What will happen next...
I gasped and a collective intake of breath surfaced from the rest of the crowd as they took in the developing situation. But no one stepped in to call O'Malley out or made a move to stop the fight. I tugged at Molly's dress sleeve.
"Why aren't they stopping this? It isn't a fair fight!" Molly's face was pale.
"I. I don't think they can. If they do it's like coming to his help and Jack forfeits the fight." Jack backed away slowly. Confident now, O'Malley strode over to Jack, knife in hand. Jack feigned a punch to the left and when O'Malley fell for it, Jack grabbed the arm holding the knife. O'Malley struggled and in the ensuing struggle, he cut Jack on his right forearm. At first I thought he had just sliced the sleeve of his shirt but dark red blood began to spread on his sleeve. Jack clenched his jaw in pain but twisted O'Malley's hand until he dropped to his knees and dropped the knife. Jack kicked it away and it disappeared into the crowd. I breathed a sigh of relief.
But the fight wasn't over yet. O'Malley rose and shook his twisted hand angrily as if to ward off the pain. Furious at the loss of his knife, the one thing he had over Jack, he seemed to get extra energy from his anger. He stalked over to Jack. After a few minutes of jabbing, he succeeded in getting one punch. He aimed for his jaw but got Jack's lip instead. To my amusement, he seemed so surprised to get that one punch that he became distracted, and Jack was able to pummel him twice in the jaw. This sent him reeling back into the crowd where some of his newsies caught him before he fell. There was a pause and when he didn't rise, cheers came from Jack's side. He wiped the blood from his mouth and grinned as Racetrack came forward with a rag for his arm and slapped him on the back.
Amidst the cheers and shouting throughout the warehouse, not many noticed O'Malley stagger to his feet. Jack turned back as he was wrapping his injured arm and O'Malley rushed forward and punched him in the face. This time it was Jack who reeled back. Groans and boos arose from the crowd, directed at O'Malley. I protested,
"That was completely...I can't believe..." I clenched my hands but knew I was completely useless to stop any of this. Molly was shouting along with the rest of the crowd but adding a few choice words of hers as well.
And then, quite suddenly as if triggered by O'Malley's out of turn punch, fights began to break out around the two in the middle and it spread from there to all corners of the warehouse. Molly shrieked as two boys threw fists at each other between us, leaning dangerously close to the rail of the balcony.
Molly bypassed them carefully and grabbed my wrist, leading me hurriedly down the stairs. Avoiding blows and punches thrown every which way, we ducked and admittedly shrieked every few seconds. We finally made it to the bottom of the staircase where we stepped over the mess caused by the fight.
Suddenly a piercing sound washed over the warehouse. We looked up to see a few young boys hanging from the rafters and whistling sharply to catch attention. One yelled at the top of his lungs, "THE COPS! RUN! IT"S THE BULLS!" Suddenly Molly and I were swallowed in the sudden scramble for the back of the warehouse. Molly tried going against the flow but this time I grabbed her wrist and dragged her with me. Guessing from the massive rush to the back, the police were waiting at the front. People were scrambling out of the windows and doors.
Molly and I climbed through an open window into the back alley. Figures were running as soon as they hit the ground outside but Molly dragged me behind some abandoned cardboard boxes stacked against the wall. When I poked her side, as a way to garner information, she whispered,
"William! We have to wait for him! I don't know the way home, d'you?" I shook my head. So we shivered for a bit more minutes from the shock and the cold as people continued to rush out.
Molly was getting more and more worried. She was biting her fingernails and looking through the make-shift window we'd punched in one of the boxes. Suddenly she whispered,
"It's Jessie!" She edged past me and I followed. The brown-haired girl I recognized as William's girl was lowering herself from the window and seeming to get help from...
"William!" shrieked Molly rushing forward.
"Alright," said William jumping out the window and looking not the least bit ruffled, "Time to go." Instead of going the same way as everyone seemed to be going, William led us to another side street and then another. We were about to turn the corner when a police buggy blared past us clanging their bell. Taking in my pale face, William turned to me, took a flask out of his pocket and said,
"You might want some of this." Molly protested but William responded,
"D'you want 'er to faint on our way home?" She conceded and I took the flask gingerly and began to take a sip. The burning liquid inside scorched my throat and my eyes watered. In my surprise, I gagged and swallowed way more than I intended. I felt dizzy for a few minutes and when I recovered I looked up to see Molly, William and Jessie looking at me worriedly. I handed back the flask to William and said,
"Terrible, but thank you." Molly said,
"Let me have some then."
"Fine, but if you get drunk, it's on you Molly." She punched him in the arm and took a few hearty sips from the flask. Jessie who was looking scandalized before, even took a little sip. We continued walking. We heard the distant bell tolling the hour. Molly whispered,
"Eight...nine...ten. Ten o'clock. When it seemed we were far away enough, we all relaxed and the whiskey loosened our tongues. We were soon chatting amongst ourselves.
"Gosh," said Jessie wrinkling her tiny nose, "that O"Malley was awful." William said,
"If he hadn't hit Jack Kelly outa turn, the cops wouldn't 'ave come. He started that whole mess."
"If I saw that bastard in an alley..." Molly chirped. Jessie seemed startled at her sudden cursing but William and I barely reacted. Jessie lived near the Irving Hall and from there, I was next. Molly and I were rather giggly as we walked nearer to Leary Grocery, eliciting a number of eye rolls from William.
Even so, I was yawning as we turned the corner into the alley next to the grocery and Molly was saying behind me, "Didn't I tell you? Didn't I tell you it was going to be fun?" I turned to her and grasped her hands.
"Yes. But oh, Molly we could've been killed. I can't believe I..." She patted me on the shoulder and said
"Oh. You're safe now." I hugged her and said,
"Yes, we're back safe and sound. Thanks to our brave Will!" I waved at him cheerfully. He came over to us and took Molly by the shoulders.
"Alright, come on then Molly. You realize you're tispy..." She shook him off and said,
"Oh, am not." She then turned me by the shoulders and gave me a push toward my window, "Off you go you wench. I condemn you to the murky depths of this alley!" I laughed and turned to wave good-bye to Molly and blew a kiss towards William.
"Bye William! Good-bye Molly!" She and William waved back and disappeared around the corner. I stood there for a minute trying to remember what I was about to do. Then I turned and almost walked straight into Jack Kelly who was looking at me rather questioningly.
Props to those who reviewed!
AlyJay: Looking back, there were some time "issues" but I tweaked the times to make it more believable (But he was supposed to be at the same gathering as Molly. Note to self: Make that clearer in the future) . And yes, definitely building conflict here w/ O'Malley. Where oh where will I go next? :P
Mids-all-the-way: Thanks! Hopefully I'll be able to continue keeping up the storyline and the characterization of Kate.
NewsiesSpot88: I hope I hurried!
By the way, I looked over my past chapters and...yeah...I'll probably be editing and editing them again and again.
Having issues w/ the next chapter...so I hope I have time soon to go over it!
Reviews would be AWESOME :P