Thanks for the reviews, theititia, brighteyes421, and JimmyJimmyWhoop!
Fanz4life, THE FACT THAT YOU CALLED CRUTCHIE A CRUTCHAMIN ROLL MADE ME DIE OF LAUGHTER- THANK YOU.
This was edited at 3am so if there are mistakes, you know why.
I ordered the Tuck Everlasting piano book, and it's not coming until Thursday, so I have to wait for that RIP.
Jackie's fur and whiskers tickled Crutchie's cheek as he curled up next to Crutchie's face. Crutchie sighed with happiness and watched his cat drift asleep, his tiny, furry body rising up and down as he breathed. It was nightime, and all the other newsies were asleep. Though he squeezed his eyes shut as tightly as he could, Crutchie couldn't fall asleep. He couldn't stop thinking about Jackie and what he would do with him in the morning.
I usually wake up before all the other boys, Crutchie thought to himself. I guess I'll just have to put Jackie in my vest again.
"I need to sleep," Crutchie muttered softly. "If I sleep late, then I'll wake up late, and then I won't be able to hide Jackie in time."
Of course, sleeping was easier said than done. It took Crutchie a while, plus a whole lot of tossing and turning, before he finally dozed off with Jackie right beside him.
Crutchie awoke to the feeling of Jackie's paws pressing up against his cheek. He immediately sat up, making sure that none of the other boys were awake. Suddenly, there was violent snore from Jack in the bed next to Crutchie. Yep, everyone was definitely still sleeping. Crutchie grabbed his vest and slipped it on, then put Jackie in it. Right when Crutchie grabbed his cap and put it on his head, the morning bell rang and the other boys started to stir awake.
Crutchie looked down at Jackie, tacitly telling him to stay still and quiet. Next to him, Jack dramatically kicked his blanket off and sat up groaning. "I was having a good dreammmm," Jack whined, looking at Crutchie with sad eyes.
"All good things must come to an end, Jack," Crutchie said, bending down to put his boots on and willed Jackie to stay in his vest.
Jack simply rolled his eyes and stood up out of bed. Once Jack had gotten ready, he did his usual routine of yelling at the boys who were still asleep to hurry and get up. Then, the newsies went out to buy their papes. Crutchie didn't think that Jackie appreciated being stuck in his vest the entire time, but luckily Jackie stayed put while Crutchie was selling.
Hours later, Crutchie had finished. Since he had finished earlier than usual, he decided to go to the lodging house for something to eat, since he clearly wasn't going to Jacobi's with a cat in his vest. He took Jackie out of his vest on the walk back so the cat could get some air. When they arrived at the lodging house, Crutchie put Jackie back in his vest, just in case there was another boy in there.
Once inside, Crutchie got down on his knee and grabbed the last box of crackers out from under Jack's bed. Again, he felt guilty about stealing, but he needed some food and Jackie did, too. As he stood up, he saw a short figure walk into the room, and he nearly fell back to the ground when he saw that it was Romeo.
"Romeo! Wh-what are you doing here?" he sputtered out.
Romeo let out a high-pitched scream. "I WAS JUST-" He stopped as Jackie leaped out of Crutchie's vest and on to Jack's bed. "-CRUTCHIE, IS THAT A CAT?"
Crutchie dropped the box of crackers and grabed Jackie as fast as he could. "N-no!" Crutchie panicked as Jackie kicked his way out of his hands and almost fell, but he managed to catch him. "I-I mean, yes, it is a cat! Please don't asked why!"
The younger boy ran up to Crutchie and grabbed Jackie out of his grip. He squealed, "It's so cute! Is it a boy or a girl?"
"Boy..." Crutchie murmered, trying not to sound annoyed by the fact that Romeo just snatched Jackie without permission.
"Did ya name it yet?" Romeo asked, gently petting the cat."
"Yeah," Crutchie said, "I named him Jackie. Like Jack but different."
Romeo smiled, "Jackie's a good name for a cat- I like it. Does Jack know 'bout this?"
Crutchie shook his head. "No, he don't. You'se the only person who knows about Jackie."
Romeo's face lit up. "So Jackie's our little secret now?" he said eagerly.
"Sure, why not?" Crutchie smiled a little. "You is gonna have to promise to not tell anyone about the cat. Not even Jack."
Rapidly nodding his head, Romeo said, "I promise!"
"Good. Now we should get back to selling papes, yeah?"
"Yeah!"
So the two boys went out and finished selling the rest of their papes together. As they were selling, Crutchie told Romeo all about how he found Jackie, took him in, gave him a bath and fed him.
"Jack was really worried about ya!" Romeo said. "When we was at Jacobi's he kept tellin' us that he should have stayed at the lodge with you."
Crutchie shook his head and smiled. "Jack thought I was sick when I insisted on staying at the lodge. I just wanted to stay with Jackie, that's all."
"So, when you plannin' on tellin' Jack?"
Crutchie thought for a moment. "Never," he said simply.
"You gotta tell him sometime!" Romeo exclaimed. Then, he ran and sold his last pape to a girl around his age that passed by them. "She was a cute one," he smirked.
Crutchie rolled his eyes and handed Romeo his last pape. "Go find another nice lookin' girl and sell my last one to her," he said.
After Romeo sold Crutchie's last pape, the two boys headed back to the lodging house. When they got there, everyone else was already back. Romeo immediately ran over to his brother Race and started chattering. Crutchie went over to Jack, who was sitting on his bed, and sat next to him.
"Hi," Crutchie looked up at Jack and smiled.
"Hey, Crutch," Jack smiled back.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay. You?"
All of a sudden their conversation was interrupted by a loud shout coming from across the room. "YOU WHAT?" It was Race shouting at Romeo, for reasons unknown to the other newsies.
Jack stood up. "What'd Rome do this time?" he called.
"NOTHING!"
"Seriously, what'd the kid do?" Specs piped up.
"I ALREADY TOLD YOU. NOTHING."
"Tell usssss," Albert begged.
"NO, SHUT UP, ALBERT. CRUTCHIE, GET OVER HERE."
Crutchie swallowed and stood up. He walked all the way across the room to Race. "What do you need?"
Race didn't say anything, he just reached in to Crutchie's vest and pulled Jackie out.
"Race, what the hell?" Crutchie hissed in frustration.
"Sorry, I just had to make sure Romeo was tellin' me the truth when he said that you had a CAT in your vest. If you couldn't tell already, he can't keep secrets at all."
"Yeah, I noticed," Crutchie grumbled. "The cat's name is Jackie, by the way."
"Jackie?" Albert peered over Race's shoulder and when he saw Jackie, he whispered, "That's a cat!"
"Great observation, Albert," Finch muttered, poking his head into the conversation.
"I mean, it's a cute cat," Tommy Boy said quietly.
"Guys, does Jack know about this?" Specs asked softly.
"Did someone say my name?" Jack called out, standing up and walking toward the huddled group of boys.
"Dammit, hide Jackie!" Race whispered fractically as he stuffed Jackie back into Crutchie's vest.
Jack made it over and looked at all of them, his eyebrow raised. "What the hell are you guys doin'?"
Crutchie put on one of his classic smiles. "Oh, nothin'! Romeo was just bein' an idiot, that's all." That earned a glare from Romeo.
Jack studied the boys for a good five seconds before turning around and walking off.
Crutchie pulled Jackie out from his vest again and sighed with relief. "Okay, fellas, you all have to help me. Jack can never know about Jackie- ever. We all gotta hide him."
"I mean, Jack's gonna find out sometime, but this'll be fun while it lasts," Race said. "So does everyone agree to not say a word about Jackie?"
A chorus of agreement rose up, and Crutchie smiled. Jack would never have to know.
R&R!
