"Drink up boys!" Jacobi demanded as he finished handing each one of the boys a glass of water. "And don't say I neva' did nothin' for ya." The Italian started to walk to the back of the empty diner, but stopped and spoke some more. "And before you say water is nothin', just ask a fish... in the desert." Then he left the boys, sulking in his restaurant in silence.
"Why do old people talk?" Albert sighed from his place, slumped over, practically laying on the table. He sat with other boys who were holding their bruised and possibly broken limbs, all of them were in some sort of pain.
"To prove they're still alive." Race answered, giving his brothers a much needed chuckle. He actually lay on his back atop the table opposite Albert. They all knew what had happened. They'd heard Crutchie crying out, but no one was brave enough to go and rescue him. And when Jack was no where to be found, they went to Jacobi's, hoping he'd show up sooner or later, but it didn't look good.
"Good morning gentlemen!" Katherine exclaimed, entering the diner, a smile plastered on her face. But she stopped when she saw the boys. They were covered in blood and bruises and some of them even tried to rapidly wipe away some tear streaks. Katherine knew these boys were tough and if they were scared, she knew it was bad. "Take a look at these glum mugs." She pouted, knowing how to be getting these boys to smile once more. "Why, can these really be the same boys that made the news today?" She opened up her laptop and set it down at Race's feet, leaving it open on a picture of a very familiar group of school boys.
"Hey look at that!" Race shouted after sitting up and glancing at the screen. "It's me!" He pointed to himself on the screen, a huge smile on his face.
"You ain't even dead!" JoJo pointed out, and Race smacked him in the head.
"Where's me?" Romeo asked, climbing up next to Race. "Where's me?"
"Wait till my old man gets a load of this!" Another one of them yelled, excited.
"You got us in the news?" David stood next to Katherine, genuinely impressed at her work. She just smiled at him and looked at each face in the room.
"You got yourselves in the news." She corrected. Then she looked down at her hands. "But Pulitzer put a block on all strike news. Even I'm cut off now." She said sadly. Then she turned to Davey and spoke in a quieter voice, the worry in her voice increasing significantly. "Hey, I heard they arrested Crutchie. Did they get Jack too?"
Albert chose that moment to step up behind Davey, hoping beyond everything that the rumors he heard weren't true and that Jack had done what he had to do. But he sighed, hiding his emotions in his straight tone. "The Delancey's are spreadin' rumors that Jackie boy took off at the first sign of the cops."
From a seat next to Race, Les popped up and ran to Jack's defense. "Jack don't run from no fight!" He yelled. Albert smiled at the innocent boy who still believed in the hero he'd just met. He didn't blame him, most of these kids looked up to Jack like he was a God or something, himself included. They'd run to him with anything because he always made it easier somehow. But not today. It wouldn't work today.
"Calm down, short stuff," Albert leaned down, ruffling the boy's hair. "That's just what I heard."
Race didn't even know what was going on around him anymore. All he knew was, his face was in the news. "For jumpin' Jack's sake, would you stow the seriousity long enough, to just drink! In the moment!" Race exclaimed, cigar in hand, punching Elmer in the arm. They all rolled their eyes. They were too young to drink but Race joked about it all the time. "I'm famous!" He finished.
"Yeah what of it?" Finch asked, annoyed, from his seat next to Race's table. The second in command still sat on the edge of the table, the computer in his lap, scrolling through their news story.
He pulled the unlit cigar out of his mouth and looked at Finch like he was insane. The cigar was not understood by all but a few of them knew why he carried it around all the time, and the rest of them just let it go.
"Ya stupid or what?" The others just shrugged, like having their pictures in the news was no big deal but Race continued on, in his thick, New York accent. "When you're famous, the world is your erster."
Every kid in the room, including Katherine, looked at him like he was crazy. "Your what?" Henry asked, confused.
"Your erster." Race repeated as if it was obvious, but he looked around the room and they were still confused. He groaned, remembering that he did have a heavy New York accent. "Your fancy clam with the pearl inside!"
The whole room erupted in understanding. "How much does bein' famous pay?" Henry asked and Race just scoffed.
"Ya don't need money when you're famous! They give ya whatever ya want! Gratis!" He explained, not understanding why Katherine was laughing or Davey was smiling at him weirdly.
"Such as?" Elmer asked, not quite understanding.
"You want a pair of new shoes that's got matchin' laces? You got it!" He said, smacking his hand down on the table to emphasize his claim.
"You think they'd give me pastrami on rye with a sour pickle?" Henry asked, dreaming about that sophisticated sandwich. The boy loved food. Sometimes Jacobi would let him help out in the kitchen.
Race laughed and nodded before Finch spoke, "I want my own face on a wooden nickel!" He exclaimed and the boys all chuckled.
"Look at us!" Race pointed at the picture on the screen. "Fellas, we're kings!" He stood on the table, his excitement getting to him as he suddenly forgot about everything that had been going wrong, and he started to dance on the table. He spun around and shouted, "I'm the king of New York!"
The boy jumped down and all his friends joined in on the dance, moving to whatever upbeat tune was playing in Jacobi's diner. "They gotta respect us now!" Race yelled. "It's our city now!"
The boys all shouted their agreements and danced along with Race. "But hey!" Davey interrupted. "This story's gotta be the one that gave the world a star reporter!" He said, gesturing to Katherine who was sitting and laughing while she watched the boys celebrate. She looked up at Davey, shocked before Race ran up to the taller boy and playfully pushed him out of the way.
"Am-scray punk!" He shouted, pretending he was a celebrity's personal body guard as he grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her up. "She's the king of New York!"
Katherine stood, staring at Race with a huge grin on her face. It was the first time since she'd met him that he was genuinely happy. And she'd been the one to make that happen. It was truly an honor. Next thing she knew, all the boys surrounded her, cheering her on and she rolled her eyes as she turned and saw a her empty chair next to the table she'd previously sat at. Race held out his hand and she took it, accepting his help. She stepped up to the chair and then to the table and turned around happily as she shouted. "Who woulda thought? I'm the king of New York!"
"She saved us!" Les exclaimed.
Looking down at Race she yelled. "So let's get drunk!" And all the boys yelled in excitement. "Not with liquor! Fame works quicker when you're the king of New York!"
"But what happens tomorrow?" Romeo asked. "They'll all forget about us." He looked up at his big brothers with sadness in his eyes but Race quickly hit the baseball cap that was on his head so it covered the boy's eyes.
"Stop thinkin' bout that kid!" He yelled, a grin still plastered on his face.
"Yeah, we were famous for a whole minute!" Albert agreed. He snuck up behind Romeo and grabbed him around the waist, spinning him up off the ground, making the little boy squeal in surprise.
Then they went back to dancing. Some of the boys were doing flips and others were chasing each other around in excitement. Then Davey stopped. He looked and realized that Katherine had sat down on the edge of the table, simply watching the madness going on around her. So the boy grabbed Race as he was chasing around Les and Romeo with a spoon, pretending to be sword fighting. Dave nodded towards the girl and Race grabbed a lot of the other boys' attention and they all surrounded their hero.
"Cmon Katherine!" Davey encouraged as all the boys clapped along to the beat of the music, waiting for her to get up and dance.
"Yeah Plumber!" Albert shouted. The boys joined in and shouted for her to celebrate with them.
Katherine shyly stood and walked into the center of the group and started tapping her foot. She spun around and threw up her arms as if she'd done an amazing trick.
"That's it?" Davey said, disappointed, and the others booed and started to walk away. Katherine saw their happiness fading. She wasn't ready for that yet. They needed a reason to celebrate. So she ran up right behind Race and danced. She tapped in front of all the boys, recalling the classes her mother had made her take all those years. Then she kicked her leg up and all the boys shouted in excitement and started dancing right along with her.
Race held her around the waist and grabbed her other hand and they jumped and danced around the room to the music. Out of no where, Albert pulled the blond boy away from Katherine and Les stepped in. He did a dance and then stopped, waiting for her to do the same. She did, easily. Then they did it again and all the boys saw Katherine's competitive side shine through. Now they all started to see what Jack saw in the girl. She was amazing.
"What are we still doing here boys?!" Katherine yelled as the song they'd been dancing to ended. "We're kings! Let's go win a war!"
"Yeah!" Everyone yelled.
"Cmon Davey." She said pulling him out of the room. "Let's go find Jack." He nodded, grabbing Les and nodded to all of the boys.
"I think I know where he might be."
Thank you so much to Teeloganroryflan and my guest reviewer for continuing to give me feedback! I very much appreciate it! I hope you guys liked this little lighthearted happy chapter, it's one of my favorites. I'll be back in a few hours to update!
In response to my guest reviewer, who apparently reviewed a few days ago but I couldn't see it for some reason, thank you thank you thank you! It was my biggest fear that I wouldn't be staying true to the characters and I'm so happy you see that I am. It was something I worked very very hard on so thank you very much! If you ever feel like I've strayed from that, please let me know!
As always, make sure to tell me what you liked, what you didn't, what you would change or what you'd improve by leaving a review! Love ya babes!