It's really. Freaking. Cold.
Review Responses:
AndrewKeenanBolgerFan: Most notably on Disney Plus, I watched Tangled: The Series, which is how I got into Newsies in the first place because JEREMY JORDAN! Yay Jojo! I do try not to kill Elmer. In the middle of online math class I started laughing at what I was writing because I thought I killed Elmer. Poor Les just got shoved in a can and shuffled around the stage for the entire battle because people kept needing to use the can (so they could throw the entire thing across the stage). Are you disappointed in Race and Albert, our two best idiots? It's a common sentiment, I'm sure.
Dang, these responses are getting long. Anyway, to the chapter we go!
Chapter 37- Specs
Saturday, September 18, 1999, 4:09 p.m.
Specs could not process what had just happened. It didn't make sense. If it made sense, then Romeo wouldn't be on the ground. Romeo, who had kissed him out of nowhere the other night. Romeo, who had done nothing wrong besides starting high school, which wasn't wrong, but required of him by law. A police officer would never hit someone who had never done anything wrong in the head with their baton. That wasn't what law enforcement officers were supposed to be there for. No. NO.
"No!" Specs screamed, breaking away from his thoughts. He attempted to bolt over to where Romeo was laying, knocked out, but Katherine grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"If you go over there, it'll only make it worse," she warned.
"How much worse can it get?" exclaimed Specs, frantically trying to get to Romeo. Katherine's grip was stronger than he would have expected.
As if answering his question, somebody called "Everybody scatter!" while the police officers spread out across the courtyard. The newsies did just that, scampering in at least five different directions to get away from school grounds.
With Katherine still holding tight to Specs' wrist, the two of them made their escape, getting several blocks worth of distance between themselves and the school before she released him from her hold. The second Specs was free, he tried to dash back the way they had come; this resulted in Katherine pulling him back once again.
"I hafta get back there!" he pleaded, squirming as her fingernails dug into his wrist.
"It isn't safe. You'll get arrested."
"That's exactly why we hafta go back! My friends're all idiots!"
"Tha's pretty harsh, Specky," said Ike, coming up the sidewalk with Mike. Hobbling between the twins, to Specs' relief, was a half-conscious Romeo.
"Yeah, ya should be thankin' us," Mike said after Specs released himself from Katherine and came running over to the three of them.
Bending down slightly, Specs inspected Romeo for damage. "Are you alright?"
The younger boy's response was mumbled and confusing. "Da stars're out tonight."
Specs straightened up. "What's he talkin' about?"
Ike shrugged. "He's been saying weird shit like that since we picked him up. Can't seem ta think straight."
At that, Mike laughed, but quickly realized his brother hadn't been making a joke. He cleared his throat before explaining to Specs, "He got in the head real hard, so tha's prob'ly got somethin' ta do wit..." he gestured vaguely at Romeo, "this."
"A concussion," Katherine nodded. "He probably has a concussion. We should get him to a doctor."
"Can't," Specs told her. "We ain't got any money."
"I'll pay."
In unison with the twins, Specs shook his head. "We can't letcha do that."
"I know that's your mantra, Jack Kelly, but I-" Katherine stopped mid-rant. "Wait a second."
"I didn't realize we reminded ya so much a' the Captain," remarked Ike, smirking.
Mike grinned. "Bet Jack'd be glad ta hear that."
"Yeah... okay." With that reply, Katherine pulled out her phone. "I'm getting us a taxi."
"We don't need that," Specs insisted. "Unless it's ta take Romeo home."
"Specs, he needs a doctor."
"He'll be fine. Everyone's fine."
A frantic shout of "Help!" sounded from farther down the sidewalk right after Specs spoke, and the entire group- besides Romeo- turned around to see Jojo, Henry, and Buttons with Elmer in his arms sprinting up the street.
As they got closer, Specs could see the state Elmer was in, and he winced at the sight of all that blood. The twins took a step back, Mike muttering, "Holy shit."
Worried expression on her face, Katherine flipped her cell phone open, dialed a number with surprising speed, then rested it on her ear. "Calling all taxi drivers." There was a pause, and then she added, "Yes, Bill, who else would I mean?"
"Is he okay?" Ike asked as Buttons set Elmer down, propping the boy against a nearby wall as if he were a sack of potatoes.
Shrilly, Henry replied, "Does he look okay?"
Specs put on hand on his shoulder, trying to keep his own voice calm. "No, he doesn't. What happened?"
"He cracked 'is freakin' head open, that's what happened!"
Jojo placed their hand on Henry's other shoulder. "Calm down."
Shoving away both of the people trying to comfort him, Henry yelled, "How can ya ask me ta calm down when my best friend could be dead?" Specs saw Jojo wince as their wrist was sharply thrown from Henry's shoulder.
"He ain't dead," Buttons reassured everyone. "If anyone's got needle an' thread, I could prob'ly stitch 'im up."
Phone still pressed to one ear, Katherine grimaced. "Please just let me take you all to the emergency room."
To that suggestion, Buttons responded by raising his eyebrows. "You gonna pay fer that?"
"Yes."
"Jack ain't gonna like that," said Jojo, shaking their head.
"Jack isn't here, and I don't care what he thinks. Given the situation, none of you should be caring about that either."
Specs looked around, as if the newsie leader were going to appear around a corner at the sound of his name. "Hey, speakin' of, did anyone see where Jack went?"
No one responded, and after a moment of concerned silence, Henry blurted, "D'ya think the bulls got 'im?"
Ike muttered, "Prob'ly went right for 'im."
"No," Mike denied this. "Jack would a' been one a' the first one's runnin'."
"I dunno," said Jojo, siding with Ike. "I wouldn't be surprised if he got arrested."
Buttons agreed, "I could see 'im takin' the fall fer someone else."
"Well, shit," was Specs' response to this statement. He felt unusually calm with the idea of Jack getting arrested. Perhaps this was because he knew his friend had been arrested before, and therefore would be fine, even if he ended up being sentenced to the Refuge. Jack getting arrested was normal, expected even, and that was what Specs needed to focus on: the things that were normal, that he could control. Not the possibility of anybody else in their group being in trouble with the law. Nor Elmer sitting slumped against the wall, unconscious. And certainly not Romeo lying on the ground at his feet, still muttering about stars and fireworks.
"How's that taxi comin', Kath?" Specs asked, trying to keep his mind off his worries about his two injured friends.
"It's on its way, I swear," Katherine answered, glancing back and forth along the street in front of her.
"Why's it takin' so long?" Henry, still overly worried, wanted to know.
"Traffic."
Henry bit his already split lip, looking like he had some choice words regarding the existence of traffic. "Hey," Jojo said, throwing an arm around their friend's shoulder, "I bet everyone else's gotten ta Jacobi's by now. Whaddaya say we head ova' there?"
Buttons added, "That is, if youse are all okay stayin' here," while Henry gave Jojo a small nod.
Specs told him, "You three go ahead. We ain't all gonna fit in one taxi anyway." Satisfied with this plan, the trio made to leave, but Specs remembered the riot and called them back. "Be careful, guys. An' when ya get there-" he pulled out his phone and waved it at them- "Call me, 'kay?"
"Yes, Mom," mumbled Henry, but it was with less sarcasm than he usually employed.
The moment Buttons, Jojo, and Henry disappeared down the street, Specs' cell phone began to ring. Flipping it open, he found he did not recognize the number, but he picked up anyway. "Hello?"
"Hi, Specs?" It was Davey's voice on the other end.
"Yep."
"Is Jack with you?"
"Nope."
"Dammit." Someone else in Davey's vicinity must have heard him curse, because there was a long pause filled by a faint conversation Specs couldn't comprehend a word of. However, he could hear the tone being used by the other person, and they sounded worried. Internally, Specs prayed that Davey hadn't just incited a mass panic among the newsies that were with him.
Someone else picked up the phone. A girl's voice asked, "Specs, you still there?"
"Yeah. Sarah, what's going on?"
"It's nuts over here. Everyone's screaming and shouting and slapping and shoving- Race, Smalls, take a chill pill!" Sarah moved away from the phone temporarily, most likely so she could shout at Race and Smalls without being overheard by Specs. When she returned, her tone was calm. "Good news though, Mr. Jacobi's gonna let us into the restaurant- Les, I know you're freaked out, everyone is, please calm down- So, what's happening with you?"
Specs pushed up his glasses. "I gotta get Romeo an' Elmer ta the hospital."
Sarah sucked in a breath. "Is anyone else there with you?"
"Uh, Kath an' the twins, why?"
"Well, I hate to ask you to leave your friends, but-"
Specs knew what she wanted. "You need me ta come ova' there, don'tcha."
"If it's not too much trouble. We don't know where the hell Jack is, an' we can't handle keeping track of all these people on our own. I mean, Davey's trying, but he-"
"He gettin' eaten alive?"
"Just about."
"An' that's why ya need my help."
"Yes, please. This crowd is manic."
For the third time, Specs glanced at Romeo. By now, the boy had stopped muttering and was just staring blankly up at the sky. Specs didn't want to leave him. He knew Katherine and the twins had the ability to take care of things on their own, but that didn't stop him from feeling the need to be in control, so he could keep his mind off other problems, such as where Jack was. But he supposed they needed his authority over at Jacobi's, especially if Jack wasn't there either, and Davey did not seem to know how to control the group on his own.
"Alright," he told Sarah, "I'm on my way."
Tada! Another chapter done! Two more chapters left in the year!
Review please and tell me what you thought of this chapter. See you next time!
