Yeah yeah, I know I made a bet and lost it. I spent the last two days preparing your virtual pastrami sandwiches, here.

Quick PSA: If you're able to see it (I know the FFN app is notorious for not being up to par with the website), WAN has a snazzy new cover! This was done by my lovely friend drawing_hufflepuff on Instagram, and I demand everyone reading this go follow her now, thank you. (She's also got an FFN account at Huffelpufdraws, so go read her amazing stuff too.)

Review Responses:

Huffelpufdraws: I AM ONCE AGAIN SORRY FOR HURTING YOU BY HURTING JACK... Yeah, I made it more sad, just like you expected, and ma'am I regret to inform you it's only going to get worse. SORRY AGAIN!

Newsies Square: (Chapter 59) Come on Vil, you can do it, work those brain muscles! YEAH! In another life, Finch and Smalls could've been really good friends! Thank you so much, that means a lot! FINCH AND SNIPER SUPREMACY! (Chapter 60) I was very tired at 10 pm and I had read over that chapter so much it didn't look good anymore, that's why I said that. BUT THANK YOU!

citysfinallysleeping: YES, ANOTHER EXCITING REVIEW! You said it best: Medda smart. I think Poughkeepsie is pronounced like it's spelled but I also still don't get how NYC works, so don't take my word for it. Jackie hopped the self-sabotage train and he's gonna ride it all the way to Santa Fe... but that comes later. You should be scared though.

We now return to whatever the hell was going on with Finch and Sniper. Have fun!

Chapter 61- Elmer

Tuesday, September 21, 1999, 1:55 p.m.

Elmer had never been one for confrontation. Honestly, he preferred to stick to the sidelines and let others deal with the nitty-gritty stuff. He had never learned how to fight, and now he knew he didn't know how. Today was not an ideal circumstance for him to be fighting, with or without skills. He wasn't even going to class because of his injury. He still couldn't speak English, and he absolutely, positively, should not have gone anywhere near the Delancey brothers.

However. He had been on the school steps, watching the other students hanging around the courtyard, not really doing anything when Finch and Sniper had passed by. Elmer had nodded a quick hello, but they hadn't seen him. Not unusual, most people often didn't acknowledge him.

But just a minute later, Elmer heard Sniper's voice; it wasn't directed towards him but caught his attention all the same.

"Let go of me, Morris."

Morris evidently did not, because Finch growled, "She said let go."

"What's a pair like youse doin' 'ere at a time like this?" Oscar asked.

Elmer, who hadn't yet turned around in the hopes of not getting involved, finally let his curiosity get the better of him. Morris and Oscar were standing side by side, filling most of the doorway. Each of Morris' large hands were wrapped around one of Sniper's wrists, and while she was trying to pull free, it was no use.

"Let. Go. Of. Me." she ordered for the second time.

"Aw, where's da fun in that?" Morris wondered. Then, being the dumbass he was, he attempted to slink his hands around Sniper's waist, letting go of her wrists in the process. With this opening and the fact that she was a tad taller than him, it wasn't at all hard for Sniper to squirm away. From the look on her face, she was considering punching Morris, but must have thought better of it, because she followed Finch into school through the small amount of space the Delanceys had left.

And that most certainly would've been it, the end of the story, if Oscar hadn't reached out and grabbed Sniper's- erm, lower region.

She spun around immediately, not even taking the time to call the stupid ape out for being just that. She just socked him right in the nose.

"Go fork yourself," she snarled, using more or less those exact words.

While Oscar stumbled back in pain, Morris looked between his brother and Sniper, making some kind of decision.

Next second, he'd grabbed Sniper by the shoulders and tossed her to the ground. But she didn't stay down for even a second before springing back up and throwing herself at Morris. Hands on each other's shoulders, they stumbled around the top step, each one attempting to shove the other down to the bottom of the entryway.

After a moment, Finch came out of the doorway too, trying his best to pull Sniper away from the wrestling match. And that happened to be exactly when Oscar got up, grabbed hold of Finch, and threw him down the stairs.

"Finch!" Sniper broke free from Morris, tried to go to her friend, and got sidelined by Oscar. What followed was a great deal of punching, wrestling, and yelling from both parties. At some point Sniper ended up battling both Delanceys at the bottom of the steps, while Finch remained sprawled nearby. In all that time, Elmer stayed frozen to his seat, only moving when the fight had shifted away from him.

Naturally, he went to check on Finch, who was picking himself up but seemed to have got the wind knocked out of him. Letting Finch catch his breath, Elmer tried to ask if he was alright. As was usual nowadays, it came out in the wrong language. All he got back from Finch was a look of confusion. Not trying to make sense of Elmer, the other boy struggled to his feet, proceeding to jog over to Sniper, Morris, and Oscar. For a second time, he tried to pull Sniper away from them, shouting her name as well as telling her to stop, but it was no use.

A few more minutes passed. The fight came to a point where Morris was battling Finch while Sniper faced off against Oscar. As this progressed, Sniper got the upper hand against the younger Delancey. He wound up on the ground, and she followed as he went down, continuing to pummel him into the concrete. It exactly mirrored what some of the Delanceys' fellow gang members had been doing to the newsies on Saturday. Sniper was showing no mercy, and Oscar was hardly allowed to fit a punch in edgewise. Elmer had never seen this side of her. Despite their recent disagreements, it appeared Finch hadn't either. The growing fear on his face was all too clear to those watching.

As was common in teen movies, a crowd had gathered around the fighting four, with Elmer in the very front row. In true high school fashion, a chant of "Fight! Fight! Fight!" started among his fellow bystanders. Elmer wanted to tell them to shut up and stop encouraging violence, but even if he'd been able to they wouldn't have listened.

Sniper was still giving her all towards beating up Oscar, and Finch was hollering at her to cut it out when the crowd swiftly parted and Hannah- among several other teachers- came through to break it up. Morris noticed the adults before they got all the way to the center of the crowd. Throwing Sniper away from Oscar once and for all- Finch held her back to prevent retaliation- the Delanceys hightailed out, leaving the other two to face the consequences.

"Cowards!" Sniper taunted their retreating backs, "'You better run!"

"Shuddup." Finch hissed, teeth obviously gritted. On the pretense of snapping at him to not tell her what to do, Sniper finally saw the principal standing in front of her.

Hannah looked pissed. That was saying something, because she never got angry enough to make the kind of done-with-this-shit expression she was making now.

Sniper's face, flushed red and still scattered with beginnings of bruises, slowly lost all color and turned a grayish shade in horror. "I can explain-"

"For your sake, I hope so." Hannah cut her off, gesturing sharply to the pair. "My office, both of you." Upon turning around, she caught sight of Elmer too, and gave him a stern look of disapproval.

Elmer rapidly fell into step behind her, afraid of the trouble he was in. Finch came alongside him, and Sniper sped past a moment later to catch up with the principal. "Hannah!" The woman in question moved only her head to show she'd heard. "Please. Let me explain."

"You'll have plenty of time for that in my office."

"I know, I know, it's just-" Sniper quickly found the words, to her merit. "None of this is Finchy's fault, the Delanceys dragged 'im in an' forced him ta fight."

"Forgive me if I don't believe you, Miss Wah," said Hannah curtly as they entered the building.

"Elmer can back me up, he saw it all, didn't you, Elmer?"

Surprised at being addressed, Elmer looked in surprise at his eldest sister. "Um..." To be honest, he'd very clearly seen Finch going to defend Sniper. That did not back up their case very well. "I uh..." Sniper's eyes were pleading with him.

He caved. "Yes, Finch wasn't fighting," he told Hannah in Polish.

She sighed, not truly caring. "Even so, I'll be contacting both of your guardians."

The group filed into the outer area of the principal's office. Elmer held the door as Sniper rushed in to confront Hannah again. "You can't make those calls."

Hannah paused, hand on the doorknob of her office. "Oh?"

"Finch didn't do anything wrong, I swear, I can vouch for 'im. Punish me howeva' ya want, I don't care, just please. Believe me when I say Finch didn't do nothin- anything."

"It's still my duty to call and inform all of your guardians that there was a fight, regardless of whose fault it was. Not only is it protocol, but this is the second instance of you two actin' out in the past two weeks."

"Okay, you can call my father then, it doesn't matter! But Finch's mom, please-" she glanced nervously at Finch, but he was focused on his shoes. "What do I hafta do ta convince you he's innocent? It was all me, I swear, if you need more proof I can-"

"Whether he's at fault or not doesn't change the fact that I still need to contact his parents. I don't know how much clearer I need to be."

"But if he wasn't part of the problem I don't see why-"

"Enough, Miss Wah." Hannah walked into her office, shutting the door firmly behind her.

Before Sniper could try to follow, Finch pulled her back. "What the hell're ya doin'?" he whispered, throwing an accusatory look towards Elmer like he suspected him of eavesdropping.

"I'm trying ta help you out, though obviously it ain't workin' very well."

"I'm not the one who needs help."

"I can handle my own problems."

"An' I can handle mine. We're even."

"Go away, Finchy."

"What?"

"Go away. You don't need to be here, I cleared it with Hannah."

"You really didn't."

"But you ain't in trouble, she has to believe me! You didn't do nothin'!"

"I had ta try ta get you outta the damn fight, which you started and made worse because of me, so actually, I did." Finch was so close to full-on screaming, and the look on his face made it obvious to all that murdering his best friend might be in his future prospects. "What were you thinking, Sniper? What exactly was goin' through yer head?"

When Sniper replied it was soft, slightly scared. "Oscar and Morris-"

"You could've ignored them! That's always the strategy, ignore 'em and they go away!"

And then her volume increased ten-fold. "You try bein' a girl, see how it feels gettin' touched an' talked to like that!"

"I'm not sayin' what you did was uncalled for, I'm sayin' you neva' should a' reacted like-"

"Don't tell me how I should've reacted when you don't understand-"

"You neva' would a' done a thing like that if Smalls hadn't said what she said last night!"

"This ain't about Smalls!"

"Yer so worried about provin' yerself ta her that you don't even think anymore! You're an idiot! I can't believe how stupid you are!"

Sniper shrunk back as if Finch had slapped her. Evidently registering what he'd said, Finch did the same, but she spoke first, voice back to a lower level. "I know. I know it was stupid. You don't have to tell me. An' I didn't mean- I just-" she shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Stop. You shouldn't hafta apologize."

"Okay."

"Ya shouldn't hafta apologize 'cause ya neva' should a' done it in the first place."

Elmer wanted to say something, anything to break the tense silence, but he couldn't. He wasn't part of this conversation; in fact the only reason they were holding it in front of him was probably because they'd forgotten he was there. It very much felt like he was intruding, but that aside, he was too intrigued by the situation to leave.

Hannah's door reopened, providing the exact distraction necessary. She walked out, bearing a pen and pad. "I can't seem ta find your guardian's number. The one on your paperwork doesn't seem to be working, so if you could just-" she handed the paper to Finch.

"Sure." He snatched the pen and quickly scrawled a number.

Hannah plucked the notepad back, thanking him, then returned to her office, with only a quick, "I'll be contacting your father momentarily, Miss Wah."

While the office door closed, Finch shot Sniper a look of pure terror. Before he could speak, she beat him to it. "Just go, Finchy. She knows it ain't yer fault; it's my problem now."

"I'm not leavin' my best friend," he told her, in a nervous voice Elmer had never heard him use. "Not until we figure out what to do 'bout yer dad."

"She has to call him, there's no way around it."

"And he'll come 'ere right away?"

"Definitely."

"Shit." Both Sniper and Finch glanced at Elmer, but neither of them really seemed to care about his reaction to the foul language. "Okay, okay. You ain't gonna go back ta him, I know that much."

"I have to."

"No, you don't. If we just-"

"There's no other option, Finchy." Sniper sounded tired, like they'd had this conversation over and over for years.

"There's always another option," insisted Finch, a frantic whine creeping into the edges of his words. "You can run away with me, we'll steal someone's bikes or car or somethin', an' we'll hide, you won't hafta go wit him."

"It doesn't work like that."

"It does for me! Has before, an' it will for you, I promise."

"Finchy." Her voice was constricted now, and if Elmer hadn't known better he would've said she was about to cry.

"I won't let you go, not to him, I won't have it. You hear me?"

"Finch, please."

"Hey, Elmer!" Widening his eyes, Elmer telegraphed his attentiveness to Finch. "Jus' stall Hannah for us, will ya?"

Before he could attempt an answer, Sniper shot it down. "He can't do anything for us."

"Maybe he can't, but I gotta fix this, and I promise I can. All I need's a little time ta figure things out."

"Pat-"

"Look, I just gave Jacobi's number to Hannah instead a' my mom's, we could do the same fer you. If we just get 'er outta her office, I bet we could-"

"Patrick!" Finch's anxious rambling finally came to a stop. "Would you just go? Please?"

"No."

"There's nothin' you can do, alright? It's over."

"I'll figure somethin'-"

"No! You won't!"

"Just lemme try-"

"Stop! Enough! No trying, no plans, nothing! She's already calling him and there's nothin' you can say ta fix that!"

"There's always something."

"He'll be here as fast as possible, and you need to be gone before he comes. Ya don't know how ta-"

Finch's entire body was stiff in anger, and his face appeared permanently set in a glare. "I know what'll happen if he finds out what you did, an' I'm gonna do everythin' in my power ta stop him."

Sniper shrugged, eyes glassy. "You can't protect me."

"I don't care what I can or can't do! This ain't happening again! I'm not gonna risk losin' you afta' what we been through!"

She moved her head slowly back and forth, disagreeing. "If you really care that much, get outta here. Please. I'll be okay."

"You think I'm just gonna walk away an' allow your father to-" A rapid inhale, and suddenly, Finch couldn't complete his sentence. His mouth was open, his lips moving, but no more words were coming out. Staring at Sniper, seeing how she begged with her eyes, he shook his head and mouthed the sort of "no" that a person does when their entire world is shattered and they can't do anything about it.

Quietly, Sniper stepped forward to wrap her arms around him, pulling Finch into a hug so tight it could've crushed him had he been any smaller. He whispered something into her ear; Sniper whispered back and held him tighter. Elmer didn't see Finch crying, but he saw him shaking as he kept a hold on his best friend.

This, Elmer thought, putting a halt to his observation of the scene, was as close as he was ever going to get to heartbreak.

He had no idea what was going on with Sniper and Finch; their deal was far beyond his level- but he felt a strong need to do something to help them out, however small his aid might be. One more look at the hugging pair solidified that decision in Elmer's mind, so he made a bold move, barging directly into his older sister's office. Using their shared native tongue, he demanded the answers he most needed at the moment.

She answered quickly and in English, loud enough for Finch and Sniper to hear out in the waiting area. Elmer took his leave without acknowledging them, pausing only to steal paper and pencil from the receptionist's desk before going on his way.

He had newsies to inform.

I'm so sorry. I need to stop writing sad shit like this.

Just tell me your thoughts on the chapter, I guess, and feel free to scream at me all you want for hurting these children.

Oh, and answer this question: should I post double today?

If yes, I'll see you later! If no, wish me luck on a play audition and I'll see you again someday!