Author's Note: Hello, hello, hello! I want to begin this chapter by formally thanking Anjion and Ostritch On A Rampage for their support and wonderful ideas! Seriously, you guys rock!
This chapter is based on true events from the Newsies tour. That's all I'm going to say.
That's all I've got to say! Thank you for reading, and if you like it, reviews are highly appreciated! I hope you enjoy it!
After a goodbye and a "don't do anything stupid!" from Kloppman, the boys (and three girls) began on their way, letting the skyscrapers of Manhattan fade as they made their way out of New York.
"So, Jack," Davey asked after most of the city had disappeared behind them. "Do you have any idea where we're going?"
"Nope!" Jack answered cheerily. "But, Crutchie's on map duty."
Crutchie looked up from his phone and said, "Okay, according to Google, there's three different routes. Two of 'em take 31 hours, but one of 'em takes 30 hours."
"Take the shorter one," Jack replied. "I wanna get to Santa Fe as fast as possible."
"Plus, it's one less hour I'm stuck in a van with you idiots," Spot added.
Race put a hand over his heart, feigning gratitude. "Spot, I'm touched."
"Okay, but you should know that if we take one of the longer ones, we pass through two more states."
"Which states?" Specs asked.
"Texas and Oklahoma. But, the shorter one goes through Kansas." Crutchie answered.
"Wait, but they got tornadoes in Kansas." Blink pointed out.
"Blink, it ain't tornado season." Spot scoffed.
"There could be a freak tornado."
"Shut up. What do you have against Kansas?"
"What do you have against Blink?" Mush chimed in.
"The same thing Blink has against Kansas." Spot replied, disgruntled.
"What's so great about Kansas, anyway?" Blink questioned.
"What's so great about Blink?"
"Oh, I'll soak-"
"HEY!" Jack whipped around in his seat to face Kid Blink, who was ready to punch Spot.
Crutchie put his hand on Jack's shoulder and said, "Eyes on the road, Jack."
Jack turned back around and sighed,"Can we get through ten minutes in the car without trying to soak each other?!"
"Not when Blink's bein' an idiot." Spot grumbled.
"You started it," Blink shot back.
"What are you, five?" Spot questioned.
"Probably," Blink shrugged.
Jack ignored him and said,"Whatever. Back to the route, which way should we go?"
"Let's go through Kansas to annoy Blink," Spot smirked.
"Let it go!" Jack exclaimed. "And, Romeo, don't you dare start singin' Frozen."
Romeo's face fell. "Well, we should play some music."
"Good call," Jack said. "What kind?"
The car erupted in random requests of various genres, artists and songs, ranging from classic rock to High School Musical.
"Why don't we just play whatever Jack has on his phone?" Davey suggested, shouting above the musical chaos.
Jack's hand whirled on top of his phone, which sat on the center console.
"Woah, what's Cowboy got to hide on his phone?" Race chuckled.
"Nothin'," Jack answered too quickly. "I just...don't have any music on my phone."
"Pfft, sure!" Race scoffed. "No, no, no, there's somethin' you don't want us to see!"
"He just doesn't want you to see the haikus he writes about Santa Fe in his notes," Crutchie teased.
Jack neither confirmed nor denied the existence of these haikus, and instead replied, "Seriously, I just don't buy music."
Race ignored both of them and snatched the phone off of the center console, causing Jack to let out a small noise of horror. "Geez, Jack," Race laughed. "What's got you so-"
"You don't know my passcode, anyway!" Jack blurted nervously.
"Okay, now I'm interested," Katherine grinned. "I thought I knew all your secrets."
"Ooh, like what?" Spot asked. "I need blackmail material."
"Guessed it," Race announced as the iPhone clicked with the unlocking sound. "1-8-9-9!"
Jack turned around again, "Wait, no-"
With a few clicks and swipes, Race found the music library of Jack's phone and began blaring the twangiest country song that anyone in the car had ever heard.
Jack faced the road again, glaring. After a moment of near-silence, which had been littered with muffled giggles, Jack spoke up. "Yes, I listen to country. And not just Carrie Underwood or anything. I listen to country. You got a problem with that?"
Spot just grinned. "Never mind, Katherine. I found my blackmail material."
"Look, there ain't nothin' wrong with my taste in music!" Jack exclaimed, blushing furiously. "It's just...different!"
"Okay, okay, which route should I take?" Crutchie asked, changing the subject much to Jack's relief.
"I think we should take the longer route," Mush said. "After all, you know what they say; it's about the journey, not the destination!"
"Unless your destination's Santa Frickin' Fe!" Jack responded, practically bouncing in his seat. "That's just a load of crap tourist stops make up to get you to stop at their shops. I just wanna get to Santa Fe!"
"But, what's a road trip without a few stops?" Katherine asked. "I mean, this is most of our first times out of New York, right? We might as well see all we can see." Before Jack could offer another argument, she added, "Plus, you're the guy who's always talking about the other things the world has to offer. Adventure and all that..."
Jack grinned at Katherine. "Ah, I can't say no to you, Ace." He chuckled. "Let's take the longer route."
"Oy, get a room!" Race groaned. "Are we gonna have to put up with your lovey-dovey banter the whole time?"
"Shut up," Jack said, shooting one more grin at Katherine, before turning back around to face the road.
"SLUG BUG!" Smalls exclaimed suddenly, followed by two loud smacking noises and two yelps from Specs and Romeo. "Jaaaaaaack!" Romeo whined. "Smalls punched me!"
"Oh, you're killin' me, Smalls!" Jack smirked.
"Ha-ha, ain't heard that one before," Smalls rolled her eyes. "Guys, I am the ultimate slug bug champion. You suckers are goin' down!"
"It's on!" Romeo grinned, balling his fists.
"Daveeeeeeeey," Les moaned, leaning on his brother's shoulder. "I'm hungryyyyyyyyy."
"Well, that's pretty poor timing," Davey said. "We just left the city, where we could have stopped for lunch at Jacobi's or something. You really should have thought of that earlier. Besides, how can I help? If anyone, you should ask Jack, because he's driv-"
"Saraaaaaaahhhhh," Les turned to his sister. "Davey's using logic on me!"
"Oh, shame on you, Davey," Sarah teased. "The poor kid can't put up with your logic in his state of hunger! Besides, I'm hungry, too."
"Well, it looks like there's a rest stop comin' up here," Crutchie noted. "We could pick up some snacks."
"And by snacks, Crutchie means he's going to buy out the stop's supply of Flamin' Hot Cheetos," Jack smirked.
"Hey, leave me and my Cheetos be, and I'll leave you and your country music be," Crutchie grinned.
"Fair trade," Jack replied, turning into the parking lot of the stop. "But, we'll only spend twenty minutes at the rest stop. After that, we'se outta there."
The group ran into the shop at the rest stop and stopped at a wall lined with a plethora of slushee flavors. "Woah..." Smalls' mouth dropped open.
"I've never seen so many slushees in my whole life..." Les said, in pure awe.
"It's so beautiful," Blink breathed. "I might cry."
"How can I choose just one flavor?" Romeo asked with chuckle.
Race dashed up to the wall and began filling his cup with a bit of every flavor. "Who says you gotta choose?"
"Woah, Crutchie," Davey peered down the aisle, raising an eyebrow at his friend. "That's a lot of Cheetos."
"Nothin' I can't handle," Crutchie grinned, peeking up at Davey from above his overflowing stack of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. "I ain't takin' all the bags."
"Crutchie, I ain't lettin' you spend thirty dollars in Cheetos," Jack chimed in, walking up behind Crutchie.
"Hey, this stack is only worth twenty-five!" Crutchie countered. "And, with that kinda attitude, I guess I ain't sharin' with you."
"Everybody, come on!" Jack called after fifteen minutes had passed. "We'se gotta go if we wanna find a good hotel tonight!"
Les sped up to him, his mouth a multi-colored mess, and exclaimed,"JackIjusthadthebestslurpeeeverIthadeveryflavorimtheworldanditwassosweetand-"
"Oh, gosh," Davey groaned. "This is going to be a very long car ride."
After checking out his six bags of Cheetos, Crutchie glanced at the clock, then at his empty water bottle. "I got time to fill this up," He decided aloud, and hobbled off to the water fountain.
"Shotgun!" Katherine shouted, sliding into the seat next to Jack. "Sorry, Crutchie!" Settling into the seat, Katherine grinned. "Hmm. I never get shotgun. This is what true power feels like, isn't it?"
"You've got the power, Ace," Jack chuckled. "Now, is everyone settled in?" After a chourus of "yes's", Jack pulled out of the parking lot.
"Okay, I'm ready, fellas!" Crutchie hummed, screwing the cap onto his water bottle. When he was met with no response, he made his way out into one of the aisles. "Fellas?" He scanned the store, which had a sudden lack of customers.
Crutchie put his face in palms. "Oh, great."
"I'm gonna be sick," Romeo moaned, leaning on Race.
"Ick, not on me!" Race exclaimed, scooting away from Romeo.
"Why did I let you convince me it was a good idea to get a large slurpee with every flavor?" He sighed.
"Hey, don't throw up in my car!" Jack frowned.
"Oh, it's not like it ain't a junk wagon already!" Blink retorted, looking quite green himself.
"My van is a beauty," Jack huffed.
"A beauty you got for $500 from a junkyard," Spot scoffed.
"Okay, okay, it was not a junkyard! Jack said defensively. " I got it off Craigslist!"
"We'll be lucky if this jalopy makes it through the trip," Davey rolled his eyes.
"Well, Crutchie likes it," Jack said smugly. "Ain't that right, Crutchie?"
There was a pause.
"Crutchie?"
"Umm, Jack?" Sarah said, looking around. "I don't think Crutchie's here."
"What? That's ridiculous," Jack chuckled nervously. "Of course he's here! Maybe he just fell asleep!"
"No, Crutchie isn't in here," Specs said.
"No, no, he's here!" Jack insisted. "Watch, someone call him! We'll hear his phone ring right away!"
Katherine picked up Jack's phone and frowned immediately. "Jack, your phone was on silent. You have three missed calls from Crutchie."
"Oh no," Jack groaned. He banged a fist on the dashboard. "Oh, f-"
Davey covered Les' ears. "Jack."
"For the love of Crutchie!" Jack finished, honking the horn slightly.
Spot began slow-clapping. "Way to go, Jacky-boy. We'se barely begun the trip, and you'se already left you best friend at the rest stop."
"Uh, who said this was my fault?" Jack questioned
"Well, you're the driver," Spot said.
"Well, Race is the guardian!" Jack countered. "He's the only legal adult among us, so he should be at fault!"
"No, you're to blame," Race said, looking at his phone. "You're being publicly shamed on all forms of social media."
"What does that mean?" Jack questioned skeptically.
"It means Crutchie posted a selfie on Instagram and tweeted about it, and now everyone's reposting and retweeting with #ShameOnCaptainJack." Race answered, stifling laughter. "I think Buttons' tweet was the best. Want me to read it?"
"No," Jack grumbled. "I still blame you."
"You want me to play the voice mails?" Katherine asked.
Jack nodded weakly and Katherine played them.
Voice Mail 1: "Hey Jack, it's Crutchie. Where are ya guys? I was fillin' up my water bottle and now I can't find ya. See ya soon!"
Voice Mail 2: "Jack? Crutchie here. I really can't find you'se. I'm wanderin' the parking lot right now and getting some strange looks. I can't spot your va- what?...Oh no, sir, I was just tryin' to find my friends...A group of mostly teenage boys? ...With three girls and one kid?... Yeah, that's them...Oh, they left?...Really?...Thanks, sir...Wow. Thanks Jack."
Voice Mail 3: "Dear Jack, greetings from the rest stop. How are you? I'm okay. I mean, besides the fact that you left me here and I've called you three times now. I'se been here for fifteen minutes now. Oh, yeah, Jack, this is Crutchie, by the way! These here workers is bein' rude, since they want me to get outta the store since I ain't buyin' anything else. But, the food ain't bad. I got my Cheetos. Anyway, I'll be fine. Good as new. But, there's one thing I need ya to do; pick me up. The end. Your friend. Your best friend. Your brother, Crutchie."