New York Rebellion
By: PrinceOfNewYork
Chapter 12: Ya Sound Like a Girl
Summary: When faced with power, the little people have been known to commonly back down. But when one person has an idea, and has the power to get everyone involved great things can happen. How will giants fair when the little people fight as one?
Disclaimer: A lot of these are original newsies, created by yours truly. However, several are from the movie as well. If you don't know which ones those are, go watch the movie, or simply ask me.
A/N: This is the sequel to my first shot at a Newsie fic, but Prince is my main character, and my absolute favorite as well. Besides, I couldn't just end my first story where I did without having a sequel, that wouldn't be fair at all. So, thank you in advance to all who read this!
I did borrow the character of Rylet from a fellow author of mine: Oberon O'Neil who has an account on this site under that name, and is also known as Jester. So, if you're interested in this character go to her for info, and thanks to her for loaning him to me! I also borrowed the character of Daniel "Ace" Cardoni from a fellow author of mine: AmbrLupin who has an account on this site under that name. So, if you're interested in this character go to her for info, and thanks to her for loaning him to me!
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Come one o'clock Prince, Rylet and Wit went back to Manhattan, so they could help get set up and ready for the rally that night. Every last newsie was just humming at the excitement of the rally, ready to go and hear what the boys in Manhattan had to tell them. The boys who went to the Bronx came back with some very good news as well. Ace and the Bronx boys agreed to join the strike, after the rally that evening. They had been selling minimally until this point, trying to help out the others the best they could, but now with every last area of New York on their side the boys had no doubt in their mind that they would win this strike.
While they were all in Irving hall, getting the decorations, the stage and the house prepared for the rally Prince pulled Jack to the side. "Jack, I need ta talk to ya."
"Can it wait Prince, huh? Yeah, that looks great! Now cover the other tables!" Jack called to the boys who were putting the table clothes on the tables on the main floor.
"No, Jack, I really need ta talk to ya."
Jack groaned slightly. "Hold on, be right there!" he called to the same boys before turning back to Prince. "What's the trouble?"
"I…" she had been going to tell him about her father. That he was after him specifically, and that if the rally got out of hand he could come looking for him. She was going to tell him the entire story, if she could. But instead, she said, "Tonight… Ave was worried about the rally gettin' outta hand. Thinks that the bulls might show up to do crowed control."
"Bulls huh?" Jack shook his head. "It'll be fine Prince. Ain't nothin' to worry about I dun think. Nothin' gonna happen. We'll keep it confined to the hall; the bulls'll have no reason ta come here."
"Jack, I really think-"
"Will ya quit cha worryin'? Jeeze, ya like a goil or somethin' Prince," Jack said shaking his head and chuckling. "Relax, it'll be fine," he said and then dashed off to give the boys a hand with the table clothes.
Prince sighed, before she heard Wit call her name, he needed help positioning the curtains, and she dashed off to help. She just couldn't stop the voice nagging in the back of her head, telling her that Jack was wrong, and that everything might not be okay. She prayed the voice was wrong.
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A few hours later boys started to come in. The Bronx, Ace, leader of the Bronx newsies himself, in the lead. His first goal was to find Jack, and Spot. And at the time Prince and Dave happened to be with them. Ace didn't mind, for he could to speak with them all just as well. It was probably things they all needed to hear anyway. "Nice set up you boys got here," he said looking around and approving.
"Ya like it Ace?" Jack said with a smile as he looked around and chuckled. "Yeah, pretty good huh?" he asked.
"Very good indeed. I just hope your reasoning behind all this, is as good as your decorating skills."
"Trust me Ace," Spot said piping up instantly, "we got god reasons behind this. You'll be on board faster than you can insult that stupid pig, Pulitzer."
"I'll take your word for it. If you need me I'll be back there with my boys," he said pointing to where the Bronx boys were congregating.
"Later Ace," Jack said as Ace turned to take a seat.
Prince watched him go. "Why didn't the Bronx join in the first place?"
"Same reason we almost didn't," Spot said. "I mean, not that we didn't trust these boys couldn't pull it off, but they wanted to be sure that everyone was in it for the long haul, and not gonna bail out when times got tough. They ain't been sellin' more than they needed to since this all started, and their thinkin' of sending a few boys down to help us from now on, and their gonna stop sellin' completely if they like what they hear tonight."
About that time Avalanche and the boys from Queens arrived as well. Avalanche seeing all the leaders, mostly together in one area decided he ought to make an appearance. "Good evenin' fellahs, suppose you're wonderin' why I called this meeting," he said seriously before he smiled. He was kidding.
"Nice to see ya Avalanche," Spot said with a certain respect for the Queens leader, and chuckling along with Avalanche at his joke.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," he said with a smile. "How we all doin'? Am I to assume we're gonna start here pretty soon?"
"Yeah, I think so," Dave said. "I've been keeping an eye on when people arrive. We just need one or two more areas, before we can really get started."
"Sounds great."
At this point the band started to play some upbeat, fun music so the boys would have something to listen to other than the sounds of conversation.
"I'm gonna go take my seat," Avalanche said.
"I'm comin' too," Prince said with a smile. "Good luck!" she called to Jack, Spot, and Dave before she followed Avalanche towards the stairs that lead to the balcony where many boys from Queens had found seats, while others had stayed on the floor to talk to their friends from other boroughs.
"So?" Avalanche said.
"So what?" Prince asked, not using her normal voice. She didn't find it very wise at this point.
"Ya think there's gonna be any problems?"
"Hope not… I talked to Jack, he didn't seemed to worried."
"Tell ya what," he said putting an arm around her. "Relax, have some fun… we'll see what happens. Okay? Just quit worryin'… ya sound like a girl."
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The band continued to play as more and more boys came inside. Before too long Jack was standing on stage, hair slicked back, with Spot and Dave on either side. His hands were in the air as he tried to calm the crowed who, by this time, was cheering in anticipation.
A near silence fell over the room before Jack said, "Carryin' the Banner!" and the entire hall erupted once again in noise and cheering.
No problems so far. Everything seemed to be going fine, and everyone really hoped it stayed that way.
"So! We come along way!" Jack said starting his speech. "But we ain't there yet. An' maybe it's only gonna get tuffuh from now on. But that's fine! We'll just get tuffuh wit' it!" This got cheers and applause from several boys in sitting in the house. "Also! Also, we gotta get smart, and start listenin' to my pal David," he got cheers and slight applause as well, "who says, Stop soakin' the scabs."
Racetrack, who was sitting down near the front of the stage had to put in his two cents. "What are we supposed ta do to the bums, kiss 'em?" This made several people, including Jack, who was still on stage laugh. However, Spot wasn't laughing.
"Hey look," Spot said, "any scab I see I soak 'em. Period." And that got general agreement from boys in Brooklyn as well as most of the other newsies who were in the hall.
"No!" Dave called trying to get them to quiet down, and get their attention. "No! No, that's what they want us to do! If we get violent we're just playing into their hands-"
"Hey look, their gonna be playin' with my hands, alright?!" Spot said demonstrating by holding up his fists. "B'cause it ain't what they say," he said putting his fists down, "it's what we say. And no body ain't gonna listen to us unless we make 'em." Everyone cheered again, specifically Brooklyn in huge agreement with their leader.
However, there seemed to be some dispute over this issue. Several boys agreed with Spot, while others sided with Dave, and were for avoiding violence. The boys in the hall started to get a bit out of hand. And if someone didn't get them to stop they'd be fighting here in a minute, the bulls would show up, and they'd all be finished! At least, that's what Prince thought.
"Ya got no brains!" Jack said leaning down a bit to get the attention of a few, which would soon seize the attention of many. "What, we startin' to fight each othah, it's just what the big shots wanna see! That we're street trash, street rats with no brains! No respect for nothin' includin' ourselves." Well, this got the boys to pay more attention, and they started to calm down, relax, and decided they'd better listen again, and quit with the fighting like Jack said. "So, here's how it is. If we don't act togethah then we nothin'. If we don't stick tagethah we nothin'. And if we can't even trust each othah then we nothin'."
"Tell 'em Jack!" Blink called hanging from a side balcony and calling down to the stage.
"So, what's it gonna be?!" Jack asked every boy in the place all at once.
A few boys talked it over briefly, and Racetrack, voicing the opinions of almost everyone in the house said, "We're with you Jack," the boys around him nodding in agreement, deciding that Jack was right.
Prince heaved a sigh of relief. Jack had gotten them under control. Turns out he had more power in this city than he realized he had. Prince, for one, found that very interesting, and impressive to say the least. That Jack could handle something so big, the strike, this rally, and keep Manhattan banded together through all this. It was a major achievement in her eyes. Her opinion of him heightened as did her interest in him.
Jack however, had his minds on other matters, for it seemed that certain people were just not convinced yet, namely Spot Conlon. "So," Jack said addressing Spot on his left side, "what do you say Spot?"
Spot considered his options for a moment, looked out at the boys, his eyes and face unreadable for the most part, but one could tell he was thinking it over, deeply thinking it over. He wasn't going to rush into anything. When it seemed he had made up his mind he turned back to Jack. "I say… that what you say…" his face had a look of patronization on it, making it appear he thought Jack was all wrong. That is until Spot finished his sentence with, "is what I say," affirming that he was keeping with the strike, not going to fight the scabs, and agreeing with his friend. The two boys spit in their right hands and shook, sealing the deal in a word contract.
The house erupted in applause, cheers, and happy expressions. Everyone was so glad to see that everything was going to remain peaceful, and they might just win this after all. Avalanche turned to Prince and smiled, and she smiled back to him. Their confedence now both restored the stood up in the balcony, raised their hands to their lips and whistled loudly in celebration.
As the boys stood on the stage, gazing out over the audience the spot light in the back of the house flicked on as the center of the curtains opened, showing Medda Larkson, the Swedish Meadow Lark standing there with a smile on her face, red hair sparkling and face as pretty as a picture. The boys screamed in excitement, ready to get the talking over with and get on with the show. Prince smiled down at the stage. It seemed there would be no problems after all. Thank goodness. Though something that she and no one else realized was that this night was far from over.
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Oh dang! I thought this chapter was longer than this. Well... okay, because I'm SUPER excited about the next chapter, if I get enough feed back, I'll try and give you the end of the strike before monday, because... it just gets good! So, gimme some feedback, however it be, and tell me if you want me to update early for the next chapter. And maybe I will. . Never know! And if not well then I'll see you on Friday!