer essentials passed quickly. It took him close to ten minutes to finish the simple excel format the teacher had assigned, and he spent the rest of the class on line. It wasn't until the final bell rang that he realized his first day at school had ended. The drive home seemed a lot shorter than the ride to school had been now that he wasn't nervous about what the day held. As he walked into the house he knew his mom would be waiting to hear all about his first day; he made his face perfectly blank. He was determined to not show his emotions, at least not for a little while.

"Hey, how was your first day?" She looked at Spot trying to gauge his emotions but his face was blank.

"It was fine." He replied, amazed how uninterested his voice sounded.

"Well that's good, I'm glad your first day went alright."

He could tell she wanted to ask more but he could also sense that she didn't want to push him, so she left it at that.

"Well I'm going to head up to my room." He started up the stairs and then stopped and turned to face his mom. "You were wrong mom."

Her face showed shock, confusion, and hurt. He continued before she could say anything.

"I made friends without even trying." He smirked and raced up the stairs.

"SEAN CONLON! Get back down here and tell me the truth about your first day of school!" She yelled as she followed him up the stairs and caught him right before he could lock himself in his room. She could move fast when she wanted to. He was laughing as she glared at him.

"Fine, I'll tell you the truth, but I think I deserve cookies."

Well there you go. Please read and review.

This 12 page chapter was celebrated with Oreos.