Happy April Fools Day!
My sister literally just changed the names of ALL the contacts on my phone. I have a Jack Kelly, a Davey and Les, an ISLAPFLOOR...madness.
But, here we are, with our second Newsies oneshot! Hope you enjoy!
This story has a little bit of a storyline from my first Newsies oneshot, the one about Valentine's Day.
"Spot, are you gonna get 'em this year?" Sunshine, named for his incurable optimism, leaned against the wall, tossing a small stone absentmindedly from one hand to the other.
"Of course." Spot Conlon had dignity, and his dignity had been infringed upon last Valentine's day, when a group dubbed 'The Singlesies' had sent him some fake love letters. It hadn't taken a detective to figure out that it was the newsies of Lower Manhattan, as they were the only ones who knew that they could pull off such a thing without being absolutely decimated. Spot had been livid when he found out, but had cooled his rage, as he and Jack had maintained a good friendship ever since the strike, and he guessed Jack had nothing to do with it. However, he had been planning an April Fool's day attack ever since.
"How?"
Spot grinned and ruffled the younger boy's hair. "You'll find out."
The night before April Fool's, the boarding house was chaos. Newsies shouted, hollered, and shrieked, making threats to fellow prankers, promises of neutrality, and pleas for safety. "C'mon, Les," said Davey. "We aren't coming in tomorrow."
"Can't we stay the night?" Asked Les.
"Nope. Mom wants to do spring cleaning tomorrow, and I'm not getting involved in this prank war."
Les lagged behind as his older brother walked away. "I'd rather get involved," he grumbled, picking up the pace as Davey yelled for him.
"Alright, boys, keep it together," chided Jack as the tension - and noise - in the boarding house escalated, turning into a lethal pillow fight. "It's bedtime, and we don't wanna get noise complaints or somethin'."
"Aww, Jack," came the collective groan.
"Come on." Jack herded all the newsies in bed. "Night, boys."
The next morning, as soon as all the newsies awoke, there was another eruption of noise. Boys ran around, making sure their things were prank-free, and playfully soaking possible pranksters. Jack stretched and grinned. Normally, he liked a little less noise, but as long as his boys were having this much fun, he was pretty OK with it. And besides...
He had a prank or two up his sleeve.
Most pranks didn't take place before the boys had sold their papes for the day, but some adventurous newsies liked to get their fun in early. Specs ran frantically around the boarding house, shirtless and with only one shoe. "I lost my shoe!" He fretted. "Has anybody seen it?"
"I may have," said Romeo mischeviously.
"Where is it?" Begged Specs.
"I stole it," chuckled Romeo. "I stole your shoe, your shirt, AND your cap."
"You stole..." Specs choked off mid-sentence and dashed off in a wild frenzy to find his things. Jack regarded Romeo.
"I thought I saw his cap earlier..." said Jack. Romeo chuckled and put a finger to his lips.
"Wonder how long it will take him to find out I didn't steal it."
After all the newsies got ready for the work day (Specs managed to find his shirt, shoe, and his not-stolen cap), the boys all headed out to the streets of Lower Manhattan. Each boy bought the bare minimum papers needed to cover their living expenses, eager to be done with work and to return to the much more serious business of April fooling...
Spot, Sunshine, and two other newsies named Nitpick and Inky waited outside the boarding house in Lower Manhattan until they were sure all the newsies were gone. Each of them carried cakes of soap, pink ribbons, a pink shirt, and even a pulpy radish. They snuck into the house. Sunshine and Nitpick began to strip the off-white sheets from the bed, while Spot went through drawers, pulling out clothing. Inky began to fill a washtub with warm water and dropped a washboard in it, then began to lather the soap.
The other newsies dumped their prizes in the soapy water, rolled up their sleeves, and knelt next to Inky, plunging their hands into the water and beginning to scrub.
The newsies returned to the boarding house, and stopped short at the sight of their sheet-less beds. "Wha?" Mush ran into the room to his bed. "My sheets? MY PILLOWCASE!" All that was left was his ragged blanket and a flat pillow. It was the same for the rest of the newsies.
"Who'd do this?" Asked Albert, scouring the room for any sign of the perpetrator. The room was neat and tidy - another sign of an intruder, albeit a slightly unusual one - without evidence.
Everyone was upset for a while, but Jack assured them that their things would turn up, which perked the boys considerably. They began to go about their day as April Fool's Day normal.
"Hey boys!" Called Henry. "I brought us some desserts!" The boys eagerly flocked to him, but there was a collective groan as the box was opened, revealing carrots, broccoli florets, and a couple raw potatoes. "You boys could eat a couple more vegetables," chuckled Henry as the boys glared at him and the veggies.
"How about you eatta vegetable?" Asked Race cheekily, pinching Henry's nose closed. Henry gasped and Race stuffed a potato in his mouth. Releasing Henry, he ran off laughing as Henry chased after him, lobbing vegetables.
The day progressed, filled with fun (and a few weird) pranks. The boys were sobered that night, however, to return to their beds which were only covered with a ratty blanket. The next morning, but they woke to a knock on the door.
Jack opened it, but there was nobody around. On the doormat, however, were piled several packages wrapped sloppily with brown paper. "Hey, Racer, Albert, gimme a hand with these!" He called, grabbing several packages and toting them inside.
The newsies buzzed with excitement. Each boy got one package that was addressed to them in a girly script, mysteriously familiar to the Singlesies. The boys eagerly tore into the packages, only to let out shocked cries or gasps.
Inside the packages were their bedsheets, as well as a few articles of clothing they hadn't known were missing; socks, underwear, and a few shirts. That wasn't the biggest surprise, however.
Every single item was dyed a faded shade of pink.
Newsies cursed loudly as they searched through the bundles, looking for anything that was untouched by the ungodly shade. Every single item was the same color, however. Jack pulled a note out of his and read it.
"This is for the Singlesies. Thanks for the Valentine's day present.
"~From someone not wearing pink for the rest of their lives."
"It's Spot and those Brooklyn newsies!" Spluttered Elmer. "What're we gonna do, Jack?"
All the newsies looked at Jack, who had an odd, contorted expression on his face. There was a long silence, and then Jack took a breath and burst into a loud, long belly laugh. This hysteric laughter went on for three whole minutes, until Jack finally got enough control of himself. He wiped his eyes and looked at the newsies. Grinning, he said, "Happy April Fool's Day!"
And then he started laughing again.